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Recipe

SNHC 2023 Recipe: 11B Best Bitter

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David Mutch scored Gold on the British Bitters table at the 2023 Scottish Nationals with a Best Bitter. He’s kindly shared the recipe below.

Roasty Toasty

11B Best Bitter

  • ABV 5.9%
  • OG 1.056
  • FG 1.011
  • IBU 69
  • Mash 66C

Grist

  • 81% Thomas Fawcett Pale Maris Otter
  • 8% Crisp Amber Malt
  • 8% Crisp Crystal Malt
  • 3% Simpsons Brown Malt

Hops

  • 60min: East Kent Goldings to 16 IBU and Northern Brewer to 33 IBU
  • 15min: East Kent Goldings to 8 IBU and Northern Brewer to 8 IBU
  • 5min: East Kent Goldings to 5 IBU

Yeast

  • Wyeast 1968 – London ESB

Method

  • Strike at 73C to hit a mash temp of 66C.
  • Mash for 60 minutes
  • Mash out at 75C for 10 minutes.
  • Check Ph and adjust to 5.2 with lactic acid.
  • Add protofloc and yeast nutrient with 10 mins remaining in the boil.
  • David adds Clarityferm to the fermenter to help with his gluten intolerance.
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Recipe

SNHC 2023 Recipe: 7B Altbier

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Will Hiscocks scored Silver on the Pale and Amber European Bitter Beers table at the 2023 Scottish Nationals with an Altbier. He’s kindly shared the recipe below.

Red Sky at Night

7B Altbier

  • ABV 4.7%
  • OG 1.048
  • FG 1.011
  • IBU 30

Grist

  • 74% Weyermann Pilsner
  • 15% Weyermann Munich II
  • 5% Weyermann Carapils
  • 2% Simpsons Medium Crystal
  • 2% Thomas Fawcett Crystal Rye
  • 1% Dingemans Special B
  • 1% Weyermann Carafa Special

Hops

  • 60min: Saaz to 22 IBU
  • 15min: Tettnang to 6 IBU
  • Whirlpool: Godiva to 2 IBU (2g/l)

Yeast

  • Wyeast 2565 – Kolsch

Water

  • Ca 84
  • Mg 1
  • SO 64
  • Na 4
  • Cl 102
  • HCO3 31

Method

  • Ferment at 14C
Categories
Recipe

SNHC 2023 Recipe: 7A Vienna Lager

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Paul Willis and co-brewer Ed Bevan from Homebrew Collab (Bristol) scored Gold on the Pale and Amber European Bitter Beers table at the 2023 Scottish Nationals with a Vienna Lager. They’ve kindly shared the recipe below.

Toffee Finger

7A Vienna Lager

  • ABV 4.6%
  • OG 1.049
  • FG 1.014
  • IBU 22.7
  • Mash 67C

Grist

  • 81% Pilsen Malt
  • 15% Vienna Malt
  • 2.5% Simpsons T50
  • 1.5% Chocolate Malt

Hops

  • 60min: Tettnang to 16.5 IBU
  • 30min: Perle to 6.2 IBU

Yeast

  • WLP940 – Mexican Lager

Method

  • Mash at 67C for 60 mins
  • Boil for 75 mins
  • Ferment at 10C

Categories
Recipe

SNHC 2023 Recipe: 4A Munich Helles

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James Collin from Scottish Craft Brewers scored Silver on the Czech Lagers and Helles table at the 2023 Scottish Nationals with his Munich Helles. He’s kindly shared the recipe below.

Pale and Interesting

4A Munich Helles

  • ABV 4.9%
  • OG 1.048
  • FG 1.011
  • IBU 20
  • Mash 65C

Grist

  • 92% Pilsen Malt
  • 8% Munich II

Hops

  • 60min: Hallertauer Mittelfrueh to 20 IBU

Yeast

  • Imperial Yeast – L13 Global

Water

  • Ca 39
  • Mg 7
  • Na 43
  • Cl 75
  • SO 25

Method

  • Mash at 65C for 60 mins
  • Boil for 60 mins
  • Ferment at 12C for 10 Days
  • Raise to 16C for 2 Days
  • Lager at 1C for minimum 14 Days
Categories
Recipe

SNHC BoS 2023 Recipe: 34C Wood Aged Belgian Dark Strong / Wine Hybrid

Marc Hannewald from Norwich Amateur Brewers took a Gold at the 2023 Scottish Nationals for Vermilion, an experimental beer that co-fermented a Belgian Dark Strong wort with Grape Must, before aging on wood with Brett. The judges went onto award this complex, delicious beer Best of Show. He’s kindly shared his recipe below.

