When designing a beer...

When designing a beer, you try to stay true to style and within range of that particular style. Sometimes I color outside the lines. When is it ok and when is it not ok?

I'm making a milk stout to commemorate my dairy farm family back round. I would like to make it strong and maybe add oatmeal. not sure yet but where do you categorize that?

Or maybe we need to think outside the box. I doubt dogfish head even looks at the ranges for styles.

Speaking of which I forgot where I saw this but I saw an Imperial Mild.

I think thats the wrong way to go about it no?

Imperial mild is contradicting and doesn't make sense, but who am I to judge?

 

I don't think it really matters unless you're brewing for a competition. As long as you like it, then you can do whatever

 

Unless your entering in a competition then what does it matter? I have several great brews on hand that I couldn't really place in a style. But I like them a lot and that's all that matters. Brew what you like.

 

so if your brewing at home it doesn't matter? I get it but I like to compare my beer to commercial counterparts.

I guess I need to learn not to and just do what makes me feel right

 

yeah man just brew what you like, and if it's not "to style" just give it a new name!

 

not all commercial beers fir neatly into a standard style.. not that I would do it but I wonder how well some of the commercial brews we like a lot would do in a homebrew competition?

 

I like using styles as a starting point, mostly because when I imagine a concept it's usually an offshoot of a classic archetype. To me, the style is the canvas and the concept is the paint. But I do agree, you can make fantastic beer even if it doesn't fit prim and proper into a style.

 

There's no beer police that are going to knock down your door and make you dump your beer for being creative. Some people brew to style, some people experiment to style (meaning like in category 23, where you experiment but off a discernable, underlying style- For example my chocolate mole porter is a base porter with mexican hot cholocate disks and chiles, but the underlying style is still identifiable and brewed within bjcp guidelines,) some people just experiment, or all of the above. Like others have said, unless you're entering a contest you can do whatever the heck you want, and how you want it.

 

To me Brewing is like making pasta sauce, no 2 batches are the same because I'm always tweaking things and makings mods to the recipe. I may start out targeting a particular style, but often times kick things up a bit to suit my mood at the time. I decided to try a robust porter last year, but wanted a bit more IBUs than the style called for cause I love IPAs.

This year I planned a Belgian Tripel...had poor mash efficiency and ended up with a Belgian Blond by the style guidelines...and truly enjoyed it.

I guess, bottom line, I craft a recipe for the palate and then try to see where it fits in the style guidelines mainly for developing a name and telling folks what they are drinking.

Like others have mentioned, if brewing for competition, focus on meeting the criteria.

Cheers

 

You should never ever brew anything that is out of style. What do you think this is a hobby? All beer needs to conform with Reinheitsgebot. You have to brew to style even if you don't like it. You don't want to brew what you think will taste good. They are watching. They will know. "They" meaning the evil robot overlords of course.

 

Unless you are specifically brewing for a competition, brew for your personal taste. Besides they're the BJCP "Guidelines", not "Rules". Bend them however you want. :rockin:

 

People really liked my IEIPA (14A/C Imperial English India Pale Ale) and that is all I cared about.

 

i throw together a recipe, trying to be within a style, sometimes it fits, sometimes not. for instance: did a brown ale, turned out to be a baltic porter. this was one of the best beers i have ever had, if not the best. i am entering it in a competition. my oatmeal stout, actually became a foreign extra stout. my mash tun is 82% and i almost always end up with a higher og. which is fine. if i want to stay within range, i cut back on the fermentables. it is what it is, if we are trying to perfect our brewing (or improve), then i try to stay within style. for the most part, i throw down a recipe, whatever happens, happens. just free style. that's one of the greatest things i love about brewing so many options. i feel like a brew scientist, brewologist, beer chef. love it!! also, i have friends now (LOL). just like nike "JUST BREW IT"

 

Beer Chef, I Like that!

 

I tend to brew within style guidelines but I'm not that strict about it. If the gravity is a little off I don't care, if the ibu's are a little off I don't care, etc. The Belgian Pale Ale in my sig actually doesn't fit any style guidelines. I didn't give any thought to where it might fit as a style. I just thought of a flavor and tried to create it. I don't play with crazy ingredients but that's because I don't like those kinds of beers. To each their own.