Homebrew Competition Software

Events & Comps
1

I’m organizing a homebrew competition this fall in Bristol, UK. One of the things that would be useful would be to have a website via which entrants and judges can sign up. I am aware that there are several packages out there for free that could be used, but wondered if anyone had any advice as to which works best.

2

This past year we used BCOE (www.brewcompetition.com) and liked it. It supports online payment via paypal which we liked. It is free (in both senses) but you can optionally purchase hosting for $10, which we did.

It does not do flight definitions, judge assignments, etc, just the online registration. It exports data to HCCP which does that other stuff but the developer is working on a new version of BCOE that does the whole enchilada. Assuming it is available, I suspect we will use that next year.

3

Thanks John! I’m glad to hear that BCOE helped you organize your competition this year.

John is correct, I am working on the next version (literally as we speak). I am about 75% finished coding the new version which will feature table definitions, flight definitions, judging/stewarding assignments, pullsheets, scoring, and reports. I expect to finish up coding by mid-April, beta testing done by mid-May. I’m shooting for a release date in June.

In the meantime, however, you can test drive and download the software package at www.brewcompetition.com. The hosted package is $20 per year (John’s competition got in on an introductory half-off special).

Cheers!

Geoff

4

Thanks. I’ve set up with BCOE on a self-hosted site. I’m looking forward to the new version - will I be able to upgrade without losing all of the registrations already in, or not?

5

Your data will be intact when you upgrade. No worries. You’ll find that there is an archive feature so you can keep data indefinitely. Hopefully it’ll be useful for you…

6

We use BCOE for The Schooner (555 entries in 2010), Midwinter (461 entries in 2011), and now the inaugural German Fest (all German beer style) competitions.  It works very well for all and Geoff is very willing to listen to suggestions for enhancements.  Upgrade process is pretty simple as long as you remember any custom modifications you’ve made along the way (ie Facebook plugins, extra links, etc).

7

I have been negligent in posting an update here to let people know that a vastly expanded version of Brew Competition Online Entry and Management has been released.

For more information, go to the BCOE&M website. Hosting is available.

Version 1.2.0.X features:

  • Expanded Site Preferences

  • Judging Preferences

  • Custom Style Types

  • Custom Styles

  • Table and Flight Management (including support for queued judging)

  • Judge, Steward, and Staff Assignments

  • Scoring

  • Printing and Reporting Functions including:

    • Pullsheets
    • Table Cards
    • Judge and Steward Assignments
    • Sign-in Sheets
    • Results by Table (HTML, PDF)
    • BOS Results Reports (HTML, PDF)
    • BJCP Staff Points Report (PDF, XML)
    • Award Labels
    • Participant Address Labels
    • Judge Score Sheet Labels