National Homebrew comp...what are you entering?

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Xpertskir

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Figured we could share what we are entering for now, and perhaps some people will share scores or results after the fact.

Im going to enter a Rye IPA, American Wheat, and perhaps a stout or porter.
 
Haven't decided yet (thanks for reminding me). I may submit a doppelbock, but it's going to be borderline ready at that point. It's in bottles, but I am not sure it'll be carbed in time. The only other beer that might be worth entering is a Vienna Lager, but I think it's too far out of style to be worth entering due to some late hopping. It's good, but I'm not sure where I'd enter it.

I guess I could send a cider I did early last year, it should be nicely aged if it hasn't oxidized.
 
Yeah.... I kind of realized over the last week or two that I did not plan as well as I needed to for NHC.... with the long windows between entry, shipping, judging and (hopefully) a second round - it is a hard comp. to prepare for. I am not sure.... but some candidates that I have are:
Dortmunder Export
American Brown Ale
Belgian Golden
Belgian Dark
Barleywine
Pilsner (Will I have any left, too old by then?)
American Amber (too old by then?)
American Pale (too old by then?)
British Mild (brewed last night.... will it be ready??)
Could try to brew in the next week and get some things ready.... but cutting it close - maybe something like a blonde, pale ale, british pale ale....

Like I said, I did not plan out real well, so I guess I will have to see what looks good in another month or so.
 
I plan to enter everything in my signature including the future brews, but not the on tap stuff, or the imperial alt. Obviously not the kicked stuff :drunk:
 
Either a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, a Belgian Tripel, or Belgian Specialty Ale; not sure where it fits in yet.
 
I'll be entering a Dortmunder Export, a Brown Porter, and a Blueberry Kolsch. Registration for entries to NHC is Feb 26th and it fills up VERY QUICKLY. If you're going to enter be sure to get them registered that day.
 
Doppelbock, helles, dunkel, and oktoberfest for me (German theme this year apparently). Helles is about perfect, doppelbock is good. Dunkel is still lagering and looks good, but needs another week or two at least to lager. Ofest is about to go in the keg, I haven't tried it since it was wort.

Just need to figure out the best way to bottle off these kegs. BMBF didn't do well for me last year in that it infected the bottles I sent (although one of the 3 still advanced). Certainly my fault and not the equipment, but I may invest in a BeerGun in the next week....
 
Doppelbock, helles, dunkel, and oktoberfest for me (German theme this year apparently). Helles is about perfect, doppelbock is good. Dunkel is still lagering and looks good, but needs another week or two at least to lager. Ofest is about to go in the keg, I haven't tried it since it was wort.

Just need to figure out the best way to bottle off these kegs. BMBF didn't do well for me last year in that it infected the bottles I sent (although one of the 3 still advanced). Certainly my fault and not the equipment, but I may invest in a BeerGun in the next week....

The method I use, and it works very well for me, is to do the following:

1) Turn PSI on CO2 down to 2-3 PSI.
2) Vent all kegs.
3) Run about a pint from each keg.
4) Fill bottles directly from the tap and cap on the foam to reduce oxidation.

You're going to make a bit of a mess. So long as you have a few towels down, you can minimize the mess. It also helps to have a second person to help; my wife fills the bottles, I cap, and wipe them down. I make sure that I sanitize my bottles with Starsan ahead of time. I'm sure the beer gun is nice and all, but I'm a cheap bastard! I did try a porter I bottled before Christmas using this method last night, and it was carbonated perfectly. I could not taste any oxidation or off-flavors.
 
16C and 17A for sure, possibly 16E, 20, and 23.
 
The method I use, and it works very well for me, is to do the following:

1) Turn PSI on CO2 down to 2-3 PSI.
2) Vent all kegs.
3) Run about a pint from each keg.
4) Fill bottles directly from the tap and cap on the foam to reduce oxidation.

