#2014 SJPORR Challenge - New Zealand Leg

Its is Time,.... It is Time!

The SJPORR Challenge is Upon us here in NZ, I've received my Beers, and I've actually reviewed a few. Some lovely beers, with Plenty of thought going into alot of them.
From Pales, Through Oak aged IPA's, All the Way to 13% Russian Imperial Stouts. the variance is huge.

So, for those of you who aren't aware of the challenge (There won't be many of you), a random selection of 20 beer is to be reviewed by each entrant and marks out of 50, based on the BJCP style guidelines. the general Idea is this:
Aroma out of 12
Appearance out of 3
Flavour out of 20
Mouhfeel out of 5
and Overall impression out of 10.
Rated and judged by your Home-Brewing Peers.
Here is the recipe I brewed again for it: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/shadow-liberation-bourbon-porter

A special thanks goes out to the organisers of the very first worldwide Homebrew competition, namely all the Hub organisers.
Along with a couple of special mentions for the following people:
SJPORR The man himself, he came up with the idea, and ran with it a few years ago, and its taken off. you can check his youtube channel out HERE.
The other is Paul Wicksteed, the NZ hub. during Beervana Weekend, he spent a significant amount of time packaging entries and general organisation, he even managed to get to Beervana and have a great time. His Channel is HERE.
I'll be sending a small care package with a couple of beers in for Paul soon.

So cheers guys for the great Challenge/competition, and long may it continue.
What I will do when the NZ Leg is over is post up pictures of my top 3 beers, along with some of my thoughts/notes on each one. (No Scores though sorry).

On a side note I've had to adjust my brew Schedule , so no American Stout unfortunately. It's Straight to my Porter for the NHC2014, I've made a couple of Adjustments to it, so the recipe will be posted for that soon.

The Entries I received, all looking good with Labels.

 

Primary1(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): Original Sin 100% Brett Saison (WLP644)
Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: US05 Wild West IPA /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Shadow Liberation(SJPORR) Porter /Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown
Keg1: Marching on Together Yorkshire Bitter
Keg2: Red Barron Barrel Aged Ale
Keg3: {Nothing}
Next Beer to Brew:  Sons of Liberty American Porter II

Wild West Brettanomyces IPA

Tasting notes for my Brett IPA, this was brewed with Oli and it's safe to say, I'm very happy with the way this came out, it needs some clarity but other than that, its good. Now we split the batch with WLP644, and did 10Lt with US-05 so I'll evaluate each individually.
WLP644 Version
Appearance: Very Pale Golden Colour, Hazy, Most likely a Mixture of Wheat Proteins, Brett yeast, in suspension as well probably. Lacing clings to the glass.
Aroma: Tart, Funky, Strong Grapefruit type Aroma. It's quite amazing how different this smalls to a normal IPA/Pale Ale.
Flavour: Over-Ripe Grapefruit, some Pineapple Flavours, generally a Tropical Fruit bowl, I get a good Tartness coming from the yeast now, which is nice, and should change over the coming weeks. Malt Backbone is there, but in the background, very much.
Mouthfeel: We carbed this lower expecting the carb to rise as the brettanomyces eats away... Not sure if this will happen, but it gives a silkier mouthfeel. FG 1.010
Overall: great beer, Carb a tad higher, to help the hops go pop. turned out exactly as we expected it to.
US-05 Version
Appearance: Funnily Enough this started out as Hazy as the Brett version, this was due to a lack of Finings in the beer, we completely forgot about it. The most recent bottle however is almost completely clear, colour wise, it is actually darker than the brett version. Note the picture below.
Aroma: Hops lead the way in this one, no funk or Tart smell. Nelson Sauvin leads the way, followed up nicely by the Kohatu, which gives a peachy smell.
Flavour: Again, Nelson Sauvin hops, Peachy Kohatu, Slight Sweetness from the malt, with is nice.
Mouthfeel: Body is right where I like it full and slighttly sweet, without being cloying. Finished at 1.014. More carb than the other, makes the hops pop nicely.
Overall: Good beer, Nice Pale ale style beer. good body, carbonation etc.

WLP644 is on the left, US-05 on the right.
I've recently pitched the WLP644 into a Saison Style Beer, I'll let it sit for awhile.
Primary1(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): Original Sin 100% Brett Saison (WLP644)
Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: US05 Wild West IPA /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Shadow Liberation(SJPORR) Porter /Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown
Keg1: Marching on Together Yorkshire Bitter
Keg2: Red Barron Barrel Aged Ale
Keg3: {Nothing}
Next Beer to Brew:  Secret Crusade American Stout

