Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

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Keith
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Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by Keith » Thu Aug 25, 2016 6:00 pm

Just announced it on Facebook. DIPA, Dark English mild and experimental sour.

Fortunately I was already planning to brew my Hoppily Ever After DIPA.

GL everyone.

Chris' Edit:

https://www.facebook.com/events/188137358266763/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BJCP 2015 Guidelines: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Double IPA (Strong American Ale 22A)
Dark Mild (Brown British Beer 13A)
Experimental Sour (Specialty Beer, 34C)

Important Dates:
November 23rd: Register via email (send a note to bigsprucebrewing@gmail.com)
November 25th: Beer must be dropped off at the brewery or at Hfx drop-point (probably chalmers)
November 27th: Judging and Gala (your entry gets you in the door)
Last edited by chalmers on Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added some info
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Re: Big Spruce 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Thu Aug 25, 2016 9:14 pm

Excited ...good categories
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by chalmers » Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:46 pm

Looking forward to judging! Remember, Experimental is wide open, but to win, it must embrace the name/style, (ie be sour and "different"). The style guidelines for 34C it mentions that tasting notes must be included, but since we're judging it all to the same "Experimental Sour" category, these aren't strictly necessary, but wouldn't hurt. And you'll have already given the recipe with your registration form. JW has requested kettle souring, due to their brewhouse layout.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by MitchK » Fri Aug 26, 2016 4:52 pm

are we allowed to use brett in the experimental sour?

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Sun Aug 28, 2016 9:09 pm

I would think he wants to keep the bugs to a minimum in his brew house.
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by chalmers » Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:50 pm

MitchK wrote:are we allowed to use brett in the experimental sour?
You are strongly discouraged from doing that, and I don't believe Jeremy would be using Brett in a full production brew.
jacinthebox wrote:I would think he wants to keep the bugs to a minimum in his brew house.
Yup!

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by MitchK » Mon Aug 29, 2016 10:33 pm

ok next annoying question: What sort of stuff would make it fall under 34C instead of 28C? Since 34C states you can't enter anything that falls into a different style I'm drawing a blank here.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by chalmers » Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:17 pm

I gotta be honest, it's probably real, real close to American Wild Ale, except the words "Any combination of Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, or other similar fermenters." in 28C kept us from choosing that one.
Please plan to get the Sour character from steps that will be reproducible in the brewery, which probably narrows your choices to something like a Lacto kettle sour.

Beyond that, fruit, no fruit, hops, no hops, etc, it's up to you. I hope that helps.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Tue Aug 30, 2016 8:49 am

experimental beers are fun...but tricky to determine what would be considered "experimental" . process and/or ingredients is what I think about. it's tricky because what you think is experimental may be a normal process for someone else.
I have a beer in mind that I will run a test batch this weekend.
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by Keith » Tue Aug 30, 2016 1:29 pm

I've got an idea crazy enough it might just work. Now to figure out how I'm going to brew a sour on my system lol.
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by MitchK » Tue Aug 30, 2016 1:57 pm

if you don't want any hops (like a weisse or gose style) just pitch lacto P from probiotics or something and then pitch your yeast two days later - There technically will be lacto P in your finished beer but I'd go so far as to say that's a non-issue because you should hit terminal PH anyway (so its the same effect as kettle souring would have on big spruce's end) and it isn't really an infection risk because lacto P is basically 100% hop intolerant (so it shouldn't do anything to your clean beers even if you threw it in on purpose, let alone missed a bit with your sanitizing). That's the process I just used for a berliner weisse that tasted fine if a little boring unfruited (added a bag of raspberries to it and will be kegging it on the weekend).

