What's YOUR ideal and perfect house beer?

[bizarrojosh]

Hey everyone, I'm in the initial stages of creating a house brew for myself. :rockin: I know everyone has different tastes and opinions, but I wanted to see what you all think a perfect house beer is. I have a few ideas but I want to hear from you!

For me the house beer needs to fit in these general categories:

1. Relatively Cheap: I don't want to spend over $30 for 5 gallons of AG brew. Ideally $20-$25 in ingredients.

2. Medium to low ABV: this is partially related to #1 since high ABV usually means more ingredients. However, I also think a house beer should be quaffable without getting totally wasted.

3. Neutral in flavor, but not bland: For a house beer to be perfect I feel that it should be able to accompany most meals. This means that it can't be too hoppy yet at the same time I don't want a watery, flavorless beer. Spices, fruit, and hops could all be used to give it that flavor.

4. Fast production time. For me, house beers should be ready to drink in 3-4 weeks. If you keg you can probably cut this time down by a week.

5. The beer should be one of the brewer's favorite styles (props to danielofthedale). If the brewer doesn't love the beer why make it just so others can drink it? I think mutuality is key for a house beer. This also gets over the issue of the plethora of styles that would fit 1-4.


So those are my 4 criterion that I sort of have to help me craft my perfect house beer. What are yours?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'd say kolsch, but it might violate #4.

The Belgian Patersbier recipe from Northern Brewer would work if you like Belgian beer. Low-ABV, but full of flavor.

A session IPA would be good if you're a hop head. Might cost a booty more for all the hops unless you're buying in bulk.

 

[captwalt]

I vote for a simple SMaSH pale ale. 11 lbs 2row and 3 additions of .66oz cascade each for bitter, flavor and aroma. This is the new Albion recipe from BYO mag. I made it and is was fantastic, simple, quick, relatively low ABV and flavorful but no so much as to turn off casual sippers of suds while still Maintaining a great deal of Integrity. It is a very good, not the most unique or wild and crazy beer to serve but in my opinion a fantastic sessionable house beer that I intend to keep around

 

[captwalt]

One more thing I forgot, it was cheap. Bulk grains and washed yeast and I made 10 gallons for about $30. I think this fits all of your criteria.

 

[bizarrojosh]

I really like Kolsch but I find that it takes about a month in primary to really get cleared up and taste just right. I cetainly make those frequently, but I don't know if I can call it a house beer, personally,

SMaSH brews are something that I'm really interested in trying out. Simple, effective, tasty, cheap. Do you have a date for that magazine? I'm not familiar with it so I don't really know what Albion means.

 

[Wig]

My house beer is a Best Bitter. It meets all your criteria except for "neutral in flavor". Unless you meant to say 'well balanced", then it does that too.

 

[bizarrojosh]

My house beer is a Best Bitter. It meets all your criteria except for "neutral in flavor". Unless you meant to say 'well balanced", then it does that too.

Well balanced may be the better way of expressing what I'm looking for, but at the same time, a well balanced Imperial IPA is not going to be a house beer for most people.

 

[badlee]

I will go with 1,2 and 4.
I look for an OG of about 1040,lots of hop flavour and aroma,but a wee bit unbalanced. I like 30% rye malt,10% crystal and 10% soft brown sugar fermented with Notty,hopped to about 55-60 IBUs, 2/3 of which coming in the form of something like Citra,Amarillo,Simcoe in the last 15 minutes of the boil. Grain to glass in 2 weeks 3 days. Two weeks in primary and 3 days in the bottle.

 

[bizarrojosh]

I will go with 1,2 and 4.
I look for an OG of about 1040,lots of hop flavour and aroma,but a wee bit unbalanced. I like 30% rye malt,10% crystal and 10% soft brown sugar fermented with Notty,hopped to about 55-60 IBUs, 2/3 of which coming in the form of something like Citra,Amarillo,Simcoe in the last 15 minutes of the boil. Grain to glass in 2 weeks 3 days. Two weeks in primary and 3 days in the bottle.

