Entering a homebrew competition

I am entertaining the thought of entering a homebrew competition .(my first one) along with rubber banding my entry form to the brews I am going to submit, should I put my own label on the bottle, or do I just keep it plain? I am unclear on this.

Keep it plain. They want all bottles looking the same except for the entry form. The entry forms are removed at the comp site and a number is put on your bottle.

Typically it's supposed to be completely plain...so no label, no raised embossing, nothing that could tip anyone off that it's your beer.

Excellent, thank you!

No labels, no embossed bottles, no labels or writing on caps, generally brown bottles only. Most competitions will list their entry requirements on their site or forms.

Good luck, the feedback you get is worth the price of admission

Is it acceptable put your label in a small ziplock bag before attaching to the bottle with a rubber band? The purpose of the bag would be to protect the label from condensation or water from melting ice.

bumstigedy said:

Is it acceptable put your label in a small ziplock bag before attaching to the bottle with a rubber band? The purpose of the bag would be to protect the label from condensation or water from melting ice.

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If the label you speak of is your own, they just don't want it. If you are talking about the entry form label just rubberband it on. There should be no condensation because you do not want to submit a beer that is cold. You don't know how they are going to hold your beer when you give it to them, don't assume it will stay refrigerated until before the competition and chilling then warming then chilling may affect your beer.

bumstigedy said:

Is it acceptable put your label in a small ziplock bag before attaching to the bottle with a rubber band? The purpose of the bag would be to protect the label from condensation or water from melting ice.

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The point is, they typically don't want a label, period. competitions are supposed to judge the beer on its own merit - any kind of "eye candy" might influence a judge, however slightly, and kill the benefit of a blind judgment.

Don't send a label in any form or fashion.

What about Grolsch style swing-top green bottles? I keg all of my beer but have a RIS I want to enter in competition?

paraordnance said:

What about Grolsch style swing-top green bottles? I keg all of my beer but have a RIS I want to enter in competition?

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Usually they are looking for unlabeled 12 oz bottles capped with gold, silver or black caps. Also you don't get the bottles back so save those Grolsch ones for your own use. Congrats on entering a competition. It is the best way to get honest objective feedback on your beers and to help you make better beer. It's also incredibly fun when you ribbon!

paraordnance said:

What about Grolsch style swing-top green bottles? I keg all of my beer but have a RIS I want to enter in competition?

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You'll have to check the comp rules on that one. Some allow it, others don't.

But congrats on entering! Once you start getting objective feedback, use it to make better beer and then win medals, it's quite addicting.

Don't over think it people. Use plain old 12oz brown bottles. Every one and a while you'll see some Sam Adams bottles, but it's best to just use plain bottles.

TimTrone said:

Every one and a while you'll see some Sam Adams bottles, but it's best to just use plain bottles.

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I see Sam Adams bottles all the time. And New Belgium. And Schlafly. And New Holland. As a judge, do I care? No.

Only the coordinators should really care. (Unless you know who the brewer is based on the bottle itself.)

Yes, DO use a ziploc bag to put the entry label (not your own label). I put the competition label in a cheapo ziploc sandwich bag, and rubber band it to the bottle.

MC

I was referring to the competition label. Every competition I have entered required you to print a label and attach it to the bottle. I assumed that they kept the bottled cold.

I coat my competition labels in clear packing tape and then rubber band them to the bottles. That way they do not run from the condensation from being in the fridge

I am going to be submitting my first entry to a competition soon, and I have the letter "I" written on my cap in sharpie, just to indicate that it's my IPA. I put simple letter labels on all my caps to keep my different beers straight, and I marked these bottles before I decided to enter them into competition. Will this be a problem? It's literally just a line on the cap.

smiller said:

I am going to be submitting my first entry to a competition soon, and I have the letter "I" written on my cap in sharpie, just to indicate that it's my IPA. I put simple letter labels on all my caps to keep my different beers straight, and I marked these bottles before I decided to enter them into competition. Will this be a problem? It's literally just a line on the cap.

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Typically competitions require that you black out the cap so as to have no identifying marks on the bottle. You can also use a dry erase marker to remove permanent marker by marking over the marking and rubbing it off after it drys.

smiller said:

I am going to be submitting my first entry to a competition soon, and I have the letter "I" written on my cap in sharpie, just to indicate that it's my IPA. I put simple letter labels on all my caps to keep my different beers straight, and I marked these bottles before I decided to enter them into competition. Will this be a problem? It's literally just a line on the cap.

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A Qtip dipped in alcohol works well removing permanent marker from caps also. That's what I've always done. Additionally on the raised letters I've never seen entries rejected for it, but it's generally frowned upon.

Just color over the marking with the sharpie. I've accidentally forgot to and it ended up not mattering - I'll assume the competition sticker was placed on the crown.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!