National Homebrew Conference, Philly 2013

I was looking at the seminar's for the upcoming National Conference in Philly and I really didn't like the layout the American Homebrewers Association gave us.  It was listed, out of order and choppy to figure out what was happening and when.  I started to create a timeline for each day.  Nothing over the top, but I hope this will make your time at the conference a little easier.  

Here is the pemalink to my Google shared site.  Or if you want the excel file, Email me and I'll send it to you.

Feel free to pass this around and look for me at the conference. 

Parallel World: Brett Trois IPA

When I started brewing back in 2001 I didn't know much about beer fermentation's.  In fact, I think my 3 year old son currently has a better understanding of fermentation than I did my first year of homebrewing extract beers on my stove.  I was a Mr Beer brewer, basically boiling water with canned wort and letting it ferment.  Hops were out of the equation, as you all know they were inside the liquid malt extract Mr Beer provided.  As I slowly started to grasp the concept of fermentations relating to yeast and its relation to good beer, my brewing excelled.  While the idea of brewing with new and different ingredients was excepted, brewing outside the Saccharomyces yeast family was unheard of until recently.  Most people considered Brettanomyces a souring agent, but in fact, Brettanomyces can fully ferment wort as well or better than Saccharomyces can. 

Going back to my development as a homebrewer, what if Brettanomyces was an accepted yeast strain when I started brewing?  Would it of changed the way I developed a recipe?  Would mouthfeel be the most important part in designing a beer given the great attenuation Brett achieves coupled with the lack of glycerol producing enzymes?  Would oats, rye and wheat be staples in my homebrewing closet?  If the Brettanomyces yeast can create tropical, passion fruit and mango flavors how would hops play into the beer?  Would we of had the hops shortage back in 2007?  All these parallel connections would play into the homebrewer that I am today. 

Dawn to Dusk: Session Pale, Tasting Session

Arrg, flash flare back

Aroma:  Sweet Pear.  Resinous piney notes.  Would like to see more aroma hop in the nose. 


Appearance:  Amber Gold in color, tan head.  Good clarity (Not great, but getting better) Long lasting lacing during the tasting.


Flavor:  More malt forward than expected.  Maybe a little under attenuated.  Great mixture of Simcoe and Amarillo hops.  No DMS or Diacetyl detected.  Very smooth bittering hops, maybe bumping up the bittering hops next time would help the perceived smoothness.  Not astringent. Finishing dry, very drinkable. 

3 Brewers #2, Tasting Session

Aroma: Intensely floral and tropical.  Big notes of New Zealand hops.  Hints of a fresh loaf of rye bread.  Almost a earthy spiciness that I can't pinpoint.  


Appearance: Darker than expected for the style.  A soft white head with darker edges is firmly placed on top of the glass.  The head fades to thin, but is resilient.  The beer is still hazy but on the verge of clearing up.  Maybe some chill haze is present.  This beer has excellent lacing inside the glass.

Raven Black Ale, Revisited Take #8

5 beers fermenting in the chamber.  Raven is on the far left

This past weekend was National Homebrew Day and the American Homebrewers Association's "Big Brew".  While I've never attended a formal Big Brew event, seeing the pictures across the web is enough to make any brewer jealous.  To celebrate the occasion I wanted to brew 2 beers focused primarily on hops.  I decided to rebrewing my Citra Blast DIPA and my Raven American Black Ale. 

Last year I started working on my American Black Ale (Black IPA) focusing more on citrus hops vs the dark roasted flavors found in a Cascadian Dark Ale (Which is more like a Janet's Brown).  I've brewed this beer seven times, tweaking the recipe in small amounts on each batch.  Adapting the recipe to my personal tastes is one of my favorite things about brewing.  Getting to identify the subtle changes that occur in each batch.  I've changed the yeast, process, mash temps and the hops.  (Once I like a recipe, I normally don't post that I'm brewing it, but having brewed this beer so often and the older recipes needed some updating, hence the post.)  The original Tasting Notes posted are posted here.

2013 AHA National Homebrew Competition

Drinking the beer that advanced while reading the Judges notes is nice.

This was my second year entering the National Homebrew Competition.  In 2012, I entered 3 beers.  All scoring well, but not all at the level I wanted them to be.  I want to say I was more prepared for this years competition, but the truth is that I wasn't.  I just happened to have more beers bottled this year vs last year.  Mainly because of my Blichmann BottleGun.  This afforded me to pick the beers I thought would be better suited for the competition.  Meaning I didn't want to deal with Pale Ales or any IPA's and what I had on hand.


The beers I decided to send:

Gail Belgian Dark Strong.  18E Final Score 41.3 (Advanced to Mini-BOS) 2nd Place

Farmer Daughter Flanders Red Blend #7  17B Final Score 40 (Advanced to Mini-BOS)

Cucuy Russian Imperial Stout aged on Coco Nibs 13F Final Score 33.5 (Advanced to Mini-BOS)

Farmhouse Saison w/Rayon Vert Dregs (Now named Dirty Gnome)  16C Final Score 32.5

Belma Trials: Saison 16B Final Score 29


I made a promise to myself to send 4 beers to NHC this year, but with the registration snafu, the 4th and 5th beers processed at the same time. (Yes, I had multiple browsers open)  Knowing the mess they were having I didn't want to "Rock the Boat" and paid for my entries before the system crashed.

America's Finest City Homebrew Competition 2013

I entered the America's Finest City Homebrew Competition this year, hosted by the QUAFF homebrew club for the 1st time.  Making this my 3rd homebrew competition ever.  I can't really say if I have the competition bug or not, but I really like the feedback from the judges (if it is well thought out).  Even though this post is late, its better than never, right?

I attended the award ceremony with Danny (DeeperRoots Brewing) and my buddy Sisco.  This also happened to be the first ever homebrew meeting I've been to.  It was nice to talking homebrew over beers with the QUAFF guys.  I ended up sitting next to Jeff (Bikes, Beers and Adventure) and tasting some of his well made sours.  Over all it was a great night, even though I didn't place in the 2 beers I entered.

Here are the results: