NHC 2012 Medal winners

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tilt on November 21, 2012 at 1:15pm

Not that it won gold but a rebrew of my CS8 Belgian Pale mashed at 67 and aged for 2 months pulled a silver.

Permalink Reply by Dougal on November 21, 2012 at 3:12pm

Well, my NZ pilsner took a silver too, but it did go on to get top lager.
I think the base beer is good, but the hopping is the area to tweak for a better beer. The recipe I have to hand is the all Motueka version so that's posted here. The one that medalled is exactly the same but instead, every addition is NZ Hallertau except for the 10 min addition being Motueka. The flame out addition was also slightly bigger. CaCl2 to 50ppm, and lagering was a month at 2C.

The big thing that improved my pilsners was step mashing. The step mash provides that crisp dry, drinkable quality, better clarity, and a lovely persistent head and lacing on the glass. I tend to step mash over direct heat in the kettle, then transfer with a jug into my chilly bin/braid mashtun for recirculation and the sparge.

I have to echo Tilt's comments about the great organisation this year. I'm really looking forward to reading the judges comments too as I got a lot of useful info from those in 2011.

Permalink Reply by Greig McGill on November 21, 2012 at 6:38pm

The certs were due back this week, and we were prepping to send everything out, but I don't think they've arrived! Pesky printers...

And just to clarify, I know the judging was a little on the "generous" side in 2011, but there's nothing "only" about a Silver. Silver is around the level of most good commercial beers released in NZ. You need an amazing beer to hit gold. The descriptor for the BJCP Gold is "world class example of style". It's NOT easy to get one, and it's only slightly less easy to get a silver. Bronze means you're a pretty good brewer!

We don't give out medals lightly at NZ's top homebrew competition. ;)

Permalink Reply by Dougal on November 27, 2012 at 3:26pm

Thanks Greig, that bolsters my confidence no end.

Druid just refreshed my memory about where I'd posted my 44/50 NZ Pilsner. The original post may be found here. 

Permalink Reply by Adam Sparks on November 22, 2012 at 9:14am

I entered a few beers but only placed with one, and this is the only beer where I really took a good look at my water, used a proper ph meter and brewed it according to style.

This won a gold with a score of 46/50

Old School Biker Ale

Foreign Extra Stout

Type: All Grain	Date: 14/11/2009
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.00 l	Brewer: Adam Sparks
Boil Size: 39.96 l
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Volume 24.96 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 20.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 74.2 %
Taste Notes: Excellent Beer. If I was to tweak it I would try and mash a little higher, originally mashed at 62..... bring that up to 66 next time to see what happens, could use just a touch more body
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 6.300 kg GLADFIELD ALE Malt (5.5 EBC) Grain 5 84.6 % 0.400 kg Chocolate Malt (1175.0 EBC) Grain 6 5.4 % 0.328 kg Crystal Medium (150.0 EBC) Grain 7 4.4 % 0.200 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC) Grain 8 2.7 % 0.100 kg Caramalt (56.0 EBC) Grain 9 1.3 % 0.070 kg Crystal, Dark (Thomas Fawcett) (288.0 EBC) Grain 10 0.9 % 0.050 kg Acid Malt (5.9 EBC) Grain 11 0.7 % 30.00 g Pacific Jade (add @ 60 mins) [13.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 12 50.8 IBUs 20.00 g Kohatu (add @10 Minutes) [6.80 %] - Boil 40.0 min Hop 16 13.5 IBUs 1.32 g Kopaflok (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 17 - 2.20 g Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 18 - 1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 19 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.068 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
Bitterness: 64.2 IBUs
Est Color: 79.9 EBC
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 7.448 kg
Sparge Water: 30.23 l	Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C	Tun Temperature: 22.2 C
	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Mash In Add 19.18 l of water at 74.5 C 67.8 C 60 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (9.25l, 20.98l) of 75.6 C water
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

Water Profile:

 

Calcium 70

Magnesium 5

Sodium 23

Sulfate 29

Chloride 33

Bicarbonate 209

I used Ca(OH)₂ for the bulk of the calcium ions, this is also quite basic so it has a very strong effect on your mash, I actually overshot it a little and so added a touch of acid malt to bring my PH down to 5.2 (if your careful with your additions then you won't need to add any acid malt for this beer).

I then used NaHCO₃ CaCl₂ and MgSO₄  to arrive at my target profile. I was shooting for a malty high carbonate beer so I only added a small amount of gypsum to the boil for ratio's sake. The rest of the sulfate ions came from the MgSO₄ (Also added to the boil). My sparge water was lightly acidified using H₂SO₄ 

I ran off the wort into a cube and no chilled the batch over night N.B. I added 30minutes to my hop additions in beersmith to compensate for this.

Permalink Reply by Tilt on November 22, 2012 at 11:00am

This is great fellas - keep em rolling in.

FMD Adam - that the first time I've seen sparge water acidified with Sulphuric Acid - industrial brewing at its very best!  Congrats on the gold - obviously the attention to detail paid off.

Permalink Reply by Adam Sparks on November 23, 2012 at 7:46am

You can pick up Sulphuric acid from a pool store, its called PH down and comes in a nice little dropper bottle, depends on where you live, but here in Auckland I only need a drop to treat all the water (I think the concentration is about %80). If I were to brew this one again I would (as I stated in my notes) mash a little higher, and drop the sodium by just a touch )maybe try 15 or 20ppm), you definitely want some mineral goodness to get the licorice thing happening however.

