Favorite recipe for pleasing the masses?

[PasbitinusBluinusRibbinus]

As my tastes have developed I'm finding it harder and harder to relate to non-beer drinkers. Friends will rave about the newest peach mango passion fruit Blue Moon creation that I would dump if I made it. But, I can recognize the demand for things that don't fall within my preferences, and want a really good recipe or two to have on tap for people that might like things closer to this style.

Any thoughts?

 

[Psylocide]

Please what masses? BMC crowd? Blue Moon Peach Mango crowd?

BM's Centennial Blonde is awesome for BMC drinkers, craft drinkers enjoyed it too... otherwise, I dunno, a pale?

 

[PasbitinusBluinusRibbinus]

The BMC and Peach Mango crowds are synonymous among my non-craft friends. The "drink to get drunk" crowds that show up with a case of Rolling Rock in one hand and Twisted Tea in the other.

 

[Homercidal]

Recipe for Pleasing the Masses Ale.

Buy Bud Light.
Serve Cold.
Profit.

If you want to please the BMC crowd, let them drink what they want. If YOU want to drink that kind of beer, then practice making light beers, or fruit beers, or whatever they like. But IMO it's a waste of time to try to make something for someone unless you are willing to drink the leftovers. Been There, Done With That.

 

[chickypad]

The BMC and Peach Mango crowds are synonymous among my non-craft friends. The "drink to get drunk" crowds that show up with a case of Rolling Rock in one hand and Twisted Tea in the other.

Sounds like you don't need to brew them anything, let them bring their own swill and brew for yourself!

 

[Rotor_Head]

As my tastes have developed I'm finding it harder and harder to relate to non-beer drinkers. Friends will rave about the newest peach mango passion fruit Blue Moon creation that I would dump if I made it. But, I can recognize the demand for things that don't fall within my preferences, and want a really good recipe or two to have on tap for people that might like things closer to this style.

Any thoughts?

I would do something that it easier to drink but with enough body and taste that advertises that the beer was MADE and not bought. I have a blackberry red ale fermenting that, *IF* it turns out the way I intend, would have no issue serving to a lot of people of varied gender and background. Good luck!

 

[didinho]

I can recognize the demand for things that don't fall within my preferences, and want a really good recipe or two to have on tap for people that might like things closer to this style.

just brew an APA, 1045 OG, 30 IBU of amarillo/cascade/centennial hops (25 IBU obtained by late-hopping). it's easy, low cost and every non-craft beer drinker would like it.

 

[soccerdad]

I brew what I want to brew. If folks are not into my beer or my cider, and want to bring over something they like better - so be it.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

just brew an APA, 1045 OG, 30 IBU of amarillo/cascade/centennial hops (25 IBU obtained by late-hopping). it's easy, low cost and every non-craft beer drinker would like it.

I think you are giving some folks too much credit. Unless it was fermented with a yeast that makes US05 look fruity and only threatened with the hops you mentioned, a vast majority of the NASCAR crowd would be turned off.

In my younger days I used to make a crisp summer beer that was simply 20% wheat, 65% two row and the remaining Sam's Club bulk honey. The only bittering hops were a 15 minute addition with Saaz and then a health dose of Saaz at flame-out.I used a very clean yeast like US05 and then carb'ed the crap out of it. It was a huge crowd-pleaser and I was not embarrassed to drink it after mowing the lawn.

That beer got the name that will live in infamy by one of my restaurant former co-workers after she watch my "real job" female co-workers make some questionable decisions at a 5th of July party..."Leg-Spreader Ale". It was over 6% alcohol in 3.2% state after all.

 

[nhindian]

I will be making Cream of 3 Crops and Centennial Blonde as 2 of the 4 beers I'm brewing for my wedding in the hopes of those being the crowd pleasers!

 

[didinho]

In my younger days I used to make a crisp summer beer that was simply 20% wheat, 65% two row and the remaining Sam's Club bulk honey. The only bittering hops were a 15 minute addition with Saaz and then a health dose of Saaz at flame-out.I used a very clean yeast like US05 and then carb'ed the crap out of it. It was a huge crowd-pleaser and I was not embarrassed to drink it after mowing the lawn.

thank you. I'll consider this for the next summer!

