Boxing Rock Black Box Challenge

[feldmann]

http://www.boxingrock.ca/blog/homebrewchallenge

Sounds pretty cool. $51.75 for 11 gallons worth of ingredients isn't a bad deal just on its own. Just debating whether or not I can get someone to grab the black box for me from NS.

[Two Wheeler]

That's awesome! Logistically a challenge but great idea

[shazapple]

Sounds interesting. Probably something the club could pull off via the grain order.

[robcoombs]

I like the idea of the mystery ingredients. But aside from getting the boxes to people that are not local, you also have to be present and give a presentation for the competition. So, your beers are essentially being judged right along side of you. I do think we could possibly run with this idea within the club.

[Jake]

Club should do something like this. This sounds super fun

[Roger]

I'd be up for trying this within the club. The grain and yeast wouldn't be a problem we just need to get the same hops for everyone to use. Might be a good opportunity to make a club hop order...

[robcoombs]

What would be the best way to organize? Have a couple of guys pick ingredients? I'm assuming if we open it up to suggestion everyone is going to want something different. We likely wouldn't need to get boxes together, simply post a list of ingredients each person has to use. Most guys likely have similar grain but @Roger is right, a hop order may be needed.

Would this be a good idea for the AGM competition beer that's normally done? That gives time to brew once and then tweak the recipe.

[Roger]

The way I'd like to do it would be we agree on a style we all enjoy like IPA or stout then we all use the same recipe, same ingredients from the same supplier, same age and same yeast. The only thing that changes is the Brewer, equipment and technique.
Also if there's enough interest in making it a competition for the AGM I'd say go for it.
To make it easier we could pick a style and recipe from the book Brewing Classic Styles. Or any recipe for that matter as long as we all stick to the recipe.
I think it would be very interesting to see if or how each brew would be different.

[robcoombs]

I think it would be interesting to just pick ingredients and see what everyone does with them. If we all stick to the exact same recipe we're going to be tasting a lot of, at least, similar beer.

[Jake]

i think it would be cool to see how creative people would get ... get a headcount on how many people want to participate and have everyone do a 5 gallon batch have 8 or so different malts, some hops and give people the chance at 3 different yeasts and let people go to town - would be interesting to see what people showed up with. Keep the malts fairly simple/standard. As example:

10 pounds 2 row
1 pound light crystal
1 pound dark crystal
1 pound flaked
1 pound rye
.5 pound roasted barley
.5 pound chocolate
...and maybe another couple go-to grains

We could have 2-4 hops to use ... preferably varieties that people are unfamiliar with ... maybe a couple noble hops and a couple american hops (but keep away from cascade, centennial, and the rest of the usual suspects). Or another option for hops we could have 5 different hops and people need to draw 2 from a hat and use those.

yeasts could be an american (US-05), british (S-04) & even lager maybe? Instead of lager could do nottingham or another and have people draw the yeast they need to use ... but keep them all fairly similar yeast strains I'd think

People could use whatever grain they want ... if they want to use half the grains and not touch others, it's up to them. No style guidelines involved, people just vote on best of show.

[robcoombs]

I like your suggestions @Jake , and I like the idea of having a limited number of hop options and only pick a couple.

[shazapple]

I like Jake's suggestion as well. It would certainly give a large variety of beer.

I remember hearing a podcast where the competition was to use a very limited number of ingredients (1 or 2 grains and hops), so they had to change the technique to make the beer unique (different boil length, different addition times, etc). Would be interesting to try that later on in the year.

[Jake]

Thanks @robcoombs and @shazapple  ... i'm pretty smrt

If we got an accurate headcount before we did it and the numbers weren't massive, it could be something the club could sponsor for a fun little event. Can't promise that, but worth discussing this weekend at the beer meeting.

[DandyMason]

I'd be in ... Agreed with pretty much everything. I think limit ingredients and let ppl choose what they want to use and what they want to brew. Very solid idea!

Also liked what @shazapple said ... if we really limit it to a few different grains/hops/yeast varieties, it will force you to use some technique to differentiate ... nice challenge! At the same time, a decent variety of ingredients and you would get a nice spread of styles, which would be interesting ... either way im in!

[robcoombs]

Even better! I already know what I'm going to brew, well, depending on the hops.