Inexperienced Beer Drinkers and home brewing

Being 22 years old, I don't have extensive experience drinking the wide varieties of beers. I've been trying to sample different styles. Upland brewery and another small local brewery have some unique beers which helps.

However, I currently enjoy wheats, ambers, aka the "lighter," easier "drink-ability" beers. I want to venture into brewing different beers like IPA's, porters, stouts and things like that. So far I've done a Fat Tire clone and a dunkelweizen.

Where is a good place to start so I'm not turned off by radical beers?

Try a cream ale or kolsch. Wheats or hefe's aren't too much of a stretch. Maybe an amber ale.

If you want to start going a little hoppier, but not full IPA, try a pale ale.

Have you had Uplands Helios? I would try that and Sun King's Sunlight Cream Ale and Osiris, maybe Bells Pale Ale or Amber, all good beers that shouldnt be too radical.

Bells Two Hearted is a really good IPA as well, that I dont think is radical at all

coypoo said:

Bells Two Hearted is a really good IPA as well, that I dont think is radical at all

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I know some people consider that a pretty big beer, I love it, awesome IPA, but I know plenty of people who hate it who are of the "lighter" beer persuasion.

Koelsch and American Pale Ales are great jumping off points. There's tons of commercial examples you can try, and they're pretty easy to make. Once you get familiar with those types, try ramping it up in increments: move from an APA to an IPA, then from an IPA to an Imperial IPA, etc ...

You can also start branching off into variations on styles you're already familiar with. There are so many varieties of wheats out there, because they go so well with a variety of spices and flavorings. You can test the waters of "radical" beer by trying some of the many variations of wheats there are. Wheats are also, in my opinion, pretty darn near indestructible for a homebrewer. You can do so much crazy stuff with them and they'll turn out great.

Upland has an awesome wheat! I really like brewing pale ales. It gives me a nice clean beer where I can taste flaws or taste different hop varietals or different malts so I can learn about them. It helps me train my palette so I can recognize basic ingredients. APAs are also my go to everyday session beer.

Why not buy a single bottle or a six pack of different styles and see if you like them before you commit to waiting a month or more for five gallons of something you don't like?

You might also look into English Pale Ales: Ordinary Bitters, Special Bitters and ESBs in that order so you can sorta slowly move up the scale of bitterness.

I second the English ales. I personally find them a bit less "radical" than American beers. Maybe they can be a more subtle way to broaden your horizons.

I'd recommend reading through the Northern Brewer catalog. They have some great descriptions of their beers (it's like beer porn reading that catalog). I'd also recommend looking at the beer kits at your LHBS. The Brewers Best Classic recipes are pretty standard and you'll get a good beer out of them. Once you find a style you want to try then ask someone here if they have a good recipe. I'm sure you'll get numerous suggestions.

If you can find it in your area, get a variety case of Victory Brew from Pennsylvania. It will have some stronger beers, like a Pilsner, IPA (hop devil), Golden Monkey (yum!), and some kind of lager (can't remember).

Really, if you look around at the beer store, you should be able to find some micro-brewery variety packs. Just check 'em all out and figure out what you like, then do some searches for "clone recipes" and try to make one of your favorites!

enjoy your journey to being a beer officionato!

marz

Barleywine.

Wait...what?

HE IS ASKING WHAT TO BREW YOU MORONS.

I would brew a simple stout.

AG:

8 oz chocolate malt
6 oz roasted
8 oz de-bittered black

10 lbs pale 2 row

1 oz fuggles 60 min

WL irish ale yeast

Extract

3 lbs x dark DME
3 lbs pale dme
6 oz roasted

Fuggles 60
WL irish ale yeast

cheezydemon3 said:

HE IS ASKING WHAT TO BREW YOU MORONS.

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I don't have extensive experience drinking the wide varieties of beers.

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emphasis mine

Seems like it would be a good idea to drink some different styles rather than brew up a 5 gallon batch, sit on it for 6 weeks, and then find out you don't like it.

I think it boils down to conditioning your tastes by just going out to local brew pubs and try everything they sell. Most have samplers of 4 ounces that you can try. Keep mental notes on what styles they are. Go to different places so you can compare different IPA's, stouts, etc.

What I used to do, and still do is attend beer festivals all across the state. Here you can compare dozens of samples. One thing I think helps is that you need to think positive that you are going to like the sample. I believe that the people that don't like craft beer already have it in their heads that they aren't going to like it before they try it. And usually they don't.

