Happy New Year: 10 Goals for 2015

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the year 2015.

It's been a good few weeks, with plenty of beer drunk, food eaten, etc. Another year has past, and I've noticed a few blogs outline their goals and aspirations for the year. So I kinda figured I'd jump on the band-wagon and let you all know where I'm taking the blog, my brewing and life in general. So here they are the challenges I've set myself for the 2015 year.

1: Wedding Beer - As you may know, I'm getting hitched in just over a year, and as such it's time to nail some real recipes for the big day. I don't want to give away too much yet, but there'll definitely be a fair few hops flying around at some stage. the aim is 6 batches of beer, so approximately 120 Litres of beer, plus possibly a couple of more special beer for the day.

2: 100% Brettanomyces -  I've done a couple of these beers now, and they've turned out pretty well. I really like how they play with some of the New age NZ Hops out there. My main goal for this is a medal at the NHC towards the end of the year, using 100% Brettanomyces fermentation, I'll most likely revise the existing Saison recipe to where I think I need to take it. given the WLP644 talk, I may look to amend the yeast to something more Brett-y. Maybe Lambicus, like 8 Wired. Time will tell.

3: New Equipment -  I've got a new Mash tun, and I'll continue to use the existing boil kettle, I need a HLT, Pumps, Stand, and I'll be set to go, this will be an ongoing project. I'm not aiming to finish it by the end of the year, but some progress would be great.

4: First Solo Barleywine - This is going to be a fun one. a beer (no honey), in a full sized batch of 18-21 litres. I know what my plan is, I'm just trying to fit it into my schedule somewhere. this is going to happen sooner rather than later, and of course 100% NZ Hops.

5: The SJPORR Challenge 2015 - I understand this challenge will be taking place world-wide again. So I aim to enter it again, and hopefully improve on my 10th placing for the recent one.

6: More Sours - I have plans to add to my Guts and Glory Flanders Red, I plan to add a Sour blonde and a Darker beer as well through the year.so watch this space.

7: Improve my process and fermentation - The Obligatory learn more improve the beer goal. This is actually a pretty important goal to have. If you don't improve and adjust the processes in place how will I/you become better brewers, and make, well, better beer in general. this actually ties together with the first goal of getting beers ready for my wedding.

8: Find a House Strain - This is a hard one, but it is on the list of things to do. While I've had good success with the dry yeasts out there. I really would like to save some money and invest in liquid yeast. Here in New Zealand the vials tend to be more expensive, but can be used a few time/multiple times in different beers/styles. If I get stuck I've always got the Dry stuff to fall back on. This may not necessarily be one particular strain. but a couple of different ones. But the overall aim is to find a house strain for American/clean style beers, also possibly something for Belgian style beers (this could even be Brettanomyces, who knows.) I'm aiming for a list of liquid yeast no more then 4-5 strain long. I can add 1 strain to my house list, WYeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Ale. this will most likely be my house strain for the quintessential British Real Ale. all I need now is a clean ale strain, and a Belgian strain (Less so, as I like the hugely different characteristics of some of the different strains out there.)

9: The Sons of Liberty Porter - Ha!I haven't, and will never give up on the beer. Despite the 15 and 8 out of 50 in the two previous NHC competitions. this is a beer I will get right eventually. you might say I have un-finished business with this brew. but let's not kid ourselves here, it may take sometime. but damn it will be worth it!!!

10: Release my first Commercial Beer - This will be on my list every year, until I achieve it. I don't think I'll achieve it this year. Maybe not even next year. But it will happen. I'll leave you to speculate on what that style would be or should be.

Phew! That a year worth of goals, plenty to pack into 12 months if you ask me. Have you got any goals for the year that is? If your listening/reading out there, let me know.

On separate notes, (there's a couple), I've kicked the Black IPA keg, it held it's own, and while it wasn't as good as the first version, it was still pretty damn tasty. I decided at the last minute to keg the Clown Prince Belgian Blond(SMaSH) and it's drinking nicely so far, some more time is required though given the sugar and alcohol involved. i used WLP500 from the Backup plan previously. Supposedly this is the Chimay strain, and you can tell, it's so Banana bread-y.
Fining with Gelatin: I fined the Belgian with Gelatin, to help clear up, what looked literally like yellow milk. the strain seems to take forever to clear out, so I just helped it along a bit. Gelatin is something I will probably start to use more, to remove unwanted haze, and I'm noticing some slightly more bitter note in my beers, when they're not clearing properly. This article HERE, suggests, that this is due to additional yeast in suspension, causing that extra bitter bite.

