Best " house ales "

[PD]

In a weeks time I will have been home brewing for a whole year !... my how time flies.
I went all grain in a fashion on the 12th September 2012,and have since done a few brews.
As yet ( touch wood ) I've not lost a batch and all beers have turned out much better than any kit beer I have made and I have been pleased with them all.
However my son and me were discussing the beers that we had made and which ones really hit the spot for us.
So we listed our top three beers, ones we could call upon to keep us satisfied in our " easy suppin mode ".

In time honoured fashion....

Brew 3 A Wherry clone at 4.1%. Nice satisfying beer that goes down well, tasty and darkish with a good head due to the addition of Wheat Malt.

Brew 2 Timothy Taylors Landlord, from Graham Wheelers book BYOBRA. This until recently was our favourite, and usually the first beer reached for on the shelf. It came out at 4.3% and everyone who visited and had a bottle was impressed with its flavour and easy drinking style. Lovely brew.


Brew 1 Arkells 3B, at 4.0% and again from Graham Wheelers book. I lightish amber coloured beer, so easy to drink its criminal..... Nothing harsh about it, it flows down the throat.

Any of the above 3 I have and will brew again, and are ones I could easily brew in larger quantities and not fear being stuck with beer we couldn't drink..... :shock: :shock:

So what's your 3 favourite brews ?

 

[alawlor66430]

I like this post but I'll wait till my first partial finishes conditioning as I have a feeling it'll be number 1. :-D

 

[WelshPaul]

I just tend to ad lib all of my recipes and see how they come out. I do make a point of carefully documenting them though so that any successes can be (vaguely) repeated.

Brew 3: Raven Rock, 5.0%. Black American-style IPA. US-05 yeast with a good addition of late and dry hops (Cascade)

Brew 2: Greener Pastures, 4.0%. A plain and simple wheat beer, nice and easy to make. WB-06 yeast although will be changing to WLP300 next time

Brew 1: Red Rock. Strong American IPA with honey, Amarillo and a lot of late Cascade hops. Usually finishes at 6.2% though, so not a session ale!


I'd quite fancy trying that Tim Taylor clone at some point, mind.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Most of my Jennings Cumberland ale varients are my favourites and all go down well :thumb:

Riggwelter during winter and the recent Nutty Brown is rather nice :wha:

Think overall the Jennings wins though :

 

[graysalchemy]

My house bitter is my Mancunian Fullers ESB clone which is a good beer. My stout is Alemans Effin Oatmeal stout, I wouldn't have any other stout now and my pale is a clone of St Austels Proper Job IPA, a fantastic beer just done it for a second time and it is remarkably consistent with my first attempt which is pleasing, I never ususally manager to make two beers the same. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[PD]

I take it is mancurian because its got wheat.....

 

[graysalchemy]

I take it is mancurian because its got wheat.....

Yes it does have wheat malt in it :whistle:

Mancurian is that something from Rusholme :wha: :wha:

 

[PD]

pickey pickey....

 

[Andyhull]

I've only done kits so far but:-

Brew 3 : Woodfords Admirals Reserve

Brew 2 : Woodfords Wherry

Brew 1 : Woodfords Nelsons Revenge (by a long way)

Although none of the above have ever had more than 4 weeks out of the FV all were very good.

Andy

 

[pittsy]

I only have 2 sort of but the first has many different versions , my fav is ,

1) Hefeweizen usually at 5/5.5% 64% pale wheat malt 36% pale ale malt step mashes with decoction and hops at around 12-15 ibu with hallertaur hops with wlp380 .

2) Belgian wit bier (hoegaarden type) flaked wheat , torri wheat pale wheat and pale ale malt with saaz hops and wlp400 , very refreshing step mashes no decoction

3) still working on number 3 , it will most likely be german pilsner saaz hops at around 5% abv or helles or even kolsch , still waiting for fridge for brewing .

 

[WelshPaul]

Hefeweizen usually at 5/5.5% 64% pale wheat malt 36% pale ale malt step mashes with decoction and hops at around 12-15 ibu with hallertaur hops with wlp380.

I'm a big fan of brewing weisbiers as well and have mainly been using WB06 yeast. However, I recently bought some WLP300 that I'm keen to try out.
Is it worth stressing this yeast a little to increase the ester production or is it more than capable of doing it on its own? Also, what temperature and steps do you use for decoction as I haven't tried it for a wheat beer?

 

[fbsf]

I haven't got one yet (only on my 7th AG), but I think it would be something like an exmoor gold or maybe a SMaSH as the pale beers seem to go down the best.

 

[zgoda]

Ales:

Generic PA, brewed to 3 strengths (AK, XK, PA), 200 gms pale crystal 25 ebc, 400-600 gms Vienna or pale Munich, top up with pilsner, bitterness level from 25 to 35 IBU with Sybilla and/or Lubelski (20 gms 10 mins from the end, rest as single addition at 60 mins from the end), any good ale yeast will do (Notty, US-05, MauriBrew Ale).

Buckwheat Amber, 1.053, ~25 IBU (mild hops, Sybilla, Perle, Hallertau), >1000 gms roasted buckwheat groats, 200 gms caramunich, equal amounts of pilsner and pale Munich, mash dry. Best fermented with Notty or Wyeast British Ale II.

And number 1 is...
Rye brown ale, 1.056, ~27 IBU from Sybilla or Styrian Goldings. 1200 gms rye flakes, 100 gms Carafa 1 Spezial, 100 gms caraaroma, 150 gms caramunich (here can be subbed with crystal), equal amounts of pilsner and Munich, mash extra dry. Best fermented with Notty or US-05.

I have also one home lager:
Tmavy Special Czech style dark lager, 1.053, ~27 IBU from Saaz or Lubelski. 100 gms Carafa 3 Spezial, 100 gms caraaroma, 400 gms crystal, 1000 gms dark Munich, top up with pilsner, mash semi sweet. Best fermented with good lager yeast, tried with Wyeast Munich Lager, Wyeast Budvar Lager and Wyeast Czech Pils, equally delicious.

 

[pittsy]

Hefeweizen usually at 5/5.5% 64% pale wheat malt 36% pale ale malt step mashes with decoction and hops at around 12-15 ibu with hallertaur hops with wlp380.

I'm a big fan of brewing weisbiers as well and have mainly been using WB06 yeast. However, I recently bought some WLP300 that I'm keen to try out.
Is it worth stressing this yeast a little to increase the ester production or is it more than capable of doing it on its own? Also, what temperature and steps do you use for decoction as I haven't tried it for a wheat beer?

pm sent

 

[Baz Chaz]

Having just downed a couple of pints of my Jennings 'ish' style brews I think my initial observation that these brews are my favourites is spot on, better get some more up to the house for the Rugby this weekend :

 

[rich27500]

Old speckled hen clone, cascade smash, EKG smash. 3 beers I'll brew again and again.

 

[jonewer]

This one!

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=33065&p=321134#p321134

 

[Good Ed]

Well based on beers brewed more than once these are my three;

1) Pale ale based on Mad Goose by Purity Brewing Co; one of my favorites; Maris Otter, Caragold, Wheat malt, Northern Brewer, Cascade & Willamette, however I am currently using NZ Hallertau instead of NB

2) Sara Carter's Bombay IPA; a Jaipur clone and very good; also I would have to second Grays on the Proper Job clone posted on here by rickthebrew

3) Classic American Pilsner; from a recipe posted on here by Aleman; apart from being a really nice beer you have the satisfaction of drinking a historical beer that was brewed pre prohibition