Hopheads...what else do you brew??

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Darth_Malt

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I feel like brewing nothing but IPAs and IIPAs would really limit how much I'm going to learn about brewing and the ingredients involved. I do enjoy other styles of beer, just nothing as much as a good hoppy IPA.

What are your go to styles for getting away from IPAs for a batch or two?
 
These days I'm doing more brown and ambers, so I basically go from hop heavy recipes to malt heavy ones and back. I'll also mix a Belgian style in there from time to time.
 
BoPils. Still hoppy, but different hoppy.

Also, Pale Ales with clean, crisp hop presence, but not in your face. Easy drinking. Maris Otter + Munich + CaraMalt + 002 + simple hops all added late.
 
And just to add to what you said about learning to use the ingredients...

I felt like learning to use hops for a good IPA was rather easy and straight forward. It took me a little longer to work out good balanced recipes for my more malt centered beers and the more mild ones.
 
I love Belgians and Saisons. You can make them hoppy, but I love it when the yeast provides a great amount of flavor.

I also tend to brew a stout every third brew as it SWMBO's favorite style.
 
I brew most everything, except Belgians (don't care much for them) and sours (ditto). I make something different every 3-4 brew days, so I always have an IPA and APA on tap, as well as something totally different like an oatmeal stout or a lager of some type.

For spring, I generally have BoPils or a maibock, for summer a cream ale, for fall I'll have a nut brown, and for winter a stout or porter. One tap is generally something not hoppy.

Often I'll have something lower ABV as well as different- like that nut brown I mentioned- if I have an IIPA on tap. I'll sometimes have a super hoppy American amber, a crisp IPA, and then a dark lager available. It means variety, and it keeps me flexible in brewing different styles.
 
I like IPA's and always have one around.

I do like some variety so I brew a lot of different brews but a few are regulars. I always have a saison around. I always have a stout on my nitro tap. I love my Belgians and have a big pipeline of them around. After those I will brew an occasional ESB, Amber Ale, Wheat.
 
I love IPA's and always have some version of a hoppy beer on tap (IPA, IIPA, CDA or ISA). But as I have gotten more and more into the hobby it has really caused me to branch out and appreciate other styles. Some ones that I brew regularly are a Blonde, Scottish Style Ale and an American Wheat. I kind of operate my homebrewery like an actual brewery where I am trying to nail down 4-6 signature beers of varied styles.

I've also been tweaking a Chocolate Espresso Imperial Stout trying to find that point of subtlety with that adjuncts where it balances well with the malts and hops, rather than overpowering them. I don't get a chance to brew it that often due to the long aging time and the fact I generally only have a couple pints of it week.

When choosing which styles to brew outside of IPA's, I like having a drinkable/sessionable option on tap, especially on brew days where too much RDWHAHB-ing can cause "issues." Also you can poll your friends/relatives/coworkers about which styles they like so not only can help you drink some of the beer, but also (hopefully) give you candied feedback about your brews. Then of course seasonal options are a fun way to branch out your pipeline.
 
I love IPA's and always have some version of a hoppy beer on tap (IPA, IIPA, CDA or ISA). But as I have gotten more and more into the hobby it has really caused me to branch out and appreciate other styles. Some ones that I brew regularly are a Blonde, Scottish Style Ale and an American Wheat. I kind of operate my homebrewery like an actual brewery where I am trying to nail down 4-6 signature beers of varied styles.

I've also been tweaking a Chocolate Espresso Imperial Stout trying to find that point of subtlety with that adjuncts where it balances well with the malts and hops, rather than overpowering them. I don't get a chance to brew it that often due to the long aging time and the fact I generally only have a couple pints of it week.

When choosing which styles to brew outside of IPA's, I like having a drinkable/sessionable option on tap, especially on brew days where too much RDWHAHB-ing can cause "issues." Also you can poll your friends/relatives/coworkers about which styles they like so not only can help you drink some of the beer, but also (hopefully) give you candied feedback about your brews. Then of course seasonal options are a fun way to branch out your pipeline.

mmmmmm candied feedback nom:D

**EDIT TO ADD SOMETHING USEFUL TO THE TOPIC**

I interpret your question to be "What other HOPPY beers can I brew". I'll say +1 to the saisons, belgian pales, and triples all work well with lots' of hops. I've not done a bo-pils but it seems like a good choice too.
 
I like to keep an amber and a pale ale in rotation all the time to get away from the hoppy beers. I also have modified the Dead Guy Ale Clone a bit to become a house brew.

Right now I have a kolsch about to be bottled so it's ready for Spring after some nice long lagering.
 
I've got 4 kegs. I've found there's not much sense in having more than two with an IPA in. I just can't drink them fast enough before they start to fall off. So I try to have a stout in fall/winter, wheat in spring, and also a sessionable blonde or cream ale in one of them. Also a pumpkin ale in fall. It's nice to have contrast between pours. A nice roasty stout really helps accentuate the hops in an IPA you drink afterwards.
 
So many great ideas! @Timrox: I hadn't even thought of a Black IPA, not sure how that slipped my mind. I'm going to have to get one of those in line here soon.
 
The normal IPA, Double IPA and Imperial IPA... Oh how I love them hahaha

I just made a hard cider for the wife, ESB (last batch) and for the next batch will be a pale ale


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I've grown fond of Bitters, specifically ESB. Trying to balance the malt and hops has made it fun to tinker with recipes. For a starter recipe in this style, I'd check out "Common Room ESB" in the recipes section of the forum.


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I made 36 beers last year. 10 were IPAs/IIPAs, 9 were saisons, so more than half of my yearly production was either an IPA or a saison.

Beyond that, I made a few APAs, a RIS and then a bunch of random things that may or may not have fallen under a statistical category.
 
I rotate like this, IPA, IIPA, stout, IPA, malty beer, pale ale, stout!

My malty beers and pale ales are my experiments, though I have some favorites: a rye amber and an elderflower session pale ale are recipes I get back to fairly often. I have a killer stout recipe I tweak from time to time for variety.

I've brewed most other styles except Belgians - all ale though since my cleanest pale ales are pretty damn close to lagers and brewing a lager seems like too much work, though... Maybe in the future

Steve da sleeve
 
I find I'm more like a pendulum, swinging from malt to hop and back. I go through "projects" where I single hop new varieties or ones I haven't used. But usually its a nice alternation between the two extremes

Did a 12% barleywine, then a hop session, then a wee heavy, then a saison, then three single hop pale ales, then a DIPA, rye IPA is getting bottled this week. Two experimental wheats coming up then another single hop IPA
 
I'm a huge hophead, but now that I've gotten into brewing I am trying to expand my pallet. So far I've done an IPA, a red ale, and a cider, with a milk stout up next.
 
I too love hops, but I always try to keep a cream ale on tap. Right now that space has a nice Helles, but I try to always keep something easy drinking on tap. I'm weird in many ways, but one is that I enjoy good brown ales. So you will almost always find a brown on one of the taps. Currently I have a very nice porter in that spot. I try to leave one tap for something seasonal or special. In this case, I will brew a Pliny clone hopefully this weekend. Of course one tap always has something hoppy. Right now it's the house IPA I am working on.


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I like to always have a blonde on tap. Some days you just want a smooth refreshing type beer, and that's when I go for the blonde. Belgian Wits are always a unique one to have (or any Belgian for that matter). I'm getting ready to get set up for stouts. So that's always an avenue you can try, with the nitrogen and all. Pretty cool to have.
 
Porters, APAs, and random styles when I'm not brewing IPAs and IIPAs.


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