Bay Area Mashers Homebrew Club

Author: nick

  • SOQ3 2021: Oktoberfest

    This Q3 we will feature two German lagers that are heavily consumed during the world’s largest beer festival, Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest beer denotes two distinct beer styles that are known for being highly drinkable by the liter: a traditional Märzen lager and a paler Festbier that is now more commonly served. Commercial Oktoberfest beers found in the US are generally of the Märzen style.

    Because this SOQ features lager beers, we announced a month early (June) and will close the competition a month late (October 31).

    6A: Märzen
    An elegant, malty German amber lager with a clean, rich, toasty and bready malt flavor, restrained bitterness, and a dry finish that encourages another drink. The overall malt impression is soft, elegant, and complex, with a rich aftertaste that is never cloying or heavy.

    4B: Festbier
    A smooth, clean, pale German lager with a moderately strong malty flavor and a light hop character. Deftly balances strength and drinkability, with a palate impression and finish that encourages drinking. Showcases elegant German malt flavors without becoming too heavy or filling.

    Slides about these styles forthcoming from the July 8 technical talk with Paul L of East Brother Beer Co.

    Have fun making this style in Q3. If you feel like submitting the beer for our friendly, internal competition and/or constructive feedback, please submit 2 clean, unmarked bottles labeled with the BJCP bottle ID form affixed to either Ian’s bottle-share box or OakBarrel by the end of October.

  • SOQ2 Trappist Ales

    WINNERS:
    1st place: Stephen Haas with a Trappist Single
    2nd place: Randy Guerrero with a Belgian Dark Strong Ale
    3rd place: Sam Kopp with a Belgian Tripel

    Congrats to the winners and the winners and thanks to everyone who brewed, entered, drank, and/or talked about Trappist beers over the past several months!

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    Let’s brew some Trappist-style ales for the 2nd quarter of 2021. These beers are all characterized by very high attenuation, high carbonation through bottle conditioning, and interesting (and often aggressive) yeast character.

    Technically speaking, Trappist is a protected legal appellation, and cannot be used commercially except by genuine Trappist monasteries that brew their own beer. However, we can use it to describe the type or styles of beer produced by those breweries and those of us who make beers of a similar style.

    26A. Trappist Single
    A pale, bitter, highly attenuated and well carbonated Trappist ale, showing a fruity-spicy Trappist yeast character, a spicy-floral hop profile, and a soft, supportive grainy-sweet malt palate.

    26B. Belgian Dubbel
    A deep reddish-copper, moderately strong, malty, complex Trappist ale with rich malty flavors, dark or dried fruit esters, and light alcohol blended together in a malty presentation that still finishes fairly dry.

    26C. Belgian Tripel
    A pale, somewhat spicy, dry, strong Trappist ale with a pleasant rounded malt flavor and firm bitterness. Quite aromatic, with spicy, fruity, and light alcohol notes combining with the supportive clean malt character to produce a surprisingly drinkable beverage considering the high alcohol level.

    26D. Belgian Dark Strong Ale
    A dark, complex, very strong Belgian ale with a delicious blend of malt richness, dark fruit flavors, and spicy elements. Complex, rich, smooth and dangerous.

    If you wanted to review the slides from our last club meeting put together by Ed Chainey and Paul Picazo, it is posted here.

    Have fun making this style in Q2. If you feel like submitting the beer for our friendly, internal competition and/or constructive feedback, please submit 2 clean, unmarked bottles with the BJCP bottle ID form affixed to either Ian’s bottle-share box or OakBarrel by the end of June.

  • 2021 Clone Your Favorite Beer Challenge (SOQ4)

    The basic idea is to clone a beer, compare against the original, adjust and brew again. This will culminate in a Q4 style of the quarter but the clone you submit should be at least your 2nd iteration of this beer.

    RULES

    • Select a beer you love to drink, and that you are able to purchase commercially in your area.
    • Develop a recipe or find one online.
    • Make the beer. 
    • Buy a 6 pack of the original and compare side-by-side! Take notes on any differences you can identify between appearance, aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel. Take side-by-side photos. Ask your friends to comment.
    • Then, adjust your recipe or process accordingly.
    • Brew the beer a 2nd time.
    • Submit as an entry into Q4 Holiday Party SOQ

    You can submit this beer as an entry to the Q4 holiday party SOQ – hopefully in person! Of course, you’ll have to be able to purchase another commercial example for comparison. Whether an in-person People’s Choice or remote judging, these beers will be judged as clones: how well they compare against the commercial example. BJCP Style 34A.

