National Homebrew Club Ireland

Teeing up the biggest Homebrew competition in Europe in 2017
Watch here for updates - expect changes from previous years.

*500ml crown capped brown ALE bottles only.*

Legs, venues and dates TBA.

Competition website is due a full update - expect this live November latest.

NHC full members only.

Full review of categories and styles valid for competition.

Expect limits on Categories, styles and sub categories and no. of entries.

Entry EUR7 per entry TBC
Full details will be available on the National Brewing Championships website.

This is YOUR event - it can only happen with your input - your entries, stewarding, judging and support.
Sign up to play your part in the biggest homebrew event on the 2017 calendar!

Buoyed by my performance in the Capital Brewers comp I'm thinking of taking a crack at the Nationals.

I've been informed that the layout of the competition is going to be different this year compared to last year.

Can you give any details (or are there any to give?)

Cheers,
Mick

Brewing to win that's the spirit!

Not quite ... more brewing because I'm now confident that I'm not going to make a show of myself

No making a show out of yourself with these things. Sanitation, good temperature control and simple recipes = great beer. Good luck to all entrants this year.

There are always questions about "What category does my beer go in?" It would be good to create a topic on it closer to the time

This year I've decided to win it :P.

Quote from: CH on August 29, 2016, 12:59:46 PM
Brewing to win that's the spirit!

(http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-06-26-lord_of_the_rings_the_fellowship_of_the_ringtorulethemall-thumb.jpg)

:P ;D ;D ;D >:D

Quote from: Pheeel on August 29, 2016, 02:25:22 PM
There are always questions about "What category does my beer go in?" It would be good to create a topic on it closer to the time

We've already got an excellent thread for that. Lots of info in here:

What BJCP category does my beer belong in? THE OFFICIAL THREAD
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,5051.0.html


This is also worth a look for anyone entering the competition:

So What do I need to do to make competition winning beer?
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,10777.0.html

Announcement

The dates for the 2017 National Brewing Championships judging will be:

Saturday 18th February - venue TBC
Saturday 4th March - Dublin venue TBC

We hope to have venues nailed down as soon as possible. As mentioned above, 500ml brown bottles are the only entries that will be accepted.

Best of luck brewing!

Anyone remember a chart that someone posted on the forum somewhere that would tell you what style of beer you should be brewing to have it properly aged in time for the competition? ie It would give you an example of a beer to brew with 12 months to go, 11 months and so on. Just looking for some inspiration to get cracking soon enough. Only 4 months to go  ;)

Quote from: garciaBernal on September 22, 2016, 06:18:11 PM
Anyone remember a chart that someone posted on the forum somewhere that would tell you what style of beer you should be brewing to have it properly aged in time for the competition? ie It would give you an example of a beer to brew with 12 months to go, 11 months and so on. Just looking for some inspiration to get cracking soon enough. Only 4 months to go  ;)

I think this is what you might be thinking of    http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,9901.msg122139.html#msg122139 (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,9901.msg122139.html#msg122139)

That's the very one! Good find thanks for that.

Well lads ,
Any more updates on this ? When is registration likely to be open etc ?

I think I might put a beer or two in this year ....

Currently finalising the venues. Registration will then open next month and close at end of 31st January.

Reminder folks, 500ml bottles only!  :)

What's that you say,500ml. Need to say it again so. LADS IT 500ML BOTTLES ONLY ;)

Zero flexibility this year as I'm not involved
Just to also state that longnecks and fliptops are higher than a bulmers crate and may get caught and flipped open by the moving and stacking of crates SK entrants don't be disappointed if this happens you have been warned!

Are we totally tied to crown capped bottles also ?
As in No Fliptops allowed ?

Even with careful handling 1 popped last year and we had to go chasing an entrant, this year the logistics is being subcontracted and I suspect there will be no mercy shown to the bottles.

The Flensburger fliptops that I flooded Dublin with are fine and fit perfectly into the crates. The taller ones however can sometimes catch as CH says. We'll allow both types but will have to leave a proviso that accidents may happen. I'd recommend just trying to use a capper for your competition entries to prevent any issues occurring.

Spaten Bottles will fit in a bulmers crate right ?
( 5 for a tenner in the local offie , 1.79 in Aldi like )

Dublin and Wicklow

Courteously given a loan of a capper by a fellow club member and bottled a couple for competition entry ,

Man I really love my flippy tops , soo much less hassle

Was in Munich and saw one of the three litre Magnum fliptops of Holzar bier in a petrol station for 27 euro .....
if only Ryanair would have allowed me to bring it ....