War-Pigs IPA is still in the keg, but it's a bit Meh, Damn Diacetyl. I'll have some tasting notes of War-Pigs up soon. along with the recipe as usual.

Lastly, I brewed up Version 2 of Promised Land Pilsner, but used WLP090 (so technically not a Pilsner). This is for my Friends Stag Party in a few weeks.

Primary1(Plastic): Promised Land II

Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}

Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Watch This Space}

10 Litre PET Carboy: Braggot/Honey Ale

Sour#1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red

Sour#2 (PET Carboy): {Watch This Space}
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Chch Homebrew Club Barleywine + Partigyle.

Keg1: War-Pigs Am. IPA
Keg2: {Nothing}
Keg3: Clown Prince Belgian Blond
Next Beer to Brew: CYBI - Stone Levitation Ale Clone

Dark Storm II

this has been sitting in my drafts for a couple of weeks now, sorry about the delay:

As promised, Here is some tasting note for Version 2 of Dark Storm. the idea behind this version, was to increase the hop flavour and complexity across the board.
I can say this much now, I failed in that respect, the reason is because I beat my target gravity by a staggering 4-5 points. So I hit 1.067 OG prior to fermentation.
I did increase the malts by 200 grams, but wouldn't have thought this would've increased it by this much.
I'll put it down to missing water. I missed my volumes by 2 litres, and originally hit 1.072 somehow, I was sure I put the correct amount of water in, but clearly not. so as you will see from the picture, this has come out more brown than black, due to the top up water added. Which put me down to 1.066/67.
Coupled with these issues, I had a miss cue on Fermentation, meaning I missed my target Og by 2 points as well. hitting 1.018, rather than the previous 1.016, which again will probably be down to increased viscosity and increased OG from the originally 1.062 last time.

So, onto some tasting notes:

Aroma: Some dark Malts, roast aroma only slight but noticeable none the less. Big hits of Grapefruit and some of that lovely Mosaic pokes through, however it seems to be hidden behind the Simcoe somehow..... I realise its a powerful hop, but for me it doesn't work in a dark beer.

Appearance: Brown Rather than black like last time, this is due to top up water, which is a shame. there is also some haze on this one, most likely hop haze. It's not a big deal in terms of a dark beer, but it is noticeable, due to the lighter than normal appearance. I'll also put this down to US-05 rather than M44. head retention is good.

Flavour: More of the aroma, although some minor alcohol notes here as well, nice big grapefruit/lemon flavour with a saturation of Mosaic in the mix. the dakre malts don't play as well as I'd hoped for with Simcoe, and I don't really get much from the Special Roast.

Mouthfeel: this is a bit thicker than I like, there are some unfermented sugars at play here. the 1.018 is too high, and this works much better at 1.016. Guess it goes to show you those extra two points can make a big difference.

Overall: This is a good beer, but some clear issues arose from what I mentioned above. I know where to take it from here which helps, but it'll be back in the direction of the original recipe.

So, where to from here for this beer. I'll be going back to what made this beer such an inspiration last time, the fruit from the hops played really well with some of the increased roast flavours in the mix. Yeast I may go liquid, or may just head back to MJ44, while I nail down the recipe. Special roast is out, it didn't add much top the recipe, and while I don't think it contributed to haze or lack of colour, if I go back to the original, then I know where I stand. Hops - I'll continue to experiment with more fruity options, the Simcoe doesn't work on this, next time will probably be Galaxy, in the later additions.

On another note, my Belgian Blond is in down and seems to be pretty happy. I kept things nice and simple, I'm looking to build a base and work from there. so just pilsner malt, candi sugar (Homemade) 100% Pacifica hops, this way I can enter into the upcoming SMaSH comp at the local brew club. 1.066 hit, fermented with the slurry of WLP500 from Back Up Plan III. Next up will be Promised Land II for a mates Stag Party.

