Who has a house beer

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Izzie1701

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Who keeps one go to beer on tap or brews the same thing over and over. I find it so hard to brew the same beer. I want to keep trying new things. New have a "house" beer on tap. Only have 2 taps. Try and keep one as a dark/stout and one as an easy drinker. Have a couple I loved just seem to not got back to them because I want to try something new. Anyone else have this problem?
 
Pretty sure I'd have this problem if I kegged. So far it's been mainly a matter of expense and space, but now that you've prompted me, I think bottles are fundamentally better suited to my brewing style.

On the other hand, if I had the space, I could see having a few reliably "house" beers on tap (3-4, maybe) and then bottling everything else...
 
I have made my "Relaxation" beer (in my signature ) 4 times now...which is my own original creation, and of all the beers I have made its always the first one that's gone when we have company over. I'm not saying it's the best, but of all the friends I have that come over quite often, they ask if I have it in my kegerator. I have even had some offer to pay me to make them some and bottle it.....so I guess if I had a "house" beer, that'd be it.

Personally, I like ohiodad's zac and jack amber too, I have a spare keg of it keg conditioning as we speak!
 
I have several house beers that are repeated, but are not always on hand. ...and they're not really repeated, since I always change something. So, I guess I don't have a house beer after all. I plan to someday when I get my recipes perfected. (Fat chance.)
 
N... Not exactly. I tend to almost always have a single-hopped American Pale Ale or a West-Coast Double IPA on hand, but they're never the same (I oftentimes use a different hop in the APA and vary the recipe for the IPA a bit. The IPA is probably the closest to a house beer since the recipe is about 85-90% the same each time I make it, but I guess the truth is, it's never been made exactly the same way).

It's kind of odd because I do have commercial whiskey that I always have a bottle on hand (like, I might have several bottles of whiskey on hand, but one that's always the same - "my house whiskey"), but I can't really imagine doing that with anything I homebrew... or with any beers I buy commercially. Hm... I guess I like too many styles of beer to have the exact same recipe on hand all the time.
 
4 taps on my keezer. The house tap is usually a blonde ale w/kolsch yeast (that's been repeated the most) or a pale w/San Diego yeast. Those 2 recipes rarely get tweaked.
Amber or cal common is usually my 3rd choice.
 
I try to keep a few on hand, rarely at the same time. I usually have my cream of three crops on hand, a california common, my IPA recipe and a saison. I tweek these and rarely ever do them exactly the same. The cream ale is my most successful brew so its a favorite.
 
I would have the same problem if I only had two taps. With 9 keg capacity in my keezer with 7 beer taps I can keep 3-4 favorite styles on tap always, although the character of these beers may change. I usually have a cider, lighter ale, IPA and Stout on tap. The others rotate.

Before I had a keezer and only a few kegs I bottled a lot more to keep up the variety options.
 
Just getting back into it, but my thought is to have a standard recipe on hand at all times that once mastered, I can modify as the mood takes me. Add fruit, switch up the yeast or change the hop profile, etc.
 
Izzie1701 said:
Who keeps one go to beer on tap or brews the same thing over and over. I find it so hard to brew the same beer. I want to keep trying new things. New have a "house" beer on tap. Only have 2 taps. Try and keep one as a dark/stout and one as an easy drinker. Have a couple I loved just seem to not got back to them because I want to try something new. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

My new keezer has 3 taps, and already I'm wishing I had a 4th and a 5th (which I allowed for when I designed the collar).

I have two of what I consider "house beers" which I will continue to brew for the foreseeable future. I have them both on tap right now, and follow-on batches in fermenters right now.

The third tap is a SMASH I tried with Maris Otter and East Kent Goldings. It's drinkable, but I'll try something else there next.

Meanwhile, my daughter yesterday, while watching me mash, announces that she likes Leinenkugel's Vanilla Porter. Well. I guess I'll have to try to reproduce that for her.

My house beers: Spelunker's Special, which is an ESB, and Funky Rye II, the second iteration of a Rye beers that a lot of people like--and more than that, *I* like it. It was the first beer I brewed where I would rather have that than anything the local watering hole has on tap--or in bottles. Wish they served it. :(

My solution to this dilemma? Add a 4th and 5th tap. Workin' on it. :)
 
I have a pale ale that I try to keep available all the time. I doesn't alway work out for me. I thik I need to bump up to 10 gallon batches. I've got the grain bill right where I want it. I do like to mix the hops up. It's such a simple beer it's a good platform to try different hops or try a different yeast. And I really like simple APA's so it's the one we drink a lot of at our house.

