Getting rid of that "homebrew taste"

[MHB]

Fair enough cant really argue with Dr Cone, It is unfortunately extremely difficult to get firm consistent numbers for dry yeast.
In the Saf US-05 speck sheet attached there appear to be three quite different statements on the amount of yeast you should use, but the one I find most telling is the last one down the bottom with the other microbial information "*when dry yeast is pitched at 100 g/hl i.e. > 6 x 106 viable cells / ml" so at 1g/l we should be getting more than 6 million cells / mL (we don't know how much more), but based on the pitch calculation used above we want 0.7 X10^6 * 14.7 = 10.3X10^6, getting close to 1.5g/L. quite at odds with the pitch rate recommended earlier on the same page.

It wasn't my intention to take this thread off into a detailed discussion on pitching rates, more to emphasise how important it is to use an appropriate amount of healthy yeast to insure good quick clean fermentation as one of the keys to making good beer
Mark

View attachment SafaleUS05.pdf

 

[Batz]

As a side note, if I had to pitch 3 packets of dry yeast I'd actually buy liquid and make a starter because it'd be cheaper and I don't mind spending the effort. But that's just me.

There's a lot of good info in this thread, but verysupple has hit in on the head as far as this yeast question goes.

 

[verysupple]

I didn't intend to get this far OT either, so this'll be my last post on yeast cell count rates.

..."*when dry yeast is pitched at 100 g/hl i.e. > 6 x 106 viable cells / ml" so at 1g/l we should be getting more than 6 million cells / mL (we don't know how much more),...

Yeah, I noticed that too. But that statement actually agrees with the info higher up on the page. Both statments say that there are greater than 6 x 109 cells/g. So at least they're consistent in that respect. Although it would be nice if they gave a narrower range, with some qualifyers to cover themselves legally. e.g. "If handled appropriately (including reydration practices) each gram of dried yeast will contain x ± y viable cells."

It wasn't my intention to take this thread off into a detailed discussion on pitching rates, more to emphasise how important it is to use an appropriate amount of healthy yeast to insure good quick clean fermentation as one of the keys to making good beer
Mark

Now that IS something we can agree on.

 

[Forever Wort]

Briess liquid extract can be gotten for cheap prices. It's not uncommon to get Pilsener light for $11.50 (blend includes CaraPils) and others for $13.50. Plus you get a handy plastic jar to store your speciality grains, hops and yeast in for later.

 

[carniebrew]

Briess liquid extract can be gotten for cheap prices. It's not uncommon to get Pilsener light for $11.50 (blend includes CaraPils) and others for $13.50. Plus you get a handy plastic jar to store your speciality grains, hops and yeast in for later.

I used to buy the 15kg "growlers" of Briess LME from Grain & Grape...it's already good value at ~$89 (under $6 per kg), and even better when you get it during G&G's 20% off sale, when it's $4.75 per kg (or like paying $7 for a 1.5kg can).

And you end up with a handy 10 litre 'cube' to use for no chilling small batch brews or storing diluted starsan, etc....

 

[monkeymagik]

I've found since I've been bulk priming I get that surprised "this tastes exactly like Little Creatures" look from people.

 

[Forever Wort]

I used to buy the 15kg "growlers" of Briess LME from Grain & Grape...it's already good value at ~$89 (under $6 per kg), and even better when you get it during G&G's 20% off sale, when it's $4.75 per kg (or like paying $7 for a 1.5kg can).

And you end up with a handy 10 litre 'cube' to use for no chilling small batch brews or storing diluted starsan, etc....

I'd like to do this but my only concern is the fiddliness of working with such a large amount of goop.

 

[carniebrew]

Yeah, my problem was remembering to take it out of the fridge far enough in advance so that it'd warm up a bit. Pouring goop at ~4C takes a loooooong time....

 

[bigmacthepunker]

Rye ebb

 

[Rdyno]

I just want to say something, it is immensely better waking up after two or three days on the piss with a blander taste in you mouth like a CUB beer, the craft beers are heavy with flavour that is not desirable after MASSIVE drinking sessions. In saying that where I'm from VB and Carlton Draught and for the old blokes Reches are the major beers when I went to NZ Lion Red was the major working class beer most people here that have tried it think it tastes like ****? I thought Lion Red tasted good my dad is from NZ and still buys VB over there as he's drank it for 30 years lol.

