Havnt brewer for 5 months....

Well, I haven't brewed for about 5 months. I recently joined the military and between basic training and my advanced individual training I don't have the time or resources to be able to brew. So all I do is dream about the day I will get settled down in my new duty station. That way I can move all my gear with me and get started on some brewing. I am contemplating on what I should brew next. I keep looking up things to brew. And whenever I get a chance to drink a decent beer...I think about brewing a clone like it. Personally I'm a can of stronger beers. Double IPA'S, strong stouts and IPA's. but I also need to make some beers for my wife. I actually have a mead that has been sitting since early October. I can't wait to try that. Anyhow, what should I brew?

Imperial bacon breakfast stout? I don't know why but it sounds so good to me.

Imperial IPA. This is probably gonna be a definite. Any tips would be appreciated, it will be my first.

I regular IPA?

And then for the wife...maybe a blueberry ale. She had sweetwaters blue and loved it. It kinda tasted like a cream ale with blueberries.

Anyhow. If you had to pick something to brew...what would you pick and what recipe would you use.

Thanms

Every few months, Ill list out a few beers I want to brew. Ill get inspiration from beers I drink, or just get a wild hair, and then go from there. Slowly throughout the year Ill make them happen. You mentioned IPAs twice (one being a double), so do that! Maybe even do an all base malt IPA. If you have hops already it keeps the cost low.

Do you brew AG or extract? That could affect the range of recipes we could reasonably suggest.

Even with a preference for hardier beer, you'll probably at least one middle-of-the-road session beer on hand, for your daily tipple or for when friends come over. I would recommend the tried and true New Albion recipe, which got published last winter on BYO. It's a SMaSH, and about as simple as they come. It wouldn't be difficult to convert to extract, I imagine. It would also be a good way of dialing in your equipment in the new locale.

For your wife you might consider one of recipes you'll find often mentioned here: Cream of Three Crops Cream Ale. While I cannot vouch for it myself, the fact that people are still following this recipe five years after it was published here says something. Converting it for extract may be a bit of a problem, though.

Has your wife tried any brown ales, and if so, what did she think of them? Something like a Mild might be a good match, or if she is fond of the sweeter beers, an English Southern Brown Ale (I've got an AG recipe I've been itching to try for that, myself).

Finally, getting to what you presumably want most, here's an untested but, I think, quite promising RIS recipe I have concocted. It is a bit overly elaborate, perhaps, but I tend in that direction as a whole so that's not surprising. If you want something already known, there is 'Water Over the Dam', a Belgian Special Ale I first brewed about a year ago. At the time I first made it, I was working with a smaller mash tun; were I working it out today, I would replace the extract with 4 lbs of Munich malt.

http://thebrewersbarrel.com/recipes/founder-s-breakfast-stout-clone

In the Imperial range no?

All of these sound so good. I really like the breakfast stout. I might have to try the RIS. That sounds really good too. Too many choices.....too many decisions