Berkbeer
Well-Known Member
Well I am glad I went into this trying to learn because one of my beers took a reaming. I entered a Stout recipe that I came up with from a bunch of Guinness clone recipes and my version of Ed Wort Haus Pale - My first all grain in a bag. The Stout was reviewed by a Grand Master I which was cool and he gave me some great leads on improvement as well as the 2 other judges. It got a 25.3.
The pale did not go as well all three judges noted extreme DMS. off flavors and cidery cleanly-ness of ferment. One judge noted locker room musty notes and said clearly infected. I do not know if they all taste from the same bottle or not, but I bottled out of keg with a homemade bottleing setup for what it matters. Final score was a 21.
Funny thing is I was not a huge fan of the stout, but I loved the Pale and everyone who tasted the pale said the same. Even got one guy saying it was the best homebrew he had tasted (FWIW). The beer was cooled with the ice bath method as I did not at the time have a chiller. It was completely cooled to 75 in about 40 mins. It was boiled without lid and had a good rolling boil. I was under total volume at end of boil so I topped up with a gallon of water. What can I do besides the chiller which I have already changed to in order to correct this problem. Also for any judges out there do you normally all taste form the same bottle and if so why would I get infection notes from one judge and not the others. None of the pale judges noted their qualifications.
All in all I would say it has been a great learing experience and I will continue entering comps for the unbiased review.
The pale did not go as well all three judges noted extreme DMS. off flavors and cidery cleanly-ness of ferment. One judge noted locker room musty notes and said clearly infected. I do not know if they all taste from the same bottle or not, but I bottled out of keg with a homemade bottleing setup for what it matters. Final score was a 21.
Funny thing is I was not a huge fan of the stout, but I loved the Pale and everyone who tasted the pale said the same. Even got one guy saying it was the best homebrew he had tasted (FWIW). The beer was cooled with the ice bath method as I did not at the time have a chiller. It was completely cooled to 75 in about 40 mins. It was boiled without lid and had a good rolling boil. I was under total volume at end of boil so I topped up with a gallon of water. What can I do besides the chiller which I have already changed to in order to correct this problem. Also for any judges out there do you normally all taste form the same bottle and if so why would I get infection notes from one judge and not the others. None of the pale judges noted their qualifications.
All in all I would say it has been a great learing experience and I will continue entering comps for the unbiased review.