Mixing beers

I know Newcastle mixes an old brown with a young ale. Has any one else mixed beers with good results?

For example: I will have a gallon of a red and a gallon of Citra Pale Ale. They were both made with S05 yeast. Can I mix them? Or will that be a waste o beer? I keg 5 gallons and Ferment 6 gallons so I have one extra gAllon per batch. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Your spare 6th gallon seems like the ideal size (to me) to do experiments. Take two growlers & mix half of each spare gallon into the growlers, and you'll still have a half gallon of each to drink regular. Or four growlers and fully commit to the experiment!

If I were you, I'd often try experiments with the sixth gallon (dry hop vs non; comparing types of hops for dryhopping; eisbock; etc)

What about an experiment that mixes beers though? I like your idea, but that is a lot more work as opposed to less work: just mixing them together into a keg...dry-hopping with an ounce each of Simcoe, Cascade and Amarillo? that sounds good right?

McMennamins Brewery in Oregon makes a "Rubinator" that is part Ruby ale and part Terminator stout. People ask for it by name.

The Red Ale I want to mix is even made with the same Yeast (S-05) as the Citra IPA. Don't know if this helps...I would assume it does.

Has anyone ever done this? is this a horrible idea? Anyone see any links on this before or heard about this? I have until next weekend before I have to make a decision.

My last two brews didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. The first has great body, aroma, and taste, but has really low ABV. The second has much higher ABV, but is much more bitter than I like. So, both are on tap and I've been adding a little of one to the other and l was really surprised that it turns out great. Beer teamwork!

I really hope that I don't have to do it again, though. It's probably not a good sign if I have to average my brews to drink them!

Thanks,
Isaac

I thought I'd add that the two recipes were similar - both IPAs. So it wasn't like I was mixing a pilsner with a lambic.

Isaac

I was at AZ big beer fest on Sat. And Sierra Nevada was there with an excellent ale that was a mixture between their Pale Ale, Celebration Ale and Torpedo plus a hint of vanilla. It was excellent! I am gonna mix some in an empty keg (red and pale) using a pig tail system specified on this site. Prob just mixing a gallon total post keg carbing. I'll post a result. I already mixed them off the tap ad they were good together and probably a question of mixture levels.

Every year Firestone Walker releases an Anniversary Ale that is blended from their beers.

One thing to try with finished beer is to mix it in a glass first. Bob does it all the time at my house- he really loves hops but he loves malty beers too. So he'll pour three ounces of IPA and two ounces of a malty beer into a glass from the taps. Maybe that's one way to really experiment and see if the beers "go" together.

I often mix my american wheat with my IPA on tap if I'm looking for a regular pale ale if I don't have one on tap.

I mixed a brett pale ale with a belgian brown. I tried to knock out the brett before blending but I can tell I did not do a perfect job. Delicious beer but overcarbonated. Good thing it all went in champagne bottles.

I have a sour brown currently souring that I plan on blending with a belgian stout similar to NB Clutch but with a lower ABV. So we'll see how that goes later this year/early next year.

I took a clone recipe for Bells two Hearted, which is all Centennial, and made it 3 times - one all Simcoe, one all Amarillo, and one all Citra. I got some real Two-Hearted and poured 'em together. I found a combination I liked and then brewed the same beer with the combo. Just bottled that batch and it smelled incredible.

I often mix Cold Smoke and Blue Moon. Cold Smoke is a Scotch Ale from Missoula, MT. It is very tasty, I have had other mixed beers, but that is my favorite!