I'm trying to get my Kolsch at the same place. But I've have a couple bumps in the road with yeast availability and poor planning on my part. Still resulted it good beers but not that slow, incremental change I've had with my APA.
 
I have 5 taps.

I have a house ale that's basically a variation of Kona Big Wave that I try to keep on tap. I also made a Pilsner that I liked and may make that a regular, as well.

I then try to keep different styles on tap, but not the same recipe (IPA, Porter and/or stout). I also try and keep Hefeweizen in bottles through the summer.

Having 5 taps allows me to keep a known beer(s) available and still try different things, and I like the variety.
 
TurnipGreen said:
I have a pale ale that I try to keep available all the time. I doesn't alway work out for me. I thik I need to bump up to 10 gallon batches. I've got the grain bill right where I want it. I do like to mix the hops up. It's such a simple beer it's a good platform to try different hops or try a different yeast. And I really like simple APA's so it's the one we drink a lot of at our house.
Click to expand...
I am the same way in that I have a "house style" known as Redneck Pale Ale that just has few guidelines like OG, IBU and color that I make a little different depending on what ingredients I want to use up or what yeast dregs I have from the prior beer. I have been doing that beer for over 20 years.

Now days I have two other house beers that alternate...a dark mild and my Lawnmower RyePA. Finally, I have a standing order to bring our racecar's namesake beer to each race weekend so I make about 30 gallons of Tarrytown Rusty Brown (think a slightly reddish Moose Drool) a year just for that purpose.

I am less experimental these because I have found the beers I like the most. None of mine match a style guideline exactly but though I may do variations on theme, I basically make 4-6 beers very similar to how I have made them before and maybe one more in that time that is little more adventurous.
 
I have 7 taps on the keezer. My two house beers are a Pliny Clone and a Kolsch. Pretty much always have those two on tap.
 
I guess you could call mine my house beer. I have brewed many different styles through the years but in the past few years I have only been drinking & brewing IPA's. I have a grain bill that I use every time, as long as I have all the ingredients - two row, munich or vienna, & a little crystal for color. I also use the same hop schedule with every brew but I use different kind of hops, depending on what I have. Since I started doing this my brews are much more consistent so I know with each batch what I will be getting. Made my life so much easier.
 
Kinda. I have three taps now and try to have 1 that is the same, or similar. I have enough kegs to go 4 now, which I think would help that predicament out.
 
I do but it isn't always on tap because space is an issue. I need to add a couple more kegs.
 
I've finally started settling in on a couple of house beers. My Munich Helles and my Vienna Lager. At least one of my four taps will have one of those from now on. The other three are just whatever I feel like brewing at the time.
 
I bottle, and sometimes I think I would like to have a house brew on hand all the time. But I've only got so much time to brew, and every time it comes time to plan the next brew I say why brew the same thing when I can do something different? I have done a couple repeat brews, but just can't stand limiting myself.
 
They're still sort of evolving, but I have some brews where concepts will stay the same with altered recipes. I have a White IPA with 100% wheat malt and Belle Saison yeast that turned out really nice, but I'll probably alter the hops selection and brew it a little different each winter. I did a similar IPA to New Belgium's Citradelic with all Citra, Vienna malt, but I'll probably replace the oats with flaked wheat next time, and use Conan. There's also another White IPA I brewed with 100 percent Equinox that I'll do again for sure, probably the same recipe, but I'll get better efficiency so it's not session strength. The only one that I'd like to reproduce and not improve upon is a Belgian Single I did recently that my Fiance really loves.
 
I have several that I could call my "house" beers as they get rebrews at least once a year. But ultimately if I had to pick one, I've a nice super-sessionable 2.7% Mild that usually gets brewed 2-3 times a year.
 
I have an English brown ale I brew 4-6 times a year, so it's usually on one of my 3 taps. It's my only year-round beer. I have a couple others that are seasonal, and another that is whenever-I-get-around-to-it, but everything else is usually once and done. Many of those are intended to be brewed again, with or without tweaks, but I just can't seem to drink fast enough to keep up with my wishlist, so they keep getting pushed further and further back.
 
No house beer here yet but so far BierMuncher's Centennial Blond Ale and KingBrianI's Common Room ESB are the most frequent repeat offenders in my fridge.

Edit to add: There is nearly always some Orchard Breezin' Mist Wine of one flavor or another in the house. I could lie and say I make them because the wife loves them but I enjoy a tall glass of Peach Perfection on ice as much as the next guy.
 
