First brew tastes like Heineken

[bruben]

So I have successfully brewed and bottled my first batch. I went with an American pale ale. Everything seemed to how it was supposed to. 7 days in the primary, 14 in the secondary and 3 weeks in the bottles. My final gravity was dead on. I tried my first bottle sand it was a dead on Heineken clone, not at all what it should taste like. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with it. I don't mind Heineken. I'm actually ecstatic I made something drinkable. The only deviation I made on the recipe was adding the aroma hops in the boil rather than dry hopping. Could this be the issue? Below is the breakdown.

6lbs Light DME
1/2lbs 20l crystal malt
1oz perle hops at initial boil
2oz cascade at 45 minutes

 

[carguy13]

well congrats on the first brew... i'm not advanced enough to answer your question. i would call any first drinkable beer a victory.

 

[Yooper]

So I have successfully brewed and bottled my first batch. I went with an American pale ale. Everything seemed to how it was supposed to. 7 days in the primary, 14 in the secondary and 3 weeks in the bottles. My final gravity was dead on. I tried my first bottle sand it was a dead on Heineken clone, not at all what it should taste like. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with it. I don't mind Heineken. I'm actually ecstatic I made something drinkable. The only deviation I made on the recipe was adding the aroma hops in the boil rather than dry hopping. Could this be the issue? Below is the breakdown.

6lbs Light DME
1/2lbs 20l crystal malt
1oz perle hops at initial boil
2oz cascade at 45 minutes

When you say "2 ounce cascade at 45 minutes", do you mean it went into the boil with 15 minutes left (boiled for 15 minutes) or that you boiled them for 45 minutes?

If you added the cascade and boiled them for 15 minutes before ending the boil, that's actually a pretty decent Sierra Nevada clone (although a bit hoppier).

 

[bruben]

well congrats on the first brew... i'm not advanced enough to answer your question. i would call any first drinkable beer a victory.

I'm not at all discouraged. It's an amazing thing to know I can brew my own beer. I already have my next batch in the secondary. It's a Stone IPA clone. I will be legging this one.

 

[bruben]

When you say "2 ounce cascade at 45 minutes", do you mean it went into the boil with 15 minutes left (boiled for 15 minutes) or that you boiled them for 45 minutes?

If you added the cascade and boiled them for 15 minutes before ending the boil, that's actually a pretty decent Sierra Nevada clone (although a bit hoppier).

15 minutes before the end of the boil. The recipe called for 1 oz and the other 1 oz for dry hopping. Honestly, it's not as hoppy as expected.

 

[mamies]

I would imagine this to have a decent hop flavour in it.

Generally the longer boils for hops create more bitterness, shorter boils create more flavour and dry hopping creates more aroma. Obviously if adding flavour additions some bitterness and aroma will be extracted etc.

 

[Herky21]

I'm not sure how you could brew that recipe and get anything remotely close to heineken. what temp did it ferment at?

 

[bruben]

I'm not sure how you could brew that recipe and get anything remotely close to heineken. what temp did it ferment at?

It fermented between 68-70 degrees. Maybe I'm being overly critical and my taste buds are messing with me. Maybe it is Sierra Nevada I'm tasting. I just know it tasted very familiar.

 

[Herky21]

It fermented between 68-70 degrees. Maybe I'm being overly critical and my taste buds are messing with me. Maybe it is Sierra Nevada I'm tasting. I just know it tasted very familiar.

Oh I see what you mean. Your recipe just sounds like it would taste good, and like a pale ale, neither of which sound like Heineken. If you fermented in a glass carboy in a brightly lit room I could seem a little Heineken flavor seeping in though. That's how they get the skunk into every bottle...

 

[forstmeister]

It could have gotten skunked. Was your fermenter exposed to sunlight? I have actually had a good craft beer skunk while I was drinking it in the sun on a hot summer day. Just a little but it was noticeable.

 

[masskrug]

Heineken sounds like a skunk to me.

 

[fizgig]

Any light can skunk beer, even artificial, was the fermenter dark? Are the bottles not brown?

 

[BigFloyd]

Sorry to hear that your brew came out tasting like Heiney. Maybe you can find a friend who likes the skunky stuff and give it to him.

Hopefully the next batch will taste better.

 

[bruben]

The primary was a bucket and secondary was a carboy. It was in a dark closet. The carboy was wrapped in a sweater. There was no light penetrating and I bottled to brown bottles. It's drinkable and definitely won't go to waste. I'm hoping my IPA doesn't have the same problem. Maybe it's a bit green?

 

[forstmeister]

The primary was a bucket and secondary was a carboy. It was in a dark closet. The carboy was wrapped in a sweater. There was no light penetrating and I bottled to brown bottles. It's drinkable and definitely won't go to waste. I'm hoping my IPA doesn't have the same problem. Maybe it's a bit green?

Sounds like your process was fairly sound. Give it a little time, the flavor profile will change. For some reason I find that about 3-4 weeks after bottling/kegging is when my beer tastes best.

 

[jethro55]

I lost track pretty quick on this one. If I were to brew something as great as Heineken, I'd think that I had over-achieved. Apparently we all know the skunk flavor that comes from their poor choice in light transmission properties of their green bottles. Molson, Moosehead, Stella, Little Kings, and so many others are guilty of the same. From the posters' responses, none have tasted one on tap, nor in the can.
If you got taste that matches up to that, then you win. I never read that the OP mentioned the skunk aroma.

 

[bruben]

I lost track pretty quick on this one. If I were to brew something as great as Heineken, I'd think that I had over-achieved. Apparently we all know the skunk flavor that comes from their poor choice in light transmission properties of their green bottles. Molson, Moosehead, Stella, Little Kings, and so many others are guilty of the same. From the posters' responses, none have tasted one on tap, nor in the can.
If you got taste that matches up to that, then you win. I never read that the OP mentioned the skunk aroma.

I don't quite get a spunky aroma. I'm not upset at all with the taste. I'm amazed at the fact that I brewed something that I can enjoy after a long day at work. I'm definitely not discouraged. I think it's f$&@ing amazing that I made beer. Even before this first batch had been ready I already purchased a mini fridge and a couple kegs because I knew this would be a life long hobby. Eventually I'll get to all grain, but I'm very happy with the extracts.

 

[Remmy]

This thread title made me laugh out loud.

 

[mamies]

This thread title made me laugh out loud.

Me too. I can't believe that everyone jumped to "it must be skunk if it tastes like Heineken". I hate bottled Heineken but when on tap I actually don't mind the beer. No skunk in that one.

You would have thought someone at a massive brewery would have realized that green bottles is a bad idea.