Brewnoser Homebrew Review

[CartoonCod]

Hey Brewnosers,

Have you been making homebrew for a while and despite all the compliments you are getting from your friends and grandparents on how tasty it is, you have some doubts on its quality? Do you wonder if your lager has DMS or your Belgian Golden Strong ale has fusel alcohols? Well wonder no more because I'd like to announce the Brewnoser Homebrew Review. This is an event where fellow Brewnosers can submit beers to get them reviewed by BJCP judges. This is not a competition (but a competition is also planned in the future) so there will be no prizes, just feedback. All entries will receive BJCP score sheets with a detailed sensory analysis from the judges. This event will serve two ultimate goals: 1) To help improve the quality of Brewnoser homebrew so we can all enjoy better beer and 2) to provide some judging experience for the new judges. Although we won't get official judging points the act of getting together and filling out scoresheets is invaluable.

So here are some details:

- Again, no prizes. This won't be a competition.

- The first judging session will be held on the 22nd (Sat) of March. Depending on the success of this event we may try to do this a few times per year.

- There are no limits on the styles of homebrew entered.

- Due to the number of judges available and the fact that it is the first time we host this, the number of entries will be limited to the first 24 as a first come first serve basis.

- Please sign up by replying to this post *and mention how many entries you want to enter*. There is a limit of two entries per person.

- Entries should be received by March 20th (Thursday) with the attached completed entry form and the entry fee. Entries can be dropped off to Adam Comeau (aka. Cartooncod) in the Bedford area, Chris McDonald (aka. Chalmers) in the Spryfield area or Tim Gregory (aka. Tim Gregory) in the Dartmouth area. Please pm for drop of times and location.

- Each entry would be required to provide x2 - 341 mL bottles or x1 - 500 mL bottle, the category they would like to get it judged under and any additional information the category requires (ie: cat. #22 or #23).

- The entered bottles will be numbered and then lettered by another person so they can be judged blind.

- Depending on the number of entries received, all the judges will review every beer, or judging tables will be created with the number of entries divided up between tables.

- A five dollar per entry fee will be charged per entry to help cover the cost of cups / crackers / printed score sheets etc... Any extra money will go to help reduce the cost of future Brewnoser Homebrew Review events or a Brewnoser homebrew competition.

- The review sheets can be returned by one of the following methods: 1) the following Brewnoser meeting 2) a scanned copy can be sent to an e-mail address or a pm via the Brewnoser forums during the week of March 24th or 3) snail mail. Please specify on the entry sheet.

Cheers,
Adam

*edit: I added this section (8-Feb 11:02 am)

[dean2k]

This. Is. Awesome. I'm in.

[mr x]

Very good idea. Might be worth a spam.

[LeafMan66_67]

I'm in. Looks like a great way to up our game as well as get experience for our judges.

[CartoonCod]

Good to see interest already, for those who want in please specify the number of entries (1 or 2).

[LeafMan66_67]

I'm in. Looks like a great way to up our game as well as get experience for our judges.

I'll say one entry for now. Give everyone a chance. If there's more room closer to the date, i'll put in another.

[dean2k]

I'm in. Looks like a great way to up our game as well as get experience for our judges.

I'll say one entry for now. Give everyone a chance. If there's more room closer to the date, i'll put in another.

Ditto. I'll wait and see.

[GuingesRock]

Adam, I'd like to enter one beer also please. Is it just a score sheet with feedback or are you planning any ranking? If there are 10 IPAs for example, are they ranked and top three places chosen. I'm happy either way.

Another idea might be to provide entrants with a rough guide as to how many points = gold, silver, bronze in an average BJCP competition.

[CartoonCod]

Hey Mark,

There are no rankings by the judges. Just scores with feedback. That being said what the entrants do with their score sheets is up to them. If the entrants want to compare scoresheets on their own after they are made available that would be one way of getting a top three. Just be aware that is not part of the homebrew review that we are doing.

I don't have enough judging experience to say what is an average number of points to get in a competition. It will depend on the quality of entries. Check out the bottom right corner of the following page for a guide to how beers are scored: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/BeerScoreSheet-Form.pdf

[spears104]

I wouldn't mind getting a beer judged. I can send up a beer mail.

[GuingesRock]

Hey Mark,

There are no rankings by the judges. Just scores with feedback. That being said what the entrants do with their score sheets is up to them. If the entrants want to compare scoresheets on their own after they are made available that would be one way of getting a top three. Just be aware that is not part of the homebrew review that we are doing.

I don't have enough judging experience to say what is an average number of points to get in a competition. It will depend on the quality of entries. Check out the bottom right corner of the following page for a guide to how beers are scored: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/BeerScoreSheet-Form.pdf

Thanks Adam, Come to think of it ...37.5 points got you a 3rd place in the Big Spruce comp, and 42 points won it. I can use that as a rough guide as it will mostly be the same judges.

[dean2k]

Also..... I suspect I'll be visiting HRM in the next few weeks if anyone else in the Moncton-Sackville-Amherst area besides me needs their beer muled to a drop-off.

[Jimmy]

It would be kind of cool if we had an electronic scoresheet on the website that could go into an online database and show scores ranked among other entries (obviously people would have to be open to this). We could then link scoresheets to the recipe on the forum, or vice-versa (if the brewer wanted to submit said recipe to the forum)

[josherArmstrong]

I like this idea and I would like to have one entry. Thanks!

[gm-]

I would be up for 1 or 2, if I can somehow get them to Halifax

[redoubt]

We're in for 1 entry. We can also probably mule all the Valley beers if desired.

-Keely

[Jayme]

I don't have enough judging experience to say what is an average number of points to get in a competition. It will depend on the quality of entries. Check out the bottom right corner of the following page for a guide to how beers are scored: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/BeerScoreSheet-Form.pdf

Definitely depends on the quality of the entries. Given this isn't a contest, you really shouldn't worry yourself on whether you scored higher or lower than your peers. Just try and achieve a personal best if you're submitting what you think is a top notch beer. It's really not fair to yourself or others - someone may enter a beer they know something is wrong but can't pin point it, or someone may be very new to all this and just needs some feedback. Comparing what you think is your best entry to what someone else thinks is flawed is hardly worth while.

When we do a competition, that's the time to compete.

[GuingesRock]

Good points. Would be a good resource for figuring out how to improve a beer. Jimmy's idea is very neat though. Would be something to think about for the competitions.

[Jayme]

Yes definitely. If someone wanted to be real ambitious, we could create an e-book with all the award winning recipes.

[RubberToe]

For the comp we could install the BJCP competition web app / site. The same platform that the Werthogs, Yeast Wranglers, and other clubs use. When the time comes I could set it up on brewnosers.org no prob.

[BradT13]

Id like to enter 1 beer, being a new brewer this info will be great to have.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[dexter]

I'll be in for one as well, also I can help with beer from the Moncton area the week of the 26 of February if that's convenient. Also I could haul some stuff to moncton I within reason.

[pet lion]

Well I already said I'd love to submit beers for you guys to review at a recent Brewnosers meeting. I love to submit 2 but would dial it back to 1 if enough interest from others means someone else wants in.

[amartin]

I'm in for one!

[Woody]

I'll be submitting two. Great idea!