18 brews, but I don't like beer...What next?

[cooper]

So I've done 12 beers, 3 ciders, and 3 wines, and some spirits, mostly in the last few months. Only problem is I tend to keep my beer drinking to nights of binging with friends so most of my beer is given away. At the bar I'll usually drink a cocktail or a guiness but I enjoy brewing beer as it appeals to my list of generally science hobbies.

Question is, what do I brew next? The only IPA I really liked was brewed with irish ale yeast, the split batch was also done with half as nottingham which was a dead ringer for dogfishhead 90 and I simply can't drink more than one of those. The belgian white, triple, and patiersbiers were also tasty. The irish red, pilsners and oktoberfest were good for what they were but they don't make me crave them. The ciders(made from my own apple and crabapple trees) were tasty, but altogether too much like drinking thin apple pee wine. The dry irish stout was decent and didnt last long while the imperial stout made with nottingham is lacking the flavors i was looking for and is sitting quietly in bottles.

Maybe a milk stout? Any other suggestions?

Have you done any decoctions? That'll add another dimension to your brew skills. I think a nice triple-decocted Dopplebock is in your future.

 

[redsoxfan1974]

Sounds to me like a Sweeet Stout or a Scotch ale would be your best bet.

 

[sput]

Theres an oktoberfest lagering now that required an enhanced double decoction. In the future I'd like to try doing a split batch one with decoction the other smash to see what changes in the glass.

Lots of excellent advice and suggestions here.

So a bottle shop shopping list:
(milk stout)
(Oud bruin)
Rodenbach (red)
Goose Island(ipa)
Victory Prima (pils)
Troegs Perpetual/nugget nectar/pale ale (ipa/I amber/ale)
Nosferatu (red ale)
Lagunitas wtf (american strong brown ale)
Bells oberon(ale)
Old speckled/crafty hen (english ale)
(roggenbier)
(maibock)

Recipe list:
(milk stout)
(oatmeal raisin raspberry porter)
(maibock)
(scottish ale)
(English mild/brown)
(hefeweizen)
(english mild)
(some heineken/bmc/clone)

anyone care to fill in the blanks?

I have had a few Hefeweizens and I've enjoyed them all. Before I started homebrewing if the bar had a hefe I'd likely order it.

Is rauchbier anything like smoked tea? While I love my weber smokey bullet, that smoked tea I had was terrible.

The schwarzbier was good for a lager(I prefer ales) and something worth making a few gallons of.

I've been splitting batches lately to try how different yeasts and temps effect flavor profiles on identical mash and ingredients with some surprising and delicious results. The plus side is I get two beers without increasing the brewday, of course it takes an extra fermenter and I only have 13. 6x5gal buckets, 2x2.5gal glass, 1x5gal glass, 2x5gal nalgene, 1xsanky sixtel, 1x2.5gal flexy.

My lagering is currently being done in a cold stairwell while outside temps are cool enough but the converted minifridge (currently a cell culture incubator, send yeast!) will get repurposed when the temps drop further.

Lady friend is coming Thurs and will be making the pitt stop at LHBS (2hrs away) for ingredients so I have till thurs morning to decide on recipes and call it in.

 

[cooper]

How do you feel about doing one or two gallon batches and comparing affects of different yeasts, hops, mash temps, aeration procedures, PH levels... etc. That sounds like loads of stuff to get all kinds of scientific info on. And then you can post it here for all of us to discuss.

 

[solbes]

This is exactly why I still like to perform "beer research". Find a liquor store that sells build a sixpack so you can maximize the beers you try for your money. I try to buy a sixer like this at least every other week. Opened my eyes to some great micro/nano brews that can then be cloned (or at least attempted).

 

[ludomonster]

Troegs' porter hit the shelves a few weeks ago. If you live in Southeastern PA, you can go to Total Wine in Delaware and get a large selection of bombers. The Frontier Saloon in Prospect Park has the best selection of packaged goods in Delaware County. You can also get variety 12-packs from distributors. I know Sam Adams does one seasonally and Yards usually has one.

Seeing that you live in PA, the best bet is to find a place that has a good selection of craft packaged goods or go out of state - unless you live in Philly. Then, you best bet is to go to a ton of bars.

 

[sput]

I spent over 20 hours on a camp stove efficiency and thermal transfer study just to answer a question I had and couldn't find a real answer(no one else had ever bothered to ask it), so I'm no stranger to experimenting on useless minutiae. At least someone would actually find beer studies interesting. Problem being that beer is a heck of a lot more subjective than camp stoves and the 2 years of semi-pro espresso/coffee tasting I did doesn't seem to translate well when it comes to verbage.


One corner of chaos. Plenty of meters, peristaltic pumps, analytical balances, vacuum pumps, cell cultures/media, ultrasonics, blah blah. What I'm missing are data loggers to make up for my lousy note taking and a way to run side by side scaled brews. A decoction or smash at 5gallons isnt going to have the same temperature ramps as a 1gallon batch. Hmm, thats worth testing right there!

On a side note, I can probably get some SEM micrographs done on beer yeast if anyone is interested but they aren't very exciting to look at.

 

[wncbrewer]

If someone suggested this I missed it, but I have really become enamored with stouts lately, specifically imperial stouts. The complexity you can achieve with this style really is amazing. I might also suggest playing around with specialty ingredients. For instance, in the last couple of months I have brewed a saison with key lime zest, a belgian golden with chamomile and muscadine grape juice, a wheat/white ipa with brettanomyces, and an imperial stout with coffee and belgian chocolate. I also agree wholly with everything else that has been suggested. Beer is such a diverse beverage that the sky really is the limit so to speak...cheers wnc

 

[Trokair]

I don't know if you have lagering capabilities but if you do I would highly recommend a Swartzbier. I always tell my friends that it is the German version of a stout.

I second this. If you like malty vs hopy you may find yourself loving schwarzbier. Expecially if you are a lager drinker by trade anyway (although you don't sound like one). AHS's schwarzbier has been the best beer I have made so far easily.

 

[HIlife]

I'd second Hefeweizen, you can start with EdWort's recipe. It's a classic simple Bavarian Hefeweizen that is really made for multiple trips to the fridge/keg.

 

[allynlyon]

I'm thirding the hefeweizen recommendation. Also consider making a Belgian IPA. I typically don't like the bitter that comes with an IPA but when you stick the belgian yeast in there it gives it a nice sweet that offsets that bitter bite.

 

[TwoGunz]

I'm with wnc, try some different stouts and in particular some towards the higher ABV. If you've never had Samuel smiths oatmeal stout start there, it's subtle and fanfukintastic. I think stouts, porters, browns, and the generally malt focused beers don't get enough love.

 

[kh54s10]

A couple of thoughts on brews I have done. I did a version of John Palmer's Elevenses. It is malty and smoky. Another was a Scottish Wee Heavy, based on a recipe from Northern Brewer. I am also going to do another Belgian style soon.