Posts Tagged ‘Homebrew competition’
Third Annual Homebrew Competition Details
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
OK homebrewers, it’s getting to that time of year again, time for the Annual Oliver’s Homebrew Competition. The premise is simple … it’s tough coming up with so many seasonal one off brews, so why not let someone else do the work! I invite all of you homebrewers to submit a beer that you think would fit well with our line-up at the Pratt Street Ale House … there are no style guidelines, you can brew whatever you’d like, just be aware that we will be judging based on what we think would compliment our other beers and will be cost effective to brew (so if you’re using rare flowers that you handpicked on your recent trip to Kilimanjaro, we’re not going to choose it, no matter how good the brew is!) Obviously we’re probably going to brew it with our house yeast strain unless there’s another strain readily available at low additional cost (and remember, it’s all open fermentation here so we don’t want any crazy yeast strains floating around)! This is the third year we’ve run the competition. The first year’s winner was an American style brown ale, last year’s winner was a bitter brewed with black tea (read more about it here). You could be joining us for 2011′s brew which will be released as part of our celebrations for Baltimore Beer Week in October. The brew will be available on tap at the Ale House and other local outlets such as Max’s and will be featured at our stand at The Brewer’s Association Oktoberfest and The Real Ale Festival. Fame if not fortune could be yours … I noticed that last year’s winner Judy got some screen time on the recent “Brewed On The Bay” documentary as we poured her “High tea” at last year’s Oktoberfest. You also get a keg of the brew to take home. The deadline for drop off is Friday August 19th either here at The Ale House or at Maryland Homebrew in Columbia. Judging will be early the following week and, their schedules permitting, I will again be joined by Brian Strumke and Nick Liechty for the judging. Please submit a copy of the recipe with your brew, we obviously will take into account the nature of the ingredients as well as the beer itself when making our decision. Good luck!
Last year's winner, Judy, with Bruce & myself at last year's "High Tea" cask night at Metropolitan
Hey Homebrewers, your Galaxy needs you! It’s The Clone Wars!
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Are you a homebrewer, then read on! If you’re not, read on anyway, get inspired and join a homebrew club! For the last couple of years we’ve had the pleasure of running a “Clone Wars” homebrew competition in conjunction with the fine folks at The Chesapeake Real Ale Brewers Society (CRABS). The premise is simple … I provide the recipe of one of my beers and all of the technical information and our house yeast strain for those who want it and you, the homebrewer, goes away and tries to clone it … extract or grain brews are equaly acceptable. Myself, Justin (co-owner of the Ale House) and whomever else we can drag into helping (I’m looking at you Mr. Brad Klipner) will judge all of the entries in a single sitting and select the top three that best represent my original brew. Simple, eh? We’ve got some cool prizes and further details can be found here. To get you in the mood, present the recipe and answer any questions that you may have we’ll be holding a 3 Lions Happy Hour on February 1st, 6-9pm at The Pratt Street Ale House … 3 Lions (cask and draft) will be, you guessed, it $3/pint for those entering the competition. You don’t have to be a member of one of the participating homebrew clubs to get involved, independent homebrewers are very welcome. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the Happy Hour, you can still compete … contact Brandon at CRABS (see the embedded link for details).
More Tea Vicar?
