The ICB All Grain Chalenge

Over the next few posts I will be describing my All-Grain Challenge brew. The all grain challenge is an idea I came up with to see what I could produce, given a limited set of ingredients and a few other restrictions. The idea was to force myself to think outside the box, and maybe come up with something interesting.

It occurred to me that others might be interested in joining me, so I posted my idea on http://www.irishcraftbrewer.com/ and there turned out to be quite a bit of interest. Some really innovative beers have been brewed and we will be sampling each other's offerings on the 2nd of July and I am very much looking forward to it.

My post from the All-Grain Challenge sign up thread, which went up once we had the details worked out.

1st ICB All-Grain Challenge.

The concept.

Participants will brew an all grain batch within the parameters set out below and we will then taste and compare the results at one of the regular ICB tasting sessions. The tasting for this brew is provisionally the 18th of June in the Bull and Castle. But we may change this date if the participants need more time (The date may also change for other reasons). Edit: the date is now the 2nd of July.

The Challenge.

The challenge is to do a 23 litre all grain brew using 3Kg of a single base malt, no speciality malt and only one hop addition.

The Nitty Gritty.

• 
  You may use whatever base malt you like, as long as it is a single base malt and you only use 3Kg.
• 
  If you want to make a batch size other than 23 litres you must scale the amount of base malt accordingly.
• 
  You may not use any other malt.
• 
  You may use whatever adjuncts, sugars or other non malt fermentables you like.
• 
  You may use whatever hops you like, at whatever time you like, but only in one addition.
• 
  You may use whatever fruit, herbs, spices, peel or other flavourings you like, as long as they are not hop derived.
• 
  You may use whatever yeast(s) or other microbes you like.
• 
  You may use whatever mashing, boiling, or other brewing technique you like.

We ended up with 13 people signed up to the challenge, brewing everything from Wit to Nettle beer.

My offering involves maris otter, flaked rye, white flour, white sugar, decoction mashing, kettle caramelisation, wyeast 1968 London ESB, bits of oak from a whiskey barrel, a fermentation which did not go as planned, an infection, the temptation to throw the whole lot down the drain, and my eventual acceptance that while my creation did not turn out as I expected, perhaps it has a certain twisted appeal.

More on this coming soon.

Random Quotation:

"No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with interest."

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138BC - 78BC). General, Consul and Dictator of Rome.