To help expand knowledge

[the_ale_scale]

Because I know I'll get a million different answers If I try to do my own research. So I understand the basic differences between beer styles but not the fine points. Can anyone or everyone explain the differences between beer Types? Ie. Porter from stout, Belgian from saison, lager from pilsner ect. Thank you in advance

 

[Pkrd]

BJCP style guidelines might be a good place to start.

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2008_Guidelines.pdf

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Most beer styles come from either historical or current examples of regional beers, or from current market trends in craft beer. "Styles" are really a creation of the market place to a lesser degree, and of competitions to a greater degree, to give us some language to describe similarities and differences between beers, their ingredients, what we expect to taste, etc. You can look to many sources for descriptions of these styles, from as loose as rating sites like untappd, ratebeer and others, to the BJCP guidelines, GABF categories, etc. I would recommend you start with the BJCP guidelines, which are about to be revised for 2015.

 

[FatDragon]

Porter and Stout are pretty interchangable historically - a stout was a strong porter initially. Now, most people tend to consider a beer a porter if it uses primarily black malt for the color and roastiness, whereas a stout uses roasted barley, both of which lend different flavors and mouthfeels.

There are many kinds of Belgian beers, mos of which are defined more by their yeast and strength than their grain or hops. A saison is a variety of Belgian/French farmhouse ale, again primarily defined by the yeast.

Lager is beer that's bottom fermented (ale is top fermented - again, a yeast thing) and at lower temperatures than ale fermentation. Pilsner is a kind of lager that originated central Europe, and tends to have more hops presence than many other lagers.

You won't get a million different answers if you research this stuff yourself... maybe a few differing opinions on stuff like stout versus porter, but mostly it'll just be of varying degrees of technicality or presented from different angles, such as focusing primarily on taste or brewing science or history or, you get the point.

 

[the_ale_scale]

Thanks guys. After I posted this I did do some research, and I found an answer to one question ( the most basic question) the difference between an ale and a lager. Everything else I found was extremely vague.

 

[Talgrath]

My general rule: I'll figure out the style after I brew it. I might stick to a general idea, but I don't fuss too much about styles.

 

[bragona71]

My general rule: I'll figure out the style after I brew it. I might stick to a general idea, but I don't fuss too much about styles.

+1..I made a hybrid brown that people said the grain bill looks like a porter.. I can care less what I call it... it turned out amazing

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Yeah! I don't brew to style! A make a German lager, but it's black! Yeah.... well, uh, it's a Schwartzbier...

 

[Talgrath]

Yeah! I don't brew to style! A make a German lager, but it's black! Yeah.... well, uh, it's a Schwartzbier...

I'm not saying I ignore or don't acknowledge the styles that inspired me, but with the exception of when I'm entering a competition, I don't really care if a beer I build fits a particular style. My Scotch ale is a bit hoppier than a normal recipe, but it's also made with a traditional Scottish beer ingredient, heather and it uses scotch ale yeast, for example. Technically, by style, I made an herbed beer, but I still call it my scotch ale (and there is some precident for a hoppier American version of a scotch ale). I modify styles to fit my tastes and play around with ingredients and techniques because I'm not necessarily interested in building a traditional beer and seeing if it matches the style, I'm building beers I want to drink. My point was don't sweat the styles of beer unless you want to enter competitions.

 

[Pkrd]

I have, on occasion, had to relabel (but only the ones I gave to friends).

 

[pdxal]

Thanks guys. After I posted this I did do some research, and I found an answer to one question ( the most basic question) the difference between an ale and a lager. Everything else I found was extremely vague.

You found the BJCP Guidelines vague? Most would say too detailed, if anything. There are even commercial beers representative of each style.

 

[sompls]

BJCP style guidelines might be a good place to start.

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2008_Guidelines.pdf

What Pkrd said...the BJCP style guidelines are a great baseline for understanding styles....and the commercial examples are a good way to do some research!

 

[the_ale_scale]

Actually I haven't read through those guidelines yet. I did a basic Google search and flipped through what the sites had to say ( nothing useful). I'll need a lot of free time and boredom to read that.

 

[Pkrd]

If its black call it stout.
If its light call it lager.
In between? Its an ale.
Still unsure? Its beer.

 

[govner1]

Because I know I'll get a million different answers If I try to do my own research. So I understand the basic differences between beer styles but not the fine points. Can anyone or everyone explain the differences between beer Types? Ie. Porter from stout, Belgian from saison, lager from pilsner ect. Thank you in advance

Porter v. Stout- very similar but stouts have roasted barley
Belgians- too many to easily define in a few words. Saisons are the "typical" farmhouse ales historically made for serving during the harvest. Lots of other variations; Trappist ales, Pale Ales, etc. The big difference is in the yeast types. They tend to ferment at higher temps than most ales & have a more unique flavor profile.
Lagers & pilsners are very similar. They are fermented at much cooler temps and lagered (aged) at even cooler temps.