Year-Round Styles? Help Me Pick 4 to Perfect

[breckenridge]

So, I've been brewing about 2 years now, and it's time to get serious (-ish). I want to narrow my scope, and really nail down a few sessionable styles to keep on tap until I feel like I've got them down cold to the finest detail, even if that means not changing a tap's style for...however many batches it takes - four, a dozen, 30? I'm thinking that I'll be keeping these styles for at least a year, most likely more than that, we'll just have to see. The hope is to have a variety of flavors and a variety of techniques to perfect, so SWMBO and I don't get bored with the selection and so I don't get bored on brew days.

I've got 4 taps, one of which is nitro. Sessionability is key. I want to turn these over relatively quickly so that I can apply lessons from the batch that's on draft to the batch I'm brewing next.

The breakdown is to be 2 British (one on nitro), one American, one German/Austrian/Czech.

My preferences are towards the dry and malty or balanced malt/hop. Not afraid of hops, but not a hop head. Not afraid of residual sugars, but not something I want to drink daily year-round. (Read: no AIPAs, no DIPAs, no sweet stouts, no doppelbocks)

Here's what I'm thinking:

Nitro - Dry Irish Stout {or Oatmeal Stout}
British - Ordinary Bitter {or Mild or Northern Brown or ESB}
German - Düsseldorf Altbier {or Pils or Dunkel or Vienna Lager or Helles or Hefeweizen or Kölsch -- so many possibilities here}
American - American Wheat Beer (Hoppy) {or Amber or APA}

What else should I be considering? What drinks well all year long?

(Fret not, there will be other beers around the house - high gravity cellaring beers, funky stuff, dubbels, quads, and saisons, but they'll be in bottles.)

 

[BigPerm]

For me (given your geographical criteria), the 4 would be:

Session IPA, Kolsch (or preferably Czech Pils, if you can lager), Northern English Brown and Oatmeal Stout (or Brown Porter).

However, if it were really me (keeping the sessionable criteria) these would be MY 4:

Witbier, Session IPA, Saison (they are wonderful when sessionable) and American Porter/Brown Ale.

These games are always fun. Good luck!

 

[GABrewer1426]

I've thought about taking this approach to my brewing several times. It's pretty solid.

What I would do in your situation:
Nitro - Pub Ale (something like Boddingtons/Ordinary Bitter)
British - Dark Mild Ale for sure
German - Wheat beer.
American - Amber or Pale Ale

Reason:
Nitro- avoid the stout as it's kind of a cliche IMO. And I love a good Boddingtons on draft.
British- Milds are so delicious. But they don't pack the punch of a big heavy brown.
German - The wheat. Simple, quick, and with the right yeast have plenty of flavor.
American - The amber or pale ale with a little more hops. Everything else is very malty and while you prefer those, it can get a little boring. So an american (hopped) Amber or Pale would be my choice.

Good luck!! It's a difficult task to narrow yourself when there are so many possibilities.

 

[breckenridge]

I think I might be leaning towards making the German tap a dunkelweizen. Loads of room to experiment, good year-round, and no need to lager.

I'd love to do Pils on that tap, but I'm just not feeling building an extension on one of my FC dorm fridges to accommodate 10 gallons for 3 months of lager time. (and if I'm doing a traditional German lager, I'm going to lager for a traditional German timeframe).

Bitter and Dry Stout might be fixed, actually. Easy to make passable, tough to make excellent, and two of my favorite styles overall.

The American tap? I'm leaning more towards an APA now, to balance the other three. If you dry hop an APA, does that automatically make it a session IPA? I don't think so. Hops hops hops. I need hops sometimes. Like, roughly a quarter of the time, so that should work out. There's room to work in that style, too. Caramel/Crystal vs biscuit/victory specialty malts, loads of hop varietals, and at least a few yeast strains to play with.

I do like American ambers, though. Maybe for bottling rather than kegging, though.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

Session IPA, pale ale, stout, saison. I only brew session IPA and pale ale. For the very reason you are looking for 4 I brew 2. I don't plan to perfect either recipe. I have perfected the styles. I go for delicious, and flavorful. Not a hophead, then learn the art of dryhopping.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Braufessor]

I keep some beers in pretty regular rotation and have been trying to "perfect" them as you are talking about.

My first choice would be British Dark Mild...... just a great beer. Flavorful, but very drinkable for anyone. It is a real crowd pleaser.

Second..... I would have to go with a hoppy amber ale, personally - just because it is one of my favorite styles. Maybe a session IPA here if not an amber.

Third.....I would go with something "light".... If I was making it for myself, it would be either a Bo-Pils, Dortmunder or Helles. If you want to avoid a german lager..... Something like a Kolsch or American Wheat or kind of a light APA/Blonde would fill the bill.

Fourth.... Something darker - I would go for a Robust Porter like Black Butte Porter. It is dark and rich, but totally drinkable year round.

 

[jrgtr42]

If it was me (and I'm starting my plans to do just about the same thing )
I would do a stout on nitro,
ESB, Bitter or 60/70/80 Shilling
Dunkle or Schwartzbeir
American APA / IPA.

