Message Board Brewing Competition announcement thread.

[Robin54]

Hi all..sorry a bit late on this idea/thread, but having read it all so far may I suggest the following..
Its now July 2016, so how about setting up a diary for next year starting in January. So for instance , the following

Jan - IPA

Feb - Stouts

Mar - Milds

etc
This way, everyone who wants to take part, can start planning now to brew the styles they want without rushing bottles out the door
This idea may be flawed, since it is only a 'quick' passing thought, so if you think Im talking cobblers please let me know.

 

[strange-steve]

A couple of months ago, someone (@myqul ?) posted a link to the PDF of the BJCP 2015 Style guidelines. I saved it to my phone but no longer have the link.

Edit - they are here http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php

I'm really not sure judging on stylistic accuracy is the way to go. To do this properly you'd have to pick a sub category so they can be judged together. You can't judge an American ipa alongside an English ipa if you're doing it this way. Also would the majority of people be able to pick up on small flaws in particular styles, such as acetaldehyde, dms, diacetyl, out of style esters/chlorophenols? I don't think I could but this is the essence of bjcp judging, it's more of a technical exercise rather than "how good is this beer?"

 

[MickDundee]

I'm really not sure judging on stylistic accuracy is the way to go.To do this properly you'd have to pick a sub category so they can be judged together. You can't judge an American ipa alongside an English ipa if you're doing it this way. Also would the majority of people be able to pick up on small flaws in particular styles, such as acetaldehyde, dms, diacetyl, out of style esters/chlorophenols? I don't think I could but this is the essence of bjcp judging, it's more of a technical exercise rather than "how good is this beer?"

I never said it was. Somebody else asked if there was style guidelines anywhere, and I provided a link to a document I've seen before to do a good deed.

FWIW I actually agree with you that it has to be mainly semi-subjective criteria like mouthfeel etc that we should be using rather than anything as specific as my link.

 

[DoctorMick]

Just to try and recap over what has been discussed/agreed:

- Produce a calendar of styles so people know what is being judged and when with plenty of time to plan and brew an entry. The styles will be fairly wide (i.e. IPA, Stouts & Porters, Mild etc).
- Categories can be specific rather than just styles (i.e. clone a beer, all brew the same recipe)
- Judging to be done based on some fairly general criteria as posted by strange-steve. We'll all have to accept that this will be subjective and will be biased towards the judges personal preferences.
- Feedback will be provided on every entry and will be kept positive
- No entry fee required. Prizes will be awarded if I can get someone to donate them.
- Hall of fame to be put on the forum
- Anyone can apply to be a judge
- Only open to forum members
- A sub forum will be created to put the calendar, winners, entry details etc in. This forum could be restricted to members only?

Some other things that I think probably need agreeing:

- Number of bottles to be submitted. I'd suggest 2?
- Minimum number of judges. I'd suggest 2?
- Frequency. Monthly feels like it'd be too frequent, would every 2 or 3 months be better?
- Would we want recipes to be provided with the entries or at least for the winner(s) so other members can try and recreate?
- Do we have seperate categories for kits, extract and AG? I'd suggest not for the first comp so we can gauge how many entries we'll get.

 

[strange-steve]

That looks pretty good to me.
I know it's usual to have 2 bottles per entry in competitions but that is so that a fresh one can be opened for the best-of-show round, I think 1 might be enough for this. It would save on postage costs and means we're not giving away so much of our hard work.
Two judges minimum sounds good, scored independently then averaged for the final score?
Agree that monthly might be a bit too much.
Recipes aren't usually supplied for comps, apart from specialist ingredients. But maybe a recipe section on the forum for the winning beers would be interesting?

 

[jceg316]

I'm having guests over this weekend so I won't be able to go on HBF until Monday probably, but if this takes off and we are going with the committee idea please count me in, and would really like to be part of the "let's make it happen brigade." If I get PM I'll get notified by email and I'll be able to reply to that.

Thanks.

 

[The Idiot]

I think monthly might work for a simple reason. If - purely as an example - the categories were wheat beer, stout & porter, IPA, saison, Irish/Scottish ales, British bitters, Belgian ales, Double IPA, lager, barleywine, brown ales and experimental ales, I'd probably only enter half of the categories. There are certain types of beers I'm not interested in drinking, so I wouldn't make one. If the competition is quarterly, I might go 18 months without a category that I'm interested in!

