Can you buy beer as good as your homebrew?

[Duxuk]

I'm sure this is a question which has been asked a million times but I thought I'd ask it again!
I compared one of the best bottled beers I've ever had (Oakham's Citra) to a couple of homebrewed beers, last night. The homebrews were the winners :thumb: ......................What's your experience?

 

[wilsoa1111]

bottled beers vs bottled homebrew just not as good imho

but a good pint from the pub can be hard to beat unless u get ur own handpump etc just dont drink/give away enough to make it worth my while...yet :whistle:

 

[cwiseman77]

I can but not always. Morrison's has quite a good selection of bottles ales and I'll often try a couple, some are quite good and some are pretty **** poor and I'd much prefer one of my own. I'd much rather my own to pretty much all the large commercial pints you get in the pub, except for Guinness, but you do get some really lovely cask ales from medium to small breweries.

As for bottles, there is a 1 man micro brewery based in my town who does fabulous beers, all of which are sadly better than mine. He does brew them in 400-700l batches I think and uses all the best stuff.

In short...yes and no

 

[ScottM]

I haven't made a lager better than the lagers I enjoy yet, hoping to get there one day though. Even remotely on par would suit me very nicely.

Lagers are hard to do well though

 

[Titus A Duxass]

Can I buy beer as good as my homebrew.

Simple - no, I can't buy ale over here which is why I got into this hobby.

Now if we're talking about - pilsner, helles, weizen, schwarzbeir, etc then yes and it's cheaper to buy it from the Getrankemarkt (20 x 0,5lt Becks is 16 euro with deposit)

 

[rpt]

I have only recently started homebrew and have just done kits. The Wherry has finally come good and is as good as anything I can buy. The other two are so far a little disappointing but are getting better with age. But, the really good one is actually a lager. This was an extract kit and the increase in quality compared to the kits is incredible, although the kits were all ales. I'm not a lager drinker but I have been returning to the fridge to drink more of this because it is vastly better than any commercial lager I have ever tasted (although I have not tasted that many since I always select real ale or Guinness in the pub). And the lager has only had 1 week in the fridge since being bottled (it has had 2 weeks in FV, 2 weeks lagering, 2 weeks as bottles in the warm and 1 week in the fridge). Can't wait to do my first AG ale next week.

 

[andybrew]

duxak oakham citra is one of my favourites as well, can you let me know what reciepe you used for your clone


Cheers

 

[Duxuk]

Like you, Rpt, I am brewing extract but usually doing a small mash to improve it (and it's cheaper!). In my LHBS you get a discount on extract if you buy the hops and yeast together as an extract kit.
Can't wait to get my BIAB system up and running then I can do something more complex with the malts..........isn't homebrewing great!

P.S. I'll post a recipe soon for a good, easy, late hopped extract brew.

 

[RobWalker]

andybrew - here's the recipe from the bottle I received for secret santa, it was pretty damn close taste wise, although I'm sure oakham citra uses only citra. could be a good guide for you...

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (100.0 EBC) Grain 1 5.9 %
1.00 kg Amber Dry Extract (24.6 EBC) Dry Extract 2 23.5 %
3.00 kg Light Malt Extract (Coopers) (5.3 EBC) Extract 3 70.6 %
20.00 g Apollo [17.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 21.9 IBUs
21.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 12.5 IBUs
20.00 g Apollo [17.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 13.3 IBUs
20.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 8.5 IBUs
0.05 g Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
25.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 3.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] Yeast 10 -
25.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.056 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 60.0 IBUs Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Est Color: 16.2 EBC

on topic, a lot of beer from supermarkets is brewed to a price, so its hard to get beer that's anywhere near as good as home brew imo...the range of bitters in morrisons, ASDA etc are usually pretty disappointing to me :lol:

but then when something like Adnam's Ghost Ship or Old Golden Hen comes along on draught, the challenge begins...yeah, you can do it, but I reakon you need to brew something unique for it to be truly up there. brewing a clone, it'll probably always come up an imitation - brew something original and it could be amazing :

Sunbeam is my benchmark this year. english straw coloured ale with an american hop for aroma. awesome.

