Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[Salvelinus]

I helped out with our clubs competition all day yesterday. I helped out judges that did amber lagers (Viennas and Marzens) and Belgian dark strongs (Blonde, Dubbel, Triple, Dark Strong). It was interesting to hear the comments from the judges on the various beers while tasting them. Some were great, and there were some absolute stinkers that I give the judges credit for working through to make comments on.

I had five beers in, two won ribbons. I entered my citra/galaxy pale as an IPA because it was on the edge of IPA and pale ale hoppiness. It won the IPA category which was one of the biggest of the show. My German Pils scored a 37 but took second place in the pilsner category. I also learned that my keg to bottle process needs fixing, all the beers I entered from my kegs had hints of infections that killed their scores. This tells me I'm not cleaning the bottles well enough before bottling those because the beer in the keg has no sign of an infection.

I'd definitely suggest joining a competition if you haven't, and to try to volunteer at the competition. I learned a ton yesterday, and got to drink beer from 9am to 6pm for free!