Well folks,
Pleased to announce the launch of the National Brewing Championships 2016! It will be the same format as previous years, 1st leg held in Belfast with the 2nd leg and Best of Show held in Dublin.
Dates for your diary -
Saturday 20th February - Belfast
Saturday 5th March - Dublin
Bottle collection cutoff - 31st of Jan, No Exceptions
Entry will be €5 per beer.
1 entry per sub category
2 x 500ml bottles only*
This will be an NHC member's only competition.
We will also be using the BJCP's updated style guidelines, which can be found HERE (http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php).
*750ml or 1l will be disqualified, Exceptions may be made where aged or specialist categories or say very high ABV beers in a different format like a lambic in a champagne bottle etc with prior approval from the organisers via PM.
Best of luck!
And it's definitely 2x500ml? I know there was a lot of discussion about whether it should be 3 or not
Bottle cut off is 31st of Jan No Exceptions
Required are 2 X 500ml bottles
Not 750ml or 1l they will be disqualified
Exceptions may be made where aged or specialist categories or say very high ABV beers in a different format like a lambic in a champagne bottle etc
You must pm the organisers and receive confirmation that this format is ok as otherwise entry will be disqualified and your money will not be returned, you have been warned! This information will also be posted on competition site.
Only 4 months to go get brewing!!
Is there to be a club cup this year? Can we clarify what the actual rules are for winning it? There seemed to be some confusion last year.
Quote from: CH on September 28, 2015, 11:12:26 AM
Bottle cut off is 31st of Jan No Exceptions
Required are 2 X 500ml bottles
Not 750ml or 1l they will be disqualified
Exceptions may be made where aged or specialist categories or say very high ABV beers in a different format like a lambic in a champagne bottle etc
You must pm the organisers and receive confirmation that this format is ok as otherwise entry will be disqualified and your money will not be returned, you have been warned! This information will also be posted on competition site.
Only 4 months to go get brewing!!
OP Updated.
Thanks for organising this, folks. The competition is the highlight of my brewing year, and I can't wait to get brewing for it. Might even chance a bit of judging in Belfast (if you's'll have me!). ;)
Quote from: Tom on September 28, 2015, 12:01:52 PM
Thanks for organising this, folks. The competition is the highlight of my brewing year, and I can't wait to get brewing for it. Might even chance a bit of judging in Belfast (if you's'll have me!). ;)
All hands on deck especially BJCP qualified ones ;)
Been studying away all summer to give it my judging best :)
Cat 1A for Molc ;)
Competition Bossman Mr Rm will be in touch
Oh Jesus. I was steward for that last year. Please God no! Irish reds sound like the nectar of the gods after that.
Don't worry, any of the German or lager category judges have the pleasure of sampling Bren Murph's finest beers.
What's the craic with bottle size for mead? 2 x 500ml would clear me out!
Quote from: molc on September 28, 2015, 01:58:26 PM
Oh Jesus. I was steward for that last year. Please God no! Irish reds sound like the nectar of the gods after that.
Errr..
Nectar of the gods..? I dunno.. ;)
Quote from: molc on September 28, 2015, 01:58:26 PM
Oh Jesus. I was steward for that last year. Please God no! Irish reds sound like the nectar of the gods after that.
No. Just no.
And I presume 1 x 750 ml bottle for the wine section?
Wine section?, is there one this year not sure that's been decided just yet and there may be grouped into mead and cider depending on the number of entries as not many entries last year :(
Quote from: CH on September 28, 2015, 04:59:55 PM
Wine section?,... as not many entries last year
Mainly 'coz no one knew there was a wine category ;)
Oh so not true, wine appreciation society is next door, it will be frigging pulled pork cat next if this forum is anything to go by :P
Note I didn't post the recipe for my dry rub. ;)
Ill volunteer to judge and Simons can be Wexford drop off.
There were three wine entries last year. There'll be more next year. Even if you can compare cider and mead, I think wine deserves its own category, as impossible to judge in same context. I can organize qualified wine judges (as long as the wine judging is in the Dublin part).
And maybe a pulled cat cat?
I object in the strongest possible terms to anyone pulling a cat
Quote from: Dunkel on September 29, 2015, 01:10:14 PM
Even if you can compare cider and mead,
I'm not sure why mead and cider were judged together last year. They've little or nothing in common with each other.
