Ok, 2016 is in the books and there was quite a lot of beer brewed. My brew year turned out better than I’d hoped. I started the year with the Journeyman Brewer Certificate program at Eastfield College. I learned quite a bit and made lots of connections within the industry. Not everything scales from a 5 gallon bucket to a 60 barrel fermenter. I was quite reassuring to learn that even professional brewers sweat a new brew until the blow-off tube starts gurgling.
One of the goals for 2016 was to place in the top 5 among brewers in the Dallas Homebrew Collective. There wasn’t a ranking at the end of the year, but we did win the style competition for Brown Ale, took second and third with a porter. There might have been a another win if Silvia hadn’t voted for the beer with which we tied 
We did manage to tie for 5th place in the Master Brewer contest at Cap & Hare. There wasn’t a style win, but we did accumulate several third place finishes – 20A – American Porter, 24A – Witbier, and 20B – American Stout. With a bit of recipe tweaking based upon judges feedback we hope to score better in 2017 and get more than 9 points.
Ag Alewerks 