Any timescale on when Entry will be open ?

Or more importantly when it closes :)

Is the number of entries per person going to be capped this year?

Not involved this year but use last year as a yardstick, which means for an RIS probably too late.
Interesting bit this year will be cat splits and which ones get merged
I'm sure a cap of 5 beers was mentioned before to get a points system going for best brewer, but I'm just speculating as to how things are gonna go this year.

Quote from: CH on November 15, 2016, 05:39:46 PM
Not involved this year but use last year as a yardstick, which means for an RIS probably too late.
Interesting bit this year will be cat splits and which Ines get merged
I'm sure a cap of 5 beers was mentioned before to get a points system going for best brewer, but I'm just speculating as to how things are gonna go this year.

Sorry bud ,
Can I have a glossary of the Acronyms ? "RIS" , "Ines" and what exactly do you mean about category splits ?
Obviously I've missed a few coversations that would make all that clear

Russian Imperial Stout
Last year we had medal for every BJCP Category circa 30+
In our very first NHC comp there were 15 ish
I'd expect the number of cats or lines this year will be somewhere between those 2 numbers.
Apologies for the HB rhyming slang

"and which Ines get merged"
=
"and which ones get merged"!

The thinking is that there are so many BJCP cats now, how do we judge them all?

1. Some categories will not be eligible for our competition.

2. Other cats and sub cats will be merged into "Our Judging Categorys"

BTW: I am not on the comp. sub committee but believe the above is prolly true!

Cheers for the Clarifications lads !!!

While it may not play to my particular strategy for getting Gold this year , I can totally understand wanting to make things more efficient .

Would not the easiest thing be to have awards for each sub category ( but not a physical medal ) then Medals for a style ( Grouped by ourselves ) then the Overall Awards ?

As in I have the best Amber Kellerbeer (07C) and can claim Kudos for that , then medals between all the European Ambers (Styles 06 and 07) (where I might get bronze) and then the overalls

Announcement coming very soon, just getting all the ducks in a row.  :)

If you want a gold from a beer comp enter a beer that's in the top 25% of the cat, then after that huge amount of luck

These days if I get 35, Im happy with my entry.
After that it's all down to the flight order, palette of the judges on the day and the tastes and smells they've already experienced throughout the flight.

Nah
My beer is amaaaazing , and it's gonna win !!!

Quote from: CH on November 22, 2016, 01:25:23 PM

Noted ... >:D

There's gonna be tears here in March!  ;D ;D

Tears of Joy when I win !!!

;D ;D ;D

 :D

jaysis, the trash talking has started early this year!!  8)

No need for trash talk. I'll just let the beers speak for themselves. >:)

All harmless fun, but you better start practicing for your medal



(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161123/85f779d7b90df4b60fa56bc1e291f5ed.png)

It will be real interesting to see what categories are grouped this year?, I bet like a couple of years ago with BIPA, NEIPA has its own cat this year

On that note.. why can't the category groupings be announced in advance?

What's the limit on entries this year?

The competitive players are easy to spot

Competitive, me..?

How can we announce grouped categories before we know how many entries are entered.

The categorys for entry are the 2015 BJCP cats.

How the comp. committee decide to aggregate entrys can only be done when the entry demographic is known empirically!

BTW; I am NOT on th ecomp. committee!!

Quote from: Will_D on November 23, 2016, 10:15:36 PM
How can we announce grouped categories before we know how many entries are entered.

The categorys for entry are the 2015 BJCP cats.

How the comp. committee decide to aggregate entrys can only be done when the entry demographic is known empirically!

BTW; I am NOT on th ecomp. committee!!

100% correct . It's the only fair way ..

my suggestion for the Kudos in any individual sub Category , but the medals and progression to overall be via grouped categories seems fair . The groupings can be decided once the entries are
in so as to roughly balance the groupings ( ie if there were a 100 entries in a 100 different sub categories and 10 groups there'd be roughly 10 sub categories in each group ..) 

Quote from: CH on November 23, 2016, 05:48:16 PM
All harmless fun, but you better start practicing for your medal



(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161123/85f779d7b90df4b60fa56bc1e291f5ed.png)

It will be real interesting to see what categories are grouped this year?, I bet like a couple of years ago with BIPA, NEIPA has its own cat this year

Tshh
Sure I'm just well used to winning !!!!

Quote from: Will_D on November 23, 2016, 10:15:36 PM
How can we announce grouped categories before we know how many entries are entered.

