Rock-it Cup

The Rockit Cup is a friendly competition based upon knowing your system. The idea is to get brewers to use the exact same ingredients and follow the exact same recipe in order to try to brew a “better” beer than everyone else competing. The recipe is designed for all grain brewers but we will condescend to accept cake mix brewers. At least for now. Or, in other words, anyone can participate, and it’s free. That is, unless you’re scared of becoming a better brewer.

The competition runs bimonthly, alternating with the Brewster’s Cup. The goal of the Rockit Cup is to better understand the differences between intentions and results, or how and why the same recipe tastes different on different systems.

So, how does it really work? Well. First you get all excited at the meeting and start yelling !ROCKIT! randomly. Then we get down to business.

  • Bring at least 4 beers in unmarked and generic brown bottles only
  • One person outside of the rockit cup facilitates the joyous act of serving rockit cup beers in a blind fashion to everyone that entered.
  • Said person labels the beers A,B,C,D,F, etc and then sets out the beer to a placard system on a table. Hopefully we get to the point where we have enough entries that this isn’t just for our amusement…
  • Each brewer gets a single piece of paper to write their choice on and then gives it to the person putting out the beers.
  • We start the whole thing just after the meeting or educational portion. This will allow for arriving late or whatever and not get in the way of the meeting starting.
  • A recipe will be provided that lists strict ingredients and parameters for your brewing. We try to make the ingredients readily available and in regular amounts. Currently, we are also trying to keep the gravity low so the beers can be turned out quickly–we want to focus on the brewing process itself, and the variables that go into it.

See below for sample, current and previous competition recipes.

The exact AA% of the hops is not super important as long as the type of hop is the same.

Not being able to keep your beer at a specific temperature while fermenting is not the end of the world and may be a great discussion topic.

The Rockit Cup is about fun and learning.

Just remember, BEER IS AWESOME. So ROCKIT!

April recipe – Standard/Ordinary Bitter

Winner: Tom Morgan – way to Rock-it!

June recipe – Session IPA

Winner:Jefferey McElfresh

August recipe - Rockit Saison

Winner: Jeff Fortney

October recipe – Dry Stout