With covid restrictions being lightened or lifted, even with the new variants, competitions are starting to be held again. I'm sure a lot of people started homebrewing during the various quarantines and stay-at-home periods, and many might be considering entering a competition or two.
Competitions are great for many reasons; the main one, in my opinion, is to get feedback on your beers from a qualified BJCP judge. Parents, Aunties, Uncles, cousins, friends, and so forth may say your homebrew is wonderful, but who knows if they are just saying that because it's free beer, not wanting to hurt feelings, or maybe just because. BJCP judges are trained to detect flaws, and the best ones will give great advice on how to improve the beer they are judging.
I thought I would start this thread so that those of us who have been brewing for a while, and have entered competitions, can give first-time entrants some good advice on how to proceed. More competitions=more homebrewers=more business for LHBS.
I've been homebrewing for just over 5 years, and have entered seven competitions (one is still upcoming), and have done well in some, pretty crappy in others. The one thing I have learned, is take the comments with a grain of brewing salts; there's a reason that more than one judge will fill out a scoresheet for a particular beer.
Here's my advice for anyone considering entering a competition; there are other threads out there on the same topic but I thought it would be prudent to revisit them during this time of competitions coming back.
1. Make very sure the class you are entering is as close to the style of beer you plan to enter. SRM, ABV%, IBU, all should be within the range given by the 2015 BJCP style guidelines (available for free download at www.bjcp.org). If you're not completely positive, enter the beer in the classes that are close enough; most competitions will allow the same beer to be entered in different categories (but not sub-categories; for example, I think an IPA can only be entered once, but a Kolsch can be entered in both the Kolsch & Blonde categories. A stout can be entered in both the stout & porter categories, etc.).
2. Follow the instructions for a particular competition exactly, specifically shipping limitations. You CANNOT ship alcohol via USPS, and if you choose Fedex or UPS, declare the contents to be food products. And fragile! Package as if you were sending your meemaw's china to, well, China. Whenever possible, drop your entries off in person.
3. Fill your bottles to at least 1.5" below the lip; a low fill can dock you points. So can overfill if the judge is picky.
4. Keep in mind that for any given competition, you have no idea where your beer(s) will be in a particular flight; they may be judged early in the day, or late in the day when the judges are pretty much "beered out" and might not be scored well. Enter the same beer in multiple competitions, and compare the scores/comments against each other.
5. Read the judges' comments carefully, even before you get excited/disappointed at the final score at the bottom. Most BJCP judges are homebrewers just like us, just with more training. The best ones will give great advice on how to improve a particular beer.
6. This is the most important, to me; DON'T GET DISCOURAGED AT A POOR SCORE/not winning/medalling. View each competition as a learning experience, and keep trying.
Competitions are great for many reasons; the main one, in my opinion, is to get feedback on your beers from a qualified BJCP judge. Parents, Aunties, Uncles, cousins, friends, and so forth may say your homebrew is wonderful, but who knows if they are just saying that because it's free beer, not wanting to hurt feelings, or maybe just because. BJCP judges are trained to detect flaws, and the best ones will give great advice on how to improve the beer they are judging.
I thought I would start this thread so that those of us who have been brewing for a while, and have entered competitions, can give first-time entrants some good advice on how to proceed. More competitions=more homebrewers=more business for LHBS.
I've been homebrewing for just over 5 years, and have entered seven competitions (one is still upcoming), and have done well in some, pretty crappy in others. The one thing I have learned, is take the comments with a grain of brewing salts; there's a reason that more than one judge will fill out a scoresheet for a particular beer.
Here's my advice for anyone considering entering a competition; there are other threads out there on the same topic but I thought it would be prudent to revisit them during this time of competitions coming back.
1. Make very sure the class you are entering is as close to the style of beer you plan to enter. SRM, ABV%, IBU, all should be within the range given by the 2015 BJCP style guidelines (available for free download at www.bjcp.org). If you're not completely positive, enter the beer in the classes that are close enough; most competitions will allow the same beer to be entered in different categories (but not sub-categories; for example, I think an IPA can only be entered once, but a Kolsch can be entered in both the Kolsch & Blonde categories. A stout can be entered in both the stout & porter categories, etc.).
2. Follow the instructions for a particular competition exactly, specifically shipping limitations. You CANNOT ship alcohol via USPS, and if you choose Fedex or UPS, declare the contents to be food products. And fragile! Package as if you were sending your meemaw's china to, well, China. Whenever possible, drop your entries off in person.
3. Fill your bottles to at least 1.5" below the lip; a low fill can dock you points. So can overfill if the judge is picky.
4. Keep in mind that for any given competition, you have no idea where your beer(s) will be in a particular flight; they may be judged early in the day, or late in the day when the judges are pretty much "beered out" and might not be scored well. Enter the same beer in multiple competitions, and compare the scores/comments against each other.
5. Read the judges' comments carefully, even before you get excited/disappointed at the final score at the bottom. Most BJCP judges are homebrewers just like us, just with more training. The best ones will give great advice on how to improve a particular beer.
6. This is the most important, to me; DON'T GET DISCOURAGED AT A POOR SCORE/not winning/medalling. View each competition as a learning experience, and keep trying.