Wanted: A BJCP National Judge in the Philadelphia Area

Last night I was sipping on my recently brewed Scotch Kissed Vanilla Bean Robust Porter and began thinking to myself, I wish I knew a BJCP National Judge. I personally would like to go through the training myself to educate my palette on the various off flavors there are in beer, so I can adjust my brew process to fix them. I have read numerous books, listened to podcasts, and have entered competitions. The competitions have given me the best feedback since I don’t know what those off flavors taste like.

So now, I am looking for someone to apprentice under and to help educate my palette so I can eventually move into the judge status one day. But mostly to help me taste my beers properly and improve on their quality. If you are interested in sharing your knowledge, my information is on my profile.

The 4 Varieties of Hops I Will Be Growing This Year

From my Hop Trellis post yesterday, you all now know I am growing hops this year. I think it going to be a big trend this year due to the hop shortage. I ordered my hops rhizomes (root cuttings) from the Thyme Garden in mid February and they should be here any day. I went for all high-alpha hops that are hybrids with both clean bittering and pleasant aroma characteristics. Thyme Garden is an Organic company, so the rhizomes were raised without chemicals. I'm not expecting much this first year growing them. But with in a couple years, I am expecting to harvest a couple pounds from each bine.

Below are the hops I chose and a brief description.

Cascade

Alpha rating: 5–7
Description: Unique flowery, spicy, citrus-grapefruit, herbal, perfumy aroma. Soft, well-balanced bitterness. Good dry hop.
Use: A must for American pale ales and IPAs, especially Northwest versions. Also good in steam beer, porter, American wheat beer, barley wine.
Substitutes (bittering and aroma): None, but Centennial is closest.

Centennial

Alpha rating: 7–11.5
Description: Smooth bitterness, flowery citrus aroma. Similar to (and blends well with) Cascade. A pleasing hop that many brewers ignore.
Use: Bittering and aroma in American pale ale and wheat beer, stout and porter.
Substitutes (bittering and aroma): Cascade.

Chinook

Alpha rating: 11–14
Description: Very bitter; medium-heavy aroma with a spicy, resiny, grapefruit character.
Use: Primarily for bittering, although some brewers appreciate the aroma, even using Chinook as a dry hop. Use in pale ale, IPA, lagers, steam beer, heavy-bodied dark ales.
Substitutes (bittering): Galena, Nugget, Cluster.

Nugget

Alpha rating: 12–14
Description: Extremely bitter. Mild flavour. Pleasant herbal aroma.
Use: Bittering for all types of beers, especially English ales. Aroma good for many beer styles (but not light lagers).
Substitutes (bittering): Galena, Chinook, Cluster, Cascade, Centennial.

I Got My Ingredients For A DunkelWeizen

On Sunday, I went to the local Feasterville Home Brew Store and I got the ingredients to make a fabulous DunkelWeizen. DunkelWeiz is a dark (dunkel) wheat (weizen) beer with deliciously complex malts and a low balancing bitterness. I brewed it last night. I will add the recipe and the photo I took during the process later on.

Overall the process went smooth. This was my first brew and I enjoyed the process. I have about 10 – 12 days before I can bottle and can’t wait.