How about some advice on a brew to do?

I do 5 gallon extract batches and have one Belgian strong golden in bottles coming along nicely and a Delirium Tremens clone to be bottled in a couple of weeks. That's alot of Belgians plus about a case of commercial versions of dubbels, tripels and saisons on hand so I'd like to brew something else. I love IPA's but I've never come close to brewing one that I like nearly as well as probably a dozen commercial ones that I buy. Porters and stouts are good but I'm only rarely in the mood for them. I don't have the temp control to lager. So with all that in mind, can you all recommend some extract beers/styles for me to try? And maybe throw in a recipe too. Thanks

If you are going to brew, expanding your palate as well as your brewing breadth of experience is always a good thing! Try a dark beer now. An oatmeal stout or something. You'll do well to experience some different specialty grains, but an oatmeal stout will give the added experience of steeping something like oats - which controversially can be steeped to add body and mouthfeel - OR even do a partial mash! I think beer drinking is more of an acquired taste then we give it credit for sometimes - you may not find that you are "in the mood" for darker beers often now, but start enjoying them regularly and soon you might be craving them!

Either that or some American or English brown ale would be good!

What are the commercial versions of the IPA's that you like? I can't imagine that you love IPA's but can't brew a good one at home especially if you're using the same hops. Have you used the same hops that those commercial brews do? It might not be a dead-on clone but the taste will be similar. I had very good luck brewing yoopers DFH 60 clone as extract, getting simcoe/amarillo is the hard part right now.

Recently I've had DFH 60 and 90, Troeg's Perpetual, Founders Double Trouble, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, FFF Zombie Dust, Bell's Two Hearted and Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. I've been disappointed with every attempt to brew an IPA and none have come close to being as enjoyable as the ones mentioned plus some others. The commercial ones are always much cleaner tasting and my attempts always have an unwanted taste characteristic - even the ones I've fermented in the 65-68 degree range.

Try a california common if you can get some cool place to ferment. Its like a lager, but not really. I quite enjoy the one I just made.

Thanks for the advice so far guys. Unionrdr, would you shoot me the recipe for your IPA please?

Have you tried any of Austin Home Brew Supply versions of Commercial Beers?

Ruination IPA from Stone (or just Stone IPA) gets high marks from those that have made it (I love the commercial stuff).

Rogue Imperial IPA sounds tasty too.

I brewed their AHS Promo American IPA and it was really good (and right now really cheap).

It is a kit, but I really dig NB's caribou slobber. Drinkable early, but comes on strong at 4-6 months. Malt profile is interesting, and it is hoppy enough that my ipa friends don't complain.

For IPAs, I suggest the everyday ipa recipe from Brooklyn brew shops. That's easy to brew and plenty tasty..... I used zythos hops on my last one and I totally love it. I may use that recipe as my base and just try it with different hops.

velorider11 said:

Thanks for the advice so far guys. Unionrdr, would you shoot me the recipe for your IPA please?

Click to expand...

Just click on the "recipes" tab under my avatar. It's there.