I’m sure that as home brewers we all have that one recipe that just sticks out as our favorite. I know I have one. It’s an imperial black IPA. And it’s a recipe that I put together.
So what’s every one elses favorite self built recipe?
I don’t really repeat my recipes per se, but I do make a mean APA.
I’ve strayed from kits just a few times - only when I have to. I’ve enjoyed all my originals, but none as much as my Double Belchin’ Pumpkin Ale. Usually I prefer to savor a beer, but those disappeared quickly.
I’ve put a lot of work into my Raspberry Wheat. It needed a lot of work to make sure everything stayed balanced properly.
I’ve only devised 6 recipes so far, and only three are ready for drinking (the others are all still in primary). The first one I really like, but it was supposed to be a brown ale and it turned out as more of a stout. The second one is a 6-row IPA that turned out really well. I expected something ~meh~ due to its simplicity, and I was literally stunned when I tried it.
It’s hard to say which I like better between the two. I probably lean towards the IPA, but the brown porter is aging really well, shedding some of its roasty character and becoming more like the brown I had envisioned.
My third recipe was a little disappointing. Not bad, and better than just drinkable, but nothing like the first two. Really excited for 4, 5, and 6. This weekend I’ll be racking #4 (a dubbel) to secondary and bottling #5 (v2 of the brown).
So far I’ve gone for simple and slightly boring beers for my first recipes and have been rewarded with great, easily drinkable beer. There was an ESB that was pretty heavy on the bready flavor but still great, a pretty boring yet well balanced Amber and a Brown Porter that is rather excellent.
My favorite “self-made” is my Black Irish Lager. Basically a dry irish stout grainbill but fermented with a german lager yeast at lagering temps/times of course. Jet black as you’d expect from using a stout grainbill, but slightly roastier than a schwarzbeir, but much smoother and not as harsh as a stout. delish!
That sounds really quite tasty. I love dark beers and stouts are among my favorite. I assume lagering it would dry it out some? What’s the recipe? Maybe I’ll give it a go.
My favorite homebrew is also my self-made recipe of Hopburst IPA. It’s an American IPA with .5lb Victory, .5lb C77, .25lb C120 and tons of homegrown hops at 15,10,5,0 and DH. Bittered with boughten Chinook.
It’s generally in the spirit of Maier’s beers like Northwestern or Brutal Bitter. Lots of bitterness and hop flavor, balanced by higher levels of dark-ish specialty grains instead of just more alcohol.
My black IPA is such a staple that I went and bought an additional primary and secondary just to be able to keep brewing it every other week. It’s a fairly simple bill. 14 lbs of 2-row 1 lb of special B and 1 lb of carafa III with chinook and Amarillo at bittering and 30, and 0 mins. And dry hopped with cascade for 1 week.
I love it. It’s awesome. It also ages really well and smooths out alot.
I made this brown ale. I was really just using up left overs.
LB OZ
6 0 American Two-row Pale
2 0 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
1 0 Brown Sugar
0 8 Belgian CaraMunich
0 6 Belgian Special B
Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity
1.058 measured
(1.060 estimated)
Final Gravity
1.014 measured
(1.016 estimated)
Color
23° SRM / 45° EBC
(Brown to Dark Brown)
Mash Efficiency
80% measured
(75% used for O.G. estimate)
boil 30 mins 1.0 Cascade pellet
boil 10 mins 1.0 Centennial pellet
boil 10 mins 0.5 Willamette pellet
dry hop 7 days 1.0 Centennial pellet
Boil: 7.0 avg gallons for 60 minutes
35.9 IBU
White Labs California Ale V (WLP051)
It was very well received by my friends and also at my LHBS. I named it BROWN EYED GIRL.
That sounds really quite tasty. I love dark beers and stouts are among my favorite. I assume lagering it would dry it out some? What’s the recipe? Maybe I’ll give it a go.[/quote]
Here ya go.
5.5 lbs American 2-row
5.0 lbs Marris Otter 2 row
0.5 lb Roasted Barley
0.5 lb De-bittered Black Patent
0.5 lb Caramunich
Wyeast 2206, 3L starter
1 oz Halletaur at 60
edit: 90 min mash at 152F, 1.5qts/lb.
I let this one go a long time. 7-8 week primary at 52-55F, 2 day d-rest at 62, 4 month lagering at 33-36. 3 week bottle condition.
cheers.
Nice. I like it. Did using the lager yeast dry it out some? I would imagine it would
my take on the innkeeper…Fawlty Ale; the recipe has changed a little here and there.
the wyeast 1469 is the reason it’s so good though
Not that I could tell other that it had a really clean and crisp after taste…if that’s dry, then yes.
:cheers:
IME most homebrewers have developed their own favorite APA recipe, I know I seem to always have mine on tap. My Oatmeat Stout is another and I have been tweaking a Belgian Farmhouse that is quickly gaining ground.
Baratone Brewer, want to post your Oatmeal Stout recipe? That’s another beer I’ve worked on a fair bit, but I can’t say I’m satisfied with my efforts to date.
LOL, I’m brewing one today. I too was not satisfied with my last attempt so I teaked my recipe a bit. My buddy thought it was great, but to me it was just meh.
So, I am pressing forward now…strike water is heating as I type.
cheers.
This pale ale. It turns out quite refreshing…
for 5.25 gallons
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 14.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 45.4 IBUs
9.75# Marris Otter
1# English Medium Crystal
1/2# carafoam
4 oz. Special B
0.50 oz Columbus [10.90 %] - Boil 60.
0.50 oz Centennial [8.30 %] - Boil 30.0 min
0.25 oz Columbus [10.90 %] - Boil 30.
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.00 %] - Boil 15.
0.50 oz Amarillo [8.50 %] - Dry Hop
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop
1.00 oz Columbus [13.80 %] Dry Hop
Pitch on a cake of wyeast 1098
I boil 4.5 gallons and top up to 5.25 in the fermenter. It finishes around 1.014 and has a nice crispness to it.
Rye IPA
