Castle Hill and NSW State Homebrewing Competition 2014

[mckenry]

Hi Les/Stu,

What % of the bottles that you opened and judged were bottle fermented either from Bulk priming or using single sugar additions? I would imagine its quite high.

Im curious to know how many people bottle from the draught kegs/tap and enter them, that is allowed right?

Yep, I'd love to know about the conditioning the place getters used. I tried to use my CPBF, but fooked if I can get it right. I'm sure it leads to low marks in carbonation. (There may be 3 available? but I reckon I'm throwing away 2 easy marks there)

 

[mckenry]

This year, I found that I had to mark beers down for freshness of ingredients, or oxidation (where either was appropriate or otherwise).
Some bottled beer had characters that had faded, and needed to be more forward, or needed a more up-front malt character.

Some beers, to me, had age and/or oxidation written all over them, and a few had stale hop character.
Others, not enough body for the style. Hardly any that were too thick, creamy or heavy.

And this is the problem I face. It takes a long time to brew the 5 or so I would like to enter, so the first couple are going to be getting on, once the comp rolls around. Dilemma.

 

[mosto]

I entered a Northern English Brown Ale that was scored quite low. I know I was too heavy with the Victory Malt (first time using it), but, as I just poured from the tap at a very slow poor (don't have CPBF), I'm wondering if it suffered some oxidation also. I get 20L from my system reasonably comfortably, but I'm going to start pushing the limits to get a few extra litres to bottle for comps. If they're not comp worthy at least I have a store of bottles on hand for BBQ's etc :drinks:

 

[mkstalen]

My Kolsch which won in the Pale Ale category I filled straight from the tap of the keg, no CPBF. Depending on the feedback on carbonation I might look at a better method for an entry into the nationals.

Anyone near Castle Hill with a CPBF I can borrow? Hopefully get a couple of extra points against the other states entries...

 

[Blind Dog]

A homemade CPBF costs about $15. Lots of threads, IIRC mine is based on the 'we don't need no stinking beer gun' thread on HBT.

 

[Weizguy]

Hey guys, this question is better directed to the stewards as the beer judges do not open the bottles or pour them into the jugs, and I was wondering the same thing.

Most arrived in front of me fairly clear and I recall being advised (during my BJCP training) that I should not penalise for cloudiness, unless I was certain that the beer was not bottle-conditioned, for the sake of consistency.

If you listen to the BN Brewcast about weizenbock, there is a brewer who always fills from the tap, over-gasses the beer and chills the fridge way down, dispensing the beer at low pressure, into chilled bottles. Seems worth a try.

 

[black_labb]

Happy to discuss, if required.

Thanks Les. I'll see how the feedback goes.

 

[Blind Dog]

[SIZE=medium]From what I observed of my fellow stewards, there is an implied assumption that the beers are all bottled conditioned and they are treated as such – i.e. opened and poured gently with minimum agitation. The beer is poured from bottles to jug, and then taken to the judges who either pour it themselves or have it poured for them as they watch. So treating it gently and opening it as close to the time it is served to the judges as possible, is the best way to preserve both clarity and carbonation levels.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]From what I saw, most beers in my session were bottled conditioned with yeast at the bottom. A few seemed to be obviously poured from a keg as they were under-carbed and under-filled, others probably were as there was little or no yeast. A few still had yeast in suspension[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]There were no hefe’s, wit’s or similar in the session I helped steward, but I assume the procedure was somewhat different for those beers[/SIZE]

 

[hopaholic63]

Les the weizguy, Thanks for the clarification in your post to black_labb, I too had beers that I thought tasted really good. A few of my beers that I did enter were a bit older than just a few weeks but I had assumed that they had matured a bit in the bottle. But when your in a comp and the judges are getting right in to the flavours, hop aromas and signs of oxidization then I totally agree.That's why all of the commercial beer has use by dates on them.
I am looking forward to the nationals in Canberra on October 16th. Putting my stout up against the best of Australian hombrewers and see if I can improve on my third place a couple of years ago with an APA..
Great event everyone who helped out and organised everything. well done Barry the IBU's are proud of you again...

