What to brew....

So Im new here, ive been snooping around for quite a while and i finally upgraded my mr beer to a 6 gallon bucket. I just wanted to know if there was a general consensus on making the same beers over and over to really perfect the beer or making a ton of different recipes?

 

experiment with different things. You'll learn alot more that way!

 

I'm not sure what everyone else will say but I have only been brewing about a year probably about 7-8 beers but none have been the same beer. In that time I have also gone from kits with extract to making my own recipes up based on others recipes from here.
You can probably answer your own question though. Which would you rather have months of basically the same beer or different beers. Maybe if I had more then one kind to drink at a time I'd say have a steady one you make a lot to get it perfect and have another that changes.
Drink one kinda of beer for 15 to 20 gallons as you fail it in would suck.
All this is just my opinion though.

 

I agree i definitely want the variety. I think if I really continue with this Ill get another bucket so I can make two at a time, one different beer and maybe perfecting a recipe with the other. The hardest part about this is not going out and spending all my money on new equipment. I just want to keep making more...

 

There are brewers on both sides of the fence, and many of us flip-flop. Sometimes I'm on an IPA streak, fiddling with different hopping schedules. Other times I'm brewing as many (varied) 5 gallon batches as possible. I'd say start with the shotgun approach, play with lots of variables and take lots of notes from your first batch forward.

 

I love switching it up. My basic rule of thumb is ill change malt roasts based on season and ill tweak stuff based on that. Spring and summer ill start shifting into pales, reds, and ambers with a lot of hop character because they are flowery and refreshing and just remind me of nice weather. As fall and weather roll in ill start brew darker things like porters and stouts because the roasty flavor reminds me of fireplaces and i think the dark roast flavor goes better with seasonal spices like cinammon and nutmeg. But thats just me though. Hope this helped!

 

I am a newer brewer and I am concentrating on some variety but centered around a theme. I like crisp beers with some floral character. I went straight for a keg system too so I am really concentrating on refreshing, session beers. So I am thinking of rotating among pilsner, kolsch, american wheat, APA, witbier, maybe a belgian blond. I also like the seasonal aspect advocated by maynard above. These styles in my theme also allow me to follow seasonal temperature changes in my basement/fermentation cave.

So just as everybody says variety, I imagine they gravitate to their favorite styles. But if try and figure out what makes those beers similar, then within different recipes you will learn how you are accomplishing your preferred beers.

 

I'm a noob too. I just made the decision that every other brew is now going to be an IPA until its perfect. Between IPA brew and the day its done conditioning, I'm going to brew some variety. When I have the IPA perfected, I'll move onto a different beer to do every other brew until I have 3-4 "house beers" I can recreate over and over.

 

I've got less than 20 batches under my belt but I've been making my own recipes since brew #3. I like to cook and experiment and I like to drink a variety of beers. I kind of wish I would have stuck with tried and true recipes but at the same time I like the fact that the beers that I made are my own (even though they're not so great).

I recommend trying as many styles as you like to drink that are feasible to make and once you a done you can then start dialing in the ones you liked the most.

 

It's like what style of beer is best, it just depends on your personality. Variety is great. Crafting your own, personalized beer and perfecting your process so that you can do the same beer every time builds fantastic brewing skills.

 

I just did the same to a 6-gallon better bottle...it's shipping next week (I might add the bucket for Coopers kits) and I am planning on brewing a dunkelweizen (http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Recipes/beer/display/dunkel-weizen), which got some praise from the LHBS because it's not a common beer style here...I've only had it once myself.

After that, I'm going all-grain. Just read the date on when the malt extract was packaged at your LHBS to see why all-grain is a nice alternative...mine was packaged six months ago and it was still on the shelf one week ago.

 

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. I think Im gonna experiment a lot at least at first and then maybe try perfecting a recipe. Just trying to learn everything all at once though I know its impossible. Got a pale ale going right now then I think Ill try a porter and kind of go from there.