Emailing Pro Breweries For Recipes?

[IPAman6815]

Hi everyone!

I recently started all grain brewing and I am itching to make my own recipes, clone recipes and anything in between. Recently, I was at my favorite local brewery and I thought about my favorite beer that they made. It was as far as I know a 1 time beer that they made about 2-4 years ago. I talked to my friend and he said to email them for the recipe. My questions are has anyone emailed a pro brewery for a recipe and what success/roadblocks did you encounter? Also, how did you go about asking? It seems rude to me to just ask since I don't have a relationship with anyone at the brewery I just give them a lot of money every year lol. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

People have done it with success and some have failed my suggestion is to be cordial what do you really have to lose at the end of the day

 

[myndflyte]

Just say that you're a homebrewer and really enjoy their beer and would like to try and make it yourself. Then ask if they can give you any advice on the grain bill and hop schedule.

If they at least give you grain percentages, what hops they used, and the IBUs from those additions you can probably get a good approximation of their recipe.

 

[MaxStout]

I've never emailed for a recipe, but I've been given a few by talking to a brewer in person. I think building a rapport with the brewer, talking about the craft (and being sure to buy a few pints) would be a better prerequisite to asking for something. Many brewers are "open source" with recipes and don't mind sharing. But don't be surprised if some others refuse and wish to keep it a trade secret.

 

[wepeeler]

Hi everyone!

I recently started all grain brewing and I am itching to make my own recipes, clone recipes and anything in between. Recently, I was at my favorite local brewery and I thought about my favorite beer that they made. It was as far as I know a 1 time beer that they made about 2-4 years ago. I talked to my friend and he said to email them for the recipe. My questions are has anyone emailed a pro brewery for a recipe and what success/roadblocks did you encounter? Also, how did you go about asking? It seems rude to me to just ask since I don't have a relationship with anyone at the brewery I just give them a lot of money every year lol. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I emailed Long Trail about a beer they made, discontinued and have since brought back into their rotation. It was my favorite winter beer, which I made sure to tell them, and sent a recipe asking if I was in the ball park. Not only did they reply that I was definitely in the right ball park, but they gave me suggestions as well. I would say, as long as you're nice, and make a fair effort to come up with a recipe, they'd be willing to give their 2 cents. Obviously don't ask outright for their recipe, but I think a good way to approach it would be to ask for suggestions. Good luck!

 

[Iseneye]

I like wepeeler's advice above. If I was a professional brewer I'd be happy to say "yep that is close" or "perhaps more flame out hops".

 

[madscientist451]

Not only did they reply that I was definitely in the right ball park, but they gave me suggestions as well.

Haven't seen Long trail around here for a while. What beer was it? How id it come out? Feel like posting the recipe on here?

 

[Dog House Brew]

I emailed Long Trail about a beer they made, discontinued and have since brought back into their rotation. It was my favorite winter beer, which I made sure to tell them, and sent a recipe asking if I was in the ball park. Not only did they reply that I was definitely in the right ball park, but they gave me suggestions as well. I would say, as long as you're nice, and make a fair effort to come up with a recipe, they'd be willing to give their 2 cents. Obviously don't ask outright for their recipe, but I think a good way to approach it would be to ask for suggestions. Good luck!

Long Trail emailed me too about their Alt. Super cool people, one day I hope to make it there.

 

[Mothman]

Just say that you're a homebrewer and really enjoy their beer and would like to try and make it yourself. Then ask if they can give you any advice on the grain bill and hop schedule.

If they at least give you grain percentages, what hops they used, and the IBUs from those additions you can probably get a good approximation of their recipe.

This was my approach the one time I contact a brewer about one of their recipes and they were obliging.

As suggested, the brewer didn't lay out the detailed recipe, but it was close... he gave me all the info I needed... Basic grain bill, hops used, and timings detailed advice on adding mandarin zest and oil and amounts of the same. I already had the OG and ibu from info on their website.

The guy was super helpful and allowed me to go back and forth with a few emails with follow up questions.

My initial contact was a cold email to their general inquiry email address.

 

[Sadu]

I've done it a bunch of times. Just be polite and up front, and make it easy for them to help you.
By that I mean, do some research first. Read their website for clues on what brand of malt, what hop varieties, what IBUs etc. Then go in with specific questions to fill in the gaps, like what ferm temp or what yeast strain.
Most of the time they will point you in the right direction. Getting given a recipe almost never happens because they don't keep homebrew scaled recipes sitting around.
If they don't want to help, they will usually just ignore your email, I never hassle them if this happens.

 

[IPAman6815]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

 

[passedpawn]

I have emailed the lead brewer at Sierra Nevada several times. He's always responded with lots of info immediately. For some of these guys, the passion doesn't burn out and they are happy to share. Of course, list like all traits of human nature, some will be the other way. I'd say just go for it; fortune favors the bold.

 

[Vale71]

Keep in mind that even if you get a positive response their recipe probably won't work 100% with homebrewing-scale equipment and might need some adjusting, but it's certainly a good starting point.

 

[wepeeler]

Haven't seen Long trail around here for a while. What beer was it? How id it come out? Feel like posting the recipe on here?

LT are good people. It was the Hibernator. It's in the fermenter now. I should be kegging in a few weeks. I'll post the recipe if it's good

Long Trail emailed me too about their Alt. Super cool people, one day I hope to make it there.

That's the next beer I would love to clone from them. It's an excellent beer.

 

[GPP33]

I emailed a brewery once. Told them that I loved their Kolsch and asked if they could give me some pointers to help me make a recipe to brew my own. He responded with a detailed recipe scaled for 5 gal batches and pointed me in the right direction for yeast and ferm temp. I’ve heard of others saying “sorry, I hope you can understand why we can’t share that”. Overall the brewing industry is amazingly open but you still need to understand and respect that they probably went through dozzens of batches fine tuning the recipe and they don’t always want to just hand that over. Also don’t expect that if you get a recipe it’ll have everything, there’s probably a few tricks or key ingredients that they keep close to their chest.

 

[RPh_Guy]

No response to either of my emails asking for recipe help.

Maybe some day.

 

[bob1852]

I always lead with...

"I know water chemistry, equipment, and fermentation management matter a lot, but..."

And then go on about how I like the beer and if there's info on the website about malt, og/fig, ibu, yeast, etc., I'll list out what I think a recipe may be and then ask for input.

That's been far more productive than "I want to make your beer, what's the recipe?"

 

[estricklin]

I actually started a thread on this subject a number of years back. Since then, I have learned that many breweries will help you, especially if you get a chance to talk to a brewer in person.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/my-response-from-shiner-spoetzl-brewery.368319/

If you read through the thread.........I did end up messaging Diamond Bear, and they are quite a small brewery here in Arkansas, they wouldn't give me recipes either. Again, really not typical.

Bottom line, go for it, most will help you, worse they can say is no.

 

[WBB]

The other issue pro brewers might have is that if they give you the recipe, how do they know you won’t post it on the internet and blab? I’m not sure it’s really you if they know you’re not a pro brewer, but it’s the other pro brewers they are worried about.

But why copy? Forge your own recipes. Me? I’m still cloning and using recipes from internet, not going to lie. But I’m trying to get my process down right now. When I’m comfortable with my system and setup, I’ll be making my own way.

Experimentation, that’s half the fun! The other half, well drinking it of course!