My first brew competition

[Rehlgood]

My state fair has added a brewing competition to its events this year and I am thinking of entering (home brewers class of course). I am fairly new to brewing and have 3 all grain batches under my belt. Everyone who tries my beer has good things to say but I have no delusions.

I was hoping to get some tips, tricks, words of encouragement and advice from all the experienced brewers here. I have no idea what to expect but I think it will be fun. I have a few recipes of my own made up and all I have to do is pick one and tweak it.

So let the comments fly. Thank you for any help you can give. I look forward to reading about others experiences.

:slante:

 

[cmybeer]

from what I've gathered (and I am just about to enter my first competition) first and foremost you really need to stick to their style guidelines to do well. You can have a terrific beer that has heavy aroma hops where none are supposed to be present and get docked points for example. Even though it tastes great, if it is obviously out of style you could suffer.

That said, there are some out there from what I've read who seem to think that the extreme beers pushing the style to the max benefit because they stand out a little more to some inexperienced judges. This seems debatable, but I've heard people complain about this before. In short, pick a excellent recipe in style and make sure your process is spot on from grinding to mashing to boiling to sanitation to yeast pitching to temp control and come out with the best beer ever made and you'll probably win something. Good luck!

 

[tre9er]

My advice is to brew two batches of the beer. That gives you a chance to mess up one of them, either the first or second...or if you make minor mistakes on both you have two batches to pick the best beer from.

Staying to style IS important with judges. I made a honey kolsch that I thought was aces but the judges docked me for not enough hops. At the same time they commented they could easily drink a few of this beer and no process flaws were noted, etc. I scored a 31 average.

I'd also advise to give yourself time. Brew early in the process and let your beers age (unless they are a style best enjoyed young).

Packaging can help "sell" judges provided they see it (which they're probably technically not supposed to but who knows what's going on behind closed doors).

 

[Brew-boy]

Brew it as well as you can. Enter it and see what happens. Do stick to the style guidelines as close as you can.

 

[barrooze]

A wonderful book for any BJCP style is "Brewing Classic Styles". My recommendation is get the book, read it, pick the style you want to brew, download the BJCP style guidelines for that style, listen to The Brewing Network's Jamil Show that showcases that style, and brew the recipe as-is. Don't make changes the first time you brew it as the recipe in the book is the one that won the award. Also, SANITIZE, SANITIZE, SANITIZE!!!!

Best of luck! Report back with your progress along the way!

 

[Rehlgood]

So is it better to do an existing recipe or create your own? I feel like brewing someone else's would be like plagiarism. I was thinking maybe a roasted American wheat and entering it in the specialty category and see what happens. Not too worried about winning but would love to do as well as possible. Placing would be fun but I really don't expect anything.

 

[barrooze]

It is absolutely not plagiarism to brew someone else's recipe and submit for a comp. you're not using the exact same equipment Brewer A uses, you're likely fermenting at a different temp/using different temp controls. There's so much more to a beer than just a recipe. The brewer's process is just as important (if not more so) than the recipe. Besides, the author of the majority of the recipes in BCS published the recipes so others will brew them!

 

[firebirdude]

My advice is to brew two batches of the beer. That gives you a chance to mess up one of them, either the first or second...or if you make minor mistakes on both you have two batches to pick the best beer from.

Exactly what I was going to recommend. Once you've selected your recipe, brew one exact according to the recipe. Then brew another where you use your own personal judgement and tweak the recipe. Could be as simple as changing the style of yeast. Or maybe the strain of hops? It's your call. Once they're done, have several people try your beer and hand them the guidelines. Have them help you decide which one to enter.

 

[bruceb07]

Judging is based on beer type guidelines. I entered a Belgian wit in a contest that all my friends raved about and it scored a 30. So you need to decide who you want to please. BTW the winner was a peanut butter and jelly beer....go figure.

 

[Rehlgood]

Judging is based on beer type guidelines. I entered a Belgian wit in a contest that all my friends raved about and it scored a 30. So you need to decide who you want to please. BTW the winner was a peanut butter and jelly beer....go figure.

What style category would a pb&j beer be in?

 

[bruceb07]

Kind of my point...brew for you!

 

[hungry4hops]

What style category would a pb&j beer be in?

i would like to know as well!