I entered my blonde ale into a small local beer contest. My beer was judged by a certified judge and a non-cert judge. I received a 33 overall score and a nice write up. I understand that a 33, or very good, is where most beers fall.
I was really curious to see what someone would say about my beer and figured for the $9 entry fee it was worth it. The one thing was it was judged as slightly over carbonated. I have to agree having tried one yesterday. Everything else was within the style range, but it was obvious from one comment they were looking for something with a little more bite.
Overall a good experience and I liked getting the comments/recommendations.
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Congrats. I’ve spent some time talking to judges and it’s amazing the foulness they have to sort through and stay positive. Carbonation is always hard to get down perfectly. I have been under carbonating the last few months and prefer the results to over carbonation.
Occasionally I goof and get the carbonation perfect.
I was a doubter at first but using the “highest temperature reached” rather than current temperature, at bottling, has improved my consistency.
Yes. Highest temp reached and making sure priming liquid is thoroughly mixed in make a difference. I have gone the route of priming individual bottles with a syringe when bottling. I don’t keg.
Congrats on your beer as well. I have been thinking about taking some to my local brewery to see if I can get an opinion from the head brewer. Of course, I would contact them first.
Congrats, sounds like a solid beer. I started entering comps now for the same reasons you mentioned and it’s nice to get that feedback from people other than your friends and family. My last scores had me down a bit and I discussed them with a judge who gave me a great tip. I entered a NEIPA in its’ category and scored a 28, got dinged hard for not to style. Never thought about it but he told me to enter the beer in 2 or 3 different categories and see what comes from it. Too bad every comp I registered for thru May has been shut down.
I looked back on my notes and believe my carb issue was a result of two possibilities.
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When I added the corn sugar I used the entire 5 oz package. To carb at 2.7 BeerSmith came up with 4.6 oz. Hard to imagine .4 oz would make a difference, but a possibility.
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Mixture of the priming liquid into the beer at bottling. I tried another beer yesterday and it was nicely carbonated. Yet, today the beer I had was bubbling after popping the top. So if some seem over carbonated and another isn’t, it could be I didn’t stir/mix the priming liquid sufficiently.
You are probably right on with your assessments. .4 oz does make a difference when carving to style volumes. I have gone to priming each bottle with a syringe so they all get the same shot. But even in that scenario, once in a while there will still be a clunker.