Vermilion

34C Experimental Beer

  • ABV 13%
  • OG 1.107
  • FG 1.017
  • IBU 31.3
  • Mash 70C

Grist

The wort produced should be 1.107 and make up 51% in volume of your total fermentable liquid. Use Grape Must to make up your full volume; eg for a 23 L Batch you should aim for 11.7L of 1.107 wort topped off with 11.3L of Must.

  • 53% Extra Light DME (Late Addition or substitute for equivalent base malt if all grain)
  • 21% Light DME (Late Addition or substitute for equivalent base malt if all grain)
  • 4% Aromatic Malt
  • 4% Caramunich
  • 4% Special B
  • 2% Melanoidin
  • 6% Molasses (Late Addition)
  • 4% Belgian Dark Candi Sugar Rocks (Late Addition)

Must

  • Winexpert – World Vineyard Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre with Grape Skins. 49% of total fermentable volume as above.

Hops

  • First Wort Addition: Hersbrucker to 31.3 IBU

Yeast

Co-ferment in primary with the Beer and Wine yeast at a ratio of 2:1.

  • Safale BE-256: Strong Belgian / Abbey Yeast
  • Lalvin RC 212: Wine Yeast
  • Wyeast 5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus

Other

Oak Cubes- High Mocha

Method

  • Steep the specialty grains for 30 minutes then boil, adding the extract and sugar at 10 minutes remaining. Or, if using an all grain method, mash/sparge as usual, then add the sugars with 10 minutes remaining in the boil.
  • Add the cooled wort (c.51% volume) to the grape must (c.49% volume) in the fermenter and pitch the ale and wine yeast.
  • After two weeks in primary, rack to a secondary vessel with the oak cubes and pitch the Brett.
  • Age for around 12 months before packaging.

Categories
Events

Scottish National Homebrew Competition 2022: Award Ceremony

As Covid restrictions have lifted we are delighted to announce we will be holding an in-person event for the results of the Scottish National Homebrew Competition 2022.

We will be hosted by Campervan Brewery at the Lost In Leith bar in Edinburgh on Sunday 20th February. The event will start at 2pm and will be streamed live over Facebook. All are welcome to attend and we are very excited to have two talks on the day:

Richie Walsh – Seed Sovereignty, Coordinator for Scotland

Heritage Malts & Human-Scale Malting

Amy Rankine – Hipster and Hobos

Foraging For Homebrewing

Following the talks we will announce the results of the competition at 4pm. Look forward to seeing you all there!

Categories
Events

Results Week Talks: Mitch Steele on American IPA

As part of the Scottish National Homebrew Competition Results Week – Scottish Craft Brewers are honoured to host a talk on American IPAs from Mitch Steele. Mitch literally wrote the book on IPAs – and it’s available here!

Since graduating from UC Davis in 1984 with a fermentation science degree, he has brewed at some of the largest and smallest breweries in the world. After starting on a 14 bbl system at the San Andreas Brewing Co., Mitch joined Anheuser-Busch in 1992, managing brewhouse and fermenting operations in three breweries, and managing new beer development as part of the Anheuser-Busch Specialty Brewing group in the mid-1990s. Mitch joined Stone Brewing Co. in 2006 as Brewmaster and now serves as Brewmaster and COO at New Realm Brewing Company in Atlanta.

The session will be held on Thursday 17th February at 8pm on Facebook Live and Zoom; sign up on our Facebook page or email competition@scottishcraftbrewers.org for details.

Categories
Events

Results Week Talks: Q&A with Dr Charlie Bamforth

As part of the 2022 Scottish National Homebrew Competition results week Scottish Craft Brewers are honoured to host a question and answer session with brewing academic Dr Charlie Bamforth, presently senior Quality Adviser with Sierra Nevada Brewing. Professor of over 20 years at UC Davis, California along with a prodigious CV in the UK Brewing industry.

