I've secured a few Beersmith (http://beersmith.com/) Keys for the highest scoring kits in the 2015 Competition.
The idea is to get some of the best kit brewers and new brewers the tools they need to try their hand at all grain and extract later on, or just to up their kit quality even further :)
Two rules though:
1 - Please don't enter if you've already got a copy of beersmith.
2 - Kit hacks allowed. Add hops, yeast, specialty grain, etc. But no Mashing.
Well done on getting those keys! Lovely idea to encourage kit brewers to get involved and put in an entry into the 2015 competition.
Sounds like a nice challenge - game on! ;)
Nice I have a hacked Brewferm Bock kit on and am going to stick on a milestone kit this week.
make sure to keep some for the competition so :)
Indeed the very first National Comp had a kit competion section. Unfortunately the registration software we used was a bit strained as to identifying the kits.
The second Nats. iirc did not support kits!
We really need to encourage kit brewers to enter!!
There's plenty of kit beers entered and I think it's only right that they're treated the same as extract or AG in the judging. No need for any additional support or classification. After all the competition is about the beer, not the method. :)
Quote from: LordEoin on November 10, 2014, 11:15:12 PM
There's plenty of kit beers entered and I think it's only right that they're treated the same as extract or AG in the judging. No need for any additional support or classification. After all the competition is about the beer, not the method. :)
Agree 100% it was great to see kits and extract brews with high scores last year and take a few medals.
Quote from: LordEoin on November 10, 2014, 11:15:12 PM
There's plenty of kit beers entered and I think it's only right that they're treated the same as extract or AG in the judging. No need for any additional support or classification. After all the competition is about the beer, not the method. :)
NOT TRUE!
A lot of newbee, kit brewers will not enter the Nats as they "stand NO chance viz. a viz. the AG brewers (or even the extracters)"
Therefore they don't enter! This is bad for the hobby!
A dedicated sub comp for kits encourages kit brewers to at least enter the comp and stand a chance of winning a prize!
What part's 'NOT TRUE'?
This bit:
"No need for any additional support or classification"
All I'm saying is that we are trying to encourage new brewers to enter the competition.
This sentiment is in agreement with one of your earlier posts:
"I've secured a few Beersmith Keys for the highest scoring kits in the 2015 Competition.
The idea is to get some of the best kit brewers and new brewers the tools they need to try their hand at all grain and extract later on"
And well done on getting the Beersmith keys for the new brewers!
Surely that's true for any beer, regardless of how it was brewed...
The competition a great way to get honest and constructive feedback about the beer you're brewing.
Club meets are grand and all but feedback is rarely unbiased and feedback like 'not bad for a kit' or 'nothing wrong with that' isn't particularly helpful.
I'd encourage anyone to enter any beer they think has potential.
entering bad beer is a poor strategy for any brewing competition.
but if someone wants to enter a bad beer for shits and giggles, that's their own business.
I'm sure there'll be plenty of bad AG and extract beers entered too
I'd enter a bad beer for the craic. I've only done 1 brew and working on a second. I'd love to enter a comp but have no idea how to brew AG.
Might as well do it for the experience and a bit of a laugh.
Obviously I'd rather enter a good beer but i'm never quite sure how well they'll turn our or what I forgot to do :P
Where can I find the details of the comp?
Quote from: JayMc on November 25, 2014, 12:08:18 PM
I'd enter a bad beer for the craic.
If you already know it tastes bad, why waste your money and the judge's time (and tastebuds)? The judge is just going write a couple of comments that it's crap and give you a low score.
You'd be much better off heading along to a local home brewers meet and asking for feedback on what you're doing wrong, rather than entering it in a competition.
Especially given that BJCP judges are spread out all over Ireland, reside mainly in pubs and/or sheds and meet regularly with other homebrewers.
They're very easy to spot in pubs too. Watch them sniff their drink. That's how you know. Doesn't even have to be beer. It can be tea or MiWadi, they'll sniff it.
Get thee to a local meet!
Plus they wear a duffel coat. And own a satchel. And scribble tasting notes in Moleskine notebooks...
Entry to a competition is only going to give a homebrewer two opinions on a beer. Going to a homebrewing meet could give you five times that number, with the added advantage of being able to ask questions.
The competition's not just for AG. Extract and kit beers can be entered too.
Any beer can be entered, but entering a bad beer will only cost you money and bruise your ego when the feedback basically just scores you 13 and says it's a bad beer.
I'm sure many bad beers get entered, but rarely on purpose.
If this one's bad make the next one better, and if you think it's a good example of the style then enter it.
Details about the competition can be found here: http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,7928.0.html
Quote from: Bubbles on November 25, 2014, 01:31:45 PM
Plus they wear a duffel coat. And own a satchel. And scribble tasting notes in Moleskine notebooks...
Ah, now I didn't mean to perpetuate the beer nerd stereotype, just a bit of self deprecation now that I sniff damn near any liquid, and raise the point that BJCP judges are available all over the country and will offer your beer feed back all year round, not just in March, as well as hundreds of talented non-bjcp brewers and drinkers too.
What a great stereotype it is though! ;D
(http://oi34.tinypic.com/i39fu0.jpg)
Just a reminder on this to all the kit brewers out there.
If you have made a great kit beer (kit hacks allowed), keep two 500ml bottles and enter them :)
The Beersmith software is awesome even if you don't go extract or AG later on!
Do we mention somewhere on the entry that it's a kit, I found two bottles of a kit I made and was very happy with, so I thought instead of drinking them I'd enter them.
Nope, the beer will speak for itself :)
Hmmm... That story sounds familiar...
So, how did the kits do in the competition?
I guess we won't know fully till the stats are produced, the kit hack I entered got a 33, and I'm now looking into controlling my fermentation temperature more.
Stats Schmats! All the scores are up on the competition site.
So far you're the top scoring kit.
What kit was it? and how did you hack it?
The craft range citra pale ale, I had around 40g amarillo left over from the beer beforehand so I dry hopped that with the 60g of citra, both judges mentioned that passion fruit was the dominant aroma, so I don't think I added enough amarillo to really change it. It's the one I brought to a meet before.
Ahh good stuff. I drank my last one of those recently and was sad i didn't let the rest age a bit. It's a lovely beer with some extra aging :)
I just remembered I bought another one of the citra kits after liking this one, have to put it on soon as the best before date is April, but it will be a nice beer for hopefully will be a nice summer.
Well it looks like you're this year's kit champion. Well done :)
I'll PM you.