BJCP Tasting Exam

I have been rather quiet over the past couple months.  Partially due to the new house, but a lot due to my beer-based hobby time being devoted to studying for the BJCP Tasting Exam.  I knew fairly quickly after entering two different competitions in the summer of 2011 I would want to become a judge.  I received scoresheets back from the two competitions with a 29 and and a 38 for the same beer - a Scottish 70/-.  In the one competition I didn't place at all.  In the other, I received 2nd place Best of Show.  This is not the first time this injustice has happened to a homebrewer, and I am sure it won't be the last, but I knew I wanted to become a well-qualified judge and do my part to prevent this!

I looked at the BJCP exam schedule and found out the closest exams to me where held a few miles north in Frederick, MD.  In April of 2012 (10 months out), I contacted the exam organizers to get into the exam in February of 2013...it was already full and I was placed into the 12th spot on the waitlist - Wow!  I knew you had to sign up early, but didn't realize it needed to be that early.  I was then informed another exam would be administered in September of 2013 - I signed up.

Fast-forward to this spring and the organizers contacted everyone and let them know of a tasting course they teach to prepare people for the exam.  The class was 12 weeks long, meeting for 2 hours once a week.  We went through all of the BJCP style guidelines trying a dozen or so beers at each meeting.  The teachers also graded sample scoresheets for us and halfway through the course we took a practice test.  We had a few "flaw" sessions which were critical as I came to learn that some of the descriptors for a certain off-flavor were not the tastes I would natural associate.  For example, DMS to me tastes like regular V8 tomato juice.

Entrance Exam Completion Certificate

As you can see above, I passed the new online entrance exam - required before you can take the tasting test.  I took the tasting exam the last Sunday in September and was pleased with how I think I did.  After the exams were handed in, the proctor told us the judges consensus scores and what beers we had.  I was only 5 points off the judges consensus scores at worst, and one of my beers was within a point and a half!  Being the nerd that I am, I looked up the scoring guidelines and it looks like my scoring should average around 16.8 points in the scoring accuracy part.  16-17 points on scoring accuracy is required for a "National" ranking.  I figured this will put me fairly close to the score of 80 which is what I am striving for as this score will make me eligible to take the written exam (after accruing the necessary judging points) and to try to become "Nationally" ranked.

Now I just have to wait for the exams to be graded.  This will take a couple of months as it is all volunteer based and a very time intensive process.  In the meantime, I can get back to brewing! 

Planning my Indoor Electric Brewspace

Back in March of 2012, I discussed brewstands and recirculation mash system as 'wants' in part 3 of my all grain series.  They are still on my wants list, but with the new house I have decided I need to enact a plan to get indoors for brewing, with electricity.  Too many days where my hands are freezing from cleaning my mash tun out in the cold.  Additionally, we do not have a garage so I would be out in the full elements for brewing.  Below I will go over the pro's and con's of having a dedicated indoor brew setup and then layout my 3 phase plan to get indoors and use induction!

(New house - want to brew INside it, not OUTside it)

 

PRO's of Dedicated Indoor Brewing

• Weather - Indoors you can be the postman of brewing - rain, sleet, snow, extreme heat, extreme cold - it doesn't matter.  This is the best reason for indoor brewing and could possibly outweigh any of the cons in and of itself.
• Dedicated Brew Area - this isn't necessarily only specific to indoor brewing, as having a brewstand on casters would classify.  But having a dedicated space for brewing, you can organize and optimize for an efficient and quicker brew day.
• Operating Cost - Brewing with electricity is far cheaper and more efficient than propane.  Also, as long as you pay your electric bill you will not run out of fuel - unless there is a power outage.
• Proximity - Depending on where you setup your indoor brewing you should be close to hot water, and a sink/cleaning area, maybe even a T.V. or bathroom!

