Volume 2 – Ale or Lager?
If you are considering brewing your own beer, you may want to first consider your own beer tastes. If you like ales and you don’t have your heart set on brewing an exact replica of (god forbid) a Budweiser, then brewing your own beer will be very rewarding. However, if you want to start right away making pale colored lagers, you may find that your investment (both in money and in time) is too large for the return. I mean after all, if you wanted to brew a Budweiser, you’d be better suited to just buy one (although don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t turn down a bud heavy).
My advice would be to look at it this way – If you like ales, or like them enough to work through a couple before deciding to make the jump to lagers, then you will probably take to brewing rather easily. In case you are unsure as to your inclinations towards ales and/or lagers, here’s a quick run down of the typical profiles of each:
Ales
Ales are typically complex in flavor. You can find anything from fruit flavors, malt flavors, strong hop flavors, caramel, butterscotch, spice undertones, smokey flavors, to anything else you could think of tasting in a beer. Ales benefit from compounds produced by yeast when at higher fermentation temperatures that contribute to these diverse and complex flavors. Typical ales would be: Pale Ales (e.g. Sierra Nevada), IPAs (e.g. Dogfish Head 60 Minute), brown ales (e.g. New Castle Brown), porters, stouts (e.g. Guinness), Belgians (belgian white, dubbels, tripels, blondes), most wheat beers, and technically any other beer brewed with ale-type yeast.
Lagers
Lagers are known for having clean flavors. It is typically expected that a lager will present the fundamental beer flavors, maltiness and hop bitterness. There is certainly room for additional flavors; however most of the complexity found in an ale would be out of place in a lager. Lagers are brewed at cold temperatures, which reduce the compounds produced by yeast. The base flavors of the malt and hops then become the centerpiece, and it is expected that other flavors are not present. Common lagers are: American Pilsners (All of the big brands i.e. Budweiser, bud light, miller lite etc.), continental pilsners (e.g. Pilsner Urquell), bocks (e.g. Shiner), oktoberfests (e.g. Spaten Ur-Maerzen), dunkels, schwarzbier, and so on.
Implications on Brewing
Ales are easier to brew, more forgiving of mistakes, and require a lower investment in beer brewing equipment. Ales are also quicker to ferment, so they will be ready to drink sooner. Lagers are less forgiving of brewing mistakes, and require a method of constant refrigeration (this is usually achieved by – you guessed it – a refrigerator). They take longer to mature, so it may slow down your learning curve as well as your drinking… So, if you were to start by brewing ales, you could brew good beer relatively quickly and at a low investment. That being said, if you are interested in brewing, and only like lagers, I would still say go for it. You will find that no matter what kind of beer you make, its always more rewarding when you make it yourself!
If you are interested in lagers, or if you’re just a plain alcoholic, I will be posting instructions on how to build a kegerator. Mine not only allows me to brew lagers, it has two serving taps!
