First State Brewers Blog

“I… like… big… beers and I cannot lie
You other brothers can’t deny
You crave rich malt pouring in your face
Sticky hops and belgian lace…”

So I won’t give Sam Calagione’s “Pain Relievas” a run for their money… but I crack myself up.

OK. So this past Sunday I brewed another 15 gallons of Choking Sun Stout. Ever since my American Brown Experiment with Brian I’ve been dying to see if I could do a bigger batch as a single mash using just the gear I’ve got. We used Brian’s burner to heat our mash-out water, and I don’t really want to run out and get a new burner just for this setup when I know I’ll be going to a sculpture at some point… So for this solo batch I did things different. Same gravity setup, as with the 20 gallon batch, but I only did 15 gallons (1.070 OG)… and I heated sparge and mashout water together, transferring the sparge water to the HLT when it hit temp and heated the rest of the mashout water to boiling. It all worked just fine… I probably could have even done a 20 gallon batch if need be. These 28 gallon kettles are monsterous… and the kettle with a false bottom works awesome as a mash tun. I need to work out a better system for keeping the tun insulated - the sleeping bags work, but they’re a PITA and are getting pretty craptacular with wort and malt stuck to them - should be fun trying to get them clean.

As of 7am this morning, they were very visible signs of fermentation, and things were rocking as of 5pm this afternoon. Big batches rule.

Latest count towards my 200 gallon limit - 160 gallons from 15 batches. Its actually been 180 gallons brewed, but 20 gallons of that went home with Brian, so I’m not counting those towards my total. And before you all start screaming DRUNK!!! and pointing the fingers, we’ve given away nearly 50 gallons this year… and another 50 is basically sitting in our basement in kegs and bottles. So no, we didn’t drink all of it. YET.

So here is what the judges had to say about my two entries in the Belgian Dubbel category:

Travelers & Tourists: 31.5 Overall

Judge #1: 31/50 (Recognized BJCP Judge)

Aroma: Malty aromas with plum ester, no hop aroma, light spiciness (6/12)
Appearance: Deep amber, thick long-lasting off while head, clear (3/3)
Flavor: Dark malt flavors, raisin flavors, no hop flavors, skewed to malt with a dry finish (14/20)
Mouthfeel: Smooth with high carbonation, low alcohol warmth, moderate body - dry but not astringent (3/5)
Overall Impression: Dark rich with all appropriate flavors. Bit rough of a finish, aging may help. (5/10)

Judge #2: 32/50

Aroma: Raisins, Marshmellow, Malty. Nice! (10/12)
Appearance: Brown with slight haze (2/3)
Flavor: Malt & rasins with malty finish. Alcohol evident, some heat in aftertaste. Spicy with some phenols, appropriate for style. (12/20)
Mouthfeel: Medium. Med-high carbonation, appropriate for style. (3/5)
Overall Impression: A very good representation of the style, however the alcohol heat takes away from the smoothness. Needs more malt dextrins for smoothness. Possibly aging this would improve it also. Well done! (5/10)

Malady Abbey Brown: 34.5 Overall

Judge #1: 34/50 (Recognized BJCP Judge)

Aroma: Rich malty aroma, cherry ester aromas, light spicy phenol aroma. No hop aroma, no alcohol or solvent. (8/12)
Appearance: Deep amber, thick long lasting off-white head, clear (3/3)
Flavor: Light malt flavor - may need a touch more flavor. Balanced to a bit sweet with a vanishing (?) finish (14/20)
Mouthfeel: Light body, smooth, no alcohol warmth, high carbonation (3/5)
Overall Impression: Great aroma but a bit light in malts. May need a bit more grain. Clean (6/12)

Judge #2: 35/50

Aroma: Malt, esters, clean! spicy (9/12)
Appearance: Copper, nice & clear! Looks good! (3/3)
Flavor: Malty sweet with some lingering sweetness in the finish. Alcohol is in background, where it belongs. A smooth finish that makes you want more. Possibly a bit high on the maltiness (15/20)
Mouthfeel: Medium Lign, I wonder if the gravity is on the low side for style. (4/5)
Overall Impression: Very clean, smooth, and correct style. Alcohol is soft and brew is malty. Good example of style, though more complexity would make this better. Possibly ferment a few degrees warmer, or use a more assertive / complex yeast. Nicely done. (8/10)

So there it is. Neither of my dubbels did bad, but they clearly preferred the Abbey Brown. I wonder if they drank the TnT earlier than the Malady, because when it is too cold its character doesn’t shine through as well. God knows, I am convinced that your placement in the sampling chronology and a bit of luck is a huge contributor to the scores - Go too early and your beer will be cold (maybe too cold), but the judges will be reluctant to give high scores because they don’t know what is coming next. Get shoved to the end, and the judges palates could be completely overloaded, and they’ll barely taste your beer.

My 3rd place for the Abbey Brown won me a free vial of White Labs and some Brewer’s Gold hops. No clue what we got for the Barleywine, but I’m not too worried about it.

So little time, so much to do. I’m not sure where it all goes, but I won’t be torturing you all with a lengthy blow by blow. Instead, consider this post more of a drive-by.

• I suck as a hop grower. I must the only man on the planet that can’t grow Cascade… but that’s probably because I’m trying to do it on a 3′ high fence. My Liberty hops were totally decimated by beetles. My Nuggets did OK despite everything.
• I’m brewing 15 gallons of Choking Sun Stout this weekend. Woot.
• I’ve got mad amounts of beer in kegs and bottles downstairs.
• I took 3rd for my Abbey Brown and a joint 3rd with my buddy Brian for our Gnarleywine in a competition on Saturday. Read Brian’s blog for details.
• I totally loathe coming up with tap handle labels anymore. I’m not sure why. Two of my taps currently have “Saturday IPA” and “Peated Scottish” written on the back of a business card. Fancy, huh?
• I won’t be making the club meeting this Month. Gotta drive to NY to help my parents move that weekend.

So no, I’m not dead. I’m just up to my eyeballs in crap. I’ve been doing freebee development work for Donna’s old boss in Atlanta for the past few weeks, and I think I finally got that monkey off my back… so more I should have more time to blog and bore you all with my activities soon enough.