CON's of Dedicated Indoor Brewing

• Initial Setup Cost - To do 5 gallons or more you will need access to 240v electricity with GFI, Ventilation etc.  Also if you want more advanced mash system you will need to spend quite a bit in the electronics department for a control panel.  This is probably the biggest hindrance to going indoor.  People can spend thousands of dollars getting a dedicated brew room - check out theelectricbrewery.com to see what i mean.
• Ventilation - Boiling off 1+ gallons of liquid will create quite a humid environment.  You will need to have some sort of ventiliation to keep the area in and around your brewery dry and free of mold.  Additionally, some family members may not appreciate what I think are wonderful smells of wort and hops.
• Mobility/Portability - You are kinda stuck to a location with the appropriate power you need.  It will be hard to take your system to club brewing event which is outdoors.
• Electric knowledge - If you don't already know, you will need to learn a little bit about wiring electricity and electronics OR pay big dollars  to buy a prefabbed setup (see con # 1)

Shegogue Brew's Indoor Electric Plan

• Frugal - Anyone who knows me knows I love a good deal.  I will DIY whenever I can to save some $$$.
• 1) Electricity First - The first part of the equation is getting adequate power supplied to the unfinished side of the basement.  This needs to happen anyways to be able to run my keg fridge and ferm chamber - there currently are no power outlets on this side of the basement.  While at it, I will have the electrician wire up power for the brewspace
• 2) Simple Setup - Once electricity is in place I will be going with a 20a/240v 3500watt induciton cooker.  This removes the need of a control panel, PID's etc.  I will brew in the same manner I currently do outside just with induction rather than propane burner.
• Vent Hood - I will construct some sort of a vent hood and wire up a 6" inline fan to run the exhaust outside - all DIY, all savings
• Brewstand - will construct a simple 2-tier brewstand to utilize gravity (as I currently do)
• Gravity fed MLT

• 3) Automated Mash Temp Control
• Add a 15a/120v RIMS or "teakettle" type HERMS system.
• This will require fancy pumps, and a control panel
• A lot of extra hardware for installing valves into kettles

Step one should be completed sooner than later. Hoping to be able to jump into step 2 after the Xmas season (hint to santa).  And Step 3 will be a year or two out, maybe longer - really need to rebuild our deck.  As long as I am inside, I think I will be a real happy brewer :)

New House, Planning Inaugural Brew

As previously mentioned, Mrs. Shegogue Brew and I bought our first house recently.  The previous owners were smokers so we had to do a lot of painting, wall washing and needed to replace carpet.  While at it we decided to take down a wall between two extremely tiny bedrooms (they barely had space for anything other than a twin bed) and extend the master closet into one of the stated bedrooms - resulting in a good sized 2nd bedroom and a generous walk-in closet off the master.  It was a lot of work and we crammed it all into a 3 week time period. I then went to NHC and then Las Vegas for a friends wedding.  This past weekend we had a housewarming party, which officially marked the completion of all of our hard work!  There is still a bunch of other stuff on the long-term house to-do list, but I finally have a chance to get to the all important beer to-do list!

Currently, I'm tapped out!  The last beer I made was the German Pilsner which was brewed back in February.  I wasn't able to keep stuff cold during the move or after, and the beers I had just did not hold up with the temperature fluctuations and general age (over 6 months).  Additionally, the new house is lacking power receptacles in the dedicated brewery area.  I currently am running an extension cord from the other side of the unfinished basement to power my kegerator as a stop-gap until I can get electrical installed.

I hope to brew this upcoming, but I need to do a bit of planning.  Brewing in a new space always presents some challenges so I will use the rest of this post as a checklist to help identify and remediate any potential problems in advance to make the brewday go smoother.

New Brew-Space Checklist!

