Hi everyone.

I've brewed three batches of beer and they _all_ seem to taste the same!!! These were all kit beers.

1. First was an IPA (seemed pretty good),
2. the second was an American Wheat (one German guy who drank it said, "that would make a great SAM ADAMS" (It as supposed to be a Hefeweizen-style beer!!!)
3. The third was an Amber ale. It was fairly indistinguishable from the IPA!!!

I read other posts on here about temperature being critical during yeast pitching and am wondering if my basement where the wort gets to a stable temp of 68/69F is just too warm even for Ales?? Would that have anything to do with it? If I modify my fridge what should I be able to set it at (again, relying on suggestions in the book Brew Ware by Lutzen).

My Final Specific Gravity has been very, very high at bottling for all three (1.018 - 1.020). I even let the Wheat and the Amber sit for 14 days to see if the yeast would go longer but that didn't seem to change things for either batch! Any suggestions on how to keep the yeast going longer to bring SG down to the vaunted 1.012 - 1.014.

Thanks for any suggestions you might provide.

1. Try a different malt. Presumably, you are using extracts, so this would
definitely explain your high final gravity. Some liquid malts are more
attenuative than others (some can not be fermented as well as others).

2. If your German friend things that your beer tastes like Samual Adams and
you have brewed an ale (a wheat ale at that), your friend has absolutely no
idea what he is talking about. Ignore his comments and move on :)

3. Amber Ale could very well taste like an IPA if they have the same hop
bill. The difference is often the amount of hops and the sweetness or
color. If you are using extracts, you lose a little control of ways to
differentiate them.

I might suggest you look at buying a kit from a reputable vendor. I can
suggest a few.

[url]http://www.northernbrewer.com[/url]
[url]http://www.midwestsupplies.com[/url] (only extract kits)
[url]http://www.morebeer.com[/url]

Tom Veldhouse

PS. Please don't post with HTML


"Glen Leslie" <glen_leslie@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:vgggkbkouspa7@corp.supernews.com...
Hi everyone.

I've brewed three batches of beer and they _all_ seem to taste the same!!!
These were all kit beers.

1. First was an IPA (seemed pretty good),
2. the second was an American Wheat (one German guy who drank it said,
"that would make a great SAM ADAMS" (It as supposed to be a Hefeweizen-style
beer!!!)
3. The third was an Amber ale. It was fairly indistinguishable from the
IPA!!!

I read other posts on here about temperature being critical during yeast
pitching and am wondering if my basement where the wort gets to a stable
temp of 68/69F is just too warm even for Ales?? Would that have anything to
do with it? If I modify my fridge what should I be able to set it at
(again, relying on suggestions in the book Brew Ware by Lutzen).

My Final Specific Gravity has been very, very high at bottling for all three
(1.018 - 1.020). I even let the Wheat and the Amber sit for 14 days to see
if the yeast would go longer but that didn't seem to change things for
either batch! Any suggestions on how to keep the yeast going longer to
bring SG down to the vaunted 1.012 - 1.014.

Thanks for any suggestions you might provide.

Glen Leslie wrote:[color=blue]
>[/color]

Hi Glen!
[color=blue]
> I've brewed three batches of beer and they _all_ seem to taste the
> same!!! These were all kit beers.
>
> 1. First was an IPA (seemed pretty good),[/color]

That's good
[color=blue]
> 2. the second was an American Wheat (one German guy who drank it
> said, "that would make a great SAM ADAMS" (It as supposed to be a
> Hefeweizen-style beer!!!)[/color]

Am American wheat beer isn't anything at all like a German hefe.
American wheats use a neutral yeast ti give a mild neutral flavor,
German hefes use a yeast that generates a lot of banana and clove
esters.
[color=blue]
> 3. The third was an Amber ale. It was fairly indistinguishable from
> the IPA!!![/color]

Well, to me, that would mean that either the IPA was underhopped or the
APA was overhopped.
[color=blue]
> I read other posts on here about temperature being critical during
> yeast pitching and am wondering if my basement where the wort gets to
> a stable temp of 68/69F is just too warm even for Ales?? Would that
> have anything to do with it? If I modify my fridge what should I be
> able to set it at (again, relying on suggestions in the book Brew Ware
> by Lutzen).[/color]

