Styles that mask imperfections better?

[Rkb1983]

So a little background:
I started brewing two years ago, and probably got 12 batches. Mostly extract, a couple BIAB mini mash that didn’t turn out great. I don’t have a lot of time and money to dedicate to perfecting my technique, which I’ve come to terms with. Last year, my wife gave birth to my beautiful son. So I haven’t brewed in over a year now. I’d like to get a couple more batches in at some point when I have some time off.

Now here’s the dilemma:
My taste for high quality craft beer has gotten pretty picky over the last couple years. I could definitely tell that most of my brews were not high quality. And unfortunately, with less disposable time now with a child, it doesn’t seem worth it to put in the time to brew when the end result is going to be sub par. Now I’ve made a few beers that turned out pretty damn good, and really offered something that is not easy to find in stores: massive amounts of fresh hops. I’ve made a few IPAs where I basically just used DME and a 15 minute boil, and used almost exclusively flame out and dry hops. The results were great in that the hops dominated the flavor. I really like that low bitterness, fruity hop juice style. So obviously I can just make one of those again, but I’m wondering if there are other styles/recipes that are fairly easy to brew and also have a wide margin for error. I have a soft spot for chocolate-heavy brown ales, which are not always easy to find in stores.

Now the curve ball: I’m going to be using the 2 gallon Mr. Beer barrel fermenter. I started out making 5 gallon batches but for various reasons it was much easier to use the smaller size. So any suggestion that doesn’t use a ton of different steeping malts is appreciated, as I may end up having to get a Lb of each kind depending on which store I go to.

If you’ve read this far, I really thank you. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated!

 

[mr_stout]

You can make a no-boil mead. That is pretty quick to make.

I do not think there are and shortcuts to making a quality beer. I would set aside some time while the baby was sleeping and make a clone recipe.

 

[bradleypariah]

I'm wondering why you didn't like your other beers. Do you know if you fermented too cold, or too hot?
-or if you were too hasty in drinking them? The difference between a bad beer and a good beer could be a week.
What kind of water did you use?
It's also possible you don't like the hop varieties you think you do.

What kind of yeast do you use?
"Hard" styles include yeasts with picky temperature ranges, in my opinion.
Before I had read your whole comment, I was going to come in here and suggest hop-heavy ales, with really good yeast. "Really good yeast" being of the utmost importance here. Fantastic yeast is the easiest fix ever.
Two different yeasts on the exact same wort can make drastically different beers.
With experience, a good brewer can make an amazing beer out of dry yeast, but an inexperienced brewer could also pitch San Diego Super into a Mr Beer with extract and a $#!t ton of late-addition hops, and it will be mind-blowing.

If you like hops, you've already found a great crutch. Adding enough hops can mask imperfections, and having the perfect yeast will make it that much better. I rehydrated a pack of dry yeast too warm a few weeks ago, and I'm going to be kegging that batch today. It was very stale-bread-yeasty when it finished fermenting, and I wasn't excited to drink it. I "fixed it" by transferring to a secondary for an extra week (getting off the old yeast), and dry-hopping it twice. No more yeasty smell, tastes great now.

Dark ales are pretty easy for beginners too, but stay away from 120L in high doses, otherwise your beer could come out tasting like raisins. Try mixing light and amber malt extract, then steeping a little bit of roasted barley, chocolate malt, and black patent. You don't have to hit 50 SRM like pro brewers do sometimes. You cannot see through 30 SRM.

Use a recipe calculator like Brewer's Friend to know whether or not your ideas fit into the style you think you're making.

Look up clone recipes on here, and see what your favorite beers have in them, and use that info to style your next batch.

 

[Calder]

Styles that mask imperfections better? - Lambic!

Grain stores fine. Seal in Ziploc bag and keep 'cool' (garage, basement, not too much effort). Even crushed grains will keep fine; if you keep rodents and bugs from the grain, and keep it sealed, crushed grain should be Ok for at least 18 months - I'm sure some will disagree. There really isn't any reason to limit the steeping grains.

