2016 Beehive Brew Off
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It was awesome having you there. They mentioned it at the awards ceremony that stewarding was better this year than it has ever been and I can say for sure it was better than last year. The two ladies from Idaho who drove down to help were awesome. Really we were all on it and helped make the judging move along nice and smooth. It was also cool having the Steward beer tasting area with us all comparing notes and trying so many beers. It wasn't like that last year.
I know you were thinking of becoming a certified judge and I think I'm gonna try to finally do it this year. There are actually two other brew competitions in Utah, the Lagerpalooza, an all Lager competition organized by Salt City Brew Supply owner Cody and hosted at the Bohemian, fitting, since they're an all Lager brewpub about 1/2 mile from the Salt City Brew Supply store. And there's also an October brew comp at the Grace Lutheran Church somewhere. Both are much smaller than the Beehive Brew Off.
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That sounds like a pretty good beer, seriously.
Posted this last year after the Brew Off. To those who won the Bitter category last year, thank you for the motivation!
addictionary
Well-Known Member
Congratulations!
Thanks
Okay, so I'm gearing up for the 2017 Beehive Brewoff.
Today I kegged all of my bitters. I think my Ordinary Bitter, "Worker Bee Bitter" is the best beer I've ever made. I mean that in a competition sense, as in it meets all the style guidelines for an Ordinary Bitter really well. But it also tastes awesome.
So I will have a total of 7 entries.
YES (Young's Extra Special) - Strong Bitter
I'll tell the story at the bottom, it's boring.
Anyway, this is a British style Pale Ale, has some fruity ester flavors (kind of peachy), stronger than normal in this guy for what I usually do, as well as a good compliment of malt and caramel. This one finished with a very low gravity and higher alcohol level than intended, so you can taste a bit of alcohol, but that is a plus as far as the style guidelines go.
Queen Bee - Best Bitter
I had to re-brew the YES so I actually did not make a batch for this beer. Instead I combined the Worker Bee Bitter and YES to make this beer. Making two different beers from the same mash is called a parti-gyle, not sure what making three beers from two different brews is called, probably a menage-a-trois-gyle, but I haven't looked it up.
Worker Bee Bitter - Ordinary Bitter
This is a low alcohol beer intended for long drinking sessions. In my humble opinion this is the best beer I've ever made.
Third Cousin - Scottish Export Ale
One of my favorite beers. An easy drinking, malt focused beer that has nice brown malt notes. I like this one, but I'm afraid it finishes a little too dry.
Pistol Porter - English Porter
A dark beer that instead of being roasty and bitter is velvety smooth and chocolaty.
Bulletproof Blond - American Blond Ale
A really light and simple beer. Tastes a bit malty sweet, not because it is sweet but because the hop bitterness is very low.
So my boring story now...
Okay, maybe later. Not feeling it right now.
Today I kegged all of my bitters. I think my Ordinary Bitter, "Worker Bee Bitter" is the best beer I've ever made. I mean that in a competition sense, as in it meets all the style guidelines for an Ordinary Bitter really well. But it also tastes awesome.
So I will have a total of 7 entries.
YES (Young's Extra Special) - Strong Bitter
I'll tell the story at the bottom, it's boring.
Anyway, this is a British style Pale Ale, has some fruity ester flavors (kind of peachy), stronger than normal in this guy for what I usually do, as well as a good compliment of malt and caramel. This one finished with a very low gravity and higher alcohol level than intended, so you can taste a bit of alcohol, but that is a plus as far as the style guidelines go.
Queen Bee - Best Bitter
I had to re-brew the YES so I actually did not make a batch for this beer. Instead I combined the Worker Bee Bitter and YES to make this beer. Making two different beers from the same mash is called a parti-gyle, not sure what making three beers from two different brews is called, probably a menage-a-trois-gyle, but I haven't looked it up.
Worker Bee Bitter - Ordinary Bitter
This is a low alcohol beer intended for long drinking sessions. In my humble opinion this is the best beer I've ever made.
Third Cousin - Scottish Export Ale
One of my favorite beers. An easy drinking, malt focused beer that has nice brown malt notes. I like this one, but I'm afraid it finishes a little too dry.