• Weather - Until I can get the all electric setup going inside of the basement (monetary donations welcome!), I will be back catching some sun in the great outdoors for my brewing (no garage at the new house).  While this isn't a huge issue, weather was something I had conveniently forgotten at my rental due to the garage.  If its raining I may have to postpone things.
• Utilities (Water and Fuel) 
• Where will I get my brewing water from? - I don't have a potable hose, so it looks like I will need to fill up carboys in the kitchen and lug it downstairs and outside for my mash and sparge water.  There is a spigot for chilling and cleaning water outside already, so that will make clean up easier.
• Do I have enough propane? - I have one tank that is low and a mostly full one connected to my grill.  I should have enough for a brew, although there may be need of some regulator switching
• Electricity - Sometimes I use a pond pump to recirculate icewater through my immersion chiller to get temps down into the 60s.  I hope my extension cord reaches!
•  Salts, Cleanser and Sanitizer
• Do I have all necessary mash salts? Need to check on this one, think I have gypsum, CaCl, and campden.  Should be all I need as long as I have acid malt, which i think I do.
• Do I have enough cleaner? - I know I am low on PBW, and I will most likely need to pick some up.  I know i always have some C-Brite from my first kit I never used in a pinch.
• Do I have Sanitzer - Luckily, I know i have an ounce or so of Star San left, as well as an unopened 8oz.  Good to go here!
• Random items - I think i need more fermcap-S as it has been out of the fridge for 3 months
• Brewhouse Tools - Are all thermometers and refractometers calibrated? Are my scales accessible?  Are houses/racking canes clean - maybe I should just "snap myself off a fresh piece!"
• Recipe/Ingredient
• What style and what recipe? - This is always a big question mark if I havent brewed in a while.  Inevitability it will be something of medium to low ABV and leaning towards the hoppy side - maybe that session IPA I have been dragging my foot on!
• Do I need ingredients I don't have in stock? - Once you have your recipe, make sure you have all the ingredients for it.  I have had my yeast sitting at room temp for 3 months.  The dry yeast is probably ok, the liquid yeast most likely is very low of viability.  May need to pick up yeast based on recipe.
• Fermentation Control - This is usually not a problem, but because of the move and my lack of power, I will need to figure out how I am getting power to my ferm chamber.  I may need a new extension cord if I can't determine how much power is available off of the circuit the current one is on.

Anything I missed? Be sure to let me know in the comments below.

35th Annual National Homebrew Conference - Recap - Philly 2013

A while back I posted I was one of the lucky few to secure tickets to the AHA's 35th Annual National Homebrew Conference 2013 in Philadelphia, PA.  It was an amazing event and a "must" for any homebrew fan at least once in their lifetime.  For anyone who has not been, or even those who have, I hope to document a slice of my 4-day experience for you to enjoy. I will break it down by the major events and throw in some other tidbits of info here and there.

Seminars

The Conference is a two-headed beast: learning and partying.  The first head, at least for me, was the real "meat & potatoes" of the conference .  I love learning new things about this hobby and absorbing information which will increase the quality of my beer.  There were somewhere around 36 different seminars given over the course of 3 days, which were broken down into different sessions.  You had to pick and choose which ones you wanted to attend, but luckily they will be posted online to AHA members later so I can listen to any I missed. I will share with you my five favorites from what I attended.

