Posts Tagged ‘saltaire’
The Double IPA, Hmmm
Posted on: May 5, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 9 Comments
I’m a little confused over the matter of brewing Big IPA’s, in regard to getting bitterness and some dryness into these high strength Imperial or Double IPA.
Consider my AG#92 Klaatu Verata Nictu its an all malt DIPA but the residual sweetness after fermentation is far too high, time in bottle is s-l-o-w-l-y drying it out and its a nice beer, but much more of an American Barleywine than displaying the bitterness characteristics I was aiming for… It would seem that my predicted 200 IBU could have been doubled to 400 IBU to help cut through the sweetness.
This is theoretically where a Sugar addition comes into play to help dry the beer out…
Now consider this AG#85 HopZilla IPA which did have a sugar addition for the purpose of drying the beer out, yet I still got an annoyingly high level of residual sweetness after fermentation, this did eventually dry up and display its proper character in bottle but it took blooming ages! I think I have 1 bottle of this left which I assume will be the dogs bollocks by the time I crack into it.
There is nothing wrong with either of the above beers apart from me not getting what I was aiming for, for my next experiment I will be trying a 10% addition of Dextrose, and a long cool Mash with less malts that could be adding Dextrins to the wort.
The following questions arise:
- Mash Temp?
- Liquor to Malt Ratio?
- Mash Duration?
- Amount & Type of Copper Sugars?
- Malt selection?
- Liquor Treatment additions?
I feel a MASSIVE dry hop is needed on these higher gravity beers, done in two stages.. i.e. Once in the FV, then transfer to Conditioning/Secondary for a while before doing a Second or even Third Heavy dry hop.
We brewed Kala BIPA, 6.2% @SaltaireBrewery a short time ago, I know the ABV is considerably different but we used a sugar addition of almost 10% to great effect in this beer making an amazingly easy drinking beer that went down like a 4% session ale.
Its all fun 🙂 I’d be really interested in how other homebrewers / brewers get their level of bitterness & Dryness in their DIPAs.
Cheers
Northern Craft Brewers American Pale Ale Competition at Saltaire Brewery
Saturday 13th April
The day started before 10.30 with a few jobs and setting up to do in the brewery, around 11am people started arriving the sun was shining and the pints were starting to be pulled. By 1pm all the competition beers had been signed in and entry fees paid so judging could start, our panel of 6 judges was pretty similar to last year with Zak & Rob beer-writer & beer-blogger a couple of CAMRA judges, a National Guild judge and of course Tony the Head Brewer and owner of Saltaire Brewery.
We had around 44 (42 turned up on the day) beers entered into the competition, thats no mean feat for a single style homebrew comp, entries from as far afield as the far North East to the South Coast & Plymouth… this year really has drawn together a great group of like-minded homebrewers, its been good to meet new people, put names to faces , catch up with old friends & swap and taste a few exceptional homebrewed beers.
This year we had 9 Handpump beers across two of the bars in the brewery, each handpull having a beer donated by a homebrewer… Now we’re not certain, but does any other homebrew event in the UK offer 2 fully stocked bars like this, we’d like to think not and we’d like to thank all of our brewers for brewing and getting their beers to us for the day… Fantastic Work!
Each brewer using American Hops in a range of beer styles from light to dark and 3.5 – 5.5% ABV.
All the beers were given for a donation, we suggested £2 a pint inline with what the Brewery normally charge on its BeerClub nights, we raised a massive £640 for the charities below:
- The Alzheimers Society
- Water Aid
- Yorkshire Donkey Sanctuary
- Macmillan Cancer Support
- Cancer Research UK
- Make-a-Dream
- Beagle Welfare
- Yorkshire Cat Rescue
The Hop Talk
While judging was underway we had lined up Andrew Whalley of Charles Faram Ltd to come along and keep us entertained with an interesting talk about hops. These are exciting times for hops and hop growing and Andrew had brought along a variety of hop samples, needless to say we made a big mess of rubbed hops all over the floor and got sticky hop hands 🙂
Andrew started out at York brewery so knows a thing or two about brewing. Thanks for the talk, I know a lot of us are keen to try the new English varieties in the Farams Hop Development program, Cheers
CharlesFarams on Twitter
@BritishHops
After much deliberation the results were announced for the American Pale Ale:
Kevin Bagshaw from Doncaster took first place:
2nd – Andy Black from Leeds
3rd – Steve Syson from Derby
4th – Giles Strother from Oxford
Louis Cowdroy from Harrogate got the Highly Commended
42 Beers entered Judges stated all were of a very high standard & they found it very hard to split 1st and 2nd place.
The Best Cask results, voted for with a show of hands:
‘Pray for Mojo’ by Matt Darcy from Harrogate took first place:
2nd Neil Gardener from Guisley
3rd Zak Avery from Leeds
Louis Cowdroy got the Honorable Mention
Sincere thanks to all who took part, brewed beer, entered the competition, turned up to drink beer and talk brewing… we have done our 8 charities proud, well done 🙂
Major thinks also go to Tony Gartland for yet again letting me organise a ‘Piss-up in a Brewery’, Shane Swindells for sorting all the competition entries, our excellent team of Judges, the brewery staff, our Barmen Dave & Neil (Even if Neil didn’t have the power of speech by the end of it!), and my wife Emma for running the upstairs Bar, Thanks for a cracking event and here’s to next year! Cheers
The full photo gallery is here…
Northern Craft Brewers APA Comp Saltaire Brewery 2013, a set on Flickr.
I’m still editing and updating this post… so hold yer horses, let me know what I did wrong 😉
Scans of Charity reply letters here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdtnc/sets/72157634103463615/with/9035519874/
- In: Brewing
- 8 Comments
On the Saturday 13th of April 2013 the Northern Craft Brewers & Saltaire Brewery will be holding a Competition and Meeting as we have done for the previous two years 2012/2011.
The Competition will be to brew your best American Pale Ale (Full Details Here) a bit of give or take on the style but American Hops are essential, NCB Prizes & Engraved Tankards will be given for First, Second & Third and no doubt a Honorable Mention or two, So get your Brewer/Brewster hat on and get mashing, its open to all who can get themselves & their beer here on the day, One entry per person.
| Vital Statistics: | OG: 1.045 – 1.060 |
| IBUs: 30 – 45 | FG: 1.010 – 1.015 |
| SRM: 5 – 14 | ABV: 4.5 – 6.2% |
Entry is 3 500ml-1Pint Brown Bottles with no labels or Identifying Marks any colour crown cork closure allowed.
Entry fee is £5.00 per entry, payable on the day, £2.00 Entry fee to the event on the Day for non competitors.
Cash Prizes for 1st-4th amounts will be announced nearer the event as size will depend on entries received but minimum £25 for 1st place plus Trophies & certificate presented on the Day.
To enter the Competition please email Shane Swindells @ competitions@northerncraftbrewers.co.uk
Please provide Name Address and a preferred contact email when emailing Shane
You will receive a confirmation email on application and any further information/updates will come via email, closing date for entries is midnight on Sunday 31st March 2013 no entries will received after this date.
Bring Your 3 Entry bottles on the Day & we will issue Tags with your entry number to be applied to the bottles on the day of the event.
The Brewery will be open from 11.00am to accept entries, all entries must be in by 13.00
Now… seeing as you are coming to Saltaire Brewery we have a couple of bars that will be needing stocking with beer… not any old beer mind… Homebrewed beer 🙂 We’ll be asking a few of you to brew a beer to be served on Handpull (Bag in Box) and the proceeds will be split between the brewers chosen charities, last year we raised £400 I’m sure we can beat that!
We’ll be giving the peoples choice Cask beer an Engraved Tankard too, the beer to brew for the bar is to be pretty open but it would be good to stick with the American theme and within 3.5 to 5.5% ABV. (Info for invited cask Brewers)
Oh… did I mention we are working on giving you guys a talk on Hops too, thanks to Andrew Whalley of Charles Faram.
And……. we’ll do some Brewery Tours, as if the beer wasn’t enough to keep you busy!
Bring your homebrew, swapping and tasting is very much encouraged 🙂
If you need food, bring your own as its a 10 minute walk to the nearest eatery as is Shipley Train Station, here’s the Google Map for the Brewery. Their is an Ibis Hotel 10mins walk away too and local Aagrah curry house not too far either 🙂
The Saltaire Brewery presents The Northern Craft Brewers IPA Day 31st March
Posted on: February 3, 2012
- In: Brewing
- 4 Comments
Northern & Midland Craft Brewers are having a Competition & Meeting at the Saltaire Brewery, Shipley, (Map)Â Saturday March 31st 2012
This year we are running an English IPA competition, to be judged by Derek (The Brewery Manager of Saltaire Brewery), Zak Avery (Beer Blogger & of BeerRitz in Leeds) Rob Derbyshire (Blogger of Hopzine.com), among others.
Sadly Tony, the owner & Head Brewer of Saltaire, won’t be with us as he has family arrangements he cannot break, if anyone wants to leave him a bottle or two I’m sure he’d be very pleased.