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mongoose33 said:
My new keezer has 3 taps, and already I'm wishing I had a 4th and a 5th (which I allowed for when I designed the collar).

I have two of what I consider "house beers" which I will continue to brew for the foreseeable future. I have them both on tap right now, and follow-on batches in fermenters right now.

The third tap is a SMASH I tried with Maris Otter and East Kent Goldings. It's drinkable, but I'll try something else there next.

Meanwhile, my daughter yesterday, while watching me mash, announces that she likes Leinenkugel's Vanilla Porter. Well. I guess I'll have to try to reproduce that for her.

My house beers: Spelunker's Special, which is an ESB, and Funky Rye II, the second iteration of a Rye beers that a lot of people like--and more than that, *I* like it. It was the first beer I brewed where I would rather have that than anything the local watering hole has on tap--or in bottles. Wish they served it. :(

My solution to this dilemma? Add a 4th and 5th tap. Workin' on it. :)
Click to expand...

That names sounds like it has a cool story to go with it.


I'm just like the OP. I have 2 taps and although I do brew some beers more than once, I generally try to brew something different each time. Generally my repeats are Two Hearted clones, a Witbier, and some kind of Pale Ale.

I see a rememdy in the future, though. My wife got me 2 kegs for my Birthday. They are 2.5 gallons and 4 of them will fit in my kegerator, and 2 will fit with one 5 gallon keg. So I can have up to 4 kegs of beer at a time. Sometime in the near future I will purchase more shanks and faucets and put those kegs to good use.

Ideally I'd have on tap:

1. IPA
2. Witbier
3. Stout or other
4. Blonde or other

The others being whatever sounds interesting. Lately I've been brewing for a local Homebrew League Competition, so I've had to make a beer a month of different styles, usually stuff I wouldn't normally make.

All of this brewing different styles has satisfied my curiosity and I'm ready to brew something familiar again. And I have a tap to serve it on!
 
I have 2 beers that I have sort of brewed several times each. Neither one has been exactly the same twice.

With so many variations to try I have not had the desire to create a "house" beer.
 
mongoose33 said:
My house beers: Spelunker's Special, which is an ESB
Click to expand...

Homercidal said:
That names sounds like it has a cool story to go with it.
Click to expand...

Longish story.

I started homebrewing in large part because Potosi Brewing Company (home of the National Brewing Museum in Potosi, WI) changed the recipe of my all-time favorite beer, Potosi Cave Ale. This happened last summer--the original has a 6.5% ABV, and was a hit--it was on tap in various places, including Madison, and people liked and kept ordering it. Wonderful, wonderful beer (at least to me).

Well. They changed it last summer. ABV dropped to 5.5%, and it had a sour aftertaste to it. Really not a good beer. I called and complained (I live 22 miles away), the PR person to whom I was directed insisted it was the same recipe, all they did was change the yeast.

I know--now--that yeast can be everything, to say nothing of fermentation temps, conditioning, and so on. Further, they had apparently reduced the fermentables such that the alcohol content was less.

The PR person said no one else had complained, so I'm thinking, maybe I just got a bum six-pack or two. So I decide to go to the source, to Potosi, the home of the museum and the place they're now brewing it (previously it was contracted out). I ordered a draft of Cave Ale, and it was the same crappy beer I'd suffered with out of the bottles. Moreover, the server told me that people were complaining about it (so much for the PR flack's claim of no complaints).

I was badly hurt by all this, badly hurt. :( Potosi Brewing offered me a coupon for a free six-pack, but I declined. Who the hell has a hit beer on their hands and then changes the recipe? Name it something else, but keep the hit. Sadly, but predictably, it has disappeared from the taps in local establishments.

It was at that point I started thinking about what to do. In the interim, I switched back to my old stand-by, Boston Lager, the beer that started moving me away from the more common BMC offerings to craft beer of various types.

But I was still pining away for my Cave Ale. Described as an "Amber Ale," it really seems closer to a English Special Bitter.

****************

Meanwhile, my son had started brewing. He's a microbiologist, and was brewing 1-gallon batches. He linked me to Palmer's How to Brew online version, and I began to learn about brewing. He helped me in the beginning, and he'll be home next week and we'll do a brew day together.

It became my mission, in life and in brewing, to create a Cave Ale clone. By damn, if they're going to take away my one beer love, they will pay and pay dearly, and I'll make my own. I'm very close with it--needs to finish a bit drier, and I think I need to make it a bit more bitter, but others have told me I've nailed it.