I'm sure I'm not alone.

While IPA, stout and lager will probably see big fields, some of the others will see a smaller number of entries, but I'd rather see how my saisons fare against a few other good ones than have a stylised IPA lost in a sea of others based upon the judges' hop preferences.

I doubt anyone will enter every month, because most people only brew between four and six styles.

 

[DoctorMick]

I think monthly might work for a simple reason. If - purely as an example - the categories were wheat beer, stout & porter, IPA, saison, Irish/Scottish ales, British bitters, Belgian ales, Double IPA, lager, barleywine, brown ales and experimental ales, I'd probably only enter half of the categories. There are certain types of beers I'm not interested in drinking, so I wouldn't make one. If the competition is quarterly, I might go 18 months without a category that I'm interested in!

I'm sure I'm not alone.

While IPA, stout and lager will probably see big fields, some of the others will see a smaller number of entries, but I'd rather see how my saisons fare against a few other good ones than have a stylised IPA lost in a sea of others based upon the judges' hop preferences.

I doubt anyone will enter every month, because most people only brew between four and six styles.

That's a very good point, we can also organise the schedule in a way that the more commonly made styles are a few months apart with the less common in between.

 

[MickDundee]

Some other things that I think probably need agreeing:

- Number of bottles to be submitted. I'd suggest 2? I kind of agree with @Strange-Steve that 1 would cut down on postage and deprive us of less of our hard work. However, different judge set ups will have different methods and if we are going with 2 judges then a bottle per judge is maybe sensible as they can sample separately then put their heads together, if that makes sense.

- Minimum number of judges. I'd suggest 2? 2 sounds fine to me. 1 would mean the results would be too much down to personal preference whereas a 2nd opinion helps neutralise it somewhat.

- Frequency. Monthly feels like it'd be too frequent, would every 2 or 3 months be better? I'd suggest quarterly, based on the seasons, so we have a spring champion, summer champion etc


- Would we want recipes to be provided with the entries or at least for the winner(s) so other members can try and recreate? Depends on the number of entries and how the recipes have been derived - we don't want too many recipes (or maybe we do, it could be the start of some kind of database) and we don't want to run into copyright issues by publishing recipes from books on the forum. I think a "made up" recipe should be awarded more points than a recipe taken from a book or online.


- Do we have seperate categories for kits, extract and AG? I'd suggest not for the first comp so we can gauge how many entries we'll get.
I agree, although my personal preference would be not to have a kit category, unless the kit has been tweaked

My suggestions above

 

[ezraburke]

I volunteer as committee tribute.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[Hoddy]

I'm in for this. And if all goes to plan for the brewery to start in December then I'm totally happy for The Maverick Brewing Company to be a sponsor/supporter and involved in some way or another.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Leon103]

I guess we will have lost of interest in being a judge for the free beer. Perhaps the judge can return a beer to the original sender? That way the sender gets his packaging back.

 

[DoctorMick]

I guess we will have lost of interest in being a judge for the free beer. Perhaps the judge can return a beer to the original sender? That way the sender gets his packaging back.

That's a great idea although depends on the number of entries, I wouldn't be keen on sending out 20 bottles and it'd cost the judge a fortune.

 

[peteplus1]

Has anything definite been created regarding this idea? I'm keen to be involved and glad to offer help if needed. Just wondered if it had moved on from some great ideas already discussed in this thread ?

 

[Delmol]

That's a great idea although depends on the number of entries, I wouldn't be keen on sending out 20 bottles and it'd cost the judge a fortune.

Maybe more of a "secret santa" type event.

Members are paired and you send samples to each to cut down costs.

Each member reviews someone elses beer.

 

[DoctorMick]

Has anything definite been created regarding this idea? I'm keen to be involved and glad to offer help if needed. Just wondered if it had moved on from some great ideas already discussed in this thread ?

