Your best brew -ever-

[Noob_Brewer]

Did research,order ingredients and brewed it with my best friend since I was 5 (we're 34)

funny I originally read/interpreted this as you and your best friend have been brewing this beer since you were 5 lmfao!

 

[Sammy86]

funny I originally read/interpreted this as you and your best friend have been brewing this beer since you were 5 lmfao!

LoL

 

[Mutant]

Light American Lager - perfect session beer. Difficult for most people to pull off as it is fundamentally impossible to hide flaws.

 

[monkeymath]

My best brew ever is always the one I am currently planning or that is currently fermenting.

 

[jdauria]

My best beer ever? To drink...a simple German Pilsner. It was so good my friends and I emptied the keg in 7 days.
Best competition wise, my Czech Dark lager, scored a 44 which is the highest score I have gotten in a comp.

 

[Kharnynb]

My favourite beer ever is a german/belgian wheat hybrid with 1 week honey addition...I've just got a batch ready and already planning the next batch

 

[Argyll Gargoyle]

My best beer ever? To drink...a simple German Pilsner. It was so good my friends and I emptied the keg in 7 days.
Best competition wise, my Czech Dark lager, scored a 44 which is the highest score I have gotten in a comp.

Could you tell us more about the Czech Dark?

 

[jdauria]

Could you tell us more about the Czech Dark?

Czech Dark is like a German Schwarzbier, but with more roast and a complex malty profile. Here's the recipe for that version. It was BIAB full mash. I added some Sinamar because I wanted the color a little darker and the Eldeweiss hop blend is a blend of Saaz and other American grown noble hops sold by a BJCP Grand Master on ebay, his page is Hop Heaven. Edit: I do the beer with just all Czech Saaz hop now.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.18 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.18 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 21.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume
7.00 lb Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt (Weyermann) ( Grain 1 61.0 % 0.55 gal
3.25 lb Munich II (Weyermann) (8.5 SRM) Grain 2 28.3 % 0.25 gal
0.75 lb Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.5 % 0.06 gal
0.22 lb Carafa Special II (Weyermann) (488.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.9 % 0.02 gal
0.75 oz Perle [7.00 %] - Boil 50.0 min Hop 5 16.4 IBUs -
0.50 oz Eldeweiss Blend [5.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 7.2 IBUs -
2.75 g Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) Other 7 - -
0.50 oz Eldeweiss Blend [5.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 3.4 IBUs -
0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 mins) Fining 9 - -
0.26 lb Sinamar (Wyermann) [Primary] (384.0 SRM) Extract 10 2.3 % 0.03 gal
2.0 pkg German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) [35.49 ml] Yeast 11 - -


Mash Schedule: 03 - BIAB (152F) Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 11.48 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 8.04 gal of water at 157.1 F 152.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 15 min

Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------
Grain ordered from Keystone
116 grams Sinamar to 28 srm

19-003 Czech Dark

Profiles (ppm) Exist Mash Finished
Ca 0 52 52
Mg 0 3 3
Na 0 18 18
SO4 0 55 55
Cl 0 59 59
HCO3 0 41 NA
SO4/Cl Ratio 0.9

Batch Volume 6.3 Gallons
Total Mash 8.0 Gallons
Mash Dilution 8.0 Gallons
Total Sparge 0.0 Gallons
Sparge Dilution 0.0 Gallons
Estimated Mash pH 5.55 SU

Mineral Additions (gm) Mash Sparge
Gypsum 2.4 0.0
Calcium Chloride 2.8 0.0
Epsom Salt 0.8 0.0
Mag Chloride 0.0 0.0
Canning Salt 0.0 0.0
Baking Soda 2.0 Not Recommended

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Czech Dark is like a German Schwarzbier, but with more roast and a complex malty profile.

That sounds tasty!

 

[jdauria]

That sounds tasty!

Definitely! Hard to find many pro breweries making the style here in US, but a local brewery here in Mass that focuses on German & Czech lagers made the traditional ways, makes one that is out of this world. Mine is good, but their's if a million times better.