I remember 5 years ago when I couldn't stomach Arrogant Bastard and now its one of my favorites! Now I drink Old Guardian, Double Bastard and now Nemisis (slowly).
I think once you can drink all of these styles, it becomes easy to brew anything.

SilentAutumn said:

I'd recommend reading through the Northern Brewer catalog. They have some great descriptions of their beers (it's like beer porn reading that catalog). I'd also recommend looking at the beer kits at your LHBS. The Brewers Best Classic recipes are pretty standard and you'll get a good beer out of them. Once you find a style you want to try then ask someone here if they have a good recipe. I'm sure you'll get numerous suggestions.

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Yeah my LHBS has the Brewers Best prepackaged kits. I've done two and am pretty impressed with their grain/DME kits.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Why not buy a single bottle or a six pack of different styles and see if you like them before you commit to waiting a month or more for five gallons of something you don't like?

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Because my dad and all his friends will drink the hell out of it haha . The last batch I brewed is all gone...he handed them out like halloween candy haha. Its been three weeks exactly since bottling!

wolverinebrewer said:

....Most have samplers of 4 ounces that you can try...
The bar/grill 2 blocks from my apartment has ~75 different bottled beers and ~45 on tap. Love the sampler.

I remember 5 years ago when I couldn't stomach Arrogant Bastard and now its one of my favorites! Now I drink Old Guardian, Double Bastard and now Nemisis (slowly).
I think once you can drink all of these styles, it becomes easy to brew anything.

At that bar/grill I tried the Arrogant Bastard, was definitely a shocker as my first beer with such a high abv. I probably could've drank a couple glasses of it!

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beerrepository said:

Have you had Uplands Helios? I would try that and Sun King's Sunlight Cream Ale and Osiris, maybe Bells Pale Ale or Amber, all good beers that shouldnt be too radical.

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I haven't yet, I had their double dragonfly ipa last brewday and loved it. I'm from Castleton and frequent Great Fermentations! If you ever do an AG brew I'm really interested in watching someone do it before I give it a shot. If there's a way I could watch I would be forever grateful (aka bring lots of beer haha). Shoot me a message!

But yeah I'm looking for the next beer to brew in a couple weekends. Sounds like I'll be trying a pale ale or maybe a hefeweizen. We'll see!
Thanks for all the input guys.

brum said:

I haven't yet, I had their double dragonfly ipa last brewday and loved it. I'm from Castleton and frequent Great Fermentations! If you ever do an AG brew I'm really interested in watching someone do it before I give it a shot. If there's a way I could watch I would be forever grateful (aka bring lots of beer haha). Shoot me a message!

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If that is the case, skip the Brewers Best and ask someone what a good Great Fermentations kit would be, Brian, Anita, and everyone else there know their stuff.

I would also recommend stopping by Bier, which is just three doors down from GF. Conner does some great stuff and you can try all you like.

I probably won't do another AG until we thaw out, but I will keep you posted.

Just brew an easy drinkin honey ale. You pretty sure you will dig it. I brew it for my "I wanna try one of your homebrews people" that I am sure won't really like my porters and I don't wanna waste one on them anyway.

beerrepository said:

If that is the case, skip the Brewers Best and ask someone what a good Great Fermentations kit would be, Brian, Anita, and everyone else there know their stuff.

I would also recommend stopping by Bier, which is just three doors down from GF. Conner does some great stuff and you can try all you like.

I probably won't do another AG until we thaw out, but I will keep you posted.

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Maybe thats what Ive been doing, a mixture of biochem, physics, and organic chem has my brain a little fried. Right on, thanks for the tips. Yeah keep me posted...I'd love to get your feedback on some of the stuff made that I call beer haha.

You're brewing for you. With spring on it's way and summer fast approaching and you being 22, I'd stick with a nice pilsner lager and get 4-5 cornies lagering until June/July, and get a couple cases/ kegs of a honey ale for March/ April tapping. Also, start putting together a nice keezer. Do this while you're young and unattached and you'll have it forever. Don't end up where I am... skimming funds to put a keezer together w/o alarming the wife.

Ipa is a great way to go.

I know you said "not turned off by radical beers", but go buy every Belgian and Trappist ale you can find. You might hate them now, but come back to them in a year. You'll wonder what the hell you were thinking. Artistry in a glass.

Went to the local Kroger tonight and made my own 6 pack. They were out of a lot of stuff but I ended up with some recommended by an "beer aholic" friend.

