changing bottles.. possible?

[rich]

I brewed up a stout over the holidays that I am quite proud of, but bottled everything in these new swing tops that a buddy hooked me up with. The swing tops are actually straight from Germany (a friend of ours is in the airforce reserves, and does a supply run every week to Afghanistan with a stop over in Germany... needless to say, he brought back a case of very cool brews in brown swingtops).

With that said, there is a local homebrew competition coming up in February, and I'd like to submit this stout. The competition requires two unlabeled bottles (12 ouncers most common). I have two swingtops of stout left (both larger than 12 ouncers) but there is no way in hell that I am going to sacrifice these two bottles. The judges won't return them, and so that would be the last I'd see them.

So my question is: is it possible to transfer this stout from the swing tops, to 12 ounce bottles, despite the fact that they are already carbonated?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[danno]

you'll sacrifice some carbonation if you pour them from bottle to bottle, which for a stout may not be that big of a deal. (quoting from the BJCP guidelines for a dry stout: "low to medium carbonation" is desired) if you do so, get your bottles as cold as possible prior to transfer...

another option is to call the contest organizers and volunteer to steward, you're likely to be in a position to get your bottles back...

[rich]

Danno,

The steward option is possible. But what does a steward do? Just help out?

[danno]

yep, you carry the flights of beers from wherever they're being stored, to the judging area... plus any miscellaneous tasks as are needed...

[rich]

Any sampling involved? :p

[brewmonkey]

Yes, generally stewards are allowed to sample some of the flight.

As for transferring from bottle to bottle, this is a bad idea. I would not worry about the carbonation as much as I would the oxidation. As a judge I can tell you that a beer with oxidation will not do well in any competition.

Check with the competition organizers and ask if they will accept your entries the way they are. I think you will be surprised by the answer.