Looking for AG recipe that will convert macro brew drinkers

I pulled that trick with an American adjunct lager. If you have no lagering capability, I'd suggest a cream ale or blonde, very low hop rates, some adjunct (preferably rice, but corn will do in a pinch) as pale (4 SRM or less) and close to tasteless as possible. I know it sounds like I'm being facetious, but I'm not. Use 1056 (WLP001) and ferment cold (low to mid 60s) so as to provide absolutely no yeast character. Prove to them you can make something that has as little taste as their usual brew, and they'll be much more likely to try something you brew that does taste good. Then you can hook them. Until then, you just brew "that dark shit", or "that bitter stuff". Again, it may sound as though I'm bitter, angry, facetious... not at all. It's just the voice of experience. Once you get them in, you can change their world. Unless you hook 'em, however, you can't reel 'em.

 

I did a simple blonde, had some wheat in it, and everyone loved it. I'm surrounded by people who don't really hate craft, just don't have the want to try it. They'll try homebrew, till the cows come home, so I have one they all love.

6# -2 Row
2.75# German Wheat Malt
.5 # Crystal 10L
.75 Cascade @ 60
.25 Cascade @ 2
Lemon Peel @ 7
Wyeast 1272 American II

It's a nice light beer, has a nice orange haze to it, don't have to worry about it being super clear from the wheat in there. Has enough there for flavor, and the sweetness they all want, but enough hops to know it's not a BMC!
If you ferment a bit warm, the 1272 will give you a good fruity profile to ride with the wheat and the peel, and it's hidden well enough they can't get all bent on the yeast flavor or you can keep it low like I did, and it'll give a crisp, and clean profile that works with the citrusy hop and lemon peel.

 

My father and bro-in-law are both macro drinkers so my aim this summer was to make something they would both like. Used Ed Wort's House Blonde recipe over on HBT which was a huge success.

8# 2-row
.75# carapils
.5# crystal-10
.5# vienna
.25 oz centennial @60
.25 oz centennial @30
.25 oz cascade @20
.25 oz cascade @5

Mash at 153 for 60 minutes, OG 1.046, FG 1.011. Nice and crisp with light hop flavor and aroma. This is my regular "guest" beer on tap.

 

My family and BMC-drinking friends like a wheat that I've done a few times. Clean American ale yeast like 1056 and hop bursted with Amarillo and Citra. It's a great way to introduce folks to the magic of hoppy beers without turning them off with a lot of bitterness due to most additions being 15-0 minutes and dry-hopping. Look for a Gumballhead clone, mine is a riff off of that idea. It doesn't scream Thanksgiving to me, though, so something like a mild or ESB with a nice biscuity malt profile might be nice for the fall.

 

I was going to suggest a low-gravity, hoppy-but-not-bitter pale ale that I did with a lot of flame-out and dry hops. Brew something to 1.040 or so, and use about 5 oz total hops, 2 of which are at flame-out and dry hop. Simcoe, Palisades, Amarillo, Ahtenum.

Smells like peaches when it's done.

 

Added benefit: you can brew it beginning of November, and it would be ready, even with bottle conditioning.

 

I would stick to the Noble hop varities (Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnanger, and Spalt). The BMC pilsners seem to stick to these so you probably would also. I don't think you want to surprise them with something strong and citrusy. I think for your first batch (as jokelahoma said above) you want to stick to what they are familiar with.

 

I didn't get from the OP that he wanted to replicate a BMC. That's easy enough to do without asking for recipe ideas.

I do, however, respect your point that some of these people might not want to be very adventurous and would respond well to something more familiar. The tricky part about that is if you make a beer that actually tastes like something, then you run the risk that someone won't like it.

 

8# NA Pale Ale Malt
1# Flaked Rice
1/2 # Carapils
1/4 # Acidulated Malt
WLP 080 - cream ale blend
2 oz Cascade @ 15 min
mashed @ 150, fermented @ 62
orange and vanilla to taste or plain

I thought the O & V version tasted like soda pop, but BMC fans loved it.
Made something real similar early in the summer with 4 oz lactose...also a crowd pleaser.

 

Reminds me that I made a low-gravity wheat beer in the spring that I spiked with lactic acid in the bottling bucket to me a "quick and dirty" Berliner Weisse. You can do it to taste.

 

I actually don't think he did. Just my recommendation based on my father's reaction to my brews. He grew up in StL drinking Budweiser, BL, and Michelob Light so he didn't like my brews that had a lot more flavor and a much higher bitterness. My friends that venture into the Sam Adams, Blue Moon, New Belgium, etc. definitely liked my brews more. I guess it boils down to knowing your audience.

 

I used 1 oz.. Sorry. Mashed at 151 for 60min, too..

 

This is my BMC crowd pleaser:
8 lb - Pale 2-Row (84.2%)
0.5 lb - Flaked Corn (5.3%)
1 lb - Victory (10.5%)

0.5 oz - Magnum (AA 13.5), Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort
US-05

 

Everyone who tried my blonde ale loved it, even the macro-only types.

 

I'll repeat myself. Do not try to impress them with how your Imperial Chocolate Pineapple Goat Cheese Onion Chamomile Stout is the bomb. Give them something close to what they think beer is supposed to be, and then you'll have them hooked. If they think you can brew "real beer" (a.k.a. Bud or similar, as tasteless as possible) then they'll be more inclined to try your other offerings. In other words, "I liked that one thing you did, so I'll try this one", as opposed to "you just brew that nasty shit I hate, because it has actual flavor and stuff, so there is no way I'm trying anything you brew".

 

I agree with Jokelahoma, and would like to expand : give them what they know, just a tad different. The best received homebrew by my extended family (they always want to try some homebrew, just to be nice, when I would just as soon drink a Michelob [special occasion beer for them] and keep my stuff at home) was a cream ale that was lightly finished with Sorachi and Citra. And I mean very lightly, and it was for a late july gathering. Thanksgiving, maybe go the other way on the cream ale, no late hops, but with a bit of munich worked into the grainbill.