Beer styles you’ve struggled to brew successfully

[MickDundee]

I have had 2 attempts at brewing a British golden ale.

1st time I pitched the yeast too hot and it tasted like nail varnish.

Attempt 2 has been bottled for 5 weeks. It’s so dry it almost feels like a pseudo-lager. It’s got a nice bitterness and I got the yeast right this time, but it’s just bland. I think it’s because I used up the last of the pancake day golden syrup but still tried to keep it around 4%.

Are there any other styles that seem to be evading posters?

 

[MrRook]

Lambic. I gave up when I realized it took brewing multiple batches over several years and blending.

 

[dad_of_jon]

yup - sour and bengali.

I've given up on these as well as kriek beers.

belgian quads and saisons I can do so no need to buy those anymore and I can do a passable hefe-weisse beer.

My view is don't feel bad about what you can't do, be glad about what you can do. buy in the style that eludes you with the savings you've made from the styles you CAN do :thumb:

 

[dan125]

I think standard/best bitter is tough to get right, and think alot of it could be down to water profile.
Interesting what you said about the syrup as I'm thinking of doing an old AK recipe that calls for about 8% invert No2, that I was gonna sub for some golden syrup.​

 

[Sandimas]

I have had 2 attempts at brewing a British golden ale.

Same here, I've stuggled to make a Golden Ale of the quality I'd find at a beer festival. I think the more subtle beers are the hardest ones to make.

May have just cracked it: made Exmoor Gold from the GW book, chucked in some extra Caramalt and upped the late hops, seems to have come out much better.

 

[MickDundee]

Same here, I've stuggled to make a Golden Ale of the quality I'd find at a beer festival. I think the more subtle beers are the hardest ones to make.

May have just cracked it: made Exmoor Gold from the GW book, chucked in some extra Caramalt and upped the late hops, seems to have come out much better.

That’s good to know. My next attempt at a golden ale was going to be “back to basics” with a GW recipe. I’ve been going for one with a citrus “twist” (added cascade to the last one and Styrian goldings this time around), but I’ll try to get a “standard” one right before I try to add stuff.

 

[Sandimas]

I think pitching temperature is key, as you pointed out. There's nowhere to hide with this style of beer so get the temp a little too high and you'll get the phenol taste, I've been there too.

I say this every year, but I must force myself to stop brewing June-Sept as it's just too hot: I can warm things up in winter but can't cool things down in summer and don't have a brewfridge.

 

[Wabby]

Belgian Blonde.

The first one got infected I think and the second one was *******. Really put me off trying to brew another one tbh.

The only style I have wanted to brew that I have failed at.

 

[Ciaran12s]

If a beer isn't as good as what I was hoping (and that's usually due to lack of patience for conditioning) I tend to take comfort from the fact that quite a few of the "craft" beers I drink in pubs and buy from shops are substandard. Quite often I am eager to get shop bought bottles drunk so I can move on to the good stuff!

Edit - I've had two attempts at a ghost ship clone which is my only second go at the same recipe. Both of which are different and not really anything like ghost ship. They were both really good though, and again, they beat commercial examples I've tried.

 

[Ajhutch]

I haven’t had multiple attempts at many styles yet but I think anything where you need a bit of subtlety is hard. I’ve made three pretty rubbish bitters for example. By contrast big hop charges or lots of roast flavours can mask flaws, especially at the beginner stage or when the taster isn’t of the highest calibre!

 

[Slid]

I think pitching temperature is key, as you pointed out. There's nowhere to hide with this style of beer so get the temp a little too high and you'll get the phenol taste, I've been there too.

I say this every year, but I must force myself to stop brewing June-Sept as it's just too hot: I can warm things up in winter but can't cool things down in summer and don't have a brewfridge.

I have noticed this too, especially July & August. Last summer I used MJ31 to do a series of Belgian Beers - Dubbel, Pale Ale, Blonde and these were OK as MJ31 is fine at the 25C my brewing area can get up to.

 

[strange-steve]

I think standard/best bitter is tough to get right

I'm with you there, I've never made a good standard bitter though not for lack of trying.

 

[simon12]

I find its hard to make good low ABV beers, I think the problem with bitters is they are made very well commercially unlike most other styles.

 

[Gunge]

You're all amateurs - all my beers are perfect, except lager which is shyte at the best of times, so I don't bother trying. How fortunate that I don't like lager.

 

[Drunkula]

How fortunate that I don't like lager.

That's just good genetics.

 

[Saisonator]

I haven’t had multiple attempts at many styles yet but I think anything where you need a bit of subtlety is hard. I’ve made three pretty rubbish bitters for example. By contrast big hop charges or lots of roast flavours can mask flaws, especially at the beginner stage or when the taster isn’t of the highest calibre!

That’s why stout and IPA’s are the only kit beers that are vaguely drinkable.

 

[foxbat]

Munich Helles. It's fairly easy to brew a great tasting malty lager. It's seems much harder to come up with something that tastes like an Augustiner, Paulaner or Hacker-Pschorr.

 

[Sadfield]

Munich Helles. It's fairly easy to brew a great tasting malty lager. It's seems much harder to come up with something that tastes like an Augustiner, Paulaner or Hacker-Pschorr.

Agree, because ingredients are only half the story. Water and process are critical in most pale, malt forward styles. Whilst some may see the view of AG brewering being superior, as snobby, it is the only way the quality of certain styles can be achieved. And even then it takes a lot of attention to detail.

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[Gunge]

Agree, because ingredients are only half the story. Water and process are critical in most pale, malt forward styles. Whilst some may see the view of AG brewering being superior, as snobby, it is the only way the quality of certain styles can be achieved. And even then it takes a lot of attention to detail.

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I had a period of maybe a few years of churning out mediocre/unsatisfying bitters and pales as I was constantly fiddling with water chemistry when I needn't have bothered, as it turns out my water is just great 'as is'. The more I fiddled, the further away I got from what I was after. Nowadays I don't add anything. Wonder how many other brewers are on the same hiding to nothing as they've been doing too much reading and have become convinced that they have to treat their water? Not saying you're wrong btw, far from it - just pointing out how lucky I am and others may be in the same boat without realising it.

 

[Sadfield]

I had a period of maybe a few years of churning out mediocre/unsatisfying bitters and pales as I was constantly fiddling with water chemistry when I needn't have bothered, as it turns out my water is just great 'as is'. The more I fiddled, the further away I got from what I was after. Nowadays I don't add anything. Wonder how many other brewers are on the same hiding to nothing as they've been doing too much reading and have become convinced that they have to treat their water? Not saying you're wrong btw, far from it - just pointing out how lucky I am and others may be in the same boat without realising it.

Totally. Some people are blessed with good water, and often doing nothing is better than doing things wrong when your water isn't perfect. However, knowing what you have and how to match that to what you want to achieve can make all the difference when brewing something that has such a simple recipe.

Perversely, it's trying to match water to a style, of a beer that historically had its recipe and process formulated to match the local water.

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