1st place Porter National Homebrew Comp

[alecwallace]

Hi guys

This is my recipe for an Imperial Porter which scored 41/50 at the National Homebrew Competition on September 14th 2013. I haven't had the feedback yet but when I do ill post it up! Incidentally my Imperial Stout scored 43/50 which shows the level of competition in that category for it not to place.

Original Gravity (OG): 1.083
Final Gravity (FG): 1.021
Alcohol (ABV): 8.15 %
Colour (SRM): 37.4
Bitterness (IBU): 61.5 (Average)

65% Maris Otter Malt
10% Crystal 60
10% Wheat Malt
5% Chocolate
5% Flaked Oats
5% Special-B

5.8 g/L East Kent Golding (4.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 67°C overnight. Boil for 60 Minutes then I no chill for a day.

Fermented at 17°C with Safale S-04

[Matt12398]

I'm really up for doing a porter. This one looks like it could do very nicely although not sure if my effort will match up to yours. Well done.

[tenemus]

Congratulations on your success.

"Incidentally my Imperial Stout scored 43/50 which shows the level of competition in that category for it not to place. "

So all the placed stouts must have got 44+, yet none of them got placed in the top 4 Best of Show! I always presumed there were very few entries that got marked 45+ during competition, but this time there must have been some staggeringly perfect beers. Where are the recipes!

[richc]

So all the placed stouts must have got 44+

I made exactly that assumption with my scores a few years back but....

That's not entirely correct. The stout category is very big and was judged by more than one set of judges. While the judges attempt to mark to exactly the same score scale their rankings are necessarily subjective. So what often happens (I wasn't involved in this category and wasn't observing so don't know exactly) is that each group of judges puts forward their best X beers to a 'best in category' judging. These beers are then re rated without looking at their previous scores to chose the top three in the category. This means that the top scoring beer is not necessarily the one that wins the category, or, in the end, the competition.

As an obvious example my old ale that got second over all wasn't my highest scored beer by some significant margin.

[alecwallace]

Thanks all, I didn't expect to do as well as I did. I think when I brewed I had a good day!

There's a thread for 2012 recipes. Ill post asking for 2013 maybe?

[Fido97]

Hi alecwallace, your recipe looks good. Can you explain a bit more about your single step infusion overnight mash and also 'no chill for a day''? Cheers,

[alecwallace]

Certainly.

I mash bigger beers in a cool box mash tun in the evening and then wrap it up overnight. (Ive been accused of tucking my mash tun in better than my son!) In the morning I drain the tun to my big pot and commence the boil.

When the boil has completed I drain to a fermenter so that there is no or little air (15ltr batch and 15ltr fermenter) and cool naturally. The same evening I then add yeast and shake it up a bit and ferment as normal.

Pros - Time efficient as I rarely get a 4 hour or more slot to brew.
Cons - not the most technically perfect way to brew!

[AnthonyD]

Hi Alec,

Where abouts are you in Birmingham? I'm pretty new to the hobby ,started in July (3x partial mash - 1x All Grain) and I'm looking for some local homebrewers - swap beers, advice etc. I'm based in Kings Heath.

Cheers

Anthony

[alecwallace]

Im Kings Heath too! DM your email mate on here or twitter @alecwallace01. I am part of Brewdog Birmingham Homebrew Club. We meet on the last Wednesday of each month since the start of the year. We've been looking to expand. I will email the other guys (all really easy going and a range of experience) and cc you so you get an idea of what we've discussed. Definitely up for bottle swops / collab brews etc!

[Fido97]

Ok cheers for the info. I tend to avoid evening brewing as it just gets too late but leaving overnight might be a good solution. Clearly it works for you.