Home brew ruined my enjoyment of beer!!!!

[Kyral210]

Ok this has seriously ****** me off. Today I went to the local cider farm in Wiltshire and saw they had a load of locally brewed ales. Hmm, worth a try I think. So I picked up a porter, chilled it and poured myself a glass. Bottle conditioned, well that is fair enough for a small micro-brewery. After all, the lable boasts 5 CAMRA competition gold medals. So what do I think?

ZERO head retention (zero head)
watery taste
OK flavour but its hiding and doesnt want to come out.

With every sip all I could think was 'my coffee stout kicks this into last week'.

Its just not fair! EVERY time I go to the pub im always thinking 'my beer tastes better than this'. I will never be able to buy a bottle of anything and really enjoy it. Never again will I truely enjoy the pub. Thanks home brew, you have ruined by beer life outside of my personal supply!

 

[queues likely]

at £3+ pound a pint for average pub tat, think of the dollars saved. :thumb:
Staying in is the new going out!!
Its now just my house and not a public one.

 

[Kyral210]

You know what amazes me, how bad beer is in the UK. I mean, if a guy with almost no experience brewing can download some £12 software and with around £40 worth of plastic kit I can brew something which knocks the back teath out of the comercial brews that apparently win 'best in festival' beers. WHat is worse, I use extract not AG!!!!

I am actually really saddened by this simple fact. I know in a few years time my beers will only be better.

Why cant some brewers in the UK make REAL BEERS! The kind of beer that could be held up to the same standard of drinking sophistocation as wine. I think the Scottish brewers Brew Dog are the best brewers in the coutry because they try to make great beer. Their campayne for the scooner alone is a great step forward, as is Sink The Bismarche, but still, where is there ultra high quality British beer? Where are the £90 per bottle beers like there are in Germany?

 

[Ceejay]

That's very true. Don't get me wrong, there are some superb beers out there but I've had an awful lot of very mediocre pints recently. I don't know if I'm just being fussy or looking for something unattainable...

I've been looking into what they're doing in the states, with the AHA and loads of "brewpubs" and craft brewers and I can't help thinking the state of ale and the ale industry over there is a few years ahead of us.

I had a pint of Betty Stoggs the other week, which was supposed to be CAMRA beer of the year. It was really "meh". I bit bland, and uninspiring. And that's the thing. I think a lot of real ales these days are just uninspiring and it's going to take a lot of digging to find those breweries that are really challenging the market and innovating real ale in the UK. Brewdog is definitely one of them.

I had O'Hanlons Yellow Hammer the other day. Now that's a cracking pint :thumb:

 

[Moley]

What is worse, I use extract not AG!!!!

I am actually really saddened by this simple fact. I know in a few years time my beers will only be better.

Buy or make a mash tun, your brew times will double but you can probably brew even better for half the price :

I bought a couple of commercial beers at the weekend, but only because I want to capture and breed their yeasties. Other than that, I hardly ever buy commercial beers now and am usually disappointed when I do.

I have fully accepted that now I'm brewing my own, and brewing properly, there's no way back and I'm probably in for life.

Innit gr8 ? :drink:

 

[topgear]

What is worse, I use extract not AG!!!!

I am actually really saddened by this simple fact. I know in a few years time my beers will only be better.

Buy or make a mash tun, your brew times will double but you can probably brew even better for half the price :

I bought a couple of commercial beers at the weekend, but only because I want to capture and breed their yeasties. Other than that, I hardly ever buy commercial beers now and am usually disappointed when I do.

I have fully accepted that now I'm brewing my own, and brewing properly, there's no way back and I'm probably in for life.

Innit gr8 ? :drink:

what beers did you buy moley ???? :whistle:
(got to keep up with the topguns boys) :party:

 

[Moley]

what beers did you buy moley ???? :whistle:
(got to keep up with the topguns boys) :party:

I'm not a topgun brewer, still a novice.
I've never yet tried to capture yeasts and don't even know if these are suitable. The only bottle conditioned beers I could find in Tesco were an SNPA and a Wye Valley, so it will be a bit of an experiment.

 

[topgear]

keep us posted moley :

 

[jamesb]

Why cant some brewers in the UK make REAL BEERS! The kind of beer that could be held up to the same standard of drinking sophistocation as wine. I think the Scottish brewers Brew Dog are the best brewers in the coutry because they try to make great beer. Their campayne for the scooner alone is a great step forward, as is Sink The Bismarche, but still, where is there ultra high quality British beer? Where are the £90 per bottle beers like there are in Germany?

Brewdog as you said. Thornbridge, Fyne, Moor, Kernel, Camden Town, Crown. maybe Magic Rock soon. All these beers are there if you try to find them.

 

[Ceejay]

Actually, they sell "Moor" in my local beer shop and I keep meaning to try one of these £3.50 - £9.00 a bottle beers to see why they cost so much!

EDIT - the stock ales are £3.50 for 660ml so not bad. Gonna get some of these to try as they sound delicious.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Its just not fair! EVERY time I go to the pub im always thinking 'my beer tastes better than this'. I will never be able to buy a bottle of anything and really enjoy it. Never again will I truely enjoy the pub. Thanks home brew, you have ruined by beer life outside of my personal supply!

I feel the same when I go out, mates must get ****** off hearing me complain about how pub beer is over priced and not a patch on mine. :whistle:

BB

 

[jamesb]

Brewdog as you said. Thornbridge, Fyne, Moor, Kernel, Camden Town, Crown. maybe Magic Rock soon. All these beers are there if you try to find them.

