mrpeccator
Member
One of the things I have noticed in way too much lurking on this sight and my 13 AG brews is that there is not a consensus or emphasis on what the fundamentals of recipe design are. I would love to get to the point where I can come up with an imperial/ oaked/fruit/smoked/category 23 beer with a pile of ingredients that is awesome but I am pathologically incapable of attempting such things until I grasp some serious recipe fundamentals.
I'm all for experimenting (I'll drink nearly any beer. Repeatedly.) But some beers I've had lately are reminiscent of first graders attempting calculus: random experiments with no fundamentals and a taste to match. I'll start the list:
1: Don't overly complicate things. A recipe with 5 different hops and 7 grains sounds cool and is fun to brew (so are all beers!) but the subtlety is lost with so many ingredients. A well designed beer in nearly any style does not need a cornucopia of malts and hops. Pilsner Uruquell is a SMASH after all.
Edit: The question is about the fundamentals of recipe design. I was drinking EdWort's apfelwein at the time. And it seems like brewing a bunch will help.
I'm all for experimenting (I'll drink nearly any beer. Repeatedly.) But some beers I've had lately are reminiscent of first graders attempting calculus: random experiments with no fundamentals and a taste to match. I'll start the list:
1: Don't overly complicate things. A recipe with 5 different hops and 7 grains sounds cool and is fun to brew (so are all beers!) but the subtlety is lost with so many ingredients. A well designed beer in nearly any style does not need a cornucopia of malts and hops. Pilsner Uruquell is a SMASH after all.
Edit: The question is about the fundamentals of recipe design. I was drinking EdWort's apfelwein at the time. And it seems like brewing a bunch will help.