National Homebrew Club Ireland

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Categories
BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines (http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf)
11C. British Strong Bitter, Page 20
13B. British Brown Ale, Page 23
13C. English Porter, Page 24
15B. Irish Stout, Page 27

There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed winners.

Geterbrewed are kindly offering to sponsor the competitions BOS 1st prize and have offered to brew the winning recipe on their new Brewiks system and keg it for sale. 
They will be offering a key keg home for the winner and are also looking into the possibility that the rest can be put out for sale with interested retailers.*
_{* TBC depending on interested parties. There also may be some sensible caveats, should there be any seriously hard to get ingredients used, etc.}

Maximum 40 entries.

Dates
26th August – Registration open
9th October – Entries to drop points deadline
22nd October – Judging

Venue
Brewbot (http://www.brewbotbelfast.com)
Ormeau Road, Belfast.

£5/€5 per entry.

2 x 500ml brown bottles per entry.

1 entry per style per brewer.

If anyone is up for volunteering to judge or steward please PM.

Registration now open!

Register Here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-whLoYdvX__puUOPiGRKCqt1IyNcpr1u_PgqYlM5_IySA4A/viewform)

More details to follow.

Regards,
The Belfast Homebrewers

Nice one, I'm having a go at this with proper water profile this year ;)

Brilliant. Love the theme. Great if it'll be an annual affair

Just conceived the recipe for this now and its not a style I've brewed before so thanks for the challenge :)

Registration is now open!!

Link to registration form:

Registration Entry Form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-whLoYdvX__puUOPiGRKCqt1IyNcpr1u_PgqYlM5_IySA4A/viewform)

Can any mods add this to the OP?

Quote from: CH on August 17, 2016, 02:59:10 PM
Just conceived the recipe for this now and its not a style I've brewed before so thanks for the challenge :)

Interesting! Any clues or is it top secret?

Yer kidding me right, I will let you know I've just been and bought 4 yeasts for it ;)
How many am I allowed per cat ?

Quote from: CH on August 27, 2016, 08:25:36 PM
Yer kidding me right, I will let you know I've just been and bought 4 yeasts for it ;)
How many am I allowed per cat ?

(http://static.politifact.com.s3.amazonaws.com/politifact/photos/carpet_bomber.jpg)

:P

Haha! Fierce talk!!

Oh no I'll only pick the winning one for entry :P

Hi All,

Don't forget to sign up for this competition if you haven't already done so.

Not only does it promise great prizes (to be announced soon) but it also gives you an excuse to come visit sunny Belfast with its beautiful piazzas, stunning vistas and impressive collection of walls and roads and footpaths and that.
Also, who wouldn't want to spend a day in the class venue that is Brewbot, which showcases an ever-changing range from the sublime  to the magical to the downright unusual; and that's just the clientele hahahaha.

Anyway, in trying to plan for the event we're need to get an idea of the number of entries to expect and where to expect them from so, even if you haven't registered yet please just reply here with what you're hoping to enter, so we can start nailing a few things down.

Cheers,

-Barry

P.S. Tell your friends!

I expect to enter. Haven't as yet

I'll be putting a few in not sure what cats until I taste them

I've just registered. I've one in the keg ready to bottle but I think I can do better, so I've another in the FV. The best one will be entered.

I'm kegging my two tonight so barring a disaster that'll be two more!!

I have an ESB kegged which I'm hoping to enter.

Just registered a Porter.

I wonder is anyone from Capital doing collections.

Registered for a Brown ale, will be the first brew in my new fermentation fridge...what could go wrong  ???

Quote from: Beechlawn Brewing on September 14, 2016, 10:04:12 AM
Just registered a Porter.

I wonder is anyone from Capital doing collections.

We're currently planning drop point format and hope to update soon.

Hey All,

Guess what - the forecast for tomorrow is warm sunshine. Perfect weather for a sneaky brew (or 4) outside, in fact.

But, while you're brewing in the unseasonable heat, bear in mind that at any moment you could be plunged into the dank darkness that is the Irish Autumn, so an IPA or the like will bring you cold comfort when this eventuality happens.

'But what shall I brew, then?' I hear you cry. Well, just off the top of my head how about one, two, or all of the following:

11C. British Strong Bitter
13B. British Brown Ale
13C. English Porter
15B. Irish Stout

Yum*4

And afterwards ask yourself, as you're enjoying the fruits of your labour by a roaring fire, coughing your lungs up because you forgot to get the chimney swept:
Is it nice? Yep!
Would you like a nice shiny medal to glint in the glow of this smoky inferno? You betcha!
Are you missing Belfast, because she sure misses you? Sob! -Stoppit!
Are those tears in your eyes from the smoke?  Ach..feck off

...then you know what you have to do. The good news is, you've still 5 whole weeks to do it :) **

Go on....

Go on....

GWAN!!


-Barry

**_{3 weeks left to register}

Folks, I'm doing a pick up point for this comp

Probably best for people to club their entries to avoid lots of individual trips to malahide  O0

Quote from: Partridge9 on September 20, 2016, 07:51:29 PM
Folks, I'm doing a pick up point for this comp

Probably best for people to club their entries to avoid lots of individual trips to malahide  O0

Many thanks for this - it's really appreciated!

