Noob thinking about starting brewing

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techmaster

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I've thought about home brewing for years, and am tempted to try it. I have a few reservations, though. Some people like all kinds of beers, such as ales, stouts, Belgian whites, etc and love tasting all kinds of varieties. I'm what you would call a "super taster" and don't really like bitterness. I've tried all kinds of beers, but wasn't much of a fan of them. I cannot stand watered down American beers, like Budweiser or Coors. It simply has no flavor at all. I can tolerate Miller.

I do tend to like lighter beers. Michelob seems to be a higher quality American beer, and it's not too bad. So far my favorite beers have been the "Mexican lagers" like Corona and Dos Equis Lager. Dos Equis Lager is by far my favorite beer. Fosters isn't too bad, and I can tolerate Heineken, although it's definitely on the bitter side. I don't like it enough to drink an entire batch of it.

So, is it possible to easily make a beer somewhat like a Dos Equis Lager? The fact that it's a "lager" kind of scares me, as I doubt I will have the capability any time soon to make a lager. Would home brewing be a waste of time for me?
 
Sample some mirco brews. Find one you like and look up a recipe.
I would highly recommend starting with Ales. There are lots of easy and 'light' ales to be had.
 
You have many options. Lagers require the ability to ferment cold (low 50's) and require good temperature control but there are many beer styles that have a much maltier character than hoppy. The advantage is, you have complete control over the beers taste so you can create whatever it is that you like to drink. Be careful though, it is a very addictive hobby :)
 
Personally if I only liked one kind of beer I wouldn't have gotten into this hobby. There isn't much difference between "watered down" American beers and Corona... at least not enough difference to go from "I cant stand" to "my favorite"

There are plenty of light but more flavorful ales that aren't bitter or hoppy, you mention no microbrews in your post, what kind of microbrews have you tried?
 
By ale would that be like a Sam Adams type of beer? I've had that before and it wasn't too bad. Obviously Sam Adams isn't microbrew, but I'm just trying to help describe my tastes. It is probably the darkest beer I've had that I liked.
 
barnaclebob said:
Personally if I only liked one kind of beer I wouldn't brew. There isn't much difference between "watered down" American beers and Corona... at least not enough difference to go from "I cant stand" to "my favorite"

There are plenty of light but more flavorful ales that aren't bitter or hoppy, you mention no microbrews in your post, what kind of microbrews have you tried?
Click to expand...

I haven't really had any microbrews.
 
I was in your shoes about a year ago! I wanted to start making hard cider, but for some reason, I got my husband (otherwise known as "King of the Castle") thinking about beer brewing. We're fortunate to have a great little home brew supply here and the owner was very patient with us and gave us just the amount of information we needed to get started. Now it's a very fun hobby and the owner continues to give us great support and ideas commensurate with our abilities!

Like you, KotC and I are not big on very hoppy and/or bitter beers. We always drank Corona or Dos Equis or Amstel before we started brewing. As time goes on, we've branched out a bit - we did brew a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, which is a little too bitter for supertaster KotC but I can enjoy it with food.

As for lagers, you can make a lager-like ale. We've done this with one we call Evil Twin, which has great taste, is clear and fizzy yellow beer like a lager, but was made with ale yeast and fermented at lower temps than most ales, but not as low as a lager. IIRC, it was done in the low 60s, using a Johnson temp controller on a wine cooler turned ferment chamber.

We've also made some really good porters. The ones we've made are Old Slug clones, which is dark and has lots of chocolate and coffee flavors and no real bitterness.

I am by FAR no expert, but we've been having great fun, learning lots, and producing yummy beers that we enjoy drinking. You can do it! But be advised - you'll soon need a room devoted to your new hobby!
 
I think the best thing you can do for now is become a little more educated about beer, at least try a good range of beers. Higher end grocery stores usually have a better selection of microbrews, many times in 22oz bottles. I suggest trying 1 or 2 a week to see what you like. Anything that's not a porter, stout, or IPA will probably be a good place to start, but if you want to try those too then go for it.

What area do you live, people might be able to give some better suggestions if they know that.
 
There's a lot of control over bitterness and like people said, try some micro brews and look up similar recipes. Most of these companies will list their bitterness levels on the bottles if not on their websites as well.

I can tell you this much I don't like IPA's. I have had a few that were not very high in IBU bitterness levels that I loved but others that I just hated.

I'm currently drinking Edworts Haus Pale Ale which mine is around 38ibu's due to difference in hops. I love it. It's bitter, but it's not over powering the beer. It's balanced and the bitterness is complemented by a beautiful aroma.

But there are a lot of beers that dont scream bitterness that don't have the difficulty of lagers. I am obsesed with wheat beers. If I would recommend beers to try getting into that dont like bitterness i'd suggest wheat beers.
 
If you are curious about brewing, then go ahead and give it a try. :) There are loads of good recipes to try that will fit your tastes. If you start with one gallon batches you can keep the costs down, and not end up with 2+ cases of beer that you don't enjoy.