• Stan Hieronymus - Because Not Every Beer is Stone Enjoy By IPA: Preserving Hop Aroma: Stan is man when it comes to hop knowledge.  He has written a book on it, but he is constantly researching and keeping tabs on the most recent hop informaiton out there.  If anything, this talk basically alludes to the fact that we currently know like 5% to 10% of all there is to know about the hop and how yeast, and fermentation affect the crop in beer.  This is an aspect of beer, especially hoppy ones, that still has a lot room for expansion.
• John Gasparine - Alternative Wood Aging Techniques - John has collaborated with some of the most recent wood age beers crafted by Dogfish Head and Heavy Seas.  There were quite a few jokes surrounding the sexual connotations of the word 'wood,' but it was pretty unavoidable as I got excited from talking about this topic, too!  Some really good pieces of info I took from this seminar in regards to wood aging beer was to measure your wood by square inches per gallon.  This will help the brewer be able to produce repeatable results in future batches - weight is not the best measurement.  The second is through John's research, he finds that the first 3 weeks of aging a beer on wood really produces a lot of harsh tannins - but DO NOT fear!  After 4 weeks, the tannins drop out and the wood flavor really starts to come through and mellow with the beer.
• Mitch Steele - Current Techniques and Recent Developments Used for Brewing Great IPAs - Being served the Enjoy by IPA by Mitch at Pro-Brew night was pretty awesome - there was a twinkle in his eye as I gave a hearty "THANK YOU" to him after receiving the beer.  Mitch glazed over his slides to really talk about and discuss some of the research Stone has done in evaluating new hop varieties.  He made some good points for potential commercial brewers - don't make any beer heavily focused on one hop or ingredient.  If this ingredient becomes scarce it will cause problems with replicating the beer in the future.  He also discuss the best practices on dry hopping amounts and contact time - which some researching is pointing to 1-3 days tops!
• Josh Weikert - Brewing with Induction - Josh is the President of the Stoney Creek Homebrewers club, a pretty decorated bjcp medalist, and one of this years conference local committee organizers (I think?).  He gave a great talk on using induction burners for easy indoor brewing.  This is a system I had been researching for a while, and this talk just reassured it is the direction I want to go for my brewery.  Some proponents for this system is decreased evaporation rate.  This also results in less steam, which Josh claims he does not even need a hood to take away moisture (still a little skeptical about this).  He also states that because of the power limitations, his maximum capacity allows him to walk away without fear of boil overs.  Look for more on induction brewing from me as I look to move to smaller batches and brewing indoors!
• Michael Fairbrother - Mastering Mead - Michael, who is the owner of Moonlight Meadery, gave out a ton of mead over the conference.  It was actually my first samples of mead, and all can say is "wow."  His mead is absolutely amazing.  This session, unfortunately, did not provide a whole lot of technical info on how to make it - was more 60 minutes of how much of a badass he is, but I think it definitely sparked a lot of brewers interest in mead (if they weren't already)

Stone Enjoy By

Social Events

The other part of the conference were the nightly social events, although there were other social events throughout the day at the product expo and ongoing "social hall," the following were the "main events."

• Pro Brewer's Night - Thursday Night - Everyone at the conference headed over to  Convention Center (luckily this traverse could be made entirely undercover, as there was lots of rain!) to sample beers from 25+ commercial breweries.  I was grateful for the pretzels, nuts and water provided by the convention center - without these salty treats to absorb and the water to rehydrate, there would be (more) hungover brewers than usual.  The only disappointing thing about this event was that half of the beers offered were IPAs or Pale Ales.  Don't get me wrong, I love hoppy beers and Stone's Enjoy By was AWESOME, but I was hoping for more variety.  I found some malty offerings by Yard's and Troeg's - 2 PA local breweries.  I also found it by getting my first taste of Moonlight Meadery's 'Desire.'  Other notable events of the night was the beer fountain provided by Laguanita's - I was a few rows over, but I saw a streaming fountain of beer geysing about 25 feet into the air, followed by raucous cheering.  Afterwords, my friend and I turned into bed so we would guarantee waking up in time for seminar's the next day.

Moonlight Meadery

• Club Night - Friday Night - I think this is event everyone looks forward to because you get to try the best beers all the homebrew clubs have to offer.  Each club also embraces a theme of some sorts to make their booth stand out.  Some of the costumes were way over the top and awesome, other clubs lacked in the costume dept, but definitely redeemed themselves in the beer dept.  I was able to try some truly amazing beers not limited to the likes of Palo Santo Aged RIS (WHALES), a great Oatmeal Stout (Brew Free or Die), an IPA through a randall of chinook (tasted almost like watermellon from ), a Strawberry IPA (some random guy drunk guy from jersey), and a handful of delicious sour beers.  I also like the fact that the Maryland homebrew clubs all were placed in the same corner and collaborated for a raffle - had to sample a beer from each club to enter.  A little after 11pm we were kicked out and forced to move things back over to the social well in the Hotel. 

