Beer styles you’ve struggled to brew successfully

[GerritT]

Lagers. I can't lager. Tried a Czech Pilsner last autumn that turned out okay, but it fermented outside on the balcony in the shade. Only place large and cool enough.

 

[Brewed_Force]

My first brew was a milk stout, made with a Coopers stout kit.
I was hoping for something resembling Mackies, but it turned out quite bland.

 

[Oneiroi]

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.

I've not had a chance to make many styles twice yet but this is true for me so far. Both of my 3.5% and below beers (an ordinary bitter and a pale ale) have come out incredibly thin and bland.

I've read I should look at extra grains like wheat and carapils and try a higher mash temp for the body. But short of adding lots of hops, not sure what to do about the flavour

 

[Sadfield]

I've not had a chance to make many styles twice yet but this is true for me so far. Both of my 3.5% and below beers (an ordinary bitter and a pale ale) have come out incredibly thin and bland.

I've read I should look at extra grains like wheat and carapils and try a higher mash temp for the body. But short of adding lots of hops, not sure what to do about the flavour

My top tips would be.

1) Mash higher and for no more than a hour. And use a less attenuative yeast.

2) Crystal malt or Carapils for body and sweetness.

3) Munich malt ideally from a British malting, to add malt flavour and body.

For a 3.5% beer, point 3 should be enough on its own. Munich is a really underrated malt in British beer, probably due to its German name.

https://www.simpsonsmalt.co.uk/our-malts/munich-malt/

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[Ajhutch]

3) Munich malt ideally from a British malting, to add malt flavour and body.

For a 3.5% beer, point 3 should be enough on its own. Munich is a really underrated malt in British beer, probably due to its German name.

https://www.simpsonsmalt.co.uk/our-malts/munich-malt/

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I listen to the Experimental Brewing podcast and whenever they interview a pro brewer they always ask their favourite malt. So so many of them say Munich.

 

[Zephyr259]

3) Munich malt ideally from a British malting, to add malt flavour and body.

Any opinion on Melanoidin? Reason I'm asking is I was planning on brewing the Scotish 60/- from Greg Hughes book, it's 3.3% abc, has 9% melanoidin and 4% crystal malts. I'm tempted to swap out 500g of the pale malt for Munich II which would be 20%, should really boost the body but might be overkill with the melanoidin already there?

 

[Simonh82]

I think I haven't made a true to style ordinary/best bitter yet. I know what I should be aiming at but I always end up bumping the aroma hops up and then chucking in a load of dry hops too. Don't get me wrong, these have been good beers that I've enjoyed drinking a lot but I really enjoy a simple bitter like Youngs Special or Ordinary and i'm sure they don't have tons of hops in.

 

[Simonh82]

I listen to the Experimental Brewing podcast and whenever they interview a pro brewer they always ask their favourite malt. So so many of them say Munich.

Munich is a great malt. I regularly use 500g-1KG in a 27L brew. I often see people say they are using 100-200g and I can't believe it adds much at that level, it's a base malt after all so can be used for up to 100% of the grain bill.

 

[Zephyr259]

Munich is a great malt. I regularly use 500g-1KG in a 27L brew. I often see people say they are using 100-200g and I can't believe it adds much at that level, it's a base malt after all so can be used for up to 100% of the grain bill.

I've seen the same, even a few of Greg Hughes recipes have a small dash of munich which can't be doing much. His Spring Beer is pale malt and 13% munich, it has a deeper golden colour than I'd expect from pale alone (really should do a smash sometime) and the malt does stand up to the hops so I'd guess you'd need a minimum of 10% munich for a decent effect?

 

[Sadfield]

Any opinion on Melanoidin? Reason I'm asking is I was planning on brewing the Scotish 60/- from Greg Hughes book, it's 3.3% abc, has 9% melanoidin and 4% crystal malts. I'm tempted to swap out 500g of the pale malt for Munich II which would be 20%, should really boost the body but might be overkill with the melanoidin already there?

I've not used it. However, looking at the Weyermann site, it looks very much like UK Amber Malt, and will add Biscuit and honey notes, as well as maltiness. Looking at the flavour wheels, the Munich and Melanoidin do the same job, only melanoidin is more intense, so you'll effectively be doubling up with an extra 20% munich.

 

[Oneiroi]

I've not used it. However, looking at the Weyermann site, it looks very much like UK Amber Malt, and will add Biscuit and honey notes, as well as maltiness. Looking at the flavour wheels, the Munich and Melanoidin do the same job, only melanoidin is more intense, so you'll effectively be doubling up with an extra 20% munich.

Only time I’ve used melanoidin was in a Belgian blonde (having been told it was an ok substitute for a decoction) and the beer ended up with a tonne of honey flavour. Was only about 5% of grain bill, could that be the source? There was a bit of biscuit and Munich in there too