That would be a matter of personal preference. What you and I would use regularly and see fit to keep on hand could be vastly different. Generically, I'd say US-05 yeast. some 2-row (for mini mashes), and Cascade hops. Beyond that, what you use regularly in the beers you like to brew.

 

What I have started doing is to plan what my next 3 to 4 brews will be and buy the ingredients I need to do those beers.

 

I purchase two row by the sack, and have about 13 other malts that I keep. I first decided on those 13 items based on what I was brewing, so giving you my list wouldn't really help you. If you are going to keep malts onhand you should have resealable containers to keep them in. For hops, I typically buy them by the pound, and have 6-8 pounds in my freezer at any given time. Again, they are the hops that I use regularly, so you would need to figure that out for yourself. If you are going to buy hops in bulk, you should have a vacuum sealer to keep them fresh. I always have some US-05, and S-04 on hand, two very good yeasts to keep handy.

 

To be able to brew on a whim as I think you are trying to get at:
1. Dry malt extract (pilsen or pale)

2. Pick 3-4 specialty malt(s) or adjunct(s) to keep on hand in 1 -5 lbs.
a. Dark Munich or a caramunich,
b. flaked maize,
c. a biscuit malt of choice (victory)
d. dextrin malt (carapils or carafoam)
f. Wheat malt of choice

3. Dual Purpose hops (definitely get a vacuum sealer) - You'll have to fins what you like best... Here are some I use:
a. East Kent Golding (personal favorite),
b. Northern Brewer
c. Cascade
d. Phoenix.
f. Tettnanger
g. Mosaic

4. Choose a workhorse dry yeast and keep several packs on hand! - Lots of folks like US-5. I prefer Nottingham and 34/70. - A neutral Dry yeast strain makes wonderful beer! With US-5 and Notty you can use ferm temps to achieve slightly different flavors.

From there you can make an endless array of beers at a whim, when you're feeling spunky or find a few moments! - I highly recommend it as I got so sick of planning and scrapping brew sessions (due to whatever comes up) and then missing out on time I could have brewed because I didn't have the ingredients on-hand.
- I have honestly found some of my most simple beers to be my best beers.
(I owe it to the folks here always talking me down on the specialty malt additions!)

You can continue to do as you've been doing "to schedule a brew session" where you are obtaining very specific ingredients to make a very specific beer. Then whatever is left over can eventually work its way into one of those "at whim" sessions.

BREW ON BUDDY!

 

My list is similar. I live a couple hundred miles away from the nearest brew shop, so I take a similar approach. Here's what I do, given that my normal beers are Belgians, APA's, and the occasional British ale.

Light malt extract
2-row malt (for mini-mashes)
Aromatic malt
Crystal 60
Biscuit malt
Special B malt (rich flavors!)
Wheat malt
Flaked maize
Optional: roasted barley if you want to make a stout

Hops:
Chinook (bittering)
Cascade
East Kent Holdings (British beers)
Citra (great dry hopping, especially with Cascade)
Centennial or other all purpose hop

yeasts (I tend to stick with dry, mostly due to logistics)
US-05
S-04
A Saison yeast
A Belgian yeast

Keep in mind that my list of any list shades towards a personal brewing and drinking preference. If you're a fan of Hefeweizens, then your list would change a bit.

One thing to note is that you don't need every type malt. I use Crystal60 in a lot of recipes where it calls for Crystal 20 or 90 by adjusting the amount. One other trick I use is to add 5-10% wheat to recipes to improve head retention. You can do that with a bit of dry extract. When you learn what flavor each malt brings to the party, it's each to substitute and make adjustments. Good luck with the brews.

 

Do you bottle or do you keg? I bottle and I always like to keep a few packets of priming sugar around and caps...Not knowing much about kegging or if you keg or bottle, there are more than likely some consumables there as well.

 

I agree with the US-05 as a good standby yeast and the Cascade hops. Maybe add something like a Fuggle or Willamette hop for an Amber or English Brown, and Crystal #40 and some Chocolate Malt (low IBU brew for the gals, too). My favorites are the C hops so I keep Mosaic and Citra on hand during the summer for those hot day session brews.

 

My go-to would be a good pale ale malt, some CaraMunich II and maybe two sorts of hops; something like Citria for bittering and maybe something more flavourful for aroma. As for yeast, I keep a couple of packets of Mangrove Jacks West Cost or Liberty Bell around just in case I need ale...

Mind you, I also tend to buy 100g packets of hops every time I pass the brew shop, so I now have a freezer shelf full and need a spreadsheet to track my stores!

 

Citra is a pretty expensive hop to use for bittering, Magnum is economical, and provides very palletable bitterness. Save the Citra for flavor and aroma additions.

 

Agreed on Citra, I use Magnum or CTZ for bittering and loves me some Tettnang for EU style beers and Cascade for NA styles more or less.

Some Vienna or Munich in my opinion would be good to keep in bulk if possible, you can use it as the base malt or as a specialty malt. Very versatile.

 

Hands down! I agree. Vienna and munich, independently or together on mini mashes would make a great base. Steeping them for specialty is a solid choice too. I have noticed that quite a few folks on these forums sub munich malt in for a lot of c60 or less caramel malts. - I like that approach myself. Hop choices here too are solid.

 

I remember asking a similar question on the forum here years back when I was looking to stock up.

Echoing above pale malt. Crystal 60/ special B agree that's some tastys right there.

Magnum for bittering across the board then keep some flavour hops maybe a C type hop centennial cascade Chinook and then another more fruity hop of choice mosaic/Galaxy/Equinox.

Yeast of course Kviek all the way baby and just collect slurry at end of fermentation into jar spoon in a tablespoon per brew until this runs down then collect another Jar.
I tell you it is bloody versatile.

 

I should add that this does not apply to base malt. I have designed most of my recipes to work with either Weyerman pils malt or Gambrinus ESB malt and I buy these by the 25kg sack.

 

And a little bit of specialty malt goes a long way. Before long after putting a few orders in and expierence brewing you'll have a lot of beer style verietys you'll be able to brew on a whim.

A big factor which I've found through helping out a local brewer is ability to crush ones own grain.

 

I like a bit of Maris Otter malt for Brown ales using Magnum or Crystal hops. A couple of brews ago I started using Golden Promise in my NEIPAs with faked oats and flaked wheat. Provides good body and love the haze.

 

I have become very fond of this malt!

 

I have so much dark malts that I never use more than a couple hundred grams of that will last me years.

Centennial and Magnum are very different hops, I don't know much about Glacier but if I had to pick just one I'd go with Centennial if you like pale ales and IPAs, Magnum if you like German style beers.