How many BF brews have you done?

Marz

Marz

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I am interested to hear from the veterans of BF as well as new comers.

  • How many brews have you done in Brewers Friend?
  • What is your favorite brew you have done to date?
  • Do you generally prefer: All-grain, Extract, Partial or BIAB? Why?
 
  • 11 brews since December 2020
  • Easily my favorite brew to date is my Raspberry Funktional Fruit Sour that I kettle soured and was also my very first All-Grain brew
  • I think I prefer All-grain as it is more fun doing the extra steps and feel the flavor is more fresh but I do enjoy doing a quick brew with extract recipes as it cuts down on my brew day by 3-4 hours because of the time needed for mash process as well as less cleanup with extracts
 
I currently have 348 brewed recipes in Brewer's Friend. Some I've done a number of times, but some were one-offs.
I really like IPAs, and brew them most often but I've made most beer styles. I think my second favorite is a traditional German pilsner. I used to brew 11 gallon batches, but now mostly do 5.5 gallon batches..
I haven't done an extract batch since about 2006 or so.
 
Yooper said:
I think my second favorite is a traditional German pilsner.
Click to expand...
Do you have a pilsner recipe you would recommend?

Yooper said:
I haven't done an extract batch since about 2006 or so.
Click to expand...
Why haven't you done an extract in so long? What factors cause you to always go with all-grain or BIAB (or whichever you favor most)?
 
I've done a few.
upload_2021-5-11_9-25-23.png


They're all-grain mash in a bag recipes, I'd say 60% of them are 42L batches with the rest being 21L (5.5G). I personally don't do extract because I enjoy the process of grinding and mashing the grain, you can make good beer with extract but I don't get any fun out of it.

I made this as a "Pilsner" a couple weeks ago and it turned out nicely. Basically do a 3:1 Sulfate:Chloride for a nice dry flavour, I didn't have any pilsner malt so I used 2-row instead. Close enough for the girls I go with.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1143595/kinnabish-pilsner-42l
 
Marz said:
Do you have a pilsner recipe you would recommend?


Why haven't you done an extract in so long? What factors cause you to always go with all-grain or BIAB (or whichever you favor most)?
Click to expand...

A pilsner recipe is 100% German pilsner malt, with German hops for bittering to about 35 IBUs, and more for flavoring and aroma. It's a super simple recipe, but the devil is in the details with yeast choice, brewing water chemistry, temperature control, etc.

Extract is super expensive compared to grain, and since I have a good system for brewing, it's super easy to just start with grain. Buying in bulk reduces the cost substantially, and I do grow some of my own hops (7 varieties). I can make 5 gallons of a really good beer for $10 or so, less than the cost of the extract alone.
 
I have done 60 brews to date, started brewing in February of 2018
IPA's, NEIPA's, Stouts, One Belgian, and one Czech Dark Lager
First brew was Extract, the other 59 have been all grain
They are all my children, I don't have favorites!
 
I should mention I use flaked oats as a head retention thing and I think I forgot to put them in the last batch entirely. So yeah 100% pils malt as Yooper says is pretty much the standard.

I don't really have a favourite but I'm trying to nail down a Pilsner made near here that I really really like and I'm getting closer.
 
I haven't actually recorded all my brews here so in reality I'm close to Yooper's total if not even more, but all grain is my favorite and to date I think its Vienna Lager for me, I've just always enjoy that beer
 
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Yooper said:
A pilsner recipe is 100% German pilsner malt, with German hops for bittering to about 35 IBUs, and more for flavoring and aroma. It's a super simple recipe, but the devil is in the details with yeast choice, brewing water chemistry, temperature control, etc.

Extract is super expensive compared to grain, and since I have a good system for brewing, it's super easy to just start with grain. Buying in bulk reduces the cost substantially, and I do grow some of my own hops (7 varieties). I can make 5 gallons of a really good beer for $10 or so, less than the cost of the extract alone.
Click to expand...
Yeah... water chemistry is a demon I have yet to dive into. Fortunately, someone already added the URL for the water profile from the water company for my city in BF so I just select that since I use tap water for my brewing. Once I move my butt out of California in a couple of months, I will have a garage for all my brewing festivities as well as a yard which will be nice as I also want to start growing my own hops and even thought about growing grains as well.
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
I haven't actually recorded all my brews here so in reality I'm close to Yooper's total if not even more, but all grain is my favorite and to date I think its Vienna Lager for me, I just always enjoy that beer
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I have yet to do a lager. I have just never liked ANY lager from the store except for maybe Long Board and always prefer Ale's. Although I just did a Lutra which is still conditioning and is probably the closest thing I have done to a lager so depending on how that turns out I might consider doing a legitimate lager. I just have to wait until I have an adequate fridge for cold crashing and lagering in.
 
Hawkbox said:
I should mention I use flaked oats as a head retention thing and I think I forgot to put them in the last batch entirely. So yeah 100% pils malt as Yooper says is pretty much the standard.

I don't really have a favourite but I'm trying to nail down a Pilsner made near here that I really really like and I'm getting closer.
Click to expand...
Flaked oats for head retention? How does that work? I am not sure my infant beer brain comprehends what you mean by that lol
 
I'm not entirely sure it does work. The argument is that oats have proteins that improve head retention the way people claim carapils does. I don't think it hurts anything but as I do more brewing I don't have any issues with head retention in the first place.
 
60 brews since April 2020

I tend to brew beers in the Blonde/Pale/IPA family and I rarely repeat recipes, but one of my repeated recipes is good ol' Shady Boh :D done quite a few ciders and attempts at Berliner Weiss as well (one was delicious, the other 2 were dumpers)

I prefer all grain due to the ingredients being less expensive than extracts, but one of my best beers to date was an extract with steeping grains (SNPA clone). 3 of my 60 brews were extract, the rest are all-grain/BIAB/mash in a bag.
 
Starters brewing last March. I am at 52. All 2 gallons or less. All grain minus one extract with Kveik since I had a low supply at one point. I brewed faster than I was learning if that makes sense since I didn’t wait to taste and see if screwed up I just kept brewing lol. My favorite that I’ve brewed is probably a Munich Dunkel, ESB or the last Irish Stout I made.
 
35 since 6-29-2019, I can only drink so much so fast and I'm set up(ideally) for 10-12 gallon batches(probably average 7-8 though).

I run all grain, did like 2 extract batches then said what the hell.

My two favorites(currently) are Shady Bohemian Czech Dark Lager and Shore Leave Cali Common.
 
Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews said:
35 since 6-29-2019, I can only drink so much so fast and I'm set up(ideally) for 10-12 gallon batches(probably average 7-8 though).

I run all grain, did like 2 extract batches then said what the hell.

My two favorites(currently) are Shady Bohemian Czech Dark Lager and Shore Leave Cali Common.
Click to expand...

Just weighed out the grains for your Shady Bo this afternoon. Mashing in tomorrow and looking forward to it.
 
Just about to hit the 70 brews mark next week, started in 2017, first one was extract but all grain since them. I’m like Hawkbox and many others, I enjoy the entire process right from grinding to drinking. I like almost all my brews but there are two, one being a ESB that is so so smooth, the other a Mango Milkshake NEIPA that I feel is to die for. The problem with the NEIPA is as soon as my friends find out it is on tap it goes fast.
My main yeasts are London III, Nottingham, S05 S04.
These are all 21L batches.
 
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