Babbs Comp Classes

[Bribie G]

BABBs comp classes are not the full set of AABC classes used in the State and National competitions. Understandably this keeps things under control and is especially helpful for the mini comps to stop them getting out of hand / incomprehensible to newcomers etc.
Recently the guide used by BABBs for mincomps and the Annual Comp were expanded a bit to include other styles - congrats to the committee on this great move. :icon_cheers:

Now, apart from the excellent prizes that have been offered in the annual BABBs comp (trip to Ourouzgan Province, night out with Justin Bieber - second prize two nights out with Justin Bieber etc) you'd have to agree that most brewers welcome the annual comp as valuable feedback for the next round of comps.

However I've been talking to a couple of lager brewers and herein lies a growing problem/bottleneck. With increasing skill levels in the club, which probably also reflects advances in the wider HB community, more brewers are getting into true lagers, and anyone serious about the State and Nats will have (or bloody well should have) their entries already in bright tank or bottle and just about polished up.

Currently AABC offers Pale Lagers, Pils, and Amber/Dark Lagers and a special case for a lite Aus Lager in the Low Alcohol. So for those keen lagerists they could enter up to 7 beers.
With BABBs there's just LAGERS with the special case of Dunkel in Dark Beers, so max of 3 beers, but for non dunkel brewers we are limited to just 2.

In my case this has meant that a particular beer has had to skip BABBs as my quota is already full and a couple of other guys are in the same boat.
Another guy is almost exclusively a lager brewer and I tell you what, look out State and Nats :unsure:
We all agree it's a bit like putting up a class ALES, take it or leave it

Seeing as Lagers represent probably 95 percent of the planet's output maybe the classes could be tweaked next year and at least split into Lagers and Pilsners so your typical lagerists can have a crack at BoPils and German Pils etc. as well as their CarlsbergerStellaGrolsch and an Aussie, or a Vienna - as examples.

I'm just throwing it open for discussion as I intend to raise it in AOB at the meeting, also I stress that I'm not sniping from the sidelines - I do participate in judging and stewarding to the best of my ability and commitments.

Cheers

 

[Howlingdog]

as well as their CarlsbergerStellaGrolsch and an Aussie, or a Vienna - as examples

BribieG,

Entrants are not permitted to enter commercial beers are in BABB's compshttp://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif.
.

So have you decided to mount an all out assault on lagers this year? Take your demands to the Chief steward, Committee or a general meeting either in person or in writing. You'll get better result that way.

HD

 

[Florian]

I have to agree here, and was about to bring this up in one of the next meetings as well. looking at the classes for the BABBs annual comp I was wondering about the reason for the lack of individual lager classes. I have no problems with accepting the comp the way it is, but wouldn't mind knowing if the difference to AABC is intentional or possibly something that has just been overlooked.

I for one brew a lot of different lagers and would have liked to be able to get feedback on a few more of them.

 

[Bribie G]

HD, point taken - not demanding anything, just general preliminary comments and throwing it open, and will definitely raise it at a meeting. After all we've got 12 months till the next comp and indeed 14 till the next lager mini comp as this October's will be under the existing rules. :icon_cheers:

 

[Ross]

Bribie,

We only have a limited number of members (especially those interesed in comps) & if we expand the catergories any further we are in danger of not having enough entries to make the groups meaningful.
You could make the same call on almost all the other catergories as well, & there are other more popular catergories (going on entry numbers) that would possibly benefit from being split before lagers.

The committee analyse the entries every year & are continually making changes to try & improve. If lager brewing continues to gain support you may well see some changes in future comps.


cheers

Ross
Babbs Brew Master.

 

[Bribie G]

Sounds good - and I do understand the reasons behind not having (or needing) the full range of Roggenbiers and Eisbocks etc etc.

 

[Florian]

That makes perfectly sense now that you have explained it from that angle. I just couldn't work it out myself...

 

[The Scientist]

Some other sub classes for lager brewers to consider:

-Klsch
-Alt
-Aussie Dark
-Baltic Porter
-Classic Rauchbier
-Specialties

These all can be brewed with lager yeast with great results.

 

[Bribie G]

Yes, but they can't be entered as lagers, which is the point.

 

[The Scientist]

Yes, but they can't be entered as lagers, which is the point.

Yes they can.

The Baltic Porter and Rauchbier are lagers.

All the others are hybred styles and can be either brewed with lager or ale yeasts.

Aussie Dark is an ale class yet the commercial example is Tooheys Old (Which is brewed as a lager).

Why would you not be allowed to enter these beers as brewed with a lager yeast? As long as you possess the attributes of the AABC for the style, then your beer will be judged as such.

 

[Bribie G]

Toohey's Old is top fermented.

However, what I was getting at was that whilst bottom fermenting yeast can certainly be used in many styles other than "Lager" (even Irish Reds are often done as lagers in the USA) it would be nice to enter more than two Pilsners / Lager styles in BABBs so that if (theoretically) you had a lineup of Aussie Lager, Vienna Lager, German Pils and BoPils then you could enter them all - not just 2. However as Ross said there's probably not the volume happening in the Club at the moment to justify splitting the BIAB Lager class to bring it into line with State and Nats classes.