I wrote last year about the importance of setting some goals to keep improving as a brewer.  Since it’s the time of year for this kind of thing – I thought it might be a good idea to recap what went down in the last 12 months and setup some new things to strive for in twenty-ten.

• Mission Impossible from 2009 was to win a medal at the National Homebrewers Competition.  Mission Accomplished.
• That lead to a bunch of other cool opportunities including the trip of a lifetime to Sierra Nevada Beer Camp.
• I managed to eke out a modest 30 batches from the garage brewery in 2009.  Just over one every 2 weeks – not half bad.
• I published 77 posts to this blog – hopefully you found at least 1 or 2 of them helpful!
• I started a Twitter account – which you can follow along here – and finished the year at ~480 followers.
• My picture appeared in Zymurgy twice (Sept/Oct 2009, Jan/Feb 2010) and on the new AHA website (awesome!).
• Gained an immeasurable number of new friends.

All in all not bad, but I think I can do better.  While all very cool – some of the things that happened were a bit of a fluke.

For the new year, I want to focus on things I can actually do – and maybe the rest will work itself out.  With that in mind here’s what I’d like to accomplish this year.

• Publish an article in BYO or Zymurgy.
• Publish at least 50 articles (and coming soon videos!) on this blog.
• Put on some unique beer events to raise money for local charities.  There can’t be enough of this.
• Get to at least Certified rank in the BJCP.
• Send 50 beers to the National Competition.  There’s very little control over the outcome, but I can improve the odds by entering lots of high quality brew.
• Brew 50 batches of beer.  That’s nearly once  a week – and I’m fermentation-space-challenged but practice makes perfect.

What about you?  Do you have any brewing or beer related endeavors you’d like to undertake this year?  Share them with us in the comments.  And if you’d like I’ll check in with you throughout the year to see how it’s going.

In this series of articles we have been talking about different ways to improve your skills outside of the brew day.

But stick with me here, because there’s some useful stuff too.

I’ve been trying to do some new (to me) and hopefully interesting things and the last couple of batches just haven’t quite worked out.

Its probably a little harsh to call them crap – but its tough when you spend several hours planning and shopping and brewing and then have to wait several more weeks for it to finally be ready.  All the while building up in your mind that this is going to be the best beer yet.

And then it just isn’t.

For me, the problem is that I’ve just been making too many changes at once.  Trying new ingredients, trying to tweak my water and messing with my process all at the same time.

If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a follower of “Pope Jamil“.  One of the big things he “preaches” is to not change more than one thing at a time (That’s the first bit of useful stuff).

And he’s right.

I’m horribly impatient.  You might be the same.  I usually try to plan out every single detail so that the beer will turn out perfect on the first try.  After all, isn’t this what we’ve been taught in school and at work?  Failing is bad, so you better get everything right on the first try!

But that doesn’t really work.

Yeah, if you’re starting with a known good recipe and you’re not changing any of your normal process – then you’ll probably do just fine on your first try.

But when you’re trying break new ground for yourself – the secret seems to be to start small and just brew over and over – making only one change at a time, until you get it dialed in (That’s the second useful bit of stuff).

I don’t think anyone is going to complain about getting to brew more often.  I certainly am not.

Still with me?  Good.

Then what do you do if you’re like me and haven’t followed all of this good advice?  Maybe the beer isn’t really that bad?  I know I’m my own worst critic.  You might be too.  Well, you’re not my worst critic – you’re your own, I mean.

If you don’t know exactly what went wrong – give some to your friends.  They’ll probably tell you it’s great, which won’t really be that helpful. 

Then try taking some to the homebrew shop, or a club, or send it to a competition (There’s the third bit of useful stuff, if you’re keeping track). Maybe you’ll find out it’s not so bad after all.

Or maybe you will.

I’m not afraid to dump a batch anymore.  But only if I know exactly what I did wrong.  And what I’m going to do to fix it.  This is also yet another reason that kegging rocks.  There’s only one container to empty.

Then just brew it again – and make it even better this time.

So what all of this really boils down to is that learning to brew is no different than learning to do pretty much anything else.  There’s going to be peaks and valleys and plateaus in between.   Just keep trying new things.  And its ok to mess up. as long as you don’t give up.

Read the Full Series

This article is part of a series on some ways to become a better brewer.  Hopefully this post got you thinking.  You can read the other articles in this series here.