I'd have thought 4 years of competition entries would be enough to predict the likely spread of entries.

The recent MOBI-Euro competition announced medal categories well in advance, in fact I don't know of a homebrew competition that doesn't.

It's a bit of a conundrum. The competition organisers want to optimise the groupings so there's a good level of competition for each medal, so they have meaning. There's a fairly large variability in styles (outside of stout and american ales at least) from year to year so it makes sense to do the groupings once the final entries are all tallied.

On the other hand, it's pretty hard as an entree to put your best foot forward if you don't know the bracket your beer will be in before brewing, as you'll want to stand out against the competition by being different in some way. You need to know the bracket for your entry before brewing to tweak recipes in the right direction.

I'm sure many have made excellent beers that pale in comparison to the eventual medal winners in the mini bos "beauty contest" as they don't have that extra something on the day.  Picture an ordinary bitter vs a best or strong bitter for instance. Now group those in with british golden ales and suddenly your english hops seem dull in comparison to the bright citrus from the americans.

Quote from: molc on November 24, 2016, 09:54:53 AM
On the other hand, it's pretty hard as an entree to put your best foot forward if you don't know the bracket your beer will be in before brewing, as you'll want to stand out against the competition by being different in some way. You need to know the bracket for your entry before brewing to tweak recipes in the right direction.

I'm sure many have made excellent beers that pale in comparison to the eventual medal winners in the mini bos "beauty contest" as they don't have that extra something on the day.  Picture an ordinary bitter vs a best or strong bitter for instance. Now group those in with british golden ales and suddenly your english hops seem dull in comparison to the bright citrus from the americans.

Exactly. You could pick up numerous examples of this.. e.g. what chance would a well brewed blonde ale have against 40 american pale ales in the same category. If a brewer knew that their blonde ale was going to be judged alongside 40 APAs, would they bother entering it?

Judging is to BJCP style guides so in theorey you coudl have stout and lager in the same comp.cat.

Its how well they are made and how well to style they are that counts.

I think with the maturing of our judges and continued education we should hopefully be getting to a point where a blonde ale and an imperial stout can be judged subjectively side by side and a winner can be picked.

Medal categories are currently being looked at by our Judging Officer, Richard and Rossa. Will update when I know more.  :)

Quote from: Will_D on November 24, 2016, 10:13:45 AM
Judging is to BJCP style guides so in theorey you coudl have stout and lager in the same comp.cat.

Its how well they are made and how well to style they are that counts.

What Will said ....


( brew to win Overall , making it the best beer ever !!!!! no worries then about category splits and divisions !!)

It's only a beer competition lads

Quote from: CH on November 25, 2016, 12:59:03 AM
It's only a beer competition lads

Exactly
Not like it's life or death .....

It's more important than that !!!!

Quote from: CH on October 24, 2016, 12:00:59 PM
Zero flexibility this year as I'm not involved
Just to also state that longnecks and fliptops are higher than a bulmers crate and may get caught and flipped open by the moving and stacking of crates SK entrants don't be disappointed if this happens you have been warned!

Do you know if the alpack 500mls are ok?

http://www.alpack.ie/products/500ml_chap_beer_bottle_1400.html?filter_set%5B0%5D=8%2C2930%2C292&

Absolutely fine.

Meet the first of my 3 gold medals: https://imgur.com/a/1cDMY (https://imgur.com/a/1cDMY)

What's the link for the competition page or is it not up yet?

Quote from: LordEoin on December 06, 2016, 01:44:09 AM
Meet the first of my 3 gold medals: https://imgur.com/a/1cDMY (https://imgur.com/a/1cDMY)

Needs more hops.

More hops? I don't need to hide any flaws...  :P
Gold medal #2 will have about a seventh the amount.

Last year...
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/competition/

What's the status with cider and mead in 2017?

and Wine??

I was sure we said both of those cats were to be separated from the Nationals and run by 2 Dublin clubs ?

The idea was suggested alright..  :P

But then we're essentially doubling/tripling up on the logistics and a lot of the organisation. And all for 2 or 3 dozen bottles of wine/cider/mead. Doesn't make sense, at least not until the number of entries in those categories grows considerably, imo..

Quote from: Bubbles on December 13, 2016, 09:47:00 AM
But then we're essentially doubling/tripling up on the logistics and a lot of the organisation. And all for 2 or 3 dozen bottles of wine/cider/mead. Doesn't make sense, at least not until the number of entries in those categories grows considerably, imo..