You might also find that you will become much more fond of hops, and "bitter" beer. It is sometimes an acquired taste! :)

Try Cream of Three Crops, and Centennial Blonde, both are very good, light, yet flavorful beers.
 
barnaclebob said:
I think the best thing you can do for now is become a little more educated about beer, at least try a good range of beers. Higher end grocery stores usually have a better selection of microbrews, many times in 22oz bottles. I suggest trying 1 or 2 a week to see what you like. Anything that's not a porter, stout, or IPA will probably be a good place to start, but if you want to try those too then go for it.

What area do you live, people might be able to give some better suggestions if they know that.
Click to expand...

I am going to second the part about getting more educated in beer. There are a MILLION different options out there.

I would NOT recommend going into brewing if you only ever like carona or michelob. You will never be able to brew those at the same cost as just going to get it. Also, you will be in for a whole lot of work that won't justify the 'creative' spirit if you only brew piss water.

You didn't mention Negro Modela, and that is about the only mainstream lager I will ever order at a resturant. That is a style of dark german lager, but it has a lot more taste to it. It could have even better taste if home brewed.

Now...lagering is a completely different question from should you be a brewer. Lagering is like a step up in the chain of complexity and if you don't do it right, you will really hate the off flavors that can develop. Lagering requires you be able to do three things right...
1) Ferment at, and maintain, low temps...and we mean under 60 degrees
2) Understand all about the extra rest for lagers to get the diacytel out
3) Be able to cold crash a beer down into the 40s to get that very clear look

You can do a lot with certain ale yeasts in the very low 60's and 50's that will produce little to no yeast character, but then I would have to say what is the point. Would you want to recreate a McD's burger or do you want to make the best burger you have ever made?
 
techmaster said:
I've thought about home brewing for years, and am tempted to try it. I have a few reservations, though. Some people like all kinds of beers, such as ales, stouts, Belgian whites, etc and love tasting all kinds of varieties. I'm what you would call a "super taster" and don't really like bitterness. I've tried all kinds of beers, but wasn't much of a fan of them. I cannot stand watered down American beers, like Budweiser or Coors. It simply has no flavor at all. I can tolerate Miller.

I do tend to like lighter beers. Michelob seems to be a higher quality American beer, and it's not too bad. So far my favorite beers have been the "Mexican lagers" like Corona and Dos Equis Lager. Dos Equis Lager is by far my favorite beer. Fosters isn't too bad, and I can tolerate Heineken, although it's definitely on the bitter side. I don't like it enough to drink an entire batch of it.

So, is it possible to easily make a beer somewhat like a Dos Equis Lager? The fact that it's a "lager" kind of scares me, as I doubt I will have the capability any time soon to make a lager. Would home brewing be a waste of time for me?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I used to be in your shoes. You just need to develop your palate for beers is all. I used to think that Sam Adams' Lager was just way too hoppy for me and Guinness was really full bodied and super bitter. Now I think that Sam Adams' Lager is very tame on the hoppiness scale and Guinness is watery and plain jane.

There is a gigantic world of beer out there, and you've only tasted a very small portion of it. Keep trying new beers and developing your palate, and try multiple commercial samples of the same style. I really do not like some hefeweizens on the market, but other ones are some of my favorite beers.

It sounds like you haven't come across your "eureka" beer yet. If and when you come across a beer that makes you say, "Holy moly! Now THAT is an EXCELLENT BEER! I WANT TO BUY TEN CASES OF THIS STUFF RIGHT NOW!" then you might want to try your hand at brewing. If you never do come across that beer, well...beer just may not be your thing.
 
If you want to venture into some lighter examples of beer that don't have alot of bitterness, you can try Blondes, some Pale ales, Weissbier/Hefeweizens, American wheat beers, Belgian/American white ales, Kolsche, Cream Ale etc. There is a huge world of beers out there beyond the megabrewer lagers. You are probably just a moment away from discovering an awesome session microbrew thats going to be you're new favorite!
 
techmaster said:
I've thought about home brewing for years, and am tempted to try it. I have a few reservations, though. Some people like all kinds of beers, such as ales, stouts, Belgian whites, etc and love tasting all kinds of varieties. I'm what you would call a "super taster" and don't really like bitterness. I've tried all kinds of beers, but wasn't much of a fan of them. I cannot stand watered down American beers, like Budweiser or Coors. It simply has no flavor at all. I can tolerate Miller.

I do tend to like lighter beers. Michelob seems to be a higher quality American beer, and it's not too bad. So far my favorite beers have been the "Mexican lagers" like Corona and Dos Equis Lager. Dos Equis Lager is by far my favorite beer. Fosters isn't too bad, and I can tolerate Heineken, although it's definitely on the bitter side. I don't like it enough to drink an entire batch of it.

So, is it possible to easily make a beer somewhat like a Dos Equis Lager? The fact that it's a "lager" kind of scares me, as I doubt I will have the capability any time soon to make a lager. Would home brewing be a waste of time for me?
Click to expand...

