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Poll

What is your prefered method

Bottle Conditioning
8 (33.3%)
Forced Carbonation
12 (50%)
Depends on style
4 (16.7%)

Total Members Voted: 23

Author Topic: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions  (Read 4982 times)

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2014, 08:47:03 am »
2 NHC medals here. One was bottle conditioned, one was not. Hope this helps.  ;D

thanks Jeff, very helpfull.

0 NHC medals, but I did stay in a holiday inn ex...

anyway.

I find I have issues getting really big beers to carbonate in the bottle lately. and then when they do and are perfectly clear glowing gems in the glass and then a slug of yeast goes and clouds them up... grrrr.

So this year I'm carbing all my beers in kegs and I'll bottle what I need from the keg. I am going to bottle some sour beer because I won't drink that as fast so it can take as long as it wants to carb.
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Offline Pinski

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2014, 09:23:46 am »
I think you take your chances entering a bottle conditioned beer that is intended to be bright. Not to say that pours shouldn't be handled with care but it's not that easy to pour multiple tastings from a single bottle of BC beer and have them all come out clear.
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Offline a10t2

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #17 on: February 14, 2014, 04:02:37 pm »
I don't have a counter-pressure bottle filler, so since I don't know how the beers will be handled, and homebrew judges generally expect some sediment, I bottle-condition anything I'm entering in competition. 6 gal post-boil nets me a full keg and 3-6 bottles anyway, so they're really just the "extra" beers that get entered.
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Offline ranchovillabrew

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #18 on: February 14, 2014, 04:19:10 pm »
I only bottle condition.  I thought about kegging but space constraints kept me from it initially.  Now I am happy Bottling since I can keep a wider variety on hand.  Also I think bottle conditioning tastes better

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Offline Bruce B

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #19 on: February 16, 2014, 10:01:57 pm »
I'd recommend force carbonation because you're sure that the brew carbonated and at the level you wanted it to. Judges don't give extra points for bottle conditioned over forced carbonation.  They are supposed to judge the brew to the carbonation level and head retention stated in the style guidelines.
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #20 on: February 18, 2014, 06:22:25 pm »
Argh! I went to bottle from the keg and 5 bottles in, my keg blew!  So my back up keg needed to clear a little out....needless to say, I have now drawn about a quart off and let the keg sit for 2 days and am hoping for the best.  3 clean bottles from Flying Dog, Two Brothers, and Ithaca and all three are different from the other!  So these will be used for the upcoming NHC first round and I will need to get a couple more, if I get lucky and advance!  Bottling from keg is not always a sure thing....
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Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #21 on: February 18, 2014, 07:34:22 pm »

Argh! I went to bottle from the keg and 5 bottles in, my keg blew! 

Bottling from keg is not always a sure thing....

I had to pull a keg from the fridge so I wouldn't drain it. Gotta plan ahead. And hope. 


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Offline Titanium Brewing

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #22 on: February 20, 2014, 02:34:29 pm »
I would like to thank everyone for their input.
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Offline Siamese Moose

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #23 on: February 20, 2014, 02:49:25 pm »
I'll throw in one thing that hasn't been mentioned:

I've twice come across high-ranking judges in the second round who first look for sediment before opening the bottle. If it wasn't there, they said out loud, "counter pressure filled", and proceeded on the assumption that the beer would be oxidized. Both of these guys really ticked me off, as I felt none of the beers were oxidized, but they wrote it and scored it down.

Because I'm sure that there are more judges like this, I prefer to enter bottle conditioned beers.
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Offline jeffy

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #24 on: February 20, 2014, 03:32:05 pm »
I'll throw in one thing that hasn't been mentioned:

I've twice come across high-ranking judges in the second round who first look for sediment before opening the bottle. If it wasn't there, they said out loud, "counter pressure filled", and proceeded on the assumption that the beer would be oxidized. Both of these guys really ticked me off, as I felt none of the beers were oxidized, but they wrote it and scored it down.

Because I'm sure that there are more judges like this, I prefer to enter bottle conditioned beers.

I judged Pilsners with a famous person who extrapolated that the beers with sediment weren't as likely to be oxidized as beers without sediment.  I asked him to try to keep that to himself until after the judging so that it wouldn't influence any opinions.
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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Bottle conditioning vs. forced carbonation for home brew competitions
« Reply #25 on: February 21, 2014, 01:15:29 am »
George cluney?