I did not know that professional brewers could be in the NHC, but I could recognize a professional brewerer as a winner. Isn’t the competition for homebrewers? Professional homebrewer could brew at his or her home, but I am just curious…
Anyone can enter as long as they don’t brew on pro equipment. I say why not… Just because you are a pro doesn’t mean you’re good 
This is the first thing written in the rules:
“All National Homebrew Competition entries must be homebrewed beer, mead, and cider. “Homebrewed” means that entrants cannot use professional ingredients, equipment, or other means provided by professional brewers or breweries.”
Other than that, as long as they are an AHA member… they are basically good. So, a person can “work in a brewery” as long as the beer they are entering is brewed at home and not being produced with material, equipment, ingredients, etc. from the brewery… they are good. At least that is the way I have always understood it.
And, here are the rest of the official requirements:
"Homebrewer Eligibility
Homebrewers must meet each of the following conditions as of midnight on February 5, 2017:
1. You must be a current American Homebrewers Association (AHA) member when entering the competition.
2. You must know your member number and email address associated with your membership.
3. You must be subscribed to receive emails from the National Homebrew Competition. If you are unsure, please see the FAQ page or contact Member Services at info@brewersassociation.org for assistance.
4. No employee of the Brewers Association may enter."
Thank you for the question. I’ve often asked myself the same ? and end up answering it in one of two ways:
- what advantage does a pro have? We have access to all the same ingredients and most yeast. My homebrew processes can eliminate just as much O2 pickup.
- Why would a pro want to enter a beer in the homebrew comp? Don’t they have their own competition?
So when you say “pro”, is brewer you speak about THE brewer or a Brewers hand? Something to think about.
I don’t know who that was, but the rules posted above don’t disqualify the person if the beer was brewed at home.
Who cares? Half the homebrewers I know make beer better than most commercial breweries.
Same here.
Who is Z?
I wonder what is meant by professional ingredients?
There are a few chemicals, fining agents, yeasts, and some experimental hops that are not in the Homebrew Sop distribution. How they could tell if those were used in a competition? I don’t know the answer to that.
And a truly dedicated homebrewer can gain access to many of those if they’re willing to put in the legwork, as we have seen in many discussions on this board.
True, but it takes some effort, and sometimes an in with a brewer.
I may or may not have a good sized amount of Brewtan B waiting for me in the mail, as I know a guy who knows a brewer guy. That is pretty nice. Joe F. at HomebrewCon said it should be in the Homebrew supply chain by the end of June if all goes well. So that removes the leg work there.
Yeah - that part is kind of pointless… What if a person cultures yeast out of a commercial beer and uses it in a home-brew (Which I would guess many of the sour/belgian/wild ales in particular did do)… Is that a “professional” ingredient?
I think the spirit of the rule is simply - “You can’t enter a beer that was made in a commercial facility, with professional oversight, using commercial equipment.”
There are people that have home breweries that are of higher quality than some professional breweries. So, ultimately, the rule really seems to have nothing at all to do with using “better” equipment, ingredients, knowledge, process, etc. There are plenty of great home brewers who exceed most commercial breweries in every one of those regards. I think it is just an attempt to say - “Hey - make sure you are doing this yourself, on your own equipment in your house.”
Proud to see this, I agree!
I agree. As said earlier, I don’t see how ingredients could be enforced anyway.
Example : “Great beer but I detect Brewtan or maybe even SBT. Sorry dude, your 45 is now DQ’d”.
Or: “Best hop aroma and flavor I’ve ever experienced in a beer, but the hops are clearly experimental. You’re DQ’d, and let that be a lesson to you and all other cheaters.” 
Based on my discussions with the distributor, it may take a bit longer than that, but not much.
The only thing that would make sense to me is if it’s supposed to stop someone from gaining a financial advantage by bringing home free ingredients.