Do you guys have "House beers" that you always make?

I've made a kit twice now and I love it so my plan is to keep making a keg of that and using my other corny to experiment with. The reason I'm planning this is my current two taps are not that great so I have to suffer through them before I can rack a new beer and I wont allow anyone to try what's in the keg now since they both suck. Using this approach I would always have one great beer on tap and one that's :fro:

Do you guys do this, do you have some recipes you always fall back on?

Yepp.. currently working on adapting a Haus Blonde Ale (I think its really close to what we want) and a Haus Pale Ale (still some work to go with this one). Its great because you can change one or two ingredients or processes and really tell the difference. I do 10 gallon batches so recently I've been splitting the batch in two buckets, testing how different yeasts, ferm temps, and dry hopping affect the beer.

I thought I did a couple times - on a few occasions I made a batch, had that first taste, thought it was my best recipe ever and immediately made another, with the idea that the second batch would be ready as soon as that first one was gone.

By the time i got to that second batch, however, I was sick of it. I'm hoping that someday I will find a recipe that I want to have around all the time, but so far, I haven't found that perfect recipe.

I have a first batch of what I think will become my house beer lagering. I've been trying lots of different styles and am finding some that I probably won't make again. I'll make some relatively frequently but probably have a light and a dark lager on hand almost always.

I've been brewing for 2 years, and just recently started developing some Haus brews. When I first started out I wanted to try brewing everything under the sun. While I still want to experiment, there are a few beers I've repeated with minor tweaks, and are at a point where I'm very happy with them.

One is my honey wheat ale. It has some sweetness to it along with a hop finish that balances everything beautifully. I can drink it every day.

Another is my clementine hefe-weizen, a modified version of Sam Calagione's blood orange hefe. Aside from the switch in fruit, I converted it to a partial mash and added a little Vienna malt and flaked barley. This is a crowd pleaser.

I also brewed a modified partial mash version of Biermuncher's OktoberFAST ale. The grain bill is slightly different and I made it a little hoppier. It's probably more of an altbier than a 'Fest, but it rocks. SWMBO absolutely loves it. She says it's her favorite beer that I brew.

Last Fall I put together a pumpkin ale recipe that came out spectacular. It was seriously better than any commercial version I've ever tried (and I've had quite a few). It's my Fall seasonal.

Aside from those I'm working on building an Irish-American red ale. I have the third version of it in a secondary fermenter as we speak. Think Irish Red maltiness with APA hop flavor. The first two versions were underwhelming, but gravity readings on this current one showed some promise.

Most of my beers are "house" beers. I have 7 recipes that I brew regularly and 1 I brew semi-regularly. Every now and then I'll brew a one-off, or try something different, but the 7 I brew most are just some of my favorite beers.

A couple that are mainstays around the house are an orange/coriander pale ale and EdWort's Bavarian Weisse. The recipes for both can be found on HBT.

Jaysus said:

Most of my beers are "house" beers. I have 7 recipes that I brew regularly and 1 I brew semi-regularly. Every now and then I'll brew a one-off, or try something different, but the 7 I brew most are just some of my favorite beers.

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This is probably what I'm working towards, maybe 8-12 beers that I can brew well and always have one on tap with one random stuff going on the other.

I have a brown ale that I usually keep around. Which reminds me, I'm almost out of it.....

I've got an amber I make all the time. Most my friends are not beer snobs, (in my circle, that would be me!) so its a pleasant beer that they all enjoy when they're not swilling away. (House rules, no BMC at my house!).

For me, I mix it up, but usually some IPA and Porter and whatever else catches my fancy for 5 gallons...

I tend to do an APA more opten as a house beer. Simple recipe, good on hop flavor and smooth. Otherwise I like to experiment with bit IPA's, Oberon clones for non IPA drinkers and the wife, Stouts and Reds.

Oh yeah. I have a Pils recipe that I do fairly often. It's mindless (in a good way) brewing and drinking. I also have a Cascade Pale Ale that I can put through the system VERY quickly if I know a couple of weeks in advance we're having a get together or something. A variety of SMaSH brews are usually in the pipeline.

