Dunedin Crate Swap #2: 28th May

[bart]

Hi guys,

 

Our first Dunedin crate swap went pretty well, and I think it's fair to say that there is enough interest to make it a semi-regular event. It's a great opportunity to try other people's beers and learn about different brewing styles and recipes.

 

As such, I propose that the date for the next crate swap is Saturday 28th May. This gives people a bit of time to brew a beer and have it ready for the swap.

 

Ideally we're looking for 13 brewers. This means that you can get a mixed dozen without recieving one of your own brews back. So the first 13 confirmed brewers for the crate swap will get priority.

 

Here's what to do:

 

1. Register your interest in participating in the crate swap here in this thread.

2. Brew an awesome beer of any style. Preferably all-grain or mini mash.

3. Bring a crate (12 x 750ml bottles) of your brew to the Dunedin Malt House during the week leading up to the 28th May. Make sure your beers are labelled and include your name and the recipe of the beer that you made. Recipes etc. can be on bits of paper and just label your caps with a distinct symbol which is also on your recipe sheets. Or if you're real keen you can stick em directly onto your bottles.

4. Come to Dunedin Malt House on Saturday 28th of May to pick up your crate of delicious mixed brews from some of the finest home brewers Dunedin has to offer!

5. Sit back, relax and enjoy some brews. Take tasting notes and post feedback on the different beers in this thread if you want to.

[JR]

Good effort Bart, thanks for organising it all!

 

I tested a bottle of the NZ Pils we submitted last night and it probably needs another week or so to carbonate properly, its still a little flat.

Tried the Waikari Oatmeal Stout first - low carbonation helps make it thick and rich and it has a nice bit of sweet liquorice in the middle - great!

 

[bart]

Hi Dunedin Brewers,

 

Thanks to all who contributed to crate swap #2! With nine entries this time around I am exited to try out the different brews as I am sure you are too. There are still 4 crates down at the Dunedin Malt House for people to pick up when they can. To summarise, the beers recieved in Case Swap #2 are:

 

> Oatmeal Stout from Mike

> NZ Pilsner from Jared and Siem (Note: leave to carb for a bit longer)

> Scottish Ale 70 from Brett M.

> American Pale Ale from Justin

> Bavarian Weizen from Justin

> Wakari Oatmeal Stout from Stuart

> Black Ops Cascadian Dark Ale from Brett H. (A clear winner for best label!)

> M.C. SMaSH Blonde Ale from David

> Nut Brown Ale from Bart

 

All of these were all grain brews apart from Justin's APA which is extract + specialty grains.

 

Feel free to post tasting notes for the different beers on this thread!

[bart]

BREWERS WARNING! I just recieved a text from Stuart to say that the APA (cap labelled 'AC') had done a beer volcano in his living room! So I opened my one to check and it was also over carbed producing a steady stream of bubbly lava... luckily thanks to Stuarts warning I opened mine in the sink and waited a while before I poured a glass. It is not a bad brew once the foam subsides!

[Justin]

My humblest apologies to all, I haven't ever had a beer volcano before but maybe I didn't stir it enough once I had added the priming sugar. I have even drunk a couple a few weeks ago which have been fine.

 I hope Stuart's carpet has survived....

[bart]

I am sure it's all good Justin. Beer doesn't seem to stain carpets...especially not light ones like that. Perhaps it is simply the fact that this brew has been left for longer than usual and as such has had time to ever so slowly undergo secondary fermentation producing more CO2 than you're normally used to? I have definitely noticed that beers that have aged for a bit longer tend to be more carbed than those only 2 or 3 weeks old.

[Stewart]

No worries. I've got no carpets just polished boards. Was a bit of a shock at the time - quiet beer turned into washing the walls - but no lasting damage. I must have had a particularly explosive bottle - the whole load discharged pretty much straight away on opening.

[Brett Mason]

Thanks for organising this Bart. Its great to try some different brews and including the recipes is already giving me ideas. Will be working through the beers over the next couple of weeks.

 

Tonight's brew was Bart's Nut Brown Ale split between two of us. Consensus was it is a very tasty brew with no noticeable flaws. I had it after my 70 shilling and found it had more flavour and body but still very clean and session-able. Didn't last long. A really nice beer.

[Mike T]

Hi all,

Cheers for the crate swap everyone, and Bart for organising, I've so far enjoyed the NBA and the APA.  Justin's APA didn't gush as much as some of mine have in the past (!) but tasted a bit yeasty, poss because of the gas fizzing up the yeast in the bottle... or just as likely my inept pouring!  Loved the NBA Bart, no yeast in the bottle? do you keg? 

So it was great to try a style new to me, and now I'm thinking I will give a similar style a go in the weekend (maybe an amber?... if I can swing the time.

