Pride goes before the fall version 3.7. Entering my first comp. Did the registration stuff dropped off three batches early and was sitting back waiting for accolades, laurel wreaths, fawning fans, and public recognition. At Christmas my pumpkin Ale was really good, mild, subdued spice, nice color. Opened the last bottle last night 16oz. of foam, spice has overtaken, beaten up, and tied up the malts and hops and left them in the back room never to be found again. I’m really embarrassed that this went so freakin bad in 7 weeks. I think I’m going to be really humbled. Please tell me that a comp. is really a good learning experience, or is there a way to withdraw an entry prior to judging. Thanks.
Could it have just been one bad/infected bottle?
Is there a chance you could have had a bad bottle? Foaming of one bottle (but not others) suggests there is some bug in there working on sugars that yeast can’t ferment.
To your other question, judges aren’t going to (shouldn’t) make fun of you, put your beer down, or tell you to go take up cheesemaking. Just about every judge I know (Yours Truly included) takes it relatively seriously because most if not all are homebrewers, and know how much it takes to put out a batch. They are going to give you honest, blind, unbiased feedback that will (should) be constructive and geared to help you improve your brewing.
You are going to judge your beer critically. Your non-brewing friends are likely going to tell you it’s good, even if its not. Other brewers will usually not criticize as well (brew clubs, etc.). BJCP-sanctioned competitions are a great way to improve your brewing.
If its bad, sack up and take the criticism 
:cheers:
I actually had a couple bottles aging under the bar. I chilled them over night. All are over carbonated, there is a 1/4 " of yeast cake in the bottom of each bottle, that if you do a full pour comes out in chunks. My main concern is how rapidly this went to hell. I can handle over carbonation, but the harshness in spice has me confused. Last years Pumpkin spice got more mild as it aged instead of getting more intense.
Do you notice the body of the beer is thinner than when you first tasted it? It could be a lactobacillus infection, which will cause gushers (especially over time), but a telltale sign is that the beer will be much thinner (I believe lacto can work on longer-chain dextrins that sacc yeasts cannot). You will typically notice the thinness or increased diacetyl (butter/movie theater popcorn ‘topping’) from what I’ve read.
they are not bottle bombs, the just produce alot of foam when poured into a glass. I think it’s just the beer God’s getting their laugh’s in concerning my early fears over carbonation when I started this hobby. Please correct me ,but if it was bottled before fermentation was done wouldn’t the early one’s have been over carbed also?
Yes, if they were bottled before carbonation has completed, the whole batch would have likely either been gushers (which produce a lot of foam either/both when opened and/or poured), or bombs (which explode and send deadly glass beer bottle shrapnel of death hurling at deadly speeds toward you, your property and your loved ones).
The issue is, lacto can take some time to develop, and it works on otherwise unfermentable sugars slowly (like a lot of the brett strains). So, theoretically, you could have drunk all the other bottles (I believe you said there were only a few left) before the lacto really started getting after it.
Either way, you will have unbiased feedback as to what it is very soon!
