I tried to come up with a better description for this post. I was enjoying a glass of the second brew of my Belgian fermented with La Chouffe yeast, Belgian pils, etc. and thinking with a smile that maybe this should be the only recipe I brew. It wasn’t a serious thought, though honestly this is the best beer I have made in over ten years of brewing and I’ve pulled it off twice on two different systems, so you can see where I might go there.
Then I wondered… have there been homebrewers who hit a recipe and stayed there?
I tend to go all over the place with recipes, occasionally rebrewing if I’m experimenting (much as I do in my baking where I was deep into Bakewell tarts and macarons before the pandemic hit). I just began wondering if there was that homebrewer out there who said “this is really great, I do not need to brew a million different things” and cranked out (or still cranks out) that one recipe.
I’m going to start working on perfecting certain recipes to be my mainstays. I’ve always brewed different styles pretty much at random and hardly ever brewed the same thing twice in a row. I definitely have a few favorite styles now that I want to focus on more intensely.
It was always a goal of mine to develop those “mainstays” but after a couple of decades of brewing, I’ve conceded. Not going to happen, and that’s OK with me. It all goes back to the question, “Why do I brew?” Experimentation is enjoyable and satisfying. Winning competitions just doesn’t do much for me. Opening a brewery? NO, NO, and NO.
I do respect those who have the discipline, patience, and talent to repeatedly produce the same perfected beer time after time.
I think I will always want to brew a variety of beers but English Bitters have become my house beer. Three of my last six brews have been 4-4.3% ABV bitters and I can see that trend of one bitter for every one other style of beer I brew.
After 13+ years, I just brewed my last all grain batch, due to age and physical limitations. Will be gong to partial mashes for as long as I can. Have been doing mostly APAs and IPAs (west coast) and seldom brewed the same beer more than a few times. As I thin down my process and get rid of equipment and odd bits & pieces, that will just be taking up space, thinking seriously of dialing in a house IPA and a house Pale Ale to keep on tap. I’ve got a 3 faucet tower on my keezer and generally keep a cider on tap for my wife. Might occasionally brew the odd beer on a whim and probably bottle them. It would be nice to reclaim most of the space my gear is stored in and greatly reduce my inventory.
This year I was doing lager, APA, lager, APA progression. Then I added some ambers, browns, now a porter, next an IPA, and suddenly I am all over the place again…
I have stuck with lager, ale, lager, ale. I like that. I always two choices in the keg fridge.
This is kind of the way I brew but my 2-Keg rotation is a little different…
House Porter
Beer
House Stout
Beer
Repeat.
The “Beer” is a random style and usually something more pale, but I’ll throw in the occasional Brown. I like to keep a dark and pale beer on tap at all times.
This is where I’m at as well. I think I’ve subconsciously gravitated toward a few styles that are difficult or impossible to find commercially (in my area, at least).
I can imagine a brewer who might be content with dialing in a handful or less of favorite beers then limiting their output to those few satisfying beers - - but I’ve never met that brewer in 12 years of brewing. Myself, I don’t think I’ve every brewed the same beer twice. I’ve done re-brews of many that were tweaks seeking to improve and come closer to my imagined ideal. I enjoy the challenge of trying to make a decent version of a diverse number of styles. The shortcoming of this approach is that while I make many beers I’m very satisfied with I also may make some good but not great beers because I’m always changing things up - and I’m okay with that. I have not met a beer style I dislike and I’m all about the variety.
I have maybe 4 orm5 recipes that I brew repeatedly. I’ve been brewing and e4inking beer long enpugh to have developed preferences based on my tastes and I seldom stray from those. Yers go, I brewed a wide variety of styles and crazy experiments, but those days are gone.
Even my go to recipes aren’t brewed 100% the same every time. I swap hops, yeast strains, and specialty grains based on what I have on hand and what I’m in the mood for. I don’t experiment anywhere near as much as I used to years ago, but I don’t think I’d ever get to a point where a recipe is untweakable.
I’m trying to find my spot for belgians, german, american and english beers, when I find it gonna stick to it, some brew I always brew is my best bitter, bohemian pils, india pale lager and hefewiezen, I stubble to a nice recipe, now I’m testing some recipe to see how I like it if I enjoy gonna stay in rotation, if not don’t gonna brew anytime soon
