Community Brew?

[corkybstewart]

I'll buy an all grain kit, brew and ship some bottles. I'm curious about the date though. Is that the date we brew or the date we ship? I'd like to do it earlier than July, I'm going on vacation about then.

[Cimarronin]

Originally posted by dparsons

. . . I'd still like to aim for more of a dry maltiness. I think a lb of Crystal will make that more difficult. Kettle caramelization is a good thing.

I like the WLP005 yeast. EKG hops are fine too. My preference is for whole hops if we can get that put in a kit.

Questions to gestyr:
What efficiency did you assume?
What was your estimate OG?
What are the estimated IBU's?

Regarding a uniform recipe:
- I think if we involve AHS it will be easier for them to work with a single AG recipe and a single extract recipe.
- It will be easier for us to focus on one recipe than something general that everybody is going to do their own way.
- I figure the recipe won't be exactly the way I would do it or make best use of my ingredient stock, but I'll learn something from others and it might even come out better.

I think dparsons comments are deadon. I mean, we all have an opportunity to make our own unique brews from time to time. And from what I've read, the folks on this board, myself included, brew some stuff that is really out there. But there is rarely an opportunity to work with other like-minded folks and then compare our results for consistency. In this instance, if we all brew the same or close to it, then we get to compare our results with our fellow brewers and then back-track our technique to find out why the results differ. It's scientific method applied to homebrew and will make us all better brewers.

As to those who want to vary the recipe (different hops, yeast, etc.), if they work from a common base kit, then it will be easier to attribute differences in the final product to the difference in inputs.

Also, I do want to try for that dry maltiness, and having only recently learned about kettle caramelization would like to try to achieve that (deliberately for once).

[corkybstewart]

I'll make a 10 gallon batch of the recipe using 2 fermenters, one with the standard recipe, and one with a different yeast and maybe dryhopped or just different hops boiled seperately.

[Otis_The_Drunk]

Corky july 1 is the shipping deadline. You can ship before but no later.

I would like to discuss who all will be doing the Evaluation.
I would say that by defalut we use danno since he is a certified judge, that leaves 2 more spots open.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by dparsons
I modified gestyr's suggested recipe. I changed the crystal to CaraMunich and dropped the amount, spec'd UK Biscuit (darker), changed the hop additions to hit flavor and aroma more specifically, and changed the bittering hop to something with a higher AA so that the receipe IBU's are past the minimum for the style. I also changed the LME to DME to get past the twang that was discussed with much ferver here.

I like this recipe - the hopping is on and uses full packs of hops (no waste!) Also, the yeast is a good call as it is available from your company of choice.

[Otis_The_Drunk]

You I Know I just thought of an article that could work for BYO.
That is how environmental conditions, techniques can effect different flavors in the same recipe.
Look at it this way, if everyone uses the same recipe but they brew it the way they want to and use the conditions that they usually do in their own home, there is going to be some variation.
This is what I find intriguing.

[vw addict]

I'm game for a AG, just not sure on the shipping. How are we going to work that?

[corkybstewart]

How about steveh. Also a judge and he has no dog in this fight.

[Otis_The_Drunk]

Shipping for AHS is $5.99 flat rate.

[vw addict]

Originally posted by Otis_The_Drunk
Shipping for AHS is $5.99 flat rate.

If this was in response to me, I meant shipping on the bottles. How are we going to work out who's goes where and whatnot? Is AHS going to give us some kind of discounted rate? If not I'll just head to my LHBS to pick up the grain bill and hops.

[paulcgi]

related note: F.O.R.D. did a brewexperiment and posted it in their newsletter.
http://hbd.org/ford/newsletters/0107.html
scroll to fermenter experimenter. brewed up 20 gals and fermented in different materials.
Our "experiment" has too many variables to focus like that, but I think will make a very interesting study.
I can also volunteer some webspace/database whatever depending on how far we (you, Otis) take this and how detailed an article you would try to write for BYO.

longshot talks about shipping in that you can't use USPS, but can use UPS, FEDEX.. something about a don't ask dont tell approach

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
Are we talking about having Austin Homebrew assemble these kits for us or do our own assembly? I have everything but biscuit malt already on hand.

I think AHS will supply if you need to just buy the whole kit. For those of us who have bulk stuff on hand, or live by a HBS, use them.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Otis_The_Drunk
Corky july 1 is the shipping deadline. You can ship before but no later.

I would like to discuss who all will be doing the Evaluation.
I would say that by defalut we use danno since he is a certified judge, that leaves 2 more spots open.

If July 1 is the shipping deadline, then everyone who participates should have the beer fully conditioned & ready to drink by that date. Also, I think all those who participate should brew around the same time. This recipe will taste considerably different, just based on aging times, so all beer should be about the same age.

Another thought: Should the judges be participating?

[Otis_The_Drunk]

Originally posted by Boerne Brew
If July 1 is the shipping deadline, then everyone who participates should have the beer fully conditioned & ready to drink by that date. Also, I think all those who participate should brew around the same time. This recipe will taste considerably different, just based on aging times, so all beer should be about the same age.

Another thought: Should the judges be participating?

To know how and when the beer was made I think that a paper with Brew date, technique, primary time, secondary time and bottling date would be would solve this conundrum.

[edit]

I think that at least one judge would be a good thing, as the judge would be able to give a detailed description of any faults that may be in the beer.
But also laymen could give their opinions as well.

[danno]

I step away from the computer for a day and this thing has taken on a life of it's own...

anyways, I'm not that wild about judging everyone's beers myself (I'm flattered, but this is getting a bit big...) my thought was that everyone who ships out to three other brewers also gets three shipped to them in order to evaluate other's versions.

vw, addict, you're essentially on your own for shipping your three entries. I'd recommend using someplace like Office Max (DHL has cheap ground shipping) or the UPS store, I can't imagine shipping would be more than $5-6 per box. not that the terrorists should know this, but I've never once been questioned about what I was shipping from either of those places.