What type of beer?

OK i just finished bottling a brew kit that i recieved from beer-wine.com. I see that everyone has name for their beer. I need to know how you classify a beer. How do you know if you have an english ale,pale ale, red pale ale , red ale, porter.etc...I have the charlie papazian book and i didnt come across how to classify a beer. PLEASE CLARIFY THIS FOR ME.

What would this be. Steeped crystal malt, 2 cans of amber lme, uses hallertauer hops. and brewers ale yeast...this was my first batch with i tested after 2 days of being in the bottle to make sure it was being carbonaated and it tasted great...no more commercail beers for me..

Sounds like a standard Red Ale to me

oh and one other thing.Before i pitched the yeast my specific gravity was 1.050...is this the reading that determines alcohol level of is it the reading after fermentation is done? THANKS

Can u please explain why it sounds like its a red ale? Sorry if its a stupid question.

miafunk2003 said:

oh and one other thing.Before i pitched the yeast my specific gravity was 1.050...is this the reading that determines alcohol level of is it the reading after fermentation is done? THANKS

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You need both readings. The drop in gravity from start to finish is what provides you with the information about alcohol content.

-walker

We need some amounts here, like how many hops, boiled hops how long, how much crystal malt. That tells the difference. The line between Amber Ale, Red Ale, and Pale Ale are fairly blurry.

Try this link:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style

It describes all the different styles, with examples. This helped me alot.

Lorena

Papazian's book has a whole section on the different types of beer as well as a style chart that gives rough estimates of ingredient quantities for different types of beer (in the 3rd edition, it's right before he gets into advanced techniques).

This link http://www.beertown.org/education/styles.html should also give you some info related to the different styles of beer.

i used 1 pound of crystal malt steeped. 7lbs amber LME. 1.25 oz halletauer for bittering boiled for 50 minutes, .25 oz hallertauer for dry hopping.

ok so first Sg reading was 1.050 after fermenting was done it was at 1.018.What is the alcohol content

thanx for the link from what i read it seems like and american style brown ale....would still like your opinion though

miafunk2003 said:

ok so first Sg reading was 1.050 after fermenting was done it was at 1.018.What is the alcohol content

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My brewing equipment came from beer-wine as well. Did they send you a hydrometer that has 3 different scales on it? If so, just look at the %Alcohol Potential scale that corresponds to 1.050, and subtract from that the value that corresponds to 1.018. This will give you the ABV.

If you don't have this type of hydro, 1.050 corresponds to a hair under 7% potential, and 1.018 corresponds to about 2.5%. So, you'd be left with a 4.5% ABV beer.

They sent the same kit you're describing to me. It's bottle conditioning right now, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be horrible Stuck fermentation, and I didn't know what to do with it, so I just stuck it in secondary. I've got nothing better to put in those bottles right now though, so maybe it'll recover

I did this one as well for my first brew. It turned out kinda like a weak Sam Adams. I thought it had stuck, but turns out it just fermented really quick. It gets better after 3-4 weeks in bottle, but it is not ever going to be really great. I just racked my second batch, a new castle clone, and it looks, tastes, and smells great. I can't wait till it is carbed and conditioned.

yeah i got the same hydr guess i just didnt notice sorry...Yeah i thought mine was stuck to put it just went by realy fast. Tasted a bottle and it was great

so any suggestions of what it is

***bump***

Go with the American brown, but TBH it really doesnt matter.

The only thing that really matters is that you took the time to brew and it turned out to be something you like. The "style" really only gives you an idea of other beers simular to what you made you may want to try to make or drink. Funniest part is I can drink 1 beer and love it and then another beer of the same "style" and think it's the worst thing I have ever drank.

The style of a beer all depends on the ingrediants, type of yeast, color, ABV, amount of bitter units and all sorts of crap . . . then if it doesnt fit into any specific style it can be a hybrid beer.

The best thing for you to do is find some beers you like and enjoy them, then find some kits simular to the beers you like. After a few kits if you feel adventerous start coming up with your own recipies

What Is An Ipa Or An Iipa

India Pale Ale - a stronger, much hoppier version of a pale ale.

Imperial India Pale Ale - an stronger, much hoppier version of an India Pale Ale.

IPAs and IIPAs are good beers, but they take a little getting used to. Personally, I like Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA a lot, but there are tons of good ones out there. They are bitter and usually have pretty high alcohol content (both the bitterness, i.e. the use of a lot of hops and the high alcohol content helped preserve the beers on when they were tranported from Britain to India, hence the name).

Here's a nice link that describes the various styles. It also lists comerical examples of each style so you can try them.

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/

is it hard to brew an IPA

Its more expensive thats for sure. If you are brewing with extract kits and steeped grains the typical IPS runs around $35-$40 where as the typical red or brown ale is $20-$25. But your paying for the higher alcohol content (in the form of more LME). Most IPA recipes call for around 10lb of extract versus 7 for most other ales.

Speaking of IPA's I just tried MOJO IPA last night and its great. They have it at most liquor stores so if you want a good example you should pick up a 6er. Oh and its 6.8% ABV

went to a liqour store and purchased dogfish head 60min IPA and Avery IPA....both were really hoppy but delicious thanx alot on clearing that up