Almost too funny.

I like wheat beers (Belgian wheat, think Blue Moon), so I brewed a wheat beer from a Munton's kit that was bottled at the end of March (I think). Gave it a few weeks to condition, and I didn't like it. There was something about it that just didn't taste or smell good to me, I wasn't sure if it was an off flavor or what, but I didn't care for it.

Yesterday I brewed an IPA, and I like to drink a few beers while I brew, but the beers I have in the keg and bottle are still a little too young, so I picked up a six pack of Sierra Nevada Hefeweizen (it occurred to me that I couldn't recall ever having a hefe).

Opened one - smelled exactly like my wheat beer. Tasted it - tasted very similar to my wheat beer.

Turns out, I didn't brew a bad batch of beer. I just don't particular care for hefeweizen, and brewed one (or something close to it) without knowing it.

I feel better though, knowing that I didn't completely mess up the beer, I just don't like it.

 

Good for you.

 

What was your fermentation temperature at? Do you use a swamp cooler or other cooling apparatus? Mayhap the wheat beer you brewed had more pronounced clove, banana or ester flavors (like a hef) due to high ferm temps.

What was your recipe?

And btw, I enjoy hef's so you could always just send your bottles down to sunny Florida and I'll do some "research" on that beer for you.

 

One of the things I tried to do to improve my beer is work on learning and tasting different styles to understand flavors....

 

My fermentation temperature is a pretty constant 65. I'm lucky enough to have a basement that stays the same general temperature year round (maybe a little too cold in the winter sometimes).

 

That's awesome!

 

lol, well then, package it up and send it to me for proper disposal

 

this EXACT same thing happened to me when i first started brewing.

told the guy at my LHBS that i wanted to brew a wheat beer (Blue Moon in mind), and he sold me ingredients for a hefeweizen. i thought i screwed it up until a couple months down the road when i tried widmer brothers hefe.

to this day, i still can't stand the taste of bananas in my beer.

 

I used to feel exactly the same way.... now, on a hot summer day, few things are better than a bottle of Weihenstehaner Hefe!

 

Similar thing happened to me, except I knew what I was brewing, but my intended audience did not. Now that Blue Moon has gotten so popular, it's become kind of the baseline for wheats in most people's understanding of the style. If you use a more traditional wheat yeast, you get away from that pretty quick. I'm fermenting an american wheat right now using 1056, so it'll have some wheat taste but is much smoother, for lack of a better term.

Glad your beer was good, even if it wasn't your bag. Maybe you'll like it by the end of the batch!

 

MillerCoors... hrmmm.. i dunno

 

Is there anything wrong with MillerCoors?

 

Yes!!!

 

Oh, guess I didn't get the memo. Do you mind me asking what?

 

guess not

 

Would you mind sharing with the class the information given in that memo? I'm sure we'd all like to be enlightened as to why MillerCoors beers aren't up to par.

 

I prefer the spicier wits, the belgians, to american wheat beers. I can't stand Shock Top and think it's one of the most foul beers on the planet. It's undercarbed and has very little flavor to go along with it's "feet" taste/smell.

All of my wits get wl400 fermented very high for all of the clove and fruitiness I can get. Huge hit with SWMBO and her friends, too.

 

I couldn't agree more. I've only had one Shock Top variety, but man.... didn't do it for me. I definitely prefer a good ester-y clove-y Hefe to an Am. wheat, even Franziskaner comes across too clean for me.... although an ice cold 312 or Boulevard Wheat on a hot day sure hits the spot.

 

312 eh? You're close enough to Chicago then. We have them here too. Boulevard is also a huge beer around here too. I would go with New Belgium as my favorite craft brew in terms of varieties that I like, though. Boulevard has started making twist-offs and some of their beers are really unspectacular.

We have Empyrean ales located here in town, too. They hold quarterly homebrewing contests and their beer is all really good, too. Their sweet stout is something I love in cooler weather (heck, anytime!).

 

really? you have to ask. one word.. FLAVORLESS!!

