Wort Give Away Contest Questions

[rthiessen]

Hello,
I am looking for some thoughts on this as I signed up for our local brewery's wort giveaway contest. I am an all-grain homebrewer and have never done one of these before. Below is their recipe for the wort that they are giving away. I don't plan to reboil the wort with specialty grains or to add any aroma hops. So really thinking of splitting this 5 gallons into two different fermenters and try to make two different beers. I will submit the 6 pack of the beer that turns out the best.

Has anyone done this before? If so, did you reboil to add specialty grains or aroma hops? Or did you just pitch your yeast, add dry hops, etc?

I am thinking with this malt bill to do 1 beer with a cali common yeast strain and add some honey to the fermenter to increase the ABV and add some honey notes. And dry hop with Northern Brewer.

The second beer would be dry hopped with Citra/Mosaic and use Wyeast 1056 for a very light, session IPA style beer.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be helpful.

Also, was not planning on making any yeast starters and just using the Wyeast smack pack. Is 1 smack pack too much yeast for 2.5 gallons of wort? I always make yeast starters for my beers. But since I am splitting this into two batches, I am thinking just the smack pack will be sufficient.

Here is the brewery's information on the wort they will be making for this contest:

MALT BILL
Pale Malt – 100%

MASH SCHEDULE
Mash in at 60 C

Heat up to 63 C and rest for 20 minutes

Heat up to 73 C and rest for 10 minutes

Mash off at 76 C

HOPS
Columbus – 18 IBUs at 15 minutes into the boil

We boil for 70 minutes targeting an end of boil gravity of 11.3.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

dry hopped with Citra/Mosaic and use Wyeast 1056 for a very light, session IPA style beer.

With all due respect - yawn. The judges will have just drunk 20 blonde beers with Citra fermented with Chico - in talent contests, you have to stand out, be memorable, be the gobby redhead in a crowd of bland blondes.

I'd probably try to surprise them with a white stout. You'll find plenty of ideas on t'internet, but for 5 gallons I'd put some lactose and 2-3oz peat malt (maybe make a tea with the peat malt with not-quite-boiling water), ideally some oats but that's probably less suited to this scenario, put 8oz of coffee beans in the fermenter for 2 days and 4oz of cacao nibs for 7 days (I've seen it suggested to soak the nibs in vodka, then freeze to allow the fat to be skimmed off. You could also mix the vodka with whiskey.) Maybe a vanilla pod or star anise as well. Use a characterful British yeast.

Then I'd go the other way for the other half, go for something super crisp and dry, make it a dunkel to further confuse people who drink with their eyes. Cold steep some black malt overnight, add some amylase (aka pilsner enzyme) to chew up any remaining starches, hop tea/dryhop generously with a modern European hop like Mandarina or Wolf and then do a quick lager per Brulosophy etc.

So when everyone else is producing me-too Citra soup, you'll have a pale beer that tastes like stout, and a dark beer that tastes like a crisp, fruity lager. At the very least they will remember you....

 

[kh54s10]

Not totally sure of Northern Brewer's suggestions. I have never done anything like those, but I like the idea - go BIG or go HOME.

 

[fragged]

With all due respect - yawn. The judges will have just drunk 20 blonde beers with Citra fermented with Chico - in talent contests, you have to stand out, be memorable, be the gobby redhead in a crowd of bland blondes.

I'd probably try to surprise them with a white stout. You'll find plenty of ideas on t'internet, but for 5 gallons I'd put some lactose and 2-3oz peat malt (maybe make a tea with the peat malt with not-quite-boiling water), ideally some oats but that's probably less suited to this scenario, put 8oz of coffee beans in the fermenter for 2 days and 4oz of cacao nibs for 7 days (I've seen it suggested to soak the nibs in vodka, then freeze to allow the fat to be skimmed off. You could also mix the vodka with whiskey.) Maybe a vanilla pod or star anise as well. Use a characterful British yeast.

Then I'd go the other way for the other half, go for something super crisp and dry, make it a dunkel to further confuse people who drink with their eyes. Cold steep some black malt overnight, add some amylase (aka pilsner enzyme) to chew up any remaining starches, hop tea/dryhop generously with a modern European hop like Mandarina or Wolf and then do a quick lager per Brulosophy etc.

So when everyone else is producing me-too Citra soup, you'll have a pale beer that tastes like stout, and a dark beer that tastes like a crisp, fruity lager. At the very least they will remember you....

Love the two ideas. To the OP l, even of you don't care for these options, the redhead in a sea of blondes comment should still be a takeaway. Think about the types beers you can always find in bars these days - Don't make those...

Skipping citra(or any other C hop, Amarillo, mosaic, simcoe, azzaca, and traditional nobles) is also great advice. I still love them, but I have to imagine most judges (or brewery workers) are quite bored with those by now. If it's about what you can do with what they give you rather than a particular style, don't make a particular style

Also, if you win and they ask for the recipe, ask for royalties

 

[chrilr]

I say make a saison with one. That will stand out

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Also, if you win and they ask for the recipe, ask for royalties

I'll send my bank details...

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Thinking on it, maybe go for a red lager - less black malt, or use something like Red-X. Or then of course there's the blue option.... (well, lilac/mauve option)

 

[rthiessen]

Hey guys, thanks for the ideas and I certainly like them all. Trying to stand out is a great idea. So I have decided to do a saison and a honey kolsch. So here are the basic details of each beer below. If you have any comments or recommendation for my recipes, please let me know. I pick up the 5 gallons of wort this afternoon!!

