First homebrew competition/fest

OneGoodDog · Mar 28, 2018

What's up ever'body? Still kinda new to HBT, just quiet. I've been brewing for 2+ years, 6 gallon batch, all grain. I'm 2 weeks away from entering my first homebrew competition and the nerves are starting to set in. I'm taking 3 beers: a hefeweizen, saison, and IPA. I've got a 2 tap jockey box and I'll have to picnic tap one. I'm sure several of y'all are no stranger to these things, any advice y'all willing to share? Anything you forgot that would have helped it go better?

MrPowers · Mar 28, 2018

Make sure the kegs are good and cold before you go. Have buckets or something that you can put them in and fill with ice to keep them cold at the event (even with the jockey box).

If you can let the kegs in place for a while to settle before serving that would be best.

Take any extra tools and parts if you have them to troubleshoot stuff if something breaks.

Jtk78 · Mar 28, 2018

Make sure your CO2 is filled before you go.

MrPowers · Mar 28, 2018

^also good advice. If you’ve got a backup CO2 cylinder, take it too.

aprichman · Mar 29, 2018

I've never heard of a homebrew competition where you served your own beer out of kegs. Sounds cool - good luck!

OneGoodDog · Apr 9, 2018

Thanks for the advice! Sure enough, I ran out of co2 in my first tank while I was setting up. The festival actually provided co2 so I didn't need my back up. No problem keeping the beer cold, never got over 40° outside. Our saison ended up 3rd place in people's choice out of 198 homebrew entries!