THE BREWSPAPER / SUPER BOWL HOME BREW RECIPES FROM SEATTLE AND NEW ENGLAND

GUEST BLOG--Whether you’re in it for the game, the commercials or to simply see Katy Perry grace us with her presence during half time, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched events in the country. And what goes best with football? The answer, according to the American Homebrew Assn., is simply: Homebrew!

Homebrewers are also a competitive bunch. Every year countless homebrewers enter hundreds of sanctioned homebrew competitions to see how their homemade beers, ciders and meads stack up to the rest. The biggest homebrew competition in the world, the National Homebrew Competition, is actually not too different from the Super Bowl.

The first round of the National Homebrew Competition welcomes roughly 8,000 competitive homebrewers to enter their best homebrew into 12 judging locations across the country. You can think of the first round of the competition as the football play-offs. The winning beers in the first round advanced to the finals to see who’s beers are the best in the world. This year, the 2015 National Homebrew Competition final round will take place in San Diego during the National Homebrewers Conference June 11-13, 2015.

In the spirit of competition, we decided to pit two homebrew recipes against each other and let you decide who will be victorious. The recipes are past National Homebrew Competition final round gold medalists from Washington and New England respectively. Both are iterations of classic Munich styles, and we want you to decide the victor! Vote below.

(NFC) Green Eye Munich Helles*

Specs:

Original Gravity: 1.051

Final Gravity: 1.010

Bitterness: 19.6 IBUs

Color: 4.6 SRM

Ingredients for 7 gal (26.5 L):

14.25 lb German Pils malt

0.44 lb Munich malt

0.16 lb Biscuit malt

0.16 Melanoidin malt

1.85 oz Hallertau Mittlefruh (FWH)

Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager yeast

1 pckg Gelatin (in keg)

Directions: For the complete directions, visit the Homebrewopedia.

(AFC) Tricorne Munich Dunkel*

Specs:

Original Gravity: 1.060

Final Gravity: 1.020

Bitterness: 8 IBU

Color: 16 SRM

Ingredients for 5 gal (18.93 L):

8.0 lb Munich malt

2.0 lb Pilsner malt

4.0 oz Chocolate malt

0.66 oz Hallertau hops, 3% a.a. (45 min)

0.33 oz Hallertau hops, 3% a.a. (15 min)

Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast

1 tablet Whirlfloc (20 min)

Directions: For the complete directions, visit the Homebrewopedia.

*We changed the names to better reflect the teams in contention for the Super Bowl title.