[David Winter]

Hi all,

Thanks to Bart for putting this all together and to everyone else for contributing.I've only had a couple so far, the 70/ was new style to me and I liked it. Almost like (and I mean this in a nice way!) what commerical NZ draughts would be like if they were made to taste good rather than be cheap - caramel sweetness but nice and clean. I also braved a gushing APA, which had nice hop favour along with something a bit yeasty - guess it was roused by the gushing bottle.

 

I also Just realised that I messed up the label on one bottle. It turns out I can't count to 12, so added an Ordinary Bitter which I attached a recipe sheet to. Only I looked at my crate today and I have the modified sheet but not the OB. Someone has a plastic bottle with a scribbled out cap, and that was made this way:

90% Golden Promise

6% Crystal 95

4% Crystal 250

Then 'topped up' to 1040 with light DME.

 

Hopped with riwaka at 60 10 and 0mins and fermented  at about 18C w/ s04

 

 

 

[bart]

Allright guys, I've tasted all of the beers and made a few tasting notes. Tried to be as honest as possible because good honest feedback is what we all need to help improve our brews. Having said that I'm not too experienced in the world of proper beer tasting and evaluation so some of my comments might be wrong. Overall I'd say that the crate swap was a mixed bag, there was nothing really terrible in it but my advice to many of the brewers here would be to a) pay close attention to temperatures at all stages of the brewing process and b) sanitize, sanitize, sanitize!! Theres definitley a few off flavours kicking round in these brews, many of which are subtle and don't ruin the beers but they are what is preventing the beers from tasting like a true professional craft brew. So anyway.. tasting notes:

 

M.C. SMaSH from David
A fantastic result for your first ever all grain brew. Very satisfying to drink and I want some more. Hops and malt flavours are very well balanced. The Maris Otter on its own provides a surprisingly satisfying 'bready' malt flavour. The hops are present but not over powering. I would be interested to know what yeast this was brewed with as it seems to have an almost wheat beer type flavour. In fact if I were to blind taste test it I would probably say it was a wheat beer. Suggestions for tinkering / improvement: Try adding some munich malt to increase satisfying 'bready' malt notes without ramping up sweetness too much. Try increasing flavour hop to 30g. This will provide a bit of extra bitterness which the beer does need I think, especially if some munich is added which will ever so slightly increase the malt body of the beer.

APA from Justin
Over carbonated brew resulting in sediment being kicked up from the bottom of the bottle and mixed back into the brew. Overall it is drinkable but definitely 'home brew'. Mixed sediment did affect the flavour I am sure. The fruity ester notes are quite pronounced, almost too much. If this was an all grain brew I would suggest perhaps mash temps had gotten a bit high but it is extract so that probably isn't the case. A lower fermentation temperature may help with reducing the sweet/ fruity notes in this beer and perhaps a slight increase of bittering hops too. Perhaps double check your sanitation process too as I could not rule out that this beer was mildly contaminated with something.

Bavarian Weizen from Justin
In contrast to the APA, this brew was reasonably under-carbonated. This detracted from the drinking experience a little bit. Other than that, it has many of the flavours and qualities one would expect from a Bavarian Weizen. Complex fruity notes reminiscent of pear and apple. There are also sharp notes which I am unable to identify, probably a bit of alcohol 'heat' among other esters produced by the wheat beer yeast. These beers are pretty tricky to get right and I think that this beer is a good attempt for sure, but closer attention to brewing temps will be required to produce a shining example of the style. I think that it could benefit from more carbonation, and perhaps the introduction of a few specialty malts like light crystal or amber malt.

Oatmeal Stout from Mike
This beer was a reasonable example of the style and featured many of the flavours I hope for and expect from a stout, mainly roasty and a few caramel malt notes. Carbonation was a bit low and head retention was poor, this could be helped by perhaps the addition of some carapils malt or I have heard of other brewers on the realbeer forums using a couple of weetbix in the mash to improve head density but I'm not sure what I think about that! Hops were barely present in this brew I think there could have been a bit of extra bittering in there but not too much. Overall it was a decent brew, no off-flavours, but some experimentation with mash and fermentation temps and addition of carapils could yield good results for the body and mouthfeel of this brew.

NZ Pilsner from Jared and Siem
This beer was fairly sweet, with a distinct honey-like flavour, reminiscent of the Invercargill breweries 'Wasp' beer. This was not unpleasant but I am not sure where this honey flavour comes from, I think it's phenolic. After one glass of this brew I started to notice a subtle diacetyl infulence, which is a sort of sweet butteryness. The presence of it in this beer did not cross the line into 'problematic' territory, but it was definitely there. This brew was not as hoppy as I was expecting it to be, both on the bittering and flavour/aroma, however it may have been the (unintentional?) sweetness throwing off the hop balance. As a stand alone item this beer was enjoyable and I shared it with a friend who enjoyed it as well, but it didn't fit with what I have come to expect from the so-called 'NZ Pilsner' style.

