What to brew next?

[PashMaddle]

My current pipeline is as follows:
Drinking: water Coffee
Conditioning: Brown ale
Fermenting: Porter

Thats it.

My next brew day should be next month some time. I'm aiming for one BD every month or two depending on how much beer I have on hand (I don't drink a whole lot and my wife prefers cider to beer) ... but I do want a decent pipeline.

My plan is to try to "brew for the season" in relation to my taste. The brown ale and porter were intended for the fall, and I was going to do stouts (sweet and dry/Irish) for winter, but I missed the mark this year getting equipment and whatnot. I imagine spring will be going on by the time I have my next brew (next month's brew day) ready to drink. So, I'm considering just doing a Pale ...maybe as close to a SN clone as I will allow myself to do. ......or.... I could try my hand at a bigger beer that will have to condition until summer (Trippel or BGSA) even though I'm not sure I have the chops for that yet. .... Or (again) I could just get a jump on summer and start dialing in my Wit bier and Weissbier recipes (for summer) since those are what I'm looking forward to anyway.

I should also probably make cider for my wife at some point

TL/DR :
I'm indecisive, what should I brew for spring?

thoughts? suggestions? should I be spending this time playing videogames instead of posting bored 4am ramblings?

 

[RM-MN]

I'm similar to you, small quantity at a time brewing, slow to drink up a batch as my wife won't drink beer and I limit myself to a one bottle per day but I like a variety to choose from.

Summer here is months away so I don't need to start a summer beer yet but....maybe I would like to sample one sooner.

A pale ale will be fairly quick for conditioning and needs to be drunk up fairly quickly too because the hop aroma dissipates with exposure to oxygen and I am not going down the low oxygen route. I expect my pale ales to be losing aroma about 2 months after I bottle and be nearly gone in 3 months. I'll often brew one, leave it in the fementer for 2 to 3 weeks, dry hop for 5 to 10 days, then bottle it.

Sometimes in summer I want a thirst quenching, low alcohol beverage so I can quickly return to working with dangerous equipment without getting myself hurt. An English mild fits that requirement better than my pale ales as they tend to approach 6% alcohol and that approach may be from either side. Another choice might be a clone of New Belgium brewing's "Fat Tire", an easy drinking beer.

 

[PashMaddle]

A Fat Tire clone sounds like a good idea. I didn't really consider the short shelf life of pale ales.... which kinda makes me sad because I like pale ales.
Thats the downside of living in the south: summer is absolutely brutal and its always around. We get a week of fall, about a month of winter, a week of spring and its back to that level on Super Mario 3 where the sun is actively trying to kill you... The food down here is amazing though.

 

[RM-MN]

I didn't really consider the short shelf life of pale ales.... which kinda makes me sad because I like pale ales.

Brewing smaller batches can help as you can drink them up in a timely manner but even with the diminishing aroma the pale ales are still quite tasty. I no longer let that thought of diminishing aroma deter me from making pale ales. I just enjoy the aroma while it is present and enjoy the residual flavor after that.

 

[PashMaddle]

Brewing smaller batches can help as you can drink them up in a timely manner but even with the diminishing aroma the pale ales are still quite tasty. I no longer let that thought of diminishing aroma deter me from making pale ales. I just enjoy the aroma while it is present and enjoy the residual flavor after that.

I appreciate the wisdom found in that statement.
...and will likely apply it to my pale ale consumption.


That got me to thinking. I'm not entirely sure that I've ever had a fresh PA. I live in a rural area and sierrra nevada is one of the only craft beers, not to mention pale ales that I can find locally and its usually tucked away on the bottom shelf behind a case of michelob light or whatever so I doubt Ive had a fresh one any time in the past several years. When I lived in more populated areas, there were more interesting choices and I kinda skimmed over SN, perhaps missing a fresh batch....I still like it and drink it as much for that reason as the availability.

...or I could get off my keister and drive 45 minutes for a beer run....

 

[RM-MN]

The major brewers will have a different process than us homebrewers and can exclude oxygen so the pale ales don't have to be terribly fresh to still have the aroma. There isn't likely to be enough difference to justify a 45 minute drive. If you have a brewpub nearby, their pale ales will be fresh.

 

[PashMaddle]

Oh man, I wish there was a brewpub nearby...
There is a microbrewery not far from me, but they don't have a tasting room that I'm aware of.
lol its 5:30 am here and I'm contemplating a first light beer run.... haven't done that in 20+ years.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I live in a rural area and sierrra nevada is one of the only craft beers

Sierra Nevada includes "bottled on dates" on each bottle. Some other craft beers have a "best by" date (typically 6 months after bottling).

For my tastes, if the beer has been on the shelf more than 3 months, I'll generally leave it behind. For those rare stores where it's stored cold, I'm willing to double that.

 

[PashMaddle]

Sierra Nevada includes "bottled on dates" on each bottle. Some other craft beers have a "best by" date (typically 6 months after bottling).

For my tastes, if the beer has been on the shelf more than 3 months, I'll generally leave it behind. For those rare stores where it's stored cold, I'm willing to double that.

Ya know? I remember seeing dates on some bottles while doing some cleaning/label peeling but it was “post peel” so I didn’t know who brewed it and didn’t really pay it much mind. I will look for it next time though.
And I’m thinking of just doing a SMASH pale or at least simple grain bill/single hop next to try and get some more “wife friendly” brews in the pipeline …we did a tasting of my brown ale (still kinda green but not terrible)and I believe I sorted through her nomenclature well enough to figure what she might like.