Saison(2.5 gallons)
Steep .5lbs of Briess Cara 20 L in water & add to wort
add in .5lbs of wheat DME to wort
Boil for 30 minutes adding 1 oz of Opal & Challenger at end of boil and flameout
Cool wort and Pitch 1 dry yeast packet of Safale BE-256
Dry hop with Opal/Challenger mix

Lemondrop Honey Kolsch(2.5 gallons)
Add in Honey to wort and do a quick boil
add in Lemondrop/Saaz hops during the boil
Cool wort and pitch 1 packet of Safale k-97
Dry hop with Lemondrop/Saaz hops

I am probably going to pitch the entire yeast packets for each 2.5 gallon beer. But I don't want to over pitch. Should I just use half the packet since 1 packet is for 5 gallons and I am doing 2.5?

Thanks!!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You still need to think about the judges, drinking 20 hop soups before they drink your beer. Never mind if it has a clever concept, is it going to stand out to those tired, tired palates? I don't know how much experience you have with honey in beers, but it's one of those things that tends to be a better idea in theory than in practice, it tends to just ferment out without leaving too much flavour behind.

I assume we're talking about the Boulevard competition here, so the prize is to brew on their 35-barrel "small" (!) kit. That's a lot of beer that they have to sell, so it can't be anything too weird. But at the same time they're probably thinking ahead to that point, so they will be looking for something that complements their existing range. So given that they already have a kolsch, will they want another one? I was going to suggest a New Zealand saison, I had a terrific Motueka one recently, but I guess that would be too similar to Tank 7.

The fact they they do a cider suggests that a graff could be practical, but the obvious gaps in their lineup are a NEIPA, anything English, some of the Belgian styles like a tripel, and something Scandinavian. To be honest, this competition looks suspicously like trying to get homebrewers to do the R&D for the NEIPA their marketing department is screaming for....

If you've not done a NEIPA before, it's probably not the best thing to enter into a competition, and they will no doubt be swamped with the things. I bet not many people will be entering a trad English beer - add 5% crystal, 5% torrified/flaked wheat, Goldings/Bramling Cross blend, sensible yeast like 1968/002 or 1728/028, easy. Or bung in a load of candi sugar, some Wye hops and a POF+ yeast and you've got a tripel. Your saison will become instantly a lot cooler if you give it some juniper and a Norwegian yeast - Omega does the best range, Hornindal is perhaps the most hardcore.

 

[chrilr]

To be honest, this competition looks suspicously like trying to get homebrewers to do the R&D for the NEIPA their marketing department is screaming for....

I completely agree. All the local comps like this have had Neipa winners lately

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It's also worth noting the winners of the last few Thornbridge competitions, perhaps the biggest competition in the UK under the umbrella of a major brewery, have been a rose petal wit, rhubarb saison and watermelon gose.

So some kind of fruit/botanical adding interest to a base beer that is already a bit "different" due to its yeast/malt/bugs. It gives the marketing team something to work with when trying to sell it.

 

[rthiessen]

Yes, this was for the Boulevard wort giveaway. I appreciate the additional thoughts and comments. BLVD does have a test NEIPA on tap in the tasting hall right now which was pretty good.
For the two beers, I pitched both yeasts Friday late afternoon and unfortunately didn't have time to add the specialty grains or Wheat DME to the Saison. And I was not able to boil either of them as well.

So the only thing I can do now is add ingredients during Primary or Secondary. If you think the Honey will ferment out and not leave any flavors, then maybe I need to consider other ideas. Other than dry hops and some spices, I haven't really added much to my beers during Primary or Secondary. I could consider adding the Wheat DME to the Saison and possibly add some corriander etc to spice it up some. I can hit the LHBS for some other ingredients that could play well with the two styles I have committed to.

Thanks!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It's obviously not ideal that you missed the extras for the saison grist, but I'd be tempted to steep/boil and add them anyway, the yeast won't notice...

Honey's a tricky one, seems to work for some people but not others. If you're looking for spice ideas, maybe Szechuan peppers? See https://beerandbrewing.com/a-dash-of-pepper/

Otherwise, I think you're looking more at the greengrocers than the LHBS for additions at this stage. Adding rhubarb to the saison isn't such a bad idea - I've seen people cooking down 2kg and then straining into a 5gal batch. Or maybe go really leftfield with something like an asparagus kolsch! I don't know what grows in Kansas other than corn, but something local would tick some boxes.

 

[chrilr]

Szechuan peppercorn will impart a tangy flavor that lingers in the aftertaste, not quite heat. Go easy with them if you use them

 

[rthiessen]

Kansas is known for growing corn, wheat and soy beans. So I could add some liquid wheat DME to the saison close to the end of primary fermentation. But was also thinking of crushing up some candied ginger or fresh ginger to throw in the secondary. Or dried apricots so something along those lines. For the kolsch I might add some agave nectar and maybe some meyer lemon zest to just see what happens. Appreciate the additional ideas!!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I don't have direct experience of brewing with those, but I have drunk some. My impression is that you need a lot of apricots to get a good flavour - but it is something that works quite well when it does work. Probably fermenting with underpitched Conan would help boost those flavours though, too late for that now.

Ginger and a hint of chilli is a great combo - as long as you don't over do either and get the balance right, it's nasty when you only have one or the other.

Agave nectar has the same problem as honey - not much left after it's fermented out.

 

[rthiessen]

Today, for the saison, I steeped the .7lbs Briess Cara 20 in 1 qt of water at 155 degrees for 30 minutes, then added 11 oz of agave nectar, then boiled for 10 min. I cooled this down and just added to the saison fermenter. Will add my Opal and Challenger dry hops next week sometime. For the Kolsch, I may add some lemon zest into the fermenter along with the Lemondrop/Saaz dry hops next week as well. Not sure about the ginger for the saison but can always add that with the dry hops.

Thanks,