Hi all, No doubt there is one of these threads already here, but after a quick search I couldn't find anything recent. What are some of the recipes that you guys go back to time and time again, the fail-safe ones that you brew when you just want a great beer with minimal planning. Clones or personal recipes, doesn't matter. Would love to try and make some of those beers that you guys have spent years working on and got it dialled to the point where you don't have to think too hard about it. Cheers!
For a quick extract fermentable bill, I go: 6# Pilsner DME 1# Wheat DME From this, I can brew a Belgian Blonde, Saison, Blonde Ale, American Pale Ale/ Extra Pale Ale/ American IPA, Helles Lager, Pilsner, Light Bitter, etc. depending on the hops and yeast, so I try to always keep this on hand for a quick session.
47.5%pils 47.5%white wheat 5% GNO 25 Ibu hallertauer and saaz can be a saison, wit, blonde, hell you could throw centennial Amarillo or citra at it and make it an American wheat.
I don't reach the point for needing a 'go to' for myself, but the only recipe that I've brewed more than once, each time it was for family gatherings where I knew everyone will like the beer, I've brewed the Ayinger Maibock clone recipe from the Clone Brews book. It's a sweet, malty beer that results from brewing it, and I get compliments on it.
I'm not sure if this comes up under a search or not, but: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/homebrew-recipes-forum.182083/
On further consideration, I'm going to assume that you're still going for an extract recipe. I'd start by searching around for the style that you want to make, look for extract recipes, and post one of them in the homebrew section for critique to tailor the beer to your liking.
If you are interested in a broad range of styles, Brewing Classic Styles is a good place to start. The AHA also has recipes on their site. You can search by beginner, intermediate, advanced, style, etc. Some of them are blocked if you are not an AHA member. You should consider becoming a member.
This recipe's almost identical to the hefeweizen I'm doing this weekend, fermented with 3068. I'm even doing the Citra/amarillo thing for flameout/dry hop to give it a fruity twist to the style. Should be a good beer for the summer
I dont necessarily feel like I've done enough batches (about 25) to have real "go-to's" but the only ones that I've really bothered to repeat with minimal changing so far is a honey saison & an IPA (both have ended close to what I want, but still tweaking hops, yeast, etc..). Besides that I'm still just having fun trying different things.
Go to extract IPA... 6 lbs x light DME 1 lb Golden Promise or 1/2 lb light carastan 1 oz hops at 60 2 oz hops at 10 2 oz hops at flameout for a 15 minute hopstand 2 oz hops at dry hop Safale 05 "Used to be Brett DIPA" just sub your preferred hops/combination of hops (partial mash) 3 1/2 lbs 2 row 3 1/2 lbs white wheat 3 lbs x light DME 3 lbs wheat DME 1 oz hops at 60 3 oz hops at 10 3 oz hops at flameout for a 15 minute hopstand 3 oz hops at dry hop white labs 644 yeast I generally always have some variety of both of these on tap or in bottles. The Two Hearted clone and Fresh Squeezed clone show up when I'm looking for a crowd pleaser as well.
I might go ahead and brew this one next. I've been looking for an easy, tasty, infinitely variable extract recipe for a while and this fits the bill. Thank you!
Thanks a lot for all the feedback. I know some have asked 'be more specific', but the whole point is to offer some banging recipes that someone could see and think "shit, that sounds epic. I'm gonna make that", purely cause it's something that jumps out at you regardless of the plans for your next brew. I usually do 10 litre BIAB, so there's that. But it's more for anyone to just look through and pick up a simple, tried and true recipe. I'm especially happy about the grist options. Thanks a bunch everyone!
Any solid recipe has the potential to be "epic." It's all in the execution. And no recipe is going to be epic without great process, and process that is appropriate to the recipe. If someone, say @hopfenunmaltz, were to give me his best recipe, it's unlikely that I'd be able to reproduce his "dialed" results, unless I also spent a lot of time tweaking my equipment and process to match his, or tweaking the recipe to compensate for differences in process. When someone, as you said, spent years on dialing in a recipe, that was in the context of their own process. I don't mean to say that you can't or shouldn't look at successful recipes as a starting point. It's just that the recipe is not all there is too it. It's arguably not even the main thing.
