How to design a beer (extract)? And, a recipe.

[foxual]

I have brewed a few extract kits from Midwest and am interested in trying to design my own extract beer. I am now, however, lost in the sea of specialty grains, flavorings, additives, and hops. Is there a good book or resource to help decode specialty grain types and the characteristics they impart to the beer? The same for hop types and what they impart? I have Papazian's book and I need to go back through it, but is there a good additional resource, maybe an online one? (I am not averse to buying a book, as they are usually the better option)

ALSO

I have been trying to look at other beers of the styles I'm interested, but I just don't know what grains or hops to use. Here is what I've been tinkering with, it's a basic American wheat beer... any suggestions?

6.0# Wheat LME
1.0# CaraPils (steeped)
1.0oz Mt. Hood 6.5% 60 min
0.5oz Cascade 5.5% 15 min
0.5oz Sweet Orange Peel 15 min
0.5oz Cascade 5.5% 1 min
Wyeast 1010 American Wheat

1.048 OG
3° SRM
23.3 IBU
4.8% ABV
(Beer Calculus)

Would this be anything decent? I suppose I'll never know until I try...

 

[Yooper]

I can think of two great books that can help. One is "Brewing Classic Styles" by John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff. That's probably the best one for extract brewers. The second is "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. Much deeper and more involved, but still a good resource.

I'm not a wheat beer person (only made one!) and don't like fruit beers, so I'm no help to you with that recipe. I'm sure there are some wheat beer gurus who will be along shortly to give you some advice on your recipe.

 

[KYB]

I just look up the style guidelines (even if brewing out of style), other recipes of that style, and then BYO charts, and come up with my own. So far so good.

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Resource Guide

 

[barracudamagoo]

The second is "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. Much deeper and more involved, but still a good resource.

Understatment of the year. I second Ray Daniels book as well. Papazian's book is great, and got me off to a great start; however, Daniels takes it up a notch (or 2, or 3). It has opened up my eyes to a whole new level of brewing. I am in the process of trying to design my own beer right now, and that book is what started/spawned it.

 

[robsauce]

How to Brew - By John Palmer

 

[eschatz]

Designing Great Beers got me away from kits. It's pretty straight forward and extremely helpful in telling you what ingredients in what portions typically make up good beers in their respective styles. Can't say enough for how this book changed my brewing.

 

[weirdboy]

I agree with Designing Great Beers. It's a fantastic resource for making your own recipes.

I haven't read Brewing Classic Styles, but have heard from several people that it's a good book as well.

 

[ChshreCat]

What I did was this...

Rather than try to start out learning all the grains and all the hops and what they all do, I focused on one type of beer I wanted to make my first recipe for. So, I decided on a brown ale.

From there, I started looking at brown ale recipes and seeing what they had in common, what was different between them, that sort of thing. Basically seeing what was really needed in there to make it a brown ale and what was in there to make it interesting and unique from other brown ales.

Then I could research those specific grains and hops and see what they do and why they were in the recipes. Maybe a grain was in there just for color, maybe more for flavor or for body and mouthfeel. From there I was able to come up with my own recipes using those as a guide.

Then I moved on to another style and studied it the same way.

 

[Burro2882]

One is "Brewing Classic Styles" by John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff.

Great book. Just picked it up last week, and have read the thing cover to cover. lots of good recipes for just about every style out there and lots of helpfull advise.