So you are getting a pretty good malt flavor with all of that right? Especially with using Notty as that heightens the bready flavors. It also seems like you have lots of aroma. Do you find you can drink this with most meals or does it no pair well with most foods?

 

[highgravitybacon]

Hey everyone, I'm in the initial stages of creating a house brew for myself. :rockin: I know everyone has different tastes and opinions, but I wanted to see what you all think a perfect house beer is. I have a few ideas but I want to hear from you!

For me the house beer needs to fit in these general categories:

1. Relatively Cheap: I don't want to spend over $30 for 5 gallons of AG brew. Ideally $20-$25 in ingredients.

2. Medium to low ABV: this is partially related to #1 since high ABV usually means more ingredients. However, I also think a house beer should be quaffable without getting totally wasted.

3. Neutral in flavor, but not bland: For a house beer to be perfect I feel that it should be able to accompany most meals. This means that it can't be too hoppy yet at the same time I don't want a watery, flavorless beer. Spices, fruit, and hops could all be used to give it that flavor.

4. Fast production time. For me, house beers should be ready to drink in 3-4 weeks. If you keg you can probably cut this time down by a week.

So those are my 4 criterion that I sort of have to help me craft my perfect house beer. What are yours?

EDIT:

Is it possible for a mod to edit my title? It should say "What's" instead of "what." My keyboard sucks! Thanks.

Ordinary bitter, pale mild, German hefeweizen, helles, kolsch, alt, table saison, dortmunder, german pils, bo pils, classic American pils, wit, Belgian pale are options.

There is no Swiss army beer. The beauty of making your own beer is you can make more than one.

 

[beaksnbeer]

This is the recipe for my house beer.

Sure, I biab. 5 gallon batch

GRAIN BILL
7.5 lbs of Pilsen malt
.25 lbs. of Aromatic malt
I have also added .5- 1lbs brown sugar at times just bumping the color slightly and to dry it out for high heat days and to raise %. The one picture has no sugar.

HOPS (I measure in grams and did a rounded conversion)
42 grams (1.5oz.) of Organic German Traditional 60 min.
28 grams (1oz.) Saaz 60 min.
14 grams (.5oz) Saaz at flame out (end of boil)


Mash in at 150* should drop temperature to about 146* I hold it there for 45 min. I do an iodine test for conversion
Raise temperature to 168* over the next 20 min. I sparge with 168*water 3 times to get to my boil level.
This will vary to pot size and how high of a boil you achieve, and your equipment

Water I use my well water run through carbon filter (most water is fairly hard here in Florida)
I start with 1.5 gallons I like a real thick mash (about the thickness of oatmeal)

Yeast,I used a Trappist High Gravity and held temperature at 62* which in my fermenter holds the wort about 64* for 5 days then ramp temperature over the next week to 75* then wait til finished (most times I'm at 1.003 and finished at this time sugar pushes this out a couple of days)

It's simple and pretty quick the picture is after 4 weeks on CO2, is ready most times in my keezer at 39* with CO2 at 10 psi. I have 12 taps and I keep 14 kegs cold and on CO2 and had nothing empty which is why it sat for 4 weeks. I never have to drink "green" beer because of this.

Good luck and hope you enjoy

 

[bizarrojosh]

Ordinary bitter, pale mild, German hefeweizen, helles, kolsch, alt, table saison, dortmunder, german pils, bo pils, classic American pils, wit, Belgian pale are options.

There is no Swiss army beer. The beauty of making your own beer is you can make more than one.

I totally agree about there being no swiss army beer. Thanks for your suggestions! Do you have a house beer? Maybe one you tend to brew often or modify often?

 

[bizarrojosh]

This is the recipe for my house beer.

