Brew #79: Oregon Black Ale

I’ve called it a Black IPA, and its been called Cascadian Dark Ale by others, as well as a handful of other names. It’s a dark colored ale with very little roast flavors, tons of hop flavor and bitterness and finishes clean. Hopefully the american homebrewer association will establish a beer style category for this soon.. I’m guessing it would land in the American Ale category as sub-category Black Ale.

Past results from competition were that my bitterness was a little lower than judges preferred.. This one is definitely a bit more aggressive on the hop bitterness although it isn’t very sharp or harsh though it does seem to linger a bit.. Changed out the yeast to use English as well, this should leave the beer with a little more sweetness which I’m hoping will help maintain a good balance.

Oregon Black Ale
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Brewer: Josh Gum
Style: American IPA
Batch: 5.25 galAll Grain

Characteristics
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Recipe Gravity: 1.059 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 99 IBU
Recipe Color: 28 SRM
Estimated FG: 1.015
Alcohol by Volume: 5.7%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.5%

Ingredients
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American chocolate malt 0.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
American two-row 11.00 lb, Grain, Mashed
Carafa III malt 0.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
German Munich 1.00 lb, Grain, Mashed

Centennial(7.8aa) 0.50 oz, Whole, 5 minutes
Centennial(7.8aa) 0.50 oz, Whole, 10 minutes
Chinook(12.7aa) 0.75 oz, Whole, 5 minutes
Chinook(12.7aa) 0.10 oz, Whole, 10 minutes
Chinook(12.7aa) 0.35 oz, Whole, 30 minutes
Chinook(12.7aa) 0.75 oz, Whole, 60 minutes
Magnum(15aa) 0.40 oz, Whole, 10 minutes
Magnum(15aa) 0.25 oz, Whole, 30 minutes
Magnum(15aa) 0.50 oz, Whole, 60 minutes
Simcoe(12.9aa) 1.00 oz, Whole, 5 minutes

Calcium Chloride 1.00 unit, Other, 1tsp @ 60min
English Ale Yeast (WLP002) 1.00 unit, Other, 1 tube
Gypsum 1.00 unit, Other, 1tsp in mash
Yeast Nutrient 1.00 unit, Other, 1tsp @ flameout

Notes
—–
Recipe Notes:
Bumping up the bitterness a touch for competition brewing.

Batch Notes:
Mashed at 156f for 60min
OG 1.059, fermenting at 64f
The sample has a great assertive bitterness and plenty of hop flavor.. with some dry hopping, this is going to shape up to be a tasty beer!

3/7: FG 1.020, dry hopped, tasting good.. a little more toasted notes with the grain from a new supplier.

Brew #78: Marzen

Doctor Scotts Marzen from the BN, with an adjustment on the mash schedule and yeast selection.

Mmmmmarzen
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Brewer: Josh Gum
Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen
Batch: 5.25 gal All Grain

Characteristics
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Recipe Gravity: 1.051 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 22 IBU
Recipe Color: 11 SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Alcohol by Weight: 3.9%

Ingredients
———–
American two-row 2.25 lb, Grain, Mashed
Belgian aromatic malt 0.60 lb, Grain, Mashed
CaraPils 0.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
Crystal 60L 0.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
German Munich 1.00 lb, Grain, Mashed
German pilsener 4.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
German vienna 1.75 lb, Grain, Mashed

Saaz (3.6aa) 0.25 oz, Whole, 15 minutes
Tettnanger (5.5aa) 1.00 oz, Whole, 90 minutes

Irish Moss 1.00 unit, Fining, 1tsp @ 30m
WLP830 German Lager 1.00 unit, Other, 100mL of yeast cake
Yeast Nutrient 1.00 unit, Other, 1tsp @ flameout
Calcium Chloride 1.00 unit, Other, 1tsp in mash

Notes
—–
Batch Notes:
Mash:
15min 110f (+4qt water)
5min (+10qt strike water), decoct 3qt wort to boil (+1tsp calcium chloride)
20min 146f (+2qt water)
30min 152f (+4qt water)

Preboil: 6ga @ 1.048
Fermenter: 4ga @ 1.055
100ml German Lager yeast cake pitched @ 50f

2/27: FG 1.010, tastes quite malty!
4/8: Won 1st place in its category at the World Cup of Beer, qualified for the MCAB XIII competition!

KLCC Homebrew Competition

Next weekend marks the 2010 KLCC Brewfest and Homebrew Competition in Eugene on the 12th and 13th. Wendie, myself, and a gang of friends will be there the evening of the 12th. I really like how they have it laid out with large aisles between the beer tables.. its one of my favorite fests of the year because of that.

Here’s a list of the beers I’ve got entered, and some thoughts that I’ve got prior to getting the feedback from judging. Once I get my results back, I’ll update the post with the aggregate of feedback for each beer and the scores they receive.

This year I’ve got 5 beers entered in competition;

Brew 76: Pale : Entered as an American Pale Ale. This one is using a fairly new hop called Citra, and it has some great peach or tangerine flavor. I think that it might miss a few points due to the lower level of bittering hops, at least that’s how I perceive it. I’m entering this mainly for suggestions on what else to try for a classic American Pale.

Brew 75: Dark Matter (Stout) : Entered as an American Stout. The roast character might be a little low for this style, otherwise I think it will score fairly well. (Placed 3rd in its category, the results were that it generally needed some more roast character)

Brew 74: Super Strong Scotch : Entered as a Strong Scotch Ale. This is still quite young for a 10% ABV beer, it has a huge malty character with all kinds of tasty complexity.. I’m guessing this is going to be the highest scoring of the beers I’m entering. (Honorable mention in its category, mostly due to being quite young and a little bit over carbonated.. very big and complex)

Brew 71: Fresh Hop Double Pale : Entered as an American Pale Ale, although mine is a bit higher on the alcohol level.. This one used a ton of fresh hops from Brehks garden, and I think it still shows the green hop flavors. The taste is quite smooth, I’m expecting the results to lose points due to a less than aggressive hop bitterness.

Brew 70: Triple Hopped Dark Ale : Entered as a Specialty Ale, there isn’t a category for this type of beer yet. It has a subtle toasted flavor hiding behind the huge hop flavor and aroma.. one of my favorite beers. I’m thinking it will score well, but may lose a few points to the fact that I had it in bottles with labels on them rather than clean unlabeled glass.