Recommend low-bitterness, casual-drinker friendly beer?

I'm looking to brew my second batch soon. My first was from a True Brew Amber kit that turned out decent once it aged properly and I got used to the bitterness.

I'd like to find another extract recipe or kit that I can drink with my wife and friends. The amber kit I brewed is a little bitter for most of our tastes (I like it, but can only have one or two before I'm done with it), so I'd like it to be something with a mild flavor.

I can keep fermentation temps right around 70-74 degrees, bottling temps about the same, so that will limit what I can do I'm sure. Lagers are out of the question obviously. I'm not opposed to trying something out of the ordinary, but I'm not wanting to do any fruit beers. I made a cider for that crowd

I've never had a cream ale but they seem to be popular. Should I go that route, or is there a well known crowd pleaser that I can use to justify my new found hobby to my peers?

Cream Ales are good crowd pleasers. Blonde Ales and American Wheat Beers are great too. All three styles are likely to please a crowd, and all three make me pretty happy, too.

If it's bitterness that turns you off, consider a Mild or a Scottish Ale. Both have lots of malt character with minimal bitterness. Irish Red is another good style in that vein. I really love Milds and Scottish Ales- a nice way to venture into darker malts, too.

I highly recommend the recipe kits available at Austin Homebrew Supply (austinhomebrew.com). They have a huge selection, fresh extract, and every kit I've made from them was good.

As for fermentation temps, if you could sit the fermenter in a tub with water about half-way up, and wrap a towel around it with a fan pointed at it, you could drop the temps 5-10 degrees. The towel/fan bit won't work with a bucket, but you could also put ice bottles in the water, switching them out twice a day or so, to do the same with a bucket. It's really most crucial for the first 36-48 hours of fermentation, so this isn't as much work as it sounds like.

I'm actually working on a fermentation cabinet. I have what is essentially a single kitchen cabinet and drawer with a countertop that was given to me a while back. I've been using it for storing the bottles during aging. I was thinking about insulating it and building a rip-off of the Son of Fermentation Chiller.

Basically, the fermentation bucket will sit in the cabinet part, which is below the drawer. The drawer will contain ice, with a hole in the bottom of one corner of the drawer. at the back of the drawer there will be a PC fan connected to a thermostat in the cabinet. Ideally, when the cabinet gets too warm the fan will kick into high gear and circulate the air around the ice, then down into the cabinet. I can probably gain a few degrees this way, and more if the bucket is in cold water as well.

What about a porter? Are they difficult to make as far as extract kits go? This would only be my second brew, so I want it to go as smoothly as the first did.



Has anyone tried teh Northern Brewer Mild Ale?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...ts/extract-ale-kits/mild-ale-extract-kit.html

Cool. A fermentation cabinet is a great thing to have.

Porters are great, and there are some good extract kits out there. The first beer I made that elicited "really, you made this?" comments was a porter- the smuttynose clone from Austin Homebrew.

I haven't made that mild kit you posted, but looking at the ingredients, it looks like a good one. Another plus to a mild is that you only need to wait 7-10 days before bottling, as it conditions really quickly.

All of the beers suggested are great low-hop beers, but I have a different suggestion.

Try some MORE bitter beers! I never thought I would be a hophead, but after a few good ones I developed a taste for them. Buy a some good IPA and have one or two each night for a week. You will become used to the bitterness and can actually start to discern the subtle flavors each type of hop has.

And even if you don't ever get a taste for the IPAs, you will most likely be much more receptive to the other styles too.

American Wheat has always been a crowd pleaser around my house. Low hop bitterness, low alcohol content, very drinkable. Now hefeweizens haven't got as good a reception, I think due to the clovey/banana esters in the yeast. But the American yeast, especially Wyeast 1010 is very clean-tasting.

Blond is a crowd pleaser around here. Nice and light, a little sweet and low bitterness.

Here's where I get mine. Annapolis Home Brew

+1 on irish red or scottish
I'm not a big fan of hops, and a nice Smithwicks/Killians is great for casual drinking.

I just brewed Jamil's Scottish 70, from Brewing Classic Styles, and it's terrific. It'll get bottled this week, but even my room temperature hydrometer samples were delicious. This'll be a nice beer for the early autumn here.

Try Austin Homebrew Supply's American Wheat. I put about 45 bottles of it out at a party we had, and there were 3 or 4 left the next morning. Both my beer snob and BMC drinking friends liked it.

All my BMC drinking friends like my Brown Biscuit that I brew. The recipe is on my dropdown under my name. Brown ales are a good "gateway beer" between BMC and the good stuff.

You could try my FirstBlond recipe under my dropdown. It is a blonde ale, I have gotten lots of compliments from the BMC crowd around here. It is also a good gateway beer.
Any blonde ale would be good to try, I here centennial blonde is a good one, its raved about on here.

wow, thanks everyone! I think I'm going to go with a Mild or Irish Red as my first beer ever was a Killian's That and my heritage demads it

I'll post pics of my fermentation cabinet soon, I finished it today!

I am afraid this is going to come across as me being a jerk so please know, in advance, that I am not trying to be one.

