Competition Stout - How important is clarity?

My Pecan Bourbon Stout is currently resting peacefully in my keezer at 38F for a nice crash cooling. I'm pretty sure I will try to enter this one in a competition so I'm considering clarity more than I ever have before for a stout.

My question is, should I use gelatin? Leave it alone with a crash cool? How clear should a stout be for a competition anyway?

And will using gelatin do anything adverse for my stout?

Thanks and Cheers

I sure hope not, I used Geletin in my bourbon oak porter, and it's now crashing in the fridge. Just looked at it last night and it sure looks clear. I'll probably be bottling it tonight.

I can't imagine clarity being a metric in a stout category... but I have no knowledge of competition.. just would be surprised

If you can see through a stout is it really a stout?


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wildwest450 said:

If you can see through a stout is it really a stout?


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Click to expand...

Not to sure, but you do make a better stout then you do a window.

Thanks WildWest, I completely agree. It just shouldn't be something brewers should consider as a priority when brewing a stout.

On the other hand, if you think you created something really special and a nice shiny medal might give you some kind of confirmation to how good you think it is and also a little street credit (bragging rights) for the neighborhood, then I guess it matters what the judges are looking for. And other than competitions I could care less.

But this would be my first so I am just curious if it matters before I bottle all of them and place them before the public

All of the BJCP guidelines for stout call for it to be "opaque" or, "If not opaque, then clear".

I don't personally worry about it.

In a BJCP competition the appearance of a beer (color, clarity and head) is worth a total of three points out of fifty.

I do use a flashlight to shine through most beers to judge clarity. At the most, you might be dinged one point if your beer is VERY cloudy and hazy.

Here is a link to a .pdf of a BJCP score sheet BJCP score sheet

The flavor of the beer is the most important. Followed by aroma and the overall impressions. The mouthfeel is next and appearance is the least.

All of these are compared to the style guidelines. For most stouts the guidelines state: Can be opaque (if not, it should be clear).

The exact category guidelines for the various stouts can be found here.

Thanks Wayne,

I'm pretty sure I will just leave well enough alone. The cold crash seems to do most of the work so I will leave it in there for a week and then bottle.

I'm definitely pumped about this one and it tastes really good without conditioning or carbonation

Thanks again!