FOAMs Booth

WHALES booth

Baltibrew's Booth

C.R.A.B.S. Booth

• Beer Dinner and Awards Ceremony  - To culminate the weekend, we headed down to stand in  line to get seats at the dinner.  Most of the time, I hate lines, but this is the homebrewers conference so waiting really consisted of sampling beers and chatting it up with other homebrewers while waiting to get seats - not really a normal line-waiting atmosphere.  The dinner, sponsored by Rogue Ales and crafted by the Homebrewed Chef Sean Paxton, was pretty tasty.  The mustard dressing used for the salad was pretty young, and thus very spicey.  The amber ale paired with it really cut the heat and kept the salad refreshing.  The main course was stromboli based off of the famous philly sandwhich from Tony DiNic's containing roasted pork and broccoli rabe. It was good, but the portion sizes weren't even amongst our table.  Lastly, was the dessert.  A Philadelphia cream cheese cake, with hazelnut and crystal malt crust served with Rogue's hazelnut brown ale, and a side or raspberry oatmeal stout sauce.  By far the best part of the meal.  After the meal, the awards were announced.  A lite american lager took Best of Show, which was pretty surprising!  After the awards, we went to the social hall, where to my surprise the unconsumed entries from the final round were being handed out in a free-for-all!  I was able to grab a table with members of my BJCP tasting class and we sampled a bunch of really great beers!  I can only imagine what the NHC winners beer's tasted like!

First Course

Entree

Dessert

Lastly, there were a bunch of games to win free stuff!  My buddy Jon of JB Brewing scored 2 free FastRacks, a Star Hill hat, a MoreBeer hoodie and I got the MoreBeer tshirt!  Not bad, heh?

Free Schwag

Stewarding - My First BJCP Competition

In my 3+ year homebrew journey I have entered about 10 competitions.  After about 2 years in the hobby, I knew I wanted to become a beer judge.  I had heard from people on the forums getting into one of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) tests required a very proactive approach, and a long wait - they were right.  I first inquired last April (2013) to see if I could take the BJCP exam in Frederick, MD in February of 2013.  I was told that I could be placed 12th on the waitilist...wow!  Didn't look like I was going to be able to take the exam on that day.  I was then informed there would be another test in September of 2013 and did I want to be placed on the list to take it - YES!  Knowing I had a seat in the exam, I procrastinated studying til last month - right inside of 6 months.  I have been studying styles, their guidelines, and the brewing process on paper, but not as much hands-on, or should I say mouth-in, as I should be.  Cue the 21st annual Spirit of Free Beer Competition.

The Spirit of Free Beer competition is put on by he D.C. area homebrew group, BURP (Brewers United for Real Potables) around the beginning of May every year.  This year was the 21st installment of the competition, the third time I have entered, and the 1st time I have assisted as a steward.  This competition is 1 of 16  qualifiers for the Master Championship of Amateuer Brewers and pulls in some very qualified judges.

The competition was hosted by Mad Fox Brewing Company and I arrived bright and early to get complimentary breakfast -  caramel glazed donuts topped with bacon, and a fresh fruit tray was a great way to start the morning.  I then proceeded to sign in and talk to some fellow brewing enthusiasts.  A little after 8 the stewards were called and given preparatory information on how to assist the judges as well as the do's and don'ts.  A steward's job is to is make sure the judge's have all the necessary materials which consist of beers, cups, water, and bread, as well as to manage the scoresheets after each beer is evaluated.  Most judges will also allow the steward to get a sample of each entry to taste alongside the judges.