Sure there were probably only a few mead entries, but some of the lager categories had 4 or 5 entries each and they were judged separately. Seems unfair on the poor mead makers!
I think there's more of an argument to judging mead alongside wine. Mead is just wine after all. And there's probably going to be a lot more than "regular" grape wines entered in the wine category, country wines and such..
Quote from: Dunkel on September 29, 2015, 01:10:14 PMI can organize qualified wine judges (as long as the wine judging is in the Dublin part).
Deal. :)
Quote from: Bubbles on September 29, 2015, 01:31:29 PM
I'm not sure why mead and cider were judged together last year. They've little or nothing in common with each other.
Sure there were probably only a few mead entries, but some of the lager categories had 4 or 5 entries each and they were judged separately. Seems unfair on the poor mead makers!
I think there's more of an argument to judging mead alongside wine. Mead is just wine after all. And there's probably going to be a lot more than "regular" grape wines entered in the wine category, country wines and such..
Fair points, I assume it was based on the judges capabilities though. Davy from Tempted really seemed to know his stuff when it came to the meads anyway.
So I was a bit curious about what the main catagories people have entered each year so I did this up really quickly today
(http://photos3.pix.ie/82/7E/827E503C9DBE4708915A8F1A1FF2C841-0000353802-0003803810-01200L-428E6574A1EB49EC884F7484ED8DB544.jpg) (http://pix.ie/dcalnan/3803810)
I could't find the information for some of the mead/cider catagories, so I left them out, but I imagine they're similar.
Its interesting to see the change in a few categories like category 17(sour ales), 20(fruit beer) and 7(Amber Hybrid Beer) rise a lot this year, and others like 14(ipa) and 23(specialty) drop off.
Quote from: irish_goat on September 28, 2015, 10:32:51 AM
We will also be using the BJCP's updated style guidelines, which can be found HERE (http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php).
There's a lot more categories in the 2015 style guidelines than the 2008 ones. Do you think you will be aggregating them, and if so, how is this likely to be done?
It's been done in the past on similar cats and number of entries. No decision has been made yet as this is obviously new territory.
The amount of aggregation will probably depend on the mix of styles coming in. Similar styles I imagine will be grouped together.
Some cats are very close, but if there was lots of entries in each they will have their own medal.
At the end of the day they are being judged to style not against each other and they will come through because they are the best representation of the style not because they are better than the beer in the next category.
In comps how it normally works if there are say 1 or two entries per cat above, there is usually an obvious 1st and the difficulty always starts in picking 2nd and 3rd.
Quote from: johnrm on October 05, 2015, 08:00:11 AM
The amount of aggregation will probably depend on the mix of styles coming in. Similar styles I imagine will be grouped together.
Does that mean that the categories won't be determined until after 31/1? That would be a fairly big change from previous years.
Closing date is 31/1 as that's the point that we know all entries all cats, same as all previous years. Its only at that stage do we decide merges.
The merges only occur where there is only an entry or 2 per cat.
The only thing stopping us ordering a medal for every cat is cost tbh. It might be fun if every cat had a medal but if we cut them there is the potential for a lot of wasted unawarded medals that Dempsey sleeps with around his neck as god knows :P
What also hasn't been decided is thresholds for medals, last year it was judges decision as to whether beer judged attained a medal status and why some cats only got a silver and not a gold.
I think the thinking this year is bronze 28-33 Silver 34-39 Gold 40+, thats all speculation on my part anybody any thoughts?
I think having a qualifying score for a medal is a great idea that way there's no medals given out for a poor beer. If there was 3 or 4 beers in one cat and only one scored above the threshold for a medal then it would be fair to me that there's a medal for that beer and that would limit pointless medals given out just because there was only a few beers entered. What do ye think?
Quote from: marzen scorsese on October 27, 2015, 03:43:23 PM
I think having a qualifying score for a medal is a great idea that way there's no medals given out for a poor beer. If there was 3 or 4 beers in one cat and only one scored above the threshold for a medal then it would be fair to me that there's a medal for that beer and that would limit pointless medals given out just because there was only a few beers entered. What do ye think?
The problem is that different sets of judges will have a different "level" of awarding points. One table's bronze medal-winner beer might be a 32, whereas another table might give the same beer a 40. It's happened in the past where medals were awarded for good beers, but they just happened to have been awarded low-ish points.
