Budweiser American Ale Clone

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Adam78K said:
pick something else...... save the piss beer for getting hammered.
Click to expand...

If you don't care for a particular beer style, that's fine. But let's not throw out derogatory remarks.

If you've made that kit, then please share with us. We'd love to hear of your experiences with that kit and what you'd do differently.
 
I like the Bud American Ale. Is it the best beer ever? No...but it goes down OK and just about every party store has it...
 
What's the point of coming into the thread to insult the beer in question? If the original poster of the thread wants to make the beer, what's the problem with that? Nobody's impressed by someone insulting a particular beer.

Beer's in the glass of the beholder.
 
amercuric said:
I haven't made it and don't plan on making it. Ever.
Click to expand...

Fine. Nobody asked you to.

Why post in a thread just to say you haven't made something? Who cares if you plan on making it or not? If you don't want to be helpful, don't bother hitting the "post" button. There are many recipes I'm not planning to make- should I go post that in each thread that I don't plan on making?

C'mon people. I thought my gentle nudge was enough. I guess not.
 
Everyone has differnt tastes.
AT one time, I used to drink 2 30pk of natural light a week. At one time i wanted to see if i could clone the taste...
Now, Not so much. I will stick with my dark beers :)

The idea is help out, bounce idea's off of each other and have fun.
I might pick up a bottle of the bud american ale and try it.
If it tastes good, Might make it to have on tap for my BMC freinds who come over.
Last time someone made a comment about the sam adams cherry wheat, Picked up a 6pk. It wasnt bad, But i dont think i could get plowed off of it.
 
One of the great things about Bud American Ale is that the BMC crowd DOES often like it...so if you're going to a party and want to bring some beer everyone can drink, it wouldn't be a poor choice.

Unless everyone you party with likes craft beer...in which case I want your friends...
 
When I first tried BAA I thought it was not bad at all, in fact decent. Nothing offended me but nothing made me want to make it my desert island beer. If I was out drinking with a bunch of friends and someone served it to me I'd be happy enough. A few days later I see a friend at work who is into beer. I ask him, "Do you know what beer I had that surprised me as being pretty decent?" He responded without a hesitation, "Bud American Ale".
 
I just might try brewing up a clone, even though Budwieser is the antithesis to everything homebrewing and craft brewing. I think I'll pick up the ingredients at Wal-Mart while I'm at it.
 
amercuric said:
I just might try brewing up a clone, even though Budwieser is the antithesis to everything homebrewing and craft brewing. I think I'll pick up the ingredients at Wal-Mart while I'm at it.
Click to expand...

Oh, no, don't lower your standards and brew a "Budwieser" clone. Or even learn to spell it. Or worse, to lower yourself to go to Wal-mart. It's definitely not good enough for you.

LAST warning- keep on topic, or keep out. Posting just to "prove" you're a beer snob isn't to be abided. You can like whatever you like. That's your perogative. But being a smart ass snob in a conversion that doesn't even apply to you is not going to continue.

I don't know how to make it more clear.
 
buzzbee said:
I had some bud American Ale at a restaurant recently and liked the taste.
Austine Homebrew has a clone kit:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_210&products_id=11785
HAs anyone here made this yet? If so,how was it? I imagine homebrewing adds something on the plus side to this beer.
Click to expand...

I haven't made it - but I have made several AHS clones (Harpoon IPA, Alaskan Amber, Stone IPA) and they all have come out very good and very close to the beer they are trying to clone.

My guess is that it will make a very nice American Amber Ale. :mug:
 
I'll be! A real life EAC found in the wild!

My take on Bud American Ale is more of a APA/Amber hybrid. It has some of the dryness of an APA, some of malt of an Amber, and the hop presence of the Amber with a slight APA dry hop.

Take an amber and an APA recipe and do a mash-up. Just might be an American Mild... ;)
 
My feeling is that if you tried to strike out and come up with your own clone recipe for Bud's American Ale you'd have a great series of "close but no cigar" recipes for APA and American Amber that you might end up liking more than Bud's ale. Not an entirely bad thing!

If I wanted a one-time, dead-nuts-on recipe...I'd go with the AHS kit.
 
apoligize for the rude comment, was having a rough night, yea feel free to brew what you want that is why you became a homebrewer right! Cheers.
 
