Competition Advice

[SlopbukitBrewery]

Hi Everyone,

After a couple of years of blood, sweat and beers, I have decided to start to send a few beers into competition. I am concerned about how to properly place a beer into competition that requires the ingredients to be disclosed. I have a very tasty wheat beer that I think should fit somewhere in category 16 but with malted wheat and bitter orange peel / coriander, it seems to fall in between. Maybe I am overthinking it.... Any advice is greatly appreciated

Maybe I am overthinking it.... Any advice is greatly appreciated

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 2 4.7 %
5 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 46.5 %
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 37.2 %
1 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 9.3 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.3 %
0.75 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 12.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 -
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -
1.0 pkg Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) [35. Yeast 10 -

 

[Braufessor]

In my experience, VERY few competitions require recipes...... 5% maybe???
Often there are forms in the software that have a place for recipes, but it is almost never required. I would e-mail and ask first if you actually even need to send it.
If it is a BJCP competition, the judges are not going to have your recipe when judging. So, the golden rule is always enter a beer in the category it TASTES like - not the category that you hoped it would be, or in a category because there was a certain ingredient you used...... What does it taste like? And then compare that to the BJCP guidelines of the categories you would be considering.
You are probably choosing between German Wheat Beer, Specialty Beer and Herb/Spice beer maybe. If you have some special ingredients that are very pronounced, and come through very clearly, you may want one of the latter two categories. If they don't, you may be better off just putting it in the base beer category. If you put it in a specialty or spice type category, you will list the base beer you have and then what you did that sets it out of that base category. They will expect to taste BOTH the base and what makes it unique outside of the base category. If that is not there, you will get dinged in a compettition - even if it is still a really nice beer.

 

[Braufessor]

Maybe 16A (Witbier) possible too...
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php

 

[SlopbukitBrewery]

Thanks... just my luck.. In the submittal form of the first competition I am considering entering, they are asking for a full list of ingredients. Maybe I will enter the beer into a couple of the categories and see what happens. As this will be my first venture into this world, I am really looking for feedback from the judges so I can keep improving.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I made a beer just like yours (pretty much everything is the same, but I had also added apricot puree in secondary) and entered it as a 16A Witbier. They lumped all the sub-categories together so there was just a 1st/2nd/3rd place award for category 16 as a whole.

Turns out it was a tough category. Averaged 39/50 but didn't even place despite fantastic reviews.

 

[SlopbukitBrewery]

I made a beer just like yours (pretty much everything is the same, but I had also added apricot puree in secondary) and entered it as a 16A Witbier. They lumped all the sub-categories together so there was just a 1st/2nd/3rd place award for category 16 as a whole.

Turns out it was a tough category. Averaged 39/50 but didn't even place despite fantastic reviews.

Wow... nice score. Thanks for the input.

 

[SlopbukitBrewery]

Thanks for everyones help.... I entered it as a Witbeer and scored a 35 and 32 from the judges... Also grabbed a 10th place in peoples choice. Also got some great feedback for improving . Now I am more addicted than ever