1st Prize update

Geterbrewed are kindly offering to sponsor the competitions BOS 1st prize and have offered to brew the winning recipe on their new Brewiks system and keg it for sale.  They will be offering a key keg home for the winner and are also looking into the possibility that the rest can be put out for sale with interested retailers (this part is TBC depending on interested parties).  There also may need to be some sensible caveats should there are any seriously hard to get ingredients used etc so further details may follow but hopefully no issues here given the categories of the competition.

Can you bring your entries with you on the day if you are judging or will you need the bottles in a few weeks before the judging day?

Quote from: DoubleG on September 21, 2016, 02:41:29 PM
Can you bring your entries with you on the day if you are judging or will you need the bottles in a few weeks before the judging day?

It's preferred that they're with us in adance to get labelling, etc done, but a handful on the day are okay. As long as you register in good time we can bring the labels with us on the day.

-Barry

Have you seen that amazing prize??

Plenty of time to get a brew on and possibly see your winning brew being enjoyed by lucky punters in your local.

I know I'm sticking another brew on tonight to increase my chances  O0

Many thanks again to Geterbrewed for such an excellent prize!

- Barry

Well now.....must make some room in my schedule for a wee brew

Great prize guys!

My entry went into the fermenter yesterday :)

I may have to squeeze in another entry!

Might have an entry myself. What's the story with drop offs at the moment? I could do Dublin, but not Belfast directly. I can also act as a drop off for Kilkenny and surrounding areas, I'd be willing to make the trip up if needed.

Is it one entry per brewer?

Think it's still one entry per style per brewer

Booooo

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160921/0eff45ee9d0d76bb2c863d0e7d6c5cf0.jpg)

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160921/a30e7f8d255ee87bf582a334a98bf3e1.jpg)

2 carboy on one shelf?? I hope they are light beers.

That's how we rock in Wickla.
I've had 4 kegs on that shelf, if you look the load is spread over 2 shelves as timber blocks transfers the load

Saw that but still a braver then me.

Needs must, my other fridge has a Pilsner in it and the other ones conditioning 4 kegs

Will be putting a stout in :) What an awesome prize too! Wow doesn't quite cut it!

Quote from: nigel_c on September 21, 2016, 11:15:39 PM
2 carboy on one shelf?? I hope they are light beers.

:D

"1st Prize update
Geterbrewed are kindly offering to sponsor the competitions BOS 1st prize and have offered to brew the winning recipe on their new Brewiks system and keg it for sale"

Great prize Lads!

CH is obviously keen, or just thirsty!

Any news on dropoff points lads? I'm going to be in Dublin this weekend, so could kill 2 birds with one stone if there's a place.

@BrewDorg - yes Partridge9 has kindly offered to act as the Dublin drop point.

Quote from: Partridge9 on September 20, 2016, 07:51:29 PM
Folks, I'm doing a pick up point for this comp

Probably best for people to club their entries to avoid lots of individual trips to malahide  O0

Other than a Dublin drop point we have a Belfast postal address.

Hope this helps!

It does indeed, cheers. I've offered to act as Kilkenny club drop off but I don't think anyone else nearby is entering.

Sorry @sub82, I checked my email because I thought the postal address was in the confirmation, but it's not. The Google doc is also closed. Could I get that address? If I don't get to a Dublin dropoff, I'll have to go that route.

Address PM'd.

-Barry

Registration closing tomorrow everyone!! Just a few spaces left!

Any chance I could get the postage address lads?

PM'd

Cheers,

- Barry

Who wants some of this action?  :)

(http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b628/sub82/Public/D464A953-65A2-46CE-80DF-E2C6E2380789_zpsjhrwddea.jpg) (http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/sub82/media/Public/D464A953-65A2-46CE-80DF-E2C6E2380789_zpsjhrwddea.jpg.html)

An Post lost my entry. So I guess that opens up the comp  :P

Quote from: BrewDorg on October 20, 2016, 04:09:35 PM
An Post lost my entry. So I guess that opens up the comp  :P

It tasted amazing as well!

Just wait now Darren.. they'll find my parcel and know you're lying  ;D

Shh.. If they do blame an post

Quote from: BrewDorg on October 20, 2016, 04:09:35 PM
An Post lost my entry. So I guess that opens up the comp  :P

Ah that's a shame! Maybe it'll turn up?

I hope so but I've given up. I have it tracked, showing it left Portlaoise on the 11th, but the tracking hasn't updated since  :(

Right everyone I can do lifts from the Europa bus station or central station in the morning. I'm in a 206 so that 4 (at a push) at a time but I can do a couple of runs. Let me know here if you want a lift to Brewbot.

Have fun tomorrow guys sorry I can't make it.

2nd and 3rd Place prize updates!

