Beer Competitions

Has anyone entered the Beers to Fear competition in Michigan. Was thinking about submitting. Even if its not that competition any beer competition stories or suggestions?

I did this year. My first competition.

How did it go? Just curious what to expect. Thanks

I don't know. I sent in a beer and I got a scoresheet. I don't know what else to expect, as it was my first comp.

My score wasn't great but it was a beer I did not make for competition, I sped through conditioning because I saw the comp on the horizon, and I used chlorinated tap water and added some "non-beer" ingredients to it. I got a lot from the feedback, which mainly screamed "fix your water".

I think my score was a 27 if I recall correctly. It was a blonde that had orange zest and vanilla beans added. A bit odd to be entering into a competition, I think. I liked it, regardless of the score. I will make it again with the same recipe but different water and enter into another comp to see what that does to it. I may enter the same recipe, sans the zest, into the same comp next year, too.

A 27 is a respectable score, especially if you knew there were flaws (bad water) going into the competition.

KurtB said:

A 27 is a respectable score, especially if you knew there were flaws (bad water) going into the competition.

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I did not know there was a water problem. I never thought about water before. That's why I'm glad I entered the competition...because it opened my eyes to something I was doing wrong that can easily be fixed.

I am now using RO water and bru'nwater (thanks to Yooper) to make sure my water is decent for what I'm brewing. The first batch with good water is in the fermenter right now, probably to be bottled this weekend.

Even better.

As someone who's last batch was the first one I made that I didn't enjoy, but didn't have any major screwups, would you mind sharing your newfound water knowledge? I use tap water too and never thought anything of it, and maybe I could easily improve my brews.

Bigelow92 said:

As someone who's last batch was the first one I made that I didn't enjoy, but didn't have any major screwups, would you mind sharing your newfound water knowledge? I use tap water too and never thought anything of it, and maybe I could easily improve my brews.

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I'm very new to water profiles (hell, I'm pretty new to brewing, for that matter). But the feedback from my competition results indicated that there were flaws stemming from the chlorine in the water. I looked up ways to eliminate the chlorine...adding campden tablets...but then starting reading all of the other information about water. I read about ph levels, about proper calcium levels for certain styles of beers, etc.

So, what I have decided to do is to get purified water and add back minerals that will get me to my proper ph and the proper content for the beers I am brewing. I was lost as to how to figure this all out but then Yooper put me on to
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/ and I was able (theoretically) to built the perfect water for my beer style. It was pretty easy, too. I think I only added two minerals to the water to get a good porter profile, calcium chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) and the spreadsheet told me I was in range on all counts.

I cannot tell for certain if this made a difference in the beer, as the first batch will be bottled this weekend. I am going to brew an IPA with the same recipe that I am drinking now, but with water based on bru'n water, and see if I can tell a drastic difference.

EDIT: but in the interest of full disclosure, I'll tell you that the owner of the LHBS has the same tap water as me and he says he just uses it without doing anything to it. He has a certificate from whatever beer school they have in Chicago and knows a hell of a lot more than I do, so I'm not sure if the difference will be overwhelming.

I'm somewhat new to competitions. I just started entering this year with three under my belt so far. I've been fortunate that I picked up two bronze medals, four golds, and one Best of Show

Here's what I can offer from my experience so far:

1) Don't "expect" anything but feedback. Of course you go in hoping to win, but you don't know your competition and you don't know the judges, so every competition is different.

2) Don't be disappointed by inconsistency. I had conflicting feedback on scoresheets for the same beer. It kind of leaves you hanging on where to make changes. Also, don't be disappointed by inconsistency between competitions. I had a milk stout that I entered in two competitions. Same batch, judged on the same day. In one competition it got a 41 and a gold, in the other it got a 29. The beer that won me BoS scored a 43.5 in that competition. In another, it still scored 40, but didn't place. So, every time is a crap shoot.

3) Plan ahead. I didn't give myself quite as much time as I'd of liked to condition and clarify. I don't think it made a huge difference, but a few points might make a difference in any competition.

4) I paid a lot of attention to water profile for all my competition beers. It was a bit of a pain, but I think it made enough of a difference to be worthwhile, especially with styles like Belgians and lighter beers.

5) Have fun!