For this I'll probably try another fast sour/sour wort like above, but with a different recipe... The reason I asked about brett is that I was thinking of doing a fast sour with brett L soon anyway.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by mckay75 » Tue Aug 30, 2016 3:20 pm

I'm about 2 days away from kegging a sour like you described Mitch. Used the Swanson lacto capsules...let the ph drop for 48 hrs and pitched some conan after I crashed it. Can't wait to try it out! only hops I'll be adding are citra and mosaic for dry hopping.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by mckay75 » Tue Aug 30, 2016 4:29 pm

I should mention that I added 6 capsules to each carboy (approx 5 gal in each) and the ph dropped from 5.37 to 3.28 in 48 hrs.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by amartin » Tue Aug 30, 2016 4:41 pm

Keith wrote:I've got an idea crazy enough it might just work. Now to figure out how I'm going to brew a sour on my system lol.
I think that'll be the big two things with this category, having an idea that's different enough but also good, and figuring it out on your system. I have to figure most people don't have an easy way to hold wort at souring temperatures for a few days unless it's something they've done before and have tailored their equipment for it. Them and electric people.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by Keith » Tue Aug 30, 2016 5:10 pm

I just purchased extra capsules if anyone needs some.
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Tue Aug 30, 2016 5:12 pm

Jeremy will only kettle sour. So if u win...be prepared to kettle sour
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by MitchK » Tue Aug 30, 2016 5:53 pm

The L. Plantarum capsules should do their work at room temp. I know mine did. It doesn't require the elevated temps of brevis or debruekki (or however you spell that one) - the trade off is zero hop tolerance, and I mean like literally zero. If you go past like 2 ibu I don't think it'll perform. My berliner weisse with it was knocked out exactly like all my other beers I just used 5 johnson's lacto P pills in it, then two days later I pitched yeast. I'm sure you could boil post-souring (and obviously if I brew something with the same technique and win that would be up to them) but I imagine it wouldn't affect the flavor much/any compared to just letting it ride. I just don't see the point of boiling it twice on my system, and my system isn't set up well to not boil pre-sour. I would have to boil twice if I wanted to add hops I suppose.

What I'm getting at is any recipe done with plantarum capsule head-start should adapt just fine to a commercial kettle souring process.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:57 pm

With kettle souring...there isn't any hops in the wort yet....so that's a non factor. Hopping occurs in the boiling phase. How we've done it at big spruce was. Mash...mash out to kettle....add sour starter...wait til desired ph is reached....then boil/hop as normal...

He doesn't want bugs post boil in his brew house.
Reading on my phone...sorry if I'm misunderstanding or missed something...or if we are talking about the same thing lol
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by MitchK » Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:10 am

I'm just saying the method I am describing should translate fine to a kettle souring setup without actually bothering to boil after souring at home because it's still pure lacto to terminal PH

Basically just saying I should be able to not boil post sour at home, then do the full kettle sour process at big spruce, and make the same beer both ways.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by chalmers » Wed Aug 31, 2016 7:21 am

I think you are correct, if you are able to produce a sour using this method at home, then it will be fine for the comp, and you can concentrate on the rest of the beer's characteristics.

Some strains only produce lactic acid, while some also produce ethanol, so you could hypothetically do a fully Lacto beer.

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:54 pm

Brewing up a couple test beers this weekend...that way we can tweak if needed
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by Keith » Wed Aug 31, 2016 4:14 pm

I'm brewing the mild this weekend. Sour in a few weeks along with the dipa.
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by chalmers » Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:33 am

A great resource for those thinking about the Experimental Sour (expecting lots of Kettle Sours), thanks to Jayme: http://sourbeerblog.com/fast-souring-lactobacillus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by jacinthebox » Thu Sep 08, 2016 5:12 pm

Great link Chris.
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Re: Big Spruce Home Brew Challenge 2016

Post by oceanic_brew » Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:11 am

I've got the mild and the sour fermenting away!

This comp was such good timing for me, I've been studying the mild category lately as a part of an ongoing desire to brew through the styles. Also I've been planning the experimental sour beer since last year and the hops I grew for a DIPA are ready now. For a more repeatable beer I'm gonna brew the DIPA twice, once with homegrown and then I'll tweak my recipe and do once with store bought.

Good luck everyone!

I really feel like the mild is the most challenge, im willing to bet most of us have done more experimental sours and IPA's than the mild. It's gonna be a challenge to really brew a great mild and have it distinguished from the rest. I'm interested to see how many of us have a very similar malt bill, yeast, and process for that one yet how different the other two category's will be.

All in the process

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