As a new brewer I find it a little overwhelming when thinking about putting together my own recipe. I've done tons of reading and know the general idea behind most of the main ingredients. I have a brewed mainly from recipes at my local shop. What I want to do is really get to know how each of these ingredients will effect the beer directly.
So here is what I had in mind. 4 one gallon extract batches:
1. LME, yeast (control)
2. LME, yeast, single hop addition
3. LME, yeast, steeping grains
4. LME, yeast, single hop addition, steeping grains
A pretty average experiment with a control and a limited number of variables.
If this produces usable results I'd like to carry it even further. Maybe the same setup but with varying times on adding the LME (i.e. 1/2 at 60min and 1/2 at 30mins) and things of that nature.
My question to the anyone who has tried this or has any good ideas on how to try this is:
What should I use specifically for these ingredients, and how much of each should I use to get the best idea of how they are going to effect my beers?
NOTE: I realize that no one type of hop, LME, or steeping grain is going to reveal all the secrets of every ingredient but I do believe that something like this can give me some insight on how hops effect the bitterness of a beer in general, etc...
So here is what I had in mind. 4 one gallon extract batches:
1. LME, yeast (control)
2. LME, yeast, single hop addition
3. LME, yeast, steeping grains
4. LME, yeast, single hop addition, steeping grains
A pretty average experiment with a control and a limited number of variables.
If this produces usable results I'd like to carry it even further. Maybe the same setup but with varying times on adding the LME (i.e. 1/2 at 60min and 1/2 at 30mins) and things of that nature.
My question to the anyone who has tried this or has any good ideas on how to try this is:
What should I use specifically for these ingredients, and how much of each should I use to get the best idea of how they are going to effect my beers?
NOTE: I realize that no one type of hop, LME, or steeping grain is going to reveal all the secrets of every ingredient but I do believe that something like this can give me some insight on how hops effect the bitterness of a beer in general, etc...