Brewers Best English brown ale = Samuel Adams?

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St. Jon's Wort

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I just got done bottling a batch of BB english brown ale. I left it in the primary for a little over 4 weeks. When it came out, it tasted exactly, and I mean EXACTLY, like a Samuel Adams. Has anyone else experienced the same results with the BB english brown ale kit?
 
no. I made that kit as my second batch coming back into brewing earlier this year.
I'm just finishing off the keg, and I actually just had my first Sam Adams boston lager a week ago.
my brown ale isn't anywhere near as bitter as the SA.

I even did a fairly large partial boil, so I don't think my hop utilization was decreased. Tastes more like new castle but even less bitterness.

Unless the sam adams I had was a poor representation, they weren't that similar.
 
St. Jon's Wort said:
I just got done bottling a batch of BB english brown ale. I left it in the primary for a little over 4 weeks. When it came out, it tasted exactly, and I mean EXACTLY, like a Samuel Adams. Has anyone else experienced the same results with the BB english brown ale kit?

Did you conduct this test after the sixth beer? What's in the kit? Is it really "EXACTLY"?
 
malkore said:
no. I made that kit as my second batch coming back into brewing earlier this year.
I'm just finishing off the keg, and I actually just had my first Sam Adams boston lager a week ago.
my brown ale isn't anywhere near as bitter as the SA.

I even did a fairly large partial boil, so I don't think my hop utilization was decreased. Tastes more like new castle but even less bitterness.

Unless the sam adams I had was a poor representation, they weren't that similar.

I hope mine comes out like yours (just bottled it last night, made the exact same kit), I'm a big fan of brown ales that aren't very bitter. It might make me a noob or whatever but I just can't get behind even somewhat hop-aggressive beers at this stage in my beer drinking development.
 
WBC said:
... What's in the kit? ...


cut - n - paste from the kit instructions at L.D. Carlson's website:

INGREDIENTS :
3.3 lbs. Plain Amber Malt Extract
2 lbs. Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract
8 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Bittering)
1/2 oz. Willamette Hops (Finishing)
5 oz. Priming Sugar
1 each Beer Yeast
 
camiller said:
cut - n - paste from the kit instructions at L.D. Carlson's website:

INGREDIENTS :
3.3 lbs. Plain Amber Malt Extract
2 lbs. Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract
8 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Bittering)
1/2 oz. Willamette Hops (Finishing)
5 oz. Priming Sugar
1 each Beer Yeast

Yep, that's the same ingredients list from my kit.
 
I made that kit a while ago- same ingredients. I thought it was very similar to Newcastle in taste and body. I didn't think of it anything like Sam Adams.
 
Well the "Brown ale" is different to different people. I know that you can have 5 people taste a beer and you will get several opinions as to what it tastes like. Time will change it as you go too. Beer is a living thing and is not the same from day to day. Yes it tastes similar but not "Exactly" like it did 2 days ago. So when I hear it tastes "Exactly", that is a relative term. It is something that can not be nailed down as the yeast is changing it from day to day and people interpret it differently too.
 
Hmmm. I'm trying to make a Sam Adams-y beer for my next batch, so it's interesting to hear peoples' thoughts on this kit. The recipe I plan to use, which I think I found on here, has a similar malt profile to this kit recipe, but suggests Fuggles and EKG for the hops. I think I'll stick with that and see how it goes, but it'd be interesting in future to swap the hops for Willamette and see how the two compare.
 
Hmm, besides the fact that SABL is a "lager", it's also hopped way more aggresively. There's a chance that you got a bit more hop utilization, maybe from boiling more volume than the recipe assumes, but it's still not going to have that sulfery lager flavor. There's that chance that your tastebuds haven't become all that acute yet.
 
Bobby_M said:
There's that chance that your tastebuds haven't become all that acute yet.

I've noticed a HUGE improvement in my ability to perceive differences between beers since I started brewing. Understanding the ingredients, thinking about the ingredients and the process, all of that helps me better pick out hop characteristics, underlying sweetness that I never previously noted, all kinds of different things. It's all an evolution, and I'm still NOWHERE near where I want to be in the "training" of my palatte (I've got a lot of homework!)
 
the_bird said:
I've noticed a HUGE improvement in my ability to perceive differences between beers since I started brewing. Understanding the ingredients, thinking about the ingredients and the process, all of that helps me better pick out hop characteristics, underlying sweetness that I never previously noted, all kinds of different things. It's all an evolution, and I'm still NOWHERE near where I want to be in the "training" of my palatte (I've got a lot of homework!)

Better get studying!!

Infact, I'm going to go 'study' now...
 
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