The session will be held on Tuesday 15th February at 8pm on Facebook Live and Zoom; sign up on our Facebook page or email competition@scottishcraftbrewers.org for details.

In order to make the event run smoothly we are asking that people submit questions ahead of the event. This will allow us to consolidate the questions and optimise the format of the session. Please submit any questions you have by email to: competition@scottishcraftbrewers.org

Categories
General

Announcing the 2022 Scottish National Homebrew Competition

Following the success of the inaugural event in 2021, Scottish Craft Brewers are pleased to announce the Scottish National Homebrew Competition will return in January 2022!

This year we are doubling the size of the competition with 200 entries available. Participants will initially be limited to two entries. The first entry will be £10, with subsequent entries £5. General entry registration is now open!

https://scottishcraftbrewers.org/SNHC_2022/

There will be a 7 day presale for paid up members of Scottish Craft Brewers, starting on the 27th of September. You will be contacted by email with details for registration, so please keep an eye on your inbox.
Entries, including the membership pre-sale, will be allocated on a first come, first served basis on receipt of payment via Paypal. If you have not paid, your place in the competition is not guaranteed and your entries may be removed. You can continue to edit your entries after payment until December 31st.

Categories

All BJCP 2015 categories up to 34C will be eligible for entry; beers will be grouped in tables of complementary styles for judging. The groupings will be decided based on entries received. Although you will be able to edit your entries in the lead up to the competition, the sooner the final styles are confirmed, the easier it will be for us to organise.

The winner of each table will go forward to the Best in Show competition.
There will also be awards for the Best Overall Brewer, Best Scottish Style Beer (14A, 14B, 14C, 17C and SpecialtyVarieties) and the Best Scottish Craft Brewers Club Member.

Scores and written feedback will be provided to all entrants after the competition.

Entry requirements
We require four unmarked bottles, minimum of 330ml each, in either brown glass or brown PET with plain caps. The competition website will generate an anonymous label which MUST be printed and fixed to each bottle before sending. The competition organisers may disqualify entries that do not meet these requirements.

Postal entries will be accepted between the 6th and the 15th of January. Entries can also be dropped off in person at the postal location during this time period only.

Judging

Judging will take place in Edinburgh, on the 22nd, 23rd and 29th of January. Best In Show judging, the People’s Choice Competition and the results announcement will be at a public event held at an Edinburgh venue on Sunday 30th
Registration is also open for judging and stewarding. If you are BJCP qualified and interested in judging, but would need to travel from outside the central belt, please get in touch with us to discuss – we may consider remote judging or be able to assist with arranging your visit. Lunch and refreshments will be provided on the judging days.

People’s Choice

The People’s Choice will be a separate free-to-enter competition, judged by attendees at the results event. You do not need to register via the competition site, just bring three unmarked bottles of your beer along to the results day where they will be processed to be judged by other attendees.

As we were unable to hold the People’s Choice in 2021, we will be judging two categories on the day – 20C: Imperial Stout and a second BJCP category that will be chosen by members of the Scottish Craft Brewers Facebook Group and confirmed shortly. The highest scoring in each category will receive a coveted black bottle award.

Covid 19

We are aware of the ongoing Covid 19 situation and potential restrictions that may be in place in early 2022. The 2021 competition was successfully judged remotely however our preference is to return to primarily in person judging for this year’s event. We will endeavour to ensure that any changes to the competition format as a result of these restrictions is communicated to participants at the earliest opportunity.

Categories
Events General

Scottish National Homebrew Competition 2021 – Results!

Remote judging in progress

We had 78 entries from across Scotland and the UK, and the judges were impressed with the standard of beers across the board. Best In Show ultimately went to Tom Furniss for his Old Ale, “Private Old Ale”, brewed in a period farmhouse copper and aged in an oak cask with Brett. Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to all the winners – full results can be seen here.

Thanks also goes to our judges who adapted superbly to remote judging over Zoom, and to all our sponsors for providing fantastic prizes.

Finally, a special thanks to the SCB committee and especially Competition Secretary James Collin for making it all happen.

Individual scores for your entries can be viewed online at the competition site, and judges comments are now available. Contact Competition@scottishcraftbrewers.com if you have any queries.