What beers do you prefer to brew.

I too brew the beers that I can not buy. Like an elder berry saison or a cherry berliner wiesse. I also like to do seasonal beers like a pumpkin ale or a special christmas beer that I can share with people for the holidays.

 

i'm a first and foremost a german beer fan. Lagers, hefes are among the leaders in my portfolio, but also a big fan of belgians and americanized british styles like american ipas, stouts, porters etc...

 

I respect the people who can put out a neat, clean pilsner or something, but eh, if I'm going through the effort I want to do something crazy. My first was rye, peppercorn, and juniper koelsch that is apparently far too hoppy to be a koelsch (or even a pale ale). Drinks fine, so no skin off my back.
Currently plotting how to make a s'mores porter.

 

Ones that lauter well : )

 

My top four, not in any particular order, are probably pilsner, ESB, american pale ale, and american brown ale, all pretty easy drinkers. I need to brew wit and saison more often, as I really like both styles. So may beers, so little time...

 

Next summer I plan to pick some established homebrewers brains on how to brew hoppy beers well. I just suck at IPAs/Pale Ales/Etc. I brewed a Black IPA that had a great malty base, but again my hop bill just was not good.

For right now, my best/favorite style to brew has to be strong Belgians. My best brew to date was an imperial citra saison... so good.

 

In the last 12 months, I brewed beers inspired by English (2), Belgian (3), German (4), and American styles (3):
Brown porter, Special Bitter, Saison, Dubbel, Brett-Farmhouse (still in the fermenter), Kolsch, Sticke Alt, Smoked Schwarzbier, Berlinerweiss w/grapes (still in the fermenter), American Brown Ale (2 different batches),
Classis American Pilsner. I guess I'm trying to explore a diversity of styles while simultaneously brewing what I want to drink.

I'll try to brew three more batches in the next few weeks: Biere de garde, Oatmeal/American Stout, Rye Pale Ale.

One theme lately has been adjunct grains and simple sugars. Oats (flaked or malted) feature in the stout, the brown porter, and one of the brown ales; flaked rye, in the rye pale ale; corn grits, in the CAP, and unmalted spelt, in the farmhouse. The dubbel, saison, and biere de garde all have sugar additions (D180, table sugar, and homemade candi sugar respectively).

 

I tend to make the things I most like to drink. I love hops so I'd say two out of every three beers I make are either an IPA, DIPA or a hoppy amber or pale ale. That said, I like to go with seasonal things as well. I'm currently lagering an Oktoberfest and have already done 2 wheats this summer as well as a very lightly hopped blonde. Just got my hands on some of the fresh New Zealand hops so up next is a single-hop 3 gallon series....same malt bill for each 3 gallon batch (in fact, one large mash split into 3) and each one will be hopped to the same IBUs at the same addition times though one will use Galaxy, one Motueka, and one Nelson Sauvin hops. I just want to see what each one brings to the party and then try some blends.

 

My first brow was all-grain, it was IPA kit from brooklynbrewshop. My most practiced recipe is Pub bitterfrom the books The Homebrewers' Recipe Guide . I like it because is finish fermenting in 7-10 day, same short aging(carbonating). Its also very good platform for variations and additives.
As I mention quick results allow me to learn and improve your technique, equipment and skills.
here's some of the visual results of my very first beer batches , part of the path of understanding for example how head retention should look like or not.

And don't forget to log anything you do and get.