Commercial Brewery Question

This topic came up last night and I'm hoping some of you more experienced brewers may help to settle this for me.

The question is: What gives certain breweries their distinctive tastes?

For example: All Pete's Wicked beers seem to have a common element to them. Locally, our Lancaster Brewing Company's beers all seem to have a similar "tinge" to them that I can't really describe but is evident in every single one of their beers regardless of style. Furthermore, I tried the new Bud American Ale, while probably the best Bud I ever drank, I could still tell it came from that family.

Any ideas? My first thought is that they likely have common ingredients that they have around and are comfortable using, but it doesn't really make sense to me that A Belgian Tripel would share characteristics with say a Porter, and likewise through their entire catalog.

Well water chemistry of each area can make a difference.

dataz722 said:

Well water chemistry of each area can make a difference.

Click to expand...

That's an interesting point. But why then, do I not notice such a "tinge" in all families of beers? Perhaps, some just have poorer quality water than others?

might be their in house cultivation of yeast is used in all the beers, giving it a unique taste hard to reproduce.

Some micros only use one yeast strain. Tracking, growing, and making sure the yeast strain stays pure can get expensive and time consuming in quantity.

Could be fermentor geometry, process and similar ingredients.

It could even be "house bugs" sligh infection issues that don't ruin the beer, but imparts distinct qualities to them...

This basic brewing talks about some of the things that different English Breweries do, that may impart "disticntiveness"....some even mill their grain in the same room as they brew in, which we always take to be a no-no, but may impart some qualities distinct to their brewey.

January 1, 2009 - End of the Year Barleywine
Our first episode of the year features the last brewing session of 2008: a barleywine with James, Andy, and Casey Letellier. Casey gives us his perspective on beer and brewing in England and the U.S.

Click to Listen http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr01-01-09casey.mp3

Click to expand...

it could also be that they use one hop strain exclusively(see bells and centenial)

I was also thinking water chemistry. I'd say the ones that don't have that family resemblance may treat their water differently depending on style.

There's a few reasons why its easy to differentiate what beer came from what brewery. Most commercial craft breweries have complete control over their ingredients. This means that the brewing water is controlled to the exact hardness and ph required for the beer. In this day and age of water treatment, having certain areas excel for certain beers is no more. We can harden the water to make stouts and soften them to make pilsners at will. Many breweries use house yeast strains. These impart certain characteristics that cannot be duplicated. Furthermore, absolute control over temperatures in the mash, boil, whirlpool/knockout/, pitching of the yeast and fermentation/conditioning also matter. Every fermenter we have is jacketed with glycol so changing the temperature in a given tank is as simple as pressing a button. Another reason is pitch rate. We can pitch as much or as little yeast as we think is needed, factoring in things like viability and cell count. I hope this makes sense to you!

Awesome thanks for the replies. Based on what I've seen and tasted at our local I'm going to guess that it's either the same yeast or "house bugs".

Thanks again for the replies, I almost know enough now to be dangerous.

Nostrovia!

I agree with everything that's been said, and I think there might also be a psychological component. You buy a new beer by a brewery you're familiar with, and certain flavor memories probably influence your perception of the beer.

...Don't know, just a thought.

I betcha it's a bit of all of the above...It reminds me of a problem that Grinder1200 had awhile back...he's trying to brew the brewcraft and I think other clone versions of Rogue's Hazelnut (stout?) and can't get an exact match...even from the "authorized Clone" kit....there's something unfathonable that he can pick up in his tastebuds..(and like I've said on HBT before, everybody tastes things differently and everybody processes those tastes differently.) It's bugged him for awhile, but no matter what he tries and no matter how good the beer turns out, it is missing some component that is present in the commercial versions and not in his...

I liken it to Umami, the "fifth taste" that some people can pick up (like me) but others can't and there's some debate as to whether or not it truly exists...

But that missing piece that Grinder can't re-create might be this "uniqueness" we are discussing...and it can't be recreated since it is probably made up uniquely (and accidently) in the coming together of all those elements in the brewery it was brewed in.

Equipment has a lot to do with it. A different boil kettle will heat slightly differently, maybe causeing more or less carmelization and maillard reactions, also affecting hop utilization. Brew the same beer in a different brewery and you will get a different beer. When all of a brewery's beers are produced on the same equipment every time, the unique properties of the system will be consistant through all of the beers.

Brewsmith said:

Equipment has a lot to do with it. A different boil kettle will heat slightly differently, maybe causeing more or less carmelization and maillard reactions, also affecting hop utilization. Brew the same beer in a different brewery and you will get a different beer. When all of a brewery's beers are produced on the same equipment every time, the unique properties of the system will be consistant through all of the beers.

Click to expand...

That occured to me after I hit post...but yeah everything beer touches affects it...copper may impart something different than SS or aluminum...different metals and heat would affect the wort differently...even the hoses the beer runs through may leave it's mark...and all of it would have a cumulative affect on the final product.