You're going to make a bit of a mess. So long as you have a few towels down, you can minimize the mess. It also helps to have a second person to help; my wife fills the bottles, I cap, and wipe them down. I make sure that I sanitize my bottles with Starsan ahead of time. I'm sure the beer gun is nice and all, but I'm a cheap bastard! I did try a porter I bottled before Christmas using this method last night, and it was carbonated perfectly. I could not taste any oxidation or off-flavors.

That sounds like a lot more work than just bottling in the first place.
 
?

Took 5 minutes last night to bottle two beers (4 bottles) last night. Bottling a full 5 gallon batch used to take 40 - 45 minutes not including sanitation or cleanup. Not to derail the thread completely!
 
The method I use, and it works very well for me, is to do the following:

1) Turn PSI on CO2 down to 2-3 PSI.
2) Vent all kegs.
3) Run about a pint from each keg.
4) Fill bottles directly from the tap and cap on the foam to reduce oxidation.


I have a beer gun, and I prefer the above method, it's actually alot faster than hooking up the beergun. I've entered several beers in comps w/o any issues on carb or oxidation.
 
I brew with my brother and by dad, so we have a few beers to enter. I know they capped #entries at 15 this year, and we may just enter 15 beers. Whatever we enter will be from this list:

1D – Munich Helles #1 A & B
4C – Schwarzbier #2 A & B
5C – Dopplebock Blend
6C – Kolsch #3
9D – Irish Red Ale #1-B (Lagered)
10A – LKA Pale Ale #1 A & B
10C – Brown Ale #2B
12A – Brown Porter #1 B
12B – Robust Porter #2
13C – Oatmeal Stout#2 A & B
14B – LKA IPA #3 B
15B – Dunkelweizen #1B
18B – Belgian Dubbel #1 Mixed
19C – Hop Head High (American Barleywine)
20 – Blackberry Porter
21 – Coconut Robust Porter #3
 
I'm all over the place.

14B: American IPA
14C: Imperial IPA
18C: Belgian Tripel
20: Fruit Beer / 16A: Witbier base
21A: Spice, herp or vegtable / 22b other smoked beer base
 
I brew with my brother and by dad, so we have a few beers to enter. I know they capped #entries at 15 this year, and we may just enter 15 beers. Whatever we enter will be from this list:

1D – Munich Helles #1 A & B
4C – Schwarzbier #2 A & B
5C – Dopplebock Blend
6C – Kolsch #3
9D – Irish Red Ale #1-B (Lagered)
10A – LKA Pale Ale #1 A & B
10C – Brown Ale #2B
12A – Brown Porter #1 B
12B – Robust Porter #2
13C – Oatmeal Stout#2 A & B
14B – LKA IPA #3 B
15B – Dunkelweizen #1B
18B – Belgian Dubbel #1 Mixed
19C – Hop Head High (American Barleywine)
20 – Blackberry Porter
21 – Coconut Robust Porter #3


As someone who was unable to get any entries through due to being on a plane and the cluster**** that was the registration process I am curious if you got all of those beers entered/hope you didnt.
 
Ended up deciding not to enter anything. It'd be fun, but I don't have anything finished that I think is likely to do well, or which I need feedback on. Maybe next year.
 
I have an American Brown Ale that I've entered. It is an American Brown in style, but mostly English in ingredients and it doesn't have much of a hop presence (it was really made for my girlfriend for her birthday who does not like a lot of hop flavor usually), so I haven't a clue if it will do well at all.

But I like it, and the local homebrew club liked it the last time I had it made (including a couple veteran brewers / BJCP judges!), and I tried to follow the constructive criticism that I was given this last time I made it.

I've been brewing for a little over 2 years now, so I am only entering this as a metric for how to do better. I'm really excited that I manged to enter at least one beer.
 