Primary1(Plastic): Promised Land II (Ale Yeast)
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Nothing}

10Litre PET Carboy: Braggot/Honey Ale

Sours #1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Sours #2 (PET Carboy): {Nothing}

Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA

Keg1: War Pigs IPA (Conan Yeast)
Keg2: {Nothing}
Keg3: Clown Prince Belgian Blond 
Next Beer to Brew: Possibly Funktown Pale Ale, or Stone's Levitation Clone

Happy 30th - Party Time

As I mentioned in my last post, it was my 30th Birthday party on the weekend. I'm not actually 30 for another week or so, but being so close to Christmas, means I have to have parties and such slightly earlier, because everyone seems to have Work Functions etc.

It wasa fantastic night, my lovely wife to be gets a big shoutout, for the theme, which was "What I want to be when I grow up". Great plan,. and the idea behind it was to re-live being young and essentially go back 10 years. So she had games like Beer Pong, Assassins and a couple of other ones, over the night.

But lets not forget the beer. I brewed 3 kegs worth of Beer (with an extra Keg from Finney, just as well too.) A Pilsner a Belgian Pale Ale, and a Black IPA. Stil a fair amount of Black IPA, which is good, so I can save that for another post.

But for this post I'll do a couple of short reviews of my Pilsner and Belgian Pale. Recipes are linked.

Promised Land Pilsner
I had some diacetyl issues on this one, (I think incomplete fermentation was the cause) so in my haste to keg the beer, I missed the completion. However not deterrred, and deciding I had to serve it anyway, I threw the keg in the fermentation fridge, which had my Warpigs IPA in it at D-Rest. Much improved, but still butter-y and butterscotch-y.
So to hide/mask that in went 28g of Motueka and 35g of Riwaka, in a bag for a week.
Boy it is quite amazing to see the difference in clarity, from just dry-hopping in the keg. Almost crystal clear prior to dry-hopping, followed by something that looks like a wheat beer coming out.
However it was the first to kick on the night, as the hops did mask some of that butter flavour, and plenty of hops came out. Completely over-powered by Riwaka of course. People said they liked it, so theres a plus.
Body was good, head retention was good, Get rid of the Diacetyl and the needs to dryhop to hide faults, and I should be onto a winner. (I'm re-brewing this as a blonde ale in a few weeks, for my friends stag party)

Back Up Plan III

This one got better reviews, as a beer people could drink consistently over the course of a night. I'll be heading back to WLP530 though, it's a much nicer yeast to work with.
Hazy Appearance, some clarity, certainly clearer than the pils. This will be 500 and wheat causing the haze. no mass amount of hops, but enough to make life interesting. Good carbonation, head retention good again, but still lacking some body, it needs something. I'm happy enough with the hopping, might help to add some more late hops, as the nelson just doesn't appear where I want it to.
I think next time, I will increase the OG and re-arrange some of the malts, and get rid of stuff I don't feel contributes to anything. I'll probably darken it up a notch, as the Darker malts may add some more complexity and make it more sticky (I'm talking darker crystals).

The Black IPA is good, needs another week or so to come together. So I'll post when I feel it is in its "Prime". This is Version 2 of Dark Storm.

I should also point out, that War Pigs IPA was kegged last night, despite the large hangover from the night before. Theyeastbay.com Vermont Ale, performed well, quick start and ferment, no big krausen as I've heard from others. sitting at 1.014, which is 2 points higher than predicted. this is a clone of the Russian River Blind Pig brew done by a fellow Blogger Here.

Primary1(Plastic): {Nothing}

Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}

Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Watch This Space}

10 Litre PET Carboy #1: Braggot/Honey Ale

Sour#1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red

Sour#2 (PET Carboy): {Watch This Space}
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Chch Homebrew Club Barleywine + Partigyle.

Keg1: War Pigs American IPA
Keg2: Dark Storm Black IPA II (Mosaic/Simcoe)
Keg3: {Nothing}
Next Beer to Brew: Belgian Blond Ale - Clown Prince

Brewing a Braggot - Experimental Brewing

Here is the elusive post mentioned previously, regarding the special experimental beer I brewed at the same time as War Pigs IPA. I was inspired by this video: 1 Braggot, 1 Mead, & 1 Stout.
for those of you who aren't aware of what a Braggot is, a little information might be required.
Braggot: Also called bracket or brackett. Originally brewed with honey and hops, later with honey and malt—with or without hops added. Welsh origin (bragawd).
Essentially this is a Mead made with Malt and hops, to give an impression of body and more of a beer like substance to it. Here is some basic style guidelines to show you what to expect:

Aroma: Should have an identifiable honey and beer character, the honey and malt character should be balanced, although not always evenly balanced. If certain types of honey, or a certain type of base beer is used, these may add some noticeable character. Hop Aromas are optional.