At 9am I was assigned to one of the 5 flights of Category 14 - IPA.  The first beer in our flight was definitely the best.  Although there were no horrible beers, each consecutive entry tended to have a few stylistic flaws.  Most common for our flight was a rather minimal hop character where beers tendy more to the malty side.  We had all American IPAs and these beers need to be hoppy to score well!  I was able to pick up some tricks for sensory evaluation of aromas.  After pouring a sample, hold your hand over glass for a few seconds, after which, immediately take in a deep sniff.  After sampling and filling out the scoresheets, the judges would share their scores and have a discussion about the beer.  For the most part, in this category, my judges scores were within 3 points of each other so no changes needed to be made.  Due to the number of flights, 1 to 2 beers from each flight was promoted to a mini best of show round.  I watched as 5 judges (one from each flight to avoid bias) debated over 10 IPAs to deem 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in the category.

(Mini BOS for IPAs - The Mad Fermentationist is seen on the right)

After all the mini BOS rounds were conducted it was time to break for lunch.  Mad Fox provided us with a keg of their Defender American Pale Ale (very tasty!) to wash down our pork bbq sandwhiches, pasta salad, cole slaw, and fresh mixed green salad.  Our sweet tooths were also indulged in the form of chocolate chip cookies, and brownies!  Around 1pm everyone reconvened to begin the afternoon session of judging where I was assigned to two new judges in Category 23- Specialty beers.

Specialty is a great category.  It allows for homebrewers to enter beers that don't fall into one of the other classical style categories.  It can provide combination styled beers like belgian ipa's, or highly hopped lagers (IPLs), smoked hefeweizens and the list goes on.  I really want to point out something to brewers who plan on entering this category: BE VERY DESCRIPTIVE.  It was really unfortunate that two of the entries in this flight only listed the 1-3 specialty malts they used in the beer.  The beers were very well made, with no flaws, but since the brewer's description associated no other style or parameter to base it off of, the judges had to give it a middle of the road score around a 30.  Had the brewer of these beers said something along the lines of "I brewed a Black IPA" they possibly could have had a best of show beer.  Other than the description miscues, this was a GREAT flight of 8 beers.  Every single beer was extremely drinkable and I (a very picky drinker) would have drank, and then ordered a second pint of any of them!

I assisted with the mini BOS for the Specialty Category and was able to snap a picture of all the beers.

(Mini BOS for Category 23 - Specialty Beers)

I stuck around to watch the overall Best of Show judging where the 1st place winner from every category was tasted by a panel of 5 judges, that is 23 different beers!  It was a little crazy and they slowly wittled things down to about 6 beers.  Some judges were very adamant about one of the beers being their favorite, but in the end there was compromise and a group decision was made on the top three.  A kolsch finished 1st, English Barleywine 2nd, and a Belgian Specialty took 3rd (think it was a dark strong?).

It was a long day, but a lot of fun!  I learned a great deal, and now have a better idea of how and what I need to study for my BJCP exam in September.

(Best of Show)

Before I sign off on this post, I want to applaud BURP Member Bob Rouse.  Bob created a system to streamline the scoresheet digitization and score processing.  Bob's program assosicates a barcode with each entrant.  The barcode is scanned first, followed by the scoresheets for an entrant.  The program reads the barcode and a pdf document is then created and appended, and the score uploaded to the competition software.  He used it for the first time in last years competition.  This year he improved upon it so it would then be able to automatically email all the entrants after the competition.  Bob's program allowed the results to be uploaded online minutes after the BOS judging finished.  Within 24 hours, all entrants had an email with one pdf, and all of their scoresheets... AMAZING!

May the Fourth Beer with you

This year National Homebrew day celebrations falls on May 4th.  Shared only with another big holiday - Star Wars day, which coins the term "May the fourth, be with you."  National Homebrew day is actually May 7th, however, the closest Saturday surrounding it generally gets deemed as the Big Brew Day.  It's a day where homebrew clubs get together to brew high alcohol beers and Homebrew stores teach the craft of brewing to new people.  I unfortunately, in my 3 years of brewing have never been able to coordinate my schedule to sync up with this holiday.  One day, I will, but for now I will just have to obey princess leia and have a homebrew.