I've been finding that maybe one out of three of my brews are something that I'm just trying for the sake of trying. Maybe a particular clone I'm interested in or a style that I haven't tried before that still fits with my grain/hops/yeast stock.

My main reasoning for all of that is that I brew it, I keg it, I have to drink it. I may as well make stuff that I KNOW I want to drink if I'm going to have 4-5g of it in my fridge.

Brown Ale is the one I try to keep around. Made 3 batches so far and they get better each time.

I try to keep a blonde, pale ale (american or english) & a dark beer (northern english brown, oatmeal stout, porter, dark mild, etc.) on tap with varying degrees of success.

Yes. Pale ale that I make 3-4 times a year.

My goal is to have the following....

IPA on tap - almost a double and very hoppy. (brewed in Spring)
Blonde Ale on tap - good session ale. (brewed year round)
German Pilsner on tap - easy drinking during the summer (brewed in Winter)

Apfelwine on tap and bottled - ladies love the Apfelwine. (brewed year round)
Oktoberfest on tap and bottled - I get my best reviews on this one. (brewed year round)

Bock bottled - brewed once a year and savored on special occasions. (brewed in Fall)
Old Ale bottled - for enjoying during the holiday season and as gifts. (brewed in Spring)

I have a 4 keg Keezer so my tap space is limited and I don't brew during the Summer because of the heat and humidity.

Not yet. Since I have been brewing for three years you would think that I should but just havent found "the one."

Two years into brewing and I think I have found a couple of house brews.

1. Heavenly Scourge Black IIPA
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/heavenly-scourge-black-iipa-141308/
2. Alpha King Pale Ale Clone - Just startd drinking this and it's incredible
3. GW's Porter
4. American Strong Ale based on Arrogant Bastard

I'd say the closest thing I have to a house beer is a Amber Lager, dortmunder-like. Think of it as a german pale lager (looks just like an APA, but all noble hops, significant late-hopping).

OG: 1.055
FG: 1.010
IBU: 32
SRM: 6ish

3.5% American Crystal 60
96.5% German Pilsner Malt

25 IBU cascade at 90 minutes
US Liberty Hops 1oz at each 20 and 2 minutes

Ferment at 48 degrees with a HUGE starter of Wyeast 2124

Lager for 3-4 weeks in the kegerator.

It turns out awesome, like a lighter, hoppier version of Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold. More sessionable.

Its GOOD.

I've been brewing close to 2 years and I'm still in an experimenting/refining recipe stage so I don't have time/room to keep reproducing the same beer. As it is I have about 20-25 gallons of beer in bottles around the house.

I intend to reach a point (once I clear out most of my current inventory) to get down to making a beer or two for each season, brew some small batches (1-2 gallons) of various other stuff and then the occasional 3-5 gallon batches of stuff that will survive aging (e.g. high abv beers and sours). I have a couple of recipes I'm happy with that will stay in rotation and I have one or two I still need to work out the kinks to get it to where I want it.

The girlfriend and I were in agreement today that the Kentucky Common I brewed two months ago will be a house brew.

OG - 1.049
FG - 1.010
BU:GU - 0.64
SRM - 20

6 lb 10 oz (67%) American 2 row
2 lb (21%) Corn grits
14 oz (8%) Crystal 60
7 oz (4%) Pale Chocolate

@60M
0.4 oz Willamette
0.4 oz Palisade

@20M
0.5 oz Willamette
0.4 oz Palisade

Fermented with 1065. I didn't sour it (personal choice) and it turned out dynamite. I can't imagine a much better beer for late spring/early summer.

I usually keep my Simcoe Pale Ale and a Stout on tap.

At least once (and quite often twice) a year SWMBO and I brew our Honey Orange Hefe. It was originally a request by my sister to brew her a beer for a party with only 12 days to do so. Thus, this magical brew was born!