In this series of articles we have been talking about different ways to improve your skills outside of the brewery.

Looking for a good way to get some objective feedback on your latest brew?  Try entering it in a competition.

Obviously taste is at best somewhat subjective but the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) has done a great job of creating a framework for the evaluation of homebrewed beer styles.

Feedback from your friends will usually be tainted by your friendship – how well they like you (or don’t) – and their level of experience tasting beer.   Competition entries are judged anonymously and BJCP certified judges have all taken a pretty rigorous and through exam.

Brewin’ in Style…

There are currently 23 defined  categories and over 80 sub-categories in the BJCP recognized style guidelines.  You can read the current version here.  Each style is defined by 5 specific attributes:

1. Aroma
2. Appearance
3. Flavor
4. Mouthfeel
5. Overall Impression

Also included are some statistics for each style: approximate OG, FG, IBU, SRM and ABV (wow that’s alot of acronyms) as well as a short history for each style and a list of commercially brewed examples.

Oh, its on like Donkey Kong!

When you enter a competition, the judges will taste your beer and score it based on each of the 5 attributes.  The values are based on how well it meets the guidelines for that particular style.  Usually there are 2-3 judges tasting all of the entries (a flight) for a given style.

Each judge will complete a score sheet for each beer in the flight.  Your scores from each judge are averaged to arrive at a final score.   The beer with the highest average score wins that style category.

Feedback – Make Your Beer go to 11

Obviously its a great feeling to win in competition – but the most useful part is receiving the score sheets with feedback from each judge. In addition to the numerical scores, each section will also contain valuable tasting notes.  The notes should include lots of information – any flaws – suggestions improve the beer – and hopefully some positive comments on what you did well.

These are the actual score sheets used at the majority of competitions.  You will get 1 cover sheet (pdf) with your average score for each entry and a beer evaluation sheet (pdf) from each judge – usually 2 or 3 per entry – depending on the number of judges at the competition.

You should enter the same beer in a few competitions – get a good number of scores to find an average.

Then take the feedback from the judges and make any improvements you can.  Brew the recipe again with these changes and enter it in a few more competitions.  Over time you’ll get that recipe dialed in and then you’re on your way to brewing a world-class example!

They Said What?!

Occasionally you will get back a poorly scored sheet.  Maybe something happened to your bottles in transit – like they sat in the back of a hot truck all day.  Maybe it was a long flight and palette fatigue started to set in.  This can be a particular problem with very highly hopped or highly alcoholic styles.  Where your beer lands in the flight can have an effect on your final score as well.  Don’t take it personally or dismiss the whole system as flawed.

Each table has a different set of judges – so the changes of you getting back more than 1 bad score sheet for a given competition is pretty small.

Where its at!

There are competitions held all year long – but spring brings the AHA National Competition as well as the Longshot – the winners of which have their recipe brewed by the Boston Beer company (Samuel Adams).   The BJCP also maintains a schedule of upcoming sanctioned competitions on their site here.  You might also hear about competitions from time to time through your local homebrew store.

Next time we’ll talk about how go about entering a competition, labeling your bottles correctly and some tips to make sure they arrive safely.

The Rest of the Story

This article is part of a series on some ways to become a better brewer.  Fun, interesting, outside-the-box ways to improve your brewing .  Read the other articles in this series here.

In this series of articles we have been talking about different ways to improve your skills outside of the brewery.

If you’ve never been to a home brew club meeting – you’re missing out.  Even if you’re not a home brewer yet.  You’ll be hooked after the first meeting.  And if you’ve been brewing for awhile then break out of your brewing-comfort-zone and try something new.  It’s one of the best things you can do to improve.  Here are 7 ways home brew club can help.

1. Make New Friends

This is what beer is all about.  Bringing people together.  You’ll have no trouble meeting a bunch of like-minded people and making some new friends along the way.  In addition to meeting some really great people – more brewing friends means more brewing resources for you to learn from.

2. Get Your Learn On

Just by going to the meetings every month you’ll learn so much.  Ask lots of questions!  From recipes to techniques – club members are always willing to help.  Some clubs also feature a monthly guest speaker or presentation on a gadget or beer style.

3. Improve Your Beer Taster

There’s no substitute for actually tasting beer.  Practice makes perfect!  Tasting commercial brews is fine, but tasting homebrew is even better.  You’ll get to try styles that aren’t widely brewed commercially.  And not only will you get to taste some great examples, but some not-so-great ones as well.

