First competition and first medal!

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BVilleggiante

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Yesterday was the judging of the 4th Annual Temecula Homebrewers competition. This was the first competition I've ever entered and I entered a American Pale Ale and Fruit Beer. While our American Pale Ale didn't place our Fruit Beer came in third! I'm pretty damn pleased overall and can't wait to see the score cards. Really interested in how I can improve on our brewing practices.
 
Very nice. What kind of fruit beer did you make? I'm planning to try and make one I'm a few weeks. Torn between peaches or strawberries.
 
Im dropping off a pair of beers today for a competition here in CO in January. Really excited!

I want to hope for your outcome, but Im a bit afraid to jinx myself!

Congrats!
 
That is awesome, congrats! I would be way pleased if I ever medalled in a competition. Course, I gotta make one good enough to enter first.
 
Hey everyone,

I promised I'd post my results when I got my scorecards, so here they are.

American Pale Ale: Didn't Place

Total Score: 21.5 out of 50

Comments:

Really good and consistent comments from the judges. Basically I need to increase my hop aroma/flavor on this beer and it was oxidized. In fact, both my beers were oxidized so this is something I really need to try and rectify in my brewing. I didn't have any diacetyl which was good so I'm letting my beer sit in the fermenter long enough to clear. Need to increase mash temp a bit also to produce a little better mouthfeel. Judges said it was slightly thin.

Peach Pale Ale: Placed 3rd

Total Score 33.5 out of 50

They said peach is a very hard flavor to do correctly and I did it very well. Again, oxidization occurred and they would have liked more hop aroma/flavor. It was slightly over carbonated (need to account for the sugars the peaches add next time when I carbonate and carbonate a little lower). No fusel alcohol's or astringency. Again, it appears I need to work on my hop profile a bit more and fix the oxidization and I'll have a real winner.
 
Anyone have any tips for the oxydization issues I appear to be having? I transfer from glass Carboys and only do a primary fermentation.
 
It can occur in a couple spots. One is transferring from carboy to bottling bucket. Couple things to look for -

1.) Make sure seal is good from your siphon to any tubing - sometimes airbubbles will get sucked into a line while transferring. Make sure tubing is tight.

2.) Make sure hose goes all the way to the bottom of the bucket - no "drop" of liquid from hose into bucket - no splashing.

3.) When you start filling bottling bucket - tip the bucket so that one corner fills up deeper faster, and make sure the hose is under the beer, as it fills, you can level it back out - but, basically, you want as little disturbance as possible.

4.) If you keg, and have CO2, purge the bucket first with CO2 so there is no O2 in the bucket.

5.) Same as above if transferring to a keg.

6.) If bottling, make sure tubing is tight and not letting bubbles in between spigot and tube, or tube and bottle filler. Also, tilt bottles to make sure one corner fills up first and disturbance of liquid/splashing is kept to a minimum.

Those would be some things to watch.

Congrats on the Competition. I had brewed for a long time and just started entering some this year - like you, I got some good feedback that has helped me fine tune things in my beers.
 
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