Re: let's brew the same batch and compare

dkwandt Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:56 pm

an alt is fine with me now we need to agree on a recipe, i might just have to do a cali common anyway!

who wants to do an alt, please remember we need both extract and all grain for the recipe.

ryanjilek Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:13 pm

Glad you are interested Jon... I was going to sign you up anyway! Very Happy

Jon Fri Dec 10, 2010 10:01 pm

I may be interested in doing an Alt.

dkwandt Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:11 pm

i agree you can use ale yeaast for an alt, and a cali common. BJCP states in both cases lager yeast is common

i am partial to these malt forward beers so i will go for anyof them.

so i will vote for a California Common, or am ESB

randi philleo Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:00 pm

But you can use any of these yeasts; 1010 - American Wheat, 1338 - European Ale, 2565 - Kölsch, or 1007 - German Ale. The lowest high temperature is the German Ale and its still 68. I believe the Altbier is best done between 60-65°F.

dkwandt Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:56 pm

i was thinking that, but again it typically is a lager yeast

randi philleo Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:54 pm

How bout a good ol' German Altbier?

Beer Dealer Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:12 pm

i will vote against wheats but im not the only one...i use wheat just dont like hefe's or such

dkwandt Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:11 pm

i will have that at christmas (i think it was one of 3 things i asked for)

i just kegged 4 pale ales, i did a 11 gallon batch and split it four ways. used 2 different yeasts, and 5.5 gallons had a 10 min whirlpool hop addition. i can't wait until Jan 4th, we are going try to compare and contrast and the formal meeting!

Shaggy Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:07 pm

I have a copy of "Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew", I can grab recipes from that book as well.

I am good with any style. I am bottling an English Pale Ale from that book tonight actually.

Shaggy

dkwandt Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:49 pm

8C. Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) (ESB)

or a

15A. Weizen/Weissbier

dkwandt Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:42 pm

i guess both of the ones i suggested are lager yeasts, so, maybe not the best first beer.

i will search as well.

Beer Dealer Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:03 pm

I'm in also...and like Ryan said about brew dates and schedules...we could have a ten day or two week window to get the brew done.. and then 8 or ten weeks for the finish meeting...and the style i am open and will look..i have not doen a cali common so that would be interesting but thats lager not?? ale would be best bet first time and then later do a lager..i'll look for a recipe and if we all post one then we'll decide...fuunn Jeff

ryanjilek Thu Dec 09, 2010 1:52 pm

I'm good with the BYO style profile recipe too. That would be a good start. I also like the competition idea as well. It is a good way of validating and grounding our impressions of the brew.

I'll do some BYO profile searching and see if there is something that catches my eye. I think either of your suggestions would be fine too, Dennis. Hopefully a few others will chime in here too.

dkwandt Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:39 am

I say we go will a BYO style profile recipe. He has it broke down into 5 gallon recipes with both extract and all grain.

I would really love to do the California Common! The Baltic porter looked tasty as well. Let’s start with suggestions on the style, and then we can get a recipe!

see if we go with a style profile, i think it gives us a great idea of what we are supposed to be getting when we brew that beer, and we can compare the to style and overall impression. i just think it is going to be fun

i am all for entering it into competitions (as long as i like it i will enter it)

ryanjilek Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:28 am

Dennis, I've been meaning to respond to this topic since it was first posted and I always seem to be on the move somewhere and can't give it the full attention. Anyway, I think this is a great idea and would be a great way for our respective 'clubs' to get involved with each other. This certainly doesn't need to mean that there can't be multiple entries from members in the same clubs. So I would like to be involved some way. I would think that I can drag a couple of our club members along for the ride as well.

That being said, I think that we should conjure up a recipe that would provide the most usable feedback for brewers. Picking a pretty typical style and finding a recipe for that might benefit the most from our comparative brew. Once we get a few brewers together to brew it up I think it would be good to have a couple of extract versions as well as all grain versions. Like you said, the all grain side has so many variable beyond the actual recipe that it would be very interesting to see what differences the process has on the finished product.

From the overall analysis of the brews it would be nice to see and taste the differences and it would maybe spark interest in some brewers to move to all-grain, etc. It could possibly persuade some mashers to try extract again since there has been many developments in malt extracts and the quality is definitely much better than when I started. It would make for a good club meeting too. You could do a blind taste test first and let the beer speak for itself and see what rankings they get before pouring and analyzing them based on recipe and process. Sounds like fun!

Lets get talking on it and see where it goes. I'm guessing we would have to leave the brew date fairly loose as schedules are a pain this time of year. Bottles would be good for portability too. This could maybe make for some interesting New Years brewing parties! Better get cracking!

Ryan :cheers:

Shaggy Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:24 am

Count me in.

I do all grain fly sparging via plastic bucket system. I'll either use the PHC club yeast starter or a Wyeast smack pack of the type of yeast we will use.

I also would like to suggest entering a couple bottles into an area competition of each brew to see what judges think also. We can compare judges notes as well then. There is one in Duluth coming up in Feb. I will be entering some other beer into that competition as well.

http://www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_schedule/competition_schedule.php

Keep me posted on any info.

thanks for the invitation

Shaggy

dkwandt Mon Dec 06, 2010 10:34 pm

Jeff and I want to do a brew we are open at this point as to what kind. We want to do you to do the same recipe and then we all swap and compare notes. Jeff and I are mashers but that doesn't mean more mashers can't join in on this. We hope a few of you would be up for trying such a deal. Here is the idea.

1. Agree on the same recipe either established (our preference for this one) or designed.
2. Pick a brew day (or week) we can all talk how the brew is going respectively.
3. I think for this one bottles would work best.
4. Finally swap

Ok you may be wondering what the differences might be. well we hall have different systems, so mash maybe be different (we try to match but we would be recirculation our mash and you may have to batch sparge) also you may not be an, all grain brewer in which case the equivalent extract would be the way you go, and steeping grains. Then there is fermentation, we would all use the same yeast, but I use a starter with a spin plate, you may just choose to pitch a single vile or smack pack. Then there is fermentation. You may have better control over fermentation than someone else (huge difference maybe) I think we would agree on a temp to shoot for as well. It would give us a good dialog to discuss differences and similarities. Like I ferment for 12-14 days and you maybe one who checks daily with your hydrometer. I don't use a secondary typically, I think these little things may make a noticeable difference and I hope you would sign on to the challenge!

Sponsored content