So what do I name something like this? I can't name it Cave Ale, that's already taken--besides, I don't ever want it confused with that shadow of its former self.

I asked a friend what he thought I might name it, and he came back with the alliterative "Spelunker's Special." "Spelunker" for "Cave," and "Special" for ESB. So that's what it is: Spelunker's Special.

*******************

People seem to like it. I do. I'm still tweaking; I have a new batch cold-crashing right now. It's one of the two house beers in my keezer, the other being Funky Rye II (second batch nailed it). I submitted both to my local homebrew club's throwdown last week; it came in second out of 16 beers; it won its flight of six beers, then came in second compared to the other two flight winners. But I was happy--seems some of this brewing stuff is starting to make sense.

k.jpg
 
Izzie1701 said:
Who keeps one go to beer on tap or brews the same thing over and over. I find it so hard to brew the same beer. I want to keep trying new things. New have a "house" beer on tap. Only have 2 taps. Try and keep one as a dark/stout and one as an easy drinker. Have a couple I loved just seem to not got back to them because I want to try something new. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

I think it's a good idea to keep re-brewing the same recipe and try to improve and make it more consistent every time.

I rebrew several beers on some rotation. Red Ale, citrucy-hoppy IPA, oatmeal stout and imperial porter are among those "go-to" house beers for me now.
 
PADave said:
I bottle, and sometimes I think I would like to have a house brew on hand all the time. But I've only got so much time to brew, and every time it comes time to plan the next brew I say why brew the same thing when I can do something different? I have done a couple repeat brews, but just can't stand limiting myself.
Click to expand...


I'm of the same mind as you.

I started brewing two years ago this October. I've had some real successes and a couple stinkers, and all but my very first (a Cali Common kit) have been my own creations (with quite a bit of help from the HBT collective brain trust). I was averaging one brewday per month for a while, but a big career change put a halt to that for the past six months. In any case, I haven't needed enough to make me want to sick with making one constant house beer every few months - I want to test myself and learn by brewing different beers.

That said, I've settled on an grain bill that's scalable for pale ales and IPAs. It's worked really well for the last few I've brewed, but now I'm in the process of experimenting with different hops and hopping schedules. Last IPA had a hop combo of Nelson-Galaxy-Citra that was out of this f'ing world. I may just have to go back to that well again in the future!

Perhaps in the near future I'll have a truly house beer. I'm nearing my three-tap (with one spare keg) kegerator build, and maybe that'll see me have a good ol' standby on tap. Until that time, I'll keep trying new and different things and see how well I can get on!
 
mongoose33 said:
Longish story.

I started homebrewing in large part because Potosi Brewing Company (home of the National Brewing Museum in Potosi, WI) changed the recipe of my all-time favorite beer, Potosi Cave Ale. This happened last summer--the original has a 6.5% ABV, and was a hit--it was on tap in various places, including Madison, and people liked and kept ordering it. Wonderful, wonderful beer (at least to me).

Well. They changed it last summer. ABV dropped to 5.5%, and it had a sour aftertaste to it. Really not a good beer. I called and complained (I live 22 miles away), the PR person to whom I was directed insisted it was the same recipe, all they did was change the yeast.

I know--now--that yeast can be everything, to say nothing of fermentation temps, conditioning, and so on. Further, they had apparently reduced the fermentables such that the alcohol content was less.

The PR person said no one else had complained, so I'm thinking, maybe I just got a bum six-pack or two. So I decide to go to the source, to Potosi, the home of the museum and the place they're now brewing it (previously it was contracted out). I ordered a draft of Cave Ale, and it was the same crappy beer I'd suffered with out of the bottles. Moreover, the server told me that people were complaining about it (so much for the PR flack's claim of no complaints).

I was badly hurt by all this, badly hurt. :( Potosi Brewing offered me a coupon for a free six-pack, but I declined. Who the hell has a hit beer on their hands and then changes the recipe? Name it something else, but keep the hit. Sadly, but predictably, it has disappeared from the taps in local establishments.

It was at that point I started thinking about what to do. In the interim, I switched back to my old stand-by, Boston Lager, the beer that started moving me away from the more common BMC offerings to craft beer of various types.

But I was still pining away for my Cave Ale. Described as an "Amber Ale," it really seems closer to a English Special Bitter.

