Do you focus on a style?

Just thinking about the beer I want to brew this weekend. It's going to be a wheat beer. I love wheat beer. Lager is OK. BCM is lame. I like classic German beer. I'm of German heritage (traced lineage back to the 1520s).

Do you home brew to just make one style that you like or do you mix it up?

My favorites are American IPAs or Pale Ales... but I generally like to mix things up.

One of the cool things about home brewing is that you can make many different styles that are otherwise hard to obtain locally.

I would have to say no, I dont. 150 gallons last year and no repeats

I mix it up

because five gallons of one kind of beer is plenty

Going to get my pipeline stocked up in February, though, I have a week off coming up. Hoping to have all my fermenters full and most of my kegs full as well by the time I head off to work the following Monday. When you have five kegs full you can mix and match a little for variety. (I have a couple of taps on the keg fridge but more often than not one is empty )

Seven said:

One of the cool things about home brewing is that you can make many different styles that are otherwise hard to obtain locally.

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Exactly. Replicating a style that is very difficult to get fresh in the US is one of my key inspirations when making recipes.

I try not to do anything exactly the same on the second go around, mostly for the learning experience of it all. That being said, I rarely even attempt to do something too similar the second go around.

But, I still like to have something light (pilsener or lager) on one tap, something a little darker (amber ale, alt, ESB, etc.) on another tap, and something totally different on another tap (wheat, IPA, belgian). Cider is on a picnic tap in the fridge too

You never know what you might have to have on hand in order to please guests!

I brew different beers all the time. And I try to expand my brewing horizon, by drinking and brewing different styles. SO when I do that I try to do as much research as possible, drinking commercial versions, reading as much as possible about the style, looking over a ton of other folk's recipes to see what ingredients/process are common to the style. So I kinda get immersed in the style for a bit.

I've done that with styles that I've never been into prior to homebrewing, like Vienna lagers, wits, tropical stouts, saisons, and now my latest "obsession" traditional bocks.

I go through cycles of immersing myself in new styles, and then brewing and drinking old favorites.

I focus on developing my style.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I focus on developing my style.

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Exactly.

I am the opposite of Revvy.

I want to make the next great style, not re-create what thousands of others have done.

yeah, i usually try to stick to creating traditional styles.

i've brewed more porter than anything. bitters would be a distant second.

i'd like to get more carboys so I can do more lagers. i like simple beer.

that said.....i've been getting into belgians lately....

Geez, you guys make it sound like I'm a style nazi or something,

But I also like to experiment, and come up with strange combinations and use weired ingredients as well. I probably have entered more beers in in categories 21-23 than any other I enter into. In fact most of my experiments have done the best in contests.

I mean I've used, 50+ year old honey, Jaggery, Date Syrup, Date Palm mollasses, every grade of brown sugar, mascerated dates, mexican hot chocolate disks (both in the boil and as mash liquid), ginger orange marmalde, lime marmalade, candied ginger, tortilla chips, my own chili powder, whole dried and smoked chilli, I've roasted my own grain and even soaked it in simple syrup and then roasted it, I've been experimenting with priming with things like date syrup. And I've used all the "normal" "strange" ingredients like pumpkin, spices, citrus peels, stuff like that. I've also researched historical beers to try to recreate old and regional styles as well.

I just was specifically talking about how I like to approach learning new styles, but I'm not wedded to them.

Right now, I'm concentrating on styles from the British Isles. Using ingredients from the region, to help be more true to the style. That being said, I'm not afraid to deviate from the style parameters to make it more my own. I'm not submitting what I brew to competitions, so I don't need to stay within the lines so much.

I'm also looking to get a solid efficiency baseline for my setup, tuning my process as I do that. I think that once you have your setup dialed-in, it lets you adjust the recipes to make sure you get the result you're after.

I focus on certain styles as a base, but I'm oftentimes coloring a bit outside the lines. (abv too high for style, color is off, ect). This happens on accident just as often as I do it on purpose.

I will re-brew certain styles again and again (my house IPA for example) as I try to perfect the recipe, but in-between those batches I am trying new things and different styles or style combo's.

