Fantastic mate!!! And, you deserve it

[As for bottling from the keg, I now use one of these fantastic things however, if your batch is pouring nicely from the keg, you'd be surprised at how little carbonation, if any, you'll lose dispensing into the bottle. In the past, if I've had a keg dispensing badly and needed to bottle a comp beer, I'd put a glass jug in my freezer to chill, dispense into that, let it settle and then pour into PET bottles that were also chilled in the freezer. Probably pointless chilling the PET bottles but, it worked well. As for oxidation, well I never noticed any or the judges so maybe there wasn't any?]

Thanks guys...!

PP - your tool you linked to is interesting. Not sure if suppliers over here have this. My method of bottling from keg needs improvement I think... Although if only a few days from bottling to judging, the process is likely okay.

Brulosophy posted an experiment this morning related to bottling. Interesting and I'm not sure what it means. http://brulosophy.com/2017/06/05/flushi ... t-results/

Scott,
I read the article in your link and the comments that followed it. In the one example of testing one batch of one recipe /two bottle-filling methods, there was not a statistically significant taste difference between the methods used (minimizing oxygen vs. picnic tap transfer allowing oxygen). The minuscule amounts of oxygen measured (700 parts per billion at highest level) simply did not sufficiently oxidize anything that made a taste difference in the time period of the test for that beer. Note the many layers of weasel words there, limiting the conclusion to one exBt. If the author was looking to label oxygen as a bad actor, he picked the wrong recipe.

If home brewers have experienced measurable taste changes after transfer from keg to bottle, they should always tell what type of beer it was so that measurements could focus on the type(s) most impacted. Then we could learn when to scrupulously exclude oxygen from sensitive beer, or simply brew something equally as good that doesn’t need the worry.

Commercial brewers may have data for their highly reproducible (sensitive?) beers being influenced by dissolved oxygen or gaseous oxygen in the headspace at ppb levels during the desired shelf life. If a home brewer is careful to transfer from keg to bottle with minimal introduction of air (air is only ~20% oxygen), there should be very little chance of spoilage if the bottles are treated in a gentle manner.

In most cases for home brewers, oxygen is a red herring. If that doesn't translate well, I mean stop worrying so much about oxygen. After the quality of ingredients, time and temperature are much more important than oxygen. If oxygen were so bad, why does anyone aerate the wort before pitching yeast?

That's my opinion, FWIW.

Fantastic JP Good on you

Public choice is the highest award (most accurate) anyone can get I reckon I'd love to see every comp have that award.

[Another great post from ShorePoints I see above.]

Congratulations JP!

Well, have had three more competitions since the one posted about last spring... And I’m in the process of thinking this through some...

Oregon State Fair, August 2017
2nd Place for Dark Czech Lager
3rd Place for Pre-Prohibition Pilsner

Thought the Czech Lager was quite good. The guy that beat me, ironically with another Dk Cz Lager, came in runner up Best of Show.

Rocktoberfest (OR), September 2017
2nd Place for Czech Pale Lager

Capitol Brewers Harvest Classic (OR), October 2017
2nd Place for German Pilsner

And Then There’s Today...
All was going well with this until today... Got results for Oregon Brew Crew’s “Fall Classic”, gels last Saturday in Portland, OR. I’ve entered brew competitions for the last 13 months, and I’ve won at least one medal in each competition until today. Did Not Place...! Notta. Ouch! Look forward to seeing my score sheets. Hopefully the beer I entered actually made it to the competition (dropped it off at a LHBS). It probably did...

What do I take from this experience?
I’ve done well overall, and competition results shows that I do make good beer... (It proves - as most of you know - that great beer can be made with BIAB, same as any other brewing method...if there is still a question). At the end of the day, making good beer important - at least for those of us that love great beer!

Judging is subjective. Have seen beers that did mediocre in one competition do awesome in another. Sometimes beer does change, similar to wine...over time. And other things can happen too... But you can still learn from sending your beer in for evaluation and see how knowledgeable beer people evaluate it. But if you make good beer, you will win some awards... Maybe not all the time, but at least some of the time.

We have really good /soft water where I live in Oregon. Great for most Pilsners. All of my wins have been from lagers. Every single one. Now, I brew at least 2/3 lagers... Think I need to pay attention to water adjustments more with Ales, in particular APA and IPA. Mine taste pretty good, but not special.

I’ve got my first ever Rauchbier, worked really hard on it. Tastes good, great flavor, but a little “thin”... Was going to use Bavarian Lager Yeast. BCS Book suggested Bohemian Lager Yeast and I went with that instead. Oops. Also maybe could have mashed a little higher temperature. Both of those changes next time should make a definitely better beer next time, with more body and “mouth feel”. I guess this is how we improve. Pros learn the same way...

Anyway, this is a combination Muse / Rant, I guess. Surely there are some interesting examples out here.

Well it turns out that something has gone wrong with my sanitizing and cleaning regimen with bottling... Normally keg so am most dialed in for that. Brews in the last competition didn’t do that well and a couple got slammed. Sounds like I got some bad things in the bottled beer that shouldn’t have and may have infected the beer...things not in the kegged beer. Will have to re-review procedures and try to pinpoint the issue.

Scott wrote: ↑

6 years ago

Well it turns out that something has gone wrong with my sanitizing and cleaning regimen with bottling... Normally keg so am most dialed in for that. Brews in the last competition didn’t do that well and a couple got slammed. Sounds like I got some bad things in the bottled beer that shouldn’t have and may have infected the beer...things not in the kegged beer. Will have to re-review procedures and try to pinpoint the issue.

Congrats on all your comps...

Maybe off topic regarding this issue but I'll toss it in. Just about bottling...

http://www.lowoxygenbrewing.com/uncateg ... e-filling/

Hey MS,

It is great to hear from you!!! Was honestly thinking just a few days ago didn’t recall seeing anything from you since the hurricane. Was a little concerned. So hope all is well.

On vacation ATM. Starting this afternoon. I skimmed your link. Looks interesting. Your natural carbonation / spundling valve (?) thing always has. Natural carbonation. Have always been a fan of cask ales... And the Grrmans have something similar. This seems down similar lines.

Will review again at a later time, and can give some more details.

Again MS - great to see you back on the forum!

So guys, it's been a while since I've hung out here. I've got quite a bit of BIABrewing under my belt now. Joined an awesome club called the Miami Area Society of Homebrewers (http://miami-homebrew.org/), which is big into competitions. I entered by first competition in March and won a silver medal for my American Porter. Very pleased -- thanks for all your help!

Good job @shetc! If I was any closer, I would ask for a beer... drink:

Scott wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Good job @shetc! If I was any closer, I would ask for a beer... drink:

Cheers, Scott - c'mon over anytime.

This BIAB thing seems to work Won a gold medal today for a saison. The BIABacus rocks

Great job @shetc . A gold medal is difficult. I think a gold medal on a Saison is even more difficult

PistolPatch wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Great job @shetc . A gold medal is difficult. I think a gold medal on a Saison is even more difficult

Thanks, Pat!

@shetc ,

I meant to communicate “good job” on this. It means you have your “process” down where you are getting consistently good beer. And that is important!

Congratulations! And good job.

Scott

Scott wrote: ↑

5 years ago

@shetc ,

I meant to communicate “good job” on this. It means you have your “process” down where you are getting consistently good beer. And that is important!

Congratulations! And good job.

Scott

Thanks, Scott!