Hop Juice

[Beer-lord]

I erred! The 4lb is$33 at Amazon and the 8 lb is $53. However, Morebeer has it for $49.99 but if you spend $10 more, you can get free shipping.
Amazon Prime members get free 2 day shipping so that works for me.
Sorry for the error.

[Kealia]

Nice review Ron...thanks. I was surprised that mine came out that "brown" also. But I think I've figured out why. The inside of my boil kettle had quite a bit of residue in it from multiple boils, so I hit it with some BarKeepers friend before the last batch, we'll see if that makes a difference.

Mmmm, pot sludge. Maybe that is what balanced out the hops

[Beer-lord]

Chuck and I tried all 3 today (my first beer in 8 days)
He didn't know which was which but I did. Here's how we judged them.
Chris------an almost pineapple aroma, somewhat sweet taste. Extremely good. Could drink this for the rest of my life
Mine----Had a nicer aroma, full of citrus (but not as much as my earlier kegged version)
Jeff----not much aroma, almost somewhat of an off flavor.

Jeff, I know Chris touched on this a bit but I almost get a burnt taste/aroma out of it. While not bad at all, I'm sorry to say that the other 2 versions were more enjoyable (not to self, I liked my beer better than Jeff's......pat on my back and buttocks and a high five to myself)

It was basically a tie between Chris' and mine. I have to give it to Chris as I think his was more balanced from start to finish but I think mine had a bit more aroma and flavor. Chuck can chime in but as it warmed up, they both tasted very close. In fact, in the end, I mixed mine and Chris' together and it was a damn good beer.

As for color, mine and Jeff's was almost identical and Chris' was darker.
Chris, you are the man for putting this recipe together. I know I would change something but I'm not sure what. I think the Maris Otter was the bomb in this mixed with 2 row and as much as I like Apollo, I do think less of it or another hop might make this even more enjoyable. The differences between yours and mine was minor.
Jeff, all I can say is I'm glad you are human. I'm not sure what the semi off flavor is but I have a second bottle I'll try when I'm allowed to drink again.
It was great to crave a beer and get to try these 3. I'm very appreciative that a discussion of Parish Brewery Ghost in the Machine led us to this. What can I say, it's a great time to be a brewer.

[RedBEERd]

Yes, all good beers but I tend to agree....Chris's beer was a more all around BALANCED beer. Clear and enjoyable. Paul's had what I felt was a better aroma (you guys are TIRED of hearing me say that aroma is 90% of it for me I'm sure) but finished a tad bit less smooth than chris's beer.
Jeff's beer had a sort of a burnt flavor and smell. I don't know enough to know what that was but I'd have to give Chris the win by a 'nose'. That said, as they warmed up, paul's actually got better to me and almost smoothed out.

Youse guys sure are some excellent brewers for sure!

[BlackDuck]

Glad you guys enjoyed the beers. This was a lot of fun, it's really cool how this whole thing started, and how it came through to the end.

Paul...I agree, I think something needs to be changed and I'm not sure what it is either. Maybe the judging sheets from the competition will help us here. I do think your on to something with too much Apollo. I also think there may be too many different hops in this. Maybe the number of hops needs to decrease while keeping the overall amount the same. I have to wonder if the many different hops collided with each other a bit.

Referring to my version only here, I want a lighter color, crisper mouthfeel and more aroma.

I'm not done with this one yet. But the next recipe is on the shoulders of one of you guys!

[Inkleg]

Sorry I've not replied to this earlier. Trust me it's not because my feelings have been hurt, they have . Seems every time I want to sit and respond SOMETHING comes up. (Door bell rings, neighbor with a stray dog on a leash wanting to know if I know the owners. Yep, I did. Step outside with my dogs only to hear a LOUD crash. Neighbors 16 year old daughter has hit a tree. Wife is on call and has to go out on a call. Police shot a man who took some folks at an auto parts store hostage. When your day ends, my wife's begins. It was a good shoot, meaning I was justified. And so on. Meeting with Leigh. It's been a weird month)

Anyway, on to Hop Juice. I am truly glad that y'all have put me back to the mere mortal status where I belong. I brew good beers and glad you like them. Trust me, I've enjoyed all of your beers in the past and rank myself as only an equal brewer to what you have sent me. I have not been able to do my side by side by side yet as my hop head friend has not been available and I want an honest second opinion. Haven't had the pleasure of yours yet, so I can't comment. This was like the 3rd batch brewed on my new electric set up. Wonder if something is going on there, but Belas IPA was brewed the same way. Or maybe I'm the only one who brewed it right?

