From brew day to when Beers are at their best. Tell me how long beers will last and how long you plan before the competitions.
IPA
Pilsners
Stouts
Light beers
Dark beers
IPAs- I brew around 3 weeks before submission deadline if I hand carry. I add an extra week if I’m shipping.
Pils - I brew around 7-8 weeks before submission date.
Stouts - I brew around 8 weeks before submission for stouts other than RIS. I try to enter RIS that’s 6+ months old when I submit.
Light beer - too vague. Example, a blonde ale maybe 6 weeks prior. A Belgian Tripel or Helles Bock, a few months.
Dark beer - again too vague. An American Brown, maybe 6 weeks prior. A Belgian Quad, close to a year good, 1-2 years better.
thanks for the info, that is exactly what I was looking for… but lets add in a Festbier and marzen for giggles
People brew lagers differently, but average strength lagers can be comp ready in 8 weeks-ish IMO. Longer for bocks.
a lot of this depends on how well your beer was handled and packaged.
They’re all best fresh. About 3-4 weeks from brew day to glass is probably optimal for most beers. Stronger ones or cold-fermented ones (like lagers) can take an extra couple weeks.
I have found that if the beer is soundly brewed and well packaged to minimize oxygen, that even 3 wk old (as in layered for 3 wks) light lagers can medal in decent sized comps. IPA’s should be brewed to enter at their peak freshness, which for me is pretty much as soon as they are carbonated. Darker beers can benefit from a bit more time to allow the malts to come together more, but they don’t need as much time as you may think.
Even stronger ABV beers can still be turned around pretty quickly providing they have a simple grain bill. For example, I have medaled with Belgian Tripels that were under 2 mos old and over 9%. You really have to play around with what your system can do for you and how good your packaging is. Enter lots of different styles of beer in lots of different comps so you can start to see how your own timeline progresses.