Announcing the 2015 BrewUnited Challenge - a different sort of competition

[homebrewdad]

This has been stewing for a bit, and it's been killing me to keep quiet about it. Finally, it's time to share.

I'm organizing a fairly unique, BJCP sanctioned, brewing competition this fall - the 2015 BrewUnited Challenge (link has full details).

In a nutshell, this will be a sort of an "Iron Brewer" type competition. You will be given a list of four grains that you must use - but no others will be allowed. You will be given a list of six hop varieties; pick exactly two. Yeast is a wildcard.

You will then brew a beer that will fall under one of three divisions - Malty beers, Hoppy beers, and Balanced beers. Each division covers five BJCP styles. Each division (judged in a different city) will award winners, and there will be an overall winner, as well.

The idea, of course, is to challenge you, to take you a bit out of your comfort zone. To get you to take unusual steps to make great beer.

Also, if details like this are important to you , we have had superb sponsor response so far - to the tune of better than $2000 worth of prizes being donated as of this posting (including a grand prize of a Chronical 7 gallon fermentor from SS Brew Tech), and more sponsors talking to us.

Anyway, the link above has more details, if you want to check it out. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them.


Finally, please note that I pre-approved this announcement with Austin.


Thanks!

 

[homebrewdad]

Hah, zero responses. I would have expected *some* sort of posts.

I'll blame NHC.

 

[Natdavis777]

Ive thought about something like this for a TV show. Travel around, select some homebrewers from each city, and give them a specific parameter (something different for each episode) like 20% victory malt, ______ yeast, Cascade and Hallertau hops, etc, and the winner of each would show down in some sort of end of season tourney.

Anyways, I think the idea is neat. I like iron chef, I like to brew, this is up my alley.

 

[homebrewdad]

Glad it appeals to you. Hope to see you enter... good luck!

 

[Qhrumphf]

Uhhh...good luck with getting some of those styles out of those malts and hops...

If this is going to be going by BJCP guidelines, there's an inherent disadvantage to some styles over other styles. Not something I would enter for that reason.

 

[homebrewdad]

Uhhh...good luck with getting some of those styles out of those malts and hops...

If this is going to be going by BJCP guidelines, there's an inherent disadvantage to some styles over other styles. Not something I would enter for that reason.

Agreed, some are going to be tougher to do than others. For some, you'll likely need to toast/roast your own grains, use some interesting mash techniques, etc. Some categories will be easier than others, I don't deny that.

The judges will be taking this into consideration, to a point - this will be published in our official rules.

It's not a competition for everyone. The idea is for it to be unique, challenging, a little different.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Agreed, some are going to be tougher to do than others. For some, you'll likely need to toast/roast your own grains, use some interesting mash techniques, etc. Some categories will be easier than others, I don't deny that.

The judges will be taking this into consideration, to a point - this will be published in our official rules.

It's not a competition for everyone. The idea is for it to be unique, challenging, a little different.

Ahhh...ok, if you have to start with that base but you can then alter it, that's a different story. But to me, that's changing the malt. I suppose I'd have to see the full rules.

 

[homebrewdad]

Yep. We never said that you can't change the malt. Full rules will come on or before we open the comp for entries, but check paragraph five of the announcement I linked.

While some styles will align fairly well to the provided ingredient list "as is", others may require unusual steps such as toasting/roasting your grains, decoction mashing, cold steeping, reducing runnings to syrup, extended boiling, and all manner of hop schedules and techniques.

Again, this is about challenge. About getting out of your comfort zone to still make great beer with less than optimal circumstances.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Yep. We never said that you can't change the malt. Full rules will come on or before we open the comp for entries, but check paragraph five of the announcement I linked.



Again, this is about challenge. About getting out of your comfort zone to still make great beer with less than optimal circumstances.

Yeah, I saw that looking through again. I must have skipped over that the first time.

I appreciate the concept, and I'd be curious to try the beers that come out (particularly in the more challenging styles within these parameters), just wouldn't plan on entering. I'd sooner focus on open categories using recipes I've already very much tweaked into winners.

