Normal Beer

[manticle]

My brother keeps asking when I'm going to brew some 'normal' beer. I thought, despite trying to tell him that there's no such thing (due to the vast and diverse range that's been brewed for centuries) that I'd have a crack at one I think he might like. That means not overly dark, not too malty, not too yeasty and not too hoppy.

My brother is not someone who sinks carton after carton of cat's piss but he does tend towards the not so premium premiums (read millers, corona, becks and the ocassional pale ale).

I'm not willing to spend the time on a carefully crafted lager and as I'll be drinking the majority of the brew anyway, I'm going for a golden ale that will be refreshing and flavoursome without being over the top for the average palate.

I've put together a recipe based on the ingredients I have but would invite any basic critique or suggestions for improvement. Basically going for a refreshing spring/summer ale with a bit of colour as an introduction into what can be done without trying to scare him.

Golden ale with german hops



Type: All grain

Size: 23 liters

Color:16 HCU (~10 SRM)

Bitterness: 30 IBU

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.010

Alcohol: 6.7% v/v (5.3% w/w)

Grain: 3kg JW ale
500g JW Wheat malt
500g JW Munich I
500g JW light crystal 50-60L
2kg JW Pilsner

Mash: 70% efficiency
Boil: 60 minutes
SG 1.043
Boil size: 33 liters
Hops: 20g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.)
20g Hallertauer Hersbrucker (5% AA, 30 min.)
10g Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 30 min.)
10g Hallertauer Hersbrucker (aroma)
10g Tettnanger (aroma)

Yeast:Recultured US05

 

[NickB]

Sounds about right.


Brewing a nice "megaswill lovers" lager today - 4kg Pils malt, 500g SUGAZ, POR @ 60 and Flameout, about 1.049 OG and 28IBU, S-189 yeast. Should be a nice session beer, and will surely get my swill loving mates over to the dark side.... Muhahahahaha

From what I can tell, those who love "normal" beers, don't like their beers cloudy (invest in a filter or a CC fridge if you don't have one), or too bitter. Aim for around 50/50 BU/GU, maybe a shade more.

Cheers

 

[warra48]

I like the idea of what you're trying to do, but isn't it a bit of a heavy hitter on the ABV stakes ?

6.5 kg of grains for a 23 litre brew is more than I use for a batch that size. What efficiency are you expecting? I've brewed with as little as just over 4 kg, and had a very tasty brew.

You might want to cut the .5 kg crystal back if you are planning only 30 IBU. To me, it seems it might be somewhat unbalanced towards sweetness.

Why not take the easy way out, and just brew DrSmurto's famous golden ale from the recipe database? It would seem to fit the bill for what you want?

 

[DKS]

Why not take the easy way out, and just brew DrSmurto's famous golden ale from the recipe database? It would seem to fit the bill for what you want?
[/quote]

I was thinking of trying something similar like a Becks, for myself maybe the batch after next.
Ive tired similar K&bits version for some mates. For them it was still over the top. All be it a good beer for them it was too malty, too hoppy, too heavy. I suggest you really ease up on all of the above. Its so hard to please those who are Tooheys men or Carlton men etc etc. Now I dont bother trying to please but they are still welcome to drink my beer. Good luck with it let us know how it goes. :icon_cheers:
Daz

 

[crundle]

+1 for the Golden Ale.

When I brew it for my family, I up the bitterness by about 15% because they don't like to taste any hint of sweetness, but stick the the normal version for myself. They have slowly become converted at least to the point that they will always give my beers a try, but I am slowly learning what they will and will not drink from their feedback, so while I will happily make a Doppelbock for myself, I have learnt that I can make a fairly tame Pale Ale for them or a well balanced Lager for summer and everyone is happy.

I would say to keep the alcohol down to around 4.5% or so, probably better to get them drinking more of them rather than fewer, to help reinforce that your beer is not very different from the Megaswill they currently drink. Start off close to what they drink flavourwise and then slowly over time move the recipe towards something a little more adventurous.

