Helles in a Hand Bock-sket (Batch 285)

For a really short amount of time, I thought it would be awesome to enter homebrew competitions.

I thought it would be fun and I thought it would be a good way to get feedback on my beer.

In 2013, I entered 3 competitions, and in two of those competitions, I came away with blue ribbons.

The first one was at my local homebrew shop. I entered two beers. One wasn't really ready. The other wasn't really in the right style.

I didn't win anything in that first competition.

My second competition was the 2013 National Homebrew Competition Denver Regional. I did come away with a first place win in that one.

My third and final competition was the "Battle of the Homebrews" in the 2013 Arapahoe County Fair.

My beer got a blue ribbon in its category and placed second in "Best of Show". Honestly, I thought the judges really picked a great beer.

Helles in a Hand Bock-sket

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I have not entered any competitions since that one. I guess you could say I retired on top.

If I'm honest, I never really got the awesome feedback that I thought I'd be getting on the score sheets, and I started thinking the effort of entering competitions was not worth it.

So ... now I just brew for myself and the people I share my beers with.

Anyhoo. If you follow this blog, you might realize that I've decided to concentrate on older recipes than coming up with new ones this year. It seems like a no-brainer that I would brew Helles In a Hand Bock-sket.

On Sunday, I brewed it. 

I used the Foundry timer to heat up the strike water over night while sleeping. I woke up around 4:00 AM and got the mash going.

From there, it was a standard Foundry brew day.

My pre-boil gravity was a little low, so I added about half a pound of DME to bring it up to the plan.

The boil went fine. Chilling was nice and quick. I had the yeast pitched and brew day mostly cleaned up by 8:30.

The big starter had the fermentation going by evening time. As I type this, I have the cooling system set to keep the beer at 53 or 54 degrees.

I'll keep it at about that temperature for a week or so and then let it finish out at room temperature.

I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out. I'm really looking forward to drinking this Maibock in May.

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Go Blackhawks!