My Three Sons

Grains, Hops, & Yeasts

Over the course of two years many grains were tried.
It seems at the present time Vienna & White wheat are my favorites.
Can’t find the love for Munich, which is now off my list, along with Carapils & Crystal.

As far as hops, I’m swaying away from Citra, enjoy Centennial.
Still trying others and haven’t found my favorites yet.
Currently trying Simcoe & Amarillo.
Cascade and Mosaic and now also off my list.

Trying BRY97 for the first time, so far Nottingham is my favorite.

Rambling thoughts over.

Centennial and Cascade make a good blend as welk

Centennial and Cascade make a good blend as welk

I tried that combo and didn’t like it.
I thought Cascade took away from the Centennial.
Then I tried Cascade by itself and found I don’t like cascade.
I guess its about personal preference.
Many hear rave about certain hops that I just can’t get into.
My tastes are evolving. Citra was my favorite, now it’s not.

My wife and I rate every batch (1-10), I can’t seem to get past an 8.
Trying variations of centennial, simcoe, and amarillo.

That is interesting. I am finding I don’t get these awesome flavors everyone talks about.  I’m finding hops are hops regardless of variety. …but I’m trying a cpl new techniques to try to improve the flavor.

I have a Falconer’s Flight and my take on Four Wive’s I kegged today to cold dry hop, and a Mt Hood/Cascade Blonde and an all Cascade APA upcoming to try these techniques on.

Have tried some of the blends?

What style of beer do you prefer?

El dorado, centennial, Columbus, Idaho 7 all work well Together in my opinion.  Citra only in very small amts.  Don’t like cascade.  Love Hallertauer Mittelfrueh for lagers.
Don’t like Vienna (sweet in my opinion).  Just made a dunkel with 60% Munich and love it.  Need to try maris otter.

I’m not sure, maybe session IPAs.  My favorite commercial beers are probably
Dogfish Head 90 & 60 minute IPA.  The 90 minute tastes best to me but the ABV
is too high, the 60 minute is a tad too high also.  Before starting brewing my own
All Day IPA by Founders, and Lagunitas IPA was my choice.  I drink 2 daily with dinner so low ABV
is a must.  I realize taste begins to fade as the ABV lowers.  But an ABV of 4.5
seems to be my sweet spot, any lower I think it becomes colored water.

Finding quality/preferred grains and hops seem to be where I’m at, and are more
important with lower ABV.

I agree Vienna is on the sweet side, but the white wheat backs it off a bit. I didn’t like Munich at first but my 50%
Munich batch is aging well and beginning to taste good to me.  I think some grains taste better in
the lower ABV range than others, if that makes any sense.  To be honest I’m lost in a sea of grains, hops, and
yeasts.  On the bright side my beers are slowly getting better.  Will check out that hop combo in time.
A tad sweet is welcoming in the summer months, but maybe not so in the fall/winter months.
A batch brewed with 100% Vienna was too sweet but the flavor was very good. Brewed another batch 50/50
(Vienna, white wheat), was backed off too much.  Next 2 batches are 75/20 and 60/40 to find the
perfect combo.  May try cutting Vienna with Munich and white wheat in the future.  With lower ABV, Vienna
seems to be my preferred base malt.

That’s interesting. I prefer more dry and hoppy in the heat (APA, Golden Ale, …) and a bit of sweet in the cold (Brown Ale, Scottish Ale, 2x Bock, Festbier, …).

I’m in the same camp, but there are some flavors I associate with “sweetness” that I like in my summer beers that are attenuated fairly dry. For example, the banana/clove of a hefeweizen or certain tropical hop flavors in an IPA give an impression of sweetness on the palate, but the beers themselves finish crisp and dry.

Corona with lime, blue moon with orange, and lemonade aren’t enjoyable in the Winter.
Guess it’s all in the mind, should taste the same, nonetheless its preferred in warm/hot weather.

Perhaps a play with words, but slightly fruity/citrusy is possibly a better description for my summer beer preferences.

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I’ve found one of my tasting blind spots is floral aspects of hops. Almost never will I get anything floral.

Ordered grain today for 2 batches.
Never used this 3 combo before, just popped up in my head.

75% 2-row (Epiphany Foundation)
12.5% Vienna (Epiphany)
12.5% White Wheat (Canadian)