[fredthecat]

My own personal chase from pretty much when I started brewing is my ideal IPA. My white whale is a beer that is saturated with hop flavor and aroma, without the vegetal/tannic harsh bitterness that typically comes along with the quantities of hops needed to hit this flavor level. This is paired with a moderate, snappy bitterness.

I was at this from before hazy/NEIPA was a widespread phenomenon. Even the best hazys miss the mark for me, to be honest. They are generally too soft in the bitterness, and don't invite the next sip the way a West Coast IPA might. And they pretty much all have too much harsh vegetal character for my liking. I'm shooting for something like white grapefruit juice - bracing and flavorful, but NEIPAs are more like you juiced an overripe pineapple with leaves and skin included - flavorful, but unbalanced and grassy.

I've come close over the years, but when I brew a great one I immediately look for things that I could make better. Cryo hops were definitely a game changer, but I still feel like I'm not quite there yet. I have to admit, I'm not really in a mode where I am brewing small iterations of the same recipe to dial it in. I burn out on brewing when I do that too much. There's a lot of new hops and hop products out there. I always keep an IPA on tap, and maybe 2/3 of the time I'm trying out something new. But at least a couple of times a year I swing for the fences, and I'm getting closer each time.

big time, that is my main beef and reason i avoid hazy ipas. i cant stand the hopburn and each just feels like a muddled grassy, tannic mess. there is a lot of room for improvement since honestly it just feels like a lazy style

[reverseapachemaster]

These days I'm back to trying to lock down a handful of abbey/Trappist style beers, which is where I started homebrewing. I feel like I suffer from the same problems most commercial breweries have with just not getting the right crisp and light feel. I've also never felt like I've gotten the yeast character exactly where I want it and certainly not repeatably.

My broader goals are generally around brewing ~5% beers that are packed with flavor. With finally working on getting a bar set up I'm trying to get away from brewing every experiment I can think up to trying to brew beers I enjoy brewing and enjoy drinking at keg sizes. I'd rather drink a few 5% beers packed with flavor and feel good (or at least not horrible) versus 15% pastry stouts that I don't enjoy and make me feel bloated and hungover the next day.

[erockrph]

My broader goals are generally around brewing ~5% beers that are packed with flavor. With finally working on getting a bar set up I'm trying to get away from brewing every experiment I can think up to trying to brew beers I enjoy brewing and enjoy drinking at keg sizes. I'd rather drink a few 5% beers packed with flavor and feel good (or at least not horrible) versus 15% pastry stouts that I don't enjoy and make me feel bloated and hungover the next day.

I moved that direction a few years back after getting burned out on trying to brew every experiment I could think of. I ended up taking a couple of years where I only brewed like 2 or 3 batches. What turned it around for me was getting a Foundry to streamline my brewday, and deciding to only keep 3 kegs full at a time for the 3 taps in my kegerator (usually 1 IPA, 1 Lager, and 1 Ale). I don't keep a backlog of beer that I never end up drinking. When I brew a new batch, I dump anything left in the keg on that tap and transfer the new beer to it. I never wait months to tap a beer that I just brewed, and I never hold onto a keg of something I don't love. I still experiment when it suits my mood, but I know that I have one or two other solid beers on hand in case it doesn't work out. I also make sure to brew a proven favorite if I have a mediocre batch so I don't fall into a rut. This definitely brought the joy back to the hobby for me.

[Village Taphouse]

Funny you guys say this.  For a long time I wanted to try every new malt, hop and yeast.  At the time it probably made sense because it gave me a good view to what was out there.  But I ended up brewing some beers I didn't care for (or at least not a beer that I wanted five gallons of) and I realized where my interests lie.  I do like German and Czech styles, English styles and many American styles.  I pretty much stick to the same recipes these days although I occasionally make a new recipe and a new style too (the AHA Zoiglbier is really nice).  I have four draft faucets in my "pub area" and my goal is to always have a good selection of well-made beers available at all times.  It's like I'm running a mini production brewery here but all for fun.  I haven't run out of homebrew in 23 years of brewing!   

