Age of Beer to Enter Competition

How old can a beer be and still be entered in a sanctioned competition? I'm thinking of entering Texas Bluebonnet in 2013.

When do I start counting the age? I have a beer in secondary now that is not considered mature for 4-6 months, according to the recipe. Can I count age starting 6 months from the day I brewed it? Does age start the day I bottle?

I consider "age" to start post fermentation.

To answer the main question, who the hell knows? Really depends on the beer...some beers brewed now would be much better now, and not so good next year, and others the exact opposite! I would try to enter beers that are at their best, whenever that happens to be.

I don't know if this is a convention, but I judge age based on brew day...

AZ_IPA said:

I consider "age" to start post fermentation.

Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, do you judge that by when you first hit terminal gravity?

biochemedic said:

Out of curiosity, do you judge that by when you first hit terminal gravity?

Click to expand...

I'm not that scientific with it, but usually a couple days after FG when the yeast are done cleaning up.

The way I look at it, that's the time frame when you begin to bulk age, whether you rack or not.

I do see a distinction between "this beer is x months old" versus "this beer has aged for y months."

I think this is especially true with meads.

By no means am I saying I'm right, though. I'm sure some would say the aging starts at bottling.

Thanks.

Are there generally beer age rules in competitions? I skimmed the Texas Bluebonnet page and read the FAQ. Didn't see any.

A buddy and I got to be sit in novice judges in that one once. We sat with real judges and learned how to taste and fill out the cards. The judges said to make sure any beer we were thinking of entering was "done and properly aged" but I never asked about beer age requirments.

My concern is that there's a cut off age. Maybe even a great judge would be hard pressed to tell on a properly aged beer and no way they could tell by a month or so. Itd just be unsportsman to enter a beer deemed too old if there were a rule.

Zuljin said:

Thanks.

Are there generally beer age rules in competitions? I skimmed the Texas Bluebonnet page and read the FAQ. Didn't see any.

Click to expand...

It really depends on the style. Something like a barley wine would do well to get some age on it, whereas a pale ale peaks quickly and is best consumed young.

Time, temperature, infections (hopefully lack of) will all change how a beer ages considerably. It's also going to depend heavily on the style what it becomes as it ages -- will it improve or not.

I entered beers I brewed in November 2010 for NHC this year because it took that long for them to "be ready". However, when I make a hefe, or something light and dry-hopped, I try to consume them pretty quickly (~2-3 months) once kegged.

I tend to start counting aging after primary fermentation is done -- usually 2-3 weeks.

There's no rule that a beer has to be younger than a certain age.

When you enter the beer they are going to judge it based on taste. They will not disqualify you because your beer is too old.