Maximum amount of recipes for minimum amount of ingredients?

[Yesfan]

I have acquired a pretty huge database of recipes since I started this hobby. Some I'll brew over and over, while others just sit in cyberspace til I get the itch to try something new.

Simply put, what are your minimum amount of ingredients you keep on hand to achieve the maximum amount of different beers you can brew? For example, with yeast, I think I could live with US-05 and S-04 for ales and 34/70 for lagers. I don't need 10 something strains for the beers I brew.

I'd like to keep my inventory as small as possible, but still be able to brew what I would like. Is there a grain, hops, yeast, that's a go to for a lot of different varieties? if so, what is it?

I'm open to suggestions as well on what to keep on hand. Mainly what I like are ambers/alts, IPAs, ESBs, and stouts for the ales. Lagers, I like dunkels and helles. Based on those styles, what would be the minimum ingredients to keep on hand to keep these beers in rotation?

 

[McKnuckle]

I keep small amounts of many grains on hand, maybe up to 30 or so. So this is a fun challenge. As soon as I type it out, I'll think of a malt I wish I had chosen. But here's a stab:

Base: UK Maris Otter, German Pilsner, optionally Vienna
Character: Munich I or II, Victory or Biscuit, Melanoidin
Crystal: German CaraHell, CaraMunich, and CaraAroma; UK Carastan 37L, Crystal 60, and a dark crystal (150L)
Roasted: Special Roast, Brown, US Chocolate, Carafa III, Roasted Barley
Misc: Acidulated Malt
Adjuncts: Wheat Malt (light or dark), rolled/flaked oats, flaked barley
Hops: Cascade, Mosaic, Centennial, Chinook, Hallertau, Tettnang, Saaz, Magnum, EKG, Target or Bramling Cross
Yeast: US-05 for clean ales, S-189 for lager, and a liquid UK yeast of your choice. And can't forget a weissbier yeast like WB-06.

 

[grampamark]

Your rotation sounds pretty similar to mine. I keep 2-row, Pilsner, Maris Otter, Munich 10L, white wheat, caramel 40, 60, 120, and chocolate on hand, along with some acidulated malt for Ph adjustment. Also, the usual assortment of flaked adjuncts.

I use dry yeast exclusively. US-05, S-04 and Nottingham for ales, 34/70 and S-23 or S-189 for lagers, Lallemand Munich and BRY-97 for German ales and WB-06 for wheat beers.

My go to hops for ales and lagers are Magnum for bittering and Willamette for flavor/aroma. If i’m brewing something hoppier, Centennial, Citra, and Mosaic. Saaz, Tettnang, and Hallertau for noble hops.

 

[Steven Barrett]

In a Dunkel, stout or helles, can you really differentiate the hops after 60 minutes? Couldn’t you eliminate the noble hops altogether if those styles are just for bittering?

 

[Steven Barrett]

Your rotation sounds pretty similar to mine. I keep 2-row, Pilsner, Maris Otter, Munich 10L, white wheat, caramel 40, 60, 120, and chocolate on hand

I think this could do all styles OP described. Arguably could keep just one of the caramel malts.

 

[grampamark]

I think this could do all styles OP described. Arguably could keep just one of the caramel malts.

Agreed. But, I live in the middle of nowhere; running down to the LHBS for a pound of C120 for the one time a year I might need it isn’t an option. So, I keep small amounts of some seldom used grains on hand, just because.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Wow, some of you guys must brew on a whim alot. I just don't want to store that much so I'll typically place an online order that will cover my next 3/4 brews which I've already pretty much planned out, and I can easily hit the free shipping threshold from wherever I'm ordering(typically Morebeer.com). I generally might only have maybe 5-6 different grains on hand at any given time.

Hops, are often a different story. Whenever I order from places like YVH I often place big orders to try to be most efficient on shipping costs so I may have quite a few varieties of hops sitting in the freezer.

 

[Yesfan]

Wow, some of you guys must brew on a whim alot. I just don't want to store that much so I'll typically place an online order that will cover my next 3/4 brews which I've already pretty much planned out, and I can easily hit the free shipping threshold from wherever I'm ordering(typically Morebeer.com). I generally might only have maybe 5-6 different grains on hand at any given time.

Hops, are often a different story. Whenever I order from places like YVH I often place big orders to try to be most efficient on shipping costs so I may have quite a few varieties of hops sitting in the freezer.

That's where I'm currently leaning. I'm thinking for me, stock up on those rotational brews and just order what I need for those experiment/first time batches.

My club is doing a group buy on grain, and I'm thinking maybe one 55lb bag each of pale malt and pilsner for my base malts. I've got an idea on the other grains and hops, but trying to not stock up too much at one time. I've still got a ton of Munich and wheat as I thought I would brew a lot more German/wheat beers than I planned.

 

[grampamark]

Wow, some of you guys must brew on a whim alot. I just don't want to store that much so I'll typically place an online order that will cover my next 3/4 brews which I've already pretty much planned out, and I can easily hit the free shipping threshold from wherever I'm ordering(typically Morebeer.com). I generally might only have maybe 5-6 different grains on hand at any given time.

Hops, are often a different story. Whenever I order from places like YVH I often place big orders to try to be most efficient on shipping costs so I may have quite a few varieties of hops sitting in the freezer.

