Tasteless Lager

[Grealish]

Tasteless lager is a tautology.

Actually, drinking a perfectly pleasant Kölsch made with 50% Vienna, I have to say that was a stupid and obvious thing to say...

 

[Drunkula]

drinking a perfectly pleasant Kölsch made with 50% Vienna, I have to say that was a stupid and obvious thing to say

I think you meant to say 'tasteless lager kit is a tautology' - there, your reputation is saved!

p.s. what's a tautology?

 

[phildo79]

Saying the same thing twice.

 

[Sandimas]

I've had reasonable success with Coopers lager kits, both European and Australian.
- make them up with DME rather than sugar
- brew short 20L vs 23L
- dry hop with a lager hop, 30-50g Saaz or Hallertau
- play the log game, leave in the bottles for at least 10 weeks before drinking

 

[Drunkula]

Saying the same thing twice.

I was doing a set up for "It's a tasteless lager" but I've realise that would only really work if you could see my one raised eyebrow and heard my stupid voice. Sorry.

 

[johncrobinson]

OH!! I feel so sad for you.The reason most people get into homebrew isnt just the (substantial ) cost savings.but the pleasure of producing an oustanding homebrew beer or wine.
DO NOT GIVE UP keep going you will crack it in the end.(says the man with nearly 100yrs family
knowledge and experience under the belt,)
Keep going if you are smart you WILL learn.!!!!

 

[Pirate_Pete]

I've had reasonable success with Coopers lager kits, both European and Australian.
- make them up with DME rather than sugar
- brew short 20L vs 23L
- dry hop with a lager hop, 30-50g Saaz or Hallertau
- play the log game, leave in the bottles for at least 10 weeks before drinking

This bloke knows how to do it.
On the Coopers website they say to use Malt rather than sugar.
And to put them away for 12 weeks.
I'm drinking a very nice Coopers Euro lager right at this moment. Looking back at my notes, it was brewed in May.
Doesn't time fly when you're drinking homebrew?

 

[Dave 666]

Surely most of this thread issue on lager kits being "tasteless" can be mirrored to pretty much any ale kit that uses sugar instead of DME\LME and not brewed short volume wise to give extra body?. Its the only thing I do with kits now, brew them short & use mainly DME instead of sugar.

 

[Nicks90]

I did a wilkos cerveza kit and dry hopped it with saaz and used a Cali common yeast.
Turned out a real funky mongrel lager, but very drinkable

 

[Drunkula]

Surely most of this thread issue on lager kits being "tasteless" can be mirrored to pretty much any ale kit that uses sugar instead of DME\LME

No. And seriously for a change, lager kits are genuinely far more tasteless than ale kits, and their anodyne nature is compounded by a sugar addition. For a fancy kit it might not be the case but for so many of the lager kits out there they are like.... blandness. Can you make up some bland and put it in a can, please, with 0.3g of them German hops?

I am far from an all grain elitest (basically because I'm rubbish) but lager kits, unless you're taste-blind or self-deceiving, they're cans of disappointment. And I've had loads. And I'm not mad biased towards bitters or IPAs. I love wheat beers, which I sort of think of as a rather lovely gateway to the better place.

I really want them to be good buy you hear more "I've got this dead duck in a barrel" stories than "zomg mah testbudsss are a'quiver!"

I'm dressing this up with my schtick but yeah, there doesn't seem to be many people who really love repeat brewing them lager kits, or have moved to lager kits from.... something that causes sensory entanglement.

Aaaaand, let's call that a take.

 

[IainM]

The lager kits are bland by design. They are marketed for those who want to recreate plain macro lager. darrellm knows hot to get the most out of them, but if it's a flavourful Marzen or Dunkel you're after, then kits aren't the way to go.

 

[ExpatBrewer]

I had a taste and it was very tasteless.

Well, yes

Tasteless lager is a tautology.

- it's tasteless because it is a lager!

There's many different types of lager of course and to be called a lager generally just requires that it be fermented cold with a lager yeast strain, and then lagered... i.e. stored cold for an unacceptably long period of time! Some lager styles are intended to be low on flavour with the emphasis being more on the clean and crisp aspect of the beer. At the other extreme you have the likes of schwarzbier - a black lager with noticeable chocolate, coffee and roasted type flavours.

 

[Dave 666]

Well, yes

- it's tasteless because it is a lager!

There's many different types of lager of course and to be called a lager generally just requires that it be fermented cold with a lager yeast strain, and then lagered... i.e. stored cold for an unacceptably long period of time! Some lager styles are intended to be low on flavour with the emphasis being more on the clean and crisp aspect of the beer. At the other extreme you have the likes of schwarzbier - a black lager with noticeable chocolate, coffee and roasted type flavours.

As said in the past, when getting back into home brewing I was sold on a sample bottle of a Bavarian Blonde pilsener style in the local home brew shop. And even though I buggered the brew up somewhat it was still drinkable. Maybe there is a difference between "lager" & "pilsner" or other such styles of beer that could loosely come under the marker of a lager I don't know?. But maybe the fact that some kits come with far more that the standard 1.5\1.8kg of liguid malt and thus adds more depth & flavour than cheaper lager kits do or at least indicate like most kits that adding DME\LME really makes the difference with the finished product.

 

[ExpatBrewer]

As said in the past, when getting back into home brewing I was sold on a sample bottle of a Bavarian Blonde pilsener style in the local home brew shop. And even though I buggered the brew up somewhat it was still drinkable. Maybe there is a difference between "lager" & "pilsner" or other such styles of beer that could loosely come under the marker of a lager I don't know?. But maybe the fact that some kits come with far more that the standard 1.5\1.8kg of liguid malt and thus adds more depth & flavour than cheaper lager kits do or at least indicate like most kits that adding DME\LME really makes the difference with the finished product.

I'm no expert but a pilsner is a lager, although I notice in the 2015 BJCP guidelines they're now actually called lagers and there appears to be only "German Pils" and a new category "NZ Pilsner" which get to be called pilsners. I tend to think of pilsners as simply hoppier lagers that have their origin in Pilsen, Czech Republic. They actually used to be called Czech Pilsners where the use of Saaz hops was a defining ingredient.

The depth of flavour varies depending on the specific style of lager desired and in a kit brew this will be determined by the choice and quantity of extracts used along with the kit itself. The quantity of LME/DME used will also impact the ABV of the beer.