Whoa, that looks funky. Does the belgian yeast give it some flavors and funk? :fro:

 

[biochemedic]

I really like Kolsch but I find that it takes about a month in primary to really get cleared up and taste just right. I cetainly make those frequently, but I don't know if I can call it a house beer, personally,

SMaSH brews are something that I'm really interested in trying out. Simple, effective, tasty, cheap. Do you have a date for that magazine? I'm not familiar with it so I don't really know what Albion means.

Albion = New Albion, a very early craft brew that was recently recreated by Boston Brewing Co in concert with the original brewer of New Albion. I actually finally just had a chance tot taste this beer for the first time --came across 1 bottle at a random supermarket that had a bunch of "mix 'n match" beers. It is really a very nice beer! I didn't realize it was a SMaSH until now, but in retrospect I can now see why the taste appealed to me so much...I have been brewing a lot of SMaSHs lately, and I really love their simplicity and taste...the SMaSH, has I guess, become my house beer, but not a particular blend/combination; I just keep making different ones. I've had one SMaSH or another on tap for the last 6 months at least.

Here's a link to the online article/recipe for New Albion.

My own SMaSHs follow the formula of OG ~1.060, and hops to about 45 IBU, but preferably all in the last 20 min of the boil. Occasionally, depending on the AA rating I have to add one addition a little earlier so as not to go completely overboard on my hop requirements, but I've never put hops in earlier than 30 min for a SMaSH. Perhaps I'll have to try the Albion approach (60, 30, 15) one time just for ha-ha's....

 

[bizarrojosh]

Thanks for the link. I'll try it out for sure.

 

[highgravitybacon]

I totally agree about there being no swiss army beer. Thanks for your suggestions! Do you have a house beer? Maybe one you tend to brew often or modify often?

If you want a cheap, fast, delicious beer, my go to is a hefeweizen. 9 lbs grain for 5.25 gal, one ounce of hallertau or tettnang. So at $1 per pound of grain, and $2 for an ounce of hops, and $7 for yeast, you're at $18 for 5 gallons. 6 days primary, 3 cold crash, 7-10 bottle conditioning. 18-21 day turnaround even if bottling.

 

[jeremy0209]

If you want well balanced, cheap, sessionable, and quick, this is your beer:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

You can go ahead and read through 343 pages of glowing reviews, or you can take my word for it....it's awesome!!!

 

[Glynn]

Hefeweizen from boil to drinking 3 weeks. goes down easy on a hot day

 

[beaksnbeer]

Whoa, that looks funky. Does the belgian yeast give it some flavors and funk? :fro:

Yes pretty complex flavor profile for a simple recipe heres a pic of how it looks

 

[badlee]

So you are getting a pretty good malt flavor with all of that right? Especially with using Notty as that heightens the bready flavors. It also seems like you have lots of aroma. Do you find you can drink this with most meals or does it no pair well with most foods?

I drank some yesterday with snake curry and again today with spinach sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Yup, goes with everything mate

 

[bizarrojosh]

So has anyone else made any "rules of thumb" for house brews? I'm kind of interested in the thought process for the way you created your beer.

 

[beaksnbeer]

I have three types of house beers:
1. Drinkable for all (bmc included) Recipe I posted.
2. Stout I have to have one available at all times
3. Lager loosely based on a Vienna style.

 

[rklinck]

So has anyone else made any "rules of thumb" for house brews? I'm kind of interested in the thought process for the way you created your beer.

I don't think you can get rules of thumb from others on this. A hophead will have one set of rules, a brewer who loves Belgian beer will have a different set, and a brewer who loves sweeter beers will have yet another.

But if you are looking for mass appeal, one characteristic I would add to your list is to aim for high attenuation so you get a dry beer. In other words, mash at low temps.

Also, I would use a clean fermenting yeast (eg US-05).

 

[bizarrojosh]

I don't think you can get rules of thumb from others on this. A hophead will have one set of rules, a brewer who loves Belgian beer will have a different set, and a brewer who loves sweeter beers will have yet another.