I did want to take this time to check in on and evaluate things based on my 2012-2013 brew schedule.  As you can see by the updated table below, I did not stick to my plan.  I did give myself the right to make changes, but  it really boils down to not being able to brew as often as I'd planned.  I started a new job in August and have had to work quite a bit more than I expected.  That, coupled with my lengthy commute lends to very little time for brewing. Another reason I have brewed less is because my consumption has been low.  I always talk about brewing smaller batches, but I never follow through...I always seem to want to fill the keg to the brim.  I might need to change my way of thinking and move back to 2-3 gallon batches or so.  Also, might need to start bottling some as well - I would say 75% of my homebrew gets consumed away from my kegerator.  This means more time cleaning, sanitizing, and filling bottles from the keg...if I just bottle I can alleviate all that!

The last two beers in the schedule are doubtful at this time, because my wife and I are in the process of buying a house!  This will be exciting as I should be revamping and creating a new brewery setup, however, it will delay wort production for a few months!

Competitions 

I got my scoresheets back from the regional rounds of NHC (National Homebrew Competition) and I will go into detail on those later, probably once I get feedback from all the other competitions I entered.  The other competitions entered are the Spirit of Free Beer and the Battle of the Bubbles.  I will be stewarding the Spirit of Free Beer as well, so be on the look out for some competition related posts in the future...Stay Tuned!

Durstlöscher - German Pilsner

This is my second time brewing a lager.  I made a munich helles last year, which came out ok - there was just something off about it.  Given the simplicity of the ingredients in these styles, I knew I needed to focus more on my water.  I scoured forums and decided that using 50% distilled water for my mash and adding just a little bit of minerals to achieve an estimated 5.4 pH would produce a better beer.  Additionally, my parents bought me a stirplate for my birthday, which allowed me to more efficiently propogate the yeast for this batch.

(Filling the Fermenter with as much trub-free wort as possible)

Durstlöscher - German Pilsner Brewed On: February 18, 2013
Kegged On: 4/6/2013
Style: 2A -German Pilsner
Batch Size: 6 gallons (5 gal into fermenter)
Efficiency: 83%
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.009
IBU: 36 calculated (Rager) 
ABV: 5.1%
Yeast: WLP830 German Lager from Starter ~400 billion cells .  Fermented at 50° 

Grist Mashed at 147 for 60 minutes
97% - Weyermann Pilsner - 9.5 lbs
3% - Acidulated Malt - 4.5 oz

Hop Additions (90 minute boil)
.55 oz - Magnum - 60 min - 30 IBUs
.50 oz - Hallertau - 20 min - 6 IBUs
.50 oz - Hallertau - 0 min

Water Adjustments
Mash - 4 gallons Montgomery County, MD Water consisting of 50% distilled with 
3 grams Gypsum
2 grams CaCL
Sparge - Montgomery County, MD Water (treated with campden tablet)

This lager pours a nice deep straw color with a frothy white head.  The aroma is a strong, crisp and clean smell of malt with some slight yeast character - touch of sulfur.  It has medium body with medium carbonation.  The beer really showcases the continental pilsner malt, and washing it over your tongue you can pick up a grainy sweetness.  The sweetness is really more "maltiness" which is a compliment to the extreme crispness and lack of esters left by the lager yeast.  The firm, but pleasant bitterness from the hallertau hops helps the beer finish dry.  A real thirst quencher perfect for spring!

I left this one in the fermenter a little longer than I would have liked due to my keg issues.  It could have a little more fresh hop character, but overall it is pretty tasty.  Being my second lager, I am greatly pleased with the outcome.  Two big differences between this lager and my first. 1) I used liquid yeast this time, and did a double step starter on my stir plate (used dry the first time) 2) I cut my mash water with 50% distilled water. After writing my tasting notes I decided to go to the BJCP guidelines and see how I was doing.  Pretty much falls right in line with the guidelines - I just entered this in two competitions, so hopefully my palate is tasting accurately!