I agree with broadbill. If you want your best chance at purchasing a clone kit, go with the AHS kit. Otherwise, as others have said, it a a good example of an American Amber. If the kit is not a good clone, it will at least be a good amber/pale. With the labels removed, no one would be able to tell you that it was made by a macrobrewer.

It cracks me up when people get snobby. That's a lot of the reason my posts are sporadic on here. I get sick of the snobs that just figured out what a hop is, and think it's their job to criticize anything BMC. Budweiser is a company that makes beer for profit, that is the most palatable to the largest group of people. Grow up and form an informed opinion.
 
Ok well I am kinda new to making recipes, but I was board and decided to read up about Budweiser American Ale and I came up with a clone. I don't know how close it will be to the actual, but it will be tasty to you if you enjoy the Bud American Ale I hope.

All grain:
6 gal boiled to 5 gal.

9 Lb. Generic 2-row American Pale Malt
1.65 Lb. Carmel Malt 30L
0.42 Lb. Flaked Corn
0.23 Lb. Flaked Rice

1 oz Cascade Pellets 60 min
0.5 Cascade Pellets 1 min

0.5-1 oz Cascade to dry hop.

Extract Version

6.4 Lb. Unhopped Plain Light DME
1.25 Lb. Carmel Malt 30L
0.42 Lb. Flaked Corn
0.23 Lb. Flaked Rice

1 oz Cascade Pellets 60 min
0.5 Cascade Pellets 1 min

0.5-1 oz Cascade to dry hop.

Ok now my reasoning for the decisions I made.

First off I found the ABV is 5.3% so I used that for my ABV on both versions.

Bud tends to use adjuncts, so that is why rice and corn are included.

Cascade was used because reviews state a citrus flavor/aroma. I found somewhere that Bud even said Cascade was used. I also found that Bud says they dry hop with Cascade. If they do is a different topic, but I say let's believe them and see what it comes out as.

I also found a site claiming that this beer has an IBU at 25-28. These versions put the IBUs at 28.

I don't know much about dry hopping so I don't really know what is an appropriate amount for this. I am guessing it would be on the low end because Bud is looking to make a "drinkable" and less expensive beer.

Like I said before I am still new, I hope this is close. I also have not have Bud American Ale very much so I don't know a lot about it either.

I do however feel that when someone asks a question they should get an answer, that is what I hope for when I ask a question here anyway...
 
mitch171 said:
Bud tends to use adjuncts, so that is why rice and corn are included.
Click to expand...

Bud is known for just rice. And actually they advertise their American Ale as an all malt brew, so the rice and corn needs to be omitted.

Next would be the crystal, don't think it's dark enough. I thinks it's been mentioned it's going to be a simple recipe so going with just one speciality malt seems to be on track. Crystal 75 at 15% will get you closer to the color.

I think you're certainly in the ballpark, just overlooked a couple things. It almost becomes like a putting a puzzle together. You have some pieces that need to be put in place but just need to figure out where they go.
 
Like I said I am new to this, I read all malt and really didn't know what they were trying to say. So I assumed a marketing ploy.

I will edit these out if you think that makes the most sense.

BTW I used beer tools to help me

This is my library entry for this:
http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=9456
One thing I don't get with beer tools is how the OG and ABV changes with adjuncts and Carmel malts. I thought those did not effect the ABV?
 
This is all probably over my head, I have started using Brewmaster's warehouse to buy ingredients and using their recipe generator it was way off from what I used in beer tools.

I darkened the color a bit and took out the rice and corn, as per recommendation.

All grain:

8 lbs, Crisp Maris Otter
2 lbs. Briess 2 Row Caramel 60

Cascade Pellets
1.7 oz @ 60 mins
Cascade Pellets
1 oz @ 1 mins
Cascade Pellets
1 oz @ Dry
SAFALE S-04

This came out at 5.37 ABV 28.8 IBU 15.52 SRM

Extract:

5 lbs, 2 oz Munton's Light Dry Extract
1 lbs Briess 2 Row Caramel 60
Cascade Pellets
1.7 oz @ 60 mins
Cascade Pellets
1 oz @ 1 mins
Cascade Pellets
1 oz @ Dry
SAFALE S-04

ABV. 5.37 IBU 28.4 SRM 15.07

I actually think these recipes look a bit more promising scratch the first ones I posted.

