Garden State Homebrew Competition 2026
- Thread starter Josh Atzert
- Start date
Mtorbik
South Jersey FC Member
It appears Dave Grolsch is very sensitive to diacytle. I know for a fact I am not. He said the same on one of my score sheets when the other did not mention it. So I am not one to say it did or didn't.
I stopped entering competitions long ago because well....I found I got better feedback from people in this club than from strangers looking for specific things in a style. I entered (and will continue to enter a few) in honor of Sr. But take them for what they are. Sometimes things go wrong in the process and can help you.....and sometimes subjectivity is just that. Taste is subjective. To your point @John C I too entered a beer in NHC and Garden State years ago. NHC entry made it to the finals......Garden State ripped it to shreds lol. Try not to get offended by it.
For a time we (Bob Ray and I) would brew beers to enter into competitions. We won a few medals/ribbons but in the end.....what mattered more to us was this: Are WE happy with the beer? Is it something we enjoy drinking? Because if you are making the beer for you and you enjoy it....does anyone else's opinion matter?
I joined this club years ago to meet people interested in the same hobby as me....and to get feedback and knowledge to grow my experience. And this club never disappointed. To the fact that I never felt the need to get a competition score for validation (it does feel good to win though) because I know the people here I've made friends with will be honest and steer me in the right direction they think is best.
I stopped entering competitions long ago because well....I found I got better feedback from people in this club than from strangers looking for specific things in a style. I entered (and will continue to enter a few) in honor of Sr. But take them for what they are. Sometimes things go wrong in the process and can help you.....and sometimes subjectivity is just that. Taste is subjective. To your point @John C I too entered a beer in NHC and Garden State years ago. NHC entry made it to the finals......Garden State ripped it to shreds lol. Try not to get offended by it.
For a time we (Bob Ray and I) would brew beers to enter into competitions. We won a few medals/ribbons but in the end.....what mattered more to us was this: Are WE happy with the beer? Is it something we enjoy drinking? Because if you are making the beer for you and you enjoy it....does anyone else's opinion matter?
I joined this club years ago to meet people interested in the same hobby as me....and to get feedback and knowledge to grow my experience. And this club never disappointed. To the fact that I never felt the need to get a competition score for validation (it does feel good to win though) because I know the people here I've made friends with will be honest and steer me in the right direction they think is best.
John C
South Jersey FC Member
Hahaha. I'm not alone. I am not offended nor do i want to diminish the great accomplishment of 2 of our better club brewers. I look to competition to help see where I can improve. Not for ribbons, but for personal enjoyment and some measurement of improvement. So far (only 5 under my belt) the feedback has been mixed IMO. In the end we all want to make great beer and have come to this by talking to people, trial and error or reading books/watching videos. All part time, too. Not the path to achieving Michelin 5* credentials.
What I have learned in the process is the need to pay attention to sometimes little simple things that can show up in a flavor I assumed was what that beer was suppose to taste like. Some by-products which are objectionable in certain styles are actually desired in others. Purging lines with CO2, closed transfers from fermenters to kegs of CO2, rigorous control over temperature during mashing or fermenting, adding enough yeast or making a starter, thorough cleaning and sanitizing are all things I've learned and now do that have improved my beer noticably. I have more work to do and these events have pointed out where in some cases.
In the end you do this for your own enjoyment and that of your friends and family. The proof is if they try a style they have never seen before and ask for more. I have some like that.
Brian Pylant
South Jersey FC Member
Brian Pylant
South Jersey FC Member
As @Brian Pylant says, "That day, that judge, that beer." Or something to that effect...
Well, I usually say "that beer, that judge, that day" but same thing LOL.
Brian Pylant
South Jersey FC Member
Oh, and as far as bottling: if you're bottling off of a keg, it can be really easy to be inconsistent in terms of oxygen exposure. It's a surprisingly difficult process at home.
I use a fully-sealing counterpressure filler, I blast the bottle with a ton of CO2 before switching over to the liquid side, I cap on foam as quickly as I physically can after filling. And I still try to fill the day I'm dropping them off, the day before at the absolute earliest.
As for the caps: yeah, technically you are supposed to use gold or silver caps. The reason being, it is theoretically possible to recognize the beer by the cap and the category. There used to be a judge who always used blue caps, and always entered imperial stouts, which were always amazing. You *knew* whose beer you were judging, because of the cap.
But, no points are lost, bottle inspection is merely a comment.
I use a fully-sealing counterpressure filler, I blast the bottle with a ton of CO2 before switching over to the liquid side, I cap on foam as quickly as I physically can after filling. And I still try to fill the day I'm dropping them off, the day before at the absolute earliest.
As for the caps: yeah, technically you are supposed to use gold or silver caps. The reason being, it is theoretically possible to recognize the beer by the cap and the category. There used to be a judge who always used blue caps, and always entered imperial stouts, which were always amazing. You *knew* whose beer you were judging, because of the cap.
But, no points are lost, bottle inspection is merely a comment.