BeerBorg

Hail Borg - well I am taking advantage of my Christmas gift of an AHA membership and have submitted to be in the AHA brew contest, mostly just for the experience and to get some feedback from judges (hardly anyone has ever tasted my brews and I want some feedback, pointers, suggestions etc).
So - I got two entries in and so far all I have had to put in is a name and a style. Before the abomination that was the Super Bowl (how did the Broncos not know that the date was the 4th? They never showed up. Next time check the calendar dammit Elway & Co) I had a couple of Orange themed names pop into my head, so here is what I have:

IPA style - Orange Crush: for this one I want to go with hops that provide a more orange than citrus/grapefruit flavor and aroma. I have access to bitter and sweet orange peel, could also do fresh orange zest, would like the color to be more towards orange as well. I am just now getting to the point of doing things BEFORE hand numbers wise instead of just recording what happened afterwards. Some of the hops I have seen referenced that could be used are Ahtanum, Amarillo, Zythos, Simcoe, Summit, Pacifica, Cascade and Glacier. I have used Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade before, not sure I picked up much orange if I recollect. Just made a NZ themed ipa that used pacifica but it will be weeks before it even leaves fermenter. Anyone have any experience with any of these or tried to make something "orange-y" before?

ESB/bitter - Bitter Clinger. Was thinking of something sessionable that reminds me of Fedora Dave's Bit O Bitter but with some orange flavor and tinge to it as well. Same questions in terms of hops (and grain bill) here. Orange (dried and or fresh).

Another couple questions (this is what happens when I dont post for a long time), is there a yeast that you feel gives off or emphsizes "orange"? Someone recommended K97 yeast (have to look that one up). Also perhaps mashing at a higher temp to leave some residual sweetness and a lot of the late hop additions (after determining the best orange) that combined with the sweetness :tricks: the taste buds into tasting orange.

Still doing BIAB batches mostly on stovetop altho I do have the propane burner put together and a 8 gallon aluminum pot I can put on it (would stlil be BIAB for the most part) so any advice on putting something good together using that method would be good. Can use extract if need be.

So - as I prepare for a likely humbling but educational experience, can a Borger get some knowledge from the collective?
What sayeth the Borg?
Cheers
jeff

fwiw saphir hops has tangerine flavors. don't know for sure never brewed a ipa, might help with flavor and aroma hop however it is a low alpha hop.

Centential seemed to give off a bitter citrus taste. I also used orange peel and it really came through.

Well I was going to say something with a high Farnesene and low co-humulone in the Nobles so the orange comes from your orange additions (zest, peel etc.) but if you are brewing for competition you might be restricted to what style you enter under.

If I understand it correctly if you enter as an American IPA the judges are going to be looking for American hop varieties right?

Good to see you back Manowar hope this means you are all settled in now. Is your brewhaus finished?

For future: If you ever want some "orange zest" like citrus flavor in a beer that should have German hops in it normally, Santium hops will give you that profile. It's not "in your face" like American citrusy hops, but it's there.

Thanks for all the suggestions Borg.
As for the brewhaus, not done yet but Had the handyman over today who is going to help me with building the bar and a fermentation chamber. I have an old mini fridge that I plan to encase in an elongated frame that will hold a few fermentation buckets, carboys etc. Will leave room for a few LBK's for the smaller batches or experimental or split batches I do not want to be lifting full vessels over the lip of something so the doors will be in front where i can open one - put in/take out without interrupting others

Anyone in the market for an old pinball machine, or a jukebox? Would free up a lot more room for me.

Figure that joining the AHA and entering these two will be educational and help me to kick my obsession into a higher gear. Met up with a local brew club and hope to be using the propane burner soon (once weather gets better), and planning on buying a kegging setup with some of the $ i have had to pull out of the IRA to get by on. Going to pick up a spare fridge from one of their old rental units this week that I will use for kegging and use the freezer for hops storage. Been getting the bins together for various grains, and some 30 gallon trash cans for storing base malt (Don't tell SWMBO), and am taking part in a truck order coming up
Also having to delve more into the science part and actually figure things out before hand and try to match it instead of just take readings and say "Oh, it was only supposed to be 4.5% but its actually 8.0, woohoo Imperial". Having a heck of a time figuring out the water out here (not that i knew anything about Colorado although it was good straight from the tap). Everything out here is on a well, guess I will submit a sample to some lab and see what the numbers are to be able to customize things even more.

Well, off to run a bunch of stuff to recycle and landfill, even one or two boxes more stuff gone helps coz we want to start building on tuesday. Then back for some education, research and plotting of future beer domination
Cheers
jeff