All grain as a kit from Brewmaster warehouse: http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/e3aa4bde/
Extract as a kit from Brewmaster warehouse: http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/31a07746/

I have no idea how this would come out for sure, but to the OP if you don't want to go with the Austin Home brew kits, these might fit the bill.
 
mitch171 said:
I read all malt and really didn't know what they were trying to say. So I assumed a marketing ploy.
Click to expand...

Too funny. Think they refer to their rice as the finest cereal or something like that. Guess if you could malt rice they could call it malt.
 
10% Crystal is going to be more than enough

You wont get it just right unless you use Budwesiers yeast
There is NO DOUBT in my mind that Bud uses their lager yeast for this beer at warmer temperatures.
Dont think so?
Smell and empty bottle next time.
 
From reviews I have read it indicated that there was considerable carmel and light toasty flavors. I would assume Bud would go for the easiest way about this, which would be using crystal malt. As for the yeast I really have no idea, either way if the op really liked the Bud American Ale, this should be at least a starting point.
 
babalu87 said:
You wont get it just right unless you use Budwesiers yeast
There is NO DOUBT in my mind that Bud uses their lager yeast for this beer at warmer temperatures.
Dont think so?
Smell and empty bottle next time.
Click to expand...

My thinking was with a company like Budweiser you have to wonder how much of their goods/processes are proprietary. That certainly doesn't stop you from attempting to capture the overall aprroach that Budweiser used.
 
PT Ray said:
My thinking was with a company like Budweiser you have to wonder how much of their goods/processes are proprietary. That certainly doesn't stop you from attempting to capture the overall aprroach that Budweiser used.
Click to expand...

Wyeast
2007 St Louis lager AKA Budweiser

White Labs
WLP840 American Pilsner Lager Yeast AKA Budweiser

Hell, not long ago you could buy it in dry form as bricks for breadmaking.
 
On the American Ale website, the brewmaster says they are pitching ale yeast.

Also, I highly recommend watching the videos on budamericanale.com
I don't care how much you hate Budweiser, their brewing system is just nuts.
 
I would assume Budweiser would taste a lot like Budweiser...

Maybe they use an ale yeast maybe they use a lager yeast. I don't know, if I was brewing this I would start by trying an American Ale yeast. After trying that if I didn't like it maybe I would move on to something else.
 
mitch171 said:
I would assume Budweiser would taste a lot like Budweiser...

Maybe they use an ale yeast maybe they use a lager yeast. I don't know, if I was brewing this I would start by trying an American Ale yeast. After trying that if I didn't like it maybe I would move on to something else.
Click to expand...


Just my opinion (and that of others as well)

Something in the aftertaste of that beer screams Budweiser to me is all.

Lager yeast doesnt have to be used at Lager temps (see Anchor Steam beer)
 
as much as I hate to say it,the Bud Ale was a nice beer. I was blown away that you can taste hops in it...let us know how the kit turns out. I may just try it :D
 
Like I have said I am new to this, I usally don't try anything other than the norm at this point. Your nose is probably more tuned in than mine.
 
babalu87 said:
Lager yeast doesnt have to be used at Lager temps (see Anchor Steam beer)
Click to expand...

I'd feel fairly confident saying that it's an ale yeast. Why go to all the effort to explain the difference between ale yeast and lager yeast if you don't use the one you say you do?

Either way, BAA has some fairly easily recognizable ale esters to my pallet.
 
babalu87 said:
10% Crystal is going to be more than enough

You wont get it just right unless you use Budwesiers yeast
There is NO DOUBT in my mind that Bud uses their lager yeast for this beer at warmer temperatures.
Dont think so?
Smell and empty bottle next time.
Click to expand...

You could always pitch Papa Charlie's Cry Havok. That's an old Budweiser strain that Chaz Papaz claims can ferment at their ale or lager temps.
 

Similar threads

Bobby_M
Multiple Concurrent Small Batch Brewing
Replies
35
Views
2K
Bobby_M
Bobby_M
dsis42
Rhinegeist Wowie Clone Recipe
Replies
0
Views
903
dsis42
dsis42
G
First Custom Grain Bill- Thoughts?
Replies
11
Views
1K
BrewnWKopperKat
BrewnWKopperKat
Clint Yeastwood
My Undrinkable Beer Got Better
Replies
24
Views
2K
corkybstewart
corkybstewart
RyPA
Help cloning imperial milk stout recipe with chocolate, coconut, caramel conditioning
Replies
2
Views
2K
RyPA
RyPA
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top