I've come up with a draft schedule:

Oct-16 IPA - DoctorMick
Nov-16 Pale Ale
Dec-16 Wheat Beer - strange-steve
Jan-17 Stout/Porter - peteplus1
Feb-17 Double IPA - jceg316
Mar-17 Belgian Ale
Apr-17 Bitter
May-17 Mild
Jun-17 Saison
Jul-17 Lager
Aug-17 Imperial Stout
Sep-17 Brown Ale
Oct-17 IPA
Nov-17 Barleywine
Dec-17 Lambic/Sour
Jan-18 Stout/Porter
Feb-18 Scottish Ale
Mar-18
Apr-18 Bitter
May-18
Jun-18
Jul-18 Lager
Aug-18
Sep-18


The idea is that IPA, Stout/Porter, bitter and lager are regular categories, repeated each year, as I thought they'd be the most popular. Other than that everything is up for grabs for one offs, I filled in the first year using the BJCP style guide but I'm completely open to suggestions.

If nobody has any objections we can go ahead with the inaugural competition being in October (entries to be submitted by the end of that month) and I'll sort out judging (it is merely coincidence that the first category is my favorite beer type!).

It would be great if people could volunteer to:

- Create a template judging sheet
- Create a template entry form
- Create a template feedback form (I'm not convinced sharing the judges scores would always be constructive)
- Create a competition sub forum on here (@MyQul :))
- Create a fairly broad definition for one or more of the monthly categories
- Offer to judge one of the forthcoming categories/months

Once we've got sub forum we can create some stickys for:

- Competition calendar
- Entry form
- Entry rules (such as number of bottles to be submitted and when etc but nothing too strict)

Obviously there will be a lot of fine details to iron out so the more input we can get here the better. We can refine things as we go and as we learn from each competition.

Oh, and it's looking good for a sponsored prize too! :thumb:

 

[MickDundee]

I've come up with a draft schedule:

Oct-16 IPA
Nov-16 Pale Ale
Dec-16 Wheat Beer
Jan-17 Stout/Porter
Feb-17 Double IPA
Mar-17 Belgian Ale
Apr-17 Bitter
May-17 Mild
Jun-17 Saison
Jul-17 Lager
Aug-17 Imperial Stout
Sep-17 Brown Ale
Oct-17 IPA
Nov-17 Barleywine
Dec-17 Lambic/Sour
Jan-18 Stout/Porter
Feb-18 Scottish Ale
Mar-18
Apr-18 Bitter
May-18
Jun-18
Jul-18 Lager
Aug-18
Sep-18

The idea is that IPA, Stout/Porter, bitter and lager are regular categories, repeated each year, as I thought they'd be the most popular. Other than that everything is up for grabs for one offs, I filled in the first year using the BJCP style guide but I'm completely open to suggestions.

If nobody has any objections we can go ahead with the inaugural competition being in October (entries to be submitted by the end of that month) and I'll sort out judging (it is merely coincidence that the first category is my favorite beer type!).

It would be great if people could volunteer to:

- Create a template judging sheet
- Create a template entry form
- Create a template feedback form (I'm not convinced sharing the judges scores would always be constructive)
- Create a competition sub forum on here (@MyQul :))
- Create a fairly broad definition for one or more of the monthly categories
- Offer to judge one of the forthcoming categories/months

Once we've got sub forum we can create some stickys for:

- Competition calendar
- Entry form
- Entry rules (such as number of bottles to be submitted and when etc but nothing too strict)

Obviously there will be a lot of fine details to iron out so the more input we can get here the better. We can refine things as we go and as we learn from each competition.

Oh, and it's looking good for a sponsored prize too! :thumb:

Looks good to me - doesn't help me decide between a Duechars clone and an American wheat for my August brew though as I could enter either November or December with them.

I assume lagers will include pseudo lagers as I don't think there are many people doing proper lagers due to the time, effort and extra temperature controls involved?

 

[strange-steve]

Can I volunteer for the judging sheet template?

 

[DoctorMick]

Looks good to me - doesn't help me decide between a Duechars clone and an American wheat for my August brew though as I could enter either November or December with them.

I assume lagers will include pseudo lagers as I don't think there are many people doing proper lagers due to the time, effort and extra temperature controls involved?

Don't see why not.

 

[DoctorMick]

Can I volunteer for the judging sheet template?

That'd be great, thanks.