Entering over carbonated beers into competition.....

[ColonelForbin]

So I am entering some beers into a homebrew competition tomorrow that will take place locally. I have three beers I want to enter but one of them is waaaaaaay over carbonated. We are talking about a gusher, but it taste so freakin good. It taste good enough that it may have a chance of winning but I am afraid that when the judges open the beer half of it is going to come out of the bottle. I have already included a warning on the bottle stating ::Warning: Over carbonated beer. Open with caution:: Do you think that this beer is worth entering???? It taste excellent, but on the other hand it immediately gushes out of the bottle when you open it.

 

[ColonelForbin]

So I am entering some beers into a homebrew competition tomorrow that will take place locally. I have three beers I want to enter but one of them is waaaaaaay over carbonated. We are talking about a gusher, but it taste so freakin good. It taste good enough that it may have a chance of winning but I am afraid that when the judges open the beer half of it is going to come out of the bottle. I have already included a warning on the bottle stating ::Warning: Over carbonated beer. Open with caution:: Do you think that this beer is worth entering???? It taste excellent, but on the other hand it immediately gushes out of the bottle when you open it.

 

[Revvy]

Forget it. Sounds like an infection. If you want pull the judges aside after and have them taste it, but there's no point in entering it in a contest. They will probably NOT even glass it, wait for the foam to go down and taste it, there's not that much time and a lot of beers in a flight to taste. The stewards will probably just pull the beer from the contest, and it never will get to the judges lips.

Or they will just ding you and move on. But if 90% of the beer goes out in a gush, it is doubtful it will get to the tasting point.

 

[jvlpdillon]

I entered a porter earlier this year that was over carbed. I certainly got dinged for it. I was looking for feedback not winning though.

 

[hamiltont]

Any chance you can relieve the pressure without losing the beer? Just lift up a little bit on the cap until the foam rises & then let off. Do it numerous times until the foam subsides. If you can you might get by with recapping it? How would I know this you say??? Been there done that... Cheers!!!

 

[ColonelForbin]

Any chance you can relieve the pressure without losing the beer? Just lift up a little bit on the cap until the foam rises & then let off. Do it numerous times until the foam subsides. If you can you might get by with recapping it? How would I know this you say??? Been there done that... Cheers!!!

I will try this. Thanks!

 

[osagedr]

Agree that if entry is relatively low-cost, try uncapping/recapping and see what happens. Be sure to let us know how the beer does!

 

[ColonelForbin]

I'll do it.

 

[wonderbread23]

Why bother entering? If its that over carbed, it'll be out of style and likely not do too well.

 

[wildwest450]

If it's that overcarbed it will not taste good to a judge.

 

[remilard]

Overcarbonation is not that much of a problem if it isn't too severe. A good judge will dock you the one point on mouthfeel, shake out the excess, and judge the flavor with a reasonable amount of carbonation. Undercarbonation is worse.

That said, gushing will be a problem. It's a poor impression on the judges, they'll be pissed, they'll look for signs of infection, they may not have enough beer etc.

If you still have the beers, try this. Take three of them (if you need two bottles to enter) and open then and let them gush and then decant the beer into two new bottles and cap. This should get you a more reasonable level of carbonation. It would help if you could purge the new bottles with c02, but if these are being drunk tomorrow, it doesn't matter.

 

[Gregscsu]

I have already included a warning on the bottle stating ::Warning: Over carbonated beer. Open with caution::

Writing things on the bottle like this will cause your beer to be disqualified.

I would not enter it. Chances are it will not do well in the comp.

 

[Yooper]

Overcarbonation is not that much of a problem if it isn't too severe. A good judge will dock you the one point on mouthfeel, shake out the excess, and judge the flavor with a reasonable amount of carbonation. Undercarbonation is worse.

That said, gushing will be a problem. It's a poor impression on the judges, they'll be pissed, they'll look for signs of infection, they may not have enough beer etc.

If you still have the beers, try this. Take three of them (if you need two bottles to enter) and open then and let them gush and then decant the beer into two new bottles and cap. This should get you a more reasonable level of carbonation. It would help if you could purge the new bottles with c02, but if these are being drunk tomorrow, it doesn't matter.

As Remilard said, overcarbonation is only a couple of points off of your score. I wouldn't worry if it's overcarbed. If it's a gusher, though, it'll tick them off. I'd follow his advice.

Writing, "Attention, gusher!" is a bad idea. It means you're saying, "This beer is infected, but I knowingly entered it anyway". They'll be looking for some off-flavors, even more than just a bit of overcarbonation will explain.

 

[Revvy]

You're not supposed to have any markings on the bottles, even on the caps to call any attention to yourself. Most contest rules even state that using bottles with etching on it, i.e. Sam Adams bottles are verboten.