New Competition rules.

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jceg316

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Participants

All entries have to be submitted by the last day of the calendar month. This means all entries have to be with the judge on this date. Any which arrive after this date will not get included in the competition.

Winners will be announced two weeks after or earlier on the Homebrew Forum.

Participants must submit at least 2x330ml bottles (or similar size) or 1x500ml (or similar size) bottle. Each bottle must be labelled as below. If one bottle is submitted, it is up to the judge if they want to include the participant in the competition.

Bottles must contain:

The brewers name

Forum alias

Name of beer

Style

ABV%

Its not necessary, but the participant may include any other information such as IBU, OG, FG etc. This will not score any extra points though.

Participants can enter multiple beers per competition, however only one may compete for a winning position. This will be the beer with the highest score.

Participants can only win up to three competitions in a row. If they win three competitions in a row, they may enter a fourth to get feedback on their beer, but cannot win. The fifth competition they are allowed to compete again.

Any bottles sent in the post is at the participants risk.

Any costs incurred from creating, posting or packaging the beer is the responsibility of the participant.

Participants must have active accounts on The HomeBrew Forum.

The winner is at the discretion of the judge and their word is final.

Winner will go down in the Homebrew Forum Hall of Fame. There may be sponsored prizes as well however this isn't guaranteed.

Unless otherwise stated, recipes can be original work, from a recipe or a clone.

Beers can be all grain, partial, extract or kit, unless otherwise stated.

Winning beers may require their recipe submitted online. Recipes do not need to be submitted to the judge.

There is no fee for entering the competition and no money should change hands between The Homebrew Forum, the judge, or any third party in relation to entering the competition.

Any other notes which will help the judge make the most out of an entry may be included. This could be details on the right temperature to drink it at, the correct glass to pour it in etc. This will not score any extra points.

Judges

Beers must be judged within 2 weeks of the closing date.

Every entry needs to have feedback provided. This should be constructive and positive.

If an entry does not conform to these rules, it is up to the judge whether to include them in the competition. The judge should give feedback to as many participants as possible, even if they are disqualified from the competition.

Any beers that arrive after the closing date cannot enter the competition. Judges can provide feedback if they wish, but cannot award a late entrant a prize.

Artwork will not score extra points, unless specified in the competition beforehand.

If a bottle is broken in the post, or on opening the bottle gushes, it is at the judgesââ¬â¢ discretion whether to enter it into the competition.

The named judge for that competition is responsible for judging and providing feedback. They can ask for help from friends or other forum members to taste all the beers, however its their responsibility ultimately that a winner is chosen and feedback is sent on time.

Entrants must be judged fairly against the competition style for that month. Beers should be similar to the style of the month and its the judges discretion on a case by case basis whether the beer conforms.

Judges must give a UK address to participants which can accept parcels before the judging month begins. This address will be given to participants.

All feedback must be filled out on a supplied feedback form and sent back to the participant as a private message. Unless agreed previously, no feedback can be publically shared.


Edited 30/7/2020 -

Judges must state whether they have any dietary requirements when choosing a competition month. This will get recorded in the Homebrew Competition Schedule thread. Judges must announce in their competition thread any dietary requirements as well. If there are too many restrictions this can be discussed on a case by case basis, keeping in mind the community spirit of the event. There is the possibility of judges swapping months or parallel competitions, or whatever the participants and judge decide.

A competition schedule for the following year will be released early November which is based on a first come first serve basis. However, if you have judged previously please consider allowing someone who hasn't judged previously to have a chance

thanks



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I had a bottle arrive today. Rather than just give feedback could I score it and deduct a penalty from it's overall score?

Or does that get too complicated/controversial?
 
I had a bottle arrive today. Rather than just give feedback could I score it and deduct a penalty from it's overall score?

Or does that get too complicated/controversial?

It does say twice in the rules that late entrants can't be included in the competition. I put this in because I know there are a lot of people out there who will plan in advance and try and make sure they enter in on time, and would be annoyed if someone entered late and beat them to the prize. It keeps entry time periods fair.

Having said that I think if the people who entered already don't mind go ahead. It probably only becomes an issue if you think the beer is a winning beer.
 
The bottle in question is mine, and I didn't even see this thread about updated rules and it would seem others are also unaware because there were people asking on the September competition thread when the judging date was to see if they had time to get their entry in.

That being said, in this case it wouldn't be a problem anyhow cos it's not a winning beer :D
 
The bits about entry dates have always been in there unchanged. It was written when we thought we might be able to get prizes (other than the glory of coming first) where rules need to be adhered to keep things fair. Personally I don't mind if I was entering in a competition and a late entrant beat me to the no.1 spot, and as this more of a community spirited event I would imagine no one would complain too much.
 
Why is there a requirement for two 330 ml bottles compared to one 5oo ml?

This is there so the judges have enough to taste. Usually when judging the competition there are 3 or 4 people sitting around trying the beer. It can be difficult to properly scrutinise the beer if there isn't enough to drink.

Having said this I think very few people send off more than one 330ml bottle, and it's up to the judge to enforce. When I judged a competition most bottles arrived in 500ml bottles and there were some single 330 ml bottles. There were 4 of us judging but we managed to try enough of each beer, and as there were a good number of entries having a small bit was probably better (especially as that competition was DIPAs!).

It's basically to ensure the judges can sample your beer properly.
 
I'd like to take part and potentially judge in future but one thing that puts me off is finings.

If anyone used animal based finings such as gelatine then I couldn't drink the beer. Could we have a rule to state no finings (other than kettle seaweed)?
 
I'd like to take part and potentially judge in future but one thing that puts me off is finings.

If anyone used animal based finings such as gelatine then I couldn't drink the beer. Could we have a rule to state no finings (other than kettle seaweed)?
I’d certainly agree with that. All of my beers are vegetarian/vegan (unless any flies fall in the FV) because my wife, mother and MiL are all vegetarian. I also don’t have an obsession with having clear beer quickly.

I don’t think finings are particularly widely used on the forum though.
 
No problem here, I don't use them 👍🏼

Plus my beers might hold up better in future competitions if no one is using them 😂
 
I'd like to take part and potentially judge in future but one thing that puts me off is finings.

If anyone used animal based finings such as gelatine then I couldn't drink the beer. Could we have a rule to state no finings (other than kettle seaweed)?

Is this because you are vegetarian/vegan or a because of a medical condition?
 
I think the way to do it might be for judges to declare on opening the competition thread if they don't drink finings/animal products.
 
I think the way to do it might be for judges to declare on opening the competition thread if they don't drink finings/animal products.
Maybe people would have already brewed for the comp by then.

I think it should either be a rule for every month or not at all. Would you trust someone on the forum to list all their ingredients?
 
Maybe people would have already brewed for the comp by then.

I think it should either be a rule for every month or not at all. Would you trust someone on the forum to list all their ingredients?
Do forumites plan for the forum competitions in that way? From reading the threads on competitions it seems like people submit if they have something relevant already or brew within the month if there's time.

In terms of trusting whether people are labelling correctly, that goes if we ban animal products from competitions completely. Would there be some brewers who think "I'll use finings but not label it, what they won't know won't hurt them."

We have the homebrew competition schedule which lists the beer style and judge for each month, we can add whether it's a finings free competition as well.
 

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