Appearance: Clarity should be good to brilliant, although they may not clear as a normal mead should. Moderate head, with some retention expected. Colour can vary greatly, from light straw to Black, depending on the malts used.

Flavour: Should have identifiable character of both beer and mead, should be balance, although not always evenly. Intensity of flavours is affected by sweetness, honey variety, malts used, along with yeast and hops if any.

Mouth-feel: Should be smooth, without astringency. Body can vary from light to very full, depending on malts and sweetness. Shouldn't be thin or watery, along with cloying sweetness. stronger version will have some alcohol flavours, carbonation can be still, but many choose to carbonate.

Overall Impression: A harmonious blend of mead and beer, with the distinctive characteristics of both. A wide range of results are possible, depending on the base style of beer, variety of honey and overall sweetness and strength. Beer flavours tend to somewhat mask typical honey flavours found in other meads.

Given this was an experimental beer, and I have absolutely no idea, how it is going to come out, and without proper fermentation temperatures. (There will be plenty of temp swing in my pantry). I chose to stick with Extract and grains, which is something I hadn't done for quite sometime.

the process is simple, I have listed my process below, and this may or may not be correct, but it seemed to work OK for me. As it was literally bubbling within about 3 hours, considering I used Dry Yeast.

1- Clean and sanitise your equipment. Simple enough, and something every home-brewer knows about. Starsan and cleaners are good, be sur to rinse the cleaner prior to sanitisation.

2- As this was a 10 Litre batch, I ran with the following

100g Gladfields Dark Crystal

100g Gladfields Shepherds Delight

50g   Gladfields Pale Chocolate

Heat 6 litres of Water in a pot, to 67deg C. Add crushed grains in a bag to this for 20 mins. while this is going on, heat an additional 2-3 litres of water to 75 degrees, for "Sparging". 

3- Once steeping of grains is complete put these into the 75 degree water and leave to soak. The un-sparged wort, is to be brought to boil, and just before the boil, add the "sparge" water to the pot.

4- Bring the total wort to a boil and boil for 60 mins, ad the following.

1 x Can Extra Light Liquid Malt Extract (Black Rock, 1.7kg)

10g Zythos hops (9.7%AA) @ 60 mins.

15g Zythos hops (9.7%AA) @ Flame-out 

5- Chill wort after 5 mins of hop-standing. Immersion Chiller used. Chill until it reaches an acceptable temperature. removed 3-400ml of hot wort using a sanitised jug.

6- While the wort is chilling, take 1.5kg of Honey (I used Rata Honey from the Lyttelton Market) and heat for 1:30-2 minutes, or until soft and more watery and place directly into the carboy.

the hot wort you removed earlier, should be added to the empty pottles of honey, and shaken to get all the sugary goodness out of it.

7- Once chilled and some of the proteins have dropped, fill the carboy up with the wort and shake until all honey has dissolved in the liquid. (This is hard work, as the wort is cool, so won't dissolve quite as quickly)

8- Top up to 10litres with Boiled & chilled water. Shake again to make sure its all mixed in.

9- Take gravity reading, and add 1 tsp of yeast nutrient, and 2x packets of Fermentis S-04 yeast (2 Packs was easiest, as I would of ended up throwing away half a packet otherwise.) I hit 1.093 including the Honey.

10- Fit a blow off tube, and let it ferment for 2-3 weeks. This is where I'm up to in the process.

I was aiming for a dark amber coloured al, with the honey all mixed in, a small amount of Chocolate malt should be present, but mostly some sweet caramels from the darker crystals, and plenty of honey, should make for an interesting beer/mead/braggot. It's nearly two weeks in and just stopped bubbling away, so I'll be giving it another week to clean itself up a bit, before racking to secondary, and then bottling from there. I don't have a name for it yet, but in my next post I'll be sure to have something, along with the official Brewtoad Recipe.

This is going to make for a very interesting experiment, and some local homebrewers are very keen to have a bottle (Which I'm happy to oblige) to taste and see what the fuss is all about.

