Messages

31

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 1st round NHC results

« on: May 02, 2012, 01:55:42 PM »

I judged the morning session of the final round last year and we had 7 judges for about 27 beers, so 9 beers per judging pair or trio.  This is pushing the limit for one flight. 

For each additional 1st round site added to the competition you add three beers to the final round for each category.  Using the minimum of 6 judges per category this amounts to one additional beer per pair of judges.  Not a big difference, but at some point you will need to add another pair of judges for each category, which might let you expand the number of beers to 36 or 39 (12 or 13 first round sites).

The question to ponder is whether we would have enough high ranking judges participate in the final round.  I've heard that we won't have much of a problem this year.  Maybe we could entice more participation if the AHA offered a discounted conference pass to those of us who plan to spend part or most of the first day of NHC helping out with the competition?

32

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 1st round NHC results

« on: May 02, 2012, 10:59:41 AM »

The biggest issue here is finding 5 more suckers... I mean volunteers willing to organize.

I think the biggest issue would be finding an additional 250 judges.

+250 on that one.  Got my score sheets back on Monday and was pretty disappointed in the quality.  One sheet had only 5 written words on the entire page, another had 1 or 2 entire sections of the score sheet completely blank.  One judges started a sentence and didn't even bother to finish it before skipping to the final score.  Lots of one line descriptions for Flavor and Aroma.  Not what I expected from our National Competition and certainly not worth the $10 entry fee.

I could see how spreading out to more locations might help , but you would need to keep the number of entries for the entire competition the same.  The certified judge to entry ratio needs to be improved before this competition even considers allowing more entries.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: To our Governing Committee

« on: April 30, 2012, 01:51:02 PM »

Not sure if it was this thread or a different one, but folks have discussed compensation for judges and volunteers.  Something to consider might be to give those of us who organize, judge, steward or help out the competition a discounted membership the next time we renew.  Sorry for you lifetime members.  It might help lower our Judge to entry ratio which might eventually help us expand the competition to a larger size.

34

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 1st round NHC results

« on: April 30, 2012, 01:38:36 PM »

How about this then?  Stagger the registration such that for the first 5 days of the registration you are allowed only one entry.  After five days free for all.  That should give everyone interested in entering enough time to get at least one beer into the competition. (Apologies if something like this has already been suggested.)

As far as the Ninkasi award, there should be enough people with multiple entries under this type of registration to keep the integrity of that award.  If 7500 people register within the first 5 days, Oh well.  I think it is more important to give everyone who wants to enter as good of a chance as possible to get in.

35

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 1st round NHC results

« on: April 30, 2012, 01:04:51 PM »

I saw that as a potential problem, but I suspect that we have less than 7500 members who are truly interested in entering the NHC.

36

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 1st round NHC results

« on: April 30, 2012, 11:33:45 AM »

Winning a medal from our National Competition is a bucket list item for many homebrewers.  I don't think eliminating any of the major awards (Ninkasi, COTY...) that come along with winning a 2nd round medal will do much to curb the number of entries.  The only reason we don't have 10,000 entries to judge this year is that we set a limit on the number of entries per region. 

From now on this competition will always be exclusionary in some shape or form.  It's just a matter of how many people do we want to shut out. 

One way to include every member into the contest would be to offer every single member one (or two) spot(s) in the competition just based on your membership into the AHA.  The AHA could set a date upon which each member could claim their entry(s) in the competition.  Once a certain date passes the rest of the entries go up to anyone who would like to enter more than one beer.

Based on the statistics Janis listed for this year we'd have 1800 entries locked in, leaving 5700 entries left to fight over.  This way no one can complain about not having the opportunity to enter. 

   

37

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: To our Governing Committee

« on: April 27, 2012, 12:59:06 PM »

I'm not sure I like the idea of "punishing" a person who has worked hard to have 70 entries.  I'd prefer to encourage an increase in the entry per region cap and getting more volunteers.  Not to mention getting the info out there to possible competitors that this competition fills up extremely quick and registration ASAP is important if you want to paricipate.

Some things need to happen first before you up the number of entries per region.  The main thing is you will need to train and certify a lot more judges.  Even at the 750 cap, I would bet that among the many pairs of people judging beers across the US and Canada this year, neither person was a ranked BJCP judge.  When I organize a competition I like to have at least a Certified or higher ranked judge in each pair of judges.  This was hard for us to accomplish the last few years with competitions in the 400-500 entry range. 