At my table last year, they were scoring in the mid 30's but only giving medals to gold, as they felt the rest didn't deserve a medal.
I think it would be a great idea to have guidelines in place for this, as it will focus the mind on what deserves a medal for the particular competition.
Yeah there would have to be some guidelines agreed upon beforehand otherwise as bubbles pointed out it could vary from judge to judge or table to table.
I like ch's idea of bronze 28-33 silver 34-40 and gold 40 plus that way some cats will have only a couple entries and only one medal maybe none all depending on the quality of the beer. If any judges could say whether there was many beers outside of the bronze threshold mentioned or whether those numbers would even work. Would this mean a lot of extra medals and therefore an extra cost? Is it feasible? I do think it would be great if you got a medal per cat but this might be too much hassle, just throwing some ideas out there
Quote from: helmet on September 28, 2015, 03:12:16 PM
What's the craic with bottle size for mead? 2 x 500ml would clear me out!
Very true. 1L of the rich in good quality honey mead and aged for 2-3 years... 12-14% ABV, so the judges should have a small glass, not a pint ;-)
Quote from: bachus on October 29, 2015, 03:46:43 PM
Quote from: helmet on September 28, 2015, 03:12:16 PM
What's the craic with bottle size for mead? 2 x 500ml would clear me out!
Very true. 1L of the rich in good quality honey mead and aged for 2-3 years... 12-14% ABV, so the judges should have a small glass, not a pint ;-)
So are there any guidelines on this?
Mead like wine is an exception in the case of wine its 1L bottle for mead just submit 1x 500ml as 2 judges 100ml first round then 100Ml each BOS , its to allow enough left over for BOS.
Cheers
Grand job, thanks.
Quote from: CH on October 29, 2015, 04:39:52 PM
for mead just submit 1x 500ml as 2 judges 100ml first round then 100Ml each BOS
You sure? What about mini-BOS? I'm not convinced one 500ml bottle will be enough, even for high ABV mead..
First sample is 100Ml max per judge that stuff is like syrup and a judge would struggle to finish that amount, so max 200Ml gone from 1st pass.
Unless there are significant mead entries unfortunately as per previous years the cat will be joined to cider.
Quote from: Bubbles on October 27, 2015, 03:58:50 PM
Quote from: marzen scorsese on October 27, 2015, 03:43:23 PM
I think having a qualifying score for a medal is a great idea that way there's no medals given out for a poor beer. If there was 3 or 4 beers in one cat and only one scored above the threshold for a medal then it would be fair to me that there's a medal for that beer and that would limit pointless medals given out just because there was only a few beers entered. What do ye think?
The problem is that different sets of judges will have a different "level" of awarding points. One table's bronze medal-winner beer might be a 32, whereas another table might give the same beer a 40. It's happened in the past where medals were awarded for good beers, but they just happened to have been awarded low-ish points.
38 pointer won IPA fest last year even though there were 46 & 48 point beers. When it gets to mini BOS & BOS rounds scores dont matter much.
Watch all the judges scramble to do the cider and mead cat this year :)
Who makes all decisions regarding the national competition? Is it one person or a group in agreement? Who is this person/group?
Quote from: Hop Bomb on October 30, 2015, 08:35:57 AM
Quote from: Bubbles on October 27, 2015, 03:58:50 PM
Quote from: marzen scorsese on October 27, 2015, 03:43:23 PM
I think having a qualifying score for a medal is a great idea that way there's no medals given out for a poor beer. If there was 3 or 4 beers in one cat and only one scored above the threshold for a medal then it would be fair to me that there's a medal for that beer and that would limit pointless medals given out just because there was only a few beers entered. What do ye think?
The problem is that different sets of judges will have a different "level" of awarding points. One table's bronze medal-winner beer might be a 32, whereas another table might give the same beer a 40. It's happened in the past where medals were awarded for good beers, but they just happened to have been awarded low-ish points.
38 pointer won IPA fest last year even though there were 46 & 48 point beers. When it gets to mini BOS & BOS rounds scores dont matter much.
I'm surprised that a 38 pointer made it into a mini-BOS alongside 46 and 48 points. Was there no scores in between?
Quote from: CH on October 30, 2015, 02:39:18 AMthat stuff is like syrup and a judge would struggle to finish that amount
aha! Not necessarily so! Sack mead is heavy and sweet, but there's light-bodied and dry meads too. Even session meads (hydromels).