I must be the odd one out. I tried my first new recipe in like 30 batches a week ago. I typically rotate between 5-6 recipes that I like and my family likes. I have tweaked them over time (differences in grain here/there, different hops, etc. but I enjoy what I make). I have several family members who beg for for me to bring beer to gatherings, so I try to make some consistent stuff for them.

sweet_corn said:

I must be the odd one out. I tried my first new recipe in like 30 batches a week ago. I typically rotate between 5-6 recipes that I like and my family likes. I have tweaked them over time (differences in grain here/there, different hops, etc. but I enjoy what I make). I have several family members who beg for for me to bring beer to gatherings, so I try to make some consistent stuff for them.

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Nah, I think there's a lot of you out there. Especially folks like Ed WOrt and Biermuncher for instance who have dialed in their processes so well, nailed their recipes, and know what they and their "audience" likes, so the cycle through a stable of their favorites.

Think about it, not every beer guy regualarly tries every style of beers, and different versions within the style, most people who enjoy beer, sticks to favorite brands, and favorite styles....so why would most homebrewers be any different? If people like what they like, the only difference is that instead of BUYING their favorite beer, they are brewing it themselves.

That's the cool thing about this hobby, it is so broad, that it can be approaced from many different angles.

i'm still young enough to brewing to have MANY styles i haven't even tasted yet, so i brew familiar styles for drinking, and the other half as new types

I used to brew a lot of different things, each brew day was something new, but now I am more interested in perfecting my recipes and techniques than covering all the styles. I brew predominately traditional English ales (bitters, mild) and stout/porters, with the occasional lager/belgian/sour thrown in for variety.

So many people talk about IPA I think I have to brew one down the road.

When I brew something that I do indeed enjoy, I think there is a certain level of pride and bias since "I made this beer." It is like I birthed it, so I am automatically more proud of it. My SWMBO says that I shouldn't worry if my beer scores low in BJCP competitions, since as long as I like it, its all that matters. True, I do like it, and I'm the ultimate judge since I'm the one that will drink 90% of it.

But, at the end of the day, if I burn toast and "enjoy" it, it doesn't mean I'm good at making toast. This is my rationale for improving my processes and consistency so that I can get better at really reaching my goals. If I brew up a lager with a lot of diacetyl, it should only be because I *wanted* a lot of diacetyl from the beginning. Not because I'm settling with the resulting flaw.

To think that everyone else would *love* my beer is naive if I'm the biggest fan of it.

cheezydemon3 said:

Exactly.

I am the opposite of Revvy.

I want to make the next great style, not re-create what thousands of others have done.

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So what styles have you created? jk....But I dont really know what you mean by that? Do you make recipes without any regard to style or commercial examples? Are you making IPA's with hefe yeast or something? You're gonna make a lot of bad beers trying to create a style, unless you're some sort of brewing genius.

I understand trying to make your own recipe, but over the course of a thousand years, the styles exist for a reason - it's like brewing darwinism. Because that combination of malts/hops/process produces an excellent beer.

I'm all about tailoring a recipe, of a particular style, to my particular tastes. No reason to recreate the wheel here.

I honestly haven't been exposed yet to a lot of styles...

Right now, I'm just now getting my system and techniques down... and so now I want to focus on consistency and optimizing things..

So I'm basically brewing some easy and fast turnaround beers, like EdWorts HPA dn the Centennial blonde ale... I have typically only brewed IPA's from extract kits, as well as a couple other extract kits (APA and IIPA), keeping my first few AG brews simple and fast fermenting so that I can build up a pipeline to enjoy as I start with the bigger beers...

That being said, I want to get into lagers this summer, and I want to try other styles (ie stouts, belgians, ESB's, fruit beers, etc.) so that I can see if I want to brew them and expand the inventory...

This is an exciting hobby... (and it saves me cha ching!)


I absolutely 'love' Stone IPA... so after my next batch, my focus will be to make as accurate a clone as possible.. I'm hoping to learn a lot about my system and techniques as I do this... hopefully, the experience will translate in to better brewing as I branch out...

