Design Approach

[Lost Brews]

I am just getting into designing my own recipes. I feel the way i am approaching my designs is with way to much guess and check. How do you approach designing your .

 

[cheezydemon]

I experiment wildly and then when I hit on something truely special, I tweak it if needeed.

 

[zoebisch01]

The way I view it is, once you have technique down and have a good feel for what works together historically then you can begin venturing in 'new' directions. A good test of this is to try to brew 'in style' based on the 'accepted' guidelines for a style. When that can be accomplished it is a fairly good indicator of technique (among other things). Then whatever you dream can be attempted. I say attempted because it will usually be a tweaking process, sometimes an unprecedented rework of a recipe. At least this has been the path I have followed. I experiment and don't even allow style to cross my mind. That is not my goal. My goal is to be able to brew what I dream up. Like I have said before, there is nothing wrong with brewing 'in style' as I do this regularly, but I believe that 'style' shouldn't prevent anyone from expressing their own creativity as a brewer.

 

[Lost Brews]

I agree that you don't have to brew to style. but i am starting to do competitions and would like to brew nice well balanced beer to style. The problem is even though i have read designing great beer and Radical Brewing. I still don't understand what the grains bring to the table with out randomly toughing stuff to together which i really don't want to do. The last beer I brewed, I looked at the style guidelines and then wrote out what i wanted from those characteristics and then using what little i know about the different grains I designed my recipe. I just wish i had a better understanding of how much of a speciality grain was needed to impart a particular aroma/color/flavor to the brew.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Get the book Designing Great Beers; it is a must have resource when developing your own recipes.

My typical approach is to read the relevant section in that book, then check the recipe database for inspiration. Once I have something I think looks good I make it and begin the process of tweaking it over the course of several brews until it is just how I want it.

 

[Evan!]

My process typically goes a little something like this:

1. Check BJCP guidelines for my style, just so I know what I'm shooting for, generally speaking.
2. Check 'Designing Great Beers' to see if Daniels has any info on that style---many times he does not, especially when it comes to anything Belgian.
3. Check CJOH and the BYO Clones article for guidance. I never copy a recipe directly, but I do use them to get a general idea of some good grains and hops to use, and in what proportions.
4. Plug everything into ProMash, adjust it based on what I have in inventory, and tweak the recipe to fit the BJCP guidelines.
5. Post the recipe to HBT and ask for critiques.
6. Adjust recipe based on HBT comments.
7. Print, Brew.

 

[Evan!]

Get the book Designing Great Beers; it is a must have resource when developing your own recipes.

My typical approach is to read the relevant section in that book, then check the recipe database for inspiration. Once I have something I think looks good I make it and begin the process of tweaking it over the course of several brews until it is just how I want it.

Yeah, I wish he would do a second book with the styles that he neglected in DGB...

 

[Lost Brews]

My process typically goes a little something like this:

1. Check BJCP guidelines for my style, just so I know what I'm shooting for, generally speaking.
2. Check 'Designing Great Beers' to see if Daniels has any info on that style---many times he does not, especially when it comes to anything Belgian.
3. Check CJOH and the BYO Clones article for guidance. I never copy a recipe directly, but I do use them to get a general idea of some good grains and hops to use, and in what proportions.
4. Plug everything into ProMash, adjust it based on what I have in inventory, and tweak the recipe to fit the BJCP guidelines.
5. Post the recipe to HBT and ask for critiques.
6. Adjust recipe based on HBT comments.
7. Print, Brew.

What is CJOH?