Advice/recipe on what to make next?

[Yooper]

I think I'm stuck in a rut. I love bitter malty beers and am drinking my Dead Guy clone (almost gone already) and my Redhook ESB clone the most. I have a Pete's Wicked clone in secondary, as well as our "house" beer, my Sawtooth ale clone. Still drinking my red ale (not a great fan of it), English pale ale (pretty good), and my brown ale (Newcastle-ish). I've got a lager yeast starter going for an American style maibock, sometime this week.

I saved my last yeast- Wyeast 1056. What would be good for me to make next? I'm still doing extract/steeping grains until my birthday when I'm getting a MLT from my husband! :rockin:

Anyway- I need to (gently) break out of my rut, but have to have something my husband and I can drink. He does not like stouts or porters, and IPAs would be iffy. Is there anything like the English pale ale, but a little hoppier? Anyone have a recipe for a killer hoppier but malty brew? I've got TONS of pellet hops in the freezer, so I would only have to buy specialty grains and extract.

Thanks!
Lorena

 

[the_bird]

You know, everybody seems to LOVE Walker's IPA, and it has enough malt in it to be very well-balanced. You could sub out the Chinook bittering hops for something a little less harsh if you wanted (I used Cascade, and it was barely an IPA).

Personally, next up for me is a California Common, because basement temps are pretty much spot-on for primary fermenation. Might be something to think about, I know it gets a wee bit chilly up in your neck of the woods. I'm malting it up with a bit of Munich and keeping the IBUs at around 30-35. You'd need a different yeast, though.

Do you guys like Scottish ales? Those can be very malty, as well.

Of course, I'm the one who told you to brew a red ale, so feel free to ignore me!

 

[Yooper]

I like the idea of Walker's IPA with cascade hops instead (chinook is a little much for me). I'm going to look at his recipe and see if that'll work.

It's probably not possible to do for a steam beer- I'm doing a lager in my basement, because it's cold there (50 in the warmest spot!). But my house temp is around 62, and the ales are working fine. I think a steam beer will work here in the late spring- when the basement warms up to the mid 50s.

I don't think I've ever had a Scottish ale. My brewfriend (is that a word?) is making one next, so I'll have to try hers. I was under the impression that they were "peat-y" but I probably have it mixed up with Scotch!

Lorena

 

[the_bird]

Well, apparently the whole peated-malt-in-Scottish-beers thing is completely wrong, it's only homebrewers who actually do that (according to Jamil, and I think Ray Daniels as well). If you like the idea of a steam beer, it sounds like you have the perfect temps to do it; primary SHOULD be at 62, secondary should be at 50. That's why I'm dong it, I can get some lager characteristics in a beer without having to actually lager. Just a thought.

Anyway, Walker's IPA really is kick-ass. I used an ounce of Cascade for bittering, it came out pretty damn good. Not sure how many IPUs, I should throw the recipe in BeerSmith and see. Everyone really liked it, though.

 

[Blender]

Lorena,how about a rye beer? I made and tasted my first one a month or so ago and and I am hooked. The version I did ran about 55-60 IBU's but it was balanced with the rye flavor. Gonna make another very soon.

 

[jezter6]

Well, it's not for the 1056, but like the rest of us, you should feel obligated to make Cheesefood's infamous caramel cream.

I would check out beertools.com recipe list. you can always find a bunch of recipes, and choose by style and ingredients you have on hand to find something.