When to start brewing

I plan on entering a few bottles of brew in the Dixie Cup in Houston. I have my barley wines ready, but I was wondering the competition is in October so if I was going to enter a stout, IPA, when would you start brewing so that by October they would be at there best?Thanks

I'd start brewing now, give it plenty of time to condition and mature.

I concur.......

ok sounds good I guess I need to work on getting something where I can control bottle conditioning temp. Thanks for the info

Just a newbie here, but I would do the stout first. Then do the IPA later.

Don't hoppy beers lose some of their "bite" after a period of time?

Not sure just know from what I read but I think beers with a higher alc% take a little longer to mellow the hops out and balance a little better????. But I see what you are saying. I like bitter hoppy beer. I have always been able to brew to please my tastebuds, and at two weeks after bottling I am drinking it... but now I am trying to meet standards withen the Judging guidelines. Anyway Its a good thing I am starting early I am sure I will have to tweek a few recipes.

Bumping this back to the top for you.


I guess since you haven't gotten any more responses, you had better get to brewing!

While I know some styles need a lot of conditioning (like some stouts), beer is also a fresh product. It normally doesn't improve with a LOT of age like wine does. That's why I thought it might be a tad too early for the IPA, but then, what do I know... lol

I agree.....I am going to do an IPA just for practice, to see how it taste then maybe do some tweeking and some to the recipes. I was thinking more like August for the other beers, except the stout.

You might want to invest 25 dollars in the Promash program. Skimming the Promash website last night, I saw where the program has a feature that will calculate hops degradation. I think that is what you need to find the optimum date for the IPA. Some Promash users could confirm that.

And YES, I would say a practice batch or two would really help as well. Practice getting a nice clear IPA as well as getting the taste you want. Clarity isn't a big issue with a stout, but I would even make a trial run with it too.

I racked my SNPA clone today after two weeks in the primary, and it isn't nearly as hoppy as I had feared. I guess adding too much hops in a stupor, didn't really hurt, because I only did a partial boil. There is a big difference between a partial and full boil when it comes to hop bitterness.

Best of luck! I'll be watching for reports of your efforts....

All grain dry stout.....Very good, a little light on body, but very very tasty
out of the secondary hope its just as good when it carbs up.
My American brown....Could be better, turned out bitter but still a good beer very hoppy although I am afraid it might be out of guidelines.
My american IPA still in secondary
My Pale Ale in Primary
Have another IPA trial coming up brew day is Friday,
I AM OUT OF BOTTLES

Lounge Lizard said:

Just a newbie here, but I would do the stout first. Then do the IPA later.

Don't hoppy beers lose some of their "bite" after a period of time?

Click to expand...

I believe it depends on the hop variety used. Certain strains lose flavor over time, others increase. See Designing Great Beers, Ch. on Hops. There's a table in there.