LAB Open 2023

[Stu's Brews]

My entry was disappointing. I expected the worse when I saw my package containing three bottle conditioned Blonde Ales on its side in the photo that was posted just a day or two before judging. Unsurprisingly described as Cloudy and murky. I’m going to have to rethink this for up and coming competitions. What do you guys do to prevent/mitigate this?

My blond which arrived at the same time and was bottle-conditioned had similar comments. I think it may have been judged by @JockyBrewer so he might be able to provide more insight.

The bottles I have here are fairly bright and clear so unless it was a just a rogue bottle, I suspect it was a case of not enough time between arrival and judging for it to settle out. I was prioritising my IPA so shipped late so that was as fresh as possible, which in hindsight probably counted against the Belgian Blond.

 

[SMP Brewery]

I'm really pleased with my first attempt got a 36 for my Kolsch.. Both sheets mentioned Fermentation issues and they are both correct I did have an issue with this. :)

The other interesting point was to reduce the grain bill to just Pilsner malt, not sure about that as I enjoyed the taste of this Beer. It had a little Light Munich for colour and wheat malt for head retention (5% each), definitly brewing a again, probably stick with the grain bill and sort out the fermentation issue first.

 

[Deadhead]

37 for my American Brown ale, I am happy with that!

30 for my White IPA - but that was a total experiment. I haven’t actually had one in real life, so the feedback was excellent to move me in the right direction.

 

[Braufather]

Both my entries (IPA and amber ) got an HM. Buzzing with that. Definitely making progress!

 

[SMP Brewery]

I was prioritising my IPA so shipped late so that was as fresh as possible, which in hindsight probably counted against the Belgian Blond.

Perhaps a case of sending them at 2 different times.

 

[Stu's Brews]

I'm really pleased with my first attempt got a 36 for my Kolsch.. Both sheets mentioned Fermentation issues and they are both correct I did have an issue with this. :)

The other interesting point was to reduce the grain bill to just Pilsner malt, not sure about that as I enjoyed the taste of this Beer. It had a little Light Munich for colour and wheat malt for head retention (5% each), definitly brewing a again, probably stick with the grain bill and sort out the fermentation issue first.

Top result. Well done.

I think you've hit on one of the juxtapositions of homebrewing and competitions; even though you liked the beer with the current grain bill if it isn't technically 'to style' then it will impact your score in a competition. I've had similar situations in the past and you basically have to decide which is more important to you.

 

[Stu's Brews]

Perhaps a case of sending them at 2 different times.

Yeah, definitely that. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I mostly entered the Belgian Blond because I could and not because I had any particular hopes for it. As a result it never even crossed my mind that it would need more time to settle on arrival.

 

[JockyBrewer]

I knew the moment I tasted it that I’d cocked up . It completely masked the subtle esters from the yeast for starters.

First comp I entered it in 20g coriander, told it needed more, second comp 30g, told the same. Instead of just going up 5g at a time I took “inspiration” from a supposed award winning American and upped both the coriander and orange peel significantly. I’ll learn from that mistake!

I nearly didn’t enter it but didn’t really have anything to enter in its place so I’m pleased with my score.

Always the difficulty with competitions, it depends upon how experienced the judges are, the situation they’re judging in, and often a bit of their personal preference.

Last time I did a Wit I added 30g lightly toasted and crushed coriander at 5 minutes, and 20g bitter orange peel, and it was way too much - similar to yours.

So I guess it depends upon how you add it. If you can pick it out it’s probably too much.

 

[JockyBrewer]

My entry was disappointing. I expected the worse when I saw my package containing three bottle conditioned Blonde Ales on its side in the photo that was posted just a day or two before judging. Unsurprisingly described as Cloudy and murky. I’m going to have to rethink this for up and coming competitions. What do you guys do to prevent/mitigate this?

Plaster the box with stickers that say "This Way Up" and hope for the best.

You can also try and get as little yeast in the bottle as possible. More and more people are filling their bottles from kegs. You can tell when you pour the beer because there's no yeast in the bottle, the beers are often brilliantly clear, and there's rarely a hint of oxidation in them, unlike many bottle conditioned beers.

EDIT: I see yours wasn't the entry I thought it was. What was your entry number?

 

[nickjdavis]

Decent enough scores for my beers, no real major issues. My spiced Biere de Garde got 34 with mostly comments about the spices hiding the base beer which is fair enough. My German Helles Exportbier got 37 with perhaps some red apple esters being present....longer lagering might clear that up. The Dopplebock which got the HM scored 38 with it mentioned that there might be a slight residual sweetness that lingered. All in all, decent scores, fair comments and best of all, all six scoresheets from BJCP judges and all perfectly legible.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Plaster the box with stickers that say "This Way Up" and hope for the best.