I used to be the same way. I tried to brew a Mexican Lager from a kit for my first beer. WOW was it bad. Of course I fermented it in the locker of my fire department door at about 74* . . .

A trip to Ireland and a few years and I began to appreciate some other types of beers. About 2 years ago I got back into brewing and targeted Pale Ales or Stouts and Hefe's. Now I can appreciate just about anything (Except those terrible Belgians). In the last two years I have likely (Exactly) hit my 200 gallon mark per household for beers and wines. I haven't even attempted a lager because of the extra equipment and care it takes. Maybe next winter I will when I have a way to keep it at about 40* in the garage in February.

If your interested in brewing, I'd really look into finding an Ale or two you like. In the end though, I like my homemade beers better than just about any commercial beer you can wrestle up.
 
Try a Scottish ale. Nothing bitter about them, but they are super full of flavour. Belhavens best should be pretty easy to find anywhere.
 
I've actually never seen them in anything but cans. Nitro carbed too, which I love
 
I say ditto to the cream ale idea. I just bottled my first cream ale and can't wait to try it. There's a local brewery here that makes a cream ale that is my favorite microbrew so I thought that would be a great place to start! Judging by how you describe your taste, I think you'd like it.

Rick
 
One time I tried a Japanese beer, from what I understand it was a Japanese version of a Belgian white. I want to say it had an owl on the label. It was really strange tasting, kind of like a blue moon. Somebody mentioned Hefeweisen, and I believe it's kind of a similar style of beer. Really odd fruity flavor. I wasn't too wild about that. Is that what a cream ale is like? If not I might have to go hunt one down and try it.
 
best brew I ever taste was a French beer called XO, can only find it in the province of Quebec on this side of the pound... such a velvet taste, look like it's aged in cognac barrel... would like to be able to reproduce this one...
 
The best thing about home brewing is you can make anything you want. Experiment and see what you like


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
rhythmsteve said:
The best thing about home brewing is you can make anything you want. Experiment and see what you like


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

But if you make something awful, it's an expensive and extremely time consuming mistake. LOL I'd like to have an idea of what I'm doing before I even attempt something like that.
 
Like others have said I'd keep trying new beers and figuring out what you like first.

Of course in the meantime you could always pick up a clone kit like this or this one and just use a california common/kolsch/steam yeast. That would give you the lager character but you could ferment it much closer to room temperature.
 
techmaster said:
One time I tried a Japanese beer, from what I understand it was a Japanese version of a Belgian white. I want to say it had an owl on the label. It was really strange tasting, kind of like a blue moon. Somebody mentioned Hefeweisen, and I believe it's kind of a similar style of beer. Really odd fruity flavor. I wasn't too wild about that. Is that what a cream ale is like? If not I might have to go hunt one down and try it.
Click to expand...

Hitachino Nest White Ale
 
No cream ales are closer to standard American lagers in that they are yellow, clean, mildly hopped, but with a slight ale-like fruityness
 
I just went to one of the nicer grocery stores in my area, where they have a somewhat decent selection of beers. I didn't see a cream ale, but I did see a kolsch, so I decided to grab that. I'll try it out in a bit, and post some comments and more info on it shortly.
 
It's not bad, I guess. Kind of reminds me of Coors in a way. I live in the New Orleans area, and we have no shortage of alcohol here. This stuff is called Covington Kolsch, from a local brewery called Covington Brewhouse. Here's what the label says:

We founded our brewery on Covington Kolsch - it's that good! - an easy-drinking wheat ale brewed with German Noble hops with a hint of citrus. The distinct flavor comes from the brewing process, in which we ferment the beer at higher ale temperatures before cold conditioning it like you would a lager. Balancing a fruity aroma with a crisp, clean finish, Covington Kolsch brings your palette the best of both worlds. Perfect for sipping on a slow afternoon.

www.covingtonbrewhouse.com
 
techmaster said:
But if you make something awful, it's an expensive and extremely time consuming mistake. LOL I'd like to have an idea of what I'm doing before I even attempt something like that.
Click to expand...

The best way to get started is to just dive right in, pick up a clone kit and just do it. You can read, watch videos and ask questions, but at the end of the day getting your hands in the grain is the only way to learn properly. Yes, you could make mistakes like we all have. But you learn more from messing up and correcting your process than doing it perfectly. Dogfish had to dump 500,000 dollars worth of 120 before, so it happens to the best.


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The best advice I can give you, or anyone thinkin of starting to brew, is just to do it.

Kits are pretty cheap and if you hate it, it's no more expensive than dinner and a movie. But if you love it like so many of us, it'll be a lifelong hobby/obsession with many years of enjoyment.
 
I woukdnt compare a cream ale to a hefeweizen. Hefeweizen definitely has a distinct flavor. I love wheat beers and hate some hefeweizen. I'm just not a big fan of the flavors the yeast provide. But where I live there's a lot of popular American style wheat veers that use an American ale yeast and **** they're good. Just picked up a honey malt wheat from the east coast and damn it's a fine beer.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Home Brew mobile app
 

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