Styles to focus on to become a better brewer?

[Keepcalm]

So I have done an Irish Stout, Irish Red Ale, and an IPA.

Looking for suggestions on 2 more styles to focus on to help increase my skill and round out my brewing lexicon. (Excluding lagers, dont have means to control low temps)

Plan on brewing the same recipes in each style 2 more times before moving on.

End goal it to be more consistent.

Thanks,
KeepCalm

 

[jlinz]

Try to make a very good Pale Ale. Getting a consistent stout in the rotation is a good thing to do, too. Two solid styles to drink anytime.

 

[Keepcalm]

Try to make a very good Pale Ale. Getting a consistent stout in the rotation is a good thing to do, too. Two solid styles to drink anytime.

Thanks, Think I'll give the American Pale Ale from BCP a shot. May keep the Irish Stout as my stout if it turns out good, bottling this Sunday. My LHBS didn't have exact ingredients so I improvised.

 

[jlinz]

Pale Ales are great, and maybe underappreciated. They can be made in many styles after you get the basic makeup down, American, English, even Belgian.

 

[Queequeg]

Yes I agree alternate between stout and pale ale. Once you have them nailed down its a solid foundation of brewing experience

 

[Keepcalm]

Yes I agree alternate between stout and pale ale. Once you have them nailed down its a solid foundation of brewing experience

Should I keep the same recipes when alternating between the pale ale and stout?
Reason I was thinking 5 different styles with same recipe was to keep some variation in flavor while getting consistent at recipes.

Thanks,
KeepCalm

 

[Queequeg]

No you can make changes just don't alter to many variables at once.

 

[beermanpete]

I have been making Blonde Ale a lot lately. I figure that since it is light it won't hide flaws easily. It is also low cost since it is low gravity and lightly hopped. Cream Ale is another style that seems suitable for this but I have not made any yet.

 

[user 70770]

I'd say nailing a basic pilsner is probably the benchmark. It's such a naked style with nothing big to hide flaws. A good pilsner is a masterclass in water chemistry management, recipe formulation and brewing execution.

 

[Keepcalm]

I'd say nailing a basic pilsner is probably the benchmark. It's such a naked style with nothing big to hide flaws. A good pilsner is a masterclass in water chemistry management, recipe formulation and brewing execution.

This sounds like a great endeavour for me in 6 months.

Thanks,
KeepCalm

 

[Keepcalm]

I have been making Blonde Ale a lot lately. I figure that since it is light it won't hide flaws easily. It is also low cost since it is low gravity and lightly hopped. Cream Ale is another style that seems suitable for this but I have not made any yet.

Never thought about doing a style that wouldn't hide mess ups well.

Thanks,
KeepCalm

 

[Gadjobrinus]

A lot of good thoughts here. I agree with beerhappy, for the reasons he stated; though you said you can't do lagers due to inability to control lower temps.

My suggestion would be, to work on a pale ale, but either a series of SMaSH beers, so you can get to focus on the nature of some malts and hops, and/or a low gravity beer with a simple malt and hop bill. To me this is the ale analogue to what beerhappy said about pilsner - you can't hide. You get your process down. And you can then branch out because you've got a strong foundation.

Northern_Brewer and maybe others know my love of Coniston's Bluebird Bitter. I had it a long time ago, and I'll never forget it. First time I was truly stunned to see what you could accomplish with lean simplicity.

Edit: Missed beermanpete's comment. In agreement, great idea, imo.

 

[Keepcalm]

Thank to all for the information.

Since I plan on brewing three times each month, bunch of friends to help drink it all, I will focus on these three recipes for the next couple of months. After which think I will make the jump to all grain. Planning and piecing out parts for the system as I go along.

Stout : CERVEZA DE MALTO SECA from Brewing Clasic Styles

English Pale Ale: Programmer's Elbow from Brewing Clasic Styles

American Brown Ale: Dirty Water Brown Ale from Brewing Clasic Styles.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

If you can't do lager fermentation, I'd go for something light like a blonde ale. More forgiving than a pilsner, but it will still expose any issues with your process.

 

[brewcat]

Ones you like.

 

[yourlastchance89]

If you ever do get into lagers, American Light Lagers hands down the hardest thing to brew and the best style to review your process. Any mistakes will easily standout.

 

[mr_stout]

KeepCalm, I suggest just brewing the flavors of beer you like, unless you want to start a brewery. If you focus one the same style and work on improving your recipes you will be able to perfect it.

 

[Keepcalm]

KeepCalm, I suggest just brewing the flavors of beer you like, unless you want to start a brewery. If you focus one the same style and work on improving your recipes you will be able to perfect it.

