Hey everyone, this is my first post and I have to say this is a great site, I've brewed 2 batches and have found all the answers to everything I've needed on here so thanks to everyone! What I can't seem to find out is how you put together your own recipe? Is there a certain number of pounds you need? X number of pounds of barley? I'm not planning on jumping right into putting my own together yet since I'm still very new, but I am trying to understand and would like to create my own eventually. So if anyone has any info on this I would really appreciate it. I look forward to learning more and making many many amazing beers with your guys help.
putting together recipes?
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WoodsyDoodsy
Member
From what i understand you start out with a basic malt, say a 2 row barley. That is your mash. Your real recipe comes in with the specialty grains and hops you chose to use. Have a chat with your local homebrew supply shop to figure which specialty grains will give you what flavors. As far as hops go, generally the higher alpha acid hops will be for bittering, and those with lower alphas are used in the last 5 minutes of the boil for aroma, although the "C" hops (citra, chinook, centenial, cascade) can give you great floral notes in the nose of the beer. Don't be afraid to experiment, you may come up with a new style (for you at least)! Check out recipes in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing to give you an idea of what grains will impart dif colors and flavors.
Hope this helps!
Hope this helps!
william_shakes_beer
Well-Known Member
I usually start with a recipie that is a clone of something I like. Brew it, keep good notes in the process, and keep notes on tasting impression at first beer, 1 week, 2 weeks, etc. until refusal. Then I review my tasting impressions, decide what my tongue thinks needs to be changed and go from there. I have learned that my tongue likes beers on the low end of the style's IBU range, so I will adjust the bittering hopps accordingly. Do you brew AG or extract? In *general* an extract receipie will have aboput 6.6 LBS extract for a 5 gallon batch. An AG recipie will have 2 lbs grain for every gallon, or 10 LB grains for a 5 gallon batch. But there are wide variations on those starting points.
If you're an AHA member, check out my article on recipe formulation in Zymurgy a couple months back.
Denny said:
Denny, that was a great article I keep referencing!
In addition, to the Op, "designing great recipes" is a great reference to learning how to create recipes and balancing ingredients. Some is a little dated but the process still holds very true
In addition to the other references, I've found brewing software helps me tremendously. Not to actually pick ingredients (it's a bit limited for that) but to be able to help you get the "right" amount of extract or grains for your goal.
For example, if you want a 5.5% ABV beer, you could do the math and try to calculate how much extract you'd need. Or you can use Beersmith (my favorite) and see that you need 7.5 pounds of liquid extract or about 6.5 pounds of dry extract. It really helps also by letting you know the percentages of other grains- like crystal malts- at a glance.
Of course, brewing is like cooking in many ways. If you want to make spaghetti sauce, and you've never cooked before, you'll probably dig out a recipe to help guide you. You might even do that for the first three or four times. After that, you sort of "know" how much onion to use. It's sort of like that with brewing. Once you make a few batches by following others' recipes, you'll learn what seems right and what seems weird just by getting a feel for the quantities and ingredients. In that way, practice makes perfect and following award-winning recipes the first few times can really point you in the right direction!
For example, if you want a 5.5% ABV beer, you could do the math and try to calculate how much extract you'd need. Or you can use Beersmith (my favorite) and see that you need 7.5 pounds of liquid extract or about 6.5 pounds of dry extract. It really helps also by letting you know the percentages of other grains- like crystal malts- at a glance.
Of course, brewing is like cooking in many ways. If you want to make spaghetti sauce, and you've never cooked before, you'll probably dig out a recipe to help guide you. You might even do that for the first three or four times. After that, you sort of "know" how much onion to use. It's sort of like that with brewing. Once you make a few batches by following others' recipes, you'll learn what seems right and what seems weird just by getting a feel for the quantities and ingredients. In that way, practice makes perfect and following award-winning recipes the first few times can really point you in the right direction!
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I start by thinking of what I want for flavors from the malts. I fire up BeerSmith [2.1] and, make sure the correct hardware configuration is set and then select one of my base malts (I have two, UK 2-row and Maris Otter). I then start adding my additional malt/malts until I get the color and proportions of malts I think will give me what I want. I then figure out what I want from the hops and start building that aspect. I've usually selected a yeast that I already have on hand (I use only a couple/few so that's easy) depending on what I want from said yeast. Once the recipe has been generated it goes into the 'on deck' section in my BeerSmith recipe list. When it comes time for that batch, I brew it up.
I think a good amount of building a solid recipe comes from knowing what the malts will give you, hop flavors/characteristics (and at what point in the boil) you'll get, along with what the yeast will do for the brew. Some of this can be picked up from reading, but others really come from experience.
I've only brewed two kits (modified though) before I started making my own recipes. I tried one clone recipe but it didn't come out as I had expected. It was still a great beer (better flavors than the original) but not what I expected. Making my own recipes means I can't blame anyone else if it doesn't come out as I had expected. But I can also take full credit when it comes out great (the vast majority of the time).
