Beers that share similar ingredients???

[LRS_Brewer]

So, I am new-ish to brewing. I have only been at it in earnest for about a year, and have about 11 brews under my belt. I brew extract kits at present, but am looking to venture out. I have heard brewing can be cheaper by buying ingredients separately rather than kits; however, in pricing a few options out based on the kits I have done, this does not seem to be the case. I still want to start creating my own recipes (and frankly did not get into this hobby because I thought it would save money on beer), and know that buying in bulk will usually result in lower costs per unit. That said, I am not in a position now, nor do I foresee myself getting to a point where buying 50lb bags of grain makes sense. I could be wrong, but for now I am planning on keeping it smaller. So, my question is, beyond the obvious fact that beers of the same style will have similar ingredients, are there some beer styles which may not seem similar on the surface but have similar ingredient lists? I have a four-tap kegerator, and do not want to have four cream ales for the summer just because I wanted to save some cash on buying grains and extract. If I just need to chalk this up to the expense of doing "business", it is what it is. I will be brewing and drinking regardless. I just wanted to see if there was a way I could potentially save some pennies while I am at it.

 

[bpgreen]

You could do a lot with two row and C60. Mix up the hops a bit for different variations of IPAs, APAs, and cream ales. Add some chocolate malt and biscuit for some brown ales.

Do you have any brewing software? That can help a bit with quantities, but you need to have a feel for how different ingredients work together, also.

 

[Sadu]

A 50lb sack is about 5 batches, so if you are getting a good discount on a sack, as I do, then it's worth it. A sack of German pilsner and a sack of Maris Otter will see you through a lot of American / British / European beer styles with the addition of specialty malts. Maris Otter will work in pretty much anything that asks for 2-row. I don't bother buying specialty malts in bulk since you use so little of them and it doesn't make up a large part of the cost. Bulk base malt is great though. Also look at repitching yeast, this is by far the biggest cost saver in brewing. Bulk hops are good if you can get them and you can do nicely with a few varieties, but it might be worth finding out which ones you like first.

 

[beermanpete]

Different yeast can make similar grain bills come out quite different. For example, Saisons use similar grains as pale ales and get their flavor difference from the yeast and sometimes spices.

 

[ESBrewer]

This is a valuable source to examine the styles. There are common ingredients that exist in different styles and then there are more or less related styles (often geographically related) that can all be brewed with a simple set of local ingredients. British styles are a good example. All the bitters, barley wines and British strong ales, golden ale, English IPAs, Brown British beers, Wee heavy and Irish red ales can be brewed with just pale ale malt, medium crystal malt and roasted barley. You could add some chocolate malt. Also stouts could be brewed with these malts, maybe adding some adjuncts and a bit more complexity. Hops such as Kent Goldings, Fuggle and Challenger could be used in all these beers. And a British ale yeast (you could get more variations by having a couple of slightly different ale yeast strains). Add munich or vienna and some American hops and you can brew lots of American pale ales.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

You say you don't want to buy in bulk but have 4 taps. That's just silly. Buy a 50 pound sack of 2 row. You can use it for 4 different beers. One 50 pound sack will be gone in exactly 4 brews so not buying bulk 2 row makes no sense. Everything else buy as you need it. Buy hops by the pound to save even more money. They last a long time in the freezer
My beers would be considered higher end expensive beers like all craft beer but cost me less than Bud Light. Not sure why you would NOT want to save money if you can

 

[JohnSand]

I buy 50# of base grain, 10# of Munich and an assortment of crystal malts. Those cover the base of many beers. If you need something particular for a special brew, buy that for that batch. Uncrushed grains last years in buckets. Different yeasts, hops, sugars will give a wide variety. After a while you discover which ingredients you use the most and stock up on those. A corona mill is cheap and effective.
Have fun, let us know what you decide.

 

[ba-brewer]

I believe the OP said theu are doing extract now, so they are most likely talking about 50# of character malts. For extract buying in bulk does not work so well, better to get the extract fresh from the LHBS.

For extract a pound or two of C10, C60, C120, chocolate and maybe a pound of roasted barley and you can do a number of styles. Make use of yeast and hops to add variety.

I do all grain and buy base malt by the sack, Vienna and munich in 5 and 10lb increments, crystals a couple pounds at a time and roast malts by the pound.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

For extract a pound or two of C10, C60, C120, chocolate and maybe a pound of roasted barley and you can do a number of styles. Make use of yeast and hops to add variety.

Agreed, I can make a lot of enjoyable beers with 80% two row, 10% munich, 10% crystal, and with hops /yeast to 'season to taste'. For extract, use light DME/LME and munich DME/LME.

For some additional reading, Beer Simple did an article in early 2016: https://www.beer-simple.com/brewing...uilding-your-own-brewing-ingredient-stockpile . Similar ideas can be found here as well: https://beerandbrewing.com/whats-in-your-homebrew-pantry/, https://beerandbrewing.com/building-an-ingredient-library-part-1/

 

[JonM]

Different yeast can make similar grain bills come out quite different. For example, Saisons use similar grains as pale ales and get their flavor difference from the yeast and sometimes spices.

Came to say the same thing. 100% Pilsner with lager yeast gives you a nice light lager. Ferment the same thing with Trappist yeast and you get a wildly different patersbier.