What's your recipe philosophy?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MrSnacks

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
Messages
210
Reaction score
41
I feel like I'm constantly on a quest to find the perfect IPA and stout and given my druthers I'd probably just brew an IPA and a stout with infinite slight adjustments until I found the perfect recipe.

The Quest for the Perfect Stout is undoubtedly the quest of a fool and a madman that only ends in tears, but does anyone else approach it this way?

It seems like most folks around here are brewing a wider variety of beers or cloning commercial beers and less focused on finding the Platonic ideal, which is totally valid. I'll readily confess to being a creature of habit when it comes to beer.

Just curious if anyone else is on the quixotic quest?
 
Well I'm not quite on the same quest but since I started I refuse to clone any brews until I have house recipes for a pale, ipa, Amber, brown and stout. They may not have to be perfect but as long as they are somewhat original and taste great to me then I'm content. Good luck in your quest sir!
 
I personally am always on that fools errand of making "the perfect" _________ (insert style here). The problem with that is that my (and I assume others) tastes change. Sometimes it seems like each day I prefer another flavor.

With that in mind, I accept that I will not be able to make the perfect anything. I know we can make educated stabs at what we are looking for, though. I think when we homebrew we should base our successes or failures based on how closely we were able to replicate what we imagined when we designed the beer.

I think an excellent brewer is one who can knowingly design a beer with it's end results in mind and find 2 months later that their ideas were spot on. That is more revealing than whether or not the beer s/he created was "the perfect" _________ .

Sorry, I got thrown on a tangent there...

But yeah, I love to tweak recipes. I think it's part of the allure of homebrewing, even if it's not possible to find perfection in a beer style.
 
I like beer, but don't know enough yet to predict final flavors based on grain, yeast, adjuncts, etc...

So I just keep brewing new things. Brews that are particularly good (like my recent "Kiss Me I'm Irish Red") go onto my re-brew list.

I don't think I'll ever get into the quest for the "perfect" beer. I like too many varied styles.

However - a "perfect" Grand Cru or Abbey Ale might be in my future once I perfect my techniques and upgrade some equipment.
 
My general philosophy in designing recipes is to keep things as simple as possible - especially when it comes to grain bills. I'm certainly not opposed to adding in more ingredients, but I like to try an idea in a very simple incarnation first - and then, after drinking it, add additional ingredients if necessary to the next batch.

Cheers.
 
I don't know if I aim to find a "perfect" recipe, but I do know that I like to try and find ways of representing the style I'm brewing. Basically, when it's time to work out a recipe, I try and determine, what I've not tried before, and how I might be able to fit the style guidelines for a beer in a way that is new to me. I look at what's available as far as ingredients are concerned, and from there, create a recipe for a particular style.
 
For sure....

My "perfect" beer quest includes/has included:
Amber Ale
*British Mild
*British Bitter
*Scottish 70
Bo Pils
Dortmunder
Helles
APA
IPA
*A. Wheat
Porter

* = I have pretty much settled on a final recipe for these styles and really don't play around with them too much any more.

I am close on American Amber, APA and IPA - Still working out some details.

I have brewed some nice porters, but don't have anything set in stone.

I have brewed some great light lagers.... but, I feel like I lack consistency with them so not sure if I am where I need to be yet.

My starting point in any style almost always starts in 2 places: Brewing Classic Styles and the Zymurgy Gold Medal Recipes from NHC. I try to brew "as is" and then tweak from there.
 
I don't have that quest, I've been brewing now for almost 4 years and I have a few beers that I have made a few times over and did very much enjoy but then had another beer style and thought "I need to make this". I make good beer and even some of the beers that I didn't like were awesome after a few months so I don't have any desire to perfect a recipe. That's my 2 cents.
 
I'll admit I brew almost exclusively from BCS these days. My brewing software is on a computer I'm not in front of very often, and I particularly don't like using it. As such I don't do alot of recipe formulation or tinkering with existing recipes, other than subbing hops or adjusting for AA%.
 
To me, the perfect beer means it is the best in the category. I don't know if that is possible. Sometimes I like one IPA over another, but then might change my mind. I prefer to take notes an rank the beers I make. A 10 out of 10 on my scale is not perfect, but I really like it. (I haven't had any 10s... yet...)

