Entering a beer into competition with Yeast Rafts

[Jack-beers]

I have a question about protocol for entering beers.

I have a batch of pumpkin ale that I would like to enter into some upcoming competitions, but all the bottles have suspended yeast rafts in them. I didn't notice the rafts upon bottling, but there they are! They don't affect the flavor (as far as I can tell), but they are very buoyant, so I don't think they will fall out of the beer before judgement day.

My question: is it rude to enter beer with obvious "stuff" floating around in it? I think these are yeast rafts, but perhaps I am wrong about that. I've drank a few and there are no glaring off-flavors that would suggest bacteria or wild yeast contamination (to my limited experience). I don't expect to necessarily take a win, but I would like to get feedback on the beer. Other than the floating rafts, I think it is a good, possibly very good, version of a Pumpkin Ale.

I am new to entering competitions and looking forward to the unbiased feedback as well as the fun of competing.

Thanks for responses in advance!

 

[bierhaus15]

Even if the 'yeast rafts' you mention are yeast and not an infection, I doubt you would get much constructive criticism from the judges beyond remarks about sanitation and improper fermentation. Before you submit this beer to a comp, you'd be better off getting some honest feedback from your local beer club or brewery, if you have one. The judges are going to have a hard time getting past whatever is floating around in the beer.

 

[Pilgarlic]

I've judged several competitions as a BJCP recognized judge. If the bottle were presented to me I would make note of the yeast in the bottle inspection note, which doesn't directly affect scores. If it affected the appearance of the poured sample I would note it there, too, and deduct a point. I would be more sensitive and attuned for signs of infection in the aroma, flavor and mouthfeel. But if those effects were not there, I would try to judge the beer based upon the things I sensed in those categories. Finally, I would probably make a comment in the "overall impression" category about the possibility of sanitation issues. Enter the beer. A good judge will recognize the possibility of infection but will still judge the beer based upon its aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel and overall impression. That's the feedback you want.

 

[Darwin18]

As Pilgarlic said, you will likely lose 1 - 2 points on the appearance score and possibly points in other areas depending on whether the yeast rafts actually impact the aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel. For feed back - you'll probably get comments about sanitation, racking/sedimentation, etc. It can't hurt to enter but just try to be realistic. It really depends on the competition and the quality of the judges. Some non-BJCP or inexperienced judges might really ding you.

 

[pjj2ba]

I tend to be in bierhaus15 camp on this. Some judges will not get past this and focus on a potential infection.

I submitted an overcarbed saison to a comp. this year. I kegged it before it was done and didn't realize it was overcarbed until I went to bottle it up. Judges comments were all about an obvious infection. This was bottled into autoclaved bottles with an autoclaved bottling wand. This was also just one beer among several other beers bottled that day that never showed any signs of infection so it wasn't an introduced infection. I had an extra bottle I tested later it did foam quite a bit upon opening. However, I had this beer on tap for 5 months after this and there were no signs of infection. The judges made a snap decision based on foaming and let that influence their judging.

Oh, and the judge who said he could smell the vodka in my 4.6% ABV session IPA. I entered this in the specialty category, and wrote a note that I had used vodka to help dissolve the hop oils in the hop pellets I dry hopped with to get the maximal aroma out of them (works great btw). About 4 shots worth of vodka went into a 5 gal batch and raised the ABV from 4.3 to 4.6% and the judge said they could smell it. Power of suggestion. That would be like saying you could smell the alcohol in a typical BMC. If one diluted vodka down to 4.3 and 4.6 % alcohol, I find it very hard to believe that someone could smell the difference between the two. Perhaps they smelled something (the Simcoe?), but it certainly was not vodka/ethanol

 

[Jack-beers]

Thanks for all the great responses! I may enter the beer in a couple of local competitions, but save the shipping expenses for beers that don't have an obvious imperfection. I'll go with the my local club for more feedback on the beer.