In my opinion, we should strive for quality not quantity for all competitions, but especially our national competition.

38

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 1st round NHC results

« on: April 27, 2012, 08:48:03 AM »

I can't say this enough times.  Do not get rid of your reserve bottles until after the Official Announcement is made in May.  This excludes beers that scored lower than 30 or beers you plan to brew again in time for the second round judging.

The cover sheet is not official and sometimes does not get filled out correctly.  In past NHC competitions I've had beers with the Place Awarded filled out and found out later it was just for the flight and not entire category.  I've also had beers that did not have the Place Awarded filled out and found out later that it moved on to the second round.   We judges and organizers are human and make mistakes...

39

Commercial Beer Reviews / Re: Would you pay this much?

« on: April 25, 2012, 12:53:04 PM »

At one time I had 72 bottles of Westy 12 in my cellar.  We called ahead reserved a pickup time and drove away with 3 cases of Westy 12 for just under $150.  We estimated that it cost us $6/bottle to bring them back to the US if you included the car rental and checked baggage fees.  We have drank, traded or given away about half of the bottles. 

It is a good beer, but not worth all of the hype.  I do enjoy cracking one open every now and then, sharing it with my brother who was on the trip with me and my wife who is still jealous she was not able to go on the trip with us.  Just a reminder of a great vacation in a grand location.  It makes the beer priceless to me.

I concur with kylekohlmorgen, put that money toward a plane ticket...

40

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 4/27 Edition

« on: April 25, 2012, 12:39:22 PM »

We're doing a split batch Czech Pils with two different yeasts: WYeast 2124 and 2278.  We're also kegging and starting the lagering process for a Schwarzbier that we hope to serve at NHC Club Night.

41

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Big Brew

« on: April 25, 2012, 12:35:06 PM »

My brother and I are hoping to have a few people over to help us brew Bucksnort Brown Ale.  When the AHA bestows such an honor to you and your recipe you've got to oblige.  It should be at its peak when NHC Club Night rolls around.  I hope to share some of this batch with as many of you as possible in June. 

Thank you Gary and Janis for picking our beer! 

Cheers,
Mike

42

Beer Travel / Re: San Diego Beer & Brewery

« on: April 24, 2012, 12:47:01 PM »

Stone, Lost Abbey, Pizza Port - Solana Beach, Port Brewing (Carlsbad or Ocean City), Green Flash, Alesmith, Ballast Point...

I'm sure there are others, but was just what I could remember from my last visit (NHC last June).

43

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Wedding favors

« on: April 18, 2012, 03:22:00 PM »

I am getting married next spring and I've been asked by a number of my friends if I'm going to "brew something" for the wedding. My initial response is, "Yes" but I am a little reluctant. I think a lot of people like the idea of craft beer more than they like beer. For instance, I did a cranberry IPA for Christmas called "Hoppy Holidays" and it came out great. My dad, who is a Bud drinker, said, "That's not real beer."

My point is this: I don't want bottles of something I spent time and money on perfecting to be discovered the next day half full.

Am I being too cynical?

I think you are being too sensitive.  Unless you think comments like the one from your Dad are going to ruin your wedding day, you need to brew a beer for your wedding.  You will regret not having that special beer to share with those who actually appreciate it.  Even if it's just for you and your spouse.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Wedding favors

« on: April 13, 2012, 08:53:48 AM »

I can relate.  We did our house amber ale for a friends wedding two years ago.  The groom came over and helped brew and they both came over and helped bottle the 10 gallon batch.  They served it at their reception along with some commercial beers.  We got lots of nice compliments throughout the reception.  It was great to see people pass over old standby commercial beers to try the homebrew.

It was quite stressful throughout the process though.  The last thing we wanted was to ruin their wedding reception with a contaminated beer.  They saved a couple of bottles for their 1st anniversary and let us know that the beer was still pretty tasty a year later.

Congrats!

45

Ingredients / Re: Hops for Pilsner

« on: April 13, 2012, 08:28:57 AM »

If you want to make something similar to Bitburger (German Pils) try US Tetnanger.