8.03.2011

Guess what's about to get a little more Dank.....Iron Brewer!

That's right people.  I was accepted into the next round of Iron Brewer!  Not sure if you know about this competition but it's pretty cool.   Peter Kennedy at Simply Beer started a contest called Iron Brewer.  With this contest he tests the recipe formulating skills of homebrewers across the nation by giving them 3 secret ingredients which must be incorporate into a unique beer recipe.   The beers are brewed, shipped, and judged a month later by a panel of tasters, and then the winner is decided!

It's kinda like the show Chopped on the food network.  For this challenge, I opened up the basket and the secret ingredients are...
Upon discovering that Galena hops are more of a bittering hop, and that Rose Hips actually provide a citrus note and the timing of this contest, I decided that I'd use the heat of my upstairs bedroom to bring together an extremely complex, malty, yeasty, hoppy, sour Rustic Saison!  Melanoidin Malt was the only thing out of wack for the style so I decided that I'd balance that with some Acidulated Malt.

My plan is to use all of the ingredients, but not have any one ingredient stick out to the tasters.  This is how I brew Saison's.  Extreme complexity, but hopefully a headscratcher as to how I accomplished it.  Reach out to me if you want me to send you a couple of bottles so that you can listen in on the final tasting and compare notes! 

Here is my recipe.  Hope it turns out well.

 Nordeast Farmhouse Ale - brewed for Iron Brewer: Batch 2 Round 6

malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L
53%
7
0
Belgian Pilsner Malt
34
2
15%
2
0
Vienna Malt
36
3
8%
1
0
Spelt
34
5
8%
1
0
Acidulated Malt
33
2
8%
1
0
Honey
35
1
6%
0
12
Biscuit Malt
36
23
4%
0
8
Melanoidin Malt
37
20

13
4



Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity
1.058
Final Gravity
1.002 

7.7% ABV  

Color
8° SRM 
(Gold to Copper)
Mash Efficiency
63%

hops

use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
first wort
90+ mins
0.5
Galena
pellet
13.0
boil
15 mins
0.5
Galena
pellet
13.0
boil
10 mins
1.0
Hersbrucker
pellet
4.0
boil
5 mins
1.0
Hersbrucker
pellet
4.0
Boil: 6.0 avg gallons
Bitterness
35.2 IBU 

yeast

Wyeast French Saison (3711)
ale yeast in liquid form with low flocculation and 81% attenuation
Alcohol

misc

use
time
amount
ingredient
boil
10 min
0.25 ounces
corriander
boil
10 min
0.0 liquid ozs
Grains of Paradise
boil
10 min
0.1 liquid ozs
Irish Moss
boil
10 min
0.25 ounces
Orange Peel, Bitter
boil
10 min
1 ounces
Rose Hips
boil
10 min
0.1 liquid ozs
Yeast Nutrient (WYeast)
















Pitched the Yeast at 85 degrees and set upstairs in my 75 degree upstairs attic.  Should cool down a bit tonight and then kick back up into the 80's for the first two days of fermentation.   It looks and smells exactly as I want it too!

8.22.11 - Shipped my bottles out to the Iron Brewer judge and the 8 other brewers.  Cost a pretty penny.   I think it's a bit under carbonated, but still really fantastic beer.  Wish it was carbed on the upper level rather then lower level for the style...but oh well.   Crossing my fingers!

7 comments:

  1. Congrats on being accepted!! Out of curiosity, how does one get accepted into iron brewer?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just submitted my info to the site, and then was contacted. No idea if there is a wait list, or how many people want to get involved with this type of a challange. You have to be pretty badass...kinda like the honey badger. And also willing to ship 20 bottles of your batch to other people.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Understood. Best of luck!!

    After looking over your recipe, I am curious if you would mind saying a little more about your 1st hop addition (i.e. the 1st wort hopping). Specifically, when (pre-boil) did you add your 1st hops? My apologies for the question, but the concept & terminology of 1st wort hopping is new to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Ethan. Yeah...so First Wort Hops. First off, do you brew all-grain? If so, you'll know that you mash the grains, then drain that wort out of the mash tun leaving the grains behind. As soon as you get any wort into your boil kettle, that is when you put the hops in for the First Wort Hop addition. Whether you fly sparge or batch sparge, simply put in your hops in right away once you have wort. Then when you bring it to a boil, the hops have already been chillin in there for 15-45 minutes depending on your process. You get more bitterness out of it...but it's also a smoother bitterness, but an added benefit is you also get a lot of aroma out of it. Don't ask me how...but you do! It's a pretty awesome technique, especially if you want to add complexity to your hop profile.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the info!

    Do you use 1st wort hops with only a few beer styles or is it something you like using whenever you brew?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like to do it in almost all of my beers. The only ones I'd consider not doing it in would be really malty beers where I want the malt to shine through. Biere De Garde, maybe certain Bock styles. It's totally up to you. My experience with it is that the Aroma you get from FWH lasts much longer then dry hopping. My beer The Essence was extremely aromatic 6 months after I bottled it. I'm pretty sure that was because I FWH'd it pretty heavily! Dry hops start to fade weeks after bottling. It's just another thing that will add complexity to your hop profile so you have to decide first, is my bittering hop going to complement my other flavor and Aroma hops. If yes, then FWH. If no, then do a normal 60 minute hop addition. Make sense?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Nick - nice job making it to the 2nd round! Do you know if you won yet? Also rose hip oil is used in a lot of skincare products as an anti-aging ingredient. So I like to think you made an anti-aging beer. Perhaps a Fountain of Youth Ale? I'd drink it.

    ReplyDelete

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