5.5 gallons
70% Brewhouse Eff.
OG 1.042
IBU 10.5
SRM 5.4


Mash
Single-Infusion, 60 miuntes @ 154*F

4.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 45.71 %
3.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) 34.29 %
1.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 11.43 %
0.75 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) 8.57 %


Boil (60 minutes)

0.50 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (60 min) 7.7 IBU
0.50 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (10 min) 2.8 IBU
zest of 4 large navel oranges (10 min)


Yeast

Safale Wheat Ale (WB-06)

Variety - way too many beers to keep brewing the same thing. A super hoppy Pliny is great but so is 5 other hoppy IPA's so I keep changing things. I figure you can't change a lot of things in life, but I certainly can change my beers.

samc said:

Variety - way too many beers to keep brewing the same thing. A super hoppy Pliny is great but so is 5 other hoppy IPA's so I keep changing things. I figure you can't change a lot of things in life, but I certainly can change my beers.

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That's what the other taps are for

I have a malt percentage template for a pale ale/ IPA that I use every for other brew or so. I just tweak the OG and hop schedule every time I make it for fun.

NorthernBrewers Patersbier is my House beer.
Simple, Cheap and taste amazing. Im brewing another 10gallons this weekend.

I'm always tweaking and I enjoy such a wide range of styles I just wouldn't really enjoy having the same beer on tap all the time. I have a couple brews I make at least once a year (altbier, blonde, wit, RyePA) seasonally, but I am always tweaking.

I've had a couple of repeaters, but nothing that has survived the test of time. Too many new beers to try!

Everything in my recipe dropdown are my house recipes and get brewed at regular intervals.

I have a few recipes that I always brew. They may not always be on tap but I always have a few kegs ready to go when I get the hankering.

I brew mostly ordinary bitter. I started with a wider range of ingredients which is continuously narrowing down to the point where I would call the mainstay my house brew with some very minor alterations each time. Variety is also nice, but I do like to have a standard brew as a centre.

Anyway, the beer I now have as my house brew was the only reason I started brewing in the first place!

detz said:

I've made a kit twice now and I love it so my plan is to keep making a keg of that and using my other corny to experiment with. The reason I'm planning this is my current two taps are not that great so I have to suffer through them before I can rack a new beer and I wont allow anyone to try what's in the keg now since they both suck. Using this approach I would always have one great beer on tap and one that's :fro:

Do you guys do this, do you have some recipes you always fall back on?

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I'm just bottling right now, but there are a few recipes I like to keep on hand. One is an Imperial Stout that finishes at around 10%ABV. As a matter of fact, I have about 7 bombers left over from a batch I did in November and have a new batch of the same beer in primary right now.

I also am working on a repeat batch of a chile pale ale made with jalapenos and a habanero. I think that's one I'm going to keep on hand as well. It goes great with a meal, but isn't much of a session beer.

There are a couple other styles that once I start kegging and routinely serve to friends I'll always keep on hand. One is an American style black ale and probably a porter that I haven't decided on as of yet.

I have a couple thatI have brewed several times.

An APA using Amarillo/ Citra hops. very nice.
An amber ale recipe I did that is close to Bell's Amber since I cannot get here.

Those two I try to always have some on hand.

I just did a black IPA that I am considering adding to the list. Everyone loves that one.

I do like to try different things but a few good stable brews on hand is always a good thing.

samc said:

Variety - way too many beers to keep brewing the same thing....... I figure you can't change a lot of things in life, but I certainly can change my beers.

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Nice!

I was thinking about having a nice BMC-replacement always on hand for friends, but I figure, if that's what my friends prefer, they can bring their own! I've only got 3 taps after all!

I suppose I would call my Orange coriander Pale Ale my house brew. It is a version of Blacklab's Cascades orange pale ale. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/cascades-orange-pale-ale-84558/I have made it 3 times now, this last time I made 24 gallons of it, so it will last awhile.

I always keep an IPA (still tweaking the dry hopping ) but it's close, small sample to friends "bitter beer face" know I am close. Bier De Garde and a MaiBock soon to have 12 taps so have room to play with different beers
Well 10 2are dedicated no2 stout taps love'em in the morning and when it's cold 50* or so











































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