First brew ever = Best of Show!!!

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Beehemel

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My first brew ever just took best of show at Cincinnati Octobersbest over the weekend. I was so surprised, I thought my friend was joking when he called me to tell me. I entered it in two categories, 23 as an India Brown Ale, and 14 as an American IPA. The recipe was supposed to be a black IPA, but it came out brown instead of black so I just rolled with it and changed the name! Still can't believe it won out of 150 beers! I'd say this is a good start to my new favorite hobby. If it weren't for all the reading and research I had done on this site, it would not have happened! Thanks for making this community so helpful and informative! :rockin:
 
Sweet! Any details on the beer? AG or PM?

Here's the recipe:

9.9 lb Light LME
1 lb Crystal 60
1 lb Carafa III
2 oz. Chinook - 60 min.
2 oz. Simcoe - 10 min.
2 oz. Amarillo - 10 min.
1 oz. each Simcoe and Amarillo - Dry Hop in secondary for two weeks
Wyeast 1056


Not really sure how it came out brown instead of black, other than I added two cans (6.6 lb) of LME at the beginning of the boil, so maybe it caramelized and lightened it up a bit.
 
Here's the recipe:

9.9 lb Light LME
1 lb Crystal 60
1 lb Carafa III
2 oz. Chinook - 60 min.
2 oz. Simcoe - 10 min.
2 oz. Amarillo - 10 min.
1 oz. each Simcoe and Amarillo - Dry Hop in secondary for two weeks
Wyeast 1056


Not really sure how it came out brown instead of black, other than I added two cans (6.6 lb) of LME at the beginning of the boil, so maybe it caramelized and lightened it up a bit.

First off, CONGRATS! thats a great accomplishment that no one can take away from you...

Based on what I see in the recipe I would expect this beer to be brown and not black. Only one pound of 60L and a pound of carafa will definately darken the beer substantially, but using that along with nearly 10 lbs of light LME definitely insures a brown beer as opposed to a black beer.

anyway...don't listen to me; Ive never won best in show or even first place for that matter! so what do I know??
 
hehehe I love that. An extract with steep recipe! You CAN use extract to make GREAT beer!

But then again, the asterisk is that this was in Cincinnati... what do they know about beer?

I kid! I kid!
 
Congrats that is awesome! I might have to give your recipe a try. What is the batch size?

Batch size was 5 gallons, although after racking and such my final volume was 4 gallons. OG was 1.070, can't remember what the FG was right off the top of my head, but I'm thinking it was around 1.018.
 
Only one pound of 60L and a pound of carafa will definately darken the beer substantially, but using that along with nearly 10 lbs of light LME definitely insures a brown beer as opposed to a black beer.

I think if I ever try this again, I'm going to use dark extract instead of light. I also want to try to make a regular IPA with the same hopping schedule to see how that turns out! So much fun experimenting!
 
hehehe I love that. An extract with steep recipe! You CAN use extract to make GREAT beer!

But then again, the asterisk is that this was in Cincinnati... what do they know about beer?

I kid! I kid!

From what I hear, the best of show judging was done by national BJCP judges ( I have a friend who judged some categories, none that I entered, he filled me in), so the Cincinnati effect shouldn't have been too strong ;)
 
Batch size was 5 gallons, although after racking and such my final volume was 4 gallons. OG was 1.070, can't remember what the FG was right off the top of my head, but I'm thinking it was around 1.018.

Whoa you lost a whole gallon from racking? How much water did you start your boil with?
 
I think if I ever try this again, I'm going to use dark extract instead of light. I also want to try to make a regular IPA with the same hopping schedule to see how that turns out! So much fun experimenting!

I would use the same extract but just use darker steeping grains personally....using a different extract would completely changet the beer and with a BIS I wouldnt mess with it too much. Now, steeping with black malts to get the color where you want it would have much less affect on the actual taste of the beer.
 
Whoa you lost a whole gallon from racking? How much water did you start your boil with?

I lost more like 3/4 gallon from racking. My siphon kept getting clogged and I eventually just got hacked off and let the rest go because there was so much trub at the bottom and I couldn't keep a good siphon. I could have probably gotten about 1/2 gallon more but it had already taken so long I just left it. only about 4.75 gallons made it into primary (started my boil volume lower than I should have, first batch, live and learn).

I would use the same extract but just use darker steeping grains personally....using a different extract would completely changet the beer and with a BIS I wouldnt mess with it too much. Now, steeping with black malts to get the color where you want it would have much less affect on the actual taste of the beer.

I'm definitely going to keep the recipe as is for now, probably formulate a new one for a true Black IPA. Anything that changes is now a new recipe.

Picture of this Best of SHOW in a glass? :D

I'll try to get a pic up later today, I'm at work now and don't have any with me.
 