The problem with a single bottle is that the judge might need to keep sampling in order to properly evaluate the mead and end up with little or nothing for mini-BOS or BOS.
Also, if mead is in its own category this year, or judged alongside the wines, it potentially means that there won't be a fresh bottle opened for the BOS. This puts the mead winner at a disadvantage in the BOS.
Re wine bottle sizes:
Surely you mean a standard wine bottle of 75 cl?
indeed Will you can tell how much of it I drink!
Quote from: delzep on October 30, 2015, 08:42:01 AM
Who makes all decisions regarding the national competition? Is it one person or a group in agreement? Who is this person/group?
Like Brewcon, there was a call to arms there 3 months back by Irish Goat, there is a whats ap group with 8 bodies in it including 2 of the Belfast members. Decisions are made by the collective and we all help each other out across all areas with ideas.
This year Rossa has stepped back and it will be interesting to see how it runs without him.
This will be our 4th comp so we know the formula and a lot of it is just repeat or common sense.
The plan is always to deliver the comp as professionally as possible and make sure everything is done to the best of of our abilities.
We still have to be reasonably flexible in some areas, like a litre of Mead isn't necessary, but there will be no compromise on bottle sizes for the mainstream cats this year so if somebody provides a magnum bottle or 3x330ml, which has happened in the past for IPA, its disqualified.
The reasoning behind that is simple, it won't fit into a standard bulmers crate and or we always have 1 crate for initial judging and another for BOS.
We try to keep cats in their own crates, last year we had 90 crates to hump around, if we had big or more bottles it gets unmangeable for handling when it comes to stacking or logistics etc.
I know the Swedes even insist on a specific style of 500Ml, but that is a bit extreme in my view.
Competition Boss will post shortly fuller details of 2016 comp so its time now to brew and get a fully conditioned beer :)
Quote from: Bubbles on October 30, 2015, 09:08:32 AM
Quote from: CH on October 30, 2015, 02:39:18 AMthat stuff is like syrup and a judge would struggle to finish that amount
aha! Not necessarily so! Sack mead is heavy and sweet, but there's light-bodied and dry meads too. Even session meads (hydromels).
The problem with a single bottle is that the judge might need to keep sampling in order to properly evaluate the mead and end up with little or nothing for mini-BOS or BOS.
Also, if mead is in its own category this year, or judged alongside the wines, it potentially means that there won't be a fresh bottle opened for the BOS. This puts the mead winner at a disadvantage in the BOS.
Fair point but having done the stuff myself in DJ's and knowing the time effort and energy it takes to do I don't think its appropriate that we ask an entrant for 1L? I wouldn't enter and waste that amount in a comp.
We will specifically ask judges to take it slow on the mead and as we all know 100Ml is plenty to judge of any liquid.
I don't believe we have ever had a petulant entry which definitely would require 2 bottles.
Maybe the approach would be that you can if you want submit 2x500's or for this cat, especially if its sparkling, but only 1 will also be accepted?,
http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Mead.pdf
Quote from: CH on October 30, 2015, 10:21:55 AMI don't think its appropriate that we ask an entrant for 1L? I wouldn't enter and waste that amount in a comp.
I admit I'd be fairly torn about giving away 1 litre of mead for a competition. I also do 1 gal batches of it and you typically end up with 4-4.5 litres of finished mead. >20% is a lot of it to give away.
Quote from: CH on October 30, 2015, 10:21:55 AM
I don't believe we have ever had a petulant entry which definitely would require 2 bottles.
Think you mean "petillant" fella... ;D ;D Is that the best typo of the year?!?!
Mind you, there's been plenty of petulance around here over the years too... 8) 8) :-\
Oh no I got it right :P
Cut me some slack I single handed balanced the trade deficit with the UK last night through Irish Whiskey consumption, just doing my bit.. (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-sick007.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
oh alright, I'll go easy on you, just this once. ;)
Go get yourself some Dioralyte and you'll be grand. 8)
Thanks for the advice I tend to save that stuff for the day after judging ;)
There might be only 7 Monday's to Christmas but there's only 12 weeks until the doors close for entries to the Nationals!
Get them starters on!
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/02/bd700022f3d775460fb10fe5150f54d7.jpg)
Any restrictions on entries per category per person or stuff like that?
