Perfecting one recipe or style

McCall St. Brewer · 10-20-2007, 12:22 PM

I think I am like a lot of homebrewers in that I normally make a different recipe or style of beer every time I make a brew. Not only that, but until now I don't even think I have made the same recipe more than once. If I have made the same style twice, the recipe was a little different than the first time.

I've got a fair number of batches under my belt now (looking at my expanding waste line I mean that both figuratively and literally

) and I am wondering if it is time to work on perfecting a recipe or style of beer by brewing more than one batch of it in a row. I guess, by saying perfecting a "style" I mean that I wouldn't necessarily brew the exact same recipe each time, as I may want to try tweaking the recipe a bit based on how the previous batches turned out.

I know that EdWort has his "Haus Pale." Does anyone else tend to brew the same recipe on a regular basis?

Ó Flannagáin · 10-20-2007, 12:34 PM

I've been doing this with my hefeweizen... but yea, that's it. I make a different beer everytime now. I still haven't found any other recipe that I want to get down solid. I'm really hoping to find it in one of my belgians I've started brewing.

hopshead · 10-20-2007, 12:47 PM

I have been home brewing since Feb/March 2006. I started all grain about 8 months ago and the first all grain recipe was a Mirror pond clone pale ale. Every since I drank that batch I have tried to make it every other batch of beer. Lets just say that in 4 or 5 years of trying to find the perfect apa, I found it in my first all grain batch of beer. I find myself being very anxious waiting on the next batch. As far as perfecting goes, I think the recipe is perfect, but I try to change my process to help get more consistent ( i.e. mash efficiency does fluctuate requiring adjustments on the fly).

Martin F · 10-20-2007, 01:25 PM

Now that I am back into brewing after a 10 year hiatus, I have taken the approach of perfecting an amber, a pale ale, and an ESB. This also requires a fair amount of experimentation within the style to find a recipe that I can start perfecting. But yeah, I think it is fun to improve by tweaking one part of the recipe at a time. For example, the grain bill may be just right but I need to adjust the hop schedule, or perhaps I only want to change the yeast I am using for a different look.

**david_42** · 10-20-2007, 03:21 PM

I did this for years with a porter recipe, then I purchased AHS Rogue Mocha Porter clone.

So, now I'm working on the Bent Rod Rye, which is a moderately hoppy rye session ale.

**TheJadedDog** · 10-20-2007, 03:51 PM

I've got 2 or 3 recipes that I am working on perfecting. Rather than brew them exclusively, I've worked them into my regular rotation.

Jim Karr · 10-20-2007, 04:05 PM

I've made my Airedale Tail Pale Ale every second batch, in between wheat and stouts. It's great when you can get consistency in a recipe.

photogscott · 10-21-2007, 03:51 AM

Get into the habit of taking careful notes. Tweaking a recipe is where brew software such as Beersmith and Pro Mash come in handy.

Decide what you'd like to change and research your hops grains and adjuncts to see what they do to flavor, aroma, body

**mrk305** · 10-21-2007, 04:00 PM

I have just recently started taking good notes. I take my notes and put in top of the fermenter. When I bottle the beer, the notes go in the 12 pack. I have 3 stacks of beer and when I bottle I write the name of the beer and the bottling date on the box and then it is placed at the bottom of the stack.

That way six or seven weeks from brew date when I start that 2nd 12 pack I can update my notes and decide if I want to make it again.

boo boo · 10-21-2007, 05:50 PM

I make the Mirror Pond Pale Ale clone regular and call it my house ale.
I seldom vary from my recipie now I have it nailed down, so to speak.

My Dutch lagers are going through the tweaking phase, as are most of the other styles I clone.