NBC 2013 - Cat 3 Silver - Amber Goblin - N. Eng. Brown Ale

[Tom]

Amber Goblin
Northern English Brown Ale
Cat. 3 Silver.

O.G. 1057, F.G. 1012. IBU: 30IBU. Recipe based on 60% efficiency.

Pale Malt (M.O.): 5.57kg
Crystal Malt (83EBC): 290g
Amber Malt: 270g
Chocolate Malt: 170g

Mash the above in 16.75 litres at 68oC (Strike 75) for 1 hour.
Sparge for as long as you want. Stop at 1002 though.

Boil with:
Northdown (8.9%aa):       18g for 60 minutes       (20IBU)
Williamette (6.3%aa):      23g for 15 mins.      (10IBU)
Williamette (6.3%aa):      25g for 5 mins
Hall.Hersb. (4.1%aa):      15g for 5 mins

Cool and pitch with yeast. I used US05 (Safale American Ale Yeast), repitched from another batch, because it's what I had. It was fermented (at around 14oC), fined, kegged, and after several weeks I bottled some for the competition, because of how impressed I was with it.

My comments: If I did this again I would use a different strain, with slightly less attenuation than US05 to retain some residual sweetness, which is typical of the style.
The beer is quite malty, with the Amber malt coming through strong, but that settles with time. Worth leaving a month, this one.

Judges Comments: Medium body, caramel, roasty, medium/dry finish. Earthy hops, some fruity esters. I don't know what an E. Hex is, but there was plenty of it.
"VERY NICE BEER" and "V. good". 

Hope this helps, and cheers to the judges.