First Competition Results

Well I finally got my first competition scorecards back after much anticipation. I knew this beer wouldn't take home a prize, but was just looking for some outside criticism. I entered it as an American IPA. I ended up getting a score of 34, 30, and 29. I wasn't too disappointed with those numbers and did get some positive comments...great color, head retention and clarity. It seemed that they liked the slight fruity flavors from the English yeast also. The one comment that was standard across all 3 scores was that it was a bit "hot" with alcohol and could use more late hop additions. One of them picked up on an off flavor from possibly old hops. I realized when I was doing my dry hop that the whole hops didn't look so good....I should have tossed them out! Anyways, I would like to improve on the "hot" aspect of this beer and definitely brew it again with some modifications. I was pretty careful with the fermentation temperature and kept it at a steady 64 degrees. Are there any other factors that might contribute to this? ABV was 5.8% and this was a partial mash brew. I have since moved to AG so I will reformulate this recipe to try again.

Your temp seems fine, though if that is the ambient temp, your fermentation would have been closer to 70F. Stressed yeast could also produce hot alcohols - did you pitch an appropriate amount? Did you aerate? Did you provide enough yeast nutrients?

Congrats on a good score for your first comp. Those are good numbers, especially for your first entry.

JLem said:

Your temp seems fine, though if that is the ambient temp, your fermentation would have been closer to 70F. Stressed yeast could also produce hot alcohols - did you pitch an appropriate amount? Did you aerate? Did you provide enough yeast nutrients?

Congrats on a good score for your first comp. Those are good numbers, especially for your first entry.

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Thanks! I did make a good size starter for this one (used mrmalty) and the vial had a good date on it. I shook the crab out of it since I don't have an aeration system and didn't use any yeast nutrients. I did use fermaid-k in the starter. Should I add this or another nutrient to the carboy?

Oh, 64 was what my sticky thermometer was reading. Ambient was set around 58-60 or lower when fermentation was kicking.

My 2 cents: get an O2 system. It's the only weakness I see in your routine.

I'll have to look into that in the near future. Definitely couldn't hurt!