2nd Place

A box of 24 beers
(8 stout, 8 saison and 8 push and pull)
from the fantastic Boundary Brewing (https://boundarybrewing.coop/)

3rd Place

£25 voucher for Get 'Er Brewed (http://www.geterbrewed.ie).

The results are:

BOS - Ciaran Doyle - 11C Strong Bitter

2nd Place - Ciaran Doyle - 13C English Porter

3rd Place - Larry Murray - 13B British Brown Ale

Well done lads!!!

:)

Well done to Ciaran, I had the pleasure of tasting a beer he brought to a meet in Weatherspoons and it wasn't great if I'm being honest with one very obvious flaw. Ciaran was very attentive and listened to what we all had to say. The underlying beer was solid and clearly with some practice and tweaking he is now producing competition winning beer.
I tell this story as we all have made shit beer in our early brewing careers, the point is keep trying, take on board the advice from meets or scoresheets, nobody is out to get you or criticise and if your getting a consistent message look at your process, it's actually hard to continuously  brew shit beer.
In the meantime well done to Chris and Barry for organising and putting Belfast Brewers very firmly back front and centre by organising the comp and again to Ciaran, I'd be happy to buy his beer once it's been produced commercially.

Clubs?

Quote from: nigel_c on October 23, 2016, 11:01:50 AM
Clubs?

Nigel, embarrassingly everyone who placed was from the north, I'll leave it to the judges to justify themselves lol :)

Cheers John. Those beers you're talking about were for the same competition last year when you were up to give us a bit of a pep talk in preparing for competitions. I think i had about 4 brews in a row which all had the same astringency problems and it got a bit disheartening if im honest. I put the issue down to grain husks getting into the boil, bought a better false bottom which seems to have fixed the problem.  pH and water chemistry wouldn't be my strong point but I've been digging into that recently as I'm sure a lot of ones on here are since the meter group buy.  Different recipes this year but I'd wager any improvement is down to tweaks in process rather than better recipes but could be a bit of both. Maybe the lyles golden syrup made the difference ;)

Well done Ciaran, great result there!

Congratulations to the Belfast lads on organising another brilliant competition. My bottles literally arrived mid competition and the lads managed to squeeze them in, a huge thank you to Bazza and Mrs.Bazza for all their help!

Well done guys, I'm already plotting and planning for next year!

Are the score sheets available?

Hey All,

Meant to weigh in with a comment yesterday but between hangovers, kids' birthday parties leading to amplified hangover, I'm only getting round to this now.

First of all, a huge congratulations to Ciaran on his excellent gold and silver, and to Larry Murray on a bronze with his first ever interaction with the Belfast club. All thoroughly deserved.

Big thanks also to all our judges who took the time and expense to come down to Brewbot and lend their wealth of knowledge and expertise to the proceedings. Special mention to Rich (Slugtrap) as well for keeping the judges and the scoresheets in order. Invaluable help there.

Thanks also to all the guys from the club who came down to help out with stewarding, banner hanging, tidying, arranging the chips and dips in an artistically appealing formation, and for generally helping the day run like clockwork. It was definitely a much less stressful day than our first go last year.

Thanks to Brewbot for being excellent hosts and for all their support leading up to, and on, the day. Marie and Pearse couldn't do enough for us. Our club looks to have developed a great relationship with them and long may it continue.

Huge thanks to our prize sponsors. Geterbrewed's offer of a professional brew of the gold winner is one hell of a prize and, given that one of our lads will be the recipient of this offer, our next club trip has pretty much arranged itself  :)
Thanks also to Boundary Brewing for their very generous prize of a case of beer. Party at Ciaran's next weekend  ;)

Ambrosia Italian for the food. The pizzas went down a storm and we managed to get through almost all the chips  :)  Ambrosia's one of those rare places where both daddies and kids like going to. I'm a sucker for colouring in.

So, who does that leave - ah yes, An Post. What can we say other than they got there in the end. And as yer man MeatBat or BatLoaf said, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. CH's delivery record is much better, 100% success rate, in fact. Cheers, man. Much appreciated and thanks to James for doing Dublin collection point.

All in all a really successful day. The old 'I can only do things when the pressure's really on' work ethic paid off again. And I actually managed to get through the whole of yesterday without needing to recharge my phone due to Whatsapp killing the battery.

Great event, great day out, great work, great standard and roll on next year!

Keep 'er quintessential!

Cheers,

-Barry

Fair play Ciaran! Congratulations on your results and Larry too!

Quote from: Beechlawn Brewing on October 24, 2016, 10:18:13 AM
Are the score sheets available?

All score sheets should have been emailed. Let me know if there are any problems!

:)

Just had a look at my score sheet and although I wasn't a winner I have had some detailed comments as feedback and am very encouraged. I had an idea of the beers problems but in the main it was a good effort. Thanks to all the judges and fellow club members for a well organised great days learning experience. Just like my school report...."could do better"

To clear up any potential ambiguity. The school report refers to my beer and not the event.....obviously.

First time I've been able to read every word of both scoresheets. Northern handwriting > Mexican
Thanks for getting the scores out so promptly and running the comp in general.

Thanks to James and John for arranging delivery