Scottish 70 from Brett M.
A pleasant mild flavoured beer. Was very easy to drink. The malt flavours were enjoyable but left me wanting more depth of flavour. The question here is how would you increase the malt body without increasing sweetness or giving the beer a syrupy mouthfeel. I would suggest trying a munich malt perhaps. Overall, a fairly nice beer that I could have easily had a couple more of!

Cascadian Dark Ale from Brett H.
This is the second dark 'pale ale' style I've tried, the other being a commercial example from a NZ craft brewery, but I'd have to say this one takes the cake. The first thing I thought when I sipped this was 'wow, this really tastes like a proper craft beer'. All of the flavours are absolutely clean and well balanced. Considering the supposed 60IBU of hops, I was surprised at the lack of a harsh bitter taste, and the malt notes really come through. I would have thought that there would be more crystal malt in there than there was in order to achieve this balance but I suppose roast barley must lend more malt body and sweetness than I thought... Overall theres nothing I can really fault this beer on, it could easily be pouring on tap at Tonic or Albar at $8 a pint! Extra points for being out of the ordinary too. Being a fan of roasty malt flavours I found it refreshing to try this in a style other than a porter or stout.

Wakari Oatmeal Stout from Stuart
The risk of submitting the same style to a crate swap two times in a row is that it lends itself for a comparative evaluation, and I'd have to say that this brew did not turn out as well as Stuarts Oatmeal Stout from the last crate swap. First impressions of the beer were that it was very fruity tasting which to my palate did not seem to be derived from a malt or hops but rather from some kind of phenolic biproduct of the yeast, perhaps from yeast stress (incorrect fermentation temp, too low a pitch rate) or a contaminated yeast culture. The taste was not unpleasant but certainly took the beer out of the traditional 'stout' flavour style. Carbonation and head retention were also low which did not help matters. I think this beer could do with a bit of extra bittering hops and perhaps a boost in dark malts. Perhaps some carapils for head retention. That, combined with ensuring that temperatures are correct throughout the brewing process and ensuring a clean yeast culture and well sanitised equipment, will yield a stout of a very good standard.

Nut Brown Ale from Bart
First impressions of this brew was that the mid-range malt body was not quite full enough which gave the bittering hops more room to come through on the pallet. There was also a slight harshness to this bitterness which I am not sure if it was derived from the hops themselves or perhaps a very mild phenol or oxidation issue with the brew. Nothing too major either way. Overall the beer was a bit milder in taste than I had hoped for, although some would argue that this is how the brown ale style is traditionally represented in the UK. Had good carbonation and a chunky white dense head though which I thought was kind of nice. If/when I brew this again I'll be boosting the mid range malts such as biscuit and medium crystal, and I'll probably also throw in some more flavour and aroma hops just for fun and to balance the extra malts.

[David Winter]

Thanks for the feedback Bart - the main reason I took part was to get some feeback from people that know what they're doing :). I had planned to use us-05 as the yeast for that brew, but come brew day DMH was out so I was left to choose between s04 (which I didn't get right the first time I used it) and the $3 a pop Mauri Ale. I took the risk on the cheap one and I guess it worked out ok!

 

I had the cascadian dark yesterday - wonderful. I'm going to have to steal that recipe and try my own one!

[Mike T]

Thanks for your notes Bart, 

I've still not had all of the 12, getting there though!

 

Interesting looking at the recipes submitted that most people seemed to go for yeast sachets, rather than down the smak pack route?  I wonder is this because of expense or because of good experiences with the dry yeast?  I've heard that the dry stuff doesn't require as thorough oxygenating of the cooled wort, perhaps this is a factor worth considering.

 

I was also interested in the water used for the brews, I used Dunedin tap water (through carbon filter) and didn't add anything, but I get the impression that many use water from the tap on rattray st?

 

To my mind the most difficult brew to get just right would have been the Pils, there is just nowhere for any flavours to hide in this style, and we are all so familiar with the style.  Flavour, colour and bitterness was pretty good for my tastebuds, carb was quite low on the bottle that I had.  I also got a bit of a fishy/yeasty smell/aroma from the beer?  the other guy I shared the bottle with didn't mention this however.  I wonder did you lager it in a fridge? and what was the fermentation temperature? and what water did you use?

 

Probably the problem in common with most of the beers, (including mine) was getting that carbonation level just right.  This is a good argument for kegging I guess??

 

Another factor worth thinking over is the variation between bottles within a batch.  I reckon I can taste the odd bottle of mine that is much better or worse/ has a solvent flavour etc when others are fine.  I guess it is oxidation at bottling time or bottles that are less than sterile, kind of annoying if you are sampling with someone else and want to show them a good example of your beer...

 

Cheers again, it was a worthwile experience.  I might post some more as I get through the beers

Mike