Pistol Porter - English Porter
A dark beer that instead of being roasty and bitter is velvety smooth and chocolaty.
Bulletproof Blond - American Blond Ale
A really light and simple beer. Tastes a bit malty sweet, not because it is sweet but because the hop bitterness is very low.
So my boring story now...
Okay, maybe later. Not feeling it right now.
Kind of a down year. I had 7 entries and took first in the British Bitter with my Best Bitter "Queen Bee" and first in English Brown beer with my English Porter "Pistol Porter." No other medals.
I have some learning to do as far as modifying RO water, but I think I'll have it worked out before next year's comp and I think I will do significantly better.
I have some learning to do as far as modifying RO water, but I think I'll have it worked out before next year's comp and I think I will do significantly better.
The Pistol Porter sounds really good.
I understand the reasoning behind using RO water. Start with the most pure version possible. I have used it extensively in the past in another hobby but you are right in that "reconstituting" RO water, there are a lot of pitfalls and it can get quite technical. In all honesty, I found that except for very special reasons, Utah water is actually pretty awesome right out of the tap. Maybe just run it through a carbon filter to remove minor contaminants or "tastes".
Yeah, Utah water is not bad at all. But there are optipns that modified RO water provides. By controlling sulfates, for example, you can accentuate bitterness and give the beer a dryer finish. Chlorides emphasize the malty flavors. Etc.
Diffetent styles can benefit from different water profiles. I don't want to go backwards on that. It's just a lot to learn and a lot of trial and error.
I've decided I'm going to join a brew club. There are a few good ones, but I think the best organized and most competition focused one is Lauter Day Brewers. They also have a few perks that will more than make up for the membership fee. Plus, since they are fairly competition brewing oriented I think they'll be happy to have me. It'll be a win-win.
I also plan to be a certified beer judge before the next brew-off.
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This will be the 10th anniversary of the Beehive Brew Off. They are doing a few special things this year, one of which is a Brewer of the Year award. I've got my gameface on and I'm gunning for that award.
I've started gearing up for this year's Beehive Brew Off! I've got my Porter in the fermentor now and I'll be brewing YES (Strong Bitter aka ESB) this weekend. I'm planning to enter 7 beers again. I think I've got my water modification game tuned in a little better and I hope to do well. I've kind of gone through "learning" years and "winning" years as far as the competition is concerned and I feel like this is a winning year. 2015 I switched to an electric brew system which was a major change from my previous process, learning year. Only a Silver for a Scottish ale and Bronze for a Strong Ale. 2016 I won six medals (if they had brewer of the year that year I would have won it) with 2 golds, 2 silver a bronze and third place Best of Show. Last year I switched to RO water, 2 medals (both gold, not bad). This year I've got practice with my RO water and I haven't made any other major changes.
https://www.beernut.com/beercomp/
I've started gearing up for this year's Beehive Brew Off! I've got my Porter in the fermentor now and I'll be brewing YES (Strong Bitter aka ESB) this weekend. I'm planning to enter 7 beers again. I think I've got my water modification game tuned in a little better and I hope to do well. I've kind of gone through "learning" years and "winning" years as far as the competition is concerned and I feel like this is a winning year. 2015 I switched to an electric brew system which was a major change from my previous process, learning year. Only a Silver for a Scottish ale and Bronze for a Strong Ale. 2016 I won six medals (if they had brewer of the year that year I would have won it) with 2 golds, 2 silver a bronze and third place Best of Show. Last year I switched to RO water, 2 medals (both gold, not bad). This year I've got practice with my RO water and I haven't made any other major changes.
https://www.beernut.com/beercomp/
Every year I think I'll have more time and will start brewing and have something to enter in this even if just very basic. But it never happens.
Anyways I signed up to steward again. I also told them I would like to judge but have not officially done it and am definitely a beginner. But if they wanted help and were willing to pair me with more experience judges I would like to do that. If not I'm happy to just steward.
Anyways I signed up to steward again. I also told them I would like to judge but have not officially done it and am definitely a beginner. But if they wanted help and were willing to pair me with more experience judges I would like to do that. If not I'm happy to just steward.
