Does Homebrew ever taste like Commercial Beer?

[Cookie]

I've seen the recipe section and read the claims, but from what I've experienced HB never tastes quite like Commercial Beer. Is this an inherent HB problem, or am I just too inexperienced?

[lethaldog]

Most homebrewers would hope to god that their beer does'nt taste like commercial brews but you can clone them, ive always found that with my clones even though they taste similar to the original they are of much better quality

[Cookie]

Im not saying commercial beer is better, I have just found that with every brew I've done (besides ginger) there is alway an inherent "metallic" taste that spoils the beer. It still tastes great after a few more mouthfuls, but the initial shock is always there.

[Kevnlis]

Im not saying commercial beer is better, I have just found that with every brew I've done (besides ginger) there is alway an inherent "metallic" taste that spoils the beer. It still tastes great after a few more mouthfuls, but the initial shock is always there.

This is probably what is referred to as "kit twang".

Get yourself some fresh extract add fresh cracked spec grains and use fresh hops in a full volume boil, you will never look back!

I honestly believe all of my beers are of better quality than bottled commercial beers. Though I have had fresh kegs from commercial breweries which were of the same calibre.

[Cookie]

Kevnlis thanks for the reply.

Just so I know exactly the type of product you mean:
Can you give me some examples of fresh extract, fresh cracked spec grains and fresh hops (can these be in pellet form?)

Do you still use a kit for a base? Otherwise what else?

[Kevnlis]

I still do the odd K&K brew.

By fresh extract I mean get the tins of extract from your LHBS (provided they take care of it and get it from a reputable supplier).

For fresh spec grains I would go with a bit of fresh cracked crystal or the like and a packet of nitrogen flushed vac packed pellets.

I would recoomedn you not use a kit at all to avoid that tinny flavour, but it really comes down to time, money and equipment available to you.

[earle]

Cookie, what types of brews have you been making e.g Kit and sugar, kit & BE2, kit and malt? The further you get away from Kit and kilo of sugar the better your brew will taste. Of course it could be yeast that you are tasting. Grab a bottle of coopers from the bottle shop and give it a gentle roll before you drink it to resuspend the yeast, drink it and you'll soon know what yeast tastes like. I reckon sometimes a little yeast is what real beer is about but you can minimize it by carefully pouring into a glass.

As Kev indicated spec grains and hops improve your beer out of sight. I usually start with a kit but then add malt extract, spec grains and hops so the resultant beer is very different from the original kit. There's a lot of recipes on this forum that are just like that.

And of course temperature control will help get a much better tasting beer as too high temperatures can also cause undesired flavours.

[Chris]

Read the post 'Simple things that make HB better'

That'll improve the basic quality of your beer.

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I've seen the recipe section and read the claims, but from what I've experienced HB never tastes quite like Commercial Beer. Is this an inherent HB problem, or am I just too inexperienced?

I expect to be criticised, but herewego...

I reckon that pretty much all beer that comes from what we tend to call the megabreweries is well-brewed beer. That is, they consistently achieve the taste they are looking for. Whether or not you like any particular megabrewery product is up to you, but if you wander into a reasonable CUB pub and taste a (small) glass of Carlton Draught, although you may not like it, you will be tasting what I reckon is generally a well-made beer. They spend a lot of money ensuring that is the case.

Unfortunately, I reckon you are more likely to buy a crap microbeer in a pub than a crap megabeer. That is because most megabeers are stabilised before they leave the plant in their stainless steel kegs and (effectively) designed to be able to deal with the rigours of modern pub handling. Unless the publican and all people who handle the beer between the brewery and the pub know how to take care of real, living, beer, chances are they will ruin it.

As a f'rinstance, I often ride my bicycle down to the Mountain Goat brewery and enjoy some of their product. It's nice. They serve (some of) the same beer at my local pub (next door to my house, strangely). I like my local, but they don't treat the Mountain Goat beer properly enough, so it tastes not as good as it does at the brewery.

In a home setting, you may or may not aim to brew a beer that tastes like anything you can buy in the shop. I tend not to, but that is more about me than the beer that can be bought. But, I do brew from grain and control my fermentation temperature and filter my beer and use finings and spend the majority of my life cleaning and sanitising and occassionally come up with a brew I am really happy with.

So, if you emulate all the good practices of the commercial breweries and follow a decent recipe, you can make a homebrew that is comparable in quality to a commercial beer. If you really wanted to, you could emulate pretty much any of the flavours of the commercial beers.

Or you could just buy them, then go away and make beer that is your own special beer. But take it from someone who knows, that is pure madness...

[Trough Lolly]

SMOI...I generally agree with your interesting post. The megabreweries do make well brewed beer - they have the money and infrastructure to consistently make the same beer, year in, year out. Whether you like the beer they make is another matter altogether.

But that is not directly answering the original question which, I suspect goes purely to taste (not appearance) and thus, the flavour profile of beers made commercially versus the flavour profile of beer that's made at home. I could easily slide down the slippery slope and make some inflammatory comments about crappy kit beers and people trying to make half decent beers with extract malt, but I'll skirt around that non-issue and suggest that the keys to making decent beer that does taste every bit as good as commercial beer (if not better) are fresh ingredients and a solid understanding of every step in the beer making process.

Like any food production activity, if you have fresh, not prepackaged, ingredients and you know what you're making and how it should be made, you'll more often than not make a product that you're not only proud of but is at least equal to what is commercially available, tastewise. Once you have the recipe and method nailed and you're happy with the flavour, you can then look at other luxuries such as filtering etc.

Sure, we may not be able to make crystal clear beers every time we brew a batch but why would you drink VB when I can make the same Danish Lager with real malt, no sugar, fresh hops and yeast that does more than ferment the batch overnight? Admittedly you need to spend money on getting your brew setup right (as they did) but if you want your homebrew to taste as good as or better than commercial beer, you need to critically and honestly assess where the gap is in your brewing techniques and either commit to addressing the gap, or stick with what you have and keep visiting the bottle shop when required.

Cheers,
TL

[Paleman]

A couple of really good post's above, thanks fellas.....a good read.