If you like the look, the feel, and the maltiness of the amber ale but don't like the hop bite just change the hops.
For example. I tasted a Dogfish Head 60min IPA 3 months ago and HATED it. I took sips and dumped it out <waits for the collective forum to get up from the floor>. I actually got nauseous for a little while from it. I plugged an IPA recipe into Beer Calculus and found what IBU level I should stay under (or so I thought). After talking with my LHBS about the Amber Ale I wanted to brew they suggested I just swap out Amarillo for Northern Brewer. Same IBU's, but the Northern Brewers don't punch you in the face with the bitterness. Once I my primary opens up I'll be brewing this.

So, what's the point of my extremely long post? The absolute beauty of home brewing is taking something you like and making it into something you love. Have fun with it.

i don't think you came across as a jerk at all, and that's not that long a post

I think you're right about experimentation. Not everyone will agree, but that's how everything is: some folks stick to their guns, and some shake things up a bit. Both can fail or succeed equally.

I actually kind of like the amber now, but still want to try and get a few more recipe's under my belt before trying to make something up on my own

Well I certainly didn't come up with the amber recipe on my own. But I understand what you mean about trying a few other styles first. Best of luck and have fun with it.

just an FYI, I decided to go with Northern Brewer's Irish Red Ale. Should recieve the kit early next week, hope to be drinking by Thanksgiving

thatjoshguy said:

just an FYI, I decided to go with Northern Brewer's Irish Red Ale. Should recieve the kit early next week, hope to be drinking by Thanksgiving

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+1 on that kit, mine was great had it for St. Patty's Day.

If you want to drink something earlier, try this american wheat:

(11 gallon batch)
10# 2-row
7# White Wheat
1/2# Crystal 15L

1oz Sterling (60m)
1oz Tettnanger (30m)
1oz Tettnanger (5m)

Wyeast 1010 (american wheat)
Mash @ 150F for 60m
Ferment @ 65F for 3 weeks, keg/bottle for 2-3 weeks and serve.

I've fermented for just 10 days and force carbed in the keg for 3 days...still very good just takes a while longer to clean up. No complaints ever from beer drinkers of many different preferences.

Homercidal said:

All of the beers suggested are great low-hop beers, but I have a different suggestion.

Try some MORE bitter beers! I never thought I would be a hophead, but after a few good ones I developed a taste for them. Buy a some good IPA and have one or two each night for a week. You will become used to the bitterness and can actually start to discern the subtle flavors each type of hop has.

And even if you don't ever get a taste for the IPAs, you will most likely be much more receptive to the other styles too.

Click to expand...

I started drinking beer in college. All I could drink was less than one MGD. I had to stop once it got warmed up. Through the last 15+ years I have searched for increasingly bitter beers. I can not get enough IPA's. When the hops are balanced with the rest of the flavors, there is nothing better.
So, I agree with Homer. Don't turn away now, there is a huge world you would miss, like Ruination or Immortal, or...

Homercidal said:

All of the beers suggested are great low-hop beers, but I have a different suggestion.

Try some MORE bitter beers! I never thought I would be a hophead, but after a few good ones I developed a taste for them. Buy a some good IPA and have one or two each night for a week. You will become used to the bitterness and can actually start to discern the subtle flavors each type of hop has.

Click to expand...

+1. This is how I got my brewing partner (my neighbor) to switch from Coors and Bud to craft/micro beers, and into BYO.

What put him over the edge was a sweet nut brown ale. Then we switched down to hefe, then I upped the hoppiness to a greater degree with a fruity IPA. Instead of Sierra Nevada (very bitter), I used Southern Tier IPA and Arcadia's HopMouth Double IPA. Now he can't get enough of the hops, as long as the beer's not too bitter.

I'd also try a scottish ale, like a 60. Good malt character, not too bitter.

Oh, I've got one! You could try a clone of Gumballhead, a wheat pale ale. If you can find it in your area, try it out, it's fantastic. I would suggest that a very close match to it is Lagunitas' Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale (was in limited 6-packs this summer, but hard to find now except in 22oz).

Here's a good thread.

I boiled down the talk from a few threads on cloning it for extract, and came up with this:

6.0gal full boil (may need to adjust hops for partial) @ 60min after steeping

6.6# Bavarian Wheat LME
1.0# CaraVienne 20L (steeped 20min)
3oz Amarillo (9.8%AA pellets):
-- 0.5oz @ T-60
-- 0.5oz @ T-15
-- 0.5oz @ T-5
-- 0.5oz @ T-1
-- 1.0oz @ burnout
0.5oz Simcoe (12.1%AA pellets) @ burnout
Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale (1.5L starter)

OG: 1.051
FG: 1.015
ABV: 4.7%
SRM: 6.7
IBU: 32

Ferment for three weeks in primary at 67ºF. Secondary optional, as it's a wheat hybrid (it can be a little cloudy).

Note that I have not tried this yet, but it's based on the recipes of those who have. You could leave out the Simcoe if you wish a little less hop aroma. This will be my next batch, I believe.

IMO Boston lager clone.I do lagers all the time,in the bath tub.I fill the bathtub with cool water and add the primary in there.Overnight it chills down to 55 degrees.Now you can lager anytime of the year without extra equip.

now that fall is here, I may be able to pull off a lager just by putting my fermenter outside. It's worth a shot anyway