Can you call it your own?

If you use an extract kit, but alter it significantly after the can itself?

Just wondering at what point people start taking credit for recipes... Still new to all this.

IMHO, if you're buying a kit and then adding to it... the kit is just a convenient way to get some of the ingredients at one time. The recipe is yours.

+1 to the above comment plus I'll add even by altering the brewing technique, it makes it your own.

if you brewed it, it's yours

the second you change a recipe its yours. even if the change is 0.5lb. of L35 Crystal malt in place of a 0.5lb. of L40 Crystal Malt.

You brew it, you own it.

I hear what everyone else is saying, but shouldn't you give credit to the original recipe or where you got the basic ideas from? I guess if asked by someone where I got the recipe, can I legitimately say "I made it" plain as that?

It's usually "I made it, but I got some ideas from x and y books and it's pretty close to what z person did in their recipe, but it's different cause I did this and that and they suggested this yeast but I used that yeast and that gave me better whatever..." at which point the person's eyes are glossing over like I'm speaking Chinese with a Hindu accent... unless of course it's a fellow homebrewer at which point everyone else in the room's eyes are glossing over cause they have no idea what you're so excited about... maybe it's best to say "yup, me, dude I made that sh*t from scratch" just so they don't think you're f-ing nuts. Maybe it depends on who you're talking to.

+1... its yours. most ideas for a brew (or any cooking-ish recipe) come from ideas gathered over time and experience. i see modifying a kit a means to an end in creating your own recipe.

Frodo said:

It's usually "I made it, but I got some ideas from x and y books and it's pretty close to what z person did in their recipe, but it's different cause I did this and that and they suggested this yeast but I used that yeast and that gave me better whatever..." at which point the person's eyes are glossing over like I'm speaking Chinese with a Hindu accent... unless of course it's a fellow homebrewer at which point everyone else in the room's eyes are glossing over cause they have no idea what you're so excited about... maybe it's best to say "yup, me, dude I made that sh*t from scratch" just so they don't think you're f-ing nuts. Maybe it depends on who you're talking to.

Click to expand...

BINGO, depends on who I'm talking to at the time. Joe at work or Bill my old school buddy get the 'ol "I made that." Now, If I ran into Revvy or ollllo and shared a beer, I might tell them I got the recipe from BYO and tweaked it a little.

Nahhh, I'd still go with "I mad that man!"

That's kinda what I was thinking. I'm still messing with extract. I'm going to a Brew-a-Thon on the 1st and working with a guy all day and we're gonna do an AG brew. I like the thought of making my own recipes, but I feel like I'm cheating if 1/2 of the ingredients were in a can.

I see what you're talking about with who you're talking to, though. Friends at work, "I made it." Other home brewers, "This plus a little of that and this."

I agree with it becoming yours when you change anything. However, when I write my recipes down (or type them into the computer) I always make a note of where the original idea came from. At least that way I know where it started and how it got to where it is now.