On a separate note, I have put my Pils back into the Kegging fridge, and found after a couple of days a greatly improved, although far from perfect beer. the diacetyl, has died down considerably, but when warm, there is still the butterscotch type flavour, which is so distinctive at higher temperatures. So I decided to add 28g of Motueka and 35g of Riwaka, to try and hide the issue. If it doesn't work I also have a backup keg from Finney of His NZ Pale Ale. I'll be posting some reviews next week of my party beers.

I'll also be adding to my Sour Beer collection in the coming weeks/months, so watch this space.

Primary1(Plastic): War Pigs IPA (Blind Pig Clone)

Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}

Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Watch This Space}

10 Litre PET Carboy: Braggot/Honey Ale

Sour#1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red

Sour#2 (PET Carboy): {Watch This Space}
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Chch Homebrew Club Barleywine + Partigyle.

Keg1: Backup Plan III Belgian Pale Ale
Keg2: Dark Storm Black IPA II
Keg3: Promised Land NZ Pilsner (w/ Dryhops.)
Next Beer to Brew: The Clown Prince of Crime Belgian Blond (Brugse Zot Inspired)

Hop Federation Beer Tasting

I was going to start this post with some information surrounding a special experimental beer I brewed yesterday, this was in addition to the IPA I brewed up for Xmas. But more on that in another post. It is a slightly longer term brew, so rather than make you wait until a taste test, I’ll write up some information on the process I used, and how it was done.

But for this post I want to talk about a prize I won recently, and some tasting notes on that.

The prize was a 4-pack of 500ml beers, and a t-shirt, from a Brewery in Riwaka called Hop Federation.

While the brewery itself has been around for sometime under the name of Monkey Wizard, it is only recently that the business was sold, and taken over by Simon Nicholas, the former brewer at Hallertau in Auckland. He made the move from Auckland to Nelson, and I personally think it’s a good move. I mean who wouldn’t want to live in one of the sunniest places in this country. Not only that, but they live very close to the hop growing region. (I personally picked the prizes up from the brewery, and got to drive past them.) This give away was for their first Birthday.

And what a prize, some brief tasting notes are below for you to read, and if you haven’t tried any of their beers, you should definitely get in there, they’re brewing some good stuff.

So first up was the Golden Ale.

Very nice, and won bronze? At the National beer awards here in NZ. Nice light colour, good clarity, light malt and light hop flavour, very much like a pilsner, but less crisp, due to the ale yeast I assume. A good introduction to craft beer for anyone new. Good on a nice warm day.

NZ Pale Ale: Green Label

Nice Light orange copper colour, good carbonation and head. Nice malt base, typical for a Pale Ale. Hop bitterness is good, the only real comment I’ll say is it lacks some hop flavour. It could do with more hop punch from the NZ Hops. But another fine effort.

Red IPA – Red Label

My personal favourite. Pours a beautiful red/amber colour, plenty of head. Malt base is perfect, caramel sweet ness and maltyness, with a smack of hops, plenty of hop flavour, some slight astringency, bitterness is around where it should be, it could probably handle more bitterness, but it certainly doesn’t need it.

Brown Ale – Brown Label

This one is slightly different, supposedly an American Brown Ale, but built more like a dark lager. (Breweries words, not  mine) Lovely brown colour, some ruby highlights. Lacks hop character, quite crisp, this is where I think they mention the lager style, which makes a bit more sense now.

In my mind, this fits much better with an English Brown Ale style. (A greatly under-appreciated style) Malt wise, very good, hints of chocolate and caramel, underlying with the nice crispness I mentioned before.

So, all in all, some very nice beers, this is just their core range of brews. They have seasonals, and other beers available, Check them out here: http://www.hopfederation.co.nz/

A big thanks for the prize. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and Happy birthday of course.

On a separate note, I have an update on two things: 1- New Pot has arrived, for a system upgrade (I am possibly looking at a 3-vessel system, and this pot will be my mashtun, I will also be able to run BIAB with it if I feel so inclined.) and 2- My Pilsner has been returned to the Keg Fridge, and after a small taste test, the Diacetyl is still apparent, however after almost a week of D-Rest in the Ferm ?Fridge, beside my Black IPA, this has greatly improved. I'm still wondering about Hopping in the keg, and have a bag of hops at the ready, I will test again next saturday to confirm how it tastes, prior to deciding.

