11-11-11 Old Ale Swap and Critique Thread

[barrooze]

I'd love to do this swap but I'm going to have no time in the next month to get it all ready to ship out... I'll definitely be in for the 12-12-12 though!!! (any idea what style that'll be?)

 

[azscoob]

I'd love to do this swap but I'm going to have no time in the next month to get it all ready to ship out... I'll definitely be in for the 12-12-12 though!!! (any idea what style that'll be?)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/12-12-12-wee-heavy-recipe-formulation-271379/

There ya go!

 

[barrooze]

Thanks!

 

[KingBrianI]

Alright, here's the swap list. I'd love to add it to the first post in the thread but it won't let me edit it anymore, unfortunately. To generate the list, I created an excel file and added each participant's name in the order they signed up. I then numbered them from 1-8. I used random.org to generate 3 random sequences from 1-8 and added those to the three columns after the names. Each number represented a recipient. In cases where the number of the recipient matched the sender, or one sender had the same recipient more than once, I swapped with either the row above or below as needed to satisfy the criteria that no one had themselves or the same person more than once. In a couple cases I had to swap in the row 2 up or down in order to satisfy the criteria. Anyway, here's the list. If you see any mistakes I missed let me know and I'll fix them ASAP. Please contact your recipients for their addresses and get the beer in the mail soon. Remember, you have to send at least 2 bottles of the 11-11-11 and 2 bottles of something else, at minimum. Happy trading!

 

[smokinghole]

PM sent to my recipients..

 

[jmo88]

PM's sent.

 

[CA-LT1]

Address requests sent

 

[AnOldUR]

Address requests sent.

Also got a couple going to the Best of Philly Homebrew Competition on November 5th. Not that I don't trust you guys to give an honest opinion, but it's hard to say bad things about free beer.

It'll be interesting to see what the judges have to say about my take on this recipe. Let you know.

 

[KingBrianI]

I sent ohiobrewtus some of my 10-10-10 as thanks for putting on the hbt competition last year since he mentioned afterwards that he liked it when he judged it. I included a bottle of the 11-11-11 in the shipment and he was kind enough to do a video review of it. I'm not sure how it went for the rest of you, but in my case I think the Brett took over the beer to the point that it's hard to call it an old ale, at least by current bjcp guidelines. The brett dried it out too much, even though my gravity was 1.028 when I racked to secondary. The brett took it down to 1.016. So it's a good beer, I just don't think I would call it an old ale.

 

[AnOldUR]

Thanks for sharing that. It's not even 10:00AM and my mouth was watering listening to it. (Does that make me an alcoholic?)


Off-topic. I really liked the ohiobrewtus review. Makes me wonder if there’s a market for that. You spend 5-10 bucks for a competition entry with only hope of getting a good critique of your beer. Do you think any homebrewers would pay him 10-20 to have a video review as complete as that? For special beers, I would.

 

[KingBrianI]

Off-topic. I really liked the ohiobrewtus review. Makes me wonder if there’s a market for that. You spend 5-10 bucks for a competition entry with only hope of getting a good critique of your beer. Do you think any homebrewers would pay him 10-20 to have a video review as complete as that? For special beers, I would.

Yeah, I was very pleased with his reviews. When he received the beers he asked if I would like them video reviewed and I was like "hell yeah!". You're right that it is a much more complete critique of a beer than the typical judging sheets, and I'm sure people would pay for the feedback. Could be a nice side job for someone who can give great reviews like ohiobrewtus.

 

[AlphaWolf-Brewery]

I certainly dont need anything as complete as ohiobrewtus but I would love a quick post back here with a quick review from the people that I am sending my beer to.

 

[KingBrianI]

Alpha Wolf's Zombie Dust Clone

Aroma - Tangerine and mango hoppiness mixed with chlorophenols. Very slight sweet malt aroma. I'm getting a bit of that estery aroma I get from us-05 so I'm guessing that is the yeast used.

Appearance - Poured a slightly chill-hazed gold with a really nice two-finger foamy head. Head retention and lacing very good.

Flavor - Starts with fruity, sweet malt quickly giving over to a chlorophenol-laden bitterness. Chlorophenols linger on the palate with the citra hops. As it warms there is a nice caramel flavor coming through.

Mouthfeel - Nice medium body with a moderately-high carbonation.

Overall - A solid beer. The cholorphenols are quite dominant though and the beer would be much better without them. Carbon filter and campden-treat your brewing water as well as your sanitizer water and any other water that comes into contact with your beer. That one change will take this from a solid beer to a very good beer. I expected more hoppiness but it was still very enjoyable as is. I don't know if it's age that has reduced the hop presence or if this is how the recipe was intended.

 

[smokinghole]

My boxes are getting packed up today and going out this week.

 

[jmo88]

Just kegged my 11-11-11 so I'll be able to get it carbed, bottled, and mailed before the end of the week.

When I racked this to the keg, the whole room smelled like brett. It wasn't nearly this brett forward last time I sampled it. The brett really powered through the aroma on this one but the FG stabilized at 1.015 so it isn't overly dry. It's fantastic, but it's not going to a competition.

 

[CA-LT1]

Alright, shipments made. For those of you receiving from me, here's what's in the box. I used the following code on the caps:
P=pumpkin ale
D=drifter pale ale clone
T=torpedo extra IPA clone
L=light hybrid ale
11= well, you can probably guess what those 2 are. I have to warn you though, it didn't really end up like I thought. Brewed on 11/26/10 (OG 1.079), racked to secondary with oak on 1/1/11 (1.018), kegged it, force carbbed, and bottled in July(1.010). The pellicle seemed to reform in the bottles, gravity is now 1.006
So I wont interject MY thoughts into your reviews, but that's the history. Oh, and a serving temp of cool-slightly cold seems to fit. Please be brutally honest in your reviews, I can take it

 

[KingBrianI]

Sent my packages out today. I'll pm tracking numbers when I get home along with a cap decoder.

