Do you have a recognisable "house style"?

[hopsinjoor]

I've been brewing since last September, about 25 brews in that time. In the list of beers I've brewed are Pales, IPAs, DIPAs, Stouts, Belgian IPAs, Saisons, Brett fermented IPAs and pales, and a few other beers as well. I just want to experiment, and brew as many different types of beers as I find interesting.

With doing this, I've shared out my brews with friends, colleagues, and local brewers, to get feedback, and to help me learn from previous brews and mistakes.

Recently, there was an IPA competition at a local beer bottle shop called Beermoth. The idea being to submit your IPAs, and they were blind judged by 3 prominent people within the brewing/beer scene, and the winner got their recipe brewed on a larger brewkit (at Quantum brewery in Stockport).

I was discussing this over a beer with one of the judges last night (this competition was for IPA day, a while ago) and he told me that when my beer was poured for judging (as said, this was blind), one of the judges (the head brewer of Buxton Brewery) said that he thought that this beer was probably mine, to which the other two judges (head brewer of Quantum, and a supervisor at PSBH) both agreed. It was then joked that in a short amount of time, I'd already got a "house style".

I find this quite strange as I use numerous yeasts, different malts, different hops, and yet it seems my beers can be picked out of a line-up.

Is this normal? Have you heard people saying similar about your brews? I'm finding this pretty interesting to find out what causes my "house style", is it my hopping regime, is it just the styles that I go for? What say you?

[seymour]

Based on your other posts, I'd say it has to do with your mash and sparge temperature technique, possibly fermentation temperature and duration as well. If those aspects remain the same (or similar) everytime, even when using different grains, hops, and yeast...then sure, all your output will have some overall similarities in body, mouthfeel, level of residual sweetness, clarity, esters, etc.

Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you've dialed-in exactly the kind of beer you want to drink in so short a time, big congratulations are in order! When he said it, did it seem like a criticism?

Do I personally have a recognisable house style? I don't know, maybe. I brew lots of weird stuff with weird techniques, but I keep a few things the same for several brews in a row to see what all I can get out of them, and as with everyone, I probably have more habitual routines which produce "ripple effects" than I realize. Lots of people have tasted a few of my beers here and there, but there is no industry expert with a highly discerning palate who has had enough of my beer to break that down for me. The results I've gotten back from BJCP competitions are all over the map, usually by inexperienced judges who clearly don't understand the targeted historical styles, which is frustrating. You're very lucky in that respect, surrounding yourself with greatness, and I encourage you to keep seeking that level of feedback!

[hopsinjoor]

Not a criticism, no. He was laughing about it as he was telling me. I did pretty well in the competition overall, being only a few points behind the winner.

I had been thinking that is was probably to do with mash temps, body, and residual sweetness, etc. as you say. These are things that until recently (as documented here and on my blog) were fixed parameters, it's only been the last two beers I've brewed that I've altered mash temps to take into account what I learned from feedback regarding dryness of my beers. I'm also experimenting with a different yeast for one of the pales, instead of US-05.

I hope that my beers are going to keep evolving, and (hopefully) getting better, but it's nice to hear people are able to point at my beers in a line-up, and not in a negative way.

[seymour]

Great question, by the way. I can't wait to hear other members' feedback!

[Dr. Dextrin]

Water maybe? I know when I first moved darn saaf and had to contend with hard water, my northern brewing buddies had no problem at all picking my beers out in a blind tasting even when I treated the water. I suspect it'd be more difficult now that I've developed a better water treatment technique, but probably still not impossible for those with good taste buds.

[TC2642]

Yeah, I certainly do, water treatment, mashing schedule, boil time etc. as you have stated all come into it and I have been doing this for over 12 years so I get myself comfortable with what I like to drink and how I like to make it.

[daddies-beer-factory]

Well done on doing 25 brews in under a year ! I started brewing last october, & I have only done 10 brews.
As for my house style, I have just sampled my 1st non - clone, which is a great well hopped ale, but I am no expert yet so will not comment on technique !
Happy Brewing

[zgoda]

I'm working hard on this topic. My porters and milds are already recognizable - soft and luscious. Also some specials like buckwheat amber or rye brown, but that's because people rarely brew such beers.
But with more generic styles there's clearly a place for improvement.

[sheffstevie]

I'm not at all surprised the judge made that comment -I've been a keen brewer and keen cook for 30 odd years and I know that my food and my beers have a definite style cos its me brewing it / cooking with my equipment. Its the same when I play Blues / Jazz guitar - even if I am covering a classic song its still my choice of notes during the solo. Its one of the most fascinating things about doing anything creative - even if the recipe / guitar tab instructions are printed out everyone will produce their own version. Even breweries who re-locate a few miles away and use the same recipe and yeast and water get a different result. I've even heard of replacement whisky stills being replicated down to the same dings in the sides to make sure the whisky turns out the same (which it probably doesnt) The only way to get total consistency from huge batch to huge batch is to take all the inconsistency out. In other words brew tasteless shite or cook garbage. Anyone fancy a Big Mac and a Bud?

[critch]

blonde and very hoppy