For my own, I'm planning on mixing in a Saison, and Hefe now and then.
I'll have other things in bottles, like sours, ciders, and high-test brews, and leave the kegs for the everyday stuff.

 

[Tinga]

cream ale
apa
bitter
dry irish stout

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Cream of Three Crops has to be considered for any sessionable tap.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/

Tried this five times now and by far Safale Us-05 is the best yeast for this. Tastes best after 30-40 days in the bottle, although it's still good after 10-14 days in the bottle too.

My other vote is for an oatmeal stout.

 

[Colorowdy]

Cream ale
Oatmeal stout
Saison
Berliner Weiss

 

[breckenridge]

Oh man, I didn't even consider cream ale. Probably because I've not brewed one yet. Is it really a year-round style, though? Seems like the tap would get dusty during the cold months. I mean, football watching requires session beers, but all these taps are going to be sessionable, anyway.

Saison/Farmhouse I will definitely keep doing, but in 750s rather than on tap.

Several votes for dark mild. I definitely want to tackle that style down the line. I see that being another years-long project. Maybe after I build a cask-erator and beer engine. One of my first botched recipes was a mild with a pound (!) of Special B. It was undrinkable, as you can imagine. I'm kinda gun-shy on the style now.

New BJCP draft guidelines talk about Red IPA starting at 5.5% ABV. That could be a thing.

 

[Braufessor]

oh, yeah - stay away from that Special B....... that is one grain that can get away from you in a hurry. Same with peat smoked malt.

Here is a great place to get a starting point for recipes by style - NHC Gold Medal Winners.
http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2011/10/ahanhc-gold-medal-winning-recipes-for.html

Scroll down to category 11A - the 2013 "Country Mild" recipe is a nice starting point for a mild. Personally, I would scale back a bit on that Brown Malt to start - maybe half. And then I add a few ounces of Crystal 120 in its place. 1968/002 is a good starting yeast. I also really like 1469 and 1318. Although, 1968/002 clears faster and is probably smoother, less esters. It is a 3 gallon recipe, so you need to scale accordingly
I do have a beer engine, and milds are really great served that way. But, they are also great from the keg - just carb a little lower than normal.

 

[GHBWNY]

In the under-5% dept.:

Nut Brown
Am. Wheat (Sommerweizen)
Cali. Common (Steam-Style)
APA

 

[breckenridge]

Ok, I've gotten a little more firm in my choices...

English - Bitter
German - Dunkelweizen. 1st one this weekend
American - Leaning towards session red IPA/hoppy American amber. Might say to hell with sessionable and make it a full-blown red AIPA.

Nitro tap is the last one, and it's a tough decision, mainly because of the year-round criteria:
Dark Mild
Dry Irish Stout
Oatmeal Stout
Brown Porter

I feel like the mild and dry stouts are more drinkable in summer than the oatmeal stout or brown porter.

 

[day_trippr]

I thought this was a year 'round thing?

If you're going to have a nitro faucet, put a big ass stout on it. It's a wonderful way to close out the day...

Cheers!

 

[dannypo]

Given your session and regional requirements I would do this

Dry Stout and Best Bitter for the English beers. For me the little more malt and hops in a Best Bitter make it a great year round beer. And you can rotate the stout and bitter on the nitro tap.

APA with a nice dry hop. Keep the crystal malt low or out all together.

It looks like you settled on a Dunkelweizen but I find it hard to finish a keg of Weissbeir before it heads downhill. I get a little tired of the yeast character. Odd since I can kick a keg of saison in a week.

So my German choice would be a Vienna Lager with a little extra hopping or a Helles. If you don't want to lager a Kölsch is oh so quaffable.

 

[divrguy]

Kolsch for sure
Brown or Amber
ESB
Session pale


If you can lager... a Pilsner

 

[Billy-Klubb]

there is a (stout) season, turn turn turn...

RIS on Nitro
Imperial Sweet Stout
Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout
Belgian DSA

if those aren't session beers, you're doing it wrong.

 

[breckenridge]

Hah, I like the way you think, Billy-Klubb.

But, I decided on this for my lineup:

American Pale Ale - vary hops, vary yeast, vary dry hop/whirlpool/both, to FWH or not to FWH, vary additions of crystal by L, vary base malts, vary water profiles/additions.

Ordinary Bitter - vary malts (MO and Golden Promise down already), vary hops, then all of the above, but with less aggressive hopping than in an APA, and might mess with water earlier with this one.

Dunkelweizen - vary mash profiles: single temp, step, single/double/triple/etc decoction, vary fermentation temps, vary yeasts, vary malts.

Dry Irish Stout - vary roasted malts. Base recipe is going to be 12.5% roasted barley, looking forward to how many different maltsters I can find this from and learning the difference. Will also vary base malts, yeasts (some, probably not much), and water profiles.

Also going to do SMaSH saisons until I figure out WLP565, but that's another story, and will be bottled...