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BJCP Judge Qualification COurse

Started by Padraic, March 05, 2013, 01:50:51 PM

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Padraic

Would any one be interested in a Beer Judge course?

I'd love for us to have about 10 judges from our own ranks who are well versed in BJCP, preferrably qualified judges.

So who would be interested and how best could we run this course?

johnrm

"how best could we run this course?"

How are they typically run?
i.e. Is it intensive, over a period or distance?
Ballpark costs?
I would be interested, but may be tied with logistics.

Tom

I think I'd like to get the qualification, though I'd be keen to enter a few more competitions before becoming a judge. Will running them be a once off, or will the option be there to run them occasionally?

Jacob

QuoteHow are they typically run?
Not sure if there are any courses preparing you for that even in states or uk. There is a bunch of pdf's and word docs on bjcp.org site that you can use. That would be a starting point...



Dodge

I'd like to learn more!

Just like John, all would depend on logistics/ costs.

Sounds good though


brenmurph

Love one, sign me up id price is affordable / comparable to that else where 2 r 300 dollars i think.
Ive done the MBAA beer stewards course, can be done online.
this could be a great start/ stepping stone to build up to a judge course.

Keep me informed of any options that would remove the requirement to travel to uk or elsewhere to sit course / exams.

brenmurph

March 05, 2013, 06:15:54 PM #7 Last Edit: March 05, 2013, 06:25:03 PM by brenmurph
Ill donate my studio / training centre in Kildare for the course if it helps keep costs down.

We can produce (write) our own course and have it acreddited by outside body. I think theres enough skills around the club to teach the course well (scores of 45 in B&C) world class style cloners, surely we can learn to taste / judge beer within our group. Next step outside / independant acredditation.............
There are plenty of acreddited colleges that would independantly moderate written exam papers from other institutions, this would  alow us to not have to travel for written exams and save significant costs associated with commuting abroad to sit the required practical exams.

The practical end of things is different, we would need to see how we can pass tasting exams.

Other suggestion is to learn ourselves and travel as a group ( say a minibus) to the UK to sit exams in an existing school.

worth checking all the options available

brenmurph

http://www.mbaa.com/education/beersteward/about/Pages/beermaster.aspx

have a look around this site, this course coming up will be online soon.
The associate beer stewards course is the theory bit and this proposed course on the link includes sensory skills, will be interesting to see how it works.

brenmurph

http://www.mbaa.com/store/Pages/tasting.aspx

and heres their professional books to teach u how to taste without a practical course.

Theres a few ideas on the site as to how we might approach a training course.
Im sure their courses could be purchased at discount or base our own course on theirs..

Ill bring all my course paperwork with me thursday but have a look at the site in the meantime

Will_D

March 05, 2013, 09:02:01 PM #10 Last Edit: March 05, 2013, 09:08:37 PM by Will_D
I was going to start this thread in a day or two but as its started : lets all slow down!

1. The first stage is to download the style guide and various other documents. Read Read Read

2. After a period of time you enrol in the program and take an online exam. Cost is $10. There are 200 true/false or 1 answer multichoice or multi answer/multi choice questions. You have 90 mins to answer!

This is what Padraic has just done.

You are now a "student" judge and can offer to judge in comps, and you will get Judge credits that will be turned into Judge Points after the next stage is passed:

Within a year you must attend a practical tasting exam. Here you will taste three beers and fill out the score sheets. These sheets will be assesed for accuracy, communication back to the entrant etc etc.

If you score more than 80% you can then proceed:

Your judge rank is upped and you now get credits for comps judged. You have to get 10 comps under your belt before the next step:

3. The written exam: You attend and exam centre and have to answer 5 essay style questions and a few multi chice questions in 90 mins.

If you pass you are then a Judge ( of the lowest order )

Now what does this all cost?

Enrollment and the online test is €10

The next cost is getting yourself to an exam centre!

BUT HERES THE BEST BIT:

Talking with Ali, The BJCP has a €50k budget to help train the judges in other countries!

So, As we have just held a megga comp under BJCP rules ( Ali will send feed back to BJCP central ) in time we contact BJCP to request sponsorship of the pratical tasting exam to be held in Ireland and later the written exam!

However be aware that the standards of the BJCP are about as high as a 2:1 or even first degree course!

BTW: You can take the online exam once a day until you pass - just costs 10 bucks and you have to re-register
Remember: The Nationals are just round the corner - time to get brewing

Will_D

How about starting a list?

