About Brewing Contests

[makellr]

Is it normal for these contests to require that the beers be submitted two weeks in advance?

 

[CadillacAndy]

Yup. The entries need to be sorted and transported to where the judging will happen. Most people only have time on the weekends to do this, so 2 weeks is pretty normal.

 

[makellr]

So If I have an ale that will be three weeks old on submission day, Should I just bottle it and cross my fingers? They are styles that should be good young/fresh.

 

[CadillacAndy]

So If I have an ale that will be three weeks old on submission day, Should I just bottle it and cross my fingers? They are styles that should be good young/fresh.

How are you carbonating the beer? Is it from a keg and already carbonated, or would you be relying on yeast and priming sugar in the bottle that you're submitting? I'd probably not want to risk submitting a beer before I've had a chance to taste a carbed and conditioned bottle. There's also a chance the bottle might be stored cold after its sorted. I know our club sorts the bottles one weekend and then they sit in a walk in cooler for a week to settle.

 

[makellr]

the plan is to CO2 keg carbonate. If you believe bottle conditioning would be a better choice I could do that.

 

[CadillacAndy]

the plan is to CO2 keg carbonate. If you believe bottle conditioning would be a better choice I could do that.

Kegging, force carbing and then bottling from that leaves you with the most control. That's exactly what I do too. Bottle up what I need for the competition using a beer gun or something similar, package and send out. The 2 week lag time shouldn't be too much of an issue and everyone submitting beer will have to deal with it too. I usually wait until the last possible second to mail out my beers just because I'm a control freak and like to keep them in my possession as long as possible. Less chance of anything happening if they are in my fridge.

 

[makellr]

So, here's my plan
1) Rack these to Corny kegs on 9/25, force carb and dry-hop that day.
2) Bottle on 9/28 and deliver to contest. This is the deadline day.
3) get constructive feedback on or after 10/12, the day of the contest.

How does this sound?

 

[Yooper]

So, here's my plan
1) Rack these to Corny kegs on 9/25, force carb and dry-hop that day.
2) Bottle on 9/28 and deliver to contest. This is the deadline day.
3) get constructive feedback on or after 10/12, the day of the contest.

How does this sound?

Not too good to me. I think you'll have a ton of foaming trying to burst carb and then 3 days later bottling from the keg.

Not only that, but three days of dryhopping is great- IF the keg is warm/room temperature. At kegerator temperatures, it will take a couple of weeks to extract flavor/aroma from the hops.

Can you possibly keg/dryhop before that? If you could dryhop today (assuming the beer is done), then you'd have time to get it cold after the dryhopping although it still would be a rushed force-carbed job.

 

[CadillacAndy]

Are you able to dry hop it in the carboy or bucket at room temp for the last 3 days of fermentation/clean up? I agree that force carbing and bottling 3 days later is probably a little quick, but as long as it's super cold, your bottles are cold and it's had enough time to rest, you should be okay. Hopefully you have a beer gun or some sort of counter-pressure filler. The counter-pressure filler probably being the better of the 2 to keep the foaming down.

 

[duboman]

I agree with Yooper but have to ask........... is the beer done? I mean how long has it been in primary and it is at final gravity now? If so then start dry hopping now while warm, then crash it in the keg and carbonate it and then bottle it.

If the beer isn't even done fermenting and beginning to clear IMO it's a wasted entry because you've cut things so close it really won't be ready to be judged.

 

[makellr]

Thanks to all of you for your good advice. I think I should forego this contest and just be patient.