Next on deck!

The batch of Brown ale went well. Tasty and satisfying ...to me. The wife would like a "regular beer". I said OK (of course, I'm not stupid), any suggestions? Perhaps an IPA? Something simple. BTW, I like to go with extract and grains, it makes a real good beer. So any good recipes for a new guy?

What does she call regular. I mean as in what flavor?

Most women who like beer will like a Hefe Weizen. Very clean and refreshing not overly cloying in taste. If you don't have a lagering set-up, you'll be hard pressed to produce anything close to an American Lager.

Just do a google search on Hefe Weizen and you'll get plenty of formulas.

Hey, You may want to buy some and let her try it first.

You might consider an English Mild. Even though they tend to be dark, "lite" drinkers seem to love them. Probably because of the less agressive hops (I use Fuggle). I've seen Lite American Ale kits, but can't find one right now, seems they substituted 40% rice flour for the malt in a Pale Ale and cut the hops in half. (found one, see below)

Or do like the pros, brew heavy (around 7%) and dilute to 3.2!

English Mild

* 6 lbs. Pauls Mild Ale (or 5 lbs light LME)
* 0.125 lbs. Simpson's Chocolate
* 0.25 lbs. Crisp Amber Malt
* 0.25 lbs. Crisp Brown Malt

Boil Additions

* 1 oz. Fuggle (60 min)

Yeast

* Wyeast #1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast. Flocculation: medium. Apparent attenuation: 72-76%. Optimum temperature: 62-72.

Lite American Ale

4# light malt extract (Northwestern)
2# rice extract
1/2# crystal malt (45 minutes at 165F)
1 oz low alpha hops (Fuggle, Liberty) at 60 minutes.
Wyeast Chico ale yeast