I'm considering if I want to judge this year. I'm just worried I'd suck at it. Plus it seems like a lot of work, especially if you do both days.
They didn't seem to care of people were beginners or not good at it last time I went. So I'm willing to try. I have been trying to practice judging with the sheets on my own. But generally they put a good judge on a team with beginners. I assume If I judged I would lean on the grades more. I would just like the experience and see if I'm any good at it.
It does sound like a lot of work but I don't mind being there all day.
I have been brewing like a madman. From May 20th to today I have brewed 60 gallons of beer. I have two more batches to go, one this weekend and another next weekend. That will be 80 gallons in two months! With my current set-up that's pretty much my max output.
Not normally a problem, but I'm not going to have a place to put it all and get all the different batches bottled for the brew off. Next weekend I'm going to bottle the better part of 20 gallons. Some of the bottles will be my Beehive Brew-off entries but most of them will be me trying to empty kegs and clear space so I can get the next group of beers chilled, carb'd and cleared so that they can be bottled in time.
This first set is:
Pistol Porter: English Porter. 5.4%ABV, 20IBUs, 21SRM
YES: British Strong Bitter. 6.2%ABV, 50IBUs, 10SRM
Queen Bee Bitter: British Best Bitter. 5.3%ABV, 40IBUs, 10.5SRM
Worker Bee Bitter: British Ordinary Bitter. 3.8ABV, 36IBUs, 14SRM
If you are a regular poster here and might be interested in receiving an assortment of beers PM me and I'll give you some details.
Second set, which will be ready late July will be:
Third Cousin: Scottish Export Ale. estimated 6%ABV, 20IBUs, 18SRM (fermenting now, keg 7-7)
Young's Extra Strong: English Strong Ale. estimated 9%ABV, 58IBUs, 22SRM (fermenting now, keg 7-14)
Great Australian Bite*: Australian Sparkling Ale. estimated 5%ABV, 40IBUs,4.4SRM (Brew 7-8)
Young's Golden Ale*: British Golden Ale. Estimated 5%ABV, 40IBUs, 4.4SRM (Brew 7-8)
Underway IPA: English IPA. estimated 7.8%ABV, 62IBUs, 8SRM (Brew 7-15)
*Same brew with different carbonation levels and different keg hops
Not normally a problem, but I'm not going to have a place to put it all and get all the different batches bottled for the brew off. Next weekend I'm going to bottle the better part of 20 gallons. Some of the bottles will be my Beehive Brew-off entries but most of them will be me trying to empty kegs and clear space so I can get the next group of beers chilled, carb'd and cleared so that they can be bottled in time.
This first set is:
Pistol Porter: English Porter. 5.4%ABV, 20IBUs, 21SRM
YES: British Strong Bitter. 6.2%ABV, 50IBUs, 10SRM
Queen Bee Bitter: British Best Bitter. 5.3%ABV, 40IBUs, 10.5SRM
Worker Bee Bitter: British Ordinary Bitter. 3.8ABV, 36IBUs, 14SRM
If you are a regular poster here and might be interested in receiving an assortment of beers PM me and I'll give you some details.
Second set, which will be ready late July will be:
Third Cousin: Scottish Export Ale. estimated 6%ABV, 20IBUs, 18SRM (fermenting now, keg 7-7)
Young's Extra Strong: English Strong Ale. estimated 9%ABV, 58IBUs, 22SRM (fermenting now, keg 7-14)
Great Australian Bite*: Australian Sparkling Ale. estimated 5%ABV, 40IBUs,4.4SRM (Brew 7-8)
Young's Golden Ale*: British Golden Ale. Estimated 5%ABV, 40IBUs, 4.4SRM (Brew 7-8)
Underway IPA: English IPA. estimated 7.8%ABV, 62IBUs, 8SRM (Brew 7-15)
*Same brew with different carbonation levels and different keg hops
Make any mead from honey????
then why use the beehive branding? I think this is flagrantly false and misleading advertising
I will speak to Rubashov from Shyster, Shyster and Shyster about these deceptive trade practices...
Utah is the Beehive State