 

[Natdavis777]

I think that is kind of the neat concept of this. Restraining your boundaries and forcing you to use gained knowledge on how to best utilize the ingredients at hand, forcing you out of your comfort zone. If we were able to use a more broad spectrum of ingredients, it would then turn into just another BJCP competition.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I like the idea.

 

[homebrewdad]

Yeah, I saw that looking through again. I must have skipped over that the first time.

I appreciate the concept, and I'd be curious to try the beers that come out (particularly in the more challenging styles within these parameters), just wouldn't plan on entering. I'd sooner focus on open categories using recipes I've already very much tweaked into winners.

I totally get and respect that. Like I said, it's not for everybody!

I think that is kind of the neat concept of this. Restraining your boundaries and forcing you to use gained knowledge on how to best utilize the ingredients at hand, forcing you out of your comfort zone. If we were able to use a more broad spectrum of ingredients, it would then turn into just another BJCP competition.

Thanks. I think that you "get it". I agree with you (re: just another comp); we wanted this to be something more unique.

I like the idea.

Thanks!

 

[Natdavis777]

I think I understand where you are coming from, because it is something I, too, have wanted to do. Do something like Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, or BBQ Pitmasters (to an extent) but with beer. It's not more of less trying to brew a wordclass example of a style, but yet use the ingredients at hand with improvision to brew a beer that fits in that category.

For example, say I had to make a DIPA with the provided ingredients. Though not my first choice for the style, I would probably do a 75/23/2 of pils, wheat, 60L for my mash. As for hops, some of the higher AA for bittering, then some of the lower AA, along with Cent for hopbursting/Whirlpool/Dryhop. Will it make the best or even awesome DIPA? Probably not. But with the given ingredients, proper water treatment, malt base, etc, I can sure get it close.

 

[IkeKrizzule]

So if you can alter the malt by home roasting what's to stop someone from saying they home toasted 2 row to roast barley, but really just buying roast barley?

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I read through the link, and now I think I might actually enter. My first thought was maybe I could use the crystal 60 by hot gluing it to the bottles for decor and ambiance (not a fan of crystal grains) but I like having to work around the issues.

 

[homebrewdad]

I think I understand where you are coming from, because it is something I, too, have wanted to do. Do something like Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, or BBQ Pitmasters (to an extent) but with beer. It's not more of less trying to brew a wordclass example of a style, but yet use the ingredients at hand with improvision to brew a beer that fits in that category.

For example, say I had to make a DIPA with the provided ingredients. Though not my first choice for the style, I would probably do a 75/23/2 of pils, wheat, 60L for my mash. As for hops, some of the higher AA for bittering, then some of the lower AA, along with Cent for hopbursting/Whirlpool/Dryhop. Will it make the best or even awesome DIPA? Probably not. But with the given ingredients, proper water treatment, malt base, etc, I can sure get it close.

Yep, you are on the right track. Though for grains, you have to use all four ingredients to at least 1% of your grain bill. But yeah, something like that, mash low, you can get there.

So if you can alter the malt by home roasting what's to stop someone from saying they home toasted 2 row to roast barley, but really just buying roast barley?

Hopefully, your integrity. I'm sure that we'll have a few cheaters... but by and large, I like to believe (naïve though I may be) that our hobby attracts a certain kind of person overall. The person that enjoys creating, and who takes the time to brew their own beer, is not too likely to take the easy way out and cheat/lie.

I mean, what's to stop you from buying a world class commercial beer and entering it in a standard BJCP comp?

I read through the link, and now I think I might actually enter. My first thought was maybe I could use the crystal 60 by hot gluing it to the bottles for decor and ambiance (not a fan of crystal grains) but I like having to work around the issues.

lol @ hot gluing to the bottle. Hey, we'd love to have you!

 

[Jonkl]

This sounds awesome.

Though the fact that, with those ingredients, almost none of the categories really scares me probably means I'm not as smart as I think I am. (Okay, the hop restriction for the IPAs is a little puzzling.)