Marching on Together Bitter

Tasting Notes;
Abv 3.8%.  NZ Styrian Goldings, and Riwaka.
Marching on Together Yorkshie Bitter
Appearance: Pours a golden Amber colour, pretty clear. although it took some time to drop clear in the keg. Nice fluffy white head.
Aroma: Slight Yeast Esters and Some Riwaka, along with some back up from a little malt. so far so good.
Flavour: Light Tasting, easy drinkers, Plenty of Yeast flavour and nice riwaka Backup. This wasn't dry-hopped. Plenty of hop flavour to keep thing interesting. Light malt, but given the low abv its to be expected.
Mouthfeel. Light/Medium, could do with a little more to it. but hey for a 3.8% beer I can have a few of these.
Overall: good beer, very tasty, I'm halfway through the keg already. Easy to drink. ext time, I'd like to make it darker, almost amber colour. Otherthan that I wouldn't change alot.

as Promised, here is the recipe for the Oud Bruin we all brewed up.
Hail Caesar Oud Bruin
Next up: tastingnotes for my brett IPA.

Primary1(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): Original Sin 100% Brett Saison (WLP644)
Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: US05 Wild West IPA /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Shadow Liberation(SJPORR) Porter /Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown
Keg1: Marching on Together Yorkshire Bitter
Keg2: Red Barron Barrel Aged Ale
Keg3: {Nothing}
Next Beer to Brew:  Original Sin, 100% Brettanomyces Saison WLP644 (Going in this weekend)

Red Barron Ale

Finally, we emptied the barrel during the week. I've got a picture or two to post up below, which I'll do, so we took a hand-pull or two from it. Initial tastes are surprising. Better than I expected, mainly because a 6% beer in an oak barrel, open to oxidation etc. might've been a tad optimistic in my eyes.
We probably should've done a Strong Scotch Ale or something like that... but I digress.

Onto the transfer, I got 30 litres of Red Beer into kegs, along with a transfer of the Oud Bruin into the Barrel, which didn't take as long as I thought it would. this will sit there for a good 12-18 months on the bugs we pitched. then kegged as per the red one. But that'll be sometime away.
I'll post the Oud Bruin recipe in my next post, which will finally be tasting note and recipes for both my bitter and my Brett IPA.

Coming out of the fermenter, is the Brown ale, and in goes a Brett Saison, which will sit for awhile (two reasons, Conditioning time, and Laziness) Plus I'll have plenty of beer to drink.
After that Robust Port for NHC, and I seem to be changing tact on the other 1-2 beers for NHC. I'm now thinking an Imperial Black IPA, essentially an imperial version of the Dark storm produced awhile back. I know its a nice beer, so if I can get it right.

Something else I'll be doing on each post is a small snippet of what beers are:
Upcoming, Primary Fermentation, Secondary Fermentation. Bottled Beers, Kegged beers, and so on. It'll give you guys and idea what sort of tasting notes to expect in the coming period, so here goes.

Primary1(Plastic): Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown Ale (Bottle this weekend)
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): See Next to Brew Below
Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: US05 Wild West IPA /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Shadow Liberation(SJPORR) Porter
Keg1: Marching on Together Yorkshire Bitter
Keg2: Red Barron Barrel Aged Ale
Keg3: {Nothing}
Next Beer to Brew:  Original Sin, 100% Brettanomyces Saison WLP644 (Going in this weekend)

So upcoming notes as you'll see from above is the Brett IPA, the US05 IPA, the Yorkshire Bitter, the Red Barron Red Ale, and of course (a wee way down the line) the Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown. Plenty on the cards.
So without Further a due, here is a picture of the refill of  the barrel.

Blogs of Note

I thought in my down time I'd chuck a small post as the time is coming for a couple of review of a couple of my beers, including recipes.

But before that I figured it was time I put up a few blogs I actually pay attention to.

The first one needs no introduction to Avid Homebrewers, The Mad-Fermentationist
This ones a goodies, its been up and running for sometime, and includes in depth recipe analysis of Sour beers Brett beers, and some test batches for a small brewery in San Diego... Modern Times.
If your into Sour beers etc. this is the place for plenty of information.

Second: Bear Flavoured Ales.
this is another Brett beer/sour beer Blog, but has plenty of information about different yeasts, bugs and brett etc. Plenty of hops too..

Third: Bertus Brewery This guy love his hops, he brews mostly IPA's, but scattered throughout are a few gem recipes for stouts, scottish ales and some others of note.
He also got married awhile back, and given I'm planning to brew the beer for my own Wedding, it's quite good for me.

and Lastly: The Perfect Pint A blog focussed more on traditional beer styles, English bitters etc.
Great information surrounding British yeasts, dry, liquid etc. He also has a few more interesting recipes scattered in here, IPA's/Pale Ales.

Onto my brewing adventures: brewed the Barrel Beer, and Oud Bruin. 1.064 and will be transferred with everyone else's in a week or two.
English Brown Ale, with WYEAST 1469
Best Bitter with WYEAST 1469 (Tasting notes and Recipe coming)
Brettanomyces IPA/Pale Ale with Oli. this was split with US-05 for a control/comparison. (Tasting Notes and recipe coming as well.)

