Looking for advice on beer

[NBD]

Hi, im more of a spirits & liquer drinker & im looking at branching out to beer.
What im looking for in a beer is a very low carbonated and I guess also low bitterness.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?
As long as the beer is available in Aust it should be fine as Im within 5km of a Dan Murphy's (I assume Dan Murphy's in NSW have same stock)

If it would be better to do home brew, could you recommend how and what to get. Also what types of alcohol can you get & in regards to low carbonated beer, would this be the best way of achieving it? (including home brew alco's)

[lethaldog]

Hi, im more of a spirits & liquer drinker & im looking at branching out to beer.
What im looking for in a beer is a very low carbonated and I guess also low bitterness.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?
As long as the beer is available in Aust it should be fine as Im within 5km of a Dan Murphy's (I assume Dan Murphy's in NSW have same stock)

If it would be better to do home brew, could you recommend how and what to get. Also what types of alcohol can you get & in regards to low carbonated beer, would this be the best way of achieving it? (including home brew alco's)

Your in a home brew forum so home brew is always the way to go as far as im concerned, good starter kits are the coopers ones or your local Home brew shop can help you out with one cost is between $60-80, do a search in here for carbonation advice and you will find plenty of good info, as far as shop beers go most lagers are not to highly carbonated, neither are stouts, old english ales, scottish ales etc, so there is plenty to choose from, but my suggestion is go home brew, you will never look back

[NTRabbit]

Carbonation and alcohl content are essentially independent of each other - I could make a 2.5% beer thats fizzier than coke and a 12% beer thats flat as a tack, and viceversa.

You do mean carbonation, and not carbohydrates right?

[NBD]

You do mean carbonation, and not carbohydrates right?

Yes fizzyness

[lethaldog]

If you home brew then the carbonation and alc% is all up to you and what ingredients you use, say for example an easy coopers kit can be made with just the can and water to produce a beer in the low 3% range but if you add a kilo of malt or dextrose then your up closer to 5 % so as you see the possibilities are endless, you can make beer at 10% or higher if you want but this may require a specialty yeast, bassically do a search in here or ask any question you need to know and someone in here will be able to answer it as most of us only have incouragement for new home brewers, we all had to start some where and we are all still learning from each other, so dont be shy and welcome to the world of home brew, most importantly enjoy it and have some fun

[NBD]

So whats the best low carbonated beer in terms of alcohol %, taste, look that can be manufactured and what do you need for it?

Prefer to be able to get the stuff in Australia

[rwh]

Well, this is kinda a strange question because you can customise just about every attribute of your own beer. There is no "best", just what you personally like. You want low carbonation? Just wack it in the bottle without priming it. You want low bitterness? Don't add any hops. You want High alcohol? Add more fermentables to primary.

Seeing as you're coming from a sprits background, am I right that you want high sweetness, high alcohol, low carbonation, low bitterness? Here's my suggestion to get you going:

Ingredients:
1 Coopers Canadian Blonde kit
1 kg Light Dry Malt Extract
750g Dextrose
500g clover or yellow box or citrus honey
250g maple syrup
20g Cascade hops (20 minutes left)
20g Saaz hops (1 minute left)

Method:
Boil up everything except the kit in 4 litres of water, add the cascade with 20 mins to go, then the Saaz with 1 minute to go. Pour into fermenter, add the kit, stir to dissolve, then top up to 23L with cold water, pitch yeast when temp less than 25°C, then keep temp between 20°C and 22°C for two weeks. Bottle without priming, leave for a month in the bottle above 15°C.

Attributes:
Carbonation: low to very low
Bitterness: low to medium
Sweetness: very high
Alcholol: 8.3%

I must say, this isn't the sort of beer I like, but hey, each to their own.

[Ash]

I'm guessing NBD is looking for a commecial brew first & foremost - being posted in the "Beer you buy" section.


Get some Coopers Sparkling Ale & Pale Ale into you - both of those are fairly low on the carbonation (compared to the standard aussie piss, VB XXXX etc)

If you like those, you'll love home brewing.


It's largely an aussie forum too NBD so most everything is available here.

[Beerdrinker32]

barley wine for you sir? thats some strong beer

[NBD]

Well, this is kinda a strange question because you can customise just about every attribute of your own beer. There is no "best", just what you personally like. You want low carbonation? Just wack it in the bottle without priming it. You want low bitterness? Don't add any hops. You want High alcohol? Add more fermentables to primary.

Seeing as you're coming from a sprits background, am I right that you want high sweetness, high alcohol, low carbonation, low bitterness? Here's my suggestion to get you going:

Yeah, I'm into the Sambucca/Baileys type flavor, so yeah that would be the not too high sweetness, high alcohol, and as I'm not one to drink so called soft drinks, I would say low carbonated as possible & I guess low bitterness (but, [this is gonna sound stupid] im not too sure what bitter is)

You seem to be spot on though, so is there any like bottled beers that would fit the idea?

[Aussie Claret]

NBD,
The only real way for you to appreciate certain types of beer would be to try a few different styles, go to a good grog shop and buy a bottle each of the styles, that way you will know what type of beer you like.
Some recommendations for styles and well known brands are listed below.

Wheat - (australian Red back) German Erdinger - these are not over bitter beers and can be zesty.
Belgium Ale - Leffe Blond a sweetish beer but well balanced at about 6.5%
Pale ale - Australian Coopers Pale ale, American style (Little creatures, or sierra nevada), these vary in bitterness, taste and aroma
Lager - Coopers lager, Heineken, Lowenbrau, Cascade premium, Boags premium, (Crisp beers with none to moderate hopiness)
Pilsners - Pilsner Urquell, matilda Bay Bohemian Pilsner, Bittburger, (very crisp, quite bitter beers, usually with some hopiness)
Bitter - Very different depending on origin, (australian bitter is very different to english bitter) English bitter is usually less fizzy mellow and range in flavour being fruity to very hoppy. Australain Bitters, sorry but there aren't many good ones try VB then compare to an English bitter such as Timothy Taylor landlord, Boddingtons, Thwaits and you'll know what I'm talking about. Very different styles.

Any way sorry for rambling on, but experiment and try a few different beers in differing styles to see which you prefer.

Note not all of of the beers I've mentioned are my favorites but what could be considered well known and representative of the style.
You must try the Leffe Blonde though. The lsit could go on and on and you will need to be prepared to spend a few bucks to buy some of these beers.

Cheers
AC
PS - I'll come around and drink the rest of those you don't like.

[NBD]

NBD,
The only real way for you to appreciate certain types of beer would be to try a few different styles, go to a good grog shop and buy a bottle each of the styles, that way you will know what type of beer you like.
Some recommendations for styles and well known brands are listed below.

Yeah I suppose I should have added, that I have tried VB, Foster's Light Ice, James Squire Original Ale, James Squire draught (?), Extra Dry.

And none of them appealed to my tastes. Does this give any guidance on styles of beer?

[nt]

I reckon you should try chimay blue or other belgian ale, and also wheat beer like hoegaarden white. They are very different from beer you said you have tried.

[NBD]

How much would these beers cost?

[Turner]

most of the European beers Aussie Claret mentioned will cost $15-20 per 6 pack.

And Dan Murphys is probably the best shop in the world
One of my mates and I used to treat ourselves every weekend, we'd go out to the one in Nerang and sample about 20 different beers. One of the only places where guys turn into girls and shop a lot haha