How to Brew to Style

In a few weeks, I plan on brewing a batch of beer to enter into the homebrew competition at the KY State Fair. The beer samples themselves are due in mid-August, but the entry form is due July 1st. One requirement of the entry form is that you must declare exactly what style of beer you are doing to enter. All the styles are according to the BJCP guidelines, which of course are neatly laid out on their site.

My dilemma is this: I want to create my own recipe so that the finished product will fall within the style category/subcategory I decide. BJCP defines styles according to Aroma, Flavor, Appearance, etc, but I have a difficult time figuring out how to achieve these.

Are there basic recipe formulas for each style? I don't want steal someone's recipe, so I was just wondering if anyone had come across a very specific guide, similar to the BJCP's style guide, but instead of characteristics, it defines a style by possible ingredients and ratios of ingredients used. For example, it would differentiate between an English IPA and an American IPA based on what possible hop types could be used. Or the difference between a Southern English Brown and a Northern English Brown based on what grain types are used and in what ratios.

I realize that I could look up a clone recipe of a specific style, and tailor my own to make it unique, but surely there has got to be a basic outline for each style that is somewhat of a standard recipe base to which my own flair could be added.

This basic standard recipe for each style category/subcategory is what I would like to gather, and hopefully put together a concise guide of basic recipe formulas that epitomize each of these styles.

Your help would greatly be appreciated. If you have suggestions for specific styles, PM or e-mail ([email protected]) me and I will start compiling a list.

Sorry for my long-windedness.

Thanks,

Zythe84

Read Brewing Classic Styles, I think it'll have what you're looking for.

I'm planning on entering at least one beer in the fair as well. Good luck to us both.

Haha, based on the description, this book seems to be exactly what I was describing. Incredible! Thanks for the reference.

Good luck!

Should have posted this in my earlier post... but the primary author of that book also has podcasts on each style in the book where he gives a little more info about brewing that particular style with the recipe in the book.

Just search through the archives here.

Designing Great Beers is also all about ingredients and ratios

Better get started on that brew for the fair, you don't want it to be "green". I'm entering a couple as well. Brewed them earlier this week.

Here is what I do:
I look at the BJCP Guidelines, which tell you ingredients for each style, though a little vague sometimes.
BJCP Style Guidelines

I also use BeerSmith and it has helped me immensely. You can choose the style you want, and it has the BJCP numeric guidelines and every time you add or delete something in your recipe it automatically calculates estimated gravity, ibus, and srm, so you can formulate a recipe within style guidelines. I has really helped me with making recipes, which have turned out great.

Good luck.

+1 for Brewing Classic Styles and the Jamil Show archives. They are probably the best resource for someone looking to emulate a BJCP style.