Starters? Brews lagering already. :)
Quote from: delzep on November 02, 2015, 11:57:57 PM
Any restrictions on entries per category per person or stuff like that?
As is previous years only 1 entry per sub category.
So in the case of Cat 21 IPA's up to 8 according to new BJCP guidelines :)
Crap, need to get that Apple juice done so I can start on the lager for the comp. Always end up running out of time!
Quote from: CH on November 03, 2015, 07:54:32 AM
Quote from: delzep on November 02, 2015, 11:57:57 PM
Any restrictions on entries per category per person or stuff like that?
As is previous years only 1 entry per sub category.
So in the case of Cat 21 IPA's up to 8 according to new BJCP guidelines :)
Should be added on the first post for peoples information :)
Actually there's no mention of this in last year's entry rules.
This thread is really only for discussion about comp and to help you plan your brews like bottle sizes no of entries per cat etc
Full rules and regs will be on comp website when it's launched next month.
In the meantime keep the questions coming and yeah if one of the mods can throw in a line about 1 entry per sub cat. in the op
updated
Is there a category for port,sherry and madera?
What about wines:
I would suggest two categories:
Traditional grape wines: Made from grapes or kits Red/White/Rose
Country wines: Made from friut and veg
Will this year Wine Mead and Cider will have their own medals if they achieve a standard of course!
We did wine last year I believe for the first time as after all we are The NHC!
We did this with the help of an industry expert even though we have no BJCP standards to judge against.
There were only 2 entries last year so unless those numbers dramatically improve this year I can't see a need for any more sub cats in the short term :(
Which is surprising tbh as every dog on the street offered me sparkling elderflower this year and I know there are a lot doing it every year.
I am looking forward to the day that a club run an exclusive cider or mead or Wine comp tho! NCB? ;)
John, there were three entries last year - I was judging :) But I agree with Will - if enough entries, split into Country wines and Grape wines. And separate from Mead and Cider (if I read that correctly).
Must have been a late entry as I delivered them ;)
It is a Homebrewing Competition but focus is on beer unfortunately, to say again for the first time this year Cider, Mead and Wine will have their own individual medal winning cats but Wine won't have its own sub cats. If we get 20 wine entries this year, next year is a different story.
There was a late entry - if I remember correctly JohnRM brought it up from Cork. I'll be entering three wines this year (so not judging), and I know of a couple of others who'll be entering wine for the first time.
Roll on March!
To help judges a good descriptive of what you submit would be great cheers
If wine judges are needed I know Cathal McHugh would love to be involved. I was talking to him and was a bit sad he wasn't asked back last year to judge.
The man knows his wine. Just throwing his name in there.
Hey Nigel, that's the sort of positive input we need.
If you know someone who you feel is competent, approachable and interested in participating please pipe up and volunteer them!
PM details to me so that I can follow up.
Thanks!
I second cathal, knows his beer too in fairness. Imho mc hughs is the best offy in the country
He judged the first year of the Nationals .
Last year the wine category received very little publicity and so generated very little chatter on the forum. This year I think it will be different. I will start an "interest thread" on the wines and ciders forum.
Quote from: auralabuse on November 03, 2015, 11:45:59 PM
I second cathal, knows his beer too in fairness. Imho mc hughs is the best offy in the country
I believe where somebody has a business and is busy on a Sat we tried not to bother them, but I think it would be nicer for them to decline.
Lots of useful crap online these days...
From and including: Thursday, 5 November 2015
To and including: Sunday, 31 January 2016
Result: 88 days
It is 88 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 2 months, 27 days including the end date
Quote from: CH on November 05, 2015, 01:28:35 PM
Lots of useful crap online these days...
From and including: Thursday, 5 November 2015
To and including: Sunday, 31 January 2016
Result: 88 days
It is 88 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 2 months, 27 days including the end date
<starts heating strike water>
Quote from: Bubbles on October 29, 2015, 11:58:59 PM
Quote from: CH on October 29, 2015, 04:39:52 PM
for mead just submit 1x 500ml as 2 judges 100ml first round then 100Ml each BOS
You sure? What about mini-BOS? I'm not convinced one 500ml bottle will be enough, even for high ABV mead..
