What beers do you prefer to brew.

i've just made the switch to all-grain two batches ago, which means my first 15 were either extract or partial-mash. we're pretty seasonal drinkers in my house, so i did a summer wheat back in may (which I should have done even earlier, since it was still conditioning for some of the hottest days of the year) and am planning on an imperial pumpkin for the fall, followed by two stouts for the winter. once it's cold enough i'm going to try my hand at lagering, but there's plenty to do before then.

the old adage "drink what you like" is your best bet, but i know that for me, there's so much that i really like, it's hard to make up my mind. that is why seasonals are nice. by the time you get toward the end of the batch, the weather is different enough for me to want a change of pace.

 

I started in March of 2011 with 5 -7 gallon all grain batches right out of the gate that I bottled. In these 16 months I've covered 15 styles and brewed about 40 batches. 39 of them were Brew In A Bag (BIAB) and now I recently started using a 3 kettle system that can produce 10-15 gallon batches. Of the 15 styles, my most repeated are American IPA's, Imperial IPA's, American Pale Ales, and Witbiers. Mainly fresh styles as you can see. I moved to kegging a few months ago, which helped me to serve some of these styles sooner and eliminate the chore of bottling. I'm now starting to get more into brewing long term conditioning styles like Russian Imperial Stouts and Barleywines that allow me to stockpile kegs for the cold season to come. My homebrew club I joined last October is now affording me the opportunity to start experimenting with wild yeasts and barrel aging which is nice.

 

I brew alot of Pilsners. I seem to have a rotation of beers that I like to drink,Bitters,Pale Ales, Brown Ales,Alt Bier,IPA's,Rauchbier,and an occasional Barly Wine,and Belgian Dark Strong. I brew what I like to drink and formulate my recipes to my liking.

 

I've been using a partial mash setup for the last 8 months - 3 gallon cooler adapted to batch apathetic and a 5 g brewpot. I'd like to move to all grain but I brew in a kitchen and can't get more than 5 g boiling effectively without splitting the batch.

As a result I have found a new love for session beers. If I brew something with an of in the 40s I barely have to use any extract.

That said my favorite stuff ti make has all kinds of special treatments. I made a porter with pecans in the mash aged on brandy, vanilla and more pecans, and loved every minute of it. If I had calculated bottling sugar properly it would have been superb. I had a ton of fun making it.

 

My core beers are a traditional German seasonal cycle - bocks for spring, hefeweizens for summer, maerzens for fall, etc. I also brew something strong (Belgian, Old Ale, Impy Stout) for the winter, a stout/porter for St. Patty's Day, and then fill in the gaps with everyday drinkers - bitters, pilseners, etc. Looking through my records, I've only brewed 2-3 IPAs in 10+ years of brewing...gonna have to do something about that !

 

I enjoy brewing lagers, which is funny because I don't usually buy commercial lagers. I like doing decoction mashes and the manipulation of fermentation with the different temps (primary fermentation, diacetyl rest, lagering, etc.) to get a nice, clean lager that is just well-made.

I like to brew pale-ales too but can't seem to dial one in just right. Low gravity beers are kinda fun to knock out really quickly. Also, in general, I like to make dark beers and red-colored beers just because I like the way it looks as it runs from the mash tun into the kettle.

Come to think of it...there aren't many styles I don't like to brew. I didn't really like brewing a Berliner Weisse because the process just seemed foreign. That's the only one I can think of.

 

mainly I like brewing session beers and sours. I like brewing sours not only because to me they are the most fun and experimental, but it is a favorite "style" and I can brew it for A LOT cheaper than buying from a store. I like to brew session beers because if I am going to have 5 gallons of it I want to be able to consume it relatively fast. I am not always going to be in the mood or capable of drinking a 9% DIPA or Barleywine. Though I do still brew DIPAs, BW, Imp Stouts, I tend to brew them seasonally and try to have them ready for a holiday or event.

