Message Board Brewing Competition announcement thread.

[jceg316]

One thing to consider is styles as well. Can't pitch an IPA against a bitter and judge them equally - suggest the competition go to poll for style every month.

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This is something we'll have to figure out, but was thinking if the winner gets to judge the next competition then perhaps they could choose the category they want to judge. If you love stouts but hate pale ales, you'll be best off judging a stout competition instead of forcing your way through dozens of pale ales.

Also the winner could say something like "Anything fermented with lager yeast" which can keep options open from traditional styles, to some crazy hybrid beers.

 

[MickDundee]

That's a very good idea. You could even stipulate a receipe. One brewers beer made to a recipe would taste quite different to another brewers beer brewed to exactly the same recipe

I agree with one style at a time, but not with everyone using the same recipe.

I would like feedback on my own beers, rather than feedback on me making somebody else's beers. It also means that people with limited brewing time can enter if they have a beer of that type around at the time rather than having to change their brews or try to add extra brew days into their schedule in order to enter.

 

[MyQul]

I agree with one style at a time, but not with everyone using the same recipe. I would like feedback on my own beers, rather than feedback on me making somebody else's beers.

Fair enuff. It'd would still be your beer though seeing as you made it.

Just another idea to chuck into the mix though really :thumb:

 

[DoctorMick]

I think restricting it to a style is a good idea, we wouldn't get enough entrants to be able to have competition for multiple.

What do people think about a timeline? Would 8 weeks be long enough for people to sort out a brew, let it condition and get it in the post? Obviously this would depend on stlye...maybe we could setup a calendar going forward so people know what style is lined up and when so they can plan in advance.

 

[jceg316]

8 weeks might be cutting it fine, especially considering if someone wants to submit a stronger beer or a lager, it might need 8 weeks just to condition, let alone brew and ferment. Maybe upping it to 3 months/12 weeks.

Alternatively, we create a schedule of styles which people can brew to. Start off with something simple like a pale ale, then a stout, and later on we can have Trappist styles, RIS, barleywines etc. The only issue is if we choose the winner to judge the next competition, they may not want to judge wheat beers or saisons if they don't like that style. It could be that the winner can look at the schedule and choose which one they want to judge, based on a first come first serve basis.

Developing this thought further, it would be a good idea if there was a static page on this site which contained a spreadsheet with the style, the date to submit, the date the winner will be announced and who the winner is for previous competitions, and the judge with an address to post it to. That way members can keep up to date with what the upcoming styles are and who to post to.

If there's a category no previous winner wants to judge, like "The John Smith's Extra Smooth Clone" category then I'm sure we can find a willing volunteer to step in.

 

[ezraburke]

It could be that the winner can look at the schedule and choose which one they want to judge, based on a first come first serve basis.

I lay claim to the IPA category!

 

[DoctorMick]

8 weeks might be cutting it fine, especially considering if someone wants to submit a stronger beer or a lager, it might need 8 weeks just to condition, let alone brew and ferment. Maybe upping it to 3 months/12 weeks.

Alternatively, we create a schedule of styles which people can brew to. Start off with something simple like a pale ale, then a stout, and later on we can have Trappist styles, RIS, barleywines etc. The only issue is if we choose the winner to judge the next competition, they may not want to judge wheat beers or saisons if they don't like that style. It could be that the winner can look at the schedule and choose which one they want to judge, based on a first come first serve basis.

Developing this thought further, it would be a good idea if there was a static page on this site which contained a spreadsheet with the style, the date to submit, the date the winner will be announced and who the winner is for previous competitions, and the judge with an address to post it to. That way members can keep up to date with what the upcoming styles are and who to post to.

If there's a category no previous winner wants to judge, like "The John Smith's Extra Smooth Clone" category then I'm sure we can find a willing volunteer to step in.

Yep, that all sounds good, the schedule definitely seems like the way to go.

 

[MyQul]

Developing this thought further, it would be a good idea if there was a static page on this site which contained a spreadsheet with the style, the date to submit, the date the winner will be announced and who the winner is for previous competitions, and the judge with an address to post it to. That way members can keep up to date with what the upcoming styles are and who to post to.

Depending how popular this is we could possibily do the 'Forum Brewing Comp' as a sub forum.

The rest of you chaps seem pretty ok with organising this yourselves but if you need some 'mod help' I'm happy to help out

 

[Soton]

You could do it on a quartet schedule but say give 9 months notice, so if someone wins and wants to be a judge he would then judge his choice of beer in 9 months time, if there is enough interest it could be two people judging different beer types but maybe one time a category could be a bit more for specialised beers then on another quarter it could be a first time try brew type, it would also be a way of getting feed back on people's brews ect
Prizes I'm not so sure about but a sticky hall of fame on here would be good
It would be good to see if a judge that has only ever made kits can be turned to the dark side. :twisted:

 

[dan125]

I'm loving the enthusiasm for this idea :hat:

It would be great to get a regular comp going, as like most others, I really appreciate feedback on beers to help me improve future brews.

With this in mind, although I think it would be fantastic to judge a comp, it would also be quite daunting - faced with lots of beers of the same style, and the brewers hoping for constructive criticism.

Maybe a generic score sheet would be a good idea with some guidance to help judges.

Not sure if I'd be the best person to help with this, but I'd be happy to help in anyway I could to get this off the ground.

