Differences in Grains

[ZenFitness]

As a newbie to all grain brewing, I'm curious about the differences between grains. How does one come up with an original recipe and understand the interplay of grains and how much to use?

 

[speeddemon190]

Im still a newbie to brewing (7 months and about 11 batches in so far) what I did is look at some of the recipes posted on the site, it will start to give you an idea of amounts and what they do for the recipe. Definatly read everything you can on this site as there are some extremely knowledgable people here. Also when you start brewing with grains wether extract and specialty grains or another method i found tasting the grains before you add them to the pot will give you a basic idea of what they bring to the beer. I tend to ask alot of questions when im around the LHBS and friends with more brewing experience than me.

 

[duboman]

I would suggest you get a copy of "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. It's a little dated but is a tremendous resource for learning and understanding how to create recipes.

 

[Begin2Brew]

EXPERIMENT!

Seriously, I wanted to brew a very malt forward beer so I continued to go off one recipe and each time I reduced the base malt and increased the crystal. It really gave me a good idea of what an increase in crystal malt does for a beer.

 

[HopinJim]

+1 on Experiment. First thing I did was to pick a particular beer that I really liked. Then I found a recipe to begin with. After that, I did a little tweak on each batch that I brewed, but only changing one thing at a time...a touch more of this grain, a touch less of that grain, until I found the balance that I liked, but never changed more than one thing at a time. That way, I learned more about what each type of grain did to affect the flavor, color, and body of the brew. Then, I started playing with the mash temps...then the hops. Bottom line, start with something you already know you like, and little by little, you can figure out all the different variables that can influence the end result. The key is, don't overwhelm yourself with trying a multitude of styles while you're still learning the brewing art. Pick one to begin, and once you've gotten it to be perfect - for YOU - and repeatable - then move on to the next one. Remember why you brew...you brew to make beer that YOU like, first and foremost.
That's just my opinion, but I can't think of too many arguments against it.....

 

[speeddemon190]

+1 on Experiment. First thing I did was to pick a particular beer that I really liked. Then I found a recipe to begin with. After that, I did a little tweak on each batch that I brewed, but only changing one thing at a time...a touch more of this grain, a touch less of that grain, until I found the balance that I liked, but never changed more than one thing at a time. That way, I learned more about what each type of grain did to affect the flavor, color, and body of the brew. Then, I started playing with the mash temps...then the hops. Bottom line, start with something you already know you like, and little by little, you can figure out all the different variables that can influence the end result. The key is, don't overwhelm yourself with trying a multitude of styles while you're still learning the brewing art. Pick one to begin, and once you've gotten it to be perfect - for YOU - and repeatable - then move on to the next one. Remember why you brew...you brew to make beer that YOU like, first and foremost.
That's just my opinion, but I can't think of too many arguments against it.....

Good point, I just picked up 10 lbs of vienna and some centennial today for a SMASH beer. Trying to get an idea of my hop profiles. I figured i would just wing it and go all vienna with centennial and see how it turns out

 

[Oddball]

Doing SMaSH beers has definitely helped me to understand the different flavors that grains and hops contribute to beer and in turn has helped in formulating recipes...

 

[Cyclman]

+1 on Designing Great Beers. Experimenting once you have a basic knowledge is how you personalize "your" beer, but I believe in learning classics first.

 

[nztkdt]

Palmer's "How To Brew" gives a pretty basic understanding of malts as well.

 

[C-Rider]

My method also starts w/Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. Then I use BeerSmith software and the BJCP guide lines. Haven't made a bad beer yet over the past 2 years desigining my own. I never copy or modify existing recipes. Always use this method and design my own.

 

[unionrdr]

Look at the top of the forum for "recipe formulation & ingredients description".
That should give you an idea of what's what.

 

[ZenFitness]

Thanks everyone, I'm going to check out the sticky (I didn't see that before) and Designing Great Beers.