IE Brew Co competition

[BrewMasterBrad]

Remember back in the day when we were all in the 714? Why can't we all just get along?

[Haemon]

I'm originally from the 707.

[backyard brewer]

Remember back in the day when we were all in the 714? Why can't we all just get along?

Because you Sneetchs have no stars upon thars...

[BrewMasterBrad]

Remember back in the day when we were all in the 714? Why can't we all just get along?

Because you Sneetchs have no stars upon thars...

I guess we know who has Dr. Seuss age kids around here.

[BrewMasterBrad]

I ended up judging categories 10 and 21, so don't be mad at me when you guys get your scoresheets. There were really no remarkable beers in category 10. Sorry. I also judged BoS and the winning beer was a Belgian Dark Strong. Don't remember the name of the brewer, but he was from San Diego.

I entered a German Pils and a Vienna. I don't think there were too many beers in those categories, but I scored very well. My German Pils got a 37.7 and the Vienna got a 38.7. I don't think they were giving out individual category prizes, they were just looking for BoS. There were about 80 entries altogether.

[bwarbiany]

Results here:

http://www.iebrew.com/pro-am-results.html

The only name I recognize on there is Brad's for his Vienna.

[BrewMasterBrad]

Gotta say I'm not too impressed with the way this competition was run. I guess I'll give them a pass since it was their first time, but that results page is pretty weak. Several styles missing and it does not tell you much. At least they fed us breakfast and lunch.

[backyard brewer]

Gotta say I'm not too impressed with the way this competition was run. I guess I'll give them a pass since it was their first time, but that results page is pretty weak. Several styles missing and it does not tell you much. At least they fed us breakfast and lunch.

Learn for our own comp I guess?

[BrewMasterBrad]

Gotta say I'm not too impressed with the way this competition was run. I guess I'll give them a pass since it was their first time, but that results page is pretty weak. Several styles missing and it does not tell you much. At least they fed us breakfast and lunch.

Learn for our own comp I guess?

Yep. And I am not trying to diss the guys at IE Brewing either, they were great hosts. I think they built there own database to run the comp too, which is pretty ambitious.

[bwarbiany]

Got my score sheets. I haven't gotten the sheets from the Hanger 24 comp, so these are the first scores I've received on these beers.

RyePA: Scored 29 from all three judges (incl. Brad N). All seemed to find it estery, some I think suggested it was too apparent. I thought that odd as I fermented US-05 down in the 64 deg range. Other comment (that I think hurt my score a bit) was that it finished a bit dry, which I attribute largely to the use of Rye. I try to balance this recipe w/ Munich & Crystal 60L to offset that Rye dryness, and I think I hit it pretty successfully (but that puts it a bit on the edge style-wise). So I'm okay with that comment... Just need to figure out the ferment. It was the first use of my keg fermenter, so maybe I need to dial something in a bit better.

Light Belgian (entered 16E): Scored 29 from one judge, 27 from the other. Comments nailed me for diacetyl and oxidation. This beer was bottled about a week after brewing, so I think maybe the yeast didn't have time to clean up (hence the diacetyl). I don't detect it in the kegged beer, which sat on the yeast longer. Oxidation I'll just need to work on -- I attribute that to my bottling method (didn't force carb & bottle as usual). I'm also going to start transferring under pressure in a pretty closed system (push beer through dip tube to bottom of purged keg), so I think I can get that under control.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with my scores, but with the exception of the high esters comment, I understand where all the other comments originated, so I can't complain. I guess it'd be more fair to say I'm disappointed with the flaws in the beer, not the fact that I had them pointed out to me...

[oc eric]

[quote="bwarbiany"]

RyePA: Scored 29 from all three judges (incl. Brad N). All seemed to find it estery, some I think suggested it was too apparent. I thought that odd as I fermented US-05 down in the 64 deg range. Other comment (that I think hurt my score a bit) was that it finished a bit dry, which I attribute largely to the use of Rye. I try to balance this recipe w/ Munich & Crystal 60L to offset that Rye dryness, and I think I hit it pretty successfully (but that puts it a bit on the edge style-wise). So I'm okay with that comment... Just need to figure out the ferment. It was the first use of my keg fermenter, so maybe I need to dial something in a bit better.
quote]

It seems if you use Rye outside of the specialty beer category you'll get graded down. It's happened to me on several occasions and others have had the same experience.

[bwarbiany]

It seems if you use Rye outside of the specialty beer category you'll get graded down. It's happened to me on several occasions and others have had the same experience.

Maybe, but Terrapin Brewing Co in Athens GA won a gold at the GABF with a Rye Pale Ale (10% Rye), and my Rye has previously done well in a comp in PA and down in SD.

But hopefully you're right, and it'll kick ass in the SA Longshot Category 23 Comp

[BrewMasterBrad]

It seems if you use Rye outside of the specialty beer category you'll get graded down. It's happened to me on several occasions and others have had the same experience.

Maybe, but Terrapin Brewing Co in Athens GA won a gold at the GABF with a Rye Pale Ale (10% Rye), and my Rye has previously done well in a comp in PA and down in SD.

But hopefully you're right, and it'll kick ass in the SA Longshot Category 23 Comp

I have tried to clone the Terrapin Rye Pale Ale too. I liked it, but I don't think it would do well in competition. Also, commercial beer competitions are judged differently than homebrew in that they don't necessarily follow the BJCP style guidelines.

[bwarbiany]

I have tried to clone the Terrapin Rye Pale Ale too. I liked it, but I don't think it would do well in competition. Also, commercial beer competitions are judged differently than homebrew in that they don't necessarily follow the BJCP style guidelines.

It was my time spent in GA drinking the Terrapin that got me on the kick to brew my own RyePA. In an interview with Spike (the brewer at Terrapin), he mentioned that he only uses 10% Rye largely because he's primarily brewing for the Georgian palate, which isn't nearly as craft-beer tuned as here.

So in my recipe, I said to screw that and bumped it up to 20% Rye (but as stated, tried to add some Munich to balance).

BTW good comments from you on the score sheet... Thanks.

[BrewMasterBrad]

I have tried to clone the Terrapin Rye Pale Ale too. I liked it, but I don't think it would do well in competition. Also, commercial beer competitions are judged differently than homebrew in that they don't necessarily follow the BJCP style guidelines.

It was my time spent in GA drinking the Terrapin that got me on the kick to brew my own RyePA. In an interview with Spike (the brewer at Terrapin), he mentioned that he only uses 10% Rye largely because he's primarily brewing for the Georgian palate, which isn't nearly as craft-beer tuned as here.

So in my recipe, I said to screw that and bumped it up to 20% Rye (but as stated, tried to add some Munich to balance).

BTW good comments from you on the score sheet... Thanks.

If I would have known it was your beer, I would have put some smiley faces on there too.