Beer brewing is not about perfection to me, it's about making some beer that tastes great, and sharing it (and/or the brewing process) with friends.

I like beer.
 
Personally, I'm out to play around, see what works and ultimately make a tasty beer in any style I brew. A lot of times I find I prefer to use hops or grains that usually aren't used with a style, some rye here, some Nelson Sauvin where you wouldn't expect it. I guess if anything I'm just out to poke the style bears and see whether they wake up.
 
When I first started I brewed a different style every time. But I soon started brewing the same few styles more often. Stouts, because I couldn't get one right... IPAs because I couldn't keep them in stock. Now I have more of a system in place. I brew an IPA every few weeks, always changing the grain bill and hop varieties, and in between I try to learn new styles. When I feel like I've made a really good one I start making hop changes, eventually leading to more experimental changes... hibiscus, coriander, beet sugar, etc...
 
Since I don't have a lot of time to devote to brewing, I usually have a few ideas swirling in my head for a month or two. But always different. I've only brewed the same recipe once or twice for a friend and even then i tweaked it with a different kind of hop. I'm always on the move, shifting to a new recipe, new hop, new design. Sometimes a trip to the local taproom, tasting a new craft brew, will inspire me and set me off to dreaming up a clone recipe...
 
Life's too short to brew the same beer twice. Even if you make a "perfect" IPA, they are breeding new hop strains all the time, so who's to say it couldn't get better. I like to have fun and experiment with ingredients, but I try to keep my recipes simple enough to see how each ingredient changes the final product. I don't put anything in any recipe unless I can provide a specific reason for its inclusion. I don't clone beers, but I try to listen to and learn from the masters, especially Vinnie Cilurzo.
 
I'm currently on a quest to find MY perfect IPA (even if it's not THE perfect IPA). I've pretty much found a grain bill and yeast combo that works for me, but knowing what hops to use and when has been the tough part. So I'm brewing a series of beers using the same grain bill, yeast and hop schedule, and just changing the type of hop each time. The first of these beers is a Simcoe IPA that's bubbling away as we speak. I'm sure there are thousands of people who have done this before and I'm not trying to be unique. I just really want to get a grasp of exactly what each hop contributes and I haven't been able to do that by mixing hop varieties based on descriptions that others have provided.
 
Less is more. Don't add something to a recipe on a whim. Instead try it in a basic brew or something you're familiar with already.

Technique/procedure is more important than ingredients. Something like proper whirlpool temps or targeted fermentation temps will produce more benefit than your neighbors home grown malt or hops from half way across the world.

Keep your stuff clean. Not just for sanitation but because you won't have to replace your stuff so soon.

Go slow. Brewing isn't a race. No matter how long it takes to make you still win a batch of beer at the end. Relax and make sure it's a good one.
 
I could never brew the "perfect" beer because my tastes change all the time. But I'd like to get a recipe for a few styles that I can regularly brew and get the beer I am expecting and enjoy. Otherwise I like trying different things so I don't really expect to do that to every style, or I may play with changes to see what will happen. I probably won't ever be satisfied with a GO-TO recipe for any beer. There is comfort in knowing you can always pull out a nice beer at need.
 
Just curious... How do you find the perfect IPA? It's such a broad style and peoples tastes are all over the map. Is it to the brewers individual tastes, or something else?

I'm curious because I've only brewed two and both were good but could be better.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Just curious... How do you find the perfect IPA? It's such a broad style and peoples tastes are all over the map. Is it to the brewers individual tastes, or something else?

I'm curious because I've only brewed two and both were good but could be better.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
I'm not sure what the perfect IPA is but the quest to find it has been incredibly enjoyable.
 
I had the "perfect" IPA and I brewed it!...... It is the Heady Topper Clone from the recipe section. Then, unfortunately, I drank it side by side with a real Heady....... and, now, it is only a "really good" IPA:confused:
Back to the drawing board......
(mine is on the right)

heady.jpg
 
If I do have a recipe philosophy it's to try new things. I want to try the newest hop, yeast, malts etc. Also I don't give rat's rear end about bjcp style guidelines I brew for me and my friends so I will experiment.
 
Back
Top