Iowa Brewers Union
Advancing the art and science of home brewing in central Iowa
Competing in competitions together.
We all know what competitions are, some of judge, some of us brew, others do both, and that is an amazing thing to have in a club.
I was reading the latest Zymurgy magazine and something clicked, that little light bulb in my head (theres not much room in there so i get by with what fits) and I thought, were getting into the competitions with OUR beer, we as individuals want to know what it gets rated at, and also to help improve our own recipes and brewing techniques.
I never know though really how well someone else is doing with there entry, or what they plan to do to improve there next brew, in hopes to attain a higher score. So this idea of mine wondered if we could do a club brew competition, within the competitions.
As a way to help each other in recipe formulation, whether it be all grain or extract. I believe we should set a focus on a style, have the group decide what style we should brew, the usual ingredients, carbonation, fermentation, and overall taste.
This way during our meetings we can discuss as a group a certain style, learn about it, where it came from and then go out and brew that style from the things we learned while sharing each others homebrews (mmm general melee) we can all decide what event to submit our brews into and with that feedback discuss the outcomes, and of course congratulate the member that came out on top.
this would not only be a great learning and teaching event as a group, but also it would add more entries into that certain style at the time. (kinda sux when u get 3rd place, out of 3 entries).
Let me know what you think about this idea, maybe we can get enough people interested and learn more from the way we all brew differently, even though the end result is always (hopefully) good beer.
Views: 97
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jake Wisgerhof on -
sounds like a good idea tell us a style and ill give it a shot
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Permalink Reply by Torrey Johnson on -
Josh, I think we already do this but it's sloooowed way down because either people forgot or just don't care. But this is sorta what the Brewer of the month is about. That style of the month is supposed to be for in club competition with the winner going to AHA competitions to represent our club. Matt Melcher knows more about it. I was going to ask him if he could bring it up and reiterate what its' all about and how it works.
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Permalink Reply by Aaron Reif on -
I think it would be a great way to learn!
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Permalink Reply by Torrey Johnson on
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Permalink Reply by Josh Conley on -
Hey, that looks exciting , would be even more than just our club, that way we can learn, talk styles and I guess best of show out of us sends the beer in to win our entire club points shweet!
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Permalink Reply by Matt Melcher on -
We try to keep the style of the month about a month ahead of the AHA club only competition. Last year we did several club competitions but only had, at most, 3 entries at a given meeting. It kind of died from lack of interest. The AHA calendar is a little sparse this year so we have some latitude to choose our own styles. Dark Lagers will be the January style, Stout is the February style, Scottish/Irish is the April style - after that it's our choice for the remainder of the year.
My opinion is that we try to kick start this again - but with a focus on brewing great beers and entering local and regional competitions. For instance, you have to look for the dates and count backwards to have your entries ready. The IBU open will be some time in March - that's around 12 weeks out. There are some styles you need to brew now if you want them ready by then.
As for our meetings, maybe we can have some mini competitions - regardless of style. Have some of our judges actually fill out the competition form and give some feedback.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Dow on -
I like the idea of mini competitions to help us discuss how to improve things and really develop our skills. With a lot of competitions you miss that back and forth to get some honest feedback. We can do it in an anonomous fashion if we are worried about hurting someones feelings.
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Permalink Reply by Josh Conley on
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We could figure out when the average time to start brewing those beers to be able to put them in the entries and place it up on the calendar with information of ingredients used, yeast, water profile ect.. with some history information behind them, and then also have on the calendar when to enter those beers, where, how. Stick with the BJCP guidlines of course, that way it will not only get people more active in entering, but will also be a lil kick start and learning technique to those who may eventually want to become judges themselves.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Dow on
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I lke this idea. I know we do it on a smaller scale, but that is half the questions I get at the meetings-what do you think, how could I improve this. It is always nice to see different executions in the same styles and I always like feedback because I will never get better unless I have some expert opinion. Why don't we do a style of the month like we already do with brewer of the month and just ask people to bring their own to have informally judged.
If we are worried about people getting hurt feelings we can make it anonymous, but I'm a big boy and can handle the criticism, that's just me.
© 2012 Created by Torrey Johnson.