So some people just like what they are used to, but the continuous drinking taste is a big factor if you could reproduce the same taste over and over you may get sick of it, try this with craft beers at the shop drink only one beer as much as you can and see how long till you want to change. This is where I can see the good part of mass produced beers yes they may be bland but they are like pasta and rice as in they are a staple, think of it this way if you eat rice every day imagine what a desert or a roast would taste like.

I enjoy my craft beers and home brewing but I cant drink very tastey beers all night every night as that is like eating only desert every night for dinner

 

[skb]

I just want to say something, it is immensely better waking up after two or three days on the piss with a blander taste in you mouth like a CUB beer, the craft beers are heavy with flavour that is not desirable after MASSIVE drinking sessions. In saying that where I'm from VB and Carlton Draught and for the old blokes Reches are the major beers when I went to NZ Lion Red was the major working class beer most people here that have tried it think it tastes like ****? I thought Lion Red tasted good my dad is from NZ and still buys VB over there as he's drank it for 30 years lol.

So some people just like what they are used to, but the continuous drinking taste is a big factor if you could reproduce the same taste over and over you may get sick of it, try this with craft beers at the shop drink only one beer as much as you can and see how long till you want to change. This is where I can see the good part of mass produced beers yes they may be bland but they are like pasta and rice as in they are a staple, think of it this way if you eat rice every day imagine what a desert or a roast would taste like.

I enjoy my craft beers and home brewing but I cant drink very tastey beers all night every night as that is like eating only desert every night for dinner

I agree part from one critical point, for some reason I find well made homebrew never gives me a hangover.... VB however gives me a very rough morning after

 

[heshtek]

I'm only a beer n00b that has made several kits tweaked with some hops / malt etc. Never done all grain brewing. That said, I've never made a beer that tastes like a commercial one. But sometimes I will drink a nice beer that I've made myself and think that commercial beer companies will never make a beer that tastes like mine (in a good way that is). The more I drink those commercial ones the crapper I think they taste. Certain commercial beers are ok I suppose but those mass produced ones are really lacking on flavour in my opinion.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Rdyno from PF returns!

 

[Kiwifirst]

When I first started brewing I made a couple of mistakes regularly, that affected my beer and gave me a 'homebrew' taste.

1. Aeration on the hot wort. I used to boil up my extract and kit, the tip it into the bottom of the fermenter, then add water, the whole thing splashed around like an aqua park.

2. Bottled too early. In my eagerness to get it bottled, conditioned and drank, I would get it into the bottle as quick as I thought possible. 'Close enough' for FG was the norm, especially when it slowed down.

Mmmmm oxidised beer that was over carbonated. My Carlton draught friends liked it.

 

[shaunous]

If your mates drink VB and other megaswill thats your problem right there. They expect beer to be bland and watered down, and drank icy cold to disguise the vile taste.

My partners ex husband is like that. If I offer him one of my homebrews he knocks it back and would rather drink the megaswill I have in the fridge that other people have left. He wont even try my beer saying he hates the taste of homebrew. (At least im getting rid of the megaswill I would never touch anyway I suppose.)

Try serving your home brew to craft beer drinkers and you generally get a different story.

More to the point, what the hell are you offering your partners ex-husband beers for?

Forgive me if this sounds like a stupid question but does anyone have any tips. on how to get rid if that "homebrew taste" i have been only brewing a but over a year and am an partial mash brewer/ extract. i have made some very nice beers that ive been very happy with but id like to be able to get them so other people wouldn't know its homebrew beer. i use good qaulity yeast, follow temp control very well etc. any help would be appreciated Cheers

When I started homebrewing 90% of mates hated it, the longer I have been doing it, and the more they try different ones they are liking it, and im probably sitting at around 60% of mates hating it, but then there is their mates who have tasted my beers who are mates of mates who I see walking around the street I hardly know, telling me they tried a beer that was mine that I gave someone.