I forgot Marble.

 

[Aleman]

Why cant some brewers in the UK make REAL BEERS! The kind of beer that could be held up to the same standard of drinking sophistocation as wine. I think the Scottish brewers Brew Dog are the best brewers in the coutry because they try to make great beer. Their campayne for the scooner alone is a great step forward, as is Sink The Bismarche, but still, where is there ultra high quality British beer? Where are the £90 per bottle beers like there are in Germany?

Where are the f*cking idiots that will pay 90 quid for a bottle of beer in the UK?

Actually I don't think Brewdog beers (and other beers in that mould) are all that great, any beginner to brewing can brew a beer at 8% with half a tonne of hops and produce something that some people will claim is Real Great Beer. . . .When actually it has a large number of flaws . . . Brewdog beers are just too inconsistent to be called great.

The biggest selling beers in the UK are produced in soulless beer factories, and owe their success to marketing and advertising. We have the beer we deserve because we have fallen prey to the Ad men who have told us what to drink, and how it should taste.

There are craft breweries out there that are producing some truly exceptional beer (Elland Brewery in Leeds comes to mind). That has something that I really value in beer . . . Subtlety! It takes real skill and craftsmanship to produce a beer of a sensible gravity (say 4-4.5%) which has malt flavours, hop bitterness/flavour/aroma, and yeast contributions that are in balanced . . a true pleasurable four dimensional drinking experience, rather than a one dimension slap in the face with half a house brick.

Knowing the way CAMRA works I am always dubious of many of these beers that get their 'awards'. . . plus a big issue that a lot of small craft breweries have is one of consistency. The beer CAMRA may have had and given their medals to could have been completely different to the one you had in bottle. James McCrorie of the CBA has said that he is well and truly fed up of taking commercial brewers round to 'Home brewers' for a chat and brewing experience, and the commercial brewer comes away saying 'I learnt a lot'. I was brewing with a small Micro (Wibblers Brewery In Mayland) last year, and we had the head brewer of the Brentwood Brewing Company Round. He was an extremely scientific brewer making notes, taking readings, recording all sorts of things. I think it really ****** him off that this pathetic little amateur, that was flying by the seat of his pants, hit every target he was intending to. . . . And produced two damned fine beers in the process.

Phil at Wibblers produces some really nice beers, but even he says that he doesn't actually like the beers he makes. . . .but keep it up Phil they are really nice refreshing tasty beers.

 

[Ceejay]

There are craft breweries out there that are producing some truly exceptional beer (Elland Brewery in Leeds comes to mind). That has somehting that I really value in beer . . . Subtlety! It takes real skill and draftmaship to produce a beer of a sensible gravity (say 4-4.5%) which has malt flavours, hop bitterness/flavour/aroma, and yeast contributions that are in balanced . . a true pleasurable four dimensional drinking experience, rather than a one dimension slap in the face with half a house brick.

I agree 100% with this, at the end of the day it's about drinkablity which IMO is about balance and mouthfeel whilst delivering exciting flavours.

Knowing the way CAMRA works I am always dubious of many of these beers that get their 'awards'. . . plus a big issue that a lot of small craft breweries have is one of consistency. The beer CAMRA may have had and given their medals to could have been completely different to the one you had in bottle. James McCrorie of the CBA has said that he is well and truly fed up of taking commercial brewers round to 'Home brewers' for a chat and brewing experience, and the commercial brewer comes away saying 'I learnt a lot'..

One thing I meant to ask - is it worth joining the CBA? I'm getting pretty serious about brewing (after 3 brews!) and wondered if it's worthwhile...anyone here a member?

 

[dennisking]

With Aleman with a lot of what he said, CAMRA voted Green King IPA as a top beer a little while back, say no more. I`ve only tried one of the brewdog range and could not see what all the fuss is about, I think that just by brewing to extremes, stength or hop amounts they get a lot of free publicity. I like a beer to have a balenced taste.

 

[Hawks]

CAMRA voted Green King IPA as a top beer a little while back

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Shug]

Theres an excellent wine and beer shop round the corner from my work and has quite a range of unusual uncommon beers. A few from small breweries and the quality is obviously way ahead of the more mass produced stuff.
On the matter of bigger breweries, I always find their 'guest ales' are so much better than their mainstream stuff. I guess they might not be so good if they were mass produced?

 

[pjbiker]

what beers did you buy moley ???? :whistle:
(got to keep up with the topguns boys) :party:

I'm not a topgun brewer, still a novice.
I've never yet tried to capture yeasts and don't even know if these are suitable. The only bottle conditioned beers I could find in Tesco were an SNPA and a Wye Valley, so it will be a bit of an experiment.

I've tried successfully to culture from SNPA before and was pleased with the taste. I've heard it's actually SO5 but I wouldn't know, I've never used anything but Nottingham and Windsor in packets. Lost the culture now but will try it again.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Oddly enough this topic raised its head last week when I was delivering some bottles to one of my 'tasters'

I struggle to find a (bought) beer that I like since I've started to brew again, occasionally get a pint 'out of the wood' that hits the mark :drink: but as my mate said, these (The Den Brewery) are better than the vast majority that he buys : it's just so much better :thumb:

I don't think its simply 'between the ears' either, because I lined up a couple of previous favourites and we tried them against my own, yup mine came out tops every time :hmm: :drunk: good innit :drunk:

 

[LewisA]

CAMRA voted Green King IPA as a top beer a little while back

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

You have got to be joking!!!! :lol: :rofl: