Who has a house beer

[kh54s10]

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]

My house beers: Spelunker's Special, which is an ESB

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

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.

 

[55x11]

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?

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.

 

[Brew_G]

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.

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!

 

[foam_top]

Try and keep one as a dark/stout and one as an easy drinker.

I have a similar rule-of-thumb, I like to have an easy drinker and something with a bit of a kick (stout, DIPA, bourbon aged etc.)

 

[Homercidal]

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

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!

 

[mongoose33]

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

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!

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.

 

[popsicleian]

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.

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

 

[mongoose33]

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

Sure--I don't have it right now but when I get back to my records I'll be happy to post it.

 

[mongoose33]

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.

 

[NatureOfTheYeast]

Round the World! My best recipe so far, and my favorite beer to drink. Can be made with a variety of yeast, conditions quickly, has moderate-low ABV, and celebrates the hops. I try to make a batch with every different yeast I use!

The recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=571035

 

[csurowiec]

My kegerator has 2 faucets but the gas plumbing to feed 4 so I can always be carbing the next kegs on deck. One tap changes all the time and the other is my Tallgrass Blonde that I always try to have on tap. Everyone who tries it except my sister in law (who will only drink Miller Lite) really likes it so I keep it on hand. I guess you could call it my "house beer".