MY HOPS ARE UP
cream ale is still bubbling. didnt think it would go this long being .040
4-18-11 quite a few things.
First. finally kegged the cream ale finished out at .006 is cleared pretty good but had a way to go. Has a slight slight taste reminesint to the cream of three. Must be the rice. good beer so far.
The Duck Creek Pale is finally coming around. Is just what I wanted. And not changing anything. and will call this recipe FINISHED. The entire keg is gone. have 3 bottle for the Open, and maybe the other ones left.
On to the English Brown. at first I thought it was thin. but after another week in the bottle I am changing my mind, maybe in another week it will be better yet.
I thought it was too light, but its is a nice nice brown in a glass.
but the taste is missing the points that i was looking for. needs more bready type flavor. its good as is, but not what I wanted. will try more busuit malt next time. maybe slightly more choc
4-30-11
Well the 2011 Titletown Open homebrew competition was this week end. of course at the Titletown brewing Co. It is put on by the Green Bay Rackers. I was steward for all three rounds. I love stewarding. You hear so much stuff about what beers should or shouldnt be, and what and what not to do to your beers.
This year I entered 3 beers. An American Pale Ale, an American Stout, and an English Mild.
The Pale ale didnt fair so well. Dont get me wrong here, its a great beer,, but not for the category. I made this one for me. I dont like bitter hopped beers so I moved most of the additions to the last 10 and 1 minutes. I got all kinds of flavors and aromas, just not bitter. Exactly the way I wanted it.
The American Stout was brewed specifically for this competition. I wanted something that I knew would be in style. I came up a bit short with this one took a second in the style. But fantastic because this is my first win of any kind!
The Mild, was actually not even going to go into the contest, because two people that tried it hated it. Albeit neither of them like beer in the first place… but I liked it so i put it in just to see what it would get since I had just made it, and the recipe was made on the fly as i was in the homebrew store. Well it ended up taking first in its category, and Best of Show!
It was the only Mild entered so I kinda knew it was mine the whole time. My god is it rough sitting there listening to the judges go thru there paces with the finals. Like someone mentioned, we should have videod (sp?) the table talk of the finals. so interesting how they bat everything back and forth trying to come to a decision. The good points, the bad points, their immpression of intent and interpretation on t he guidelines. just an amazing process.
All In all I am extremely happy with the results. Every brewer in the contest is a great brewer, and I’m glad I could compete with them.
Back to brewing. Summer beers are up next.
So, I need to name it…
**Officially named the mild… Old Republic Brown
9stripe Brewing 