Thats about the about the size of of a local club comp, just saying loike!

i'm sure the organisers will let us know  ;)

Final touches to the comp website being done up. Should be launched in the next few days.  :)

Thats more exciting than Santa ^-^

This is going to be my first time entering, any tips?

Quote from: RedRoss on December 19, 2016, 05:26:32 PM
This is going to be my first time entering, any tips?

Brew great beer :)

There is a thread somewhere

Quote from: RedRoss on December 19, 2016, 05:26:32 PM
This is going to be my first time entering, any tips?

1. Join up & become a member (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/chit-chat/gtgtgtgt-membership-how-to-sign-up!/)

2. Go down to a local club meet (they don't bite; well, not too often anyway)

3. Taste your beer before entering, get your mates to as well - if it's got off flavours, infected, oxidised, etc = don't enter it, it ain't gonna win (again local club will help out here)

4. Enter it in the category that it tastes like, not how you brewed it - a red might become a english bitter; an IPA, a Pale Ale as they condition

Do we not need to enter details about the beers this year such as malt bill, hops, yeast etc etc?  The site didn't prompt me to enter anything other than provide the 150character text box and now on trying to edit the entry I'm having no joy (but have paid :) )

Is this intentional or is the site not rendering properly on Chrome?

Cheers,
Padraic

Like all previous years you don't need to post recipe nobody sees it, judges and stewards only see the descriptive

Quoteon trying to edit the entry I'm having no joy (but have paid :) )

From what I remember of last years site the entry will be editable until you've paid. After that you can't change or edit your entry. I guess this gives brewers the opportunity to withdraw beers, or swop in beers for ones that didn't turn out as well as expected coming up to the competition.

Quote from: CH on January 17, 2017, 07:37:54 PM
Like all previous years you don't need to post recipe nobody sees it, judges and stewards only see the descriptive

Thing is, this year, there wasn't even that.  Is that what the 150 characters is?  It's editable after you've paid from what I can see.

But last year, there was a form to fill in of ingredients and this year there was none.

Hoping to get my entries shipped off before the end of the week. Is there any particular note/packing slip/shipping label that is recommended to use - the "Print Shipping Labels" Option on the webpage does not appear to be working correctly for me.

Seems to be a problem with the paying link. This text (highlighted) takes you back to the comp home page, not a payment page.
Take a moment to review your entries or pay your entry fees.

Quote from: Pheeel on January 18, 2017, 09:16:01 PM
Seems to be a problem with the paying link. This text (highlighted) takes you back to the comp home page, not a payment page.
Take a moment to review your entries or pay your entry fees.

I had this too. There's a box on the right hand side of the screen about paying and if you click in it, PayPal launchers.  HTH.

It's an awful pity that there is no drop off point for entries in either Cork, Kerry or Limerick. I am aware that entries can be posted but a drop off location would be more ideal, is there a reason behind this??

Quote from: Gugs44 on January 19, 2017, 11:06:38 AM
It's an awful pity that there is no drop off point for entries in either Cork, Kerry or Limerick. I am aware that entries can be posted but a drop off location would be more ideal, is there a reason behind this??

Did anyone step up and volunteer to arrange this?

Me and Johnrm are splitting it between us for Cork.

Was there only 1 BJCP point award even if you judged on both both judging days?

https://www.bjcp.org/membergd.php#table1

So If I'm reading that correctly the nationals had two sessions this year, so if you judged both days there should be two points allocated, as minimum points per session is one!

So was it that in this case, the first session not filed to the BJCP office?

Quote from: johnrm on October 04, 2017, 12:14:35 PM
https://www.bjcp.org/membergd.php#table1

I can't make sense of that, it seems to just say a minimum of 1 with a max of 5.5 if there is enough entries. Didn't we have 300-400 entries so a judge could get 4 points?

So I did 2 sessions on each day i think:

Judges earn points at a rate of 0.5 Judge Points per session, but the following limitations apply:

Judges earn a minimum of 1.0 Judge Point per competition.
Judges earn a maximum of 1.5 Judge Points per day.

So I should have gotten 0.5 per session so 2 points?

Actually to be fair, something isn't right with the points for the 2017 Nationals.

I judged two days but only got 1 point this year. In previous years, I also judged 2 days and got 2 points for the competition as I would expect.

I didn't get my national points last year. James still owes me a pint for that  :P

I didn't get my point allocated either. I was in touch with James about this last week, i think he's on the case.