 

Huh, I get that from Miller Lite and the Bullet... and I do agree that they're 'craft' (using that term loosely) line is sub par at best in the flavor depot, although I've only tried Blue Moon (original) and Shock Top (the 'wit', I believe). I think if anything, High Life and MGD have too much flavor, a brew like that should be light crisp and clean, and those two are just foul. But I have to stand up for Coors Banquet, albeit it's not considered the best of it's class, but it definitely has more flavor than the perennial top 3 in the category, and that flavor isn't bad, IMO. I actually prefer PBR when it comes to light lagers, but Banquet definitely has more flavor, IMO. And the flavor isn't bad if you like that 'Coors/Keystone' flavor. I'd say of the two big guys, I like more MillerCoors beers than I do AB beers, but I also can't stand rice adjunct, gives me a headache and hangover after a few brewskis, so it isn't a fair call.

 

I was drinking a few Bud Lights bowling the other night with friends, now mind you I used to drink Milwaukee's Beast Lite for a time, Busch Light, etc...I noticed first that BL had a slight banana to it. Then I noticed that I was getting a headache. We went back to friends house and I brought a keg of my PA/IPA hybrid with me

Guess I'm becoming a beer snob. Something I've been in the past but then I got cheap and fell back into BMC land for a time.

 

I grew up in Chicago, actually. And yeah, we get quite a few IL craft beers up here in the great cold nort. I like the Boully Wheat, and the Double Wide IPA, but other than that I can take or leave their beers, nothing bad, just nothing outstanding. And I agree, the twist off deal is a big turn off. Either I'm a beer snob or my homebrewerness steers me away from twistys.
I get the headache from AB beers too. I think it's the rice adjunct... one or two, I'm ok, more and I get a serious migraine and will have a hangover the next day. Beast is my li'l bro's go to, so it holds a special place for me. It's not bad on a hot summer day at my bro's place in Dallas, crisp, cold, thirst quenching.... and that last sip leaves you needing more to wash it down! :rockin:

 

well i live in Pennsylvania. Only beer i ever drank was yuengling.(thanks to my uncle) tried Bud, Coors, rolling rock, you name it i tried it. (dad owns Comfort Lounge in washington, pa) so i never paid for them "samples" but drank alot of different beers. Compared to yuengling.. they all seemed very bland to me. sorry, i just think its funny that blue moon is made by coors. Craft? no way, is it good, not to me. do i like Hefs.. yes. Sorry just not yet convinced Coors, Miller or any Large Corp can make a fine "craft" beer.

 

Me neither. I wouldn't call any of those Blue Moon, Shock Top or whatever else 'craft' beer, it's the big guys attempt to compete with the entire market. I don't even look at that section of the cooler between 'BMC' brews and true craft that contains those brands, but I do keep a case of PBR or Banquet around and my wife always has Miller Lite around. Most of our drinking is craft/import or homebrew, but I'd say we each have at least one BMC beer a night, sometimes more.

 

If you're close enough to Chcago to get 312, then you can probably find Sofie and Pere Jacques too. Both are awesome specialty brews from goose island.

 

Ooh, we get Goose Island here too and their IPA is amongst my favorite, along with lakeside, Ranger, and SN Ruthless Rye.

 

Yes sir!! My local bottle shop has both, and the Mathilde (sp?)..... very good beers!

Oh man, their IPA is one of my all time faves. I can't get enough of that beer, I'm always one to jump from one style to the next during a session, but what I have that, I drink just that. Amazing beer. Their Nut Brown (former Hex Nut Brown) is great too. We didn't get it up here for the longest, but finally do.

Can you guys get Summit beers down there? They're in St. Paul. Like Goose, they focus on Americanized English styles mostly, and do a good job. If you like GI's beers, you'd probably like Summit's.

 

Yes we get summit, too. For some reason Nebraska is like a Mecca for craft beers

 

Nice! I really dig most of Summit's brews. Their EPA is a classic, their IPA is good, but no GI, their Horizon Red is great, their Great Northern Porter is probably my favorite robust porter, everything they do is at least better than avg., IMO. They have a new-ish American IPA called Saga, amazing beer.

I think one of the benefits of living closer to the middle of the country is getting a lot of east and west coast brews, as well as what's brewed around here. We don't get a lot from the south east here, but everywhere else is pretty well covered.

 

Colorado, Kansas city, Chicago, etc. we have it good