How Important is it to You That You Match Style?

[violinguy]

I have a really hard time ignoring the "matches style" notification in Brewer's Friend. I want to add what I want, but I feel beholden to that little green check mark.

Assuming you're not entering your beer into a competition, do you try to stay within style or just ignore that and make whatever you like? I mean, anyone who's had Lagunitas IPA or even Sumpin' Sumpin' knows that they are far more bitter than "style" indicates right?

 

[doug293cz]

I have a really hard time ignoring the "matches style" notification in Brewer's Friend. I want to add what I want, but I feel beholden to that little green check mark.

Assuming you're not entering your beer into a competition, do you try to stay within style or just ignore that and make whatever you like? I mean, anyone who's had Lagunitas IPA or even Sumpin' Sumpin' knows that they are far more bitter than "style" indicates right?

Matching style really only matters for competitions. If you are just brewing for yourself, family, and friends. Brew whatever you like.

Brew on

 

[ChelisHubby]

I brew what I like then I enter the brew in brewers friend and know what to call it sort of!

 

[violinguy]

I brew what I like then I enter the brew in brewers friend and know what to call it sort of!

That's a great way to go about it.

 

[GrimBrewer]

The first time I make something new, I stay in the style. Then I start to tweak and you may end up in a different style or something way out. My standard pale went ipa and then turned into a black ipa. Then there is the pale ale saison or pale lager. Or honey blonde to braggot.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I ignore style completely. Who cares? I just brew what I like.

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

I agree. I'm currently brewing my first batch, an APA, but with an extra 0.5 oz of Columbus hops (14.9% AA), so it makes it to bitter to be considered a real APA by the BJCP. But who cares! Not in a homebrewing comp (yet..) We'll see how it turns out and then I'll consider that road

 

[CGVT]

I am not super strict, but like to be close enough to tell people what it is they are drinking and be reasonably truthful

 

[kh54s10]

I haven't looked at Brewers Friend in a while. I use Beersmith, it has bars with a pointer red on the low end a little area of yellow, green in the middle that says you are within style, another yellow then red on the high end. I use the right style i.e. IPA when doing one but might go outside the recommendation on the low side of gravity for a session IPA. Or way outside on the high end for a Black IPA.

I brew some that I stay within the boundaries and others don't come close. Some don't really even fit a style. I then pick a style where the pointers stay on the scales so I have an idea that the beer is not way out of balance.

 

[violinguy]

I am not super strict, but like to be close enough to tell people what it is they are drinking and be reasonably truthful

I think this is pretty much where I fall in this discussion. I have six "good" recipes in BF (plus a few experiments) and I've recently tweaked them a bit to be more in line with my personal tastes. Seems like I dig a little more bitterness than style allows.

My honey wheat is about 32 IBU (style is up to 30) and my brown ale is 42 (I forget what style is - I think around 35). I'm usually right on with SRM and OG, although sometimes my OG is a little high.

Whatever. I'm slowly getting away from "style" and brewing just what I like. It's almost liberating.

 

[Oginme]

For about 2/5 of the recipes I create and brew it is important to me. The other 3/5, not so much.

 

[brewcat]

I'll keep it within range for creating most new recipes. After that it gets tweaked as needed, which sometimes throws the recipe out of style. But then I find the recipe works.

So I guess, somewhat important to stay in style. Gives a good starting point.

 

[catdaddy66]

I like to begin by staying close to style but if I am outside the guidelines somewhat, that's cool. I have never had an issue with the gravity being high or low by about 5 points. As my skills get better I see less difficulty keeping close to what I want/expect a beer to be.

The challenge is always what engages me, as does the final product.

 

[chickypad]

I'm not so concerned with style exactly, but I usually have a pretty specific idea of what I want a beer to taste like. The target might be a commercial beer, or a beer I've brewed before, or maybe I want to take a beer that I know and make one or more changes. Some of those beers might fall perfectly into a BJCP defined style, so in those cases I guess I am concerned with style. In general though I'm trying to hit a particular target, not necessarily a specific style.

 

[Kent88]

Just jumping in here. Matching style isn't super important. I believe the latest BJCP guidelines have a blurb about how they're only suggestions and a few gravity points or a few IBUs aren't going to make a huge difference.

I could believe it, though, that if you are entering competitions that you should try to follow their guidelines.

When I started brewing I didn't want my beers defined by a style, but I think that when you're curious about all the different varieties and ingredients that you could use and you want to try them out that style guidelines can really help when you want to branch out from making SMaSH beer (or other simple beers with little variety to their ingredients).

 

[myelo]

If one of my beers matches perfectly a recognized style ... I probably screwed up.