The problem is ... I like all beer

 

[mr_stout]

I only like stouts.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

A hef is harder to nail down than most people would think. Making a wheat beer is easy, making a very good and authentic one takes some effort.

Another option is a well balanced properly flavored dupont style saison. Trying to get malt backbone, keep it dry, low but existant hop flavor and aroma, and below 6.5% ABV with a yeast like 3711, 566, or M29... all while letting the yeast flavor punch through. And definately no sugar. Definately a brain suck task but fun and tasty.

 

[Keepcalm]

A hef is harder to nail down than most people would think. Making a wheat beer is easy, making a very good and authentic one takes some effort.

Another option is a well balanced properly flavored dupont style saison. Trying to get malt backbone, keep it dry, low but existant hop flavor and aroma, and below 6.5% ABV with a yeast like 3711, 566, or M29... all while letting the yeast flavor punch through. And definately no sugar. Definately a brain suck task but fun and tasty.

I do want to do a saison. Think is a little advanced for me atm.

 

[Keepcalm]

My suggestion would be, to work on a pale ale, but either a series of SMaSH beers, so you can get to focus on the nature of some malts and hops, and/or a low gravity beer with a simple malt and hop bill.

Do you know of a good resource with SMASH extract recipes?

Thanks,
KeepCalm

 

[jalc6927]

Witbiers are good as well

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Do you know of a good resource with SMASH extract recipes?

Thanks,
KeepCalm

Most extract cream ales are SMaSH beers. I'm brewing one next week to get SWMBO'd into brewing. It started as 3 lbs of Light or Pilsen DME and .25oz of Nugget (14% AA) at 60 minutes. This is for a 2 gallon batch.

 

[helibrewer]

I would also suggest trying some nano mashes. Use a 1qt Mason jar for each run. Do one with 100g of your usual base malt. Do another with 95g base malt and 5g of Crystal 60 (95% base/5% crystal), do another with some other percentage of base and maybe munich or caramunich. To all of these, add 152F of the water you brew with and let them sit for 1 hour. Obviously crush these grains as usual. You can make as many of these as you want all at once. This is for malt analysis, no hops are used.

Taste them all and take notes, this will give you a real good idea of how the malts work and how the flavored malts contribute.

 

[triethylborane]

Kolsch

 

[Keepcalm]

I would also suggest trying some nano mashes. Use a 1qt Mason jar for each run. Do one with 100g of your usual base malt. Do another with 95g base malt and 5g of Crystal 60 (95% base/5% crystal), do another with some other percentage of base and maybe munich or caramunich. To all of these, add 152F of the water you brew with and let them sit for 1 hour. Obviously crush these grains as usual. You can make as many of these as you want all at once. This is for malt analysis, no hops are used.

Taste them all and take notes, this will give you a real good idea of how the malts work and how the flavored malts contribute.

I am definetly gonna try this.

Do u just dump the malt after or do u make something with it?

 

[Keepcalm]

So i picked up some ingredients for SMASH. I just picked some malt and hops based off of recipes I have seen.

Though would this really be single malt? Think these malt extracts are made with multiple malts.

Would this be a blond Ale?
6.6 lbs Briess Golden Light LME
2 oz Cascade Hop pellets (additions TBD, thinking 1oz @60,.5 oz @30 and .5oz @10)
Safale US-05 dry yeast.

Would this be considered a stout?
6.6 lbs Briess Traditional Dark LME
2 oz Kent Holdings Hop pellets (additions probably the same as above)
Safale S-04 dry yeast

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Do you know of a good resource with SMASH extract recipes?

Thanks,
KeepCalm

Sorry, I don't. But you could certainly learn some things about a given hop by using a pale extract and one hop. Northern_Brewer, I thought, had a good recommendation: get a BMC beer, drop a couple pellets in, re-crown and allow to sit several days; then try the beer.

Unfortunately, I think, most of brewing is not easy to isolate out - so much is synergistic, e.g., a hop's aromatic oils might give something raw, a different thing boiled, a different thing due to yeast and fermentation, a different thing aged. Or a couple varieties singly (as you might examine by SMaSH) are completely different when combined with other hops. Malt, I think, is a bit simpler as a sensory "system," but I'd suspect the same ideas apply. Still going through a battery of SMaSH brews is, I think, very useful and does allow you a pretty simple platform to jump from one variable at a time. Just my $0.02.

 

[helibrewer]

I am definetly gonna try this.

Do u just dump the malt after or do u make something with it?

Dump it