 

[Duxuk]

The best I've had from Morrisons recently is Roaring Meg. Bit lacking in bitterness for me but it has a good "late hopped" charachter. Oakhams Citra does use only Citra but I have made better brews with Northern Brewer for bittering and Citra at 20 mins, flameout and dry hopping. I'm about to set off for a few days away when I'll only drink shop bought bottles. Getting home will never have tasted so good!

 

[graysalchemy]

For me in a word No. :lol: :lol:

As previously said all brews produced by the medium to large breweries are price dependent so are most micro's. Some are better than others at crafting decent ale with what they have to use, however the majority are not and this is very prevalent in Micro's IMHO. I also tend to brew beers over 6% and you don't get much of a choice in a bottle or draught over 6%.

Having said that I did find and excellent pub on holiday last year which had 12 guest beers half of which were from smaller micro's and changed on a daily basis. I don't think I had a duff pint at all though some were better than others and if I am honest some were better than what I produce, but then they should be that is their business !!!!

 

[Sandimas]

I would have said "no" until last weekend when someone gave me a bottle of Thornbridge Jaipur, which was amazing Previously I'd have said most bottled beers are either awful or just about OK.

 

[PD]

I'm with GA on this, my beers knock the socks off the bottled beers I have bought, which is not a lot I agree.
But its why I home brew, its why I've spent money on my equipment. Its a hobby I enjoy doing, and I can tailor my beers to my own taste, not what the commercial boys say I want.
I've now stopped buying bottled beers totally...well nearly... and indulge myself in my own beer. at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Baz Chaz]

There certainly are beers out there as good as we brew ourselves, but one thing they can't compete on.... price :!:

As PD says above, if you brew the beers that you like/in the style you like they can't get near us on cost :thumb:

 

[Jimmy321]

Yes and no, I can make a decent wheat beer but I can't quite make it like Schneider Weisse and the likes.

My local weatherspoons serves a good pint of ale but I often find myself thinking when drinking homebrew 'this is much better than the stuff from the pub' and sometimes I make a beer which is outstanding.

Another thing with the exception of Irish Moss I don't use any clearing agents and I find that some beers taste fantastic just before they clear and I really don't mind if they stay slightly cloudy.

 

[Down2die]

Can I buy beer as good as my homebrew.

Simple - no, I can't buy ale over here which is why I got into this hobby.

Now if we're talking about - pilsner, helles, weizen, schwarzbeir, etc then yes and it's cheaper to buy it from the Getrankemarkt (20 x 0,5lt Becks is 16 euro with deposit)

I wouldn't regard becks as beer :x
on ag 10 now and not hit my sweetspot maybe 2 brews. working more on my water and fermentation temps and good yeast and maybe then I can compare to the big boys.

 

[zgoda]

With my current setup - definitely yes. I have very limited capacity of lagering freezer, and that rules out most of strong lagers, like doppelbocks or Baltic porters. Also, my weissbiers are hit-and-miss, mostly due to poor temperature control.

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

In a word....no!

I can knock the spots of all the commercial bottled stuff, however I must agree about the Jaipur...That has set the bar really high.

When you try good quality homebrew from a hand pull....thats a revelation

 

[warnie]

As I've mentioned in another thread, I only brew Kits but still find them as good if not better then a lot of pub pints. That is apart from the Sadlers pub in Stourbridge who brew thier own ales, it's called the windsor castle. Thier beers are a class apart and even make Bathams Bitter which used to be a favourite of mine seem well, not as good as previously thought.

I will go BIAB this year and if I can make anything near as good as Thier red IPA I will be a very happy and very drunk man :whistle:

As for commercial bottled beer, I like the taste but they always seem over carbed and lack any sort of mouth feel.

:

 

[Plumber79]

I've not tasted anything brewed in anyway or form that compares to the blue monkey brewery's ales. They are heaven in a bottle! I also love jaipur but even that doesn't compare to blue monkey big blue! :drink: