Homebrew Contest Winners!

Today was the annual homebrew competition at Dry Dock Brewery/ Brew Hut in Aurora Colorado. There were over 350 beers entered into 7 categories. I went to the contest with a few of my friends who brew. Needless to say, we were happy about the results. My friend Joe won the gold medal for the Belgian category with his Secret Saison. I won the gold medal for the hoppy beer category with my IPA. My friend Eli (etrain666) won the gold medal for the brown beer category, and also the best in show with his Graham Cracker Chocolate Brown. For winning best of show he will get to brew his beer on their 7 barrel system, and it will be the featured beer of the month! Nice work Eli!


I'm on the left, Eli in the middle, Joe on the right

How did Eli get the graham cracker taste in his brown ale? (oh yea, great job guys!)

Helluva day right there!!!

Congrats!!!

passedpawn said:

How did Eli get the graham cracker taste in his brown ale? (oh yea, great job guys!)

Click to expand...

I believe he mashed them with his grains. Don't know the amounts.

Could we get a recipe for it?

Congrats guys..... I would love to get the recipe for the graham cracker choc. I know what I will be thinking about all day at work lol.

Yea, that graham cracker & chocolate recipe sounds yummy. It's only a matter of time until someone takes that recipe and then figures out how to get a marshmallow flavor in it. Just imagine....S'mores Beer. The ULTIMATE camping beer.

EDIT: forgot to add my congrats on the good showing in the brewing contest.

Congrats Guys!!

Great Job!!!!

Z

Thanks for posting that Kate. I can't figure out how to export from BeerSmith, seems there should be a way to get a recipe out of there. But anyway, here it is:

5 Gallons - Partial Mash

7 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt
1 lb Crystal 80
3 lb Amber Liquid Extract (15 minute boil)
1lb Brown Sugar (15 minute boil)
2 lb Graham Crackers
.5 lb Rice Hulls
1 Cinnamon Stick (5 minute boil)
1 oz Hersey baker's cocoa (5 minute boil)
2 oz East Kent Gouldings (60 minute boil)
1 oz Fuggles (15 minute boil)
1 pkg SafAle English Ale S-04

OG: 1.091
FG: 1.020

Mash Grains and Graham Cracker (break into small pieces) 12.25 QT at 156 degrees for 60 Minutes
Batch sparge 8 QT at 168 degrees
Add extract with 15 minutes left in boil

I need to brew this again, possibly with more graham crackers. Their flavor really is just a hint, but I think they add a lot to the rich, caramel notes plus some added sweetness. The crackers turn into complete mush, so I included the rice hulls to help set the grain bed.

I suppose next batch I'll need to throw in a bag of marshmallows

The marshmallows are a good idea. A smore porter camping beer.

Congrats to the winners.

I will no longer be participating in this competition, as my berliner weisse got scored 1/10 in taste for being sour, and having no perceptible alcohol.

Here's my recipe. It's my last extract batch before i switched to all grain.

IPA

Extract

2 lb. Pilsen Light LME – Late addition
4.5 lb. Pilsen Light DME
1 lb. 2-Row Pale Malt
1 lb. Crystal 40L
.25 lb Light Munich
.25 lb Carapils

1 oz Columbus 14.4 AAU 60 min
1 oz Simcoe 12.2 AAU 20 min
1 oz Amarillo 9.3 AAU 5 Min
1 oz Simcoe Dry hop
1 ox Amarillo Dry Hop


Wyeast 1056 American Ale

OG 1.059

Steep grains for 45 min at 154.

Dry hop 14 days

yummy simcoe with amarillo & simcoe with Citra are 2 of my favorite hop combos.

The grahm cracker sounds sweet too.

Do marshmallows mash well, or are they a boil addition

Fetus said:

Congrats to the winners.

I will no longer be participating in this competition, as my berliner weisse got scored 1/10 in taste for being sour, and having no perceptible alcohol.

Click to expand...

