The National Homebrew Competition (NHC) is the world’s largest international beer competition recognizing the most outstanding homebrewed beer, mead, and cider produced by amateur brewers worldwide.
The First Round of the National Homebrew Competition (NHC) takes place at nine regional sites in the USA during the month of April. The best of the beer, mead, and cider entries in the regional competitions advances to the Final Round of the competition at the AHA National Homebrewers Conference. NHC winners receive gold, silver or bronze medals in 28 style categories.
The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the Brewers Association, established 1978 in Boulder, Colorado, USA. In 1979, 34 entries competed in the first National Homebrew Competition held in Boulder, Colorado.
The 2010 NHC
Get your kettles cranked up and fill up those fermenters; the 2010 National Homebrew Competition is approaching fast! The NHC Rules and Regulations (PDF file) are now available. Here are the important dates you need to know.
2010 National Homebrew Competition - Important Dates
Entry Deadline:
Monday, March 22 – 5 p.m. Thursday, April 1, 2010
Online Registration:
Available mid-February 2010
First Round Competitions:
April 3 – April 25, 2010
Final Round Entries Due:
Monday, May 24 – 5 p.m. Monday, June 7, 2010
Final Round Competition:
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Awards Ceremony:
Saturday, June 19, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN
Last year 1,310 homebrewers entered the National Homebrew Competition, and 455 brewers advanced to the Final Round competition to compete for 84 medals.
Necessary Equipment
Brewing Kettle
Long-Handled Spoon
PrimaryFermenter (plastic)
Airlock and Stopper
Siphon Tubing (4 feet)
Caps and Capper
Bottles
Optional Equipment
SecondaryFermenter (glass)
Hydrometer & Test Jar
Thermometer
Racking Tube
Bottle Filler
Wort Chiller
Ingredients Needed
1 or 2 cans Malt Extract
¾ cup Corn Sugar
1 pack Burton Water Salts
1 pack Yeast Nutrient
2 oz. Hops (if plain malt)
1 cup Crystal Malt
2 packs Ale Yeast
Note: This beer recipe is written for two-stage fermentation. If using the single-stage method, as in your Basic Brewing Kit (theres a post about this); simply omit any reference to the secondary fermenter (glass water bottle) and perform all operations in the plastic primary fermenter with airlock.
Here are some proven prize-winning beer recipes. The procedure on all these recipes is standard, as provided in 5 Gallons of Good Beer. We think you will enjoy these great beers!
YELLOW DOG PALE ALE
6.6 lbs. (2 small packs) Yellow Dog Malt Extract
1/3 lb. whole Crystal Malt, remove at 170 deg.
1 pack Burton Water Salts
¾ oz. Chinook Hop Pel (12.2 alpha) in boil
¾ oz. Kent Goldings Pel (5.5) in last 5 min.
¾ oz Willamette Pel (5.3) when heat off
½ tsp. Irish Moss in last 15 mins. of boil
2 packs Doric Yeast or 1 Wyeast Liquid Ale
¾ cup Corn Sugar for priming
Starting Gravity 1.047 Final Gravity 1.012
AMERICAN BROWN ALE
5.5 lbs. (1 large pack)
Yellow Dog Malt Extract
¼ lb. crushed Black Patent malt
¼ lb. crushed Chocolate malt
1 ½ oz Northern Brewer pellets (8.0% alpha) at start of boil.
¾ oz Cascade Pel (5.0) in last 5 min.
½ tsp. Irish Moss in last 15 mins. of boil
2 packs Nottingham Ale Yeast
¾ cup Corn Sugar for priming
Starting Gravity 1.040 Final Gravity 1.011
KRAUT DOG OKTOBERFEST
6.6 lbs. (2 small packs) Yellow Dog
1 oz Hersbrucker Pellets (5.3) in boil
1 pack Wyeast #2124 Lager Yeast
¾ cup Corn Sugar for priming
Pitch yeast at room temp., ferment at 42 deg.
