Best type of Beer for Beer Brats

[FiddlersGreen87]

I've been experimenting with different kinds of beers to make beer brats, and being how it's a great grilling weekend ahead I thought I'd ask your opinions. I realize the poll doesn't include every specific category, of beer but I tried to cover the general ones. If there's a specific kind you've had great results with please post the details here. You can also vote for more than one kind.

The Polls only allow 10 choices, so I ruled out RIS and Saison, so if anyone has a recipe using them please post.

To set the baseline, I cook the brats for 10-15 minutes in hot beer with onions, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then I grill them.

They come out awesome, and we top them with the onions on a good roll with spicy brown mustard.

The past month I've done two different styles of beer.

Laughing Skull - Amber Ale
Magic Hat #9 - "Not quite" Pale Ale

I definitely think I liked the Laughing Skull better than the #9. I think the caramel flavors and maltiness came through better than the #9.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I voted for both porter and brown ale, I use both fairly regularly with brats. I think if you're going to boil your brats in beer, it should be a beer that imparts some obvious flavour that will last after grilling. I will also boil those little red potatoes in the same beer I boiled the brats in, I just add a dash or 2 of soy sauce.
Regards, GF.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

I appreciate the input Gratus, I haven't tried stouts or browns yet. It's really disappointing 70+ people have looked at this and couldn't just at least throw a quick vote in.

It's a good point about the flavors surviving the grilling. I really only put the lighter flavor beers on here in case someone had tried them, but yea I didn't notice as much flavor surviving from the #9 as compared to the Laughing Skull Amber.

 

[hunter_le five]

I voted for pilsner because that's the only beer I've ever even tried using, and bock, but that's not an option. Both always came out good.

I'll have to do some experimentation. Porter and brown sound interesting.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

The onions were fantastic with the Amber, that is probably where I noticed the flavor the most. You could taste them in the Brat, but the onions really soaked it up.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

try boiling your brats in beer after you grill them

 

[Weezy]

My fav actually was a bottle of bigfoot barleywine and lots of onions.

 

[Beernik]

My preference is for stouts. Something nice and malty. But any beer is a good choice.

Lately I've been taking to pour some beer into a spray bottle and spraying beer on brats on the grill. Makes the skin crispy and sweet. You have to be careful not to over do it with the crispness.

If I fry them in beer, I like to boil the beer down to a thick syrupy glaze.

 

[drainbamage]

The last time I did it was with a blonde ale and while it wasn't bad, very little beer flavor came through. I'd go with something darker and more flavorful.

 

[ram5ey]

I love using stouts and browns.

 

[W0GWT]

try boiling your brats in beer after you grill them

This.

Also, I'm a traditionalist.
Beer brats is the best use of light lagers known to man.

 

[Chomp]

A nice overnight soak and then boil in PBR is my personal favorite, but that wasn't one of the voting options.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

try boiling your brats in beer after you grill them

What's this achieve? I've never heard of doing this so I'm curious.

I thought about putting Budweiser on there for the very reason that it's not good for much else.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

I didn't know how to respond, because there are three places I use beer in my brats. I could make it four, and mix beer into the mix before I stuff them, but I use milk and like the results. I parboil my brats first in a light american lager (BMC), then grill them - it gets them cooked through with far less splitting of the casing and charring. Once they're cooked, I put them into a warm beer (120F or so) to keep them warm and add some flavor, and then, or course, is the beer I pair it with when I'm eating it - and that varies depending on the time of year and the weather. I love a brown like Janet's Brown, or a doppelbock, marzen/o-fest, or a European amber lager.

 

[Jaymex98]

Pilsner
I use the beer to keep the brats moist on the inside...so I defrost them in the beer if they are frozen and simmer them for a few hours in Pilsner with the various combos of vegetables mentioned already. The grill only browns/crisps the outside after the simmer.

If I want good beer flavor, I drink a beer not eat a brat.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

What's this achieve? I've never heard of doing this so I'm curious.

I thought about putting Budweiser on there for the very reason that it's not good for much else.

when you grill your brats after they are boiled in beer, you are "cooking out" the beer. Boiling them first, is help releasing much of the fat content in the brat, plus it also cooks the brat. Boiling or just putting them back into the "hot tub" beer mixture after they are grilled, puts the beer flavor back into the brat. Try this with a brat after you grill yours the other way and get back to us on how the post boiled brat turned out. Google boiling brats after grilled,,,,,and you will read a lot of recipes out this little secret.