My Future Goal / General Question (recipe related)

suffocatefaster · 11-24-2007, 06:08 AM

My general goal is to make my own beer recipe one day, Is this a farfetched goal or can this be done.

I guess what im asking is, If beer is only four or so ingredients, Is it crazy for a guy like me to dream of my own unique recipe or have basically all types and formats of beer been done already?

**Orfy** · 11-24-2007, 06:13 AM

learn the basics first, do some reading then it is easy to do.

denimglen · 11-24-2007, 06:17 AM

I've pretty much done that and at the time I had only done about 7 real batches (ie not kit and kilo type thing).

I tasted a beer I liked (Epic Pale Ale - an American PA brewed in New Zealand) and thought it was great so tried to roughly clone it from the info I could get from the website, colour of the beer, what should be in there from style etc. Ended up with (what I thought) was a great beer but could do with some improvement. It came out similar to the original but was different. I've got plans for it for the next time around to make it more to my liking.

Remember homebrewing is about making beer YOU like, not what suits the masses.

It's like cooking, a lot of people make the same meal but it's your recipe and little touches that makes it your own.

suffocatefaster · 11-24-2007, 06:18 AM

orfy im simply asking if my goal is approachable.

**Orfy** · 11-24-2007, 06:20 AM

Why do you need to do something never done before by anyone?
Why not be happy outdoing yourself rather than others?

All of your beers will be unique to you at least.

suffocatefaster · 11-24-2007, 06:21 AM

thats not my goal, that might be yours.

I like doing new and crazy stuff, thats what got me into this.

**Orfy** · 11-24-2007, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suffocatefaster

thats not my goal, that might be yours.

I like doing new and crazy stuff, thats what got me into this.

What, to do something not done by others or not done by you?

denimglen · 11-24-2007, 06:38 AM

I think it depends if you mean creating a new style or creating a new recipe for a particular style?

suffocatefaster · 11-24-2007, 06:42 AM

a new recipe, somthing that friends can taste and say wow... id pay for this.

thats the goal for me.

Sir Humpsalot · 11-24-2007, 06:56 AM

The first beer I ever made was an original recipe. I think I've only followed 2 recipes in my 15+ batches of beer.

Have you read www.howtobrew.com? They have a whole chapter on creating your own recipes. It's a great read and it's free.

And what you need to understand is that every beer is unique. Every year, Sam Adams holds a longshot competition for homebrewers where they promise to brew the best beers and sell them in stores in a special 6 pack. Guess what. One of the winners this year was a CLONE of another popular beer.

Did it taste exactly the same? Of course not. Because it's not about throwing ingredients together, it's about your process. If you and I both started with the same planks of wood, same nails, and same glue, does that mean we would build the same bookshelf? Of course not! Recipes, like parts lists, are just a tiny piece of what you do as a brewer. Most beer recipes, actually, are pretty much the same. So can you vary a recipe a little bit and make it unique? Well, yeah. It's as easy as making a bookshelf a little lower. It doesn't even require any thought really.

Take 6 pounds of malt extract (whatever brand you like), add 2 ounces of hops (whatever type you like), steep a pound or two of grains that you think sound tasty, then add whatever yeast you like. Viola! You have your very own recipe. It truly is that simple and what's more it will probably be the best beer you've ever tasted. And it gets better from there.

Incidentally, I saw in another thread that you are unsatisfied with the advice you've been given at this forum. It seems to me you aren't asking the right questions. Can you create your own recipe? Sure you can. Most of us do it every time we brew. I mean, it's just a weird question to ask. Like a kid on a bicycle asking older kids if he'll ever be skilled enough to pop a wheelie. Well, what do you expect the older kids to do? Lie and say it's very hard to do? Or lie and say that of course you will be able to? Neither is true. For all we know your heart just isn't into it and you don't care to pop a wheelie or create a recipe. To each their own. I mean, it's just such a basic thing that it's sort of a weird question. I think most folks here just aren't sure how to answer it.

Read the free book at www.howtobrew.com