 

[ericbw]

I did a blonde with Meridian hops at 20 and 0 minutes. It was good, but I think it needs more backend bitterness, so I'll probably do a small 60 minute addition next time (I have Willamette in bulk because it's cheap for general use). Meridian smells faintly of lemon candy.

I really think you need multiple hop additions at the beginning, middle, and end of the boil. Miller is "triple hopped" for a reason. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

 

[kpr121]

I think you are giving some folks too much credit. Unless it was fermented with a yeast that makes US05 look fruity and only threatened with the hops you mentioned, a vast majority of the NASCAR crowd would be turned off.

In my younger days I used to make a crisp summer beer that was simply 20% wheat, 65% two row and the remaining Sam's Club bulk honey. The only bittering hops were a 15 minute addition with Saaz and then a health dose of Saaz at flame-out.I used a very clean yeast like US05 and then carb'ed the crap out of it. It was a huge crowd-pleaser and I was not embarrassed to drink it after mowing the lawn.

That beer got the name that will live in infamy by one of my restaurant former co-workers after she watch my "real job" female co-workers make some questionable decisions at a 5th of July party..."Leg-Spreader Ale". It was over 6% alcohol in 3.2% state after all.

Thats awesome

 

[midfielder5]

There is a well rated Miller Lite clone (but better) called Really Triple Hopped by Schlenkera (sp). Never made it but have been tempted, for the reasons in the OP.

 

[kpr121]

There is a well rated Miller Lite clone (but better) called Really Triple Hopped by Schlenkera (sp). Never made it but have been tempted, for the reasons in the OP.

Its a great recipe. Uses Amylase Enzyme to get the FG down to that bone dry, barely any sweetness, BMC taste. And its actually Triple Hopped, unlike the real Miller!

 

[rmyurick]

Maybe a cream ale, if you have "customers" that want something that is "just beer, meant to be drunk, not pondered over". Low bittering (maybe 20 IBU), but add some late hops, at least 1/2 oz. of a good aroma type.

 

[philosofool]

I assume the point is that (1) you want to drink it but (2) the masses will too.

The main thing to avoid, in my opinion, is bitterness an hops, but any very strongly flavored beer won't necessarily go over well. Good sweet beers tend to be too heavy for the masses.

I would try:
(1) Fruit beer
(2) sweet stout (not too sweet, but chocolatey)
(3) German wheat
(4) Berliner weiss--serve yours straight, offer then some raspberry syrup
(5) A caramelly brown ale (like 1 lb. 60L, 1/4-1/2 lb chocolate malt)
(6) Kolsch and Helles are good, but yellow and not bitter.

Additionally, shoot for clarity. I don't know about you, but I tend to be fine with a slightly hazy homebrew, so I don't always go nuts trying to get it clear. The masses don't know what beer should taste like, but they have strong opinions on its looks. If it's clear and not bitter, they will probably drink it.

 

[nutty_gnome]

Try the Brewer's Best Weizenbier kit (or your own clone of that, the recipe is listed at this link: http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1030 2013 Weizenbier Recipe.pdf )
Super simple, tastes great! If you want some pizazz, add a bottle on LD Carlson blackberry flavoring to the bottling bucket. Its a winner.

I have also brewed this using real watermelon at the end and then again with watermelon flavored extract - these used a european ale yeast, not a wheat beer yeast.

Would recommend a decent clean yeast for this beer (wyeeast makes a great american style wheat yeast (1010 I think) ... and if you really want to go wild, swap out the boring german hops for some wonderful French Strisselspalt.

 

[compumasta]

Yooper's Fizzy Yellow Beer seems right up the alley you are bowling in.

Click Here

 

[bdogg171]

I have to say as previously stated, Brew for Yourself, if others like it great, if they don't greater...more for you. I understand the desire to brew something others enjoy, it's like cooking, you want to see the smiles when they consume, I totally get it, but at the end of the day it has to be about you or the desire goes away. Now days I don't give a rats rear if others like my cooking or brewing, I do it for me because it makes ME happy, besides I payed for it and I have to clean it and take care of it LOL. Some folks wouldn't know good if it bit on the arse anyway.

