Homebrew expectations vs. commercial beer

Clint said:

It seems like no single judge can judge a single beer..perhaps individual masters should be involved at high level competition..

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strange-steve said:

I've stewarded a few BJCP competitions and it's a great experience. I was able to sit at the table with the judges and taste the beers along with them and I learned a lot from it. I'd definitely recommend to any brewer volunteering as a steward at a competition.

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Keruso said:

Commercial beers vary dramatically. It is subjective, we don't all hold the same opinions on what a decent commercial brew is either. As I’m an IPA fan, I recently tried a BrewDog Punk IPA having not had one for many years, I thought it was utterly foul and poured it down the sink.

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obscure said:

Each to their own, while Punk IPA wouldn’t be my first choice, its still often the best option in certain bars where the other options are Stella or Becks (case it point where my company had its last Christmas party, a ten page wine list, half a dozen different gins, but as for beer your choice was moretti, becks or punk.

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tonybaloni said:

it's always good to drink without the use of any sulphates which I seem allergic to

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tonybaloni said:

In my early days Id even tipped full batches down the sink that didn't improve with age. It seems a shame but you are supposed to enjoy your beer not suffer it.

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Keruso said:

Commercial beers vary dramatically. It is subjective, we don't all hold the same opinions on what a decent commercial brew is either. As I’m an IPA fan, I recently tried a BrewDog Punk IPA having not had one for many years, I thought it was utterly foul and poured it down the sink. Others think it’s great. I've been brewing for about three years, and very rarely buy beer unless it's something special. I started home brewing because the only beers I liked and purchased were from craft breweries, found in a local specialist beer shop, paying at least £6 a can often a lot more. So, I did a brew day at my LHBS, 1st brew was a Cloudwater DIPA clone. I was hooked.
I am now making beer that can meet, sometimes exceed the commercial beer I once purchased. Not always though, sometimes I am disappointed too, but it is not costing anywhere near £6 for two thirds of a pint.
It is very satisfying to make a beer to a standard that impresses me now, but from my experience it requires a necessary foundation, that is using all-grain, liquid yeast when necessary, temperature-controlled fermentation, allowing enough carbonation and conditioning time, corny kegs and kegerator (home-made) to serve.
I have not found the need for conical fermenters, closed transfers etc yet.

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pms67 said:

Not too many people pour a Punk IPA away, it’s a decent session beer imo and the beer that introduced hundreds of thousands of people to beer that tastes of something other than nothing but as the saying goes it’s horses for courses

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Not_so_brite said:

Someone made a comment in a recent post I wrote that really got me thinking - basically I was explaining how my attempts at homebrew were not going well, however, they asked if I was perhaps being unfair in my expectations if I thought I would be making commercial quality beer at this stage.

So I went out and bought a case of Brewdog (as it was the easiest to order and get delivered) and I must say, it really was some good beer, so I've been wondering: can a casual homebrewer ever expect to make a beer that is comparable in quality to these commercial craft beers, without having to invest in serious equipment that moves it out of being a fun hobby but to more of a full on passion project?

I suppose I'm just starting to think that there really is a big difference between the quality of beer a casual homebrewer can make vs. what can be bought, whereas, for lots of other things I can do for fun at home (i.e. baking, cooking, etc.), it is very much possible to equal the quality or even exceed the equivalent products that can be bought.

Now that I've been thinking about it more, I'm probably a bit less inclined to accept all the 'compromises' that seem to be the norm when casually homebrewing (cloudy beer, sediment, taste not quite right, etc.), given how much better (and easier) it seems a purchased craft beer can be.

Has anyone else thought about this and come to a different conclusion or decided to carry on regardless?

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foxy said:

I love English beers, today I was fishing, I usually take a couple of stubby's to have after I wrap up, not far from where I fish there is a bottle o with a good supply of UK beers I would sooner wait the 30 minutes drive home to have a beer even though it has gone past 3 pm.

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ChrisRedWills said:

Its a hobby not a contest

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trueblue said:

When I was a judges steward the judges would quite often ask a fellow judge to sample a beer if he wanted a second opinion. Brewcon does have 2 judges for each category/beer.
A few years back I entered 2 competitions a few weeks apart the first one, the London amature brewers, got a great review and although it did not place it did receive a commendation and was rated as a good example of is class. Two weeks later at one of the festivals the same beer got a terrible review. As any one who has attended these competitions would know once the judging is over us mere mortals can sample the entries and I always make a point of finding the bottle the judges sampled from, for my own QC purposes, and to my untrained pallet I could taste no difference in the two.

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