1. Padraic ( Has a head start  ;) )
2. Johnrm
3. Tom
4. Dodge
5. Matthewdick23
6. brenmurph
7. Will_D
Remember: The Nationals are just round the corner - time to get brewing

brenmurph

Grand, put me down for a place!

I hope we have to do loads of taste testing to practise for the exams!

Padraic

BJCP Suggest the following course outline:

QuoteE. BJCP Exam Study Course
Created by Scott Bickham in 1995 for those preparing for the BJCP Legacy Examination. The syllabus is still completely applicable to the three tier BJCP Exam Structure implemented in 2012.
The ten session course outlined below is a modification of ones that have been effective in preparing judges for the BJCP exam. One or two members of the study group are usually assigned to the task of collecting commercial and homebrewed examples of a given style. They should also prepare and distribute handouts that outline the background and characteristics of each style, as well as a technical topic relevant to the exam. All but one of the beers are then served blindly and discussed, with positive and negative attributes identified. After the tasting session, a technical topic concerning ingredients, the brewing process, or beer flavors is reviewed. Finally, the study group takes a mini-exam that consists of two essay questions taken from the BJCP question pool and judges the remaining beer using the BJCP beer scoresheet. The exam questions should be correlated with the style and technical information that was presented in the class, and there should be forty minute time limit that is well-matched to the three hours required for the actual exam. The total time for each class should be approximately three to four hours, depending on the number of commercial examples and depth of the presentations and discussions.
It should also be easy to persuade local beer experts to participate in the review sessions (bribery with free beer is very effective), but the work can also be divided among those studying for the exam. The commercial examples below are based on beers which were available in the Mid-Atlantic in the late 1990s, but a similar collection can be assembled in other geographic areas. The number of beers served in each class should be limited to 8-10, depending on the alcoholic strength and sample size, to prevent palate fatigue and promote responsible drinking. It is also recommended that a flat fee be charged for the class, payable in advance or at the first study session. The Brewers United for Real Potables homebrew club set this fee at $50 for its most recent study course, and while this did not quite cover the actual expenses, the club gladly covered the remainder due to the intangible benefits of having an educated membership. This amount may seem a bit steep from the perspective of the participants, but keep in mind that they are tasting as many as one hundred commercial examples and picking up invaluable information about beers styles and the brewing process.

Class 1. Light Lagers: American Light (Budweiser, Coors, Michelob) and Pre-prohibition Pilsner, Bohemian and German Pilsners (Pilsner Urquell, Bitburger, DeGroen's), Dortmunder Export (Stoudt's Gold), Munich Helles (Augustiner Edelstoff Helles).
Technical topic: Malt, including the malting process, types, adjuncts, kilning and the styles with which different malts are associated.

Class 2. Amber and Dark Lagers: Vienna (Dos Equis, Negra Modelo), Oktoberfest/Märzen (Spaten, Paulaner), Munich Dunkel (Spaten), Schwarzbier (Köstrizer), Bock (Paulaner), Helles/Maibock (Ayinger, Fordham), Doppelbock (Paulaner Salvator, Ayinger Celebrator), Eisbock (Kulmbacher Reichelbraü).
Technical topic: Water, including minerals, pH, hardness, adjustment, and the effect on the development of world beer styles.

Class 3. Bitters and Pale Ales: Ordinary (Boddington's Draught), Special (Young's Ramrod, Fuller's London Pride), ESB (Fuller's), English and American Pale Ales (Bass, Whitbread, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Tupper's Hop Pocket), English and American IPA (Young's Special London Ale, Anchor Liberty, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale), California Common (Anchor Steam).
Technical topic: Mashing, including types used for different beer styles, mash schedules and enzymes.

Class 4. Brown, Scottish and Strong Scotch Ales: Light and Dark Mild (Grant's Celtic Ale), English and American Brown (Newcastle, Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale, Brooklyn Brown Ale, Pete's Wicked Ale), Scottish Light, Heavy and Export (McEwen's Export, Belhaven, MacAndrew's), Scotch (McEwen's, Traquair House).
Technical topic: Hops, including varieties, IBUs, hopping schedule and the association with different beer styles.

Class 5. Stout and Porter: Dry Stout (Guinness Draught, Murphy's), Sweet Stout (Watney's, Mackeson's), Oatmeal Stout (Anderson Valley Barney Flats, Young's), Foreign and Imperial Stout (Sheaf Stout, Sam Smith's Imperial Stout, Victory Russian Imperial Stout), Brown Porter (Anchor, Sam Smith's Old Taddy Porter), Robust Porter (Sierra Nevada).
Technical topic: Yeast and fermentation, including characteristics of different yeast strains, bacteria, byproducts and relationship to world beer styles.

