How does BMC brew beer that has no flavor?

[Billy-Klubb]

Hmm, all hail Billy-Klubb, he's far more superior than the tens of millions of people who purchase BMC a day.



Ill agree with that, but that's about it.

There are plenty of things I don't like. I dislike way more craft beers than I do BMCs, but don't dis them on their efforts and hard work, what one may hate one may love. Don't be a snob, we are all doing what we love.

This is getting nowhere, there was never really a honest question, I can see that now. The OP just wanted to start a bandwagon BMC hate thread.

personal taste is a helluva thing, son. my personal taste says it's crap. every time someone starts a "BMC hate thread", a bunch of others pop up defending BMCs with the same old tired crap about how difficult it is to make such a tasteless beer without any flaws and to do it form different locations all the time is such an amazing feat and how the rest of us that don't like it should try to brew the style. I'm not defending the BMC haters, I'm defending my personal taste. I'm a snob because I don't like that tasteless watery crap? fine, I'm a floccin' snob. but personal taste is just that: personal taste. how bland would the world be if we all had the same taste?

 

[bob1852]

personal taste is a helluva thing, son. my personal taste says it's crap. every time someone starts a "BMC hate thread", a bunch of others pop up defending BMCs with the same old tired crap about how difficult it is to make such a tasteless beer without any flaws and to do it form different locations all the time is such an amazing feat and how the rest of us that don't like it should try to brew the style. I'm not defending the BMC haters, I'm defending my personal taste. I'm a snob because I don't like that tasteless watery crap? fine, I'm a floccin' snob. but personal taste is just that: personal taste. how bland would the world be if we all had the same taste?

Your post is dripping with irony, like the condensation coming off a can of ice cold Bud Light.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Your post is dripping with irony, like the condensation coming off a can of ice cold Bud Light.

only if it's been cellared properly.

 

[dnslater]

I don't like red. I like blue. Red is a crap color because it isn't blue. Am I a color snob?

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I don't like red. I like blue. Red is a crap color because it isn't blue. Am I a color snob?

yep.

 

[brew_ny]

but personal taste is just that: personal taste.

it's all your mouth

 

[kkramer56]

The one that gets me is the beer advertised as "triple hopped", yet you still can't taste any hops.

 

[dnslater]

The one that gets me is the beer advertised as "triple hopped", yet you still can't taste any hops.

Yeah, that is Miller, Ironically they use "Hop extract" and actual hops never come in contact with their beer. They take out the chemicals that cause skunk, so they can get away with clear bottles in High Life.

 

[ABVIBUSRM]

Hmm, all hail Billy-Klubb, he's far more superior than the tens of millions of people who purchase BMC a day.



Ill agree with that, but that's about it.

There are plenty of things I don't like. I dislike way more craft beers than I do BMCs, but don't dis them on their efforts and hard work, what one may hate one may love. Don't be a snob, we are all doing what we love.

This is getting nowhere, there was never really a honest question, I can see that now. The OP just wanted to start a bandwagon BMC hate thread.

No i did not try and start a BMC hate wagon ..i asked a simple question how BMC makes a flavorless beer..people turned it into that

 

[jtratcliff]

Well, I suppose the simple answer to "How do BMC make tasteless beer" is"

Very well... they make it very well.

You might not like it (lookin' at YOU B-K ) but they sure do a good job of crankin' it out.

 

[m00ps]

I've read that nearly all American Adjunct lagers are made with a great amount of corn, and they make a concentrated beer (like 20% abv) and just literally water it down to whatever level they need it to be. So Bud could release an "imperial bud" at the drop of a hat if they wanted...

So there's no flavor because what you are drinking is like 1 part beer (which is mostly water anyway) to 3 or 4 parts water.

 

[bob1852]

I've read that nearly all American Adjunct lagers are made with a great amount of corn, and they make a concentrated beer (like 20% abv) and just literally water it down to whatever level they need it to be. So Bud could release an "imperial bud" at the drop of a hat if they wanted...

Where did you read that?

 

[kombat]

I've read that [...] they make a concentrated beer (like 20% abv) and just literally water it down to whatever level they need it to be.

I find that extremely unlikely. It is very, very hard to coax yeast to keep fermenting all the way to such extremely high ABV values, especially to do it consistently while maintaining a common flavour profile across all breweries worldwide. Heck, even DFH has a heck of a time getting their 120 min IPA to 18-20%. It takes a lot of time and attention (read: $$$). I'd be shocked if BMC went to such efforts, only to water it back down again.

You might be thinking of the spirit world (liquor, not supernatural). I do recall that some distilleries (Bacardi, in particular) distill their liquors to high concentrations (80%) in order to reduce shipping costs, then dilute the vodka/rum/whatever back down to 40% at the bottling facility.

 

[bob1852]

You might be thinking of the spirit world (liquor, not supernatural).

I'm thinking that he's recalling that lawsuit (which was thrown out as being false) where they claimed BMC watered down their beer to meet the ABV% listed on the cans/bottles....

 

[Helloworld]

I love big hoppy beers, Stouts, Porters and Belgian, and rarely drink BMCs.

However, I don't think you can beat an ice cold BMC when it's really hot and you need something refreshing. Everything has its place.

I agree. I was at a friend's BBQ recently and all we had was Miller Lite. It was a warm day and the beer was quite refreshing. It is nice to give the palate a rest from time to time as well.

 

[Calder]

Some contract brewers, and probably BMC brewers, make higher alcohol batches and water it down. It maximizes fermentation space. The dilution is probably only around 20%. No way are they going to brew a 20% beer.

One of the problems they have to watch is that they don't get too many yeast esters. Supposedly you get 4X yeast esters in a 2X gravity wort. Temperature control for this type of brewing is critical.

 

[bob1852]

Some contract brewers, and probably BMC brewers, make higher alcohol batches and water it down. It maximizes fermentation space. The dilution is probably only around 20%. No way are they going to brew a 20% beer.

Got any proof?

And where do they water it down? That takes space too.

 

[orangehero]

I'm thinking that he's recalling that lawsuit (which was thrown out as being false) where they claimed BMC watered down their beer to meet the ABV% listed on the cans/bottles....

The lawsuit was that BMC watered down below the abv based on a misunderstanding of high gravity brewing, but was dismissed because in fact they water down to the abv.

High gravity brewing is a well known practice. I don't know for sure how they do it, but I imagine the beer is diluted and carbonated inline for bottling. It's not like they need space for a separate tank to mix the two like a homebrewer with a bottling bucket.

 

[bob1852]

The lawsuit was that BMC watered down below the abv based on a misunderstanding of high gravity brewing, but was dismissed because in fact they water down to the abv.

High gravity brewing is a well known practice. I don't know for sure how they do it, but I imagine the beer is diluted and carbonated inline for bottling.

Not from 20% ABV to ~5% ABV....

And the NPR article on the lawsuit states that brewing a 5.5% ABV beer is "high gravity" brewing. lol

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...watery-but-it-tests-at-full-strength-lab-says

 

[orangehero]

High gravity brewing is the name of the technique. Even 5.5% beer in a huge fermentor is a lot more 5% beers per batch.

 

[dyqik]

By not putting the flavors in in the first place (relatively high adjunct percentage, low color pale malts, low hop levels using quality controlled hop extract with little aroma or hop flavor, fermenting dry and clean), then lagering, they can avoid many of the problems of inconsistent ingredients.

This is the much the same (albeit reversed in some sense) as Starbucks does by roasting their coffee beans so dark that all variable bean flavor is removed. Light roasted beans give different flavors and aromas depending on season/harvest year and regional variations (terroir, in wine terms). Starbucks roast dark so they burn off much of the individual bean flavors and replace them with a generic, but consistent, roast flavor.

Guinness get some similar effects by coloring/flavoring with a small percentage of very dark roast malts, although there is reportedly more variation there between different breweries.

If you brew a beer which depends more on the flavors of the ingredients - e.g. with a more flavorful base malt, and mildly kilned or low lovibond crystal malts, and with late hop flavor and aromas, then you will be more at the mercy of ingredient quality and variation.

 

[orangehero]

Say what you will about their product, but you got to respect them for making it faster and cheaper than anyone else!

 

[bob1852]

Say what you will about their product, but you got to respect them for making it faster and cheaper than anyone else!

Agreed. And it does have flavor....maybe not the flavor one likes, but it does have flavor.

Limburger cheese has flavor; as does saffron.

Budlight is the saffon of the beer world; Pliny is the limburger cheese.

 

[m00ps]

Where did you read that?

I had a class in college on beer brewing. My instructor's wife for some odd reason likes Bud light as her favorite beer. The poor guy has tried 4 different times to make a clone, but it always comes out tasting like alcoholic canned corn water since there is nothing to mask any flaws you'd make on a homebrewing scale. He said he knows a number of employees at one of the breweries and tried replicating their way and just shooting for the 4.2% and neither worked.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

y'all can like what you want. hell, y'all can build a giant shrine to the BMC gods and praise them daily if you like. I don't care if they can make (IMO) a consistently crappy beer. if I'm gonna reach for a refreshing beer on a hot day, I'll reach for a Gose/Ordinary Bitter/Pale Ale.

it sounds like a lot of people trying to justify liking BMCs. why would they feel the need to justify? I'm glad no one asked! maybe something in them feels a little guilty. their dirty little secret out in the open. or maybe they just like it. to each their own, but I still think it's crap. happy birthday!

 

[bob1852]

y'all can like what you want. hell, y'all can build a giant shrine to the Gose/Ordinary Bitter/Pale Ale gods and praise them daily if you like. I don't care if they can make (IMO) a consistently crappy beer. if I'm gonna reach for a refreshing beer on a hot day, I'll reach for a BMC.

it sounds like a lot of people trying to justify liking Craft Beer. why would they feel the need to justify? I'm glad no one asked! maybe something in them feels a little guilty. their dirty little secret out in the open. or maybe they just like it. to each their own, but I still think it's crap. happy birthday!

 

[Billy-Klubb]

y'all can like what you want. hell, y'all can build a giant shrine to the Gose/Ordinary Bitter/Pale Ale gods and praise them daily if you like. I don't care if they can make (IMO) a consistently crappy beer. if I'm gonna reach for a refreshing beer on a hot day, I'll reach for a BMC.

it sounds like a lot of people trying to justify liking Craft Beer. why would they feel the need to justify? I'm glad no one asked! maybe something in them feels a little guilty. their dirty little secret out in the open. or maybe they just like it. to each their own, but I still think it's crap. happy birthday!

hey mom, you're starting to sound like me. only different.

 

[ABVIBUSRM]

WoW..started as a brewing technique question to a BMC vs crafty beer war...funny stuff

 

[Billy-Klubb]

WoW..started as a brewing technique question to a BMC vs crafty beer war...funny stuff

some of us like to wind up and watch the others be all wound up. a small percentage like to wind the winders.

 

[dnslater]

some of us like to wind up and watch the others be all wound up. a small percentage like to wind the winders.

What about those that wind those who wind the winders.