Thank You Denny Conn and Northern Brewer!

Ok, a month ago I entered 6 of my brews into the Maine Homebrewers Competition( it’s not as big as it sounds, after all Maine is a small state, and this was brewers from mostly the Bangor area anyways). I needed some feedback because the closest active homebrewer club is 3 hours away. 5 were my recipes that I’ve done for several years and thought were pretty good. And I had a Waldo Lake Amber that I had bottled 2 weeks before. Figured I would include that to round out a full 12 pack of submissions.
Waldo Lake Amber: Grand Prize winner. Besides the swag, I get to brew it with a local brewery- Geaghans(which by the way puts out some very good stuff).
So, if you haven’t tried it, stick the Waldo Lake in your order cart. It’s like a hoppy Irish Red. And definitely include the WY1450. Great yeast. Thank you Denny for a great recipe, and NB for carrying it.
And no, I haven’t gotten any kickback from either Denny or NB. :laughing:

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Good job" congratulations

Well done! The recipe is one thing, but brewing it well is another! It definitely takes both.

Yes, a big cheers to you! Sneezles61

That’s awesome! I will have to add that one to the ever growing list.

Woot! Nice work.

Was the Waldo Lake Amber the extract version by any chance?

I’ve got a close match to Denny’s BVIP in the fermenter now. LHBS only had one very swollen and old pack of WY1450, so I subbed WY1028. I brewed it AG from the Internet, but the store also sells an extract kit of the recipe that they were raving about. Based on the taste of the wort, this is an awesome recipe; even before the Bourbon and vanilla. @denny knows his stuff.

Good on ya! And thanks for the kudos.

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How old? Just yesterday I pitched a starter made with an 11 month old smack pack of 1450. It took right off.

I actually don’t know how old it was. The proprietor pulled the smack pack out his fridge, and just said, “Whoa, that’s too old!” without actually showing it to me. I gotta say, I actually kinda respected him for not wanting to sell product he wasn’t 100% sure of.

Yep, that’s good, but maybe you could have gotten it for a discount! Also, don’t worry if the smack pack is swollen when you get it.

No, it was the AG. I’ve done it twice and it stretches the limit of my system. My mash efficiency tends to be 60-65 for this one, so I supplement with DME. I’m betting the extract version would be pretty good. I would guess that Denny vetted the extract version before greenlighting it. That man is a genius!

[quote=“jimrmaine, post:13, topic:21137, full:true”]That man is a genius!
[/quote]

Whoa! There are some things said on here, and the Internet in general that are pretty far fetched… @denny :wink:

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Both the AG and extract recipes were developed and tested by me.

Do you rate one higher than the other?

Awesome and congratulations!!! Please let NB know if we can help you scale this up to big-brew sizes!

That’s like asking which is your favorite child! As to which beer I prefer, it all depends on my mood, but in general I’d say the Rye IPA.

I meant it in regards to the Waldo Lake Amber. Better all grain or extract?

Ahhh…I would say slightly better all grain, but the extract is damn close. I use some sugar in the extract recipe to get the FG down to what the all grain is.