I think a good amount of building a solid recipe comes from knowing what the malts will give you, hop flavors/characteristics (and at what point in the boil) you'll get, along with what the yeast will do for the brew. Some of this can be picked up from reading, but others really come from experience.
I've only brewed two kits (modified though) before I started making my own recipes. I tried one clone recipe but it didn't come out as I had expected. It was still a great beer (better flavors than the original) but not what I expected. Making my own recipes means I can't blame anyone else if it doesn't come out as I had expected. But I can also take full credit when it comes out great (the vast majority of the time).
No I'm not an AHA member don't know what that is to be honest. I'm getting ready to make my first all grain just did a partial porter so stepping it up to AG now. I'll have to look into this beersmith program sounds like a few of you use it. So there isn't a set base that you need? Or is it 2 pounds per gallon? I've only done kits off northern brewers and I'm doing the raspberry wheat but it's only has 9 pounds of grains. I was expecting more for an AG at least 10 pounds. Put I guess tweaking is the way everyone goes then?
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
The grain to weight is typically in the area of 1.25-1.5qt/pound of crushed grain. BeerSmith makes it a LOT easier to put a recipe together. It does all the math for you, so you don't get all wrapped around your underwear in it. 
It also takes your mash temperature into account, and yeast attenuation ratings. The majority of ingredients are already entered in the database. You can add more as you wish, be that yeast, hops, grain or misc. items... You can also enter your specific hardware into it, and use that for things. It does have some already entered, but many of us have to tweak those settings due to variations in hardware.
Go for the free trial period to kick the tires. I believe Birdman is selling the key at a reduced rate.
It also takes your mash temperature into account, and yeast attenuation ratings. The majority of ingredients are already entered in the database. You can add more as you wish, be that yeast, hops, grain or misc. items... You can also enter your specific hardware into it, and use that for things. It does have some already entered, but many of us have to tweak those settings due to variations in hardware. Go for the free trial period to kick the tires. I believe Birdman is selling the key at a reduced rate.
Awesome info! I was just looking at the site. I actually downloaded ibrewmaster a few weeks ago for the iPad have you guys looked at that? It seems a lot like beersmith but it looks easier to maneuver. I'd be interested to see if anyone has both and compared.
kbuzz
Well-Known Member
definitely use other recipes to start until you get the knack for which ingredients do what and which grain/hop combos go well together...bitterness levels, flavor profiles, head retention, fermentability...then after a bunch of batches of tweaking variables and such, eventually you can kind of get a feel for how to formulate recipes. I know that probaly was vague and unhelpful, but it really is just experience and trial and error...there's no magical program that will help you come up with perfect recipes...
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I use BeerSmith (2.1) on my home desktop/tower (running Windows 7 x64 currently) as well as my tablet (10" Acer running Windows 8) without issue.
I've long since kicked apple to the curb, so you won't find me with one of their computers or tablets. If someone gave me an ipaddle, I'd probably use it as a cutting board. The ONLY reason I still have an ipod touch is to stream Pandora into my trucks Clarion head unit. It (the ipod) goes online via my Android phone (unlimited data/MHS)... If I could get it to work with the Droid Razr as well, I'd toss the ipod out the window to the curb with joy. [/off]Once you get used to the interface with BeerSmith, it won't be an issue. It's evolved a good amount over the revisions and is rather nice IMO. For me, the learning curve was really short (with the first release I used, 1.4 I believe). Now, it's easy for me to get around in, modify what I need (IF I need) and formulate my recipes.
Plus, there's the cloud aspect of BeerSmith... What's not to love???
I used brewers friend and hopville for a while and learned alot. Now I have beersmith dialed in and love it.
I think it takes several brews of recipes that either you build yourself or follow, to get your equipment and process defined.
I still have to start from other recipes, and then make it my own.
Beersmith is great. I've written spreadsheats to figure temps and volumes, BS does it for you but I am finnaly getting comfortable t o shelf my spreadsheets and rely entirely on BS.
I think it takes several brews of recipes that either you build yourself or follow, to get your equipment and process defined.
I still have to start from other recipes, and then make it my own.
Beersmith is great. I've written spreadsheats to figure temps and volumes, BS does it for you but I am finnaly getting comfortable t o shelf my spreadsheets and rely entirely on BS.
WestCoastBrewmonkey
Active Member
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VonAle said:
Do you find Beersmith to be much better than Brewer's Friend?
william_shakes_beer
Well-Known Member
Clarification to some posts above: When formulating recipies, You will often end up at about 2 lbs dry grain per gallon of finished wort in the fermenter. When planning a mash schedule, you will generally dough in and mash at a grist ratio ( water to grain) of 1.25-2 quarts per pound of grain.
To you beer smith guys and people that don't hate apple products lol. Check out the ibrewmaster app after watching the tutorial on the beersmith site it looks to do the same stuff but easier and cleaner. It's 14.99 for iPad and either 10 or 7 for iPhone. Don't know what beersmith charges but it's worth checking out I've only used to twice so for but I really like it.
