Another Averagely Perfect Brew?

I don't really have the time to devote right now, but I'd be willing to start another one after April 5th. Maybe sooner, depending. In the meantime, maybe this thread could be used as a discussion for what styles people are interested in.

 

These are the styles that I came with that were previously done as AP brews. If I'm missing any, please chime in.

American IPA
American Stout
Saison
Strong Bitter (ESB)

Thinking ahead, if we were start in mid-April this recipe would be ready to brew/drink in the late summer months, so my thoughts for a style would be cream ale, weissbier, or kolsch.

 

NorthEast IPA was also done.

 

I would second cream ale or kolsch. A Belgian would also be interesting (dubbel or quad would be my choice), but maybe there's not enough variables to play with there, I don't know.

Going way out there... maybe something Baltic? Unfortunately I doubt many of us can acquire the juniper for a proper kveik-fermented maltøl, but we could bake the mash (keptinis)... eh, there might not be enough collective knowledge/experience for it to be a good crowdsourced project.

Maybe schwarzbier or Baltic porter? Just throwing ideas out there. I guess a lot of people can't lager though.

 

I agree - it should probably be an ale so more people can do it.

I vote (in no particular order)

Dubbel
Wheat/Weiss
English Porter

 

I'd be down for a cream ale for the summer

 

My only hesitation on cream ale is, how many variables are realistically in play? The style calls for 6-row and corn, I doubt many people are going to have more than one option for either (I mean we could do corn grits or something, but realistically it seems as though flaked corn is going to be the choice).

And the yeast is just going to be something that doesn't provide much character. The hops feel like a personal choice. And so what's left? Cream ale feels like something that's down to technique, not recipe so much.

But don't get me wrong, I would love to be proven wrong about this, because cream ale is something I've been wanting to brew for a while, and this would be a great way to come up with the recipe.

 

Perhaps a Blonde Ale would be similar enough to a Kölsch or Cream Ale, but with more possibilities for variation? Just a thought. Cheers!

 

Ya blonde ale would be fine too. I'd like something that wouldn't have to be some flavor powerhouse. Can't do a lager as it excludes people that can't lager.

 

Scottish Ale.
Pros:

• Not been done.
• Wide range of gravity from 60 shilling to wee heavy. Vote could take us from session beer to heavyweight
• Highly contrasting approaches discussed in the homebrewing community and debated as to authenticity. Could vote on that for a while
• Wide range of potential grain ingredients, depending on approach taken.
• Others?

Cons:

• Maybe doesn't strike a cord with the hop forward crowd?
• Not lots of yeast choices.
• Others?

 

An Oktoberfest or marzen might be a good one to brew, assuming a time frame of it being ready to drink towards the end of September. Then again, the Averagely Perfect polls often take a couple months to complete, so that might not be ideal. Assuming an early April poll start and possibly ending around end of May would leave 3 months to brew/ferment and lager. Would be our first Averagely Perfect lager too.

 

There are enough brulosophers suggesting that can't and lager don't belong in the same sentence that I don't think we should automatically rule it out. Maybe we could even have someone with a homebrew club sponsor a comparison of several different traditional vs. non-traditional beers that we mail in.

 

I would love to see Kolsch just in time for summer.

 

My first cream ale experiment featured 6 row vs 2 row. Maybe Pils? A second is underway, yeast choice (US05vsK97). A third could be corn vs. rice. All malt? Optimal ratios? Fermentation temperatures? Gravities? Hop expression? Pre-prohibition vs modern.

 

I'm interested in all of these, but personally I would like to see a Festbier/Marzen. Seems like there are enough variables to keep it interesting.

 

No reason why we couldn't have a Marzen with lager and pseudo-lager methods. I'd prefer that over a cream ale that I wouldn't be terribly interested in drinking.

 

I like dubbel for the next one.

 

How about a fruit beer with a unique truly crowd sourced malt, hops, and yeast bill? Decide on the fruit and craft a base beer to carry it, most of the to-style beers previously suggested have a pretty pre-established ballpark recipe.