Starting Gravity 1.048 Final Gravity1.013
AMERICAN BOCK
5.5 lbs. (1 large pack) Yellow Dog Malt Extract
½ lb. crushed Lt. Crystal malt
¼ lb. crushed Black Patent malt
¼ lb. crushed Victory malt
1 ½ oz Hallertauer pellets (4.5% alpha)at start of boil
½ oz Tettnanger pellets (4.2) in last 5 min
½ tsp. Irish Moss in last 15 mins. of boil
1 pack Wyeast #2308 Lager Yeast
¾ cup Corn Sugar for priming
Pitch yeast at room temp., ferment at 42 deg
Starting Gravity 1.040 Final Gravity 1.011
BLACK DOG PORTER
6.6 lbs. (2 small packs) Yellow Dog
½ lb. Dark Crystal Malt, crushed
¼ lb. Black Patent Malt, crushed
1/3 lb. Chocolate Malt, crushed
8 oz Malto-Dextrin (in boil)
¾ oz Northern Brewer Pel (8.1) in boil
½ oz Tettnanger Pel (5.0) finishing
½ oz Hallertauer Pel (5.1) after heat off
2 packs Doric Yeast or 1 Wyeast Liq. Ale
¾ cup Corn Sugar for priming
1000 or 500 ltr BTT-tanks for tapping/ dispensing of beer in beer-pubs and restaurants instead of KEG-barrels
Beer is stored & tapped from polypropylene bag (inliner) by means of air-pressure. Bag-in-Tank system = Beer storing & tapping PP-bag is installed inside the tank and connected to the tank’s input/output. PP-bag to be exchanged by a new one within 2-3 weeks time (or sooner) on tappig-out all its beer contents (bag price is absolutely minimum)
Made in stainless-steel or with decorative copper-clad.
Made insulated with cooling-jacket (welded-jacket or copper-spiral) or without insulation to be placed in chilled tank-rooms.
The cheapest way of how to get beer from big breweries into a beer-glass in beer-pubs or restaurants but also
The most cost-effective beer tapping system for microbreweries and pubbreweries.
3000 pcs of BTT-tanks produced so far
Advantages compared with KEG-barreling:
Tapping of non-pasteurized beer, BTT-tanks make tapping/ dispensing of pure natural beer cost-effective
Beer is stored in the PP-bag (chilled down to 8-10 °C) and never gets in touch with air which benefits in excellent sparkling beer taste & durability. This, naturally, leads to growing crowds of your satisfied customers-natural beer lovers.
Shelf-life of non-pasteurized beer tapped from BTT-tanks is up to 3 weeks
There’s no need of additional CO2 for tapping, beer never gets over-carbonated
Reduction of beer loss (down to 2%)
Easy installation: BTT-tanks are mounted horizontally on the frame or also vertically (see the photos)
Cheaper beer distribution/ dispensing: receiving of beer by truck-tankers / beer-supply from 1 tank-room to several tap-rooms
Comfortable cost- & time-saving operation: no tiring and repeated manipulation with KEGs
Low maintenance requirements
BTT beer tapping system also saves microbrewer’s costs by making beer-pasteurizing not-necessary
BTT-tanks can also be used for soft-drinks tapping
The oldest brewery in the world is believed to be the German state-owned Weihenstephan brewery in the city of Freising, Bavaria. It can trace its history back to 1040 A.D. (although the Zatec brewery in the Czech Republic claims it can prove that it paid a beer tax in 1004 A.D.).
Early breweries typically used large copper vats in the brewhouse, and fermentation and packaging took place in lined wooden containers. Such breweries were common until the Industrial Revolution, when better materials became available, and scientific advances led to a better understanding of the brewing process. Today, almost all brewery equipment is made of stainless steel.
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer’s history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company.
The diversity of size in breweries is matched by the diversity of processes, degrees of automation, and kinds of beer produced in breweries. Typically a brewery is divided into distinct sections, with each section reserved for one part of the brewing process.
Work in the brewery is typically divided into 7 steps: Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, Fermenting, Conditioning, Filtering, and Filling.
Alcohol has been brewed domestically (homebrew) throughout its 7000-year history beginning in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China. Knowledge of brewing beer and wine was passed on from the Egyptians to the Greeks and finally to the Romans. People homebrew for a variety of reasons. Homebrewing can be cheaper than buying commercially equivalent beverages; it can allow people to adjust recipes to their own tastes (creating beverages that are unavailable on the open market, or low-ethanol beverages which may contain less calories and so be less-fattening); or people may enjoy entering homebrew competitions.
Sometimes referred to as “craft brewing”, homebrewing has developed various homebrewing clubs and competitions. The Beer Judge Certification Program or BJCP is an American organization which sanctions beer, mead, and cider homebrew competitions, certifies judges, and offers categories for judging; these judging categories are called “Beer Style Guidelines” and are written by the BJCP Style Committee. Similar British organisations are The National Guild of Wine and Beer Judges, who have judging categories for both beer, and wine; and the National Association of Wine and Beermakers (Amateur) – (NAWB),who have held an annual show every year since 1959.