I think if I ever try this again, I'm going to use dark extract instead of light. I also want to try to make a regular IPA with the same hopping schedule to see how that turns out! So much fun experimenting!

Don't change anything, my friend. You won best of show!!!!

Congrats! :mug:
 
+1 on renaming this recipe and making a whole new one for a black ipa. Then enter them both in the next comp and let 'em fight it out for supremacy!
 
Congrats!! That is awesome.

I went to school in Cincy. There is some good beer there.
 
Here's a (slightly blurry) pic:

IMGP2038.jpg
 
I am in Cincinnati and will be joining the Bloatarians as soon as I make it to a meeting. I am assuming that's whose contest you won as the meeting was Friday. The other club in town is the Cincinnati Malt Infusers; they are more centered on the East side of town. Either way congratulations!:mug:

PS: Be sure to try to make it down to Bock Fest in the early Spring. There's a parade, costumes, and everything. Here's a link to last year's pics: http://www.bloatarian.org/index.php...=com_gallery&Itemid=30&include=view_album.php
 
humor me...

partial or full boil?
tap water or bottled or other? any water adjustments?
aeriation method (if any)?
what was the fermentation schedule?
controlled fermentation temps?
 
Congrats!

Since you seem to be a natural - may I ask what you did for your christmas ale? I'd like to brew one this weekend...
 
Congrats. First beer and a contest winner. I've made several batches but never had the time (or more likely the courage) to enter them in a contest.
 
Nice work man, thats awesome! Cool to see an extract brew take the honors.
I'm on AG brew number 30 or so and doubt I could win 'Best of Show'... unless I steal your recipe!!!

What was your fermentation schedule/temps? How long were they bottle conditioned?
 
Did it win in the IPA category or specialty?

It won specialty for sure, I don't think it won IPA. Scored a 40.5 in specialty and 39 in IPA, so good scores either way.

I am in Cincinnati and will be joining the Bloatarians as soon as I make it to a meeting.

It was the Cincinnati Malt Infuzers Octobersbest competition.

humor me...

partial or full boil?
tap water or bottled or other? any water adjustments?
aeriation method (if any)?
what was the fermentation schedule?
controlled fermentation temps?

1. Full boil
2. Distilled water out of bottles (didn't know any better at the time)
3. I just poured the cooled wort from the kettle into the bucket, making sure I held it up kind of high to get maximum splash.
4. 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary on the dry hop, 3 weeks of bottle conditioning
5. I just fermented in my basement, ambient temp is pretty much 70 all the time, actual fermentation temp was around 73.
 
Congrats!

Since you seem to be a natural - may I ask what you did for your christmas ale? I'd like to brew one this weekend...

Fermentables/Specialty Grains:
3.3 lb (one can) Amber LME
2 lb Extra Light DME
1 lb Caramunich
1 lb Crystal 60L

Hops:
1 oz Saaz @ 60min
1 oz Kent Goldings @ 30min


Other (all added at 10min):
.5 oz Bitter Orange Peel
1 oz Fresh grated Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Allspice

Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast.


It smelled a lot like cinnamon when I was done brewing it, I'm going to rack it sometime this week. Nothing out of the ordinary for a holiday ale, just thought SWMBO might like it.
 
1. Full boil
2. Distilled water out of bottles (didn't know any better at the time)
3. I just poured the cooled wort from the kettle into the bucket, making sure I held it up kind of high to get maximum splash.
4. 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary on the dry hop, 3 weeks of bottle conditioning
5. I just fermented in my basement, ambient temp is pretty much 70 all the time, actual fermentation temp was around 73.

Nice work - looks just like an old pro!

In regards to #2, if I was going to do extract again I would probably go with distilled water. Several around here have had problems using tap water or even bottled drinking water because of the minerals already in the extract that come from the extract mfr's water. The minerals from both combine and cause problems. I've even heard Palmer say recently that using distilled is not a bad way to go for extract brewing.

Anyways, congrats again.
 
I would really like to see a better pic of the beer if you can do one.

I gotta be honest here, it doesn't look that great in the blurry pic. :eek:
 
I know it doesn't look great, but I didn't use any irish moss or anything in it, so it's not clear (I was planning for it to be black, didn't think I would need anything). Has anybody brewed this up? I just drank a bottle over the weekend and boy did the hop flavor and aroma fade fast! It's now a completely different beer, but still tasty. Let me know how everyone's batches go!
 
Its good to know that there are people out there with much less experience that are already better at brewing than me. Good job! I am going to go pout in the corner now...
 
Congrats man I'm gonna have to give your recipe a try sometime soon. How did you get into brewing competitions by the way I've been curious but never really thought about it that much.
 

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