New Belgium Ranger IPA
Bells Winter White Ale - Tasty!
Upland Rad Red AA
Sierra Nevada Kelerweis Hefeweizen
Sierra Nevada Porter
Blue Dawg Blueberry

One will be drank tonight!
-Winter white ale

Hmmmm...Sounds like me in my early 20's. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was my gateway drug. Too bitter and "hoppy" for a few months, then I started craving hops. Pyramid IPA was next. Then the porters and stouts, starting off with the Guinness EXTRA Stout (still not a fan of the regular Guinness). I think the more varieties you have, the more you train your palet and the more you'll learn to appreciate the different styles.

Why are you asking us???? This ain't rocket science. Go down to your local beer depot, pick out a sixer of a style, any style. Take it home and drink it. If you like it, research a good recipe for it and brew it. If you don't like it, move on. Not too tough to figure out.

I'm 22 and a broke college student! Believe me, if I could buy beer in mass quantities to drink I would love to do so.

Originally this thread was meant to ask for good brew recipes to ease me into brewing different styles of beer. It's gotten away from the original purpose but any and all advice is duly noted. The only reason I've gotten anywhere in any of my hobbies (scca autocross/modifying cars, home theater building, and now this) is because I take every bit of advice thrown at me, so keep it coming!

Youre 22 and broke. Drink BMC for now, so you know what beer is NOT supposed to taste like. Then move into craft beer and you'll appreciate it more. I usually either get a variety 12 from a certain brewery or get a couple mixed sixes. When I come across something that rings the "i wanna brew this" bell, I research recipes till I find one that gets good reviews. HBT has great recipes that have been brewed and reviewed, so if your technique is solid, you'll wind up with a great beer. Like someone said earlier, get your gear
together now when youre single.

Since it was mentioned, it should be noted there is a difference between Pale Ales and American Pales. Being that American Pales are generously hopped.

So rather than going from one level of bitter to another from APA to IPA. I would suggest trying different varieties of each. Not everyone that likes IPAs like APA.

I don't know if it's the large amount of hops used in IPA that help change the profile some, but the hops come through fresher and more floral in APAs and that's generally the character some IPA fans don't like, my girlfriend being one of them.

It might be that IPAs add more hops to the boil while APAs dry hop for the flavor and aroma rather than the bitter. I've not set about making them yet so I've not bothered to look up the difference, just drink 'em. lol

Most micro brewerys have samplers. Most of the time you can get 3-4oz of 5-8 different beers

brum said:

Went to the local Kroger tonight and made my own 6 pack. They were out of a lot of stuff but I ended up with some recommended by an "beer aholic" friend.

New Belgium Ranger IPA
Bells Winter White Ale - Tasty!
Upland Rad Red AA
Sierra Nevada Kelerweis Hefeweizen
Sierra Nevada Porter
Blue Dawg Blueberry

One will be drank tonight!
-Winter white ale

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Kroger's U-pick 6 pack is awesome. I got to taste a lot of different stuff picking from that wall. One thing I would recommend is keeping a journal when you are trying a lot of new stuff. It is easy to forget what you like and didn't like. I started taking pictures of all the beers I have tried, so far I have 148 photos :rockin:

beerrepository said:

emphasis mine

Seems like it would be a good idea to drink some different styles rather than brew up a 5 gallon batch, sit on it for 6 weeks, and then find out you don't like it.

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Agreed, but I admire his sense of adventure:

brum said:

I want to venture into brewing different beers like IPA's, porters, stouts and things like that. So far I've done a Fat Tire clone and a dunkelweizen.

Where is a good place to start so I'm not turned off by radical beers?

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Also, a beer brewed by you will likely be well recieved, and therefore may be a good intro to the style, and 5 gallons is a goodish amount to develop a taste for something you are not used to!

MarzBock said:

If you can find it in your area, get a variety case of Victory Brew from Pennsylvania. It will have some stronger beers, like a Pilsner, IPA (hop devil), Golden Monkey (yum!), and some kind of lager (can't remember).

Really, if you look around at the beer store, you should be able to find some micro-brewery variety packs. Just check 'em all out and figure out what you like, then do some searches for "clone recipes" and try to make one of your favorites!

enjoy your journey to being a beer officionato!

marz

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Victory Prima Pils (i'm not a huge Pilsner fan but that's a very very good one!) Hop Whallop (bigger than hop Devil closer to Dogfish Head 90 min)
Victory makes a Helios Saison that is really very good considering the price point (under $4 for a 22oz bottle). Storm King Stout is a big Imperial Stout... Can you tell I like Victory Brewing Company...

brum said:

I'm 22 and a broke college student! Believe me, if I could buy beer in mass quantities to drink I would love to do so.