Primary1(Plastic): War Pigs IPA (Blind Pig Clone)
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Nothing}

Small Batch Carboy: Braggot/Honey Ale

Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown

Keg1: Backup Plan III Belgian Pale Ale
Keg2: Dark Storm Black IPA II
Keg3: Promised Land NZ Pilsner 
Next Beer to Brew: The Clown Prince of Crime Belgian Blond (Brugse Zot Inspired)

100% Brettanomyces - Side by Side

As promised, I've posted some notes below of my two 100% Brettanomyces Saison, to compare the differences between a plain version, and dry-hopped version.

Before I do, a little bit about the special yeast/culture that is Brettanomyces.  i've got a couple of links below to get people started.

All About Brettanomyces - Mad Fermentationist
What is 100% Brett Beer? - Bear-Flavoured Ales
Some really good insight into Brettanomyces and how it all works.

So, for my recipe formulation I wanted to remove most of the hops and have the yeast really shine. I found that with the Wild West IPA, now that the hops have faded, the yeast is shining, and i wanted that from the start, and as it ages, I'm hoping (through mostly cold conditioning) that I'll end up with a nice Orval type/Rayon Vert style beer. I added some rye, to give the beer a touch of spice, and NZ Hops, such as Motueka, are perfect for almost any style of beer. From Pilsners to IPA's. the recipe for those interested is here: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces Saison

Firstly the Standard Non-Dryhopped version: (Left)
Aroma: Typical Bretty Aroma, Funky earthy, Slight Hay/Horsey funk. Very Nice. I've had a few comments from friends who've tried the beer. I think I've even inspired some less experienced brewers.
Appearance: Light and bright Golden Colour, some haze, from the brettanomyces. I have found that brettanomyces beers never really clear up completely, they hold some form of haze, howeverthis is considerably clearer than Wild West.theres 2 reasons for this. 1 is the Longer Primary Fermentation, I ran a 7-8 week primary, and the other is kettle finings.
Flavour: Light malt flavour, a touch of spice, very very minimal though. No hops to speak of. The dominating part of the flavour is the yeast, plenty of funk. Nice dry finish
Mouthfeel: Light, not thin in anyway, nice dry finish, carbonation is good. I expect as time goes on, that the carbonation will increase.
Overall: Very nice beer, the dry finish and lightness of the beer works really well. I was told more malt backbone is required, and I kind of agree to a certain extent, pinch of aromatic would work well, and a possible increase in the rye malt, might be in order.

Onto review number 2: (Right)
Original Sin - 100% Brettanomyces Saison Dry-hopped version.
As these are essentially the same beer, I'll just note the differences between the two.
Aroma: Considerably more aromatic, theres two reasons again for this. (this is my observation, so not necessarily the case) A hit of Citrus from the Wai-iti hops i dry-hopped with, as this was only 25g in 10 litres of beer, I wasn't expect it to punch me in the face, nice and subtle. the yeast aromatics are increased as well from the hops, it seems the yeast and hops work really well, and as per the articles posted above, the yeast converts those aromatics to another enzyme and just adds to it.
Appearance: More haze from the hops, which gives a shade difference, but I would call them the same colour. Carb is good.
Flavour: Citrus and yeast. the hops have again added nicely to this. I like what Wai-iti hops offer, similar with less smack in the face than riwaka.
Mouthfeel: Light body, nice carbonation, almost heavier in body then the other one. I'll put this down to the hops.
Overall: Dry finish, nice hop character, subtle hop character, but its there. I do get some oxidation, which in Brett's case assists in the flavour.

If i had to choose which one I prefer, as they're pretty much the same beer. i would choose the standard plain, the reason is just because its plain, it lets the yeast shine, and keep things nice and clean. less phenols.
For anyone thinking about using Brettanomyces in their beers, I highly recommend it.

