2015 National HomeBrew Championship

[Bubbles]

Excellent! That "Best Brewer" award will be mine next year!! 

[Qs]

Black Betty Beer

Medium to full bam-ba-lam

[Will_D]

What we have used in previous comps for under subscribed categories:

If for example there are only 3 4 or 5 beers in a category then the beers are scored as usual, if they score enough they are awarded a medal if not: not.

So for a cat of 5 entries;

1 gold, 1 bronze
or
Silver and bronze
orjust a silver

OTH: If there are 25 beers and 23 are S***e then again its just two medals

HTH

[delzep]

We have two years of data regarding scores etc. now so maybe this data can be used to determine the "cut-off" points required for gold, silver, and bronze medals for low entry categories? For example if the average score for the past two years given for all the gold winners was say 41 points, the average score for silver was say 38 points, and average score for bronze was say 35 points, then in a low entry category the medals could be awarded accordingly. If no beer in a low entry category scores over 35 (as per the above example), then no medals are awarded for that category

[Bubbles]

Unfortunately, that's not going to work because different judges will score differently. One judge's 35 is anothers 28, and so on. My porter took a silver medal last year despite scoring only 32 points.

[delzep]

Final score for each beer is the average of both judges score is it not?

[Rossa]

Final score for each beer is the average of both judges score is it not?

No. It's a number they agree on after discussion.

[delzep]

Final score for each beer is the average of both judges score is it not?

No. It's a number they agree on after discussion.

OK so...my idea can still be used though

[Bubbles]

It is, but each pair of judges decide the level, for want of a better word, the beers on their table are going to be judged at.

I should have said that each "table" will judge differently, rather than the individual judges.

[Bubbles]

It's agreed between the judges, but to be fair, it's nearly always the average of the two scores. Cos there's normally only 2 or 3 points between them.

[Kevco5]

Final score for each beer is the average of both judges score is it not?

Its a score that the pair both agree on, not necessarily an average.
One team could give a 45 but that beer could still be beaten in the "Best of Show" by a beer that scores 38 from a different pair of judges.
I don't think an average score from previous years should decide medals, a large category would have high scoring beers in the bos, thus the bronze from that bos would be a higher score.

I believe it should be down to the discretion of the bos judges wether beers in a small bos deserve a medal.

[Rossa]

One table of judges might score beers in the high twenties 29/30 say, another may put their beers in the high thirties. At a medal round the lower beers may take all the medals and it would seem they were judged too harshly in comparison but that table were consistent and the second table might  have been generous. For the bigger categories it evens itself out.

The AHA doesn't enforce a scoring cap, I'm told,  but some comps do in first round. The fact that we still don't have enough bjcp judges means scoring can be erratic but the best beers still come out on top if you get me. Might be something to consider if we go massive in the future though.

Like Kev says - the judges along with the comp director can call it in the small categories at medal rounds. They may also be judging several sub styles which complicates things even more .

[LordEoin]

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.
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.

[Bubbles]

The fact that we still don't have enough bjcp judges means scoring can be erratic

I'm quite surprised to hear this. I thought we were now inundated with qualified BJCP judges?! Are there any plans to do another course/exam? I'd be interested in doing it if it were Dublin-based.

[Rossa]

The fact that we still don't have enough bjcp judges means scoring can be erratic

I'm quite surprised to hear this. I thought we were now inundated with qualified BJCP judges?! Are there any plans to do another course/exam? I'd be interested in doing it if it were Dublin-based.

I think we used about 60 judges last year at least, between the two days. I think we had less than 20 club members doing the exam but  another course would be great. The course is not just about judging and in fact brings a lot of brewing theory into it too which is great for your brewing.  Maybe get a thread going about another course as I'm sure many of the guys and gals who did it last time would love to help out and I'm sure Padraic might help out again.