johnnyjs1

Recipes 

This past weekend I entered the first 2 beers I made in a Homebrew Competition. I looked on the hosts website and saw my scores. 28 for my Kiwi Blonde Ale, and a 31 for my Brown Ale. Cant wait to get the score cards mailed to me so i can see the comments and get feedback. Since I've never entered before...are those scores decent??

TopherM

Recipes 

Anything above 30 is good! Congrats!

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johnnyjs1

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Woohoo!!! I was hoping they would turn out decent since i didnt follow any recipe....both were sort of experimental. The guy at the local homebrew supply store kept telling me "You cant use those hops with that style, you cant use that grain for that style, blah, blah, blah" The funny thing is...he also entered 2 beers in the contest, and both my beers got higher scores than his.

Homercidal

Recipes 

I wouldn't say anything less than 30 is "great", but for sure a solid start, especially for a home made recipe. There will be some feedback you can use. Thing is, you may only need to tweak one or two small things to get in the high 30s to low 40s.

And the homebrew store guy may be right about this or that, but there is a myriad of potential pitfalls other than ingredients. And he may have been shooting for a very difficult style too...

johnnyjs1

Recipes 

Both his beers where entered in the same styles as mine: Blonde Ale, and Brown Ale. For some reason the guy just rubs me the wrong way...acts like a know-it-all. When I make beer...I like to experiment with ingredients that I think will make my beer taste good. The $30 it costs me to experiment, whether the beer comes out awesome or just plain terrible...is worth it to me.

tre9er

Recipes 

Just got the scoresheets back on my first contest beer too and scored 31 (30 and 32) total. It was a Kolsch with a touch of honey malt but both judges felt it needed more hops. No process flaws or other negatives listed. My neighbor is a homebrewer of many years and he suggested I fermented a tad too low for a Kolsch.

Congrats on the contest!

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johnbrain

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I've entered my beer in my first homebrew competition. I think it's slightly overcarbed but it's the only girl I have to bring to the dance. Just hoping for helpful feedback.

If the competition guide says just bring your beer and "we'll bag it & tag it" should I NOT put a label on the bottle? There is zero mention of labels, and googling competitions I've seen guys dinged for no labels in some comps, and guys dinged for having labels in other comps.

Suggestions?

tre9er

Recipes 

You could always bring the label with you and ask when you arrive. I'd write on the bottle-cap perhaps so at least they don't lose your beer. Last time I labeled and wrote on cap, then emailed a follow-up to make sure they knew which was mine since the label didn't react to condensation very well.

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IMNOTL8

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Entering a competition this weekend... Is it necessary to come up with some clever name for my beer? Or is entering it in a specific category and calling it for example... Imperial Pilsner, enough?

Didn't know if giving it a name helps or hinders!

Thanks!

Yooper

Recipes 

Names don't matter. The judges see "entry #402. Kolsch. Style 6C"

Everything else that would make a beer stand out is removed, and/or disqualified.

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