Scottish 70 shilling: re-brew

Out of the 3 beers I sent in to NHC, one made it to the 2nd round: Me and Paul's Mild that we entered as a Scottish 70 shilling. It took 3rd place out of 22 entries in Scottish and Irish ales, scoring an average score of 34.3. It was judged by 3 judges. It was interesting to see the comments and I agreed with most of them, but there was a non-BJCP judge that didn't seem to understand the style and gave it the lowest score. OK, I promise I'm not bitter about that!

Unfortunately I did not understand that in the National Homebrew Competition, they do not let you know if you advance to 2nd round in your scoresheet packet. So, assuming I did not win, I drank one of the beers that I was holding back for second round. Doh! A few days later I received an email from Fritz congratulating me on getting a beer in to the second round, and I called Paul to set up a re-brew. I guess I'm lucky it wasn't the oak-aged barleywine.

I'm not sure of the "legality" of this, but we have made some minor recipe tweaks based on ingredient availability and tasting the beer to talk about how it could be better. The original beer, even though it is a low gravity ale, has really become excellent with a few months cold storage. Here are the changes:

• We had to use some regular Marris Otter malt in place of a portion of the Glen Eagle Marris Otter malt, because I was out and the homebrew shop does not carry the Glen Eagle. Tasting these grains side by side, there is a noticable difference. The Glen Eagle is much more toasty and dark, adding a lot more character. I really hope this change does not rob the beer of its wonderful complexity.
• We were not able to get the London Ale III yeast from Hopworks this time. Since we were doing 10 gallons we decided to pitch one carboy with 1056 Cali ale yeast, and the other one with 1728 Scottish ale yeast which I got from Alameda. We'll enter whichever one is better.
• We reduced the brown malt by .25 pounds and increased the Crystal 70 by .25 pounds. This was due to some judge comments about astringency. I do think the original beer was very grainy and had some light astringency, so between dialing back the brown malt and using the different Marris Otter I think we have tackled that problem. Also, we added a really insignificant amount of Perle hops to get the IBU's to 21, the same as the original beer.
• We will probably fine this beer with gelatin to get it very clear in time to enter it into 2nd round. We have a total of 30 days for it to get in by the entry deadline.

Without further ado, here's the recipe:

Dale's Scottish 70

Recipe is for 13 gallons pre-boil, 11.5 gallons post-boil, all grain

O.G. 1.040

F.G. Cali -1.010 ABV 4%

F.G. Scottish - 1.013 ABV 3.6%

IBU's 21

5 lb. Glen Eagle Marris Otter Malt

7 lb. Marris Otter malt (Crisp, I'm pretty sure)

1 lb. crystal 70

1 lb. crystal 120

.25 lb. brown malt

.25 lb black malt

57 gr. American Goldings whole 4.5%AA 60 min

6 gr. American Perle pellets 7.5% AA 60 minutes (to get the IBU's where we wanted)

Mineral additions were to get an RA of 115 for proper mash pH, and a balanced chloride:sulfate ratio.

Mash at 152 for 60 min (5 gallons of water, mineral additions were 3 gr. chalk, 3 gr. baking soda, 1 gr. gypsum, 1 gr. calcium chloride)

Sparge with 5 gallons at 170

Collect 8 gallons at 1.057 = 85% efficiency

Topped up in the kettle to 13 gallons.

Wyeast nutrient & Whirlfloc at 10 min

Chilled to 68, oxygenated for 60 seconds per carboy

Pitched an appropriate slurry of Wyeast 1056 / Wyeast 1728

Fermented at 68, warmed ot 70 at end. Racked to keg on 5/16/10 and force-carbonated.

I sent in 3 beers to NHC - 1st round

In all my years of homebrewing I have continuously procrastinated, chickened out, or gotten sticker shock at the thought of entering the NHC. Well this year might be my last real chance, as I am hoping to be a full time pro brewer by this time next year. I brewed a lot of beer this year, but in the end, I only sent in 3 beers, which I think are really excellent. I probably would have sent in 5 or so, but my AHA membership expired and I didn't have the money to renew it at the time, so the entry fee was a whopping $14 per entry (it's $9 for members).

These beers made the final cut:

Dale's Mild: Brewed by myself and Paul, I actually entered this as a Scottish 70 shilling because the yeast is very clean. It just tasted and smelled a lot like a Scottish 70. We'll see if the judges agree.

Woody: The American oak-aged Barleywine. This was tasting killer 6 months ago, and I haven't had a chance to try it since then, since I had exactly 4 bottles left. I might get to try it if my buddy Fritz breaks out the bottle I gave him while we are in NYC this weekend. 6 months ago, there was a little too much of a harsh oaky finish on an otherwise stellar beer, so I am hoping that the time has been good for it and mellowed it out a bit.

Fresh-hopped Black Saison: The hops have faded substantially, so I called it a black farmhouse ale at 8.1% ABV. Personally I think it has only improved with age.

Other beers that almost made the cut were the Belgian Dark Strong, which is still a little too alcohol-hot and needs some time, and the Belgian Blond, which is pretty darn good, but has too much banana in the nose, and just isn't quite the easily drinkable Belgian ale that a blond should be.

Unfortuanately both the pilsner and the smoked helles that I had such high hopes for have a DMS issue, but the third lager, the Baltic Porter I did with Paul is tasting great and just went in to lagering in a corny.

Who else is entering beers? If you are on the fence, it's time to shit or get off the pot (nice mixed metaphor there)! All entries must be in by April 1st. Good luck!