 

[DromJohn]

Drom John Shmaltz Sweet Sixteen

 

[bleme]

It's been a couple years and my memory isn't what it used to be but I'm pretty sure my best beer to date was:

Oxymoron NEBIPA
12 lb 2-Row
1 lb Caramunich III
1 lb Midnight Wheat

20 minute Whirlpool at 180F, aiming for about 50 IBU's
1 oz Chinook
2 oz Centennial
2 oz Belma

US-05 yeast
Dry Hop when Ferment starts to slow
1 oz Citra
1 oz Centennial

 

[3 Dawg Night]

It's been a couple years and my memory isn't what it used to be but I'm pretty sure my best beer to date was:

Oxymoron NEBIPA

I confess, I had to Google "NEBIPA." Now I want to try one!

 

[bleme]

I confess, I had to Google "NEBIPA." Now I want to try one!

Back when I made it, I'd never heard of another and thought I'd coined the term. Then I served it at a beerfest where the local brewpub owner kept dragging pro brewers over, telling them that they HAD to try this. I'm sure most of those out there thought of it on their own, but it's nice to know that I inspired at least one of them.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Best ever, would be my Big Monster RIS that came in at about 18% (I have one or two bottles left, and it was brewed in 2013 I believe)

One that I have repeated, would be one I call a Double Quad that is usually in the 15% ballpark. I have a number of bottles left from various years, that I have done a vertical tasting with several friends, the only problem is with a vertical tasting of those, very few can leave vertical, lol.

 

[cgmeservey]

Kate the Great clone. Managed to mash 24 lbs. of grain in an 8 gallon brew kettle. Used BIAB method and the bag lift was epic. 8 months later the result was 95% as good as Todd Mott’s original creation. 10.5% abv, delicious. May never be duplicated in this brew house, so grateful for the outcome.

 

[monkeymath]

Best ever, would be my Big Monster RIS that came in at about 18% (I have one or two bottles left, and it was brewed in 2013 I believe)

I'm not sure if I actually want to do it myself, but I'm still curious how you do that? How do you create a wort at such an extreme gravity? And how do you get your yeast to work in such an extreme environment?

 

[bracconiere]

not what i was looking for but.....i hope i'm not too off-topic.....

 

[bracconiere]

this is more what i was looking for....lol

 

[kingmatt]

My favorite recipe is my Rye IPA. I've brewed it countless times and won many awards with it over the years.

The "best" beer I've brewed would probably be my Pre-Prohibition American Lager (I posted the recipe here before). It was my first attempt at the style and ended up winning Best of Show at a 600+ entry competition, was brewed and sold commercially and made it to the final table at the 2018 GABF Pro-Am.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I'm not sure if I actually want to do it myself, but I'm still curious how you do that? How do you create a wort at such an extreme gravity? And how do you get your yeast to work in such an extreme environment?

It was a ten gallon batch, I got half.
First of all, we used a lot of grain, mostly first runnings, and there was a good bit of molasses as well.
If I remember correctly, it was 75-80 pounds of grain in three mash tuns.
The fellow that I brewed with was connected to a Baskin-Robbins (an ice cream shop) and brought over a bag of malted milk powder, three pounds maybe, and it was added as well, I don't know if any of it was fermentable.
Some of the first running were collected and boiled down separately, into almost a thick syrup and added back into the boil near the end.
The beer was started with White Labs 006 to develop the flavor profile and three or four days in three vials of 099 were added.
Over the next two weeks, the temperature was raised a degree or two each day, until it got into the low 80's and kept there until completion.
Honestly, I feel that luck had a lot to do with it as well. I have no plans to try it again any time soon, if ever, although the beer is/was awesome.

Second runnings went into a couple of other beers that were made that day.

Several years later, I tried to get something similar, minus the malted powder, and it ended up hopelessly stuck. 10-12% and still at 1.050
There are still eight or ten bombers of it left in a box somewhere.