Class 6. Barleywines and Old Ales: English Old Ale (Theakston's Old Peculier, Thomas Hardy, Hair of the Dog Adambier), English and American Barleywines (Young's Old Nick, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Anchor Old Foghorn, Rogue Old Crustacean, Dominion Millennium, Victory Old Horizontal).
Technical topic: Brewing procedures, including sparging, boiling, fining and carbonation methods. Reasons for each should be discussed, along with potential problems.

Class 7. German Ales, Wheat Beers and Rauchbiers: Düsseldorf and North German Alt (Bolten Alt, Fordham Alt), Kölsch (Reissdorf Kölsch), American Wheat (Pyramid Wheathook, Anchor Wheat), Bavarian Weizen (DeGroen's, Paulaner, Victory Sunrise, Schneider Weisse), Dunkelweizen (Hacker-Pschorr), Weizenbock (DeGroens, Schneider Aventinus), Berliner Weiss (Kindl), Bamberger Rauchbier (Kaiserdom,
Schlenkerla).
Technical topic: Troubleshooting I, which includes a discussion of how positive and negative attributes are perceived and produced, the beer styles with which they may be associated and corrective measures. The flavor descriptors on the beer scoresheet or the BJCP Study Guide should be split into two sections.

Class 8. Strong Belgian and French Ales: Dubbel (Affligem, La Trappe), Tripel (Affligem, Westmalle), Strong Golden and Dark Ales (Duvel, Chimay, Orval, Scaldis, La Chouffe), Bière de Garde (Jenlain, 3 Monts), Saison (Saison du Pont).
Technical topic: Troubleshooting II.

Class 9. Other Belgian Ales: Oud Bruin and Flanders Red (Rodenbach Grand Cru, Liefman's Goudenband, Liefman's Framboise), Gueuze and Fruit Lambic (assorted Boon, Cantillon and Mort Subite), Wit (Celis White, Hoegaarden), Pale Ale (Corsendonk Pale, Celis Pale Bock).
Technical topic: Recipe formulation, including the selection of appropriate hops, malt, water, yeast and brewing procedure for different beer styles.

Class 10. Doctored beer seminar. This is an informative and practical method of learning how isolated flavors taste in beer. A clean lager is generally doctored with near-threshold amounts of compounds which either occur naturally in beer or mimic those that do. Examples include artificial butter for diacetyl, sherry for sherry-like oxidation, vodka for alcohol, almond extract for nuttiness, grape tannin for astringency, hop oils for hop flavor and aroma, and lactic and acetic acid for sourness. Recommended amounts are given in the table below. Note that some of these compounds have very strong flavors, so they should be diluted in water or beer before adding to the base beer. For example, a detectable amount of lactic acid is approximately 0.4ml of 88% USP lactic acid to a 12 oz. (355 ml8) sample of beer. Since most of us do not have access to pipettes to measure such a small quantity, 1/8 tsp may be added to 3/8 tsp distilled water, and 1/3 tsp of this solution added to the reference beer. This is equivalent to adding 1/12 tsp times 5 ml/tsp, or approximately 0.4 ml of lactic acid.
Recommended amounts of several substances are listed in the table at the end of this section. For more information on doctored beer seminars, contact Jay Hersh at bjcp_judge@doctorbeer.com or refer to the Focus on Flavors column in Brewing Techniques. The base beer should be a clean light lager with a crown (non-twist-off) cap so that it can be resealed after doctoring. The amounts in the table below are appropriate in a 12 oz. (355 ml) sample, but may be scaled to larger volumes. Note that spices and other solids should be extracted in vodka, since the addition of dry substances to a carbonated beer will cause gushing. For the same reason, the beers and adulterants should also be chilled to the same temperature before combining.

The material in these classes can be comfortably covered in a time frame of three to five months, depending on the needs and experience of the study group. Shorter courses have the advantage of keeping the material fresh, while longer courses allow more intensive reading and reviewing in between classes. Note that the lead time required to schedule a BJCP exam is approximately three months, so keep this in mind when planning the study sessions. For more information, e-mail may be sent to the BJCP exam directors at
exam_director@bjcp.org.


Rossa

I'm fairly sure I can rope in a couple of our pro taster judges to help guide us. They can pick up all sorts of stuff and point out what we should be tasting.

First thing -more meet ups. Proper discussion, score sheets , analysis, more beer!