Guidelines for experimentation

[CdrDave]

Ok, I haven't even bottled my first extract brew yet (a few more days!!) and I'm already wanting to learn how to customize recipes to experiment with creating beers. I am limited to extract brewing at the moment (my choice), but I understand - if you know what you're doing - you can substitute hops, malts, various ingredients, both in type and amounts, to create custom beers.

I understand that the more malt / sugar, the higher the content, but also a need for an increase in hops to balance the sweetness. ?

So..... are there some basic rules/guidelines I could follow that would allow me to successfully start experimenting with a recipe (extract kit), or should I wait until I've done a few kits and gained more experience?

 

[Shred]

Get a brewing software. I us BeerSmith. It allows you to select a beer style, shows you generally accepted ranges for ABV, gravity, bitterness, color, etc... It also has a huge database of ingredients with in-depth descriptions.

 

[Bithead]

Learn about beer ingredients and biochemistry and you'll have better luck experimenting.

 

[eltorrente]

I always tell people to start with something fairly simple - like a Pale Ale. You don't need many ingredients, and you'll have a good basis to start experimenting from there.

For instance - 7-8lbs of light extract (Dry extract is preferable), and steep 1/2lb of Crystal 40, or Crystal 60. Add some boiling hops for ~35IBUs, and 2-3 ounces of flavor hops at the end. Add yeast when cool. Simple, and really good.

From there you taste it and start experimenting. Maybe next time you use more crystal, a different type of crystal, or add another type of grain. Change the hop type, or increase or decrease the hops. Maybe replace the Crystal with 1lb of Roasted and you have a stout all of a sudden.

That is just a random example - but the key is to keep it simple, and don't try using too many ingredients at first because you want to be able to identify what various grains, hops, and yeast types do.

It's great that you are wanting to learn your own recipes. You'll find that it's much more rewarding to develop your own, and you'll learn a ton more that just copying what others have done. In the future you can look at a recipe and determine if it sounds good or not, and make changes to the grain bill or hop schedule before trying it.

 

[unionrdr]

I think it's more important to get a good process down for making good kit beers first. Learn what you need to know to brew ferment & bottle condition & carbonate first. Then start making changes one or two at a time to see what the effect is on the beer.