New brewer competition question

I'm about to brew my 4th brew since starting this hobby over the summer. I thought it'd be neat to enter a competition in January just to see how these stack up against other people. I just wanted to know if there are any unwritten rules about using a kit for a batch and then entering it or about using extract?

I know a lot of factors go into a batch's final flavor so is using a kit looked down upon by the brewing community?

My next batch is extract but I am using a recipe I found on here. Is that acceptable?

Totally acceptable. Good luck and be willing to accept criticism.

kswim612 said:

I'm about to brew my 4th brew since starting this hobby over the summer. I thought it'd be neat to enter a competition in January just to see how these stack up against other people. I just wanted to know if there are any unwritten rules about using a kit for a batch and then entering it or about using extract? I know a lot of factors go into a batch's final flavor so is using a kit looked down upon by the brewing community? My next batch is extract but I am using a recipe I found on here. Is that acceptable?

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Give a kit to two brewers and you will have two different beers. Fermentation is the biggest and often overlooked part of the brewing process, and it is what sets apart bad beer from good beer from world class beer. People are more concerned with hop schedules, efficiency, fly sparging, decoctions, step mashes, all grain vs extract, hop stands, etc. And all of that stuff is well and good but it won't matter if you have a crappy fermentation. So a kit properly fermented by Brewer A will taste like a completely different beer than the same kit poorly fermented by Brewer B. It's the same kit but the the better brewer will have a better (and different) beer. Heck, a properly fermented extract beer will taste way better than a poorly fermented all grain beer.

So to answer your question: no, they aren't going to give you crap for using a kit.

Absolutely not, go for it!

Finally, don't imagine for a moment that you can't make a very competitive beer using extracts. I'm an extract brewer; my sole competition entry was for a Philly Beer Week home brew IPA contest a few years ago; third place out of about 20 entries.

The judges won't know you used a kit unless you indicate such...

It's about brewing skill, not just recipe.