But if you are looking for mass appeal, one characteristic I would add to your list is to aim for high attenuation so you get a dry beer. In other words, mash at low temps.

Also, I would use a clean fermenting yeast (eg US-05).

Right, I totally agree. But if YOU had any guidelines for making your house beer, I would love to hear them. I thought it would be fun to come up with a "house beer style" haha.

 

[Beernik]

For me the house beer needs to fit in these general categories:

1. Relatively Cheap: I don't want to spend over $30 for 5 gallons of AG brew. Ideally $20-$25 in ingredients.

2. Medium to low ABV: this is partially related to #1 since high ABV usually means more ingredients. However, I also think a house beer should be quaffable without getting totally wasted.

3. Neutral in flavor, but not bland: For a house beer to be perfect I feel that it should be able to accompany most meals. This means that it can't be too hoppy yet at the same time I don't want a watery, flavorless beer. Spices, fruit, and hops could all be used to give it that flavor.

4. Fast production time. For me, house beers should be ready to drink in 3-4 weeks. If you keg you can probably cut this time down by a week.

I think you're looking at a sessionable amber. Not too hoppy, not too malty, low ABV. Find a good bitter, flavor, aroma hop (cascade, moteuka) and spread it out along the boil.

Or a Mild -> the most under appreciated beer style.

I keep a hazelnut sweet stout in stock all the time. It's one of the best beers I make and it's my wife's favorite.

I just made a good moteuka amber. I'm bottling it today, so I won't know just how good it is for another 3 weeks. But I did dream about drinking it last night.

My pumpkin Saison is going to make another appearance this year, but it's a seasonal beer.

 

[ktblunden]

If you want well balanced, cheap, sessionable, and quick, this is your beer:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

You can go ahead and read through 343 pages of glowing reviews, or you can take my word for it....it's awesome!!!

Absolutely this! I'm amazed no one else mentioned that before this post. It's quite possibly the most brewed recipe on HBT and for good reason. I have an entire batch of it going to a party today and I expect it to be a hit.

 

[LakesideBrewing]

Farmhouse or a Saison.

 

[Spicemon1972]

Absolutely this! I'm amazed no one else mentioned that before this post. It's quite possibly the most brewed recipe on HBT and for good reason. I have an entire batch of it going to a party today and I expect it to be a hit.

Amen! BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde is my house beer, it is a great brew, liked by all including my BMC friends and in line with your criteria.
Brew it and see!

 

[Kolsch_Meister]

I use a honey kolsch as my house beer. It is liked by almost all of our drinkers...

 

[biochemedic]

Right, I totally agree. But if YOU had any guidelines for making your house beer, I would love to hear them. I thought it would be fun to come up with a "house beer style" haha.

In addition to the stuff I mentioned earlier (OG ~1.060 and ~ 45 IBU), I actually mash a little high (156*F) to allow the malt to have a little higher influence on the flavor. I pitch fairly cool (I target a pitching temp of ~62*F), and using a good pitch of yeast that attenuates well (I've been using some US-05, but more recently BRY-97, which I really like) gets me FG's between 1.012 and 1.014. I also previously mentioned my hopbursting (all the hops in the last 20 min or less) which allows the aroma and flavor of the hop to shine. My original reason for starting SMaSHing was to learn the flavors, but every single one I've done like this makes a really nice easy drinking beer.

 

[Braufessor]

I agree with much of your criteria - when I think "house beer", the two main criteria I would start with are:
1.) everyone likes it.
2.) low alcohol/session beer.

Quick turnaround is also key, so you can whip a batch or two up on a few weeks notice and have it in its prime for parties and gatherings. That said, probably my most popular house beers are -

1.) British Dark Mild
2.) British Bitter
3.) A smallish American Pale Ale in the 1.040 range with 25-30 IBU's or so.

