2009 Brews

[MrC]

What beers did you brew during 2009?

I've just been looking back at the beers that I brewed last year and found it interesting to look at the different styles and how many I brewed. I brewed 18 beers in total, 6 of them being pale ales of some description, and arguably one lager fermented at 17c.

BEERS:
1 x Brown Ale
2 x Porter
6 x Pale Ale (APA & NZPA)
1 x Hefe Weizen
1 x Belgian Pale Ale
1 x Blonde Ale
1 x American Wheat
1 x Fruit Beer (Raspberry Wheat)
1 x Spice/Herb/Veg (Coconut Porter)
1 x IPA
1 x Schwarzbier
1 x Stout

BEST:
APA brewed for the WnBC. It was one of the last beers I brewed and I think my beers improved as the year progressed. One of the few beers that I've brewed that I would happily brew again without changing anything.

WORST:
Hefe Weizen using WB-06

[Reviled]

lol, will update later, but I too can confirm my worst beer was a Roggenbier brewed with WB-06, that yeast is on of the worst things ever invented/packaged and then sold to the general public!!

[MrC]

I agree. I'll never use WB-06 again. I used K97 in 2008 and it was far superior to WB-06. I see Craftbrewer sells K97.

[Pilgrim]

17 brews. Best was one of my APAs which I was going to enter into WnBC but unfortunately couldn't make it that weekend. I gave some to one of my son's friends, who is part owner of a bar and he described it as "Stunning". Really sorry when that one ran out so had to brew two more :-). Quickest brew I've ever done was my Crisp Cider. Went to Pack-n-Save and saw Freshup 3ltr crisp apple juice on special for $7 for two. Bought 18 litres, came home, threw them into the fermenter and chucked a packet of Munton's Gold yeast that I had in the fridge on top. Couple of weeks later I had some really nice crisp cider at 5.2%. Yeah I know it was cheating but it was really nice. Worst? Not displeased with any of them really, after all I drank every last drop.

[MrC]

"Stunning"
Just as well you couldn't make it to the WnBC then ;-)

[denimglen]

In order from first to last -

1 - Special/Best/Premium Bitter
2 - American IPA
3 - Raspberry Robust Porter
4 - Blonde Ale
5 - Special/Best/Premium Bitter
6 - Hefeweizen
7 - Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter
8 - American Amber Ale
9 - Robust Porter
10 - Munich Helles
11 - Irish Red Ale
12 - Special/Best/Premium Bitter
13 - American Stout
14 - American Pale Ale
15 - American Brown Ale
16 - American Amber Ale
17 - Munich/Simcoe SMaSH American Amber Ale
18 - Flanders Red Ale
19 - (American Styled) Mild
20 - NZPA
21 - Dry Stout
22 - American IPA
23 - American Wheat
24 - Special/Best/Premium Bitter
25 - American IPA
26 - Imperial (Red) IPA
27 - Special/Best/Premium Bitter (w/ amarillo)
28 - Blonde Ale
29 - English IPA
30 - Big Burley Barley Based Bastard Beverage American Barleywine

Best beer is a hard one. The beer I enjoyed the most would probably be the American Stout. But then I did well with the Helles in the SOBA comp so that's a really close second.

Worst beer was probably the Irish Red. Half of it because I struggled through 20L not really liking the style and it had MASSIVE aceteldehyde. The amarillo bitter is up there too, because I lost the whole batch to a broken tap on the fermenter.

Didn't realise I had brewed so many best bitters - too bad most of them were pretty average until I discovered 1968.

[Mike Neilson]

Man where do you start???????? All I know is last year I have gone through about 14Kg of Hops and about 20 Sacks of Malt (piss all to the commercial guys). Admitidly I brew big beer and give away a fair bit away for analayis and I brew for people (They buy ingrdients and do everything) but hey whats a brewaholic supposed to do!! Put it this way I have brewed 18 Beers since 16/09/2009

[Mike Neilson]

Everyones including there worst beer so I will also, Choc Boysenberry Stout (To much going on to acidic), Wigger2IPA (Ciggy Buts) , Nugget/Galaxy Amber (Vegetal Charcol)

[MrC]

What was your best/favourite?

[Mike Neilson]

Best? Belgian Stout. Smoked Porter, Dubbel, MMMMft4Ch

Worst? Choc Boysenberry Stout.

[MrC]

Worst beer was probably the Irish Red
Was that the Irish red from Brewing Classic Styles? I brewed that recipe, didn't like it and struggled to finish it all. There's something about Smokin Bishop that reminds me of that Irish Red Recipe and, to be honest, it just raises bad memories for me and puts me off Smokin Bishop :(

[denimglen]

Yeah it was.

I think as a recipe it was ok - overall balanced and all that.

But that style wasn't for me, no hop character and not enough going on malt-wise to keep me happy. Pair that with apple cores and it's not a good combo. I think I dumped half that keg.

I didn't find anything in Smokin' Bishop that reminded me of that IRA, but then again, brain's are pretty good at blocking out terrifying memories.

[Mike Neilson]

Heres a Tip, Jamil uses diffrent ingredients than us in NZ so none of his recipes work!! well thats what I figured when I tried his ESB recipe.