Home Brew Forum

Sadly not capable enough to enter myself as i'm still finding my feet, but saw this and thought it looked like a good comp for others.....

http://www.thebiglunchbeerchallenge.com/

"The Big Lunch Beer Challenge is about finding the rising stars in home brewing. We invite the home brewers of the UK to brew a special beer (of not more than 5.5% ABV) for their local ‘Big Lunch’ and then to hold back six bottles to send to the Sharp’s judging panel.

The prize for the winner will be to work with our Head Brewer, Stuart Howe, at the brewery in Rock to brew a commercial batch of the winning beer."


Good luck!

Would be great if a JBK forumer bought the trophy home! Bring Brewing home!!

Excellent! There seems to be more and more of these popping up all over the country.

crookedeyeboy wrote:Excellent! There seems to be more and more of these popping up all over the country.

They obviously see it that they are missing out on a good thing, Home brewers are always experimenting whereas commercial breweries have budgets and production planning.

Was down that way at the weekend for a wedding and so dropped off six bottles for them at their shop (but didn't have time for a tour). Apparently they've started to receive a fair few entries for this one.

Actually, I'm hosting a homebrew competition too.
Just send me your beer and I'll let you know in a few weeks if you win.
Oh, and the judging panel is quite thirsty so you'll need to send at least a dozen bottles...

boingy wrote:Actually, I'm hosting a homebrew competition too.
Just send me your beer and I'll let you know in a few weeks if you win.

And we get to come and brew on your system for you as well? Right?

coatesg wrote:And we get to come and brew on your system for you as well? Right?

Er, yeah. That's right. The winner can have a full brewing experience, right down to the cleaning and tidying up. I'll be in the garden, erm, judging some beer....

coatesg wrote:Was down that way at the weekend for a wedding and so dropped off six bottles for them at their shop (but didn't have time for a tour). Apparently they've started to receive a fair few entries for this one.

Was there in May. Very disappointing as they don't do tours (health & safety ) and talking as a home brewer they weren't very helpful. No info on the grain or hops they use or hint on their recipes, but did offer me some of there 'special yeast', not a goer as we were 1/2 way through are hols and off to the isles of Scilly for a week.

Ah - I'm glad I didn't even think about trying to book myself in for one then! It's all quite a modern setup from the looks of it - an industrial estate out the back of Rock (which itself seems quite upper class!!). What do you reckon of the chances of 'special yeast' being S-04 then?

It's strange that the likes of Hook Norton and Jennings can get by the health and safety, but as you say a modern brewery in an new industrial unit can't. I doubt it would be as interesting as the others mentioned because of that.

Yes, what was a small pleasant North Cornish village in the 60's when we holidayed in that area is now full of Hooray Henries.

I did get a couple of the bottled conditioned Doom Bar to propagate and see what the special yeast is like.

Scooby wrote:It's strange that the likes of Hook Norton and Jennings can get by the health and safety, but as you say a modern brewery in an new industrial unit can't. I doubt it would be as interesting as the others mentioned because of that.

Indeed - I've done Theakstons, Hook Norton and St Austell - all old breweries, lots of "mind your head", clambering up stairs, etc in very old buildings. And all very interesting too - much better than traipsing round a converted warehouse.

Marvellous. They've extended the entry until the end of the year. Which means my beer is gonna sit around for 6 months before it gets to the point of being opened and judged. Grrr.

Whats the idea with moving the entry date etc? I thought the bid lunch thing was this Sunday?

6 months is a long time for a beer that could go from being brewed to drinking in 2 weeks, the long maturation is going to alter the hopping a fair bit.

Well quite. Talk about moving goalposts... If I'd had known that well beforehand, I would have brewed up another very different beer to sit down there and mature for 6 months, though even now, the 5.5%ABV limit still applies.