On a separate note, i have diacetyl. The Promised Land NZ Pilsner have some minor Diacetyl issues. I've put the keg into the fermentation fridge at 21 degrees, to try and clean some of it up. I don't have high hopes for this beer, but I won't give up on it.....yet.
Next up, Dark Storm II. which started 4-5 points higher than previous 1.066-67

Primary1(Plastic): Dark Storm Black IPA II (Mosaic/Simcoe)
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Nothing}

Small Batch Carboy: {Nothing}

Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Shadow Liberation(SJPORR) Porter /Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown

Keg1: Backup Plan III Belgian Pale Ale
Keg2: {Nothing}
Keg3: Promised Land NZ Pilsner
Next Beer to Brew:  Not sure, Something has to go down next week, Most likely an IPA. I'm also toying with a California Common, or Smoked Scottish Export 80/-

NHC2014, Sons of Liberty II

This weekend, was really good, very nice and relaxed, all except for the National homebrew Competition 2014. Plenty of beers were entered, including 7 by me. Given the disappointment from last year, I didn't hold high hope, and decided to take the whole thing less seriously.

The day started ridiculously well, with a Bronze ale from the first of my beers tasted.
Heres a snapshot off twitter:

Yep thats right my English Brown Ale, a really tasty beer, nice esters cleanly fermented, and nice dark fruit and coffee flavours. The only issues they had were head retention, which I know all about.

they also suggested it was slightly more Porter like, given the higher roasty flavours present.

Problem is that's where it ended, lol.
Followed on its coat tails by a 9/50.... Isolation: El-dorado. i entered it in Golden ale (thats where the malt bill sits, but slightly too hoppy for style.) the issues they said were mainly fermentation issues, which is helpful, it never really cleared up, and TBH I'm not a massive fan ofthe beer in general.

3rd off the rank was my Porter, which for those who pay attention to this blog will know this is a recipe I really enjoy. Some nice hop flavour, with plenty of roast character.

so onto the rating..... 8/50.

Whoops, some issues there. they said too estery too bitter and not enough roasty flavour, this is partly my fault for not putting notes in to say it was an american version. they also said too sweet, which i know, but I'm still trying to figure out how to fix the attenuation issues. (maybe a yeast like WLP090 would help matters?)

then the rest were as follows:

100% Brett Saison (Plain version of Original Sin) 28/50 I placed this in Belgian Specialty, they said not belgian enough, given it's 100% Brettanomyces, I'm not surprised. 

Original sin - Dryhoppedwith Wai-iti: 25/50, in American Brett Beer category. Lacks Malt character (I do want to go at this again, with a better mix of Wai-iti and Motueka) the changes that needto be made is probably an addition of something like Aromatic to the same percentage of the cara-pils used.

Shadow Liberation - Bourbon porter: 26/50 - Barrel-Aged Dark Ale. Said too thin for style.

Red Barron Amber - 20/50: Barrel aged Pale to Amber ale - Possible Infection brewing, I'd suggest it's from  bugs getting in while barrel-aging.

so that all the entered beers, a big thanks to the organiser and the entrants, here in Chch, some of the more regular members ofthe group got together for a BBQ, and to try some of the beers entered. a nice day, some great beers, and very interesting to see the notes involved.

Here is the Sons of Liberty II Beers, a small amount of tasting notes below, considering 8/50 I'm nothopefuly in anyone actually brewing this apart from me. lol.

Aroma: Sweet malt and Chocolate, some fruity hops/grapefruit.
Appearance: Clear Dark colour, good head retention perfect Porter colour.
Flavour: Chocolate malts and grapefruit/citrus flavour, plenty of bitterness, which is about where I like it. too sweet for style, this finished at 1.020 which I'm tryingto sort.
Mouthfeel: good mouthfeel, the Maris Otter change from ale Malt has done wonders with this.
Overall: I really like this beer, as does the mrs. but needs to dry out by 2 more points, Citrus/grapefruit is slightly an issue, but thats more of a hops thing than anything else.

I'll have a taste test up of the two version of Original Sin up soon. I'll probably not bother with the Isolation El-dorado beer, although I will say this, I like what this particular hop offer, lemon/lime/citrus notes, not a huge hop aroma, quite subdued.

Primary1(Plastic): Back-Up Plan III (WLP500)
Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}
Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Nothing}

Small Batch Carboy: {Nothing}

Secondary1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Original Sin 100% Brettanomyces with Wai-iti / 100% Brettanomyces Saison /100% Brett Wild West IPA / Shadow Liberation(SJPORR) Porter /Black Sheep Yorkshire Brown

Keg1: Sons of Liberty: Unfinished Business
Keg2: Isolation El-Dorado Golden Ale
Keg3: Promised Land NZ Pilsner
Next Beer to Brew: Dark Storm Black IPA II (Mosaic and Centennial)