We invited the Midlands Craft Brewers, to make things a little different as last year it was just the NCB, so this will be a bit of an Inter region competition, as well as a good meeting, get brewing your best English IPA recipe, this promises to be a great meeting and competition, not to mention we are hoping to see lots of Leeds Homebrewers too.
One entry per person only & entry is 2 pint/500ml brown (Magners style) Bottles, with Gold crown corks, (entries to be brought on the day).
Prizes will be awarded as usual, & the brewery will have 8 beers on Tap and guess what… all 8 beers are being brewed especially for the occasion, Saltaire’s IPA will fill one Tap and the other 7 Taps are being brewed by a few local Homebrewers, the beers will all be IPA’s so make sure you bring a fresh pallet as we hope to ravage yours.
We are running this as a charitable event so other than the Saltaire IPA the other homebrewed beers will be for a donation, we’d hope donations will be as last year with people giving the usual Saltaire price of £2 a pint.
We are expecting a large amount of entries for this competition, therefore to enter, please
Email: shane@bridestone.com
Closing Date for entries is Friday 16th March 2012
2 Bottle labels and entry number will be posted out to each entrant.
£3.00 Competition entry on the Day.
English IPA, any English hops, 1050-1070 (Please see this PDF of Hops allowed, no american C hops or NZ varieties please this is an English IPA Competition), any Malts allowed and your choice of Yeast.
| OG |
FG |
IBUs |
SRM |
ABV |
| 1.050 – 1.070 | 1.010 – 1.018 | 40 – 80 | 8 – 14 | 5 – 7.4% |
The Original announcement: http://www.northerncraftbrewers.co.uk/futureevents.html
Other stuff to note, we’ll be meeting at 12 noon for a 1pm start, doors will be open earlier but we’ll be setting up so if you’re early take a seat and chill while we’re ready.
Bring food if you need it as there is nothing closer than a 10 minute walk, the ground floor has level access.
And of course, beer swapping, tasting of homebrew is very much encouraged… we’re on for a fantastic day! 🙂
I shall update this post if any other details crop up, Turn your brewing dial to ‘Eleven’ and get that Copper boiling!
AG#20 – Uber Bluebird mkII
Posted on: February 6, 2010
This is a tweaked re-brew of my ‘Munich Blauer Vogel‘ which was based around the Coniston Bluebird recipe which drunk very well and I plan to try and keep it in stock as a House Bitter.
This time I’ve done it at a slightly lower ABV and also dropping the bitterness a bit with something I learned at work about blending hops to smooth out any inaccuracies, hence the addition of Bramling Cross for half of the bittering. Adding a bit of Wheat Malt for head retention.
I had some nice fresh acid-washed yeast from work which I will probably have to rouse from time to time as it works well with some added oxygen.
Uber Bluebird mkII
Fermentables:
Maris Otter 3100g – 77.5%
Munich Malt 500g – 12.5%
Wheat Malt 200g – 5%
Crystal Malt 200g – 5%
Hops:
Challenger @ 60 mins 21g (FWH)
Bramling Cross @ 60 mins 21g (FWH)
Challenger @ 20 mins 20g
Challenger @ 0 mins 20g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.039
Final Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol Content: 3.9% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.3 Litres
Mash Liquor: 10 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 36 EBU
Colour: 16 EBC
There aren’t many photos as I had a busy morning, the Mash was on at 8.45am and I had to go out so it is going to be a longer than 90min mash.
Mashing at a planned 66c which turned out to be 66.6c so near enough.
The malts and Gypsum:
Hops:
Leftovers:
Saltaire Brewery Yeast:
FWH:
OG pretty damn close to 1039 predicted:
Trub and cooler with last bit of wort running off:
The FV was looking a little full so I jugged out a few litres into a plastic demijohn, thought it best as I’m expecting a frothy creamy explosion, I pitched approx 75g of Saltaire yeast:
I would have been done ages ago if I hadn’t had things to do this morning. Wort tastes good, lots of fizzy challenger bitterness 🙂 I was going to do a yeast comparrison with Nottingham but I really couldn’t be bothered, I’ll do a basic pale with Fuggles & Goldings with 5% crystal for a yeast comparrison… and besides I fancy and nice wholesome earthy F&G hopped ale 🙂
**update for yeast activity, within 4 hours I had good signs of life, this morning I have a deep frothy head 🙂
Yeast head after approx 24 hours from pitching:
*Bottled 16th Feb ’10
Probably Due To Network Congestion 
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