Where do you get the score cards? I entered and would like to have my self worth as a homebrewer crushed.

And on another note I love that place.

Fetus said:

my berliner weisse got scored 1/10 in taste for being sour, and having no perceptible alcohol.

Click to expand...

ha ha. I guess you are serious, sorry to hear that, that's pretty sad. I stopped entering comps. Won my share, but meh I like my beer so there you go, why screw up a good sitch.

Kate00 said:

The marshmallows are a good idea. A smore porter camping beer.

Click to expand...

Marshmallow creme has no fat in it and its just sugar so I imagine adding it to the boil or maybe secondary might work. I have a jar of marshmallow creme that I think might warrant an experiment. :cross:

Won't mashmellows ferment out and leave no real flavor behind? Meh, somebody will come up with an extract...

Congrats, OP! What an awesome day.

How about adding marshmallow creme at the end of the boil and adding some lactose during the boil for sweetness and a thicker mouthfeel.

postal_penguin said:

Where do you get the score cards? I entered and would like to have my self worth as a homebrewer crushed.

And on another note I love that place.

Click to expand...

They were available for pickup after the judging. They will mail them to you if you didn't pick them up.

passedpawn said:

ha ha. I guess you are serious, sorry to hear that, that's pretty sad. I stopped entering comps. Won my share, but meh I like my beer so there you go, why screw up a good sitch.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I'm very serious.

I didn't actually use any marshmallow, it was just a thought. They are pure sugar, so I presume they would just ferment out.

Nearly all of the marshmallow recipes I've seen contain vanilla, maybe a little vanilla extract rather than an actual marshmallow would be enough to simulate the taste of a s'more.

Marshmallows are actually a sugar syrup, gelatin and vanilla. So mostly sugar but the gelatin might actually clarify the beer or be sludgy and gross....mmm ground animal bones

congrats on the gold fella's!! as for the s'more idea, this is what it looks like when you include graham crackers, marshmallow fluff & chocolate to the end of the boil.

it gets kinda messy. my recipe was not so hot, but i'm glad to hear of success with the graham crackers in the mash. mine went in @ flameout with little notice in the taste.

A 1/10 for no perceptive alcohol in a berlinerweiss?? That sounds odd .. berliners are usually 3% or lower .. there shouldn't be any perceptive alcohol.

jusware said:

A 1/10 for no perceptive alcohol in a berlinerweiss?? That sounds odd .. berliners are usually 3% or lower .. there shouldn't be any perceptive alcohol.

Click to expand...

And SHOULD be sour. I think that was his point. If the judges marked his beer down for being sour and low in alcohol, they don't understand the style and shouldn't be judging it.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Diaperload said:

Yea, that graham cracker & chocolate recipe sounds yummy. It's only a matter of time until someone takes that recipe and then figures out how to get a marshmallow flavor in it. Just imagine....S'mores Beer. The ULTIMATE camping beer.

Click to expand...

Look up High Water Brewings Campfire Stout.

etrain666 said:

I didn't actually use any marshmallow, it was just a thought. They are pure sugar, so I presume they would just ferment out.

Click to expand...

How about making a syrup out of them and priming with it?

Is this contest happening again this year? Their BrewingTV video was awesome and I'd love to enter something.

mrrshotshot said:

Look up High Water Brewings Campfire Stout.

Click to expand...

I had this tonight. It was really good. Definitely tasted like smores

http://www.highwaterbrewing.com/campfirestout.php

I was just thinking about how to get the marshmallow flavor. How bout a slurry or mixture of a small amount of maltodextrin,lactose,& vanilla to simulate the marshmallow flavor? Possibly in secondary for a short time?...Just a thought.

A guy in my homebrew club brewed a Toasted Marshmallow stout for our Extreme Beerfest a couple weeks ago. I believe he did use some toasted fluff, as well as marshmallow extract he found. I didn't get to try the beer myself (it kicked rather quickly) but by all accounts it was really good. I'll see if I can get him to share the recipe and how he used the mallow.