 

[AlphaWolf-Brewery]

Thanks Brian for the review! It is the first time in 10 years of brewing that someone else who homebrews has tried my beer. The only thing I can think of why the cholorphenols are in there would be from the hose I use to make my star san. It is a very old hose in the basement and I have never thought about it. I have well water so there isnt any in chlorine in the water but I have read that it can leach from some certain hoses. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[KingBrianI]

Thanks Brian for the review! It is the first time in 10 years of brewing that someone else who homebrews has tried my beer. The only thing I can think of why the cholorphenols are in there would be from the hose I use to make my star san. It is a very old hose in the basement and I have never thought about it. I have well water so there isnt any in chlorine in the water but I have read that it can leach from some certain hoses. Thanks for the feedback.

No problem Craig, I love tasting other people's beer. Definitely try bypassing the hose to see if you can tell a difference. Also, campden is so cheap that you could always try adding it to the water just for cheap insurance, even though I don't know how chlorine or chloramine could be getting into well water. Just crush up a quarter tab per 5 gallons of water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before using it. Between that and skipping the hose, I think you'll notice a big difference.

 

[smokinghole]

Can you only taste the chlorophenols in a finished beer or is it there in trace amounts in the water before you brew also? If by passing the hose doesn't work let me know. I have a double house filter set up with two charocoal filters. The filters might be done but the housings and so forth are perfect. They're your's for a few bucks and some shipping. I switched to bottled water because even double charcoal filters didn't make my water good enough for brewing.

 

[AlphaWolf-Brewery]

I cant taste it at all in the water before brewing. This beer was kegged and tasted fine, so it is my belief that the water I used to make my starsan to sanitize the bottles got some chlorine from the pvc hose. I will try and change and see if that helps.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

hey guys I'm going to counter-pressure fill my 11-11-11 bottles tonight and get everything shipped tomorrow. So if you're receiving from me, I will PM you a tracking # tomorrow evening.

 

[smokinghole]

My bottles are all boxed up but I wanted to make sure whether a couple other recent bottling are carbed up. I had a brewing hiatus due to patio construction and then jumped in head first. I got about 8 cases bottled up in a few weeks but they're not 100% ready.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Hey guys, if you're receiving from me:

MarsColonist
AnOldUR
CA-LT1

I sent your packages today and I'll PM you a tracking number.

You're all going to be receiving the following:

11-11-11 x2

Traditional Bock, lagered 6 months

Belgian Dark Strong, 12% abv, bottle conditioned so let settle in fridge for a day or two.

American Stout, 1st place Best in Show @ 2011 Bluebonnet (out of 1700+ entries), 10 months aged

And, two of you will be receiving:
American Brown Ale, a hoppy, earthy, bold Brown

One of you will get:
Northern English Brown, traditional recipe, malty toasty biscuity

(I only had two bottles of the American Brown and I really want some feedback on this beer. I feel like it's pretty unique and I would love some opinions. The English Brown is a really solid beer too I think)

So that is a 6 pack each. Please let me know when they show up, they are all due to arrive well in advance of 11-11-11. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[smokinghole]

Well one of the beers I was hoping to send has no carbonation. I bottled them back in May and decided to check one. I am suspecting that I actually forgot to add priming sugar because I reyeasted with WLP099. I will do some investigation on a few isolated bottles.

So right now its looking like you guys will be getting some rye saison, some pumpkin ale, and the 11-11-11. I can send an IPA that I just bottled last week but it's not ready. One way or the other these bottles are getting dropped at UPS tomorrow.

 

[MarsColonist]

I suck and havent got mine done yet; work has been a beast and I started doing wine too and I just pressed 15 gallons of grape.. giant pain the ass to rack and clean up. 11-11-11 has been bottled for some time. I just got my bubble wrap, and still need to get a few boxes. If I can get bottling done tonite (cleaning bottles right now), Ill get them out hopefully out by Friday, but maybe tomorrow. Cheers!

 

[smokinghole]

Well guys my boxes are labeled and getting dropped off in a couple hours.

Ryeson = rye saison fermented with ECY03 farmhouse brett blend.

Pumpkin = Pumpkin brown ale made with english yeast.

Bumpkin = same pumpkin brown ale grist that was split with belgian yeast.

Gunstock = the 11-11-11 ale.

I have my own view on each of my beers that I was going to share but I figured I'd wait till you guys all try them. See how my view of flaws/what I could improve compares with yours.

Also I got KingBrianI's package last night. I can't wait to start drinking some. I'll try my first beer tomorrow while I'm brewing a batch of spelt saison with the ECY03 strain (same recipe as rye saison just different adjunct grains).

 

[AnOldUR]

WooHoo! Just got electric, phone and internet back. Lost to snow storm on Saturday.

Got things to do, but will read through thread tomorrow.

Have my swaps boxed up, but couldn't get sent out. Probably best to wait until Monday so they don't sit at UPS over the weekend.

My backyard . . .
Leaves and snow, a bad combination.

 

[AnOldUR]

Getting caught up on my HBT this morning. Now I feel bad. Got notices that all the beers coming to me have been shipped. So, what do you think? Wait until Monday or ship today?

 

[smokinghole]

You're fine if you wait till monday. You have a tree to move it looks like.