 

[homebrewdad]

This sounds awesome.

Though the fact that, with those ingredients, almost none of the categories really scares me probably means I'm not as smart as I think I am. (Okay, the hop restriction for the IPAs is a little puzzling.)

Hah, glad you think so.

I may be in the same boat as you - I feel like all of the styles are doable. Our judge panel voted on styles, and these are the ones we settled with.

As for IPAs... plenty of IPAs use a ton of Centennial. Two Hearted, anyone?

Sure, you have to pair it with another hop. It's doable, and I guarantee there will be some great beers made with these.

And of course, the hops line up great for English IPAs. Then again, the grains might have to be played with a bit...

Heh. Circling back to the whole "challenge" thing.

 

[brettwasbtd]

Yep. We never said that you can't change the malt. Full rules will come on or before we open the comp for entries, but check paragraph five of the announcement I linked.



Again, this is about challenge. About getting out of your comfort zone to still make great beer with less than optimal circumstances.

I like the premise of this comp. My only comment is that if the malt can be altered i would think there would be a few more styles to choose from. It's not a big deal cause everyone is dealing with the same ingredients and styles but the lack of Belgian and wheat styles is a little disappointing. I guess I just think there are a handful of more appropriate styles which could be hit without malt alteration and some removed from the list. How did you all come up with the styles?

 

[homebrewdad]

I like the premise of this comp. My only comment is that if the malt can be altered i would think there would be a few more styles to choose from. It's not a big deal cause everyone is dealing with the same ingredients and styles but the lack of Belgian and wheat styles is a little disappointing. I guess I just think there are a handful of more appropriate styles which could be hit without malt alteration and some removed from the list. How did you all come up with the styles?

We chose to limit the overall styles for a couple of reasons. One is simple logistics, making sure that we have enough judges, and setting some sort of workable constraints around the thing. We came up with these styles by voting.

There was some push to go with a mere three styles per division, but I pushed for five to give brewers some more flexibility.

Yep, no wheat, no Belgian. Also no stouts. Next year, we'll vary the ingredient list and pick some different styles. We'll learn a few things, tweak it a bit... but all in all, I really believe that this overall premise is going to lead to a unique, fun, challenging competition.

 

[brettwasbtd]

We chose to limit the overall styles for a couple of reasons. One is simple logistics, making sure that we have enough judges, and setting some sort of workable constraints around the thing. We came up with these styles by voting.

There was some push to go with a mere three styles per division, but I pushed for five to give brewers some more flexibility.

Yep, no wheat, no Belgian. Also no stouts. Next year, we'll vary the ingredient list and pick some different styles. We'll learn a few things, tweak it a bit... but all in all, I really believe that this overall premise is going to lead to a unique, fun, challenging competition.

I definitely understand where you are coming from. I just think a lot of these styles will be avoided due to the handicap imposed on them if that makes sense. I am definitely going to look to enter as this should be fun.

Any discussion on what minimums of an ingredient are needed? I could see some people throwing in 5 kernals of crystal 60 or something haha.

 

[homebrewdad]

I definitely understand where you are coming from. I just think a lot of these styles will be avoided due to the handicap imposed on them if that makes sense. I am definitely going to look to enter as this should be fun.

Any discussion on what minimums of an ingredient are needed? I could see some people throwing in 5 kernals of crystal 60 or something haha.

You may be right. It seems that every competition has some styles with tons of entries, and some with few; after all, how many roggenbiers get entered in a garden variety comp?

We are discussing how much (if any) leniency judges should apply to styles that have decidedly "out of scope" ingredients, at least when it comes to the BOS round.

As for minimums...

The initial post I linked to should mention that there are indeed minimum requirements. For grains, you must use at least 1% of your grist for each item. We have not made the official announcement yet, but hops will also be limited; I expect that we are going to require you to use no less than 25% of your hops (by weight, not AA%) in your second variety... though they number is not set in stone (and could be as low as 10%, though I doubt it will be set quite that low).