You can also try and get as little yeast in the bottle as possible. More and more people are filling their bottles from kegs. You can tell when you pour the beer because there's no yeast in the bottle, the beers are often brilliantly clear, and there's rarely a hint of oxidation in them, unlike many bottle conditioned beers.

EDIT: I see yours wasn't the entry I thought it was. What was your entry number?

Plaster the box with stickers that say "This Way Up" and hope for the best.

You can also try and get as little yeast in the bottle as possible. More and more people are filling their bottles from kegs. You can tell when you pour the beer because there's no yeast in the bottle, the beers are often brilliantly clear, and there's rarely a hint of oxidation in them, unlike many bottle conditioned beers.

EDIT: I see yours wasn't the entry I thought it was. What was your entry number?

Ah, some good suggestions there, thank you. I was number 81.

 

[JockyBrewer]

I'm really pleased with my first attempt got a 36 for my Kolsch.. Both sheets mentioned Fermentation issues and they are both correct I did have an issue with this. :)

The other interesting point was to reduce the grain bill to just Pilsner malt, not sure about that as I enjoyed the taste of this Beer. It had a little Light Munich for colour and wheat malt for head retention (5% each), definitly brewing a again, probably stick with the grain bill and sort out the fermentation issue first.

I think the comment about reducing to pils malt only was mine. If you like it, then disregard it, the bigger problem was the fermentation character so I'd prioritise sorting that first.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Ah, some good suggestions there, thank you. I was number 81.

Ah right, I didn't do that one, but I know the judges that did. That table was the first to be judged and was done on Thursday - we had to do an extra judging session on Thursday because the rail strikes meant we lost a lot of judges for the rest of the weekend.

Once unpacked the beers were all sitting upright in a cold room that was about 5C, but yours would have only had a few hours before being judged.

 

[stripeyjoe]

My entry was disappointing. I expected the worse when I saw my package containing three bottle conditioned Blonde Ales on its side in the photo that was posted just a day or two before judging. Unsurprisingly described as Cloudy and murky. I’m going to have to rethink this for up and coming competitions. What do you guys do to prevent/mitigate this?

Hi @Benfleet Brewery, the beers were moved out of the cold store on Thursday morning for unpacking and sorting into the table order, we did try to keep the boxes upright but a few were put on their sides as we were trying to fit around 200 boxes into a fairly small area!
Once unpacked the beers were put into the correct judging and festival boxes and those boxes were put back into the cold store by about 13:00 on Thursday. They remained upright from then on in.

 

[Agentgonzo]

if it isn't technically 'to style' then it will impact your score in a competition

This makes me sad

 

[stripeyjoe]

This makes me sad

Rule 8 of the BJCP sanctioned competition rules:
Entries must be judged to published styles. The BJCP Style Guidelines are preferred, but any other published guidelines may be used provided that entrants and judges are using the same guidelines. If styles require additional information, organizers must provide this information to the judges.

Make sense really, need to have specifics of what the beer you are judging is meant to meet otherwise the judge's personal preference of what they like in a beer would cloud the results, especially true if a judge is asked to judge a table of beers in a style they are not overly keen on.

More info here:
https://www.bjcp.org/competitions/rules-regulations/

 

[dave_77]

My Golden ale that got 29pts at RAB session and sour got 34pts ..little improvement
Altbier which i thought would be the higher scoring beer got 28pts.. something to do with a sour flavour . Doesn't taste sour in the keg
Onwards to the next comp

 

[SMP Brewery]

My entry was disappointing. I expected the worse when I saw my package containing three bottle conditioned Blonde Ales on its side in the photo that was posted just a day or two before judging. Unsurprisingly described as Cloudy and murky. I’m going to have to rethink this for up and coming competitions. What do you guys do to prevent/mitigate this?

It would be interesting to see for those with bottled conditioned beers who sent them through the post faired against drop offs where you could be a lot more attentive to its condition.

 

[Deadhead]

My bottle conditioned Vienna lager was delivered on its side at Lager than Life and I’m sure something happened to it, because it got absolutely slated and yet, at home, it was absolutely a nice drink.

My Marzen was also bottle conditioned and won 2nd best of show at the National Homebrew Competition. This was not delivered on its side.

I only bottle condition, I have no kegging setup currently. Was nervous for this comp after Lager than Life but had no issues this time. My beers did get held up due to the coronation bank holiday weekend, but didn’t seem to impact my beers. So who knows!

 

[nickjdavis]

It would be interesting to see for those with bottled conditioned beers who sent them through the post faired against drop offs where you could be a lot more attentive to its condition.

I sent three bottle conditioned beers...they were posted timed to arrive on Friday 5th to give them maximum standing time, which they did. One dark, one amber, one pale beer.

All were "praised" for their clarity....with comments such as brilliantly clear, bright, clear, very clear, good clarity (one judge didn't comment on the clarity!!)