4.) a fourth really popular beer of mine that takes longer is a German Helles.

I really love a good British Dark Mild though - pleases all kinds of beer drinkers.

 

[Yooper]

So has anyone else made any "rules of thumb" for house brews? I'm kind of interested in the thought process for the way you created your beer.

Here are mine!
1. Relatively low ABV, so I can have more than a couple.
2. Hops flavor and aroma a MUST
3. Cheap. Since I buy hops by the pound, and grow about 4 varieties well (others not so well ), buy grain in bulk, and reuse yeast, even IPAs and APAs are fairly cheap.
4. Must be medium bodied, and quaffable (not sweet nor too dry).

My goal is really a session IPA. I've made some that are really close to my Holy Grail, but nothing that screams "PERFECT!" yet. I'm trying to come up with something like 21st Amendment's Bitter American, using my homegrown hops but having more citrusy hops flavor and aroma but still balancing the malt backbone with it- and keeping it under 5% ABV.

I have other house beers, though- I have a house oatmeal stout for fall/winter. I have a house IPA. Since I'm a hophead, as is my husband, we normally have at least two hoppy beers and one "other" on tap at any given time.

Right now, I have on tap: House IPA; English IPA, Homegrown hops APA; and Fizzy Yellow Beer.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I agree with much of your criteria - when I think "house beer", the two main criteria I would start with are:
1.) everyone likes it.
2.) low alcohol/session beer.

Agreed... And here on the left coast, I almost think that means "Session IPA"

Seems everyone who visits me hits the IPA first anyway, so I should make a version that doesn't get them then :cross:

Only problem -- not drinking all 10 gal of the batch before they show up!

 

[bizarrojosh]

Agreed... And here on the left coast, I almost think that means "Session IPA"

Seems everyone who visits me hits the IPA first anyway, so I should make a version that doesn't get them then :cross:

Only problem -- not drinking all 10 gal of the batch before they show up!

I have both of those "problems."

Having multiple house beers sounds awesome. I'm too experimental right now in my fledgling brewing to be able to really make several house brews. There's just too many styles to try! With experience and age I'm sure I'll make a couple that I can call my own and which I enjoy enough to make a house brew

 

[Grippe]

Yea I tell you truthfully - I cannot think of anything better that fits the OP's ask than Edwort's Haus Pale.

 

[danielofthedale]

To me a house beer should be one of the brewers favorite styles, low to low middle abv, and something friends/family will drink some of as well.

For me I would want my house beer to be a brown ale(English or American) or an ESB. I will go hit up my local soccer bar early on a Saturday and be there there till the early evening can enjoy browns and ESBs all the way and not get over my skis and it seems like even my non craft friends enjoy them.

 

[bizarrojosh]

That's a great criterion "it should be a favorite style of the brewer." Because if the brewer doesn't like it then why the hell make it right? Plus that's why yooper's comment was so interesting because she likes IPA's so much so that makes sense for her and her family. I'm going to add that to the front if you don't mind! Thanks for the input.

 

[danielofthedale]

That's a great criterion "it should be a favorite style of the brewer." Because if the brewer doesn't like it then why the hell make it right? Plus that's why yooper's comment was so interesting because she likes IPA's so much so that makes sense for her and her family. I'm going to add that to the front if you don't mind! Thanks for the input.

Go for it. I would not bother me at all. If I was in a home brew club I think it would be an interesting day to see what everyone hangs their hat on as far their house style would be.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

my criteria: whatever I have in the house.



oh. snap.

 

[D_Nyholm]

Mine is the orange/coriander cascade pale ale from this site. I think it is the best beer I have made and is slightly hoppy without being a face slap. The orange also adds a little more flavor and is great for the summer. The next time I brew it I am going to omit the orange and coriander and make it cheaper to grew. It is just 2 row and 60l from what I remember, maybe some Munich or Vienna but I am not sure.