I have an American Brown Ale that I've entered. It is an American Brown in style, but mostly English in ingredients and it doesn't have much of a hop presence

Just an idea. If it fits better in the English Brown category, change it to that (I think we'll be able to change our entries). The judges won't see the recipe or the process, only the taste, smell, and appearance. I'd read both BJCP descriptions and see where it fits best.
 
We did get them all entered. Why would you hope we didn't?

A lot of people couldn't get registered at all, couldn't get as many beers listed as they hoped and generally had a miserable time with the webservers that day.

To get all 15 slots registered was certainly not the norm. I only got five in despite trying for a solid two hours and two of the five are well past number 750.
 
Just an idea. If it fits better in the English Brown category, change it to that (I think we'll be able to change our entries). The judges won't see the recipe or the process, only the taste, smell, and appearance. I'd read both BJCP descriptions and see where it fits best.

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually did do that, and it fits American Brown best.

And they actually will see your recipe should you advance past the first round.
 
We did get them all entered. Why would you hope we didn't?


Because its ridiculous for you to have so many beers in the competition when many brewers(who wanted to) were unable to get any registered. If there wasn't a cap on entries I wouldn't care how many beers you had in the competition.
 
Because its ridiculous for you to have so many beers in the competition when many brewers(who wanted to) were unable to get any registered. If there wasn't a cap on entries I wouldn't care how many beers you had in the competition.

Interesting; I wonder how many people said "Oh, if the limit is 15 then I'll put 15 in" instead of just putting in say half a dozen that would have some legitimate shot at advancing.
 
Interesting; I wonder how many people said "Oh, if the limit is 15 then I'll put 15 in" instead of just putting in say half a dozen that would have some legitimate shot at advancing.



Just different philosophies. Some people want to throw as much **** against the wall to see what sticks. I personally just wanted a handful of my best beers that I thought were worthy.

No ill will towards anyone who did get that many entries in, good luck. My issue lies with the format not with you, and apparently you have the "registration game" figured out better than I. If the process stays the same next year I'll have to decide if I want to take the time and effort to register, or just spend it doing something else.
 
I'm more impressed that he got 15 registered...I took me two hours to get three of them in. I hope you do well, and if you're really submitting 15 quality beers than you have a legitimate shot at the Ninkasi.
 
We brewed all year with this competition in our sites. We didn't just enter 15 beers and hope to get lucky. Most of these beers have already won metals. Some are best of show winners. I understand everyones frustration with registation this year. I don't understand why anyone would be upset that we entered the amount we were allowed. If I had been on a plane Tuesday I would have made plans for someone else to register.
 
We brewed all year with this competition in our sites. We didn't just enter 15 beers and hope to get lucky. Most of these beers have already won metals. Some are best of show winners. I understand everyones frustration with registation this year. I don't understand why anyone would be upset that we entered the amount we were allowed. If I had been on a plane Tuesday I would have made plans for someone else to register.

Was the coconut porter the same recipe that won last year's Dominion Cup?
 
We brewed all year with this competition in our sites. We didn't just enter 15 beers and hope to get lucky. Most of these beers have already won metals. Some are best of show winners. I understand everyones frustration with registation this year. I don't understand why anyone would be upset that we entered the amount we were allowed. If I had been on a plane Tuesday I would have made plans for someone else to register.

If you don't mind me asking, what region did you register to?
 
I started planning my NHC beers in October, had enough time to get 4 entries together; 3 of which are rebrews
1. Oaked American Brown Ale (rebrew), 10C
2. Sweet Stout (rebrew), 13B
3. Oktoberfest, 3B
4. Smoked Porter (rebrew), 22B
 
Yes, Atlanta was packed for the first couple hours but the system seemed to stabilize around 4:30 pm and I was able to enter my three in very quick order. Good luck in the competition!
 
I got 4 in. This is my first year entering NHC. Hope to get some good feedback on my beers.

1. 5A Helles Bock
2. 13A Dry Stout
3. 12A Brown Porter
4. 25A Cyser
 
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