It should be minimum two bottles:
Number of Bottles Per Entry At minimum, two bottles will be needed for judging; one for the initial round where the entry is tasted and given scores and a second for the Best
of Show (BOS) round, where the top beers from each category meet head to head and an overall winner is chosen (assuming there is a BOS for the competition).2 x 0.33ml bottles?
Bottle Size 10 to 14 ounce bottles are standard so as to increase the convenience of storing them in standard beer case boxes. Any size or shaped bottles that do not easily
fit in standard caseboxes are generally not allowed; oversize bottles are difficult to store and may lead to breakage. However, large (16 oz., 22 oz. or 750ml) bottles are often accepted
for meads, ciders and some beer styles. http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCPCompHdbk.pdf
I think these are just guidelines laid down by the BJCP. The number of bottles is at the discretion of the competition organisers.
Would there be a possibility to submit strong beers 10% or over in 330ml bottles? I believe this was done during the English Ales competition in Belfast. Some of those stronger beers tend to be in smaller bottles.
Apart from the Mead & Wine sections, all entries are to be in 500ml, non-identifiable, clean bottles.
The main reason for multiple bottles of beer in a comp. is to do with carbonation and temperature.
Need I say more?
A bottle of wine/port/mead/sherry will not disimprove if the cork is put back in for an hour or so.
If its a white or a champers then cork it and back to the fridge.
I would suggest that 750 ml (overkill) or best 330 ml of the above cats. would be ample for the judges.
Remember that brewers bottle say 40 bottles and submit 2 (5% loss), Wine/Mead/Port/Sherry makers may bottle 6 so to submit and loose 1 out of six is a16% loss, is not very condusive to entry!
Quote from: pob on December 07, 2015, 08:34:25 PM
Apart from the Mead & Wine sections, all entries are to be in 500ml, non-identifiable, clean bottles.
I'm not sure that's right, unless something has changed since this (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,10763.msg132608.html#msg132608) announcement?
It was flagged up for the last 2 years don't make me find the posts from last year :P and it was flagged up again in July.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,10268.msg125963.html#msg125963
The following needs ammending and I was wrong to repeat it!
"*750ml or 1l will be disqualified, Exceptions may be made where aged or specialist categories or say very high ABV beers in a different format like a lambic in a champagne bottle etc with prior approval from the organisers via PM."
If you have champagne or lambic those require high pressure bottles and of course for safety reasons may be in a 750ml.
The reasons are practical for transportation handling labelling and judging, so to put the topic to bed once and for all the only bottle that we can accept is 500Ml, I'm sorry if that impacts on some of you but we have let it go for the last 2 years we have to draw the line somewhere.
We are not trying to be miserable bastards but we need to make the whole events as easy to run as possible, as soon as exceptions start appearing it creates confusion for everybody.
We are also looking at flip tops for 2017! the reason is simple they sit proud of the bulmers crates and don't allow us to stack the crate snugly on top of one another one popped off in moving a crate last year, the entrant was contacted and we replaced the entry. Some of them are also marked :(
There will be a separate side competition for "club barrel aged beers" outside of the nationals if anybody is interested and it will be posted later as its outside the main comp and more a bit of fun, those beers go back 3 years there may be an exceptions as to their format.
Thanks John.
So just to be clear (or just to add more confusion ;)) if someone has, say, an aged beer like a barleywine in 330ml bottles can they get approval from the organisers? With some beers the 330ml size is not so much a consequence of brewing a high ABV beer but about the fact that the beer was bottled years ago (before these guidelines were drawn up) with the intention that they would be aged.
I know there will be a few Barleywines from SCD and GCB to name a few in this years comp and they will all be in 500's :(
I have pm'd you.
Quick question, I know the deadline for entry is Jan 31st, when is the beer actually judged then, I've just done a brew (fermentation hasn't even kicked off yet - should have used a starter :-\) It'll be pretty young on the 31st Jan but come March should be about getting there - its an american pale ale so shouldn't need huge conditioning me thinks!
Judging will be on the 20th February and 5th March so it should be well conditioned by then. :)
Great Thanks for that! Now to go cheer on those yeast cells!
How do we register for this?
Hi Mac, check out the competition webpage here -
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/competition/
More details on the other thread also -
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,14580.0.html
There are currently 3 different threads about the 2016 competition. This confused the shit out of things in previous years so I'm locking this thread.
You can chat away on this thread (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,14580.0.html) which I have stickified for your convenience.