i have heard it is almost impossable to match a homebrew beer with a commercial one is this true? because i think its quite easy providing you use the right teqneques (excuse my spelling)
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next up: still deciding maybe a dopplebock
I would say it is possible. Although I have never done it, there are plenty who have. Biggest problem us home brewers have is we don't have the consistency that a commercial brewer has.
Entirely wrong for ales, but I'd say it's basically true for lagers. Lagers are so dependent on temperature management, it's tough for a homebrewer. The Widmer Collaborator project is proof that homebrewers can match the pros and sometimes beat them.
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Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
The fact that my homebrew never gives me a hangover, and has 100% all natural ingredients (no additives) makes it better than every (cheap) commercial brew out there. If you are talking about cloning, give it a go...you may surprise yourself!
__________________ Beer....the Duke of all Beverages.
It all really depends on what you are trying to clone. If you want to brew a light flavored ale (or especially a lager) you will probably need more practice. (damn, i do)
if you're brewing a Porter or an American Pale Ale (something with stronger flavors, you'll have better luck). That Foster's will be hard to mimic.
true it turned out to taste like honey ale which funny enough is my favourte beer and i was going to brew that next still i will try to get that fosters spot on (i think its because i used brewing sugar and not the reccomended cane sugar)
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next up: still deciding maybe a dopplebock
Actually, I think it is very possible to produce beer that equals commercial quality at home. You simply need to understand the parameters you are working in and brew within them. If you don't have temperature control then don't brew beers that need it. If you can only do single infusion, so be it. If you brew from extract then use the best and purest and in all cases keep at least some hen scratching of what you did.
I also think if you are judging your success by how close you come to a specific commercial example (the C word fits here) then you are setting yourself up. There are just too many factors involved and it is not going to happen and more often then not maybe it shouldn't. But if you are wanting to brew a beer that is LIKE or IN THE GENERAL STYLE of a given beer, well in that case you can hit the mark dead on.
__________________ Before I learned to brew I was poor, sober and lonely. Now I am just poor.
I don't think he's talking about matching the quality. I think he's talking about a true, indistiguishible clone that one could serve to friends and have them be amazed that it was something made in a garage.
Again, large commercial brewers have the ability to carefully and precisely control every aspect of brewing to a degree that very few, if any, home brewers can.
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Jason 'Kornkob' Robinson
I wanna move to Theory. Everything works in Theory.
I don't think he's talking about matching the quality. I think he's talking about a true, indistiguishible clone that one could serve to friends and have them be amazed that it was something made in a garage.
Again, large commercial brewers have the ability to carefully and precisely control every aspect of brewing to a degree that very few, if any, home brewers can.
I think it is very possible to brew a beer in the style of a commercial brew and offer it side by side to your friends and ask them to tell you which is best and have them pick the homebrew.
Blind tasting is an informative way to knock the commercial guys off their perches. I know I can make a better beer, more consistantly, at home then I could at the brewery and I won GABF medals at the brewery. I also have more control at home then I did at the brewery as well.
In the end I guess I don't get the pure clone thing, no slam intended on any who love it.
__________________ Before I learned to brew I was poor, sober and lonely. Now I am just poor.
Last edited by Brewpastor; 04-11-2006 at 10:34 PM.
beer as good as a brewery!
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