Packing tonight to head to Callaway Gardens. Cecile's memorial service is on Saturday. Thank You guys for your support.

[Beer-lord]

Hey, its only beer. They'll be plenty more where they come from. But it's scary to know you're human.
I know it won't be easy Saturday. I hope it brings you a little bit of peace.

[BlackDuck]

Thoughts and prayers are with you guys this weekend Jeff.

[BlackDuck]

So I got the results back from the Ohio State Fair Competition. I received the results for my entry and for Jeff's entry. He contacted me some time ago and asked if he could send a couple bottles up for me to enter on his behalf. Yup....it was a secret... We scored very close, mine was an overall 30 and Jeff's was an overall 28.

Here is a quick summary of the results:
Hop Juice by BlackDuck (Imperial IPA, Category 14C) - Overall Score = 30
Aroma: 6/12 and 8/12: piney aroma, some grassy/vegetal, no real malt, moderately high hop aroma, some grass and something I can't put my finger on
Appearance: 3/3 and 2/3: Very clear, light amber with white head, copper to golden
Flavor: 11/20 and 11/20: High hop bitterness with the malt backing it up, some corn flavors, somewhat sweet a little out of balance for style
Mouthfeel: 3/5 and 3/5: dryer beer, some astringency from high hops, significant alcohol warmth in the finish
Overall: 6/10 and 7/10: seems like a good recipe but too vegetal, were the dry hops left in too long, could use a bit more hop character for style, carefull with specialty malts

Hop Juice by Inkleg (yup, he sent two bottles up for me to enter on his behalf ) (Imperial IPA, Category 14C) Overall Score = 28
Aroma: 6/12 and 9/12: very grassy, some vegetal notes, hoppy, grapefruit, no overly strong on esters but I suspect the gravity is there
Appearance: 3/3 and 3/3: brilliant gold, off white head, very clear, light lacing on the glass
Flavor: 10/20 and 8/20: some metallic notes, malt balance is nice, hops are grassy, plenty of esters, esters are too strong, I'm guessing the yeast is suspect here
Mouthfeel: 4/5 and 2/5: medium body, warm, some astringency, light body, backbone is not there for a beer of this size
Overall: 5/10 and 6/10: A lot of competition with ingredients in aroma and flavor, watch fermentation temps, too much going on phenol-wise, far too potent

If your interested in my other results, I posted all of them to my Ohio State Fair Competition topic in the Results thread.

EDIT...Jeff, I emailed you scanned copies of both mine and your judging sheets, so be sure to check your email.

[Beer-lord]

Not bad at all!
I'm going to guess the grassy flavors were from Apollo but with all the hops added, this happens with beer that isn't filtered I guess.

[Inkleg]

Again Chris, many Thanks for allowing me to join you in this competition. I really had fun doing this with you.

Interesting descriptions they gave on the beers. I'm with Paul on the grassy notes coming from the Apollo. But then they say yours is sweet and mine lacks malt backbone, huh? I used BYC97 yeast with mine, had never used it before and I know my temperature never went over 67*.

With both beers scoring so close, some recipe tweaking will bring it to the upper 30s low 40s.

[Beer-lord]

Saw this in an online magazine (about a year old) and had a good laugh.

[BlackDuck]

Nice. I bet theirs tastes better than mine. I actually had to pour one out the other night. It had a really odd taste to it. But it may have been a bottle thing, because I opened up another one and it was OK. They are definitely starting to show their age though. Seems like they are starting to taste a little stale or something.

[Beer-lord]

I've found when using lots of hops, the grassy, earthy tastes really come out as a hoppy beer ages.