Help with getting ready for a competition

Im trying to get my beers registered for a competition. I dont expect to win but it will be nice to get a few opinions from professionals so I can become a better brewer. Constructive criticism at its finest ya'll!

So here is my problem. The beer needs to be dropped off in 12 days, and two that I wish to enter just went into primary yesterday. The comp is 1month after the beer is submitted so, there will be "conditioning" time before they are tasted.

Here are my thoughts on this...
A)Wine thief enough out of primary into bottles and use a carb tablet...
B)Rack the whole thing into 2ndary, pour some off into a bottle and carb tablet
c)Rack a little into a 2.5g corny, force carb and bottle.
d)just not enter the beer


I don't want to run the risk of butchering a whole 10g batch for two bottles worth of beer.

Will my bottles explode with option A & B

If you don't have the time to finish the beer and know what it should taste like then what value are the comments?

I would skip it and plan better for comps in the future

IF, you decide you must enter... to answer your question, no, options A&B should not explode. I agree with probably not entering them because they are not complete, but if you do.....I'd go with A on the morning of day 12. You didn't mention what type of beer you are entering, but one instance when I wouldn't use A is if you used a yeast with low flocculation and you need the particular beer to be clear and its not yet. In that case, I'd rack more than enough for two bottles into a smaller vessel on day 10, cold crash it, then do A on the day you turn it in. I guess you'd have to rack enough off so that when you thieved 2 bottles worth, you did not disturb the trub/yeast on the bottom.

LegitBrew said:

IF, you decide you must enter... to answer your question, no, options A&B should not explode. I agree with probably not entering them because they are not complete, but if you do.....I'd go with A on the morning of day 12. You didn't mention what type of beer you are entering, but one instance when I wouldn't use A is if you used a yeast with low flocculation and you need the particular beer to be clear and its not yet. In that case, I'd rack more than enough for two bottles into a smaller vessel on day 10, cold crash it, then do A on the day you turn it in. I guess you'd have to rack enough off so that when you thieved 2 bottles worth, you did not disturb the trub/yeast on the bottom.

Click to expand...

One is a Wit with a 1L starter WLabs Wit yeast and the other is a IIPA .091og with a 4L starter WLP001 fermenting in a tub with 66deg water

The Imperial IPA has about a dozen things that could easily go wrong with 12 days in primary then straight to bottles, including not being done fermenting after 12 days, not being done carbonating after 1 month, losing hop aroma, etc. I would probably skip on that one.

The Wit, however, should be just fine in your scenerio. I'd rack directly into the bottles and go with the carb tabs. Make sure you get some of the wheat protein into the bottles, don't just rack from the top. Prepare a few extra bottles so you can taste the same beer the judges are tasting in a month. The judge comments won't mean much too you if you don't have a reference to what they are tasting.

FYI, some drop off points for BJCP competitions and the judging location itself store the beer at fridge temps, so you might need to make a point for them to keep yours at room temp!

Also, next time definitely plan ahead. You'll even get better scores typically if you have some bottles that are 3-4 months from brewday sitting around waiting for competitions. I keep 5 bottles of every good brew I make and just label and store them in a closet, waiting for competitions. A little planning makes a huge difference.

Good luck!

^agree. I'd not mess with the iipa. There's no sense in risking oxygenating a whole hop oil riddled batch just for two bottles--bottles that probably aren't going to be ready anyhow. Wit is perfect. (A) it is, you probably wouldn't have to wait until same day if its going to be a hassle, most wit type yeast i've used have ripped through witbiers very quickly. Also good point in doing a couple bottles for yourself at the same time so you can experience the same beer the judges are. Good luck! Most of my really good ipas and double ipas never make it to competition either.... because I end up drinking em all. Ha.