[Cliffs]

Funny you guys say this.  For a long time I wanted to try every new malt, hop and yeast.  At the time it probably made sense because it gave me a good view to what was out there.  But I ended up brewing some beers I didn't care for (or at least not a beer that I wanted five gallons of) and I realized where my interests lie.  I do like German and Czech styles, English styles and many American styles.  I pretty much stick to the same recipes these days although I occasionally make a new recipe and a new style too (the AHA Zoiglbier is really nice).  I have four draft faucets in my "pub area" and my goal is to always have a good selection of well-made beers available at all times.  It's like I'm running a mini production brewery here but all for fun.  I haven't run out of homebrew in 23 years of brewing! 

kinda similar. I know what I like and what works for me, so if I do change it up, its usually just a small tweak to an existing recipe.

[HopDen]

Current goal is a low ABV British/Ordinary Bitter 3.2-3.7% Trying to zero in on the "tricks" to have that elusive full body mouthfeel on a otherwise flimsy palate.

This is one I've been working on for a while. I'm usually brewing Mild/Brown Ale/Bitter in the low 4% range, but sometimes a bit smaller. The watery mouthfeel thing is hit or miss for me in that gravity/ABV range, and I can't necessarily predict it based on recipe/gravity alone. It's just one of those things that, when I find a beer to be too thin for my liking, then I degas the keg and come back a few days later to recheck.

I did have a bit of an epiphany over the weekend. I tried a Mild on tap at a brewery while I was grabbing a quick lunch, and it was remarkably similar to the Mild I have on tap - right down to the thin mouthfeel/overcarbonation. I also noticed a bit of a flabby/bland/insipid character that I've noticed in my own low gravity beers. This led me to the thought that there may less of a pH drop during fermentation in these beers. A lower finishing pH would certainly add some brighness to the finish and may help boost the mouthfeel as well. I'm thinking of a late boil acid addition in my next Mild/Bitter to see if this improves the beer.

That's a great idea. I will be kegging today/tmrrw so will def check the pH, which I never think to do. Please share your findings!!

Ok, checked the pH of the beer prior to kegging and it is 4.41 I am not to sure how that plays into your thinking though. I also checked a WCIPA and it was actually higher at 5.2

Let us know where your pH numbers fall in range.

[chinaski]

Funny you guys say this.  For a long time I wanted to try every new malt, hop and yeast.  At the time it probably made sense because it gave me a good view to what was out there.  But I ended up brewing some beers I didn't care for (or at least not a beer that I wanted five gallons of) and I realized where my interests lie.  I do like German and Czech styles, English styles and many American styles.  I pretty much stick to the same recipes these days although I occasionally make a new recipe and a new style too (the AHA Zoiglbier is really nice).  I have four draft faucets in my "pub area" and my goal is to always have a good selection of well-made beers available at all times.  It's like I'm running a mini production brewery here but all for fun.  I haven't run out of homebrew in 23 years of brewing! 

Several years ago I too intentionally moved to limit my hop usage by what I can grow.  I think I've achieved that goal without sacrificing variety of hop flavor and aroma so I can brew any style of beer I'd like.  It's been very rewarding and good work and I've developed many "go to" recipes that I brew regularly. 

However, I'm still setting goals as personal challenges.  I'd like to really master a recipe for a coffee/vanilla porter that is a homage to a very low ABV porter that Hill Farmstead makes as a draft-only offering. I've gotten good beers from this quest but it's not there quite yet.

[erockrph]

Current goal is a low ABV British/Ordinary Bitter 3.2-3.7% Trying to zero in on the "tricks" to have that elusive full body mouthfeel on a otherwise flimsy palate.

This is one I've been working on for a while. I'm usually brewing Mild/Brown Ale/Bitter in the low 4% range, but sometimes a bit smaller. The watery mouthfeel thing is hit or miss for me in that gravity/ABV range, and I can't necessarily predict it based on recipe/gravity alone. It's just one of those things that, when I find a beer to be too thin for my liking, then I degas the keg and come back a few days later to recheck.

I did have a bit of an epiphany over the weekend. I tried a Mild on tap at a brewery while I was grabbing a quick lunch, and it was remarkably similar to the Mild I have on tap - right down to the thin mouthfeel/overcarbonation. I also noticed a bit of a flabby/bland/insipid character that I've noticed in my own low gravity beers. This led me to the thought that there may less of a pH drop during fermentation in these beers. A lower finishing pH would certainly add some brighness to the finish and may help boost the mouthfeel as well. I'm thinking of a late boil acid addition in my next Mild/Bitter to see if this improves the beer.