Originally this thread was meant to ask for good brew recipes to ease me into brewing different styles of beer. It's gotten away from the original purpose but any and all advice is duly noted. The only reason I've gotten anywhere in any of my hobbies (scca autocross/modifying cars, home theater building, and now this) is because I take every bit of advice thrown at me, so keep it coming!

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My advice in an earlier post could probably have been clearer. I'd recommend trying some different styles so you know what a style is "supposed" to taste like before you commit to a 5-gallon batch. But if you like wheats, I do think they're a great place to experiment:
Step 1 - Make an ordinary wheat. Safe, simple, easy to drink.
Step 2 - Make the same wheat but add some crazy spice or herb to it.
Step 3 - Try again with some other new ingredient. You may surprise yourself.

And if you're broke, a fun way to try lots of beers without breaking the bank would be to check out some microbreweries near you that do tours and sample tastings. Not sure how many you have up in Indiana (I lived there for a while, but that was 10 years ago), but if there are any around you, it's always fun to get a tour of the brewhouse and then taste samples of a few different year-round brews and crazy seasonals. That's not only a fun and pretty cheap day out, but it's educational and inspirational.

Single Malt & Single Hop (SMASH) extract beers can be a nice way to try several types of brew cheap using the same base recipe.

Light Munton and Fison dry malt extract (a must for a true smash it is only M&F base pale malt no specialty malts for head retention or color)
a hop at 60 min
a hop at 30min
and a hop at flame out
a yeast of choice

this site helps me build a lot of my recipes (and it's free)
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/

Here is a simple American pale ale SMASH using cascades that I've done (you can steep some specialty grains to darken color or change flavor, things like crystal malt work here, but it would no longer be a Single Malt & Single hop) It's pretty hoppy so back down a bit on the 60min addition if your not sure how hoppy you like your session ales:


06A. American Pale Ales, American Pale Ale Extract

Stats
OG 1.049
FG 1.012
IBU 40
ABV 4.8 %
SRM 2

Specifics
Boil Volume 3 gallons
Batch Size 5.5 gallons
US-05 Yeast

Fermentables
6.00lbs Light Dry Malt Extract (munton & fison it's a buck or two more but worth the extra. The best dry malt extract on the market in my opinion. I still use this when I do a partial mash of a BIG beer that I can't mash all my grain)

Hops
1.00 oz Cascade Pellet 60min
.5 oz Cascade Pellet 30min
.5 oz Cascade Pellet 1min

Yeast
Fermentis US-05 dry yeast

Just simple changes in hop type & amount and yeast choice will make a big difference in final product. To stay cheap experiment with dry yeast...

Hope this is more what you where looking for!

Oh add last few pounds (2lbs) of the dry malt extract to last 15 min of boil. You'll get better hop Utilization and it will help keep the color from darkening due to Carmelization of the sugars in the boil.

shawnbou said:

And if you're broke, a fun way to try lots of beers without breaking the bank would be to check out some microbreweries near you that do tours and sample tastings. Not sure how many you have up in Indiana (I lived there for a while, but that was 10 years ago), but if there are any around you, it's always fun to get a tour of the brewhouse and then taste samples of a few different year-round brews and crazy seasonals. That's not only a fun and pretty cheap day out, but it's educational and inspirational.

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Yeah! Within minutes I have Upland, Bloomington Brewing Company and Sun King (when i'm home from school)

Beer journal is a fantastic idea.

Again thanks for all the comments

lucky bastard to have all those great local breweries, florence sc just got it's first... 2 beers of their own.... brown & a golden... both good.. but can't wait to see what comes on next 4 taps... talk to those local guys, ask questions if they are cool they will help you.
I found out both of the local brewpub ales are using the white labs sierra nevada strain. Ask for a tour... most likely they'll say yes! esp if they are not busy.

My favorite strategy for trying out some new beer is going to my favorite local bar and asking the bartender to shut his eyes and pick something. Of course this necessitates a place with a nice selection!

One additional idea: if your dad and his buddies are the main people with whom you share your beer, ask what they'd want. Maybe they're all secretly Guinness fans and would love it if you brewed them up a nice stout. Perhaps they just want a more interesting lager beer -- maybe something with fresh local fruit or a different (but not higher) hops profile. Even better, ask them to bring you commercial beers in the styles they'd like to see you make so they pay for 'em instead of you!