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BJCP Level Up – National!

September 19, 2017 by Derek Springer 7 Comments

After a hot scoop from my good friend Matt Chrispen over at Accidentalis (who also received word), I just learned that I’ve officially leveled up to National rank in the BJCP! Almost exactly two years from when my record was officially opened, it is amazing to think I have made it so far in just a few years, though most of it was waiting for my tests to be scored 🙂 The written exam is very much the beast that folks proclaim, so TBD if I will ever consider doing it again (and again) to level up to the Master rank, but I will give it a few years and see.

I will admit, one of the reasons I have been working toward advancing my ranks is that I wanted the authority to finally challenge some of the crusty old-school judges who do entrants a disservice through lazy judging. Maybe you have seen them yourself: they have been judges for decades, but somehow are still only Recognized, yet they throw their “authority” around and bully the younger judges even though they have not revisited the guidelines since before the 2008 edition was released. Can you tell I am a bit salty? 😉

Cheers to everyone that helped me along the way, see y’all at some competitions! 🍻

Filed Under: General Tagged With: bjcp

Final Round Bound (again)!

April 7, 2017 by Derek Springer 11 Comments

Picked up two medals in the Sour Ales category of NHC San Diego, one of these days I will get around to writing up a post or two about them.

Here is what won:
1st – Actually a Gueuze – a 20/30/50 blend of three lambic-style vintages
3rd – Oude Skool Kreik – wrote about it here

Full list of winners here

sour-ales.png

Filed Under: General Tagged With: national homebrew competition, nhc

Schwarz 2.0 – Split Batch Temperature Experiment

February 15, 2017 by Derek Springer 6 Comments

Check out the rest of my recipes in the index.

It is no secret that Schwarzbier is a bit of a white whale for me (irony duly noted). Dark and smooth with a crisp toasty breadiness, Schwarzbier straddles the line between malty and hoppy while remaining balanced and crushable. Why am I so obsessed? Besides being a noted lagerhead, Schwarzbier satisfies my innate desire as a homebrewer to brew beers that I otherwise would never be able to find “in the wild.” But who am I kidding, really? I love brewing Schwarzbier because it gives me statistically one of the highest chances of advancing to the final round of the National Homebrew Competition 👌. Previous attempts of mine either turned out too roasty, like a porter, or too dry and austere, not even worth a full writeup. But as they say: practice makes perfect and I feel like I am getting really close.

Having been interested in performing my own split batch experiments for a while, my wife graciously gifted me a set of three gallon Better Bottles as well as a set of 2.5 gallon ball lock kegs so I could split my typical 5.5 gallon batches. I figured why not kill two birds with one stone? This Schwarzbier is the first of what I hope will be a great many split batch experiments of varying levels of scientific significance.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Experiments, Recipes Tagged With: experiment, lager, recipe, schwarzbier, split batch

Adventures in Fermentation – Sauerkraut

February 8, 2017 by Derek Springer 8 Comments

It is time to get the gears rolling again, so I suppose now would be a good time to discuss some of the non-brewing stuff I have been up to lately. Notably, I have gotten really excited about some of the other forms of fermentation, especially food-related. Pickling seems to be the current hot thing–all the cool kid restaurants around me offer artisanal pickle spreads–and I have always been found of sauerkraut, so I thought it would be fun to try it out myself. Having just kicked off my first batch I am just getting started, but I thought I would share what I have learned so far.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Adventures in Fermentation Tagged With: cabbage, fermentation, sauerkraut

2016 NHC Recipes Are Up!

September 13, 2016 by Derek Springer 2 Comments

In case you did not notice the new link in the header, the 2016 NHC Gold Medal Recipes are up! Head on over and check ’em out, all the recipes include the BeerXML download for easy import into your recipe builder of choice!

NHC 2016 Gold Medal Recipes

Filed Under: General Tagged With: gold medal, nhc, recipes

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Derek Springer

Derek Springer

I write code & brew beer--if you ask nice I'll share some with you :)

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