****************

Meanwhile, my son had started brewing. He's a microbiologist, and was brewing 1-gallon batches. He linked me to Palmer's How to Brew online version, and I began to learn about brewing. He helped me in the beginning, and he'll be home next week and we'll do a brew day together.

It became my mission, in life and in brewing, to create a Cave Ale clone. By damn, if they're going to take away my one beer love, they will pay and pay dearly, and I'll make my own. I'm very close with it--needs to finish a bit drier, and I think I need to make it a bit more bitter, but others have told me I've nailed it.

So what do I name something like this? I can't name it Cave Ale, that's already taken--besides, I don't ever want it confused with that shadow of its former self.

I asked a friend what he thought I might name it, and he came back with the alliterative "Spelunker's Special." "Spelunker" for "Cave," and "Special" for ESB. So that's what it is: Spelunker's Special.

*******************

People seem to like it. I do. I'm still tweaking; I have a new batch cold-crashing right now. It's one of the two house beers in my keezer, the other being Funky Rye II (second batch nailed it). I submitted both to my local homebrew club's throwdown last week; it came in second out of 16 beers; it won its flight of six beers, then came in second compared to the other two flight winners. But I was happy--seems some of this brewing stuff is starting to make sense.

View attachment 361847
Click to expand...

Ok, so you're not actually a "Caver"!

Still a cool story. Keep at it and you'll get there. And it can take a while for things to start making sense in this hobby.

I don't know how the PR guy could claim they used different yeast yet "didn't change the recipe". Yeast can be a big factor in the recipe!

Anyway, screw those guys. They'll be buying from YOU before long! ;)
 
Homercidal said:
Ok, so you're not actually a "Caver"!
Click to expand...

No, but when I was a boy scout we used to do a little of that. That was back when I was more limber--and could fit through tight spots more easily. :)

Still a cool story. Keep at it and you'll get there. And it can take a while for things to start making sense in this hobby.

I don't know how the PR guy could claim they used different yeast yet "didn't change the recipe". Yeast can be a big factor in the recipe!

Anyway, screw those guys. They'll be buying from YOU before long! ;)
Click to expand...

I kegged the newest batch last night, 11 days from brew day. Force carbed it a lot of the way, rocking it on my lap while connected to the gas, and then a buddy and I tested it. It's green, so how good can it taste, but you gotta test, right?

Well, it was the best it's ever tasted.

Unbelievably good. Needed a bit more carbonation, but the flavor was terrific. This batch had me doing four things differently--First Wort Hopping, rehydrated the dry S-04 yeast, added yeast nutrient to wort, and just dumped all of the product of the boil kettle into the fermenter, trub and all.

Now I'm nervous--what it if doesn't improve while it conditions and carbonates? I know--RDWHAHB. :)
 
mongoose33 said:
No, but when I was a boy scout we used to do a little of that. That was back when I was more limber--and could fit through tight spots more easily. :)



I kegged the newest batch last night, 11 days from brew day. Force carbed it a lot of the way, rocking it on my lap while connected to the gas, and then a buddy and I tested it. It's green, so how good can it taste, but you gotta test, right?

Well, it was the best its ever tasted.

Unbelievably good. Needed a bit more carbonation, but the flavor was terrific. This batch had me doing four things differently--First Wort Hopping, rehydrated the dry S-04 yeast, added yeast nutrient to wort, and just dumped all of the product of the boil kettle into the fermenter, trub and all.

Now I'm nervous--what it if doesn't improve while it conditions and carbonates? I know--RDWHAHB. :)
Click to expand...

Off topic, but would you be willing to share the recipe? Sounds like it would be right up my alley.
 
OK, here's the recipe:

8# Maris Otter
3# 2-Row
1# Crystal 60L

1 oz Northern Brewer, FWH
2 oz Styrian Celeia, 5 minutes

Yeast is S-04, Rehydrated

Strike Water: 1 gallon tap water, 3.5gal RO water, plus grams Calc. Chloride, plus 5 ml 88% Lactic Acid
Sparge Water: 4 gallon RO water, +5 grams Epsom Salts

(My tap water is very hard, so I let it go into the mix to add some...stuff. :))

Whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes
Wyeast yeast nutrient, 10 minutes

When it came time to rack from the kettle, I just racked it all in, Trub and all. Fermented in basement, ambient temp is 64 degrees, temp got up to about 68-69 during fermentation.

First runnings were gravity of 1.090, second runnings about 1.035. Gravity at start of boil, 6.75 gallons was 1.054. Gravity at end of boil was 1.062, 5.75 gallons.

FG is 1.013.
 

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