That's actually a great temp.
[color=blue]
> My Final Specific Gravity has been very, very high at bottling for all
> three (1.018 - 1.020). I even let the Wheat and the Amber sit for 14
> days to see if the yeast would go longer but that didn't seem to
> change things for either batch! Any suggestions on how to keep the
> yeast going longer to bring SG down to the vaunted 1.012 - 1.014.[/color]

In brewing with extracts, the particular brand of extract has a lot to
do with the FG...some extracts are much less fermentable than others,
which makes any estiamte of FG you see in a recipe no more than a wild
guess. I would guess that your yeast is doing all it can, but there
just aren't enough fermentables in the wort for it to eat. You might
want to try formulating your own recipes or buyinbg a different brand of
kit to see if that cures the "sameness".
[color=blue]
> Thanks for any suggestions you might provide.[/color]

You're very welcome...I hope this helps. 2 other things I might
suggest...post your questions to rec.crafts.brewing, if you aren't
already...it's much more active than this group, and has a larger pool
of experienced brewers. And take a look at [url]www.howtobrew.com[/url] by John
Palmer...it's pretty much the last word in extract brewing these days.

--------------->Denny
--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I can't imagine any Ale tasting like SABL. There simply is not the yeast
> profile to support that. And for me, I don't like Wheat in beers, and I
> have yet to drink a SABL that tastes even remotely of wheat, whatever the
> yeast.[/color]

I guess what I was getting at was that they're both fairly light, bland
beers. And the real point is that an American wheat beer is light years
away from a German wheat beer.

--------->Denny

--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

Denny Conn wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Well, what can I say...tastes differ. Just had a SABL for part of a
> BJCP class, and while it did have more flavor than a Widmer hef, I still
> found it a pretty bland beer...nothing I'd care to drink except in an
> emergency!;) But again, the point I was getting at was that if the OP
> gave his German friend an American style hef, the German is going to
> find it _very_ different than a German hef.[/color]

DOH! Not to mention that the OP never said SABL, he just said his
friend said "that would make a great SAm Adams". Man, I should try to
read more carefully!

------->Denny

--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

"Denny Conn" <denny.g.conn@ci.GETRIDOFTHISPART.eugene.or.us> wrote in
message news:3F09D145.3832F0B3@ci.GETRIDOFTHISPART.eugene.or.us...[color=blue]
> Denny Conn wrote:[color=green]
> >
> > Well, what can I say...tastes differ. Just had a SABL for part of a
> > BJCP class, and while it did have more flavor than a Widmer hef, I still
> > found it a pretty bland beer...nothing I'd care to drink except in an
> > emergency!;) But again, the point I was getting at was that if the OP
> > gave his German friend an American style hef, the German is going to
> > find it _very_ different than a German hef.[/color]
>
> DOH! Not to mention that the OP never said SABL, he just said his
> friend said "that would make a great SAm Adams". Man, I should try to
> read more carefully!
>
> ------->Denny
>[/color]

Alright, you are correct there. Many different Samuel Adams Brews out
there. But I suspect there is only one that a German would have tried ;)

BTW .. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is a good campfire session beer (as opposed
to Miller and friends). Certainly better than an emergency ;) You don't
need as many glasses of water to go with it.

Tom Veldhouse

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Alright, you are correct there. Many different Samuel Adams Brews out
> there. But I suspect there is only one that a German would have tried ;)[/color]

More than likely, but who knows...
[color=blue]
> BTW .. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is a good campfire session beer (as opposed
> to Miller and friends). Certainly better than an emergency ;) You don't
> need as many glasses of water to go with it.[/color]

Man, we have _got_ to get you out here to BeerNirvana! Around here, the
closest SABL would get to a campfire is to pour it on to put the fire
out! ;)

-------->Denny
--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

"Denny Conn" <denny.g.conn@ci.GETRIDOFTHISPART.eugene.or.us> wrote in
message news:3F09D68D.910CA2AC@ci.GETRIDOFTHISPART.eugene.or.us...
[color=blue]
> Man, we have _got_ to get you out here to BeerNirvana! Around here, the
> closest SABL would get to a campfire is to pour it on to put the fire
> out! ;)[/color]

I wholeheartedly disagree. Sam Adams Boston Lager is certainly one of the
finest beers in the world. I drink it all the time, when I don't have a
bottle or two of my own homebrew handy. The Hersbrucker Mittelfruh is what
makes it so damn good, not to mention the malt balance. Just because it
isn't an IPA or a stout, or just because it is a macrobrew and is widely
available, doesn't mean it isn't any good. :)

--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish