I love heineken, and what?

[DirtyHaus]

So i'm sitting in the office bored out of my mind and thought i'd kill some time by creating this post. I brewed my first Lager 9 days ago and very excited to see how it turns out. Yes, it's a Heineken clone (from clone brews) and yes i actually like Heineken. Don't get me wrong, i'm an IPA guy... but before i discovered craft beers i was a Heineken guy. I was born and raised in Miami where Heineken is king so it was just natural for that to become my favorite before I discovered "real" beer.

So after 9 days in the fridge set at 50 degrees i still have some pretty active fermentation. I swapped out the blowoff tube for an airlock last night and it's still bubbling rapidly. I know Lager fermentations can be slow so not worried there. It had on OG of 1.050 and now at 1.022. I plan to wait till it's in the teens for diacetyl rest then lager for a month. Please chime in lager brewers if i'm doin anything wrong as it's my first lager.

I decided to add all my leftover hops (.75 hallertau, .25 NB) at end of the boil to hopefully get more hoppy goodness into the brew. What does everyone think? Would Heineken be acceptable to all you "snobs" (haha) if it had a more pronounced hop character?

 

[PintoBean]

It'd be acceptable if they used some brown bottles so it wasn't skunky by the time it gets on the shelves.

 

[badbrew]

I think if that clone is water, hops, barley and yeast only then it is fine in my book. Probably will taste better than the real thing to. Personally, heineken, corona, lowenbrau, molson, labatts all kind of taste like the same bland product to me. They lack flavor.

 

[phoenixs4r]

Slightly OT, but I was recently introduced to a brewery called Trumarpils. I too, uses to drink Heineken exclusively when I was younger, but now not so much. This Trumar pils , while I didn't fancy it, was like Heineken but better, maybe give it a shot!

 

[DirtyHaus]

I think if that clone is water, hops, barley and yeast only then it is fine in my book. Probably will taste better than the real thing to. Personally, heineken, corona, lowenbrau, molson, labatts all kind of taste like the same bland product to me. They lack flavor.

I agree to an extent, they are not too big on flavor but they make great session beers especially football Sunday.

The clone is only water, malt, yeast and hops. I hope it tastes better than the real thing. I plan to keg it for the most part but will experiment with bottling a few in green bottles and leaving them in the sun. Not sure how long to "skunk" them for but i'll cross that bridge when i get there.

 

[Homercidal]

You're plan is sound. Good luck!

 

[Ramitt]

Try everything, drink what you like and be happy.

 

[arg]

haha, home skunking your lager to get that authentic "Imported" flavor, huh?

 

[DirtyHaus]

haha, home skunking your lager to get that authentic "Imported" flavor, huh?

Pretty much. I want to compare my "home skunked" clone to the commercial skunked variety. I'll also compare some of the clone from the keg with a Heineken keg can.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Slightly OT, but I was recently introduced to a brewery called Trumarpils. I too, uses to drink Heineken exclusively when I was younger, but now not so much. This Trumar pils , while I didn't fancy it, was like Heineken but better, maybe give it a shot!

trummer pils totally reminded me of an unskunked heineken. not necessarily a good thing, as i think there's many better german-style pils' out there, but it's funny to hear that someone else thought the same thing about trummer pils.

 

[DirtyHaus]

I'll have to give Trummer pils a try. I must say that there wasn't nearly as much Heiniken bashing in this tread as i though.

CHEERS

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I'll have to give Trummer pils a try. I must say that there wasn't nearly as much Heiniken bashing in this tread as i though.

CHEERS

beer's beer, if you like a beer you should drink it. no one should bash that. if you like heineken, you'll probably like Trummer. it's a well made brew, just not my thing. i prefer stella and beck's when it comes to german-style pils/american-style premium lagers.

 

[3PegBrew]

beer's beer, if you like a beer you should drink it. no one should bash that. if you like heineken, you'll probably like Trummer. it's a well made brew, just not my thing. i prefer stella and beck's when it comes to german-style pils/american-style premium lagers.

Stella is Belgian! you silly goose....but I will let it slide becuase I like you.

 

[Denny]

AFAIAC, Trumer pils is one of the best pils I've ever tasted and I've tasted a lot of them. And Heineken from a can kicks butt.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Stella is Belgian! you silly goose....but I will let it slide becuase I like you.

i know it's belgian. but i am kinda silly! it's still in that german-esque/american premium vain. european pale lager i believe, which is similar to premium american lager.... either way, who cares, it's good for that style of brew, IMO.

 

[Dan]

I drank a lot of Heineken when living in Hawaii, very popular with the locals. Heineken, keeping the island green one bottle at a time.

 

[DirtyHaus]

Here's the recipe for anyone that's interested

4oz Carahell 10L (steeped)
6lb Golden Light DME

4HBU Northern Brewer (60)
8HBU Hersbucker (60)
.25oz Hersbucker (whirlpool)

Wyeast 2042 Danish Lager

I'll be honest, i'm not 100% sure that was my hop schedule. I'm at work and don't have my copy of clone brews with me. It's close though

 

[3PegBrew]

I drank a lot, very popular with the locals.

Here you go! best quote ever!:rockin:

 

[bwomp313]

heineken out of the can is awesome. I don't get the skunking thing. People like that flavor? And whoever said the thing about corona sucking I couldn't agree more. Throw lime in a miller high life and it's the same

 

[Ramitt]

And Heineken from a can kicks butt.

Agreed much better from a can

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

My wife is from a little island in Greece and when we go...you basically either order "Green" or "Brown"...Heineken or Amstell.

I've had my share of the Green. A few years back..it was cheaper than bottled water!

 

[3PegBrew]

"Brown" eh? I guess Heineken dark is "Brown" but the thought of calling it "Brown" makes me

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

haha...I think it's more for the bottle color than the contents.

 

[C-Rider]

I agree to an extent, they are not too big on flavor but they make great session beers especially football Sunday.

The clone is only water, malt, yeast and hops. I hope it tastes better than the real thing. I plan to keg it for the most part but will experiment with bottling a few in green bottles and leaving them in the sun. Not sure how long to "skunk" them for but i'll cross that bridge when i get there.

I wouldn't leave it in the "sun", but in bright light like a supermarket would be more accurate.

 

[3PegBrew]

haha...I think it's more for the bottle color than the contents.

Oh thank God.