That's a great idea. I will be kegging today/tmrrw so will def check the pH, which I never think to do. Please share your findings!!

Ok, checked the pH of the beer prior to kegging and it is 4.41 I am not to sure how that plays into your thinking though. I also checked a WCIPA and it was actually higher at 5.2

Let us know where your pH numbers fall in range.

Not gonna lie, I haven't used my pH meter in years and I'm not planning on it now. I'll probably just add a bit of lactic or phosphoric acid towards the end of the boil the next time I brew one of these styles and see if I notice an improvement.

Also, 5.2 is way high for a finished pH on a beer. Usually you're looking at the low/mid 4's for a final pH. Even with a lot of dry hops that doesn't sound right to me.

[ynotbrusum]

On pH here is one explanation about ending pH after fermentation:

https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/qeh4iQVXXP/

Definitely in the 4's once finished.

[Village Taphouse]

Several years ago I too intentionally moved to limit my hop usage by what I can grow.  I think I've achieved that goal without sacrificing variety of hop flavor and aroma so I can brew any style of beer I'd like.  It's been very rewarding and good work and I've developed many "go to" recipes that I brew regularly. 

However, I'm still setting goals as personal challenges.  I'd like to really master a recipe for a coffee/vanilla porter that is a homage to a very low ABV porter that Hill Farmstead makes as a draft-only offering. I've gotten good beers from this quest but it's not there quite yet.

I think the fun part is that we have access to a lot of great ingredients and also that there are people out there thinking of new ways to produce new malts, hop varieties and yeast strains.  We have a lot of things in front of us that were not here when we started brewing.  Over time I got away from things like "yeast where you can ferment at 90° and it will produce a pleasant pineapple-strawberry character with a hint of buffalo fart and broccoli burp".  Sorry.  I made that up.    The same is true for hops that produce a lot of that character.  I tend to stick to a lot of traditional styles and so traditional ingredients.  If I want to make a fruity pale ale or IPA there will always be Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy, and of course, Cascade.  My itch doesn't require much more scratch than that... at least in that department.  I'm not trying to minimize these things because I know many of you are all about it and that goes back to my point about how lucky we are to be surrounded by such great ingredients. 

[hopfenundmalz]

On pH here is one explanation about ending pH after fermentation:

https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/qeh4iQVXXP/

Definitely in the 4's once finished.

Dry hopping raises pH, but I'm not sure if it would get up to 5.2.

[HopDen]

On pH here is one explanation about ending pH after fermentation:

https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/qeh4iQVXXP/

Definitely in the 4's once finished.

Dry hopping raises pH, but I'm not sure if it would get up to 5.2.

This is from Draftmag.com
These are supposedly the pH ranges of finished beer. I’m not sure I care enough to venture into this rabbit hole.  pH aside and I believe it matters and is crucial for a good end result, if tastes good and you like it then that is good enough for me…I think! Maybe I will venture down that rabbit hole on my future beers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Village Taphouse]

This is from Draftmag.com
These are supposedly the pH ranges of finished beer. I’m not sure I care enough to venture into this rabbit hole.  pH aside and I believe it matters and is crucial for a good end result, if tastes good and you like it then that is good enough for me…I think! Maybe I will venture down that rabbit hole on my future beers.

I like how it says "ale" (one range) and then porter, stout, blonde ale, etc. (different ranges).  One might just discount that graphic altogether. 

[HopDen]

This is from Draftmag.com
These are supposedly the pH ranges of finished beer. I’m not sure I care enough to venture into this rabbit hole.  pH aside and I believe it matters and is crucial for a good end result, if tastes good and you like it then that is good enough for me…I think! Maybe I will venture down that rabbit hole on my future beers.

I like how it says "ale" (one range) and then porter, stout, blonde ale, etc. (different ranges).  One might just discount that graphic altogether. 

I probably agree with that but maybe someone with more knowledge than myself will respond.

[Village Taphouse]

I probably agree with that but maybe someone with more knowledge than myself will respond.

It's like when you read what styles of beer a yeast strain is good for:  Lager, Pilsner, Oktoberfest...    Helloooo.  Lager is Pilsner and Oktoberfest.