:

 

[trueblue]

There are plenty of people on this forum making good beer from all kinds of different methods (kits, extract, AG) and I'm sure many of you, like me, would like to get impartial feedback on your beers and test yourself against others. I've looked around for local home brew comps but it seems they are few and far between and the national comps don't provide feedback.

The main national competitions DO give feedback and good feedback at that. In fact I think it's compulsory in any official BJCP affiliated competition. I helped out as a steward in one comp. and was amazed how much time and effort they put into each beer even if their first impressions were not good they would still assess the beer thoroughly. We would judge a beer and pick one that suited our own taste as the winner, they judge on style guidelines and will quite often mark a beer they like below another that may have faults. We all like to think we are experts, until you see these guys work.

 

[jceg316]

Moving forward, shall we create a "committee" (a group of a few forum members), open to any forum member, to oversee the competitions?

Once people on this thread say "yeah, I'd like to dedicate a small bit of my free time to starting the Home Brew Forum Competition and making sure it runs smoothly" we can have a meeting on Skype/Hangouts etc. and go through all the ideas presented here and elsewhere and create a list of coherent rules, along with any other bits like a tasting sheet for judges to fill in.

Once that's done let's start a new thread on the forum and get it kicked off.

How does this sound?

 

[DoctorMick]

Moving forward, shall we create a "committee" (a group of a few forum members), open to any forum member, to oversee the competitions?

Once people on this thread say "yeah, I'd like to dedicate a small bit of my free time to starting the Home Brew Forum Competition and making sure it runs smoothly" we can have a meeting on Skype/Hangouts etc. and go through all the ideas presented here and elsewhere and create a list of coherent rules, along with any other bits like a tasting sheet for judges to fill in.

Once that's done let's start a new thread on the forum and get it kicked off.

How does this sound?

:thumb:

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[The Idiot]

I think it would work best if you have a published list for a year, with 'fresh' beers like Wheats and IPAs early one, heavier stouts at around 6 months and maybe Imperials at the end. That will allow for conditioning. It would also help to allow for seasonality (for example, I personally prefer brewing saisons when there's something in my garden in season to flavour it with).

To spread the burden (what burden) of judging maybe have different people for kits, extract and AG.

With regard to fees and prizes, I think don't bother. Fees generally create problems and who wants a prize anyway? It's bragging rights.

The main issue I see is that if a proposed style is general, e.g. stouts, you might find sweet stouts, oatmeal stouts, vanilla stouts and even a few porters turning up. Most 'judges' aren't going to be able to judge to style, and then personal preference becomes the main criteria. However, if you pick one very specific style, you'll possible turn off a high number of participants. Switch that to IPA, and everyone and his wife makes some type of IPA. Contrast that to sours, and you might not get many entries. It's a balance between it not being a meaningless free-for-all, but not turning it into a dull and stale task that no one enjoys.

Some form of judging sheet could be created, which is returned to each participant. This could be designed to allow maximum feedback, but simplifying things for judges.

 

[MickDundee]

I
The main issue I see is that if a proposed style is general, e.g. stouts, you might find sweet stouts, oatmeal stouts, vanilla stouts and even a few porters turning up. Most 'judges' aren't going to be able to judge to style, and then personal preference becomes the main criteria. However, if you pick one very specific style, you'll possible turn off a high number of participants. Switch that to IPA, and everyone and his wife makes some type of IPA. Contrast that to sours, and you might not get many entries. It's a balance between it not being a meaningless free-for-all, but not turning it into a dull and stale task that no one enjoys.

I think personal preference will be a factor however you split it down - citrusy IPAs vs more floral ones for example. I'd be happy with a general style as long as the grading is consistent.

 

[ezraburke]

Can we get a hold of some example style guidelines? That way we can start getting an idea about what criteria to match/judge.

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[strange-steve]

I think this is a great idea. Just some musings I've had, judging "to style" isn't really going to work because as trueblue suggested, it requires a lot of training and experience to do so properly and fairly.

That means it's going to be subjective, but that's ok. A scoresheet similar to the BJCP would still be useful, scores given for particular attributes such as appearance, aroma, flavour, overall impression. But rather than comparing to a set of guidelines, just score on how good you think it is along with some brief (positive) notes.

The idea of a calendar is good, obviously some styles will need lots of conditioning time and so plenty of notice. I think keeping the category fairly loose would be better for encouraging more entries. Although granted it's not necessarily easy to compare a beautifully balanced English IPA with a dark-cascadian-oak-aged-rum-infused-tripel-imperial-belgian-american-brettanomyces-session-IPA.

For judging, maybe all those who are interested in doing so for the next category can put their name forward and someone can be chosen from those. Maybe not everyone wants to judge.

For kit brewers I'm not really sure, would you be happy to enter along with extract and AG for the feedback or would you prefer a separate category?

I also agree that entry fees and prizes would complicate matters and aren't necessary.

 

[strange-steve]

The BJCP scoresheets have the following categories:
Aroma- max 12 points
Appearance- 3 points
Flavour- 20 points
Mouthfeel- 5 points
Overall impression- 10 points

Giving an total score out of 50.

 

[peteplus1]

Yep, this sounds good. When I've a bit more time I'll offer up some help with ideas if I can? and see if this can develop into something really beneficial for us eager homebrewers!

 

[MickDundee]

Can we get a hold of some example style guidelines? That way we can start getting an idea about what criteria to match/judge.

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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