Permalink Reply by Tilt on November 23, 2012 at 11:34am

Good tip thanks - I use citric acid for my sparge but your method with a known concentration acid takes it to a new level of precision. 

Permalink Reply by Matt Smith on November 22, 2012 at 8:48pm

Great thread!

I managed to pick up two silvers and two bronze this year. Stoked as, and happy to share. I have this forum to thank for much of my success.

California Common - Silver 41/50

1.054 OG
1.014 FG
44IBU
12SRM
5.3%

47.7% Gladfield Pilsner Malt
22.7% Gladfield Ale Malt 
14% German Munich Malt   
5% German CaraMunich II
5% German CaraMunich III     
5% UK Amber Malt   
0.6% UK Chocolate Malt   

German Northern Brewer     9.8 %     15 g @  90 Min
German Northern Brewer     9.8 %     10 g @  30 Min
German Northern Brewer     9.8 %     40 g @  10 Min
German Northern Brewer     9.8 %     40 g @   At turn off
German Northern Brewer     8.0 %     20 g @   Dry-Hopped

Mashed at 68.

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):     Ca: 122    /    54 Mg:    21    /    13 Na:    22    /    22 Cl:    134    /    65 SO4:    189    /    83 Cl to SO4 Ratio:    0.71    /    0.79 Alkalinity (CaCO3):    24     RA:    -75     Estimated pH (room temp):    5.26

Here's where it gets interesting. I didn't use the yeast that the style guidelines and much of the advice about California Commons emphasize so much. Instead, I used a big healthy pitch of 3rd gen US05 slurry and fermented at 15 degrees. Interested to see if the judges picked up on this or not.

Saison - Silver 38/50

This was my CS8 beer, from the same batch.

American Brown - Bronze 37/50

The inspiration for this recipe was Janet's Brown Ale by Tasty Mcdole. Its a bit smaller and with NZ hops. I think a previous version of this that I did with Golden Promise as the base and US Cascade/Centennial/Northern Brewer was better, it had a fatter malt character and the hop character had a bit more spice and earthyness which worked really well with the malts.

1.058 OG
1.017 FG
50IBU
21 SRM
5.5%

76.1% Malteurope Pale Ale Malt
7.1% UK Dark Caramalt
6.7% Carapils Malt    
4.9% German Wheat Malt    
3.6% UK Chocolate Malt   
1.6% German CaraMunich III    

US Nugget     12.2 %  17g @ 60 Min
US Columbus     15.2 %  20 g @ 15 Min
NZ Chinook     9.6 %  20 g @ 10 Min
NZ Cascade     7.5 %  20 g @ 10 Min
NZ Chinook     9.6 %  23 g  @ 0 Min
NZ Cascade     7.5 %  22 g @ 0 Min
NZ Cascade     7.5 % 25 g Dry Hopped
NZ Chinook     9.6 % 25 g Dry Hopped

US05 yeast

Mashed at 68.

Mash Water / Total water (ppm):     Ca:    129    /    129 Mg:    17    /    17 Na:    22    /    22 Cl:    52    /    52 SO4:    304    /    304 Cl to SO4 Ratio:    0.17    /    0.17 Alkalinity (CaCO3):    24     RA:    -78     Estimated pH (room temp):    5.07

 

American Amber - Bronze 32/50

1.059 OG
1.014 FG
41 IBU
12 SRM
6%

81.3% NZ Gladfield Ale Malt 
8.3% German Munich Malt   
5.2% UK Dark Caramalt
2.1% German CaraAroma    
2.1% UK Dark Crystal    
1% German Carafa I    

NZ Pacific Jade     15.0 %     22 g @ 60 Min
US Centennial     9.2 %     7 g @ 30 Min
US Cascade     5.5 %     16 g @ 10 Min
US Centennial     9.2 %     16 g @ 10 Min
US Cascade     5.5 %     38 g @ 0 Min
US Centennial     9.2 %     38 g @ 0 Min
US Cascade     5.5 %     15 g Dry-Hopped
US Centennial     9.2 %     15 g Dry-Hopped

US05 Yeast

Mashed at 68. Forgot to take down the water profile I used.

Permalink Reply by Adam Sparks on November 23, 2012 at 7:44am

Those look tasty Matt! Ill be having a crack at them for sure! Thanks for posting :)

Permalink Reply by Tilt on November 23, 2012 at 11:54am

Sweet Matt - thanks for posting your full stable of medal winners.  Great details on salts and processes. Like you I'd agree a lot my brewing improvement can be contributed to the good advice this forum dishes out in spades

I also have two bronze medal winners to contribute - my Guava wheat which was a bit of a stab in the dark with fruit from my backyard tree.  The thread has a lot of ramblings about process, timing etc.  I'll post the other recipe later when I can pull it off Brewsmith - a Southern English Brown.

 

Permalink Reply by Crusader-Rob on November 26, 2012 at 10:48am

This is great, well done to everyone so far. Definitely interested to see the notes, once i get mine back, I didn't get a medal only 27/50 which I'm happy with for a Partial mash/ Extract&Grains.