what category for hb competition

[heathcom]

Im entering a brew for a local home brew competition and not sure what category it would fall under. It has u.s. pale 2 row, munich 2, cara-pils and crystal 40. Maybe a light or amber hybrid?

 

[cluckk]

There are many more details that need to be known--yeast used, gravities (OG and FG), IBUs, color.

 

[fishersfirst]

Need more info.

Yeast? Hops? IBU etc

 

[heathcom]

I used nottingham yeast, .5oz cascade hops for 1 gallon batch. When adding the hops, I put .25oz from the start, about .12oz at 30 mins than the rest at 15. color is a little darker than yellow bordering on orange.
Im still new to brewing and havnt got all the technical details down.

 

[drhookmec]

If you don't have a brewing calculator go to http://www.beertools.com and plug your recipe in there
and you can get an idea of where your numbers are.

 

[fishersfirst]

It sounds as if your recipe will fall into category 10.B (American Amber Ale)
Get the BJCP style guideline app, it's free.

You really need to know OG and FG range, bitterness (IBU) range, colour, abv.

Your ingredients alone look like they will fall into the above category.

 

[heathcom]

Thanks for the info. The technical details werent required on the HB form but good to know. I used beertools and got some great info. The Og was 1.042 and 1.010, about 4.2% abv. The ibus in beertoops showed 52, is that right?

 

[mattd2]

The big question is why do you want to enter this comp? Take this with a grain of salt as I am only going to start entering compititions this year but you really need to brew for the compitition rather than enter a beer you brewed because it is good - What I mean is you need to decide on style first > brew > taste if beer is appropriote to style > enter.
From what you have on hand I would go with an out-of-style APA - 10A and could loss points on being to bitter. If you enter it expect to loss some points due to it being not exactly to style - even though it could be a great beer.

 

[heathcom]

I get your point. Atleast I will have fun and get some professional feedback. Theres still a month to go so maybe I will modify the recipe a tad to boost the color more towards an amber. Its all for the love of beer

 

[Schumed]

10a American Pale Ale all the way

IBUs are a little high based on guidelines but I've found in comps you want entries to be a little more hop forward...got to understand they are only judging a 4oz sample ...so if there aren't enough hop aroma it will get ding...I know lots of people enter IPAs in the APA cat because of this and score better

 

[dcp27]

Personally I'd hold on to it if you're only brewing a gallon. I wouldn't wanna give away ~1/4th of a batch for a competition. also, it doesnt sound like it has a good fit as is. APA is closest by the #s, but its about how it tastes and you wont have enough hop aroma/flavor to do well. if you move the 30min add to 15 & the 15 to 0, you'd be alot closer tho.

 

[mattd2]

I get your point. Atleast I will have fun and get some professional feedback. Theres still a month to go so maybe I will modify the recipe a tad to boost the color more towards an amber. Its all for the love of beer

Personally I'd hold on to it if you're only brewing a gallon. I wouldn't wanna give away ~1/4th of a batch for a competition. also, it doesnt sound like it has a good fit as is. APA is closest by the #s, but its about how it tastes and you wont have enough hop aroma/flavor to do well. if you move the 30min add to 15 & the 15 to 0, you'd be alot closer tho.

Yeah if you want to get feedback on the beer in general (off flavours, etc.) then through it in as is and just know to expect a few lost points for being out of style.
If you have a chance to rebrew go for it, DCP's advice will get you more into the APA cataogry for sure.