I think I'll try a little experiment...

[FedoraDave]

I'm brewing a batch of South Ferry Steam Beer as I type this. This is a recipe I've made a number of times before. I also entered it in Homebrew Alley IX this past February. Scored a 33 overall. The bottle was a gusher, which is extremely embarrassing (especially as no other bottles in this batch were gushers). But I got some good feedback, and basically, this recipe is sound.

So I'm thinking that I should enter it next year, in Homebrew Alley X, brewing it at roughly the same time as I did the previous entry, and replicating the mash/sparge temps, and all the rest of the conditions as closely as I can.

I'm not trying to play "Gotcha." Don't get the wrong idea. Every batch is different; I know that full well. And I don't expect the same judges to be present in this category next year. And no matter how well I try to replicate the conditions of the previous entry, I'm at the mercy of ambient temperatures, at the very least. So this won't be the same California Common as Homebrew Alley IX.

But I think it would be interesting to see what the exact same recipe, brewed as close to the previous conditions time-wise, and in other cases, will score next year.

This isn't to prove a point, remember. It's just to see what happens. Any feedback is good feedback, know-whut-i'm-sayin'?