How Strong Do You Brew?

[King Brown]

I try to get the alcohol to fit with the style, but my brews are generally 4.5-5%
I don't have a keg set up (yet ) but if I did I'd probably stick to bottling the stronger/darker beers...

 

[tdack]

I've got a 7.9% Belgian Ale on one tap at the moment and the other tap has already had one keg of 4.8% Irish Stout through it and is about three quarters of the way through the 4.9% Amber Ale.

I like the Belgian but find I can't have more than a couple after work other wise dinner ends up being a charred mess and SWMBO gets annoyed.

Having said that I've only really just started getting into the home brew and I like to brew something different each time, so I'm not too concerned about the alcohol content. I'm just aiming for a beer that tastes nice in the end.

 

[drsmurto]

Agree 110% with Butters

2 of the best beers i have made were around 3.2-3.5%

An english dark mild i put in the July case swap and my take on LC Rogers. Both so easy to drink and still full off flavour. Docs Yardglass lite is in my list of brews to do for this reason

As for an average, i generally aim for the 4-4.5% range.

Have only made 1 beer with an OG >1.060. 6 months later i still have 1/2 the batch.

 

[Muggus]

These days for my 'session' beers, which makes up for about half the beers I brew, generally try to keep them around the 4.5%-5.5% mark.
The other half are generally up around the 7% mark, stouts, bocks and strong ales.
And then a couple times a year i'll brew something extra special like a Belgian strong or Barley Wine, and aim for 9%+.

Funny this is, I tend to drink more of the stronger stuff!

 

[Airgead]

For me, anywhere between 3% (English OB - lovely) and 10.5% (Belgian dark strong - also lovely). I tend to average 4.5-5.5%. It really depends on what balances the style. I wouldn't brew a 3% Belgian and I wouldn't brew a 10% OB. They just wouldn't work.

Stronger beers (over 6%) I tend to bottle and save as a winter warmer. If I keg them they hang around for ages and as I only have space for 2 kegs that's a problem. Once the new coolroom is built and I have room for as many kegs as I like, I may keg a few strong ones.

Cheers
Dave