As BP said, we really need to know what problems you are having, for us to provide recommendations. Off flavors from yeast, vinegar, etc.

 

[Rkb1983]

Thanks for the help folks. Past batches that went wrong were usually poor fermentation temp and/or, I suspect recipe issues that seemed like "probably a good idea at the time". I'll admit that a lot of what I enjoyed about brewing in the past was trying things that were a little different from what you can get in stores or even from a recipe kit, and the results weren't great.

I've made a porter that I added honey to (after a week in the primary), that turned out like hard apple cider. I later chalked that up to too much honey.

I tried making a brown ale that I thought was going to hit that dark, rich and chocolatey range that I like. 1lb light choc malt and some biscuit malt with light malt extract, this was a 5 gallon batch. It turned out too light brown and a too hoppy for my taste (as a brown ale). I don't have the exact recipe on this computer.

The first batch I made was a pretty decent rye brown ale, but it had a band-aid flavor because of the chlorine/chloramine in the tap that I didn't know was a problem. I've since used either bottled spring water or camden tablets.

I know that one of my limitations is fermentation temps. I can adjust the ambient temperature to an extent, but it's hard for me to keep a consistent temp in the 60s. I've learned that S-05 and Belle Saison are better at handling higher temps, so I've tried to stick to those. However I've always just sprinkled them on top of the wort. About half a package for a 2 gallon batch. Is is better to use a liquid yeast? I'm assuming I wouldn't need a starter since it's a 2 gallon batch, but what varieties would be able to handle slightly warmer temps?


If anyone knows of a recipe that sits somewhere around Old Brown Dog to Founders Porter, that would allow for some error, please post! And if you have a suggestion for a yeast that would work better for me, please let me know.

 

[bradleypariah]

What's the temp range of your fermentation area?

 

[CJ-3]

Have you considered a California Common yeast? They are a bit more temperature tolerant.

 

[z-bob]

Thanks for the help folks. Past batches that went wrong were usually poor fermentation temp and/or, I suspect recipe issues that seemed like "probably a good idea at the time". I'll admit that a lot of what I enjoyed about brewing in the past was trying things that were a little different from what you can get in stores or even from a recipe kit, and the results weren't great.

I've made a porter that I added honey to (after a week in the primary), that turned out like hard apple cider. I later chalked that up to too much honey.

I tried making a brown ale that I thought was going to hit that dark, rich and chocolatey range that I like. 1lb light choc malt and some biscuit malt with light malt extract, this was a 5 gallon batch. It turned out too light brown and a too hoppy for my taste (as a brown ale). I don't have the exact recipe on this computer.

The first batch I made was a pretty decent rye brown ale, but it had a band-aid flavor because of the chlorine/chloramine in the tap that I didn't know was a problem. I've since used either bottled spring water or camden tablets.

I know that one of my limitations is fermentation temps. I can adjust the ambient temperature to an extent, but it's hard for me to keep a consistent temp in the 60s. I've learned that S-05 and Belle Saison are better at handling higher temps, so I've tried to stick to those. However I've always just sprinkled them on top of the wort. About half a package for a 2 gallon batch. Is is better to use a liquid yeast? I'm assuming I wouldn't need a starter since it's a 2 gallon batch, but what varieties would be able to handle slightly warmer temps?


If anyone knows of a recipe that sits somewhere around Old Brown Dog to Founders Porter, that would allow for some error, please post! And if you have a suggestion for a yeast that would work better for me, please let me know.

It sounds like you're on the right track already. T-58 handles high temps just fine. I fermented a wheat beer with it 2 summers ago in my 80+ degree kitchen (didn't have the air conditioner in yet) and it turned out really good -- surprised the heck out of me. I used it in a strong porter last winter and that one took forever to be drinkable, but I think I fermented it too cold.

Next year I plan to try Omega's "Hothead" yeast; you can even pitch that one warm. It ferments clean up to 90 degrees or so. From what I've read about it, it should be an easy one to harvest the Krausen to repitch.