Going back to partial mashing

I have been BIABing for about a year and a half now. Most brew have been pretty darn good. A few that sucked due to recipe and or mash ph. Anyhow, I have kid number 3 coming in December and I will be mixing in some full volume partial mashes to save some time.

I know extract can make good beer, thats not in question. I'm just trying to figure out some styles that go well with LME. Anyone here switch back to partial mashes?

Obviously the lighter beers are out of question. I'll do all grain when it helps.

so what styles are easy to get away with extract?
I'm thinking...
Brown ales
Pale ales
dunkelweisen
porter
stouts
ect...

Also, I have only done a few partial mashes and used Light LME. I'm looking at my local guys recipes and I am eyeing a northern brown that uses Amber malt extract. Can anyone fill me in on the flavor of amber malt extract and what it is made of?? What places do other extracts serve other than light extract? Especially when using partial mash grains? Thanks for opinions and thoughts.

 

I've never fully switched to all grain. I'd say about half of my batches are grain. The other half is split pretty evenly between partials and steeping/extract batches. My robust porter recipe is a PM and I do the mashing on the stove before transferring to the full boil kettle, turns out great and no need to haul out the full brew setup. I sometimes will even do a partial boil on the stove or doctor up a Coopers can and do the 10 minute boil option...but let's keep that our little secret. I wouldn't want anyone looking down on me for my OBVIOUS lack of brewing skills!

 

Per your questions, I do tend to stick with light LME or DME and get all my colors and flavors from grains. I think the stouts and porters seem to work well with extract. I also think IPA can actually be pretty good. I've also done a hefeweizen that was made from 100% wheat DME, no grain whatsoever, and a starter of the 3068 yeast and it turned out just fine.