People are coming around to proper beers, but in saying that, they mainly only like my Pale Ales and Indian Pale Ales, they still dont like Porters, Stouts and well lets just say the Rye beer wasnt a hit with most of them

Carry on brewing, use the coopers Malt Extract cans instead of sugars, and bitter and flavour with fresh hops, steep grains like crystal and choc to give different flavours.
Even though I have a 3v rig, I still do partials and they dont have the Kit&Kilo homebrew twang you speak of.

 

[Truman42]

More to the point, what the hell are you offering your partners ex-husband beers for?

We get along well. Hes a decent guy and has recently re-married. And besides that I have to get rid of my megaswill somehow..

 

[Eagleburger]

Every ex's of every partner I have had was smarter than me :blink: . So of course I would share a beer.

I have my first partial ready to keg tonight. After doing only all grain previously I am a little worried about any twang.

 

[shaunous]

I have my first partial ready to keg tonight. After doing only all grain previously I am a little worried about any twang.

As I said, I dont get it in my IPA and PA partials I do, 'She'll Be Right Mate' :lol:

 

[storeboughtcheeseburgers]

I don't know if the hombrew taste is being critiqued by your friends or its your opinion. The forum has become too long to find that particular answer haha. I think there is a big difference between 'people who like beer' and 'people who like variety' - all the New XXXX VB carlton stuff that is on tap at pubs is aimed to create a uniform taste, the same every time.

I think its definitely possible to make beer as good if not better than the stuff you buy on the shelves. A lot of the imported stuff is often stale (if its true import) or near being used by I have noticed lately. Also, the becks and stellas etc are brewed under licence here in Australia, and I can assure you are not as nice as they are in other places. May even be slightly altered for aussie tastes, or what have you.

Australia was founded on fast fermented ales, especially in colonial days as the ales would stay fresh longer for transport from India and mother England. But over time the move has been towards lagers. Now, I love a good Aussie lager, Boags premium probably being my favourite.. but when it comes to actual flavour, I find it gets old fast so I like to mix it up with some homebrew or even store bought ales with different hops and additions.

I think Australia mainstream beer drinkers are scared by a bit of bitterness - and if you drink your homebrew too young and you've dry hopped late, it can take a while for the bitterness to subside. Generally 3 weeks minimum is the rule.

So in a nut shell, I don't think it is the 'home brew' taste people don't like, its the 'ale' and 'hops' taste they are just not used to.

 

[TheWiggman]

Dunno SBCB (still trying to get over that name), I agree that the general population don't favour ales but I think that mainly due to the push from the big brewers with all their mainstay alcohols being lagers. It's something they're used to. My brother, who's 19, is a New devotee and when I mentioned I was afer a Fat Yak (only real option at the place we were) he said "ugh, I can't do pale ales". Then later when I offered him one of my commercial pilsners he said he wasn't a pilsner fan. This is a pretty small sample size, but I think people largely prefer whatever they've been brought up on and especially at a young age, it's not so much about the taste as it is how many you can drink quickly. Even though he was challenging tastes.
I remember being at uni and someone offered me a sip of his LCPA. It was like my tastebuds were being born again. "So this is what 'other' beers are about" I thought. And this coming from somone who drank Carlton Cold and Tooheys Red.

Then when I started doing kits, ales or otherwise, they definitely had the home brew taste about them. Even when I dicked around a bit with temp control and hops, I still couldn't make a beer I genuinely enjoyed.

As for being able to make good and bad beer, this is where the 'home brew taste' can be separated. I now do AG and I took my recent attempt at a lager to Taree last week for my brother to have a try. Quote: "This is better than a New". Not "good for a home brew", it was out of that home brew twang class for many of the reasons above. I've spent years questing this.

I've tasted others' home brews that were good home brews. I've made one good kit home brew myself. They still however tasted like home brew.

I reckon you can make a good home brew that tastes like home brew.
You can also make a good home brew that doesn't taste like home brew.
You can also make a bad home brew that doesn't taste like home brew - just like there are commercial beers that you don't like. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it taste like home brew.

In my opinion the big difference is -

• Moving away from kit yeast (moreover, appropriate yeast and pitching rates)
• Moving away from kits
• Temp control
• Fresh, quality ingredients
• Using the right water