How do you determine your next brew?

Just out of curiosity - aside from the season, how does everyone out there determine what beer you're making next? Is it just what sounds good? A recipe or post you read? A commercial brew you tasted? Something to make the person(s) you co-habitate with happy?

I go by either what I have available or if there is a new recipe I have been wanting to play with.

Lately I've been choosing from the top beer recipes of HBT.

Dartboard with Numerous recipe names on it.

I probably shouldn't be already formulating my own recipes already but I do. I brew every two weeks so I just do a lot of research on the style I am doing and then plug in the numbers before I go to the store. There are so many beers I want to make I usually don't have a problem.

Beezy said:

I probably shouldn't be already formulating my own recipes already but I do. I brew every two weeks so I just do a lot of research on the style I am doing and then plug in the numbers before I go to the store. There are so many beers I want to make I usually don't have a problem.

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I started with my own recipe from my first brew. I use a lot of others as inspiration and modify to my fancy. Researching and formulating my next recipe is part of the fun.

To answer the ops question though, I've lately been trying to have a variety of styles on hand so I brew something a bit different than what I have in a Fermenter or keg, or just what I feel like drinking. Additionally, I've been on a stout kick so have been ensuring I have one of those around.

I always start with the season, then go with my personal tastes. I haven't really concocted my own recipe yet. I research a recipe for something I like, then tweak the recipe for my own flavor preferences and equipment capabilities.

I have a two step system. First step, determine if I do or do not have an IPA on tap at the moment. If yes, I brew a style that I haven't had in a while. If no, I brew and IPA! I'm a big hop-head so I gotta have an IPA available at all times...

either I brew whatever i really like at the moment, which is why i just made an Ipa and an IIPA. or I find a beer I really like and try to clone/ emulate it.
eventually I want to brew for the seasons - since I find myself wanting different things based on the time of year/temperature.
hope it helps.

After a couple years of doing this I find myself just brewing a few recipes that I like over and over. Last 6 months or so have been all repeats. 4 or 5 recipes and once one is gone I just do it again. I need to snap out of it but its hard when I KNOW the recipe will be good. Good to have house brews. I change hops quite a bit to shake it up but..

I usually end up brewing according to seasonal availability of ingredients - Namely honey.

Getting back into this in fall though, i ended up making a couple beers and an apfelwein, though I used some honey I had laying around and some frozen ontario berries to make a delightful melomel.

Next up on deck? more winter/christmassy beers and beer-like beverages. Graff, a dark lager and then a winter warmer.

I start with what seems appropriate to the season, as many others have said, and then alternate between beers with a short turnaround and those that benefit from some age. This way I usually have at least one easy drinker around, and keep my stockpile of aging beers going, too.

I've got a schedule planned out for a couple of months in advance at least. Partly it's based on seasons, partly on what sounds good, partly on re-using yeast from a prior batch, and partly on using ingredients I've already got on hand.

I like to pick a yeast and use it in consecutive brews with progressively higher ABV% or IBUs until the yeast reaches a beer from which there will be no return. For example, WY3787 was first used in a 1.040 Belgian Pale for three weeks, then pitched to a 1.062 Dubbel, and will finally go into a 1.074 Tripel IPA. I could probably go out another few generations and do a quad or something, but I'd rather try a new yeast.

Once you get the beer off the yeast cake and figure out the pitching rate, there's no need to rinse/wash the yeast, or have it taking up room in your fridge. Just seems the easiest way to do it for me.

I have a list of "to-brew" recipes in BeerSmith. The priority for my next brewed beer generally follows this mentality:

1. Seasonal? Fall (Pumpkin), Winter (Spiced/Stouts/Porters), Spring (Light Ales and Lagers), Summer (IPA and lawnmower types)
2. IPA or hoppy pale ale must always be on tap or available in bottles.
3. What recipe can I brew with the ingredients I have on hand? (I hate going to the LHBS for an oz of hops. When I go I usually stock up with $100-200 worth of ingredients.)
4. What recipe have I been wanting to try (or someone has been bugging me about) but haven’t gotten around to buying the ingredients for.

I should say that the one thing that trumps the above ideas is when SWMBO says “Hey remember that XXX beer we had the other day at XXX? I really liked it, you should try to brew it.” This doesn’t happen very often, but when it does I put that beer at the top of the list. Almost feels like a free brewday, since it’s the beer that SHE wanted.

Do I still have enough bitter on hand for the next few weeks ?

No: Brew some more bitter

Yes: Brew something else

I just got started brewing, but my last 2 beers have been selected by opening to random pages in Brewing Classic Styles. I think I will continue this method for a while so far it has picked for me an oatmeal stout and an IPA.

I set a brewing schedule for at least a year at a time. That way I can buy malt and hops once a year and get the best price. I also am able to wash and use yeast without it getting old or going bad. My latest obsession is to brew as much variety as possible using a very small list of different malts. I know my own seasonal preferences and just incorporate those into the schedule. I typicaly try new brews twice a year, seasonaly scheduled depending on style.

Lately, I've been planning my next brews based on whatever yeast catches my attention at the time. Since I've only been brewing for 10 months, I'm working through different yeast types, thus style types.

And, I'm fascinated by the seasonal Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale at the moment. Brewed up a Pale Ale this weekend with that yeast. Plan on harvesting yeast from that brew and trying other British style beers for the next few brews.

Over the past summer, I was fascinated by Wyeast 3711 French Saison and tried experimenting with it in a mild and a pumpkin ale, in addition to a couple of batches of saisons.

Last spring, I was caught up with the Pac Man yeast because I could harvest it from Rogue bottles. Brewed a bunch of different styles with that yeast.

So, I guess my plan is that I hook into a yeast strain, then try it in styles it is intended for, then branch out and experiment with it. Then move on to another strain...

I look at my pipeline and check what I am running low on. For example right now I am getting low on an IPA and I always like to have a IPA/APA around. So I just brewed that. Ther are other styles that I like to have on hand depending on the season, so I try to keep them around.

Right now as the weather is cooling down I like to have a good stout on hand. I got a batch that is ready to bottle,but may consider ianother batch so that I will have plenty for the cool weather.

If my pipeline is doing good, then I brew stuff that takes longer to mature, such as some Belgians. That way I don't mess up my pipeline while I am letting a bigger brew sit in a fermenter for a long time. Or I will do a style that I do not drink a lot of but like to have occasionally.

I guess it all gets down to what I have on hand and what I like to drink.

My first beer was (or is, rather, as it still exists,) a Mild. The night before I went to my LHBS to get my ingredients I went to an art show, and ended up drinking four dark strong beers on a nearly empty stomach. The next day I was feeling the effects, and suddenly the idea of having a nice 3.4 ABV beer around the house seemed like not such a bad idea.

I keep an 'on-deck' list of beers that I want to brew. That list often gets justled around, with new beers added, and others bumped down.

There's usually something i'm dying to brew. This week it's a modified Pliny clone.