 

[ericbw]

I have to say as previously stated, Brew for Yourself, if others like it great, if they don't greater...more for you. I understand the desire to brew something others enjoy, it's like cooking, you want to see the smiles when they consume, I totally get it, but at the end of the day it has to be about you or the desire goes away. Now days I don't give a rats rear if others like my cooking or brewing, I do it for me because it makes ME happy, besides I payed for it and I have to clean it and take care of it LOL. Some folks wouldn't know good if it bit on the arse anyway.

Nonsense. He obviously wants to brew for others, which is a valid pursuit. Just because you do it for yourself doesn't mean everyone does or should. Other people enjoying it could be what feeds the desire.

I make some hoppy beers that I know others like. I don't necessarily like them, but I do it for other people.

Everyone has their own motivation.

 

[biertourist]

Kolsch all the way. Very easy drinking but clearly not macro lager as it's all malt.

Warning: This recipe specifies an efficiency of only 67%; adjust for your system or you'll get a higher OG.

Stats
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.010
IBU: 19.7
ABV: 5.0
Color: 4.1 SRM
Batch Size: 10 Gallons


Ingredients
17.9 kg German Pilsner (2 SRM)
907 grams German Wheat Malt (2 SRM)
680 grams Light German Munich Malt (9 SRM)

1 oz Tettnang -4.8%AA Pellets -60 minute boil
.26 oz Nugget -13%AA Pellets - 60 minute boil
1 oz Tettnang -4.8%AA Pellets - 20 minute boil

Whirlfloc (whole tablet) -10 min boil
1/2 tsp PolyClar -10 min boil

2 pkg Wyeast Kolsch 2575 Yeast (2 liter start made on stir plate for 4 hours; second pack = no starter)


Techniques

[*]Mash low for high fermentabilty (63C)

[*]Recirculation mash for 60 minutes for high fermentability (equivalent of 90 min non-recirculated

[*]Avoid oxygen pickup to avoid increases in color

[*]Batch Sparge to decrease risk of extracting tannins in this delicate low gravity beer

[*]Avoid high mashout temps (cooler than normal sparge water) to give enzymes extra time and to perform a stepped mash with
a 2nd step at 68C to super charge enzymes

[*]Acidify soft sparge water with lactic acid as extra insurance against tannin extraction

[*]"Condition" malt with 2% water by weight (2% of grist) prior to crushing to keep husks intact and avoid tannin extraction

[*]Polyclar in kettle fining addition to help with clarity AND pull any tannins out of solution (will result in large beer losses if using with whirlfloc- VERY fluffy trub)

[*]After running off at the end of the 60 minute mash bring the run off up to 68C to super charge enzymes at the same time target a temp of 68C with the first batch spare addition


Mash

[*]Targeted a 63C mash temp (see step info above)

[*]3.0 liters per kilo "loose mash" to leave less liquid for the single batch sparge again to avoid extracting tannins; graininess ruins a kolsch, IMO

[*]Add 1 TBSP Caclcium Chloride to my extremely soft water (for 10 gallons) -add directly to mash

Boil
Once the beer came to a boil I dropped my 4500 watt low heat density element down to 60% heat output to decrease the heat density further to avoid darkening the wort. For the last 15 minutes of the boil I cranked the heat up to 85% to help drive off any remaining possible DMS or DMS pre-cursors from the Pilsner malt.

My kettle has a 1:1 height to width which means that I have a significant boil off rate and I don't have to do a 90 minute boil to get rid of DMS. (90 minutes would just darken this beer and further concentrate the sugars beyond my target OG.)

I then chilled using an immersion chiller AND I put my plastic stir thingy into my cordless electric drill and created a whirlpool with it -I've NEVER had a 10 gallon batch chill faster! It also helped create a trub pile but again the trub is extremely fluffy with this one.

Chill down as quickly as possible to below 140F to avoid DMS formation -beyond that it doesn't really matter. Even when I do hop stands now I will chill down immediately to 140F, THEN do the hop stand and then do the rest of the chilling later; no reason to mess around with DMS when the mitigation is this simple.

Other
My system is WAY more efficient than the guy who wrote the recipe so my first runnings were 1.073 with a total pre-boil gravity of 1.054 -12 gallons collected.

After boiling I ended up with an OG of 1.058 and for once both my hydrometer and my refractometer agreed on this.

For this beer I did NOT want an OG of 1.058 so I figured I'd try my hand at a pre-fermentation dillution... Here's where I may have messed up a bit.

I was VERY much rushed so I added water straight from my garden hose tap instead of from my filtration system which means I probably introduced a small bit of chlorine. I used the first online dillution calculator that I found and it said that to dillute from 1.058 to 1.048 that I should add 0.73 gallons to 4 gallons of beer. -I'm not sure if this was right or not because when I tested the OG with a pipette and my refractometer after the dillution it read 1.035 which is just infuriatingly frustrating... I've really re-thought about this number and I THINK / HOPE that I was just pulling dilluted wort from the top of the water and the water addition simply hadn't evenly distributed itself throughout the beer. (If not I'm going to have a watery disappointing Kolsch...)

Fermentation
My temp controlled fermentation space is currently occupied by 2 kegs so I simply chilled the beer to 63F and put it in a cold basement (also 63F) and pitched; probably not ideal for a kolsch but about all I could do.

I'll let it ferment for 2 weeks then its going in the keg under pressure to lager as close to -2C as I can get it...
-It didn't clarify after 2 weeks but I bought 4 lbs of dry ice and wrapped it around corney keg with a beach towel and within 2 hours it was crystal clear!



Adam

 

[bdogg171]

Nonsense. He obviously wants to brew for others, which is a valid pursuit. Just because you do it for yourself doesn't mean everyone does or should. Other people enjoying it could be what feeds the desire.

I make some hoppy beers that I know others like. I don't necessarily like them, but I do it for other people.

Everyone has their own motivation.

Nonsense? I think not. You are entitled to your opinion but to call another's nonsense? I gave mine without putting down anyone else's, you obviously don't have that capability but oh well more power to you.

"He obviously wants to brew for others..." You sure of this how? I don't recall the OP stating he wants to brew for others, a simple question concerning a couple of recipes his friends might like was requested.

OP, I'm sorry that this got off track, I'm out.

 

[GonZolaB]

I agree with compumasta, Yooper's Fizzy Yellow beer would be a good option.

 

[PasbitinusBluinusRibbinus]

This turned out to be a much more interesting thread than I anticipated. Thanks for the responses.

To clarify, with a 6-tap keezer, I am pretty happy to have 5 taps dedicated to what I know I like, and 6th tap for people to keep their hands off my beer!

No, in all honesty, I enjoy the process of brewing a beer that changes people's opinions. Whether that be "homebrew is bad" or "I only drink Bud Light" or "Beer tastes like piss water."

I think that's a worthy goal.

 

[ericbw]

Nonsense? I think not. You are entitled to your opinion but to call another's nonsense? I gave mine without putting down anyone else's, you obviously don't have that capability but oh well more power to you.

"He obviously wants to brew for others..." You sure of this how? I don't recall the OP stating he wants to brew for others, a simple question concerning a couple of recipes his friends might like was requested.

OP, I'm sorry that this got off track, I'm out.

"Brew for yourself" doesn't always apply, like when you ask for recipes others will like. Sorry, but I get tired of hearing that it only matters if you like it. If you want to share and have others enjoy it, then you don't just brew for yourself.

(Also, this post of yours was snarky, so don't be too smug about not putting others down.) 😀

 

[z-bob]

I think it does matter that you like it. You don't know how much will be leftover for you to finish. Doesn't mean that it has to be your *favorite* style.

I think brewing the lightest least-bitter beer that you actually like should be pretty safe. And maybe use some gelatin or something to make sure it sparkles.

Or how about hard cider? Buy a bunch of 3-liter or gallon jugs of cheap filtered apple juice (vitamin C added is okay, but no preservatives!) and ferment that with just a tiny bit of added sugar -- maybe 1/4 cup per gallon. Then carb the heck out of it. Everybody likes that stuff.

 

[Malty_Dog]

A lot of good suggestions, I'll just echo the Kolsch option. Also whoever said "make it clear" is pretty on target. They like to be able to watch TV through their beer. I'll never forget one BMC drinker who held up one of my very clear pale ales and, without taking his first sip, say "that's a nice beer". Man I thought that was funny.

 

[divrguy]

I make a Kolsch that everyone loves including the folks who will drink an IPA. The BMC drinkers think it's the best lager they ever tasted lol.

Problem is for me, I like it a lot but not more than my other go-to beers because it takes up a Fermenter or fridge space. So, now I make sure that I only make it when we have a big party planned so I don't have much leftovers.