Actually, Dennis’s idea is a great one. I like the idea of having them sent to a region that actually has the personnel to do a good job judging them. Even if the 3 in one region are better than the top ones in another region, it doesn’t matter that much. We’re just trying to get to the top 3 at the second round, right? So long as the 3 best make it there, then it’s all good. The bigger issue is when there are 2 in a region and they both advance. It makes the person that placed 4th or 5th at a bigger region feel screwed. At any rate, I’d like to see highly qualified lead judges in each pair, particularly for outlier categories like meads and ciders. The biggest issue is that the best qualified folks in a lot of regions also happen to have entries, thus disqualifying themselves. This wouldn’t be an issue if they entered in a non-local regional, but that’s the gamble I guess. Consolidating the meads and ciders would add some layer of validity to the first round, I think.
Zanesville is posted, one site left.
Come on San Diego, you can do it. Post today
struck out. I still can’t believe San Diego isn’t posted. That’s really lame.
Just got my sheets. Once again, the beers I filled off the tap got infected. I guess I need to learn my lesson this time. Two years in a row I lost 3 beers! >:(
At least my Steam Beer got through which was the only one I bottled from the start. 
Dave
Hmmm… Time to check what you’re doing when you bottle off the tap. I sanitize EVERYTHING and use a new picnic tap if I’m bottling for competition.
I only spayed the Perlik inside and out with StarSan. I need a better process for sure. Next year I clean the lines and tap and flush with sanitizer.
I am quite bummed as my Nut Brown Ale is probably my crown jewel brew. I’d like to see it judged further than my friends killing the keg the day I put it on…
That sucks, Dave. Better luck next year.
Yeah I’ve never had any luck even with cleaning and sanitizing my lines bottling off of the tap. It’s fine for filling a growler or something but not for something you’re going to bottle and submit to a competition. I would do as suggested and either get a picnic tap line that you dedicate to be your ‘bottler’ or get an actual bottler… I think you’ll be happier with your results.
I got a beer gun 4 or so years ago and haven’t looked back. Easy to use and zero issues with infection.
Same here. That was a good investment.
Hopefully the San Diego results are released by close of business, otherwise I don’t see them released before Monday. It’s been almost 2 weeks since the end of the competition, kind of ridiculous…
For whatever it’s worth, I’ve bottled close to 40 competition entries straight out of my perlicks without picking up any noticeable contamination.
I did recently purchase a beer gun to bottle 10 gallons for a friend’s wedding though. I was pretty impressed with it and may use it to bottle my round 2 entry. Though maybe changing my routine at this point is bad luck?
If the results for Saint Louis had come out even one week later than they did, it would have been very difficult for me to rebrew. That was just poor planning on my part though, and I happened to get lucky. I don’t think I have much chance of placing in the finals, but it makes for two months of nice daydreaming.
Why are they pushing the re-brew envelope with the host city? If someone from SD places and needs to brew up the batch before comp, and they choose to bottle condition as that is how they won in the first place on one of their styles, we have very little time to do so. All the other cities actually have an advantage in this case. I do beer gun as well as bottle condition, but I would like to submit to style, so gotta figure in conditioning if that’s what beer progresses. I now see why a lot of my fellow local SD homebrewers actually sent out to other cities - I would think smaller the entry venue, quicker the results. Not sure why else it would take longer to process.
San Diego is up.
My Irish Red took 3rd
Way to go Charles!
Wish I could repay the visit this June, but I need to save my Euros for Austria, Germany and Belgium in September.
Yes, please cry me a river
Unfortunately if you are truly serious about trying to take a national medal, then you really should just plan on re-brewing your entries regardless if you know if you made it through or not. It does kind of suck, but if it ensures a better chance at placing then that is what must be done.
Thanks Steve, I’ll be up your way in August and September
Would the beer gun work with Sanke valves? I have sixtels.