flaked rice

Reg · Post by **Reg** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:00 am

Well, I certainly am in favour of strong opinions and flavours.

However, it's all about personal taste at the end of the day and perhaps we should take that into account.

Personally I think that IPA and just a hint of sweet porters are possibly the pinnacle of brewing achievement, but that is not to say I have not enjoyed some excellent beers from the lightest of German lagers to the darkest of Belgian syrups.

...and I have used rice as an adjunct. Not enough to necessitate filtering the beer, but enough to slightly lighten the malt flavours.

Rice has been used in brewing for over 1000 years. Don't knock it.

Reg

Reg · Post by **Reg** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:13 am

Well I will confess that I prefer a warm sake to a cold ricewater lager, but I feel if you threw the bottles the groom might object!

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:10 pm

Reg wrote: Rice has been used in brewing for over 1000 years. Don't knock it.
Reg

No contest, Reg. Barley has been used for 10,000 years. They probably thought...oh bum, we've got no barley - ah well, chuck in some of that stuff over there, growing in a puddle.

I like the flavours and body of barley malt in beer, and am generally not keen on things that dilute that. Come to think of it, I like strong flavours generally:- Beer with flavour, Islay Scotch, well, all decent Scotch, Brandy, Bourbon, Dark Rum, Port, Madeira, Sherry, Red wine, White wine that has balls, chilli, anchovies, olives, marmite, black pepper, worcester sauce, curry, and so on.

Tasteless beers to me are like factory Vodka and Bacardi...what's the point, apart from getting pissed?

mysterio · Post by **mysterio** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:45 pm

We're all agreed that Bud is tasteless but I don't see how that detracts from the use of adjuncts, just because AB brew the prototypical adjunct beers. I'm all for using rice, corn, rye, unmalted wheat, sugar - whatever, so long as it contributes to something that is going to turn out to be a good beer. Fullers ESB uses corn, and that's not a bad beer.

I appreciate that some brewers like all malt beers in the high gravity ranges (1.065+), but generally I find them quite cloying and filling. That's why i'm not averse to using sugar to lighten the body of a beer (as the Belgians do), to give it a bit of drinkability without detracting from the flavour.

Homebrewing doesn't mean you have to be a purist IMO. Just brew what you like.

maxashton · Post by **maxashton** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:38 pm

Some of you who frequent decent Chinese restaurants may have sampled Tsingtao, which is a famous Chinese lager. The stuff i've had here is more like a soft drink than a lager.. very "light" with almost no hop aftertaste at all.. shame cause the stuff i used to buy in China for 20p a litre was absolutely fantastic. I'm not even much of a lager drinker!

Reg · Post by **Reg** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:33 am

mysterio wrote:Homebrewing doesn't mean you have to be a purist IMO. Just brew what you like.

I'm a strong supporter of CAMRA, and Craft Brewing - Jim's has good links with them. Also, Steve D, I think your tastes pretty much reflect my own.

In addition, Jim's is based around our excellent founder's taste for traditional English Ale. Personally, these days it's pretty much water, malts and hops for me.

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That doesn't mean that adjuncts are a bad thing.

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:53 am

Chaps, chaps...you're missing the essential point of my rant. It's not that adjuncts are a bad thing per se...it's their use to produce something as bland and utterly sh1te as the mainstream fizzkeg p1sswater brews, and those brews in general, wether lager or other styles, that I froth about.

I totally agree that used creatively to make decent beer, they are valuable.

bettyswallocks · Post by **bettyswallocks** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:18 am

Holts Bitter, Taylors Landlord, Pendle witch, Kippers, Blackpuddings, real steak pies, thats what we want. We only live once!
Once the point being on this earth drinking Bud and Carling and eating McDonalds and crappy bland ready meals.
cheers

Garth · Post by **Garth** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:20 am

mmmm, black pudding...........

maxashton · Post by **maxashton** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:09 pm

i make a cracking steak and onion pudding. And i'm talking with suet, from scratch!

Reg · Post by **Reg** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:55 pm

SteveD wrote:Chaps, chaps...you're missing the essential point of my rant. It's not that adjuncts are a bad thing per se...it's their use to produce something as bland and utterly sh1te as the mainstream fizzkeg p1sswater brews, and those brews in general, wether lager or other styles, that I froth about.

I totally agree that used creatively to make decent beer, they are valuable.

No Steve, I absolutley agree, I guess I was just making the point that if someone wants to come to Jim's to brew (shudder) kegged lager, then that up to them

Anyway, just off to beat my flaked rice supplier with a length of rubber hose.

iowalad · Post by **iowalad** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:18 pm

Mmmm steak pie.

Daab how long ago did you live here in the States?
I think microbrews and pubs are improving over here and for me pesonally the range and quality of beeers has exploded in recent years.

That being said two areas that seem to destroy the microbrewers efforts are excessive carbonation and serving their product much too cold. We also at times suffer from the need to be extreme and supersize everything (excessive hop rates, excessive use of specialty grains) however I think carb and cold are bigger issues.

Finding cask ale is a bit of a trick here in fly over country.
We have two micros in town that have casks in operation (for the purists out there both admit to cask breathers). However with the exception of my orders I have never seen the hand pulls operated . . .

Another micro about an hour and half away does two firkins of real ale every thursday. I have enjoyed some of their beer (gravity dispense at the bar).

Do have to agree that much of American beer is industrial rubbish.

iowalad · Post by **iowalad** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:24 am

lol, on the expert bit.

I have to admit that I used to think Boddingtons was pretty good in their nitro can but in my defense my frame of reference at the time was Bud Lite, Schlitz and Hamms.

The hoppy thing may well be me as my preference tends to be towards an evenly balanced to malty beer - but some beers seem to be all cascade hops and little else - although drawing a blank as to an example right now and I blame that on turbo cider!

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:06 am

DaaB wrote: The skill in making a a good beer lies in being able to get the right balance of ingredients, anyone can just chuck a load of hops into a beer. I'm not overly impressed by high abv beers either, imo the real art is in packing flavour in the right balance into low to moderate abv beers. Not that many brewerys seem to have it

True, but there is also a lot of real art in making a high ABV beer that is also balanced and drinks easily. (Without thinning it out with a load of sugar).

The Hopfather's IPA on paper would be deemed as undrinkable - All malt, 8% ABV easily, and hopped to about 160 IBU - but when you drink it, it's sublime. Not too weighty, not too bitter, but with a magnificent mature hop aroma and flavour to balance the malt and alcohol. Moreish doesn't even begin to describe it.

In general though, the best British ale brewers seem to have an ability to pack flavour into a low gravity beer that other nations just don't seem to have. It's all the practice we've had since WW1

maltman14 · Post by **maltman14** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:17 pm

Hey folks to brew a constant swill lager like a Bud, Carlsberg ,Carling etc is the height of brewing I wish I could do it I would be a lot better off than I am now

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