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
Apologies if you don’t “get” the title of this post … it’s an English thing! Today was the day … brew day for homebrew competition winner Judy’s “High Tea”, a special bitter brewed with black tea. The thing that first attracted me to this brew was, well, tea! It’s not rocket science. I’m English, I like tea … lots of it! I’ve never brewed using tea and, I have to admit, it’s never really crossed my mind before so when I saw Judy’s recipe it intrigued me. When I tasted her homebrew I liked what I tasted … a balanced bitter with a definite but not overwhelming presence of tea. There were some strong entries to the homebrew competition this year and Judy’s entry was neck and neck with an excellent Pale Ale through the judging but the “tea factor” won us over in the end. The malt grist was also quite different to anything that I would have come up with. The base malt was an English Pale Ale Malt ( we use Halcyon from Thomas Fawcett & Sons in Castleford, England) with the addition of Crystal 60, Belgian Biscuit and Cara Munich 60 (none of which I regularly use). Although Judy’s homebrew submission lacked a little of the color and body that the recipe on paper promised (possibly because of the dilution factor introduced by steeping the tea and adding it post fermentation), the recipe suggested a strong Autumnal brew. After a few e-mail exchanges with Judy we finalised a slightly modified recipe with the original proportions of the malt grist being retained but the overall malt bill being increased from Judy’s 1.042 gravity to 1.052 (though we actually hit 1.054). Judy originally used commercial tea-bags for her homebrew (Tetley I think, Judy can correct me if I’m wrong). In the spirit of supporting our fellow local businesses we opted to purchase tea from Zeke’s Coffee Roasters. You may be familiar with these guys for their excellent coffee but they also sell many wonderful teas ( I regularly buy their Earl Grey from the Farmer’s Market, it’s hands down the best I’ve had locally). Ingredients purchased we began our work day in earnest … but first … what better way to start the day with a nice cup of tea, ah delicious … after all, we had to know the ingredient we were dealing with!
Start the day with a refreshing cuppa!
We mashed in at a little after 7am, aiming for a mash temperature of 152F. The mash was left to stand for 90 minutes before transfer to the brew kettle. As you may already know the mash system is a single step infusion mash, the milled grain being dropped into the mash tun (via the auger) with the hot liquor and manually mixed.
Judy mashes-in!
Adding leaf hops (Kent Goldings) to the hop percolator.
The wort was tested for clarity and taste (excellent on both counts) and was run into the kettle over a period of about 3 hours. Shortly after the collection volume was achieved the wort came to the boil and the bittering hops were added (Target & Kent Goldings).
Adding P90 pellet hops to the boiling wort.
The wort was boiled for one hour and late hops (UK Fuggles) were added 10 minutes before boil end. Of course during the boil time the mash had to be removed and the mash tun cleaned in preparation for the next brew … hello free labor!
dig, dig, dig (and she's still smiling)!
and scrub, scrub, scrub (and she's still smiling, what's wrong with this woman?)
After the end of the boil we added a portion of our tea to the hot wort to steep until transfer to fermentation vessel. We collected the wort at 71F and pitched with our trusty Oliver Ale (Ringwood) yeast.
Mmmmm .... tea ....
Our collection gravity was 1.054 and we’ll be aiming for about 5.5% abv. After primary fermentation we’ll assess the degree to which the tea is present in the brew and if required we’ll steep a further amount of tea in the conditioning tank. My hope is that we’ll finish with a great Autumnal brew of a beautiful deep amber to red color with a strong malt backbone with hints of caramel and toffee from the colored malts and a subtle flavor of black tea on the palate at the finish. We’ll be releasing the beer around the time of Baltimore Beer Week though, who knows, maybe a cask will make an early appearance at The Union Mills Homestead Microbrew Fest.
Thanks to Judy for her recipe and enthusiasm.
Cheers
Steve
Homebrew Competition Details (revisited)
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Those of you with elephantine memories may recall our previous homebrew competition. O.K., it was only last year but a lot of beer has flowed since then, it seems like an age ago! For those of you new to the blog follow this link http://www.prattstreetalehouse.com/2009/09/home-brewing-but-not-at-home/ . We’re doing the same this year, inviting all you homebrewer’s to brew something that would fit in with our tap line-up at The Pratt Street Ale House. You can brew as an individual or group, doesn’t matter to us. What is important is that the beer is commercially viable. We’ll brew 7 barrels of it and it will be launched at the start of Baltimore Beer Week at the Ale House on cask and on draft. It will feature at the B.A.M. Oktoberfest and no doubt at a few bars/events around town. Think about the types of hops/grain/special ingredients in terms of availability and cost with regards to a 7 barrel brew length. Obviously we do English style ales here although we have used Belgian Ale Yeast a couple of times recently so that isn’t out of the question, as long as we can get the yeast at the right price (ie free!) I’d like to have all of the entries in by mid August. Judging will be held the following week with a view to brewing mid September. We won’t be judging to any set style parameters, what we’re looking for is a great product that will compliment our existing range of brews on tap. Ideally I’d like to have at least a dozen samples to judge, you’re not restricted to one brew, if you want to brew a couple of different options, that’s fine. We ask that you provide a recipe with your entry and while I would prefer all grain brews, extract brews will be accepted provided that the brewer provide both the original recipe and a recipe conversion to all grain. You may use our yeast if you wish, contact me to arrange to pick up samples. If you have any further questions please e-mail me @ steve.oliverale@gmail.com.
