Repeat recipes

[utah_scott]

I've only been brewing for a short time and only made 15 about different beers, so my knowledge is still limited. As you brew longer do you have beers that you make every other or every third batch, or do you continue to try new brews almost every time? I just feel like there are so many possibilities out there that I don't want to limit my self but I also have made some favorites that I know I'll make again. How often do you make a favorite vs. trying something new? Just trying to get a feel for what other people do.

 

[Airborneguy]

There's a few I repeat, but I usually make small changes every time as I continually try to perfect them.

 

[Yooper]

I make an IPA about every second or third batch, but not necessarily the same recipe. I don't make the same recipe all that often, but often "tweaks" of them. For example, I made a clone of Bell's Amber that was really good. It was pretty close to the Bell's, but then we decided that we wanted to hop it up some more. That made it unlike Bell's, but much more towards my husband's idea of a perfect beer- so I'll make that again. I just call it my "hopped up amber".

Otherwise, I change recipes all the time as different ideas come. I make an oatmeal stout only about twice a year, and two lagers a year, but make a ton of IPAs and pale ales. I throw in a brown ale now and then, or a malty beer like a Dead Guy clone once in a while. I try to have an IPA always on tap, along with a pale ale. Then other tap usually has something totally different, one of those beers I make less often and don't drink as much of. I like being able to drink different beers, bases on what I'm in the mood for.

 

[Captain Damage]

I've only repeated one recipe exactly (ginger wheat). There's one that I tweaked to change from extract to partial mash (Khitomer Pale Ale), and a nut brown I repeated to use as a base to add coconut to. Other than that, I've brewed a different beer every time.

 

[RM-MN]

Uh, you mean to tell me that you can make a recipe exactly the same twice? Something always changes in mine.

 

[jgourd]

There are several beers that I make on a regular basis (Soul Stripper IPA, Hopfully IPA, A Right Scunner Scottish Ale, Hakuna Matata Pale Ale). Others I make seasonally every year (Back in Black IPA, Pilsner Aristocrat, Clorona). But they are always very slightly tweaked each time. And of course brew days vary from batch to batch so there will be some slight differences.

 

[rjwhite41]

The only two times I can recall making the exact same recipe twice I changed the fermentation temp, once to clean it up more and once to get more fruitiness out of the yeast. So I guess that wouldn't be the exact same recipe. I do brew similar recipes constantly with little tweaks. I also brew ESB's and IPA's on a very regular basis, everything else is pretty seasonal and only made once a year.