 

[waggastew]

Yep, I'd love to know about the conditioning the place getters used. I tried to use my CPBF, but fooked if I can get it right. I'm sure it leads to low marks in carbonation. (There may be 3 available? but I reckon I'm throwing away 2 easy marks there)

Deficiencies in one area can bleed marks in others, not just that area. Two examples:

1. I entered an AIPA last year that had 90g of dry hops and was therefore very cloudy. Lost some marks for this in appearance but the impression meant that judges went looking for other issues that may or may not have caused cloudiness.

2. I judged the wheats this year. Low carb was a big problem as the beers in this cat generally have 3vols. Now these beers lost marks for this but carb influences other areas such as body, brightness of flavour, aroma etc. In the weizens I kept coming back to the term 'refreshing' which the lower carbed examples lacked.

 

[christopher.whitten]

Great. That means I am pretty happy with my results too! Might not have won my category, but highest points for those particular styles.

Its funny that my Australian Pale Ale scored a respectable 71, yet got caned a couple of weeks ago at the ESB comp for being out of style.... :huh:

Regardless of results, I am looking forward to Canberra ANHC, meeting some great like minded champion brewers from NSW with some blue pride on!

In regards to mckenry I think I judged your beer in ESB comp and it was rubbish... but then again I know nothing about beer! Well done on the score at NSW.

My APA at ESB comp was mid range but got a placing at NSW as well. The same batch RIS we entered for the last 4 years and scores have improved every year. Finally patience was the winner and finally going to Nationals with it!

Goes without saying, thank you Stu and the judges/stewards, and well done King Barry (the champ is here!)

 

[balconybrewer]

Anyone have an idea of when the feedback will be posted out?

 

[barls]

when stu gets them all sorted and packaged. id give it a week or so.

 

[Stuster]

Yep. As barls says. Having spent all weekend plus all day on Friday on the competition, I do also have paying work to get to. Labels printed out this evening for the 80+ entrants and I have made a start on sorting the 720+ score sheets to be sent to all those individual entrants tonight. Prizes still have to finalised with sponsors plus certificates printed then all put in envelopes and posted out. That should give an idea of the work involved after the 40+ judges and stewards did their work over the weekend. It will get sent out in the next week or so I expect, but all the work round the comp is done entirely by volunteers who also have lives of their own. (At least, I think I do. )

I know you were just asking though, balconybrewer, and nothing wrong with that at all. Good to hear that people are waiting to get the feedback and from glancing at the score sheets there does seem to be a lot of writing from those judges. :super:

(Though what do judges know, bah. :lol: )

 

[donald_trub]

Thanks to everyone involved in the comp! Can't wait to get my feedback in the mail. My 2 beers went better than expected. I cracked my pale ale on the weekend and I wasn't that impressed by it, so I'm keen for the next comp to be more prepared.

With the judging, is everyone certified BJCPs?

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Canberran lurking then raiding this thread... What's with the jugs? We always do straight to glass for our comps - did at nats last year and I assume we will this year. It seems to me bottle>jug>glass is just going to skew carbonation, lose aroma etc. it doesn't seem a "natural" way of serving beer to me. Happy to fork this question off to another thread if it's going to go all state of origin

 

[barls]

majority are ranked recognised and above in the bjcp, w did have a few helpers that werent but most likely will in the future.
as for the jugs its to increases the anonymity of the beer served, this way the judges dont see the bottle.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

as for the jugs its to increases the anonymity of the beer served, this way the judges dont see the bottle.

Not sure I am with you. How is a jug more anonymous than three glasses?

 

[barls]

because thats how its done in a majority of the comps ive been a part of. we take in to account that its been poured twice and it doesnt make a huge difference. also it takes in to account the gushers needing more space and time to settle.

 

[moodgett]

Hey all, does anyone have an idea of when the entries need to get to canberra for the nationals? Trying to time my entries to allow for bottle conditioning

Cheers