5th Birthday Home Brewing Competition

Further to the announcement in our 5th birthday post, here’s the detail of our exciting competition!

THE GIST

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We're running a home brewing competition in collaboration with our friends at The Malt Miller. This competition is open to all home brewers but we'd love it if the winner used the prizes as a platform to progress towards starting their own commercial venture. Entrants will be asked to brew a specific style but have the freedom to tackle it as they wish. Entry is via a customisable recipe kit you'll purchase from The Malt Miller on Wednesday 12th May. Entries open at midday on the 12th and close when 100 kits have been sold.

HERE IS THE LINK TO PURCHASE THE COMPETITION KITS. PURCHASING THE KIT LINKED HERE IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENTER.

>>> CLICK ME <<<

YOUR ORDER CONFIRMATION EMAIL IS CONFIRMATION OF ENTRY. KITS WILL SHIP WITH THE REQUIRED BOTTLE LABELS. YOUR ENTRIES MUST ARRIVE AT THE MALT MILLER BY 9TH JULY

THE PRIZE

  • £500 cash

  • £500 store credit with The Malt Miller

  • Yeast from White Labs

  • Work with Elusive to design and develop a commercial recipe (doesn't have to be the winning recipe) which we'll release branded as you wish, with your name front and centre

  • A launch event to celebrate your success

  • If you are looking to progress towards a commercial venture, we'll provide further support and mentoring to help you in following your dream!

THE RULES

  • Over 18s and UK residents only (we can only launch the winning beer in the UK)

  • Strictly one entry per person. Anyone found to have entered multiple times will be disqualified

  • Entrants must submit three bottles which are clearly labelled using the document provided (it will be emailed to you) and free of any other distinguishing marks

  • Entries must arrive at The Malt Miller in Swindon by Friday 9th July and the entrant is responsible for the safe shipment and receipt of their entries

  • It will not be possible to provide feedback to all entrants

  • Entries will be judged according to the chosen style with the winning beer selected by the judges as being the best beer entered

  • The judges decision is absolutely final in all aspects of the competition

  • Winner to be announced on Friday 23rd July

  • The winner will be responsible for any travel costs associated with brewing and launching their beer

THE BEER

The selected style is BELGIAN WIT (BJCP 24A). We chose this style because we love drinking it and, most importantly, it requires real skill to brew a good example. Belgian Wit is known for its elegance and finesse, combining a soft yet crisp body with a judicious use of herbs, spices and botanicals and delicate yeast esters. This is not a style you can just throw more at to improve. It requires a good understanding of the ingredients at hand and a carefully controlled fermentation. We worked with The Malt Miller to design and brew CRISP WITTY which we'll be releasing in May as part of our 5th birthday collaboration series. Here's a scaled down our brew:

Spec

OG 1.048, FG 1.010, 5% ABV, 9 IBU, 20L Batch Size

Grist (mashed at 66C for 1 hour)

Weyermann Extra Pale Premiere Pilsner Malt (2500 grams)
Crisp Pale Wheat Malt (1250 grams)
Crisp Flaked Torrefied Oats Including Husk (250 grams)
Weyermann Munich Malt I (120 grams)
TMM Jumbo Oat Flakes (120 grams)
Oat Husks (250 grams)

Hops

Saaz 12g FWH

Saaz 12g @ 15m

Spices

9g – Coriander Seed crushed
4g – Fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
9g – Bitter Orange peel
4g – Chamomile Flowers

Additional Information

We added the spices in a muslin bag and whirlpooled them for 20 minutes at 85C.

We then fermented the wort with White Labs WLP 400, which was pitched at 17C and held until fermentation reached 1.030, after which it was raised to 20C then 24C to allow it to fully attenuate before cold conditioning.

The water in Berkshire is quite hard. We aimed for a softer water profile, with a chloride to sulphate ratio of around 1.5:1. We achieve this by using primarily table salt and calcium chloride (with a smidge of calcium sulphate) in the mash with the mash adjusted to 5.3pH using lactic acid. We carbon filter our liquor and hold it at 85C overnight to flash off any chlorine. A Belgian Wit should have a smooth and creamy mouthfeel (aided by the wheat) but a dry finish.

IMPORTANT! We are NOT looking for a straight up clone of our beer when judging. You are free to brew your Belgian Wit as you wish, varying any aspect in order to brew the best example of the style you can! The kits at The Malt Miller will be customisable, so you can select the adjuncts and choose your own yeast etc - or feel free to use anything else you might have at home or be able to buy elsewhere. GOOD LUCK!

Andy Parker