  • SOQ1 = New England IPAs

    And the winners are:
    1st = Ian Carswell, Hazy Lady
    2nd = Randy Guerrero, New England IPA
    3rd = Nick Facciola, Pineapple Express

    Special thanks to our remote judges, Robert Ayasse and Adam Bradley!
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    The first SOQ of 2021, get into some new brew science on a making juicy, hazy, smooth NEIPA.

    See Jason Davis’ slideshow on his guidance for making a beer in this style according to BJCP guidelines and other best practices.

    BJCP provisional style 21B lists the “official” observations to be found in this style here: https://dev.bjcp.org/beer-styles/21b-specialty-ipa-new-england-ipa/

    Have fun making this style in Q1. If you feel like submitting the beer for our friendly, internal competition, please submit 2 bottles to Ian’s bottle box or OakBarrel by March 31, 2021.

    Enjoy!

  • Learn to Brew Day Nov. 7th!

    Come join us at OakBarrel while we brew a couple batches of beer! This will be outdoors and safe social distance practices will be in effect. The fun begins at 10am!

  • 2020 4th Quarter – Black is Beautiful

    Black Is Beautiful

    Congratulations to our homebrew competition winners! This quarter was an excellent showing with 15 entries and they were quite competitive.

    1st Place: Stephen Haas, American Stout
    2nd Place: Sam Kopp, Schwarzbier
    3rd Place: Julian Borrill, Imperial Stout

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    The style of the quarter Q4 will be as special one as it will go above and beyond our typical SOQ competitions.

    The goal is to improve outreach and inclusion for Black people with regard to homebrewing and joining our awesome social club. BAM intends to share our passion for beer and interest in sharing something you can do solo, and especially during COVID-19 lockdown!

    As we celebrate Black is Beautiful, we have several ways for our members to engage in the cause:

    1. SOQ competition will be held for beers that are black in color (SRM 40) but otherwise freestyle. 
      • All entrants will have a compulsory $10 entry fee (payment link), which will be retained for the collective BAM donation
      • All prize moneys will be retained for the collective BAM donation
      • For recipe inspiration, review the AHA official recipe here
    2. Members, independently of entries, may donate to the collective BAM donation with or without entering in the competition 
      • The collective BAM donation will be UnCommon Law, a local foundations that support police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged
      • We will create a donate button for BAM to solicit donations
    3. Tech and/or social committees and/or an ad-hoc committee will coordinate further engagement opportunities, aiming for at least one notable event/engagement this quarter
      • Other members are invited to participate in ideation or carrying out various tasks 
      • Ideas could include BAM members as guest speakers to Black social clubs.  Team up with a social group from Oakland
      • We can demonstrate brewing; share tastings (maybe)
      • Please reach out to tech@bayareamashers.org if you would like to get involved!


    We will attempt to judge the competition beers safely using at least one designated dropoff location. The drop-off for entries is at (1) OakBarrel, or (2) Ian Carswell’s home in Berkeley using his safe bottle swap system (place bottles in the right-hand bin within the wooden box on his porch).

    The entries are due at the end of the quarter on December 31. Note: if you are dropping off 2 bottles for entry plus more for sharing with the bottle swap system, please clearly label the two entries for judging as separate from those up for grabs by the club!

  • 2020 3rd Quarter – Pale Commonwealth Ales

    Congrats to our winners!

    1st Place: Ian Carswell with Glasto Gold, a British Golden Ale
    2nd Place: Greg Strom with Clipper Trip to India, an English IPA
    3rd Place: Adam Bradley with Fields of British Golden Ale

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    The style of the quarter Q3 will be Pale Commonwealth Ales. We will attempt to judge these safely using two designated dropoff locations.

    Pale Commonwealth includes the following BJCP styles:

    The drop-off for entries is at Ian Carswell’s home in Berkeley using his safe bottle swap system (place bottles in the right-hand bin within the wooden box on his porch). Please contact Ian for his address. Another safe dropoff point will be OakBarrel.

    The entries are due at the end of the quarter on September 30. Note: if you are dropping off 2 bottles for entry plus more for sharing with the bottle swap system, please clearly label the two entries for judging as separate from those up for grabs by the club!

    Download the club presentation on these styles here.

  • 2020 1st Quarter SOQ – American Porters and Stouts

    Finally we have the results in from remote judging!

    1st: James Duerr with an American Stout called Barcley’s Second Try
    2nd: Jeff Rose with an American Stout called Stout it out Loud
    3rd: Nick Facciola with an American Stout called Big ol’ Stout

    Click here for the presentation from our January 13th club meeting for a talk on these styles by Steve Altimari from Highwater Brewing in Lodi!