Next Up: some NZ-NHC2014 brews, plus another 100% Brettanomyces Beer.
so as you can see, plenty on the go, plenty coming up. WATCH THIS SPACE.

what is 100% Brettanomyces Beer?

Well, Like I said, I was going to offer some information on 100% Brett Fermented beers, now these are links to pages I don't own or have any rights to, so hopefully its all good. Just getting the information out there. So thanks to the guys who took the time to actually write about this particular process/ingredients, and how it all works etc.

The best link is HERE, as the Guy from Bear-Flavour Ales, knows a lot about sours and brett beers. Be it Primary, or ageing on wild yeasts.

Just check out his page in general, some great recipes and information about all sorts of stuff.
www.bear-flavoured.com

Anyway, While I haven't strictly tasted my Brett IPA as yet, I'll give you my impression so far of the yeast, how it behaved and my impression of it.
Fermentation: Large Starter (Lager sized), took off once pithed at 18-19 degrees, and fermented out really quickly, ensured the temp was within recommended range. most of ferment was done at 21 degrees, and finished at 23 degrees, to make sure. FG: 1.010 I gave this 3 weeks primary, to make sure, the krausen dropped after 3 days so I assume most of the main part was done. There was probably some residual stuff that was removed over the course of the next couple of weeks.

This is where it gets a little more interesting, the Difference I found at bottling time between Aroma and Flavour was quite a lot different. Flavour-wise I got Pineapple, and Some major tropical Fruit flavours, really quite amazing what the yeast has done. Aroma was almost funky/Tart, like nothing I've had before, and while it might not be unexpected to have a nice aroma in an IPA, I'm looking forward to trying it when it's ready.
Un-tasted it's going into the local club IPA Competition, so that'll technically be the first tasting, but I'll put a full comparison review up when I taste each version (3 yeasts used, more on that later)

that's all for now, the next post will be  the Information relating to said Brett Beer... So Watch this Space.

Brettanomyces, and the SJPORR

Hey Everyone, Apologies for not posting for what looks like a whole month??! I've been pretty slack., in my down time, I've had sometime to think about this blog, what I post about and and I go about posting it etc.
i need more pictures, and I've also decided to delay posts regarding recipes until the tasting, so at that point there will be a Recipe post, with tasting notes, and anything else interesting. I'll attempt to keep things interesting, to talk about the main things rearding brewing; hops, yeast water, and malt. so there may be some lag time between posts, but I will be making a concerted effort to post and make it interesting. (Pictures are interesting right?)

onto my update, I took a taste of my SJPORR Challange 2014 beer tonight, very promising, still slightly undercarbed, so I'm assuming it will get a little better in the next 2 weeks or so. The Whickey/Borubon flavour is prominent, with a slight oak vanilla type flavour in the background. My only issue is a lack of body/malt flavour. But I will post a proper review when its ready to go. Bottled 24x 500ml and 24x 330ml bottles, so plenty of bottles to ensure enoguh for the challenge.
Looking through the website, theres a good range of beers, and the 'Muricans have started their reviews. I won't give too much away at this point.

Next I brewed a 100% Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois (WLP644), which as I mentioned above, once completed a recipe along with tasting (I brewed up a storm with Oli, who has a 40litre system). All I'll say is it's promising, as 100%Primary Brett fermentation, have a tendancy to behavethe same way as a normal Sacc Yeast. In the down time between this post and the Official tasting (It's still in the fermenter) If I'm not too slack I'll make some comments regardign Brett yeast and some links to other blogs or websites, who have a pretty good description.

lastly, I'll be revisiting some recipes, as the wedding is 18 months away I feel I should try to nail down some proper recipes for it, and get to a point where me and Pip are happy with the beer.
All I know is there will be 4 styles of beer brewed, these are just basic guidelines at this stage, as I'm yet to really nail a good recipe.
1- Barleywine. I'll plan to put a bottle on each table, as it has the name wine in it, i figured, those who don't fancy a white or red wine, can have a beer, with the same contact as wine.
2- A darker Beer, suitable for the Handpull Beer engine. this is for my father, the brew guys, and of course any english family who come along.
3- A nice hoppy IPA. Enough Said.
and finally
4- this is an open category, I've been told something light and easy to drink. some of the stuff i've already brewed are: Blonde ale, Belgian Pale Ale. some other options I though of were a Cali Common, american Wheat, Pilsner (this make some sense, due to the time frame involved in making a pils. although it wouldn't be easy to brew 2 kegs of the stuff, because of the fermenting process)

anyways that enough rambling frome me. cathc you next time

Oh, I'll also be posting reviews on my blog of the SJ PORR Beers, for those who've entered.