[topher.bartos]

Hey homebrewer,

I was just wondering a few things:

1. What do you do with competition scores and critiques? Do you keep them? How do you organize them? Do you through them away?

2. Is it helpful for you to keep old competition scores and critiques for future reference (to see if you are getting better or getting worse as a brewer)?

3. Does an excel spreadsheet work, or is a notebook more helpful? Why?

Thanks for your help!!

Keep brewing!

[james]

I always print out my recipe and write notes on the back, those get  3 hole punched and stuck in a binder.  Back when I entered more competitions I would punch holes in my scoresheets and stick them with the recipe in the binder.

[dmtaylor]

I critique the critiques, and revise my own process and recipes as necessary, and take notes on their notes.  I type this stuff into my homebrewing software under the recipe for easy access in the future.  Then the scoresheets are stuffed away into a file drawer.  If I do a good job reviewing them right away, I shouldn't need to review them again later, but on rare occasion, I'll pull them out for one reason or another.  But for the most part, you should be able to live and learn, and toss.  It helps keeping a database or spreadsheet, that's the easiest.  I lose paper, and it's bulky and "old-school".  Yet I have eternal backups of all electronic data.  So that's the way I prefer to keep important notes.

[mabrungard]

Tuning your own perceptions with other judges is the most valuable aspect of judging results. Sit down with your beer and read the notes and sip. See if you can pick up any of those perceptions expressed by the judges.

Tuning your perceptions to be able to pick up those nuances and then figuring out how to alter your brewing to make the beer better is a huge skill to have. Gordon Strong is an incredible judge and has amazing ability to put great beer in a bottle. Although he won his Ninkasis with his Meads, he still earned points with a few beers and put himself above the rest. Having the ability to spot deficiencies and have the ability to blend them into the background is a huge asset. I feel this is a very important skill for a sucessful brewer.

[Jimmy K]

The best thing to do is read the comments while drinking a pint of that beer to compare. After that, old sheets are mostly good for nostalgia I think. If you are trying to improve one recipe looking at them over time should help.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

[klickitat jim]

If the score is 38 or higher I just toss them. Under 38 I read over and over, then find their twitter page, then go to their favorite pub, then go to the protection order hearing.

[dkfick]

I read the scoresheets when I get them back once.  I do keep track of all the scores I get in a google spreadsheet.  Mostly because I'm a numbers whore.  I like to see my winning percentages, highest scores I've received for styles, how many styles I have medaled in etc...

[hopfenundmalz]

Tuning your own perceptions with other judges is the most valuable aspect of judging results. Sit down with your beer and read the notes and sip. See if you can pick up any of those perceptions expressed by the judges.

Tuning your perceptions to be able to pick up those nuances and then figuring out how to alter your brewing to make the beer better is a huge skill to have. Gordon Strong is an incredible judge and has amazing ability to put great beer in a bottle. Although he won his Ninkasis with his Meads, he still earned points with a few beers and put himself above the rest. Having the ability to spot deficiencies and have the ability to blend them into the background is a huge asset. I feel this is a very important skill for a sucessful brewer.

I still set down with a bottle of the beer and read the score sheet. Often I then pick out min of flaws that were overlooked due to cellar blindness, but sometimes I don't.

[duboman]

I will read the comments and sample the beer, extrapolate the constructive comments and score and note them in the notes section of the recipe in BeerSmith for safe keeping and future reference to improve the next batch

[brewmasternpb]

I think Martin's advice is spot on.  You might have flavor or aroma compounds in your beer that you just can't place.  Tasting it next to scoresheets might give you words for those flavors.

[reverseapachemaster]

I don't enter competitions but if I did I would definitely follow Jim's lead.

[factory]

To save paper and space, I scan all of my scoresheets.  I review the scores and add the suggestions to the brewer's notes field in the software program that I use.

[Joe Sr.]

I spilled beer on mine over the weekend.  They don't make good coasters.

Oh well.

[redbeerman]

The best thing to do is read the comments while drinking a pint of that beer to compare. After that, old sheets are mostly good for nostalgia I think. If you are trying to improve one recipe looking at them over time should help.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

This and what Jim said!

[topher.bartos]

I started a prototype web application that lets you submit your scores for any of your recipes. If you're interested, go to https://www.hopburp.com.

If you like it and it's helpful please send the link to other homebrewers.

If you don't like, click the "Feedback" link on the bottom right of the site.

Thanks for your help!