How Do You Decide What To Brew?

[Swinging Beef]

How do you decide what to brew?
I mean... I just want to have a turn at everything... and there is so little time!
Demands of friends, me and SWMBO mean I want to brew everything all at once.
What to do?

 

[NickB]

Hehehehehe.....Welcome to The Obsession!

 

[Muggus]

...its comes to me in my sleep...

 

[phonos]

for me it tends to depend on the season which is most appropriate to the yeast. In winter - lagers. In spring/autumn -ales. In summer? Drinking time!

I'm also trying out various liquid yeasts at the moment, so it depends on what the VSS strains are from wyeast. I'm looking forward to the next batch, which should include the Timothy Taylor Landlord yeast!

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I ask my wife what she wants to drink next - if she has no preference, then I worry about what I want.

After that, I try to make sure that I am brewing in time for seasons and events. Atm my thoughts are turning to what beers I want to have around and on tap over Christmas - I always take a few kegs away with me when I head North for the annual x-mas pilgrimage.

In November I will put down an Aussie Pale ale so its ready for Australia Day 09 - In January I will brew an Irish Red or Dry stout for St Pat's Day - In Feb a chocolate beer for easter - you get the picture. Also if I have any beers I particularly want to enter into the competitions, I will brew them so they are (hopefully) at their peak in October.

I fill in the gaps with whatever takes my fancy. At the moment I am on a bit of lager kick.

I do like the notion of just brewing the appropriate beers for whatever VSS yeasts come out from Wyeast. You never know where you'll be going, but its bound to be interesting.

Thirtsy

 

[gregb]

Just ask myself the question: What haven't I drunk/brewed for a while?

Cheers,
Greg

 

[warra48]

My wife is a virtual non-drinker, and certainly does not drink beer.
Thus I only have to please myself.
It comes down to a choice between these:
1. ESB
2. APA
3. Brown Ale (American and English)
4. Hefeweizens
5. Dunkelweizens
Nothing else gets a look in, so it depends what my fancy is when I get into BeerSmith to devise my next recipe, although they do tend to go in some sort of rough rotation.

 

[darrell.wallace]

At this time of year i have a number of birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations so i try to brew a mix of beers that will suit most taste ranges. Today was a brown porter, tomorrow will be an ESB, next week and American brown and APA. Last week it was an Irish red and a hefe.

this amount of brewing is a bit unusual for me, i normally only brew once a fortnight and right now i am running out of space for everything.

I normally brew quite a few wheat beers and sweeter/maltier beers for my wife and dark beers for me. I am just now starting to narrow down my list a bit and not try every style and mix and match under the sun.

The way i actually choose is by what takes my fancy on brew day.

 

[Mantis]

At the moment I have a large tin of light liquid malt extract and a variety of crystal grains and dry malts.
Going to brew one tommorow and its down to what grains I steep tonight for tommorow.
Hmmmmmmm

 

[Tony]

Been brewing AG for many years now......... have never brewed the same beer twice

Not planning on starting either.

There is always something exciting and new in the next batch.

TO decide i usually go on how i feel. If i have been brewing a few pale lagers i will brew a couple of heavy ales for something more interesting to drink and visa versa.

Experimentation is a large part of my brewing and now and then i brew to style for a few beers to enter into competition

its all about variety for me. something of everything to drink when ever i feel like it.

cheers

 

[spog]

i did in the past go down the cloning path, (ie) trying to copy well known /popular brews but gave it away to brew a beer that i made, that had six of this and a half dozen of that.
if i wanted a certain mega brew i will buy it.
i brew what i want when i decide to brew it.
that is what hb,ing is all about ....to me....if it aint fun give it away.......cheers.........spog.......

 

[matti]

I ask my wife what she wants to drink next - if she has no preference, then I worry about what I want.

very conciderate and I've tried it myself.
Some how it turn in to amarillo based beers and lager.

have never brewed the same beer twice

Me neither.....

I generally look at what ingredients are available in grains, hops and yeast and go from there...

 

[petesbrew]

I have a little wishlist, but it's always chopping & changing.
Depends what hops & yeast are in the fridge, and what kit's I find on special.
Having a couple of brewbooks are always a good source of inspiration for new ideas, eg. I've never had a weizenbock, so I'm gonna do an AG one sometime in the future.

 

[Weizguy]

I like to have a drinkable and a "keeper" on tap.
Say, APA and IPA, or a Weissbier and a Strong Belgian, or even a Witbier and a Grand Cru.

Not sure how I decide, exactly. Depends on what's in the latest magazines and what appeals to me in the week before, and what I've tasted recently and any cravings.

I usually decide to not brew anything crappy, but sometimes the beer does what it wants!

At the moment, thinking of a beer to go onto a yeast cake: American wheat beer - highly under-rated and delicious.

Oh yeah...sometimes it's about the yeast cake that's about to give up it's fermented wort.

Sethule

 

[InCider]

I use the force. I'm all Jedi.

 

[white.grant]

Patience beefy, patience

 

[newguy]

I get a lot of my ideas for new beers from judging at competitions. I never would have brewed a dubble if I hadn't judged a beautiful example years ago. Some ideas just come to me, like the beer I named Heatsikher last year. A brown ale with coconut & curry.

The English browns and the ESB I just brewed came about because of some majestic browns and ESBs that friends have made recently. I've brewed these styles before, but not recently. The nice examples I've recently sampled spurred me to action.