What I have done recently
Just bottled and ready to drink: a 4% Brett Pale ale, a 3.5% IPA with Soriachi Ace and Amarillo, a 4.5% Honey Wheat ale, and a 3.5% blonde sour that was aged on various berries.

In carboys: a 6% sour that will get peaches and honey in about 6 months, a 5% Bier de Garde, a 4% SMASH with vienna and Simcoe, a 8% Chocolate Orange stout (favorite flavor combo), and a Belgian Barleywine for Christmas.

Upcoming: A 5% Brown IPA, a session pumpkin stout, a "lambic" with blueberries, and a Flanders Red

 

Lately, I'm definitely more of an experimental person than someone who brews styles. I loosely base my beers on other things I've had, but I try to add my own little twist to things. They can be as simple as dry hopping a traditional Hefeweizen with Citra and Amarillo hops, or things like as adding blueberries, vanilla, and bourbon to a porter.

I will say that most of my beers have hops (usually Amarillo) added late in the process, either late boil additions or dry hopping. I like to smell a bit of citrus with most beers I make.


...man I love brewing.

 

I've only brewed 7 batches but my IPA came out the best for sure. The saison came in second.
I predict a lot more IPAs in my brewing future.
I'm about to make my first stout though so who knows.

 

Definitely IPAs and hoppy ales... Have done 5 American IPAs, 2 wheat IPAs, 2 double IPAs, 2 black IPAs, 3 hoppy brown ales, 2 pale ales. That's about half of what I've brewed. Would like to start brewing more stouts, as I have yet to brew a really good one.

 

Looking back on my records, I like to overhop belgian, dark english styles, and weizens for the most part, with some IPAs and APAs thrown in for good measure.

 

7 Extracts
2 Partial Mash
80+ All Grain

I have done a pretty consistent mix of American and English pale ales for the most part. I brew alot more session beers now than I did in the past, so IPA's have given way to more APA's and Bitters.
I also will mix in some Browns, Milds and Porters in the winter, summertime I'll do a small handful of Belgians (mainly Belgian pales and patersbiers).
I also brew a big beer once a year for aging purposes.

 

hefe's. Their quick and my 5 roommates drink alot.

 

Hefes are pretty tasty. Something about them that give me a hellova hangover though. (extra yeast and protein suspended in the beer)?

 

The yeast ought to mitigate hangovers (vitamin B). Are you sure it's not a quantity related problem?

 

Usually 2 or 3 a night is my cut off. The only other thing I drink throughout the day is a cup of coffee to get going and water during work. I know I can count on you guys to tell me if I have a problem.

 

I brew mostly IPA's and XPA's.. I'm a hophead and love playing around with single hop brews to highlight a hop varietal.

I like stouts to.. I have a KBS clone on draft right now just begging to be tapped, but it need time.. I've been getting more into doing beers that I can turn from grain to glass a bit quicker, toss online in the keezer and down them/share them. Blonde, wheats, hefe's and such. Thinking about tossing up a Saison in the next coming week or so, but I've got some batches I need to brew for a family wedding first, so I probably won't be able to brew something again for myself, until the middle of August or so..

I've got a Citra Saison, Cocoa Porter planned, and maybe a simple chocolate stout to brew next. Saison for now.. The rest to sit for a winter warmer.

 

I brew a lot of APAs in the 5% range with 3-4 different standard malt bills so that I can fiddle with different hops. This is probably 75% of my brewing. I usually brew a couple of big dark beers in the middle of the summer so that they're ready when it gets cool out. I have an oatmeal porter recipe that is lights out, and I usually split each batch with a couple of different treatments...coffee, cocoa nibs, bourbon, etc.

 

I am coming up on my 100th batch and I am still very much in love with brewing the ales of Belgium and Britain. I am dabbling with German lagers and I do brew a nice kolsch and hefeweizen (my wife's favorites) but I can't get enough of dubbels, tripels, strong darks, quads, witbiers, bitters, old ales, barleywines, 70/- Scottish ales, wee heavy, etc.