Identifying styles of beer

OK, so I'm fairly new to the whole homebrewing thing. I've got a few recipes under my belt, but am wondering how to identify the style of beer from a grain bill. This way I'd be able to better understand how to tweak my recipes while staying true to the style. As well as identify a style of beer from what grains are used. My friend who I brew with brewed a few months ago by himself while I was sick, he just used the grain and hops that were left over from previous brews, and it turned out pretty good. We were left wondering what style of beer it is though. We may want to brew it again with a few alterations. I've posted the recipe he wrote down below, let me know what you think this would be.

1 lb cara red 20L
1 lb Gambrinus Honey malt 20L
10 lbs of 2 Row

Mash at 150 for 1 hr

60 min boil with 1 oz cascade at 60
1 oz willamette at 15
.5 oz saaz at 5

He used Rogues Pacman yeast

2 weeks primary at 60 degrees
2 weeks secondary at 60 degrees

Thanks for the help,

Cheers

Looks like an American pale ale to me. For style information: http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php

Do you happen to have a brewing program? If so, I would plug everything in and gauge the color, bitterness and what not and take it from there.

Two books will help you really identify the differences...Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil J., and Designing Great Beers by Daniels

helibrewer said:

Two books will help you really identify the differences...Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil J., and Designing Great Beers by Daniels

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This.

Oh, and experience.

Yes, I have beer smith. I typed it in as an american pale ale, it doesn't seem to match up, but just because the bitterness, color, gravity, and ABV match up to a style, that doesn't mean the grain bill and hops are true to that style does it?

just because the bitterness, color, gravity, and ABV match up to a style, that doesn't mean the grain bill and hops are true to that style does it?

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Actually, for the most part, yes. The style is pretty much defined by the IBUs, SRM (color), OG, and ABV. There are certain styles that require strict grain types and hop types, but not many.

For example, you can make a "PALE ALE" out of pretty much whichever base malt and hops you want. However, you can't make a Wheat without wheat malt, Pilsner without pilsner malt, Rye without rye malt, etc....Or a Lager without lager yeast, Sour without some sort of wild yeast/brett strain, etc.

So, most styles just follow the stats, some must have specific grains and hops to be strictly "to style."

Way cool, thanks for the info, I did not know that. I'm obviously very new to brewing, and trying to understand as much as possible. This is cool stuff.

TopherM said:

Actually, for the most part, yes. The style is pretty much defined by the IBUs, SRM (color), OG, and ABV. There are certain styles that require strict grain types and hop types, but not many.

For example, you can make a "PALE ALE" out of pretty much whichever base malt and hops you want. However, you can't make a Wheat without wheat malt, Pilsner without pilsner malt, Rye without rye malt, etc....Or a Lager without lager yeast, Sour without some sort of wild yeast/brett strain, etc.

So, most styles just follow the stats, some must have specific grains and hops to be strictly "to style."

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This. Well said, Topher. But to expand a little, to be true to BJCP styles, certain substyles require a limited set of hops. For example, an American Pale Ale pretty much has to have American Hop varieties, just as Dry Hopping an ESB with Cascade would be improper. Or, a German Lager should have Noble hops. This is really only important for competitions or if you want to be super technical. But like Topher said, the general category of Pale Ale could use pretty much any base malt and any hop.

TopherM said:

Actually, for the most part, yes. The style is pretty much defined by the IBUs, SRM (color), OG, and ABV. There are certain styles that require strict grain types and hop types, but not many.

For example, you can make a "PALE ALE" out of pretty much whichever base malt and hops you want. However, you can't make a Wheat without wheat malt, Pilsner without pilsner malt, Rye without rye malt, etc....Or a Lager without lager yeast, Sour without some sort of wild yeast/brett strain, etc.

So, most styles just follow the stats, some must have specific grains and hops to be strictly "to style."

Click to expand...

I disagree. Just hitting the numbers is a FAR cry from hitting the style, especially if you are entering the beer in a competition. Beer is judged based on the qualitative descriptions of aroma, flavor, appearance, and mouthfeel found in the style guidelines; NOT on the numbers. If you choose inappropriate ingredients or vary the process in certain ways, your beer may very well match the numbers but taste nothing like a given style.

Take, for example, a PALE ALE recipe and use a weizen yeast to ferment it, or hop it with hallertauer instead of an American (or even English) variety. You will end up with a completely different beer.

Those are rather extreme examples, but even substituting a different malt can make a big difference. Say, for example, that you use 100% vienna malt in your PALE ALE instead of mostly 2-row as is common. Again, it will be a completely different beer although it will hit the appropriate numbers for a pale ale.