How do you do ingredient substitutions?

[mtnagel]

So I see a recipe I like on Northern Brewer, but it's cheaper for me to buy my ingredients locally because I don't have to pay for shipping and I get 10% off at my LHBS for being a member of a local homebrew club. But sometimes they don't the exact same thing, but something that sounds very close. How do I know if I can substitute without changing the recipe?

For example, the NB recipe calls for English Maris Otter, which they say is 3.5-4.5° L whereas my LHBS store sells Munton's Maris Otter, which is 2.1° L. Would using the Munton's change the recipe? If the beer style matters, this is in a porter.

Similar for the chocolate malt. The recipe calls for English chocolate malt, but my LHBS doesn't have the English version (at least they don't call it that), but they have the Muntons. The color is a smidge lower for my LHBS at 338 vs 375-450 for NB.

So how do I know if I can make these and other substitutions?

 

[aiptasia]

FYI, Muntons is an English maltster. With Lovibonds that close, you're really splitting hairs on the color. Just sub out your ingredients for the Munton's versions at your LHBS and you should be fine. You can use beersmith to adjust your batch to match a color if it seems too far off to you, and it will perform the calculations for adding or subtracting from your grain bill to match the desired lovibond.

But, as I see it, you're splitting hairs.

 

[Yooper]

You can generally make substitutions without too much impact.

I wouldn't use Northern Brewer's recipes, and then buy locally though. That just doesn't seem right. If you don't want to shop at Northern Brewer, that's fine. But then get the recipes from where you DO shop. I know many good homebrew stores have notebooks full of their house recipes, and I would do that. That only seems fair.

 

[GrogNerd]

Munton's is an English maltster, so you're good for that part

both your MO and your chocolate malt are lighter in color, so that's the only thing you have to worry about

you'll get a lighter dark brown porter

 

[mtnagel]

Thanks all. I figured I was worrying for no reason, but good to confirm.

You can generally make substitutions without too much impact.

I wouldn't use Northern Brewer's recipes, and then buy locally though. That just doesn't seem right. If you don't want to shop at Northern Brewer, that's fine. But then get the recipes from where you DO shop. I know many good homebrew stores have notebooks full of their house recipes, and I would do that. That only seems fair.

I get what you're saying, but I saw someone here recommend their recipe so it seemed like a good starting point. They also publish their recipes on their site, so I don't think they really care that much. That would be like finding a recipe on Kraft's site and then not being able to use the generic grocery store ingredients in a recipe.

If they weren't so expensive on shipping, I'd probably use them more often, but this recipe would be ~$40 shipped from NB and only ~$23 from my LHBS.

 

[forstmeister]

You can generally make substitutions without too much impact.

I wouldn't use Northern Brewer's recipes, and then buy locally though. That just doesn't seem right. If you don't want to shop at Northern Brewer, that's fine. But then get the recipes from where you DO shop. I know many good homebrew stores have notebooks full of their house recipes, and I would do that. That only seems fair.

NB purposefully publishes their recipes so you can use them. They even have some posted on their site that they don't even sell as kits anymore in case you want to brew it.

 

[sicklesr]

I'm just happy you're supporting main street. It's much easier to order online if you ask me, but I still try and support the LHBS. IMO, if you're buying ingredients there, you can use whatever recipe you like! However, I've recieved a lot of great feedback by just talking over a recipe with the employees in there.


This was a shoutout for Homebrew Emporium in Rensselaer NY. If any captial region NYer's haven't been there, I strongly suggest it!

**EDIT**
Forgot to anwser your question. As said above, you're really close on the numbers. Any small process fluctuation (temprature, time, vessel) will probably have more of an impact than the ingredient differences. As long as you keep good notes, you should be able to learn from each recipe!