Second brew recommendations?

[wsmith1625]

I am a brand new brewer, having made only one 5 gal batch. My first was a clone of the Deschutes Brewery’s Fresh Squeezed IPA from an extract kit with specialty grains and four different applications of hops. Much to my surprise, it turned out great. Now I want to make my next batch to add variety.
I have a “”better basic” Northern Brewer kit with a single glass carboy, a bottling bucket and all the basic accessories.
My beer tastes are varied, but not that experienced. I have enjoyed Fat Tire in the past. I don’t normally like the Bud & Miller types. I do like some dark beers very much, but will probably do one of those for my third batch. For now, I would like something that is a little lighter than the IPA I just made, but is still full-bodied and has some complexity. Maybe even some spice? I have never had a Belgian, a helles, a saison or many other types but am willing to explore. I’m not fond of the few Hefeweizen’s I have tried. What recommendations do any of you have, that you particularly enjoy that aren’t beyond my beginner skills?

My advice is to brew beer that you like and that you're familiar with. Try a few clone recipes and see how close you come to the commercial products. I enjoyed doing that and found that as I improved my brewing process, I got closer to the originals.

 

[JonGardner]

1 of my best pieces of advice is, if you don't know what a style tastes like Saison, Farmhouse, Wit, Belgian Tripel, Sour, etc, go to a store and buy 1 and drink it before you go to the expense and hassle of getting stuck with 5 gallons of something you don't like. We tend to call that "Research".

I hadn’t mentioned it previously, but I need my beer to be gluten free/reduced. So far, beer made with Clairity Ferm doesn’t bother me, so that is what I am doing. Unfortunately, that makes a standard route to research problematic.

 

[camonick]

I hadn’t mentioned it previously, but I need my beer to be gluten free/reduced. So far, beer made with Clairity Ferm doesn’t bother me, so that is what I am doing. Unfortunately, that makes a standard route to research problematic.

That changes pretty much all of the advice given above. There is a gluten-free forum here on HBT that may have some suggestions.

 

[mashpaddled]

You should brew what you like rather than as an opportunity to learn about a lot of styles. When a batch makes five gallons, that's a lot of beer to drink or dump if you decide you don't care that much for a style. As you learn more about what you like or change your mind about styles you will have more styles to explore brewing.

 

[pvtpublic]

I guess I have to clarify why I posted the guidelines. They're guidelines, not rules. Look through the descriptions to see what seems appealing. Even if that means combining two or more styles. Try a few commercial examples. Look at the typical ingredients used in those styles and their flavor profiles, and tweak it to what you think you might like. In my experience, this is what has helped me, but there seems to be a misguided census that I'm trying to be high and mighty with the BJCP. I'm not, I just consider it a good resource for what I want to do and I'm trying to pass on something to a fellow brewer. That's why we're here, to help each other and learn from each other. I don't understand why you would discount reference materials...seems pretty childish to me...probably the same kind of idiot that would put vanilla into a cream ale.

 

[JonGardner]

That changes pretty much all of the advice given above. There is a gluten-free forum here on HBT that may have some suggestions.

No, not really. Using Clarity Firm, I can brew any beer I like and get the gluten content well below the federal standards. Experience has shown that I have no reaction to beer treated this way.

 

[WesBrew]

A few styles for some variety but still have some substance: Belgian Blond, Altbier, Kolsch, Red, English Brown, Scottish ale, american blond

 

[JAReeves]

Just my $0.02, and some of this echoes what has already been said, but I started with extract recipes, and they were ok-it wasn't the ingredients (although I love doing all-grain now), it was my ability-level.

The first flaws I worked on were: Chlorine in the water (bought a carbon filter), fermentation temperature (initially I used a water-filled tray with the carboy inside covered by a t-shirt wicking water up out of the tray and a fan blowing on the whole contraption), and oxidation (carefully moving from primary to bottling bucket, carefully bottling, and eventually kegging because of the long bottling days).

Then I looked at water chemistry, cooling wort faster, and recipe creation. Now I am up to a 3-fermenter glycol system, RO Water, and a lagering box in addition to a keezer with 3 taps. It's a process, and some of it is unnecessary for a hobbyist.

I suggest taking it slow, taking lots of notes of your experiences, and working on the items that will probably make the biggest difference in the quality of your home brew. My initial attempts at IPA/DIPA always were oxidized (the stout was also, but no one could taste it); why spend $15 just on hops that you can't taste? I had to get a handle on that. I got off flavors from my chlorinated tap water, so a cheap carbon filter from a hardware store was better than buying water by the 1 to 5G jug. Having a cooler filled with water and ice bottles with a pump and cooling system for the carboy kept the yeast off-flavors down. That's kind of a hassle, always buying ice or swapping out bottles, so I built a DIY glycol chiller, but only after a few years of home brewing.

Learn from everyone, even if it's bad advice.
Some famous human that gets memed all the time said something like this, "Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn." I drank a lot of off beer, but I learned from the process.

Make beer.
Have fun.

 

[JonGardner]

I very much appreciate everyone's input. I have decided to do a saison for my next attempt. Wish me luck!

 

[Wash1]

We do wish you luck. It's a great hobby, so always enjoy!!