How did our Homebrew Do? – BJCP Competition Results for El Paso County Fair 2022

Here in Colorado Springs, we just wrapped up the El Paso County Fair Homebrew Competition. Jesse and Mike both entered recipes, so we figured we would give a recap of how those beers did.

For the comp overall, huge thank you to John Haven for doing all the heavy lifting, to all of the El Paso County Fair Events staff for continuing to keep this rolling, and of course, our wonderful sponsors, Black Forest Brewing, Cheers Liquor, Old West Homebrew Store, 5 Star Chemical, BeerSmith, the American Homebrewer’s Association, Fermentations Homebrew Store, Smiling Toad Brewery, and Rocky Mountain Brewing.

Mike entered a new recipe he’s been playing around with, a Leichtbier. We’re going to have an episode coming up on it, and we’ll post the recipe when that happens. The beer itself only scored a 28, which is in the “good” range. The main complaints were that it wasn’t hoppy enough, under carbonated, and hazy. They also mentioned the head quickly dissipates, but that’s OK for the style.

Jesse entered a number of homebrews into the competition, and did pretty well, coming away with two 3rd place ribbons, here’s what he entered:
American Stout – This one took third place, it was brewed a long time ago, and Jesse tried to make a porter, but it came out darker and roastier than he expected, so he called it a stout. 38 was the score for this one, which is “Excellent”. Unfortunately, Jesse was kind of winging it when he made this beer, so he doesn’t think he can recreate it.

American Brown – Scored a 29, and the feedback was that it was slightly oxidixed, and not quite malty enough. You can find the recipe for this one here: https://cobrewtalk.com/brown-boot-american-brown/

Helles Bock – Category 4C – (Maibock) – Took 3rd place in the flight. We haven’t tasted this one in an episode, it was part of a mastermind group led by Brad, scored a 37, which is the top end of “Very Good”. The feedback here was that it had a low amount of head, lower than expected bitterness. The recipe for this one came right out of the Bock book from Brewer’s publication. Jesse did the non-decoction version. We’ll be doing this one again later next year, led by Brad. If for nothing else then to get to hang out at Brad’s place again, it was a really good time!

Helles – That recipe received a 32, the feedback was that it was a bit estery, a little fruity. You can find that recipe at https://cobrewtalk.com/yellowjacket-helles-exportbier-recipe/

The competition overall was a tough one, there were some really good beers, and no stinkers that I heard off, and only one gusher. The best of show was being run by 3 national judges, and it took them forever to get the final results.

Jesse and I came up with the idea to run some experiments, primarily based on either no chill vs chilled, or pressure fermentation vs traditional lagering. If you have any ideas, please feel free to let us know. The only catch is that September 9th is the deadline for drop off.