I brew different styles all the time. I do brew an IPA and an ESB on a consistent basis but I am unlikely to brew any other style more than once in a year (my drinking is done seasonally as well). And just like Revvy I research as much as I can before making a new style and usually adhere to traditional methods for each given style. Even on the day I'm brewing it I will generally read some sort of history on the style and the people who created it. I am a giant history dork though.

freakshow10mm said:

Do you focus on a style?

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My speciality is Belgian & French -->blonds,triples,saison with a few APA/IPA beers for my hop fix.

I'm big on getting a recipe perfect and repeatable.

I focus on a style while I'm trying to improve or understand a certain process. For example, I've made a bunch of batches of Kolsch. First I used the same grain bill adjusting the mash schedule. Once I was satisfied I could get what I wanted from my equipment for this style, I then worked on trying to get a certain flavor that I'm looking for (still haven't found it ).

That being said, I do take breaks from the style for a bit of variety.

Gee I've never done a Saison. Maybe that would be a good idea for next month's brew day

Consistency in production isn't really a high priority for me at this point. If it were a commercial venture I would lock it down and be a real stickler about numbers and measurements, but as the old joke goes, "%$@# it, it's just a hobby". I would rather have variety in the beer I'm drinking than the knowledge that I have fine-tuned my pale ale recipe over the last nine months. And everything I brew is enjoyable, so why rock the boat?

Your mileage may, of course, vary.

The only styles that I have brewed twice are American Wheat Ale and American Pale Ale. I like to brew beers that are out of the ordinary in regards to both ingredients and alcohol. A rule of thumb in my antics is that no brew ought to be below 6% ABV. Of course that doesn't mean that I half-ass my creations; they are all carefully researched and implemented with plenty of tender love and care. I just got a hold of an extra refrigerator so I will soon be embarking on an Imperial Lager quest!

doctorRobert said:

So what styles have you created? jk....But I dont really know what you mean by that? Do you make recipes without any regard to style or commercial examples? Are you making IPA's with hefe yeast or something? You're gonna make a lot of bad beers trying to create a style, unless you're some sort of brewing genius.

I understand trying to make your own recipe, but over the course of a thousand years, the styles exist for a reason - it's like brewing darwinism. Because that combination of malts/hops/process produces an excellent beer.

I'm all about tailoring a recipe, of a particular style, to my particular tastes. No reason to recreate the wheel here.

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Well put. I have maxxed out the caramel amber to something beautiful I have yet to see elsewhere. My Pumpkin SEED beers have been incredibly well recieved and seem to be non-existent elsewhere.

My dark IPA's are probably nothing too new, but I am not copying anyone, and you probably wouldn't find my bourbon walnut porter many places.

the Helles Munich recipe I made left me feeling blah, so recipes and clones are out the window for me.

cheezydemon3 said:

Well put. I have maxxed out the caramel amber to something beautiful I have yet to see elsewhere. My Pumpkin SEED beers have been incredibly well recieved and seem to be non-existent elsewhere.

My dark IPA's are probably nothing too new, but I am not copying anyone, and you probably wouldn't find my bourbon walnut porter many places.

the Helles Munich recipe I made left me feeling blah, so recipes and clones are out the window for me.

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Well that's interesting. Pumpkin seed beer - do you roast the seeds at all?

I dont think to brew to style you have to copy somebody, i would say brewing a porter, of any type, is brewing a style. The style guidelines arent that strict or every porter would taste the same. But i find your creative recipes very refreshing. I'm still working on perfecting my porter before I venture off and flavor it more.

I started off making a new style of beer every time, for fun and experience. Now that I have made a decent amount of batches I am starting to repeat the winners as I am a bit past the "look what I made this time!" and now more at the "You all liked this so much, so making it again!" stage.

That being said, I am wanting to aim on Belgians, though of all the styles I have brewed they seem to be the most difficult. So many subtle flavors and notes that slight variations can make big differences.

Long story short, my focus is Belgian ales, especially Trappist style, but I brew other kinds that I like to drink and that are popular with others as well.