I only brew on a whim. I don’t plan ahead, at all. I keep enough ingredients on hand to brew pretty much any style that strikes my fancy, and if I see that I can take half a day off, I’ll take advantage of that to brew something.

The fact that I’m self employed and semi retired makes it easy to brew on a whim; it’s one of the few perks of my job.

 

[Yesfan]

Ok, if you guys were me what would be the minimum ingredients to keep on hand for brewing:

IPA (mostly west coast)
Alt/Amber
Chocolate stout

I've noticed, I'm always brewing an IPA or an amber. I could probably throw in an ESB or dunkel, but thought I'd try to keep it simple as possible.

 

[McKnuckle]

Pale ale malt (I prefer UK or Euro to U.S.), chocolate malt, Carafa III, and a Crystal 60-75 of some kind (lots of choices - UK, German are my preferences).

One favorite American hop for highlighting in the IPA. You can use it for bittering your stout and flavoring your ambers as well. Cascade? Centennial? Etc.

US-05 yeast. Chocolate stout doesn't really need a British yeast as it has lots of malt flavors going on.

How's that?

 

[Franktalk]

Minimum:
A sack of 2-row
A sack of pilsner
10 pounds of Munich
10 pounds of Vienna
10 lbs. of malted wheat
5 pounds of flaked wheat
5 lbs.each of light, medium and dark crystal malt
5 pounds of roasted malt
5 lbs. of chocolate malt
at least one each of all the Fermentis and Safale and Saflager dry yeast strains
Hops: 8 0z each of magnum, Columbus, EKG, hallertau, saaz, cascade, citra, no. brewer, fuggles, centennial, amarillo, and cluster hops.
1 lb. each of Gypsum and Calcium Chloride

 

[Brettomomyces]

In a Dunkel, stout or helles, can you really differentiate the hops after 60 minutes? Couldn’t you eliminate the noble hops altogether if those styles are just for bittering?

Strong disagree

 

[Dog House Brew]

Minimum:
A sack of 2-row
A sack of pilsner
10 pounds of Munich
10 pounds of Vienna
10 lbs. of malted wheat
5 pounds of flaked wheat
5 lbs.each of light, medium and dark crystal malt
5 pounds of roasted malt
5 lbs. of chocolate malt
at least one each of all the Fermentis and Safale and Saflager dry yeast strains
Hops: 8 0z each of magnum, Columbus, EKG, hallertau, saaz, cascade, citra, no. brewer, fuggles, centennial, amarillo, and cluster hops.
1 lb. each of Gypsum and Calcium Chloride

Minimum, I agree! I use very little crystal anymore. Not using as much flaked, but I keep 5+ of Maize on hand too. Your list is similar to mine. Plus I have a 40 gallon bin of odds and ends. They last a long time if stored correctly.

 

[Yesfan]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going make a list of things I have and need and make some adjustments to my inventory. I'm hoping to scale down a lot and move some items but still have the minimum on hand to where I can brew on a whim If I want.

 

[Yesfan]

Strong disagree

Can you give me some examples? This is good info to know imo. I love dunkels, so I'd like to know why one hop would be preferred over another in a helles or bock. I've always used Chinook as a bittering hop in everything I brew and have been pretty happy for the most part.

The last dry Irish stout I brewed, I used Crystal hops as that was the closest I had on hand. A lot of the guys in my club liked it but it's ok for me. I think it would have been better if I had Williamette or Fuggles on hand.

 

[kevin58]

I keep only one or two sacks of base malt in my inventory. Everything else I can get at my LHBS.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I stock a sack each of my standard base grains (German Pilsner, VIenna, Munich, and US 2-Row), plus I usually buy Acidulated and CaraHell in 2-5 lb bags to have around. A German noble hop or two by the pound and occasionally several ounces of Cascade and Azacca.
I usually try keep harvested 2206, and WLP001, but am moving to L17 and WLP090.

With that I can brew 90% of what I would normally make for my 15-20 batches a year, obviously replenishing as needed.
Obviously I make mostly German lagers, plus an occasional APA or NEIPA.

 

[mattdee1]

What I would do...

For grains:

2-row
Munich
Crystal 60L
Chocolate

Go all 2-row for basic beers or to generally minimize malt character. Add it some Munich if some additional malty complexity is desired. Use crystal in small amounts (1-2%) for a bit of color, and in larger amounts (8-12%) for a bit of body/sweetness. Use a bit of chocolate (5-7%) for dark beers. Even better, just buy the small amounts of this type of grain as you need it.

For hops:

Magnum
Cascade
Centennial

Magnum is a workhorse bittering hop that works just fine in almost any recipe calling for early additions. For hoppy pale ales or IPAs, use varying combos and amounts of the C-hops for later additions. You can make a fine amber with just a 60min Magnum charge, or you can add in a few oz of cascade/centennial a bit later as well to give it a fruity touch.

For yeast:

S05 for clean tasting beers
S04 for a bit of added yeast-driven complexity


Now, there are obviously lots of things I would "like" to have beyond the above listed items, but if the goal is to get a small, lean-and-mean set of versatile ingredients that provides a lot of reliable possibilities, this is what I would go with.

 

[Stand]

Pilsner
Munich
Crystal 40
Midnight Wheat

Magnum
Centennial
Hallertau Mittelfrueh

US-05
34/70

I would add raw wheat and WLP530 to expand into Belgium