Pro/Commercial Recipe Sharing Etiquette

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TheJasonT

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Last night I was at Cigar City in Tampa and I got to talk with one of the brewers there about my homebrew, mashing, sparging, and everything under the sun.

Near the end of our conversation I asked him about Jai Alai, my most favorite IPA. He gave me a basic rundown of the ingredients but not specific numbers. I put something in iBrewMaster based on his info and got pretty close to matching the numbers on the Internet and including the "secret" hop they use.

My question is, is it bad etiquette to share what I came up with for others to try? I haven't tried the recipe yet but it's probably next on my list.

Thanks!!
 
TheJasonT said:
Last night I was at Cigar City in Tampa and I got to talk with one of the brewers there about my homebrew, mashing, sparging, and everything under the sun.

Near the end of our conversation I asked him about Jai Alai, my most favorite IPA. He gave me a basic rundown of the ingredients but not specific numbers. I put something in iBrewMaster based on his info and got pretty close to matching the numbers on the Internet and including the "secret" hop they use.

My question is, is it bad etiquette to share what I came up with for others to try? I haven't tried the recipe yet but it's probably next on my list.

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Wayne published the Jai Alai IPA recipe years ago if you google around you can find plenty of examples. Secret hop? Better not mean Simcoe
 
Wayne is pretty open about the Jai Alai recipe. He pretty much gave it out when they did their Brewing Network show, I believe.
 
No... The brewer told me it was a New Zealand varietal called Motueka, also known as B-Saaz from what I found.
 
I have a recipe from a local brewery that is a face melting great stout. When I asked the person if they minded if I shared on the home brew forum the reply I got was something like,"I would appreciate if you would formulate a working recipe based off of ours before you post it up. If you do post your version of it do not mention us." I have not broken that request and still have a face melting stout because of it.

Ask before spilling crap on teh internet. This will make them, you and us happy.
 
I think if you met him one night and he was willing to share the information and did not include "don't pass this on" or something like that, then you are fine. Unless you slipped him Sodium Pentothal. I would brew it and tweak it before I posted it, for my own credibility, since brewing on the home brew scale is so different.
 
Zamial said:
"I would appreciate if you would formulate a working recipe based off of ours before you post it up. If you do post your version of it do not mention us." I have not broken that request and still have a face melting stout because of it.

Ask before spilling crap on teh internet. This will make them, you and us happy.
Click to expand...

This might be the best advice/request I've seen. I'll be brewing this up around the end of the month and it'll be ready end if January. I'll let you all know how it turns out!
 
Zamial said:
I have a recipe from a local brewery that is a face melting great stout. When I asked the person if they minded if I shared on the home brew forum the reply I got was something like,"I would appreciate if you would formulate a working recipe based off of ours before you post it up. If you do post your version of it do not mention us." I have not broken that request and still have a face melting stout because of it.

Ask before spilling crap on teh internet. This will make them, you and us happy.
Click to expand...

So what's the face melting stout recipe? Without mentioning the brewery of course.
 
You know I have never understood why some breweries are so tight lipped about their recipes. The recipe is just a small, though very important, part of making a great beer. There are so many "little things" that make a beer great that just having the recipe isn't enough.
 
Phunhog said:
You know I have never understood why some breweries are so tight lipped about their recipes. The recipe is just a small, though very important, part of making a great beer. There are so many "little things" that make a beer great that just having the recipe isn't enough.
Click to expand...

I agree..I can't imagine that there are so many homebrewers out there that will start brewing their beer that it will subtract from their profits.

I would think it's actually goodwill to help us homebrewers out with their recipes.

Maybe I'm misguided but are there really that many home brewers that the commercial breweries will lose profit because we all brew their recipes and so many people stop buying the actual commercial brew?
 
If someone, who you've never met before, shares information with you, it's not "secret." I tell a secret to my wife, but not to a stranger. Anything worth keeping secret isn't shared with a stranger.

A "basic rundown" isn't a recipe by any stretch of it. Even if they were to provide the exact recipe including times, temps, hop additions, yeast, water additions, you'd still not make their beer. There's so many variables. I'm like most people. I can barely clone my own beer.

There's plenty of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale recipes out there, some as good as the original. SN isn't going out of business. Surly made their most popular beers into kits sold by Northern Brewer, who has the recipes on the website. Boulevard will just tell you their recipe if you email and ask. Avery has their recipes listed on their website. None of these places are going out of business.

This concept of a "secret ingredient" reminds me of the chili cookoff freaks I had to deal with once. Like there is some one magical spice that is so alluring, so intoxicating, so specific it's like crack heroin PCP all rolled into one.

It's nice that they shared their secret hop with you, but it's hardly a trade secret.
 
highgravitybacon said:
If someone, who you've never met before, shares information with you, it's not "secret." I tell a secret to my wife, but not to a stranger. Anything worth keeping secret isn't shared with a stranger.

A "basic rundown" isn't a recipe by any stretch of it. Even if they were to provide the exact recipe including times, temps, hop additions, yeast, water additions, you'd still not make their beer. There's so many variables. I'm like most people. I can barely clone my own beer.

There's plenty of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale recipes out there, some as good as the original. SN isn't going out of business. Surly made their most popular beers into kits sold by Northern Brewer, who has the recipes on the website. Boulevard will just tell you their recipe if you email and ask. Avery has their recipes listed on their website. None of these places are going out of business.

This concept of a "secret ingredient" reminds me of the chili cookoff freaks I had to deal with once. Like there is some one magical spice that is so alluring, so intoxicating, so specific it's like crack heroin PCP all rolled into one.

It's nice that they shared their secret hop with you, but it's hardly a trade secret.
Click to expand...

That was much more well put and to the point than my post...that's what I was trying to say. Thanks!
 
highgravitybacon said:
I'm like most people. I can barely clone my own beer.
Click to expand...

That's probably about where I'm at. I've attempted 1 clone recipe (Stone Levitation), but with a variety of substitutions, so it wasn't really a clone attempt. Every single batch I've tried has been a whole lot of different from every other batch I've made, so I haven't even tried repeating any results.

Also, the NB pro series kits (Surly, Dry Dock, Tallgrass, etc.) are all relatively small regional breweries that would like to distribute more widely (I can only assume). It makes perfect sense that they would make their beers available by providing accurate homebrew kits through Northern Brewer. I've brewed a Dry Dock kit and love it. I'd also love to try out the original to compare my results.

As far as sharing a recipe given to you in conversation with a brewer, the best option is probably to try brewing it and see if it comes out anything like you think it should before you even think about sharing it.
 

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