FWIW, I think that there is a skill in making a beer that a megaswill drinker will happily drink in preference to their brand of choice, but maybe it just irks us to have to stoop so low as to make a beer similar to the stuff that many of us swore off of when we moved to making our own. I would still rather drink a beer I made myself that tasted just like a Tooheys Extra Dry than drink one of theirs......

Crundle

 

[manticle]

I guess I was aiming for abv around where I'd normally sit it because despite brewing with my brother in mind, I'll be the one drinking most of it so I have to consider myself too. That said I might cut it back a little and maybe knock the crystal back to 250-300g and up the hops to around 35 IBU.

I did think of doing smurtos golden but I'm not sure if I have enough amarillo and I want to go purely with ingredients I have on hand.

Maybe I should aim for around 5.5 abv as that's a nice in between figure.

@Nick B - I have a fridge I use for cold conditioning.
@Warra - I aim (and seem to get) for 70 % most brews at the moment.

thanks for the responses. Food for thought

 

[manticle]

According to my calculations, if I use only 1 kg of pilsner instead of 2, I should hit 35 IBU and 5.5 which works for me on that score. Colour will be similar and the sweetness should be knocked back/balanced a bit more.

I could knock back the crystal to 200 as well but the colour will be much paler. I don't mind some sweetenss - I just don't like cloying ( like a heavy poorly attenuated extract brew) and 500 shouldn't make it like that.

 

[Cocko]

This is a very 'normal' beer... especially if your bro can drink an CPA! I have just tapped a batch and cannot believe how close to the real thing it is!!

LinkyMcLink

 

[dc59]

Hey everyone, first post in about 9 months (I'm almost nervous its been that long )

I much prefer your newer grain bill Manticle. This being a subject very close to my heart (apparently Resches is the only manly drink to order ), I've found that its almost impossible to make a beer too boring for them and very easy to make it to interesting.

Definately keep it as simple as possible. I wouldn't even be using all those later hop additions, even in the small amounts your planning. Since your bro will drink CPA, I'd prob go with a coopers recultured for the yeast, which will also mean you wouldn't miss the hop additions as much as coopers will add more character to the beer than the us05. I like the grain bill your planning.

Alternatively brew your favourite beer for yourself and keep some tooheys in the fridge for him

Best of luck with whatever you do, Dave.


P.S. It's good to be back, I've missed this forum :icon_cheers: .

 

[manticle]

Woops - by pale ale I actually wasn't referring to coopers (can see why everyone got that impression). I don't think he's much of a coopers man at all actually. The beers I mentioned at the top are his stalwarts although he will try the occasional other thing (eg matilda bay fat yak) and not be upset by it. It's generally, but not always, lagers he drinks, usually pretend premium ones. He ain't gettin' one this time around though.

I think normal to a lot of people just means something they can see through and drink cold.

I'll go with the second grain bill but I might keep the hopping schedule. If he doesn't like it then it's more beer for me. Also my dad will try pretty much any beer I brew so someone in the family gets the benefit.

I guess to make this thread less about me I'd be interested to know what kinds of beers other brewers have put together for friends and family whose palates and experimentation factors might be slightly restricted and how it went down.

 

[Bribie G]

I reckon if they like an American or Cerveza style beer, just do a S.M.A.S.H. with 4000 galaxy, 500 rice, 500g sugar in the fermenter and hop with something like 20 of Chinook, boil 90 mins. And do a fairly cool ferm with US-05, makes a great fake lager.

The thing about home brewers trying to brew mega lager for the rellies is that they still whack far too many hops in, and 20g of Chinook or Galena or Superpride will be more than adequate for any Corona VB Melb Bitter Fourex style brews. We are more than accustomed to IBUs of 30 or 40 but this still comes as a total shock to the general public :huh:

 

[manticle]

Is there an attempt at compromise between brewing what you think they'll like and brewing what you like?

A middle ground? An introductory beer?

 

[dc59]

A middle ground? An introductory beer?

An ordinary bitter I find is an okay compromise, as long as any late hop additions are kept down.