4. Get Feedback on Your Own Beer

Friends and family are always going to tell you that your beer is good.  But your fellow brewers will be able to help you make your beer great.  Experienced tasters can help correct subtle flaws – or just confirm that you’ve done a great job!

5. Be a VIP

Pro brewers know who their die-hard supporters are – and shame on them if they don’t.  Face time with actual brewers beats the snot out of the over-crowded-free-beer-on-Saturday tours.  Brew clubs also frequently have the inside track on volunteering or getting special access to beer festivals, dinners and other events.  You may even find yourself serving your homebrew at one of them!

6. Team Up

Brew-ins and group brews are an excellent way to learn first hand.  It’s hard to describe many of the details that go into a brew day and watching someone else do it is the best way to learn.  Some clubs have large capacity brewing systems that let several people brew one batch and everyone can take a share home.  Then there are brew-ins where everyone brings their equipment to a central place.  Or you might just have everyone brew a common recipe and compare results.

7. Save Some Cash

A few times during the year, the club can organize group buys on ingredients and pass the savings on to members.  Ordering a whole pallet of grain is much cheaper than buying a sack at a time – by alot.  The same goes for other supplies.  More cash = more brewing = more experience!

If you’re a member of a home brew club that doesn’t do all of these things – well now you’ve got a new few ideas.

The American Homebrewers Association

In addition to local hombrew clubs there is also a national club – the American Homebrewers Association.  They publish a first-rate magazine called Zymurgy – which is included in your membership – along with a whole list of other benefits and discounts.  They also provide a list of local brew clubs if you’re having difficulty finding one in your area.

Read the Full Series

This article is part of a series on some ways to become a better brewer.  Fun, interesting, outside-the-box ways to improve your brewing .  Read the other articles in this series here.

In this series of articles we have been talking about different ways to improve your skills outside of the brewery.

One of the best ways to improve as a brewer – and start making beers that rival those from your favorite commercial breweries – is to start setting some goals for your brew sessions.

It doesn’t have to be grand – or like work.  Start small and build up from there.  Michael Phelps didn’t learn to swim one week and win 14 gold medals the next.  First he had to get in the pool and master the basics just like everyone else.

Even commercial brewers have goals for things like consistency from batch to batch and efficiency to keep ingredient costs down.

To start, set simple goals.  Find a few small improvements and work on them one at a time. For example -

• Hitting your starting gravity – maybe you need to measure your water or your extract more accurately.  Figure out why your gravity is off – and what you can do to correct it next time – until you can consistently hit your numbers.
• Sanitation.  Go overboard – sanitize everything – whether it gets boiled or not.  Use a quality no-rinse sanitizer.  Replace all of your plastic items.
• Fermentation temperature.  One of the best improvements you can make.  Do some research – investigate the popular options and find one that works for you.  It could be a dedicated freezer with temperature controls – or maybe just a simple water bath.

Once you’ve mastered one aspect move on to the next.  Don’t try to change too many things at once.

As your brewing improves, set larger overall goals that build on your smaller ones.

In 2009 I want to win at least 1 medal at NHC.  That’s going to be tough.  So how am I going to do it?  With smaller goals like these:

• Decide early which categories I will enter.  Ideally, 1-2 in each category.  I won’t have an entry for some categories – like sour beer or strong ale.
• Schedule brew days well in advance to be sure everything is ready for the first round entry deadline.
• Pitch the proper amount of yeast – to ensure a good fermentation – and schedule lower gravity beers first – to build up a big yeast pitch for higher gravity recipes.
• Work on the boil kettle drain.  I switched to siphoning off of the top – an improvement – but still leaving too much wort behind.
• Finish the recirculating wort chiller.  I can pump ice water through the chiller now.  Add a whirlpool for the wort to chill faster.  This will give a better cold break and retain more hop character.

Small changes in each brew add up to big improvements over the time.  Set a few goals now to brew your best beer yet in 2009.

What areas of your brewing would you like to improve?  Any plans or firsts you’re thinking about next year?  Share them in the comments section.

Read the Full Series

This article is part of a series on some ways to become a better brewer. Fun, interesting, outside-the-box ways to improve your brewing . Read the other articles in this series here.