This is going in Cafe Society because, even though it’s not about art or movies or books or stuff like that, everything to do with the food service industry or cooking seems to go in here, too, even though they named it that because it’s supposed to have all the stuff that people who go to cafes talk about while their in the cafe, rather than what’s actually in the cafe to be eaten and/or drunk.
Be that as it may, mods, if this needs to be in IMHO because I’m asking for opinions, or MPSIMS because it’s pretty darn mundane or pointless, or GD because it is, after all, one of the great questions of our time, so be it and my apologies in advance.
So, I’m a homebrewer. My local brew supply store has a pretty wide selection of kits. I’ve made the following, in roughly descending order of how much I liked them:
Belgian Dubbel
Witbier
Saison
St. Paul Porter
Irish Red Ale
Nut Brown Ale
Nukey Brown Ale
Alt
Dry Irish Stout
Oatmeal Stout
Honey Weizen
ESB
Extra Pale Ale
Dark Cherry Stout
Bock
Maibock
Oktoberfest
Czech Pilsner
Hefe Weizen
I’ve made some others but they’ve either changed the names or discontinued them.
I’ve recently gotten back into brewing and would like to poll the homebrewing masses as to what they think would be a fine, fine beer to brew, to be ready for consumption in two or three months (June or July for those who are bad at math). I no longer have access to a lagering fridge, so that kind of limits the selection.
I see you haven’t made an IPA yet. One of my favorite beer types.
I also see they have a kit for a California Common. I made one of those once and it was extremely well recieved among my other beer brewing buddies. No lagering fridge necessary.
Honey Wheat makes for a mighty tasty summer beer
I second LL’s suggestions. California Common always goes over well with folks, as does a good IPA.
Honey Wheat does sound good! Also that Czech Pilsner. Might also try a Mexican Pilsner (add honey for an extra kick 
).
Aw, hell! They all sound good!
I stopped brewing for a while, last batch being late Jan. (what was I thinking! :smack: ). But I decided earlier today to start again (nobody likes a quiter) and placed an order for ingredients just this afternoon.
as I read in another thread a while ago:
Give a man a beer and he wastes an hour. Teach him to homebrew and he wastes a lifetime. 
Consensus is for a light, summery session beer. Probably a good idea… my beer of choice when buying is a honey weizen.
Anybody got a good extract recipe for a manikin pis clone?
I’ll bump this again on Monday to draw in the crowd that reads this from work.
Do you like Belgian Witbiers/White Beers? I find them pretty summery and refreshing, but they’re a bit heavier than American wheat beers.
For five gallons, from Chalie Papazian’s Home Brewer’s Gold:
4 1/2 lb. wheat malt extract (50% wheat, 50% barley)
2 1/2 lb. very light honey
3 HBU Nugget hops (about 1/4 oz. pellet hops) - 60 min
1 HBU Saaz hops (about 1/3 oz.) - 15 min
12 HBU Styrian Goldings (anywhere from 2-3 oz.) - 15 min
1/2 oz freshly ground coriander - 5 min
1/4 dried curacao peel - 5 min
Belgian Witbier yeast
1/2 oz freshly ground coriander - secondary fermenter
3/4 cup corn sugar (or 1 1/4 cup dried malt extract) for bottling
That’s it. Primary ferment for 5 days. Rack over to a secondary and let age 2 weeks. Siphon, add corn sugar and bottle. Let age another 1-2 weeks in the bottles.
Actually, I only started home brewing two and a half months ago, and it’s been a resounding success. I’ve already done my first all-grain brew (a Scotch ale) as well. This web site actually has a nice way to make 3-gallon batches of all-grain brew without needing any special equipment. (That’s okay, because I’ll be making my own lauter tun and wort chiller soon enough.)
My first IPA batch is gone (mmm…IPAs are lovely. Does anyone have a good Imperial IPA recipe? One of my favorite beers is Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught Ale. It’s certainly not a session beer, but it’s an extreme IPA. I have never tasted a beer with so much balanced hop character.)
One of the recipes that I made recently was a weizenbock, mixing the banana-clove esters nicely with the caramely bock-ish flavor. A very underappreciated style of beer, to be sure.
Unfortunately, most of the people I know who have brewed Steam beers (yes, you’re allowed to call them steams as Garrett Oliver researched it themselves) have seemed to have problems mostly because of the odd fermentation temperature requirements of the beer.