In fact one of my favourite beers to brew is the following bitter

4kg of JW Pale
250g of crystal

bittered with EKG to 25 ibu's
another 15g of EKG at flame out.

fermented with muntons gold @ 18*C.

Excellent session beer, although it gets labelled as an "English Bitter" on the kegerator. "Ordinary Bitter" might send them the wrong message.

Another potential beer is the APA (though again too many late additions hops scare off the natives). Lagers and Pilsners are always popular but I had bad experiences with the last two I did, and haven't attempted one since .

 

[BjornJ]

I reckon if they like an American or Cerveza style beer, just do a S.M.A.S.H. with 4000 galaxy, 500 rice, 500g sugar in the fermenter and hop with something like 20 of Chinook, boil 90 mins. And do a fairly cool ferm with US-05, makes a great fake lager.

The thing about home brewers trying to brew mega lager for the rellies is that they still whack far too many hops in, and 20g of Chinook or Galena or Superpride will be more than adequate for any Corona VB Melb Bitter Fourex style brews. We are more than accustomed to IBUs of 30 or 40 but this still comes as a total shock to the general public :huh:

I must admit I have been thinking the same thing..
That by reading about all kind of beer styles and trying out more and more "cool" stuff like hops, specialty grains, then AG, etc makes me more interested in trying beers that are vastly different to what most people drink.
Before starting this hobby I would consider with suspicion any beer that was not light-colored or tasted too much!
Now every trip to a new bottle shop is a mini-adventure looking for new types of beers to taste.
Last night I tried a Hop Rocker from NZ, a happy Goblin, a Winter Ale and a couple of others I had never seen before.
All good fun, but probably not what the average beer drinker is after.

At the moment I am playing around in beersmith, making a recipe for an "American Lager" kind of beer and I am surprised that the bittering is supposed to be 15 IBUs or lower.

I guess that kind of thing is maybe what would go down better with people not used to really focusing on what the beer contains and tastes,
-light colored malts (Marris Otter/Pilsner?)
-some carapils/carafoam for head/body
-A LITTLE BIT of something else, crystal/munich, just something else for the fun of it
-quite a lot of rice or flaked corn to a give a "neutral" as in not malty beer
-even use sugar to get OG up rather than grains, maybe?

The trick seems to be both keeping off the dark or specialty malts AND avoid anything too fancy hop-wise, little or no late-hopping. This probably will create a more bland but still refreshing and great-tasting beer.

I want to make something along these lines for my next beer to create a refreshing, easy drinking beer that can be shared with people who normally drink "normal" beer.

Bjorn

 

[O'Henry]

... I guess to make this thread less about me I'd be interested to know what kinds of beers other brewers have put together for friends and family whose palates and experimentation factors might be slightly restricted and how it went down.

I've brewed a spiced RIS and an apple wheat beer both for my gf who is not a beer drinker at all. Was trying to win her over. The RIS is still young, but she'll drink it as a night cap and the apple wheat also went down quite well. Fermented low, so not too much banana. Something I could quaff and she could sip, so I was happy with it. My die hard German-Bier drinking friend said the wheat was too fruity though. Can't please everyone...

 

[LLoyd]

I think normal to a lot of people just means something they can see through and drink cold.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there... I get the feeling that most of our mates think we brew shit 'home-brew' cos it's not TED'S.

"That's what ________'s MEANT to be like" just sounds like bullshit it seems....

 

[manticle]

Update: I was concerned about this brew as right up until bottling there was a significant (and unwanted) banana flavour.

Cracked a tester just now. It's been bottled a week and there's still some carbing to do (shows all the signs of a good long lasting head though) but the banana has lessened off to minimal and presumably will dissipate entirely with more conditioning.

It's more an amber, definitely not too bitter but may be too tasty for my brother. I'd brew this again (but I'd keep a closer eye on ferment temp - I was fermenting inside with a chimay white clone - the chimay clone needed higher temps to produce fruity esters etc but the golden/amber could have done without).