    For this SOQ we are going to brew the least-entered style in our 2019 World Cup of Beer: American Porters and Stouts. This comprises the following BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines:

    • 20A American Porter
    • 20B American Stout

    The entries for this SOQ will coincide with the 2020 World Cup of Beer so that any entry in these styles by a BAM member will automatically qualify for our friendly SOQ competition. Important entry details:

    1. Entries are due at noon on March 11, 2020 (OakBarrel or other official drop-off location).
    2. You must register as an entrant on worldcupofbeer.com
    3. You must indicate your BAM membership on the entry sheet.
    4. Be sure to follow all the other rules and details on worldcupofbeer.com such as the drop-off locations etc.

    Once all entries are scored in the World Cup competition, we will rank BAM beers as a subset for our normal prizes, noted in the rules page.

  • SOQ 2019 Q4: Limitations Brewing

    Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who brewed, shared, or tasted and enjoyed! Here are the results:

    • 1st Place: Randy Guerrero with Vienna SMASH
    • 2nd Place: Fernando Gonzalez with Pale Ale
    • 3rd Place tie: Ian Carswell with English Bitter and Nick Facciola with Cream Ale
    • 5th Place tie: Luise & Greg with Cream Ale and Jon Sheehan and his brother Dave with Pale Ale. 

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    For this SOQ we chose a small selection of ingredients with which to design your recipe. Limitations Brewing is finding creativity within a defined set of criteria. The style or direction you take it is up to you! For Nick’s October presentation, click here.

    Malts:
    Use only American base malts (2-row, Pale, pilsner, light DME/LME)
    Plus Vienna Malt and/or Munich Malt (no caramel malts)
    May add flaked maize/corn
    May add corn sugar

    Hops:
    Use only Willamette, Northern Brewer, and/or Cascade

    Yeast:
    Use only clean-fermenting ale or lager yeasts.
    WLP001 American Ale Yeast or equivalent (Wyeast 1056, US-05)
    WLP800 Pilsner lager yeast or other clean lager yeasts
    WLP029 German Ale/ Kölsh yeast, or WLP080 Cream Ale

    This SOQ is a PEOPLES CHOICE competition. To enter you must bring a keg to our annual Holiday party in December. This mean each attendee will vote on what they liked best. You can technically participate without a keg, but you might be limited in your votes if you run out!

    And, Robert Ayasse kindly donated his previous winnings to pay out a 4th and 5th place at $15 each. That’s right, 5 chances to subsidize your homebrew costs for this one.

  • 2019 Q3 Style of the Quarter: Extinct Beers and Rarities

    Congratulations to our winners:
    1st: Steve Studebaker with a Mannheimer Braunbier brewed with juniper and ginger
    2nd: Robert Ayasse with a Gruit called Hiveway 13 Gruit, brewed with Juniper Berries, Myrica Gale, Rosemary, Cardamon, Bay Leaves, Yarrow, Quassia, Local honey, no hops, and no psychoactives 
    3rd: Randy Guerrero with an Adambier, brewed with Belgian Pale, C40, Munich, Peat smoke, chocolate, black patent, Northern Brewer & Tettnang, Wyeast ESB & Scottish Ale, 8.5%
    Honorable Mention: Simon Mathieu with an Adambier aged on French Oak

    Competition/challenge details:
    For this SOQ we will be doing something a little different.

    These beers (mostly) fall outside of BJCP Guidelines. Look up a suitable recipe online and feel free to be very creative and adaptive – almost anything goes with these so long as you consider your brewing parameters: ABV, OG, FG, IBUs. Click here for Jason Davis’ July meeting presentation.

    This SOQ will be due to OakBarrel on Friday, Sept. 20th with 2 labeled bottles. Please include YOUR NAME and the STYLE OF BEER with SPECIAL INGREDIENTS indicated.

    Try brewing one!

    • Adambier
    • Berliner Braunbier
    • Broyhan
    • Brunswick Mum
    • Burton Ale
    • Cervoise
    • Colne Spring Ale
    • Dampfbier
    • Dolo
    • Gose
    • Gotlandsdricke
    • Gruit
    • Hoppenbier
    • Horner Bier
    • Joppenbier
    • Keptinis Alus
    • Kottbusser
    • Kuyt
    • Kvass
    • Leann Fraoch (Heather Ale)
    • Maize Chicha
    • Mannheimer Braunbier
    • Mersburger Bier
    • Pennsylvania Swankey
    • Pivo Grodziskie
    • Princesse Bier
    • Purl
    • Sahti
    • Schoeps
    • Vossaøl
    • Devon White Ale
    • Farrnbacher Bier
    • Seef Bier
    • Schwedisches Bier
    • Peeterman
    • Black Cork
    • Weinartiges Weißbier