Do you prefer brewing existing recipes or building your own?

[tgmartin000]

Best way to vet a new recipe?

See what recipes on HBT have the longest comment threads! These tend to be killer beers. Deception Stout, Cottage House saison, and a couple more. Yoopers Oatmeal Stout is my next test of this theory.

Although there was one loser in the bunch....

 

[Trail]

Best way to vet a new recipe?

See what recipes on HBT have the longest comment threads! These tend to be killer beers. Deception Stout, Cottage House saison, and a couple more. Yoopers Oatmeal Stout is my next test of this theory.

Although there was one loser in the bunch....

Omigawd, dish, giiiirl.

 

[dpatrickv]

99% recipes of my own creation.

I feel that if I am going to brew beer, I am going to do it my way with my own recipes. There is nothing wrong with brewing clones or others recipes, but it is much more satisfying to me when I open one of my own unique creations or get positive feedback from others.

Just how I am.

 

[DromJohn]

Tough to answer.
Mostly AHS clones and AHS kits (not clones) but I've done one substantial tweak of DfH 60-minute (60-minute Tamarindia Ale) and my own version of a clone is damned good and close yet not like others' attempts to clone Innis & Gunn Original. I've scheduled more tweakings in the future, and two brews from now I've planned a recipe off most charts.

 

[Trail]

Almost everything I've done lately has been my own recipe. A borderline case would be my honey saison, which started out as a couple tweaks to the Cottage Saison from these forums and ended up pretty different. Usually I try to establish grist percentages for a style and then work from there.

 

[Calichusetts]

I started all grain with a few kits...maybe 5-7. Then I spent the next 30 brews on Smashs to learn what malts and hops tasted like. Then I added 10% crystal, then munich, then vienna to learn about formulating a recipe. It was annoying but my first actual recipe is still one of my best.

I always research a brew beforehand (BLAM, recipes here or Radical Brewing) but take it in my own direction. I never clone or completely copy. I even went back and forth with Southern Tier about doing a Harvest clone and got nearly everything I needed. Ended up making a double amber instead of an ESB but with a similar hop profile.

Also, take good tasting notes. Some people brew a recipe, hate it, and throw out the recipe. Think "what did you hate?" or "What was missing?" Everytime I venture into a new style I am very careful to document it.

 

[AnOldUR]

Can't answer. Trick question. I don't think that anyone actually brews recipes that are exclusively their own. We all build on what's come before us. That said, don't think I've ever brewed a recipe line for line from an existing recipe. May be a sickness, but I can't help but to F with it. Even when I'm rebrewing one of my own beers.

 

[beersk]

I don't mainly my own recipes unless it's something I've never brewed before. I like knowing that it's a beer I created from the bottom up (except for the malting, obviously). I usually do the same thing when cooking, I'll take a well known recipe and use that as a base and change it to fit my tastes. Cooking and brewing are similar in that aspect for me, but I guess in cooking, I usually do the recipe exactly as it is written the first time, then change it after that.

 

[JLem]

Can't answer. Trick question. I don't think that anyone actually brews recipes that are exclusively their own. We all build on what's come before us. That said, don't think I've ever brewed a recipe line for line from an existing recipe. May be a sickness, but I can't help but to F with it. Even when I'm rebrewing one of my own beers.

This is me too. "Wow, this beer I just brewed came out fantastic!! Next time I brew it I should change the recipe!" Definitely an illness.

 

[Homercidal]

I usually get hints from others' recipes at least, or I might start with a recipe from somewhere and have to substitute something for what I have on hand.

 

[Trail]

don't think I've ever brewed a recipe line for line from an existing recipe. May be a sickness, but I can't help but to F with it. Even when I'm rebrewing one of my own beers.

This is me too. "Wow, this beer I just brewed came out fantastic!! Next time I brew it I should change the recipe!" Definitely an illness.

Yep. What trips me up is when I change multiple things at once... my most recent batch of bitter uses different yeast, has a little bit of caramel malt, and biscuit instead of victory. Some aspects are better, some are worse. And it might still just need more time to mature.

This hobby will keep me busy for the rest of time.

 

[Gremlyn]

Yep. What trips me up is when I change multiple things at once... my most recent batch of bitter uses different yeast, has a little bit of caramel malt, and biscuit instead of victory. Some aspects are better, some are worse. And it might still just need more time to mature.

This hobby will keep me busy for the rest of time.

When experimenting, always change one variable at a time

 

[KettleCorn]

We have been brewing for almost 2 years now and we tend to take a collection of recipes in a style and compare them to one another as a starting point... and then tweak it to be our own... Same with most cooking recipes too.. Its just the way I roll

 

[Ivypunx]

Even when I copy a existing recipe I will usually change it a little to taylor it to my own taste.