Running a BJCP HomeBrew competition! HELP

This is an off shoot of another thread from a "fun" competition which I have talked Hydro Street Brewing into having an official BJCP HomeBrew competition.

If anyone has run an official comp I would love to hear from you either here of via email [email protected]

I've only entered them and never ran one. Comments/suggestions are welcomed.

August 5th is the date (I know, short time but small is good this year).

WOW - reading a website of what is involved . . . . gulp. Perhaps I have stepped in it!

Yep. It's no small feat. Hopefully you will get some advice from someone who has done them before. There are some pretty stringent guidelines and not doing it right can be troublesome for entrants and yourself.

The first thing I never thought of was refrigeration! Fine if you have 10 entries but 200 entries (not that I would suspect that) means 400+ bottles which is 16 cases of storage.

I wonder if there is software that might be usefull. hmmm

You might actually want to have 3 bottles per beer, which would mean 600 bottles. Check in, storage and labelling is a *****...get lots of help. Start sending out mesaages looking for judges now. Line up a place to have it that has fridge space for storage. Download HCCP (homebrew comp software...get it at http://www.folsoms.net/hccp/) and start learning to use it. Sign up a few stewards to help with serving beersw. You'll be too busy the day of the comp to do it yourself. Register with the BJCP NOW (if you haven't) so you might have a chance of getting it listed in the mags.

Maybe check with a local brewery who can help with fridge space in exchange for the constant name drop, i.e. "Thanks once again for Starry Night Brewing Company for keeping our entries refrigerated for 2 weeks!"

They might have space to judge too, you never know. Some of those guys realize that homebrewers make up a decent percentage of their patronage and would love to help (As long as you do all the work...)

Denny said:

You might actually want to have 3 bottles per beer, which would mean 600 bottles. Check in, storage and labelling is a *****...get lots of help. Start sending out mesaages looking for judges now. Line up a place to have it that has fridge space for storage. Download HCCP (homebrew comp software...get it at http://www.folsoms.net/hccp/) and start learning to use it. Sign up a few stewards to help with serving beersw. You'll be too busy the day of the comp to do it yourself. Register with the BJCP NOW (if you haven't) so you might have a chance of getting it listed in the mags.

Click to expand...

Homercidal said:

Maybe check with a local brewery who can help with fridge space in exchange for the constant name drop, i.e. "Thanks once again for Starry Night Brewing Company for keeping our entries refrigerated for 2 weeks!"

They might have space to judge too, you never know. Some of those guys realize that homebrewers make up a decent percentage of their patronage and would love to help (As long as you do all the work...)

Click to expand...

Great tips! HCCP works great for a single competition.

Make sure you have the scoresheets ready, pencils, bread and water for palate cleansing, and dump buckets and water glasses handy. Make sure the rules are complete before opening registration (so you don't get grolsch bottles, for example) and very clear. Make sure you have enough flight sheets/cover sheets for all entries. It's fine to combine categories for the purpose of awarding prizes/ribbons, but make sure each category is judged according to the style guidelines.

Getting judges can be tough at that time of year, but the BJCP will email you a list of Wisconsin/Illinois/Michigan judges upon your registration and request.

A well run competition is a huge undertaking, but it's also lots of fun!

I dislike judging in breweries/brewpubs because of the aromas around. It makes it more difficult to judge the beer accurately IMO. OTOH, I'm easily distracted....ooh, look, shiny!