Of CRABS and Clone Wars
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Clone Wars is here people
Ever thought of joining a home brew club? There are obviously a lot of benefits for homebrewers of every “skill” level, from the beginner to the veteran. What better environment in which to develop your techniques than amongst like minded, dedicated enthusiasts. Your peers will gladly share their experience and the veteran homebrewers have the gratification of acting as benefactors to those of lesser experience (although, truth be told, after 16+ years as a professional brewer, one thing I have come to learn is that there is always something to learn!) One benefit that may not be immediately obvious is the chance to participate to some degree with local brewpubs and breweries. It is commonplace these days for breweries to run competitions with local homebrew clubs to produce one-off seasonal brews, for example the recent Heavy Seas “Letter Of Marque” (http://www.hsbeer.com/letter-marque-hop-rye-porter ). Many other smaller breweries run similar competitions including DuClaw, Ellicot Mills and of course, ourselves. Last year we ran a competition (see blog post http://www.prattstreetalehouse.com/2009/09/home-brewing-but-not-at-home/) in which we invited homebrewers to submit entries for a new seasonal beer to be brewed here. The winners were invited in to oversee brew day and the subsequent beer was served at the Ale House and at festivals and bars around the area throughout Baltimore Beer Week and beyond. Of course we will be running this competition again this year (details will be posted in August). Another interesting competition is run by the Chesapeake Real Ale Brewers Society (CRABS http://www.crabsbrew.org/) who run a “Clone Wars Competition” annually in which one of our ales is selected to be reproduced by club members. I supply the club with the recipe and brew protocol and yeast (if required) and they try to clone the brew at home. This year the club selected our Ironman Pale Ale (last year was Best Bitter). There is an interesting post by club president Brandon on his blog post http://huskyrunner.blogspot.com/2010/04/ringwood-yeast-chroniclesthe-ballad-of.html. This competition is particularly dear to me as I enjoy the opportunity to “get my pom-poms out” and do some cheerleading for the much maligned Ringwood Yeast, that is our house yeast strain (see Brandon’s post for his thoughts). The winner of the competition is judged by a select panel here at the Ale House and the winner not only gets to bask in the glory of his/her victory but also a $50 gift token to Wells Discount Liquors and this year will also be invited into the brewery for an Ironman Pale Ale brew day. So, if you’ve been sitting on the fence with regards to joining a home brew club take a leap of faith, you won’t be sorry.
Here’s a few helpful contacts
Home brewing, but not at home
Monday, September 28th, 2009
This past Friday we had the pleasure of having the winners of our homebrew competition (Brian Simons and Bruce Baldwin) spend the day at the brewery to oversee the brewing of their winning brown ale recipe ,”Dirty Hippy”. An event such as this is as informative, I think, to us in the brewery as it is to the home brewers involved. For them it is a chance to scale up from a 10 gallon batch to 220 gallons and to see their product on tap and cask at bars and festivals alongside other professionally brewed beers. For us it’s a chance to play with something that we would not normally have thought of doing, to work with some new ingredients and so on. It was a fun day!
We started at 7.30 am with preparation of the hot liquor (treating it to balance its chloride and sulphate contents and to adjust its pH) and the weighing out of the grain which included Canadian pale ale malt, Crystal(65) malt, biscuit malt, chocolate malt and caravienna malt. Once the grain was loaded into the mill the mash was started in earnest and was completed at 8.15am.
The grain loaded into the hopper for milling
Brian & Bruce at the Mash Tun
The Mash
We set taps @ 9.45am and ran off wort to the kettle over the course of 3 hours whilst sparging the remaining hot liquor. The wort run-off was a beautiful clean deep brown color giving way to a deep amber towards the end of run-off. The initial gravity of the run-off was 1.084 and the last runnings were 1.013. The wort was hopped with Challenger and later Fuggles.
