Bad Brewing Ingredient Combos

[Nick JD]

Are there any truely bad combinations of ingredients? Or is it just a matter of taste?

I'm getting close to FG on a "bad combo" due to not having the correct yeast and throwing caution into the wind.

It's Dr. Smurto's Golden Lager. Almost the same recipe, but with S-189 @ 12C ... and I'll be a baboon's nephew if it doesn't taste ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

Amarillo in a lager?

So the question remains - are there any terrible combinations of ingredients if we disregard "Style"?

 

[Ross]

Why would you consider S-189 in a Golden Ale a bad combo?
Many hop driven ales fermented with a lager yeast result in beautifully clean refreshing beers. I've not had a bad experience yet using a lager yeast like this.


Cheers Ross

 

[bradsbrew]

Try using 3787 on that recipe Nick. In the early days I used a 3787 yeast cake to ferment out a Pilsner recipe. 2 and a bit years later the bottles are finally getting to a drinklable stage.

Cheers

 

[bradsbrew]

Why would you consider S-189 in a Golden Ale a bad combo?
Many hop driven ales fermented with a lager yeast result in beautifully clean refreshing beers. I've not had a bad experience yet using a lager yeast like this.


Cheers Ross

And at the right temps you can get a reasonable lager with an ale yeast IMO.

 

[Screwtop]

And at the right temps you can get a reasonable lager with an ale yeast IMO.

And that lager would be...............an Ale !!

Screwy

 

[Nick JD]

Many hop driven ales fermented with a lager yeast result in beautifully clean refreshing beers.

:chug:

 

[under]

I got a packet of s189 in the fridge. And a cube of doc golden.... should I................ Used pacman last cube and it was bloody great, was a hit with friends/family.

 

[bradsbrew]

And that lager would be...............an Ale !!

Screwy

Only if I told you I used an Ale yeast. If you use the right recipe, hops, yeast and temp it is possible to pick up 42.5 points in a lager/pils catergory h34r:

 

[bradsbrew]

I got a packet of s189 in the fridge. And a cube of doc golden.... should I................ Used pacman last cube and it was bloody great, was a hit with friends/family.

Stay with pacman

 

[tazman1967]

I think it would be great. What do you think the Mega Swill makers do ? Eg. Victoria Bitter, not a Bitter, a Lager. Same with most of their shite.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Large amounts of roast.. bleargh!

 

[bconnery]

Are there any truely bad combinations of ingredients? Or is it just a matter of taste?

I'm getting close to FG on a "bad combo" due to not having the correct yeast and throwing caution into the wind.

It's Dr. Smurto's Golden Lager. Almost the same recipe, but with S-189 @ 12C ... and I'll be a baboon's nephew if it doesn't taste ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

Amarillo in a lager?

So the question remains - are there any terrible combinations of ingredients if we disregard "Style"?

Actually I've had a couple of Amarillo based lagers and they weren't bad.
From memory there's a commercial one around at the moment, Cricketers I think it is?

 

[Tony]

I made a lager once. To no style but read up on amber malt. It said it added a nice amber hue to the beer.

Mmmmmmm an amber lager i thought

Used weyermann pils, 5% amber, hallertau to bitter and some tetnanger at the end. fermented with W34/70 at 12 deg, and CC's for 2 or 3 weeks at 4 deg.

All you could taste was this harsh dry amber malt. Not harsh in a meaty ale but in a light delicate lager.......... punch in the face stuff.

Its the only beer i have given my dad.... and he has sampled 95% of them..... that he has actually spat out :lol:

I dropped the gas from the keg and poured all of the 50 liters in the keg down the drain

It was not infected....... but was still god awful

NEVER use lots of amber malt in a light flavoured lager!

cheers

 

[manticle]

Bad combinations are maybe possibly possible but bad balancing is probably more an issue.

Maybe earth/mushrooms + passionfruit (nelson and fuggles) might be odd if you used them both late but again it's as much about making it work by brewing it right - similar to fusion food. I'd never say never but I wouldn't recommend it (might try it quietly and suck up the failures) until I was confident I knew what the flavours were and what I wanted from them.

 

[jimi]

Bad combinations are maybe possibly possible but bad balancing is probably more an issue.

Bad combinations are 'definately' possibly possible To add to manticles point, the worth of the combination also depends on our goals. Try putting a fruity ale yeast like 1968 in your pilsner wort and crossing your fingers for a urquell. You might be still very comfortable drinking the beer you produce, but as far as achieving your aims it would be a big failure. I sometimes think our biggest crime as brewers is post-rationalising and posing that since we are happy to drink what we have produced that we've done well h34r:

 

[jimi]

bad combination = chinese hops and wort h34r:



.... or is the dust still settling ....


to be fair I only dared use the MP, but the oily bitterness put me off the rest. I'm actually toying with the idea of applying them coffee press style so no bitterness, but that's another thread and I'm not sure if this post will survive <_<

 

[jakub76]

Inbalance. Lots of malty malt with not enough hops...that's a bad mix.

I made a malty ale not long ago that I thought would be great, Vienna, Maris Otter, a little pale and a touch of pilsener for sweetness. Perle hops bittering to just under 20 IBU. I thought it would be great but it was WAY too malt focused. Came out just like Montieth's Summer Ale, I hated it!

 

[manticle]

I have experienced dry hopped tettnanger in an aussie style bitter (wrong) and biscuit malt in an aussie style bitter (not wrong per se but not right either - neither was the acetylaldehyde). Both my brews, still a nut I have to crack (aussie bitter that is).

Again though - maybe I could make either work - they just didn't in these cases.

 

[marksy]

Once when I was younger playing on the stove I used "Thyme". I had used some lemon and lime peel to make what I thought would be a nice summer beer ready for summer. I had asked mum what else goes with lemon and lime and she suggested "Thyme". Do not ever add it to a beer. It was very overpowering and more to the point yuk.

 

[browndog]

Any type of beer you care to name plus an unnoticed teaspoon of soduim metabisulphate will produce a beer that needs to be tipped.