Similar tasting beer

Hello all,

This is my first post and actually my first time joining a forum. I have been homebrewing since Christmas '06 and have brewed a nut brown ale, weizenbock, oktoberfest, bock, pale ale, and pumpkin spice. I've noticed that the beers end up having a similar taste, and I wonder if that has to do with the water I am using. I live in a small city and just use water from the tap.

Could this be the reason for the taste? The nut brown ale and bock were kit beers and the others were ingredients I put together during trips to various homebrew stores.

I am aware of the effect sanitization, cleaning, etc. has on beer, and I also wonder if the sanitizer I use has an effect? (It is One-Step no rinse stuff)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Looks like about 1/2 of those are lager styles and 1/2 are ales. At what temperatures were you fermenting?

Also, I am curious about your recipes for those batches...

I am pretty new here, but I am sure if you could describe the taste we may be able to help you out a little more!

Are you using extract? Partial boils? Those can sometimes produce similar tastes.

Tommish said:

Looks like about 1/2 of those are lager styles and 1/2 are ales. At what temperatures were you fermenting?

Also, I am curious about your recipes for those batches...

Click to expand...

I have a brewbelt which keeps it at 72-74 (a little warm?). But I did not have it for the first two batches I've brewed. I did brew them w/ ale yeasts and they stayed between 65-74 degrees.

Did you want all the specifics of the recipes? or just ingredients?

AFAJ Brew Guy said:

I am pretty new here, but I am sure if you could describe the taste we may be able to help you out a little more!

Click to expand...

Well, the best I can say is that they taste similar to the first batch I brewed which was a Nut Brown Ale extract kit from Northern Brewer. I've only been drinking good beer for the past 4 years and have only started to really think about tastes since I stated brewing. So I need to get some more experience, so it's tough to call out an exact flavor similarity.

rdwj said:

Are you using extract? Partial boils? Those can sometimes produce similar tastes.

Click to expand...

Extract kits, but w/ different yeasts. Mostly dry yeasts, but I used a smackpack for one and a liquid yeast in a tube for another.

And excuse my beginner-ish-ness, but I'm not quite sure what a partial boil is.

Is this common flavor pleasant or unpleasant. You have six styles there that all tend to be somewhat malty to very malty. That could be the common flavor: malt.


TL

TexLaw said:

Is this common flavor pleasant or unpleasant. You have six styles there that all tend to be somewhat malty to very malty. That could be the common flavor: malt.


TL

Click to expand...

The flavor is pleasant, I guess I was just thinking/hoping that the flavors will be different. If I use different malts, will that impart a different taste?

I really enjoy hoppy beers (like sam adams hallertau imperial pilsner) and may try that next. or perhaps a hoegaarden-ish beer because spring/summer is approaching

Have you drank these brews side by side and note the flavor or just going by memory?

Joker said:

Have you drank these brews side by side and note the flavor or just going by memory?

Click to expand...

I've had my bock and pale ale side by side, and they have a slightly similar taste. But they all taste similar to what I remember my nut brown ale and weizenbock to taste like. So it's mostly off of memory.

It could be water...You could try using bottled and make a batch. Or if you're using bottled, then try a different brand. If you're using tap, try boiling it.

You might want to consider making some small batches, keeping the ingredients the same but changing the water for each one.

ALso, are you always using the same malts or extracts? I mean from the same company? If you always use munton's, for example, maybe you're detecting something inherant to munton's style of processing.

Be interesting to hear what you find out.