Hop addition
After the wort boil was complete the wort was allowed to rest for 45 minutes before transfer to the fermentation vessel. The hot wort was passed through leaf Fuggles that had been steeping in hot liquor prior to passing through plate heat exchangers and onto fermentation vessel # 8 where yeast was pitched.
transfer of cooled wort to FV8
Wort was collected at a final gravity of 1.058 and is currently fermenting @72F, having dropped thus far to 1.020. The fermentation will be allowed to attenuate to a gravity of about 1.014 at which time it will be crash cooled and excess yeast skimmed from the surface.
Brian & Bruce check the final gravity and the cold-break of their wort.
As I said, an educational day for all involved. I can’t wait to try the finished product. Kudos to Brian and Bruce for an excellent home brew which I’m confident will translate into an excellent commercial brew!
Cheers
homebrew competition results
Friday, September 18th, 2009
We finally found time in the brewery to sit and relax for a few minutes and try the home brewed beers that had been submitted to us for our homebrew competition. Our unanimous verdict was that “Dirty Hippy”, an American Brown Ale brewed by Brian Simons and Bruce Baldwin would be a great addition to our Fall beer line-up. Brian and Bruce are invited to don their work boots, kiss their loved ones goodbye and enter the dungeon like confines of our brewery for the brew day next week. The beer should be on tap for the start of the Baltimore Beer Week festivities in October. Congratulations gentlemen. I think this beer will be particularly excellent on cask, I’ll keep you all posted as to where and when that will be available.
Other home brew news … Sandy Mitchell and friends will be holding a home brew demonstration here at The Pratt Street Ale House on Sunday 18th October from 11am, our closing event for Baltimore Beer Week. The event is free so please participate, it should be a lot of fun. We will of course be running beer specials and brunch is available in the restaurant. If you want to get involved please contact Sandy through his blog, www.beerinbaltimore.blogspot.com
Cheers
Steve
hello pumpkin!
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
O.K., it’s on! We will be off to the farmer’s market on Sunday to purchase a considerable quantity of pumpkins (or a “shit load” as we English say) and on Tuesday the fun will begin! I’ve never brewed a pumpkin ale before so it should be an interesting experience. Gotta say, I’m a little nervous as pumpkins can cause problems in the mash but, as anyone who has seen the brewery here will know, we like to do things the hard way at Oliver’s! As well as using roasted pumpkin in the mash and the boil we will also moderately spice the ale with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Keep a watch out for tomorrow’s post when we will announce the winner of our recent homebrew competition and also some details of a cool homebrew event that we will be holding at the Ale House as part of Baltimore Beer Week.
Brewery
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Brewing this week… so far Three Lions Ale, Ironman Pale Ale and Blonde Ale are all in fermenting vessel. Today we’re brewing the Summer Light Ale and tomorrow it’s going to be the Irish Red … busy week.
New on the Brewer’s Choice hand pump is the Nut Brown Ale infused with 6 oz. of raw organic cacao nibs. The cacao gives a slight hint of chocolate upfront which fades into the malt body with a little chocolate in the nose as well.
Look out for the regular Nut Brown Ale on cask soon at Frisco Grille and Metropolitan Coffee House (Federal Hill). Coming soon to the hand pumps of Max’s Taphouse, Fells Point will be our Best Bitter, Dark Mild and Vanilla Porter. Also look out for us on tap at The Parkside and Racers Cafe (both on the Harford Road).
For the homebrewer’s out there, Olivers/Pratt Street Ale House will be running a homebrew competition to coincide with Baltimore Beer Week. We’re inviting submissions from homebrewers during the first week of September. You can brew any style you like but remember this, it must be something that we can replicate at our brewery using our English (Ringwood) Ale Yeast and must be a beer that will be commercially viable (ie we need to sell 7 barrels of it!). Judging will be simple, we will taste all offerings and decide which one will be the best fit with the other ales we have on offer. The winner will be invited to the brewery to oversee the brewing process and the winning beer will debut at the Oliver stand at the BAM Oktoberfest at the Timonium Fairgrounds (October 10th), will be on tap at The Pratt Street Ale House throughout Baltimore Beer Week and will be offered on cask at The Chesapeake Real Ale Festival (October 17th). Good luck. E-mail me with comments or for further details.
Cheers
Steve