Overachiever Imperial Mild - We're Back in Business

Darren at MoreBeer in Concord came through in a big way. He repaired, free of charge and in a day, the electrical wiring on the hot liquor tank. We're back in business! Fire good!
We managed to work in a brew session this past weekend. The planned beer was an English mild with an estimated OG of 1.038 and 18ish IBUs. Our typical efficiency ranges from 65% - 70%.

Prior to dough in, two changes were made. One subtle and one not so subtle. The first was to slightly crank down on the grain mill's gap size in order to get a slightly finer crush. The second was to increase the water to grain ratio from 1.25 qt / lb to 1.75 qt / lb. (A comment was made on a message board that based on research and experimentation, a thin mash like this does wonders. Reference to Kai Troester)




The combined effect of these changes on efficiency was stunning. Instead of 65% - 70% efficency, we achieved 88%. Pre-boil gravity of the (almost) 12 gal of runoff was in the low 1.040s. As a result, I added an ounce of hops at 30 minutes to bump up the IBUs. Gravity of the post-boil wort going into the conical was 1.052.

Given the gravity and IBUs, this is certainly no longer a mild and is more like an English brown ale in terms of style. However, it's much more fun (and probably inaccurate) to say that we brewed an Imperial Mild! Can't wait to taste Overachiever in a couple of weeks.

Brewing Equipment Finally Repaired!

Just need to run to Concord to pick it up. I look forward to finally being able to brew with some precision again! Winging it is fine once in a while, but I guess I'm spoiled.

First up, an English mild. Formerly known as Girlie Getaway Mild, I'll have to come up with a different name since this wouldn't be brewed for a Girlie Getaway Weekend for LN. Suggestions? Maybe I can crow bar in a brew session this weekend... Second up, the Ridiculous Russian Imperial Stout that was postponed due to broken equipment?

Very stoked.

2009 MoreBeer Forum Competition

It's been a while since the blog has been updated. The wiring on the brew sculpture needs to be soldered and until that's done, brewing has been minimal.




However, yesterday we received some fantastic news. Our RIS has taken the Best of Show award at the MoreBeer Forum Competition. Further, our sweet potato (spiced pumpkin) barleywine placed first in its category. As the BOS winner, we'll be the first to receive MoreBeer's newly redesigned 12.2 gal stainless steel conical fermenter!

The BOS award is, by far, the best award we've received to date as not only were there 242 other entries from other brewers, but the caliber of brewers was extremely high. Check out the names on that winners list!

Wow. Competition Scoring is Crazy. (Finally Finished!)

There's no old ale left. Or, at least, not enough to enter into any additional competitions. Think there may be 6oz or so in a bottle buried in my chest freezer...

What follows is a complete history of all competitions entered with the old ale. I started keeping track because I couldn't understand the huge scoring swing between competitions 1 and 2. Competition 2 excluded, scores have been pretty consistent.

The old ale was originally brewed in December of 2007 and the beer held up pretty well throughout. I think it peaked in late 2008.

History of competition entries for the Old Ale.

Comp 1:

Score 42 (1st in class)


Comp 2 (2008 NHC 1st Round):

Score 27


Comp 3:

Score 36 (2nd in class)


Comp 4:

Score 41 (1st in class)


Comp 5 (CA State Homebrewing Competition):

Score 42 (Best of Show)


Comp 6 (2009 NHC 1st Round):

Score 44

Comp 7 (2009 CA State Fair):

Score 27 & 28 (?) (2nd in class)

Comp 8 (2009 LongShot):

Score 36.5 (2nd in class)

Darkest Night RRIS

I plan on brewing a RRIS (Ridiculous Russian Imperial Stout). Something along the lines of 15-17% ABV with over 125 IBUs. I've never done something like this before and don't even know what the end result will be (or should be). Process wise I don't know if I can ferment a beer that big and have it turn out drinkable. I've scaled up the Dark Day RIS recipe and have been researching a number of different things including "reiterated" mashing. This will be educational to say the least. More to come in the coming weeks...

2009 CA State Fair Homebrew Competition

And we were also lucky enough to win three more awards at the 2009 CA State Fair Homebrew Competition. A 1st and two 2nd place awards for our RIS, Old Ale and Cream Ale (v 2.0) respectively.

2009 Sam Adams LongShot Competiton

Raz's Fine Ales is pleased to announce that our Traditional Bock placed first in the 2009 Sam Adams LongShot Competition (Western Region). Very exciting!

What A Messed Up Brew Day

Thanks to Todd for helping me get through the day.

In order of occurrence:

My inventory schedule had not been updated and I didn’t have enough pilsner malt that the recipe called for.

Substituted in Maris Otter and forgot to set aside additional grain, Munich malt, accounting for 25% of the total grain bill.

Overshot, temperature wise, the water in the mash tun. On the plus side, I had a chance to review my recipe and noticed I forgot the Munich malt.

I had a thick mash, not sure exactly why (other than the obvious use of too little water), and this caused problems circulating the wort.

The digitial controller I use to monitor mash tun temperature was not matching up with the temperature probe in the mash tun. Temperatures were also not increasing when adding water prior to draining into the kettle. Or rather, temperatures were not registering as increasing. Never did achieve a mash out at 168 (as read by both the controller and probe).

Drained mash tun until boil volume reached. Took 40-45 minutes. Preboil gravity missed by 20 points. Just left it alone. (I didn’t add DME but in retrospect probably should have). I did nothing different, compared to what I normally do, and am stumped as to why this happened…

I attempted, for the first time, the use of a whirlpool in conjunction with an immersion chiller. Disconnects running out of the boil kettle and the pump immediately clogged with hop debris when trying to circulate boiling wort. Not sure how I’m going to attempt a fix here. Hop bag?

After boil was complete, went to plug in the submersible pump (used to circulate ice water through the immersion chiller) and water being picked up by the pump immediately blasted out of the side of the pump rather than push it through the chiller. A small plastic piece near a screw was somehow broken off where the pump’s top and bottom halves seal together resulting in a total loss of pressure. After 15 minutes of applying duct tape, managed to get some water circulating and barely achieved a decent yeast pitching temperature.

Because the kettle and pump disconnects were clogged, rather than transferring the wort to the conical fermenter using the pump, I simply dumped everything in. It will all settle out but what a pain in the ass.

Ugh.

Is there any way this will turn out to be a decent brew? We'll wait and see...

2009 Mayfaire Competition Results - Follow Up

Not only will I not be receiving decent feedback, as it turns out, I will not be receiving any feedback. Apparently a number of beers in the IPA category, including mine, were not judged. Essentially I sent a bunch of people I don't know free beer and even got to pay for shipping/handling/packaging materials. I'm not thrilled...

A Little More Clarity. But Just a Little.

2009 National Homebrew Competition 1st round (regional) results have finally been released. This lends a little bit of clarity as to how my beers did in the competition.

My top three scores were:

Old Ale - 44
RIS - 43
Cream Ale - 40.5

In looking at the results, each of these was the highest in the various categories Strong Ale (18 entries), Stout (40 entries) and Light Hybrid Beer (33 entries), respectively. That is something I'm quite proud of.

However, it's a shame that I don't know anything else about where they were in terms of flight position, how they did in a mini Best of Show, or even if they advanced to a mini Best of Show.

Better get to work now trying to figure out a way to get into that elusive second round in next year's competition...