Ingredients to Make Beer

[JTOVERMOHLE]

Hey all.....is there anywhere out there where I can punch in what grains, malts, hops and yeast I have on hand and it will kick out a recipe for me?? I would like to create my own recipe, but don't want to overpower with too much of a certain grain that I have on hand....i know there are websites out there where you can put in what liquor you have in your cabinet and it will tell you what you can make with what you have...looking for something similar for making beer. Anyone know if something like this exists?

Thanks

Josh in MN

 

[RM-MN]

There probably isn't such a site as with making beer there are too many possible combinations that would still make good beer. Perhaps posting what you have will get you some ideas from brewers who have used similar mixes of grains.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

You could plug it in to the Brewer's Friend recipe builder and manually play around with the amounts. BF will tell you what styles your beer will fit in to (based solely on the stats). That will at least let you know what your options are, and then you'll have to think about each ingredient and what it's bringing to the party. Research the styles given to see what the traditional ingredients are, and tweak your recipe to that.

I'd also recommend getting copies of Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels and Brewing Classic Styles by John Palmer & Jamil Zainasheff. I've been brewing less than a year, but those two books have been invaluable for aiding my understanding of beer styles and recipe creation.

 

[bobeer]

Yup, only way is to pick a style and enter what you have into a recipe calculator and see how close it says you are. Basically you need a base malt (two row, pilsner, MO, etc..) some specialty grains, and yeast. Hops can be pretty easy as a lot of styles just go for ibu. You're really constrained by the the grain and yeast.
What you are doing is pretty much the only way I brew. Haha. I usually just plan out the seasonal beers I want then order a bunch of random grains and yeast and figure it all out based on what I have already and what I just ordered.

 

[JTOVERMOHLE]

Thanks for all the responses. I will try the BF site and see. I have seen people tell others to taste the dry grains to try and taste the profile. I am only 4 one gallon brews into this and so far i am loving it. But feel the want to create my own brew based off my prior kits.

Thanks again

 

[bobeer]

Thanks for all the responses. I will try the BF site and see. I have seen people tell others to taste the dry grains to try and taste the profile. I am only 4 one gallon brews into this and so far i am loving it. But feel the want to create my own brew based off my prior kits.

Thanks again

Thats all you really need to do. Look at the different styles and see what grain, yeast and hops make that style then go from there. Ive made oktoberfests and other widely known styles that have no traditional ingredients by just hitting all the style guidelines. You're right, its fun. Enjoy!

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Style? Recipe? I don't really go by either one any more. Whatever I got, I make beer from. Last brew day I mashed 15lb pale and 2lb chocolate, in 7.5gal and boiled with an ounce of hops and 5lb LME. The Hothead yeast I had was kinda old but I pitched half, anyway, along with a pack of Voss Kviek from LHBS. I am sure it will come out great. Meanwhile the once-used grain I sparged with 5.5 gallons and boiled with 13lb or 14lb, I don't remember, of LME and the same hops and yeast. So two 5 gallon batches, no recipe. literally room temp fermenting. It ought to come out kinda like a dry-ish stout. But I don't care about labels as long as it tastes good and gets me good and drunk. My next batch is basically everything I got left in the house, which is 10lb pale and 5lb Porter LME, and I will pitch the leavings from these two batches instead of new yeast. Recipe? Who needs one? Brew what you got. Only critical thing IMHO is a yeast that tolerates the target ABV and the fermenting temp. You can even do without hops, or use substitutes. Who cares?

You can make a basic ale with only pale 2-row or a pale ale LME or DME, either/or/and. Only got 5lb? Brew it. Got 20lb and you want a big beer? Brew that. Buy hops by the pound, separate into half oz baggies, one to three per 5gal batch. Go with a Kviek type yeast so you don't have to refrigerate during ferment. Save your yeast, use it again.

You can make rocket science out of it and maybe make a fantastic beer. You can exactly duplicate an established recipe and get same ol, same ol, identical to the original. You can keep it simple or just go with what you got, and if you use good technique you will almost certainly have a pretty darn good beer. Brew. Drink. Buy cheap stuff. Save money, get drunk. Share and impress. Life is good. Why ruin it with a recipe machine? Live a little. Be free.

 

[Snuffy]

Style? Recipe? I don't really go by either one any more. Whatever I got, I make beer from. Last brew day I mashed 15lb pale and 2lb chocolate, in 7.5gal and boiled with an ounce of hops and 5lb LME. The Hothead yeast I had was kinda old but I pitched half, anyway, along with a pack of Voss Kviek from LHBS. I am sure it will come out great. Meanwhile the once-used grain I sparged with 5.5 gallons and boiled with 13lb or 14lb, I don't remember, of LME and the same hops and yeast. So two 5 gallon batches, no recipe. literally room temp fermenting. It ought to come out kinda like a dry-ish stout. But I don't care about labels as long as it tastes good and gets me good and drunk. My next batch is basically everything I got left in the house, which is 10lb pale and 5lb Porter LME, and I will pitch the leavings from these two batches instead of new yeast. Recipe? Who needs one? Brew what you got. Only critical thing IMHO is a yeast that tolerates the target ABV and the fermenting temp. You can even do without hops, or use substitutes. Who cares?

You can make a basic ale with only pale 2-row or a pale ale LME or DME, either/or/and. Only got 5lb? Brew it. Got 20lb and you want a big beer? Brew that. Buy hops by the pound, separate into half oz baggies, one to three per 5gal batch. Go with a Kviek type yeast so you don't have to refrigerate during ferment. Save your yeast, use it again.

You can make rocket science out of it and maybe make a fantastic beer. You can exactly duplicate an established recipe and get same ol, same ol, identical to the original. You can keep it simple or just go with what you got, and if you use good technique you will almost certainly have a pretty darn good beer. Brew. Drink. Buy cheap stuff. Save money, get drunk. Share and impress. Life is good. Why ruin it with a recipe machine? Live a little. Be free.

That, sir, Is the coolest thing I’ve read all week. You gotta be ready to drink what you get, but you figure it’s gonna be good regardless. Screw the style. Name it yourself!

 

[Sammy86]

Style? Recipe? I don't really go by either one any more. Whatever I got, I make beer from. Last brew day I mashed 15lb pale and 2lb chocolate, in 7.5gal and boiled with an ounce of hops and 5lb LME. The Hothead yeast I had was kinda old but I pitched half, anyway, along with a pack of Voss Kviek from LHBS. I am sure it will come out great. Meanwhile the once-used grain I sparged with 5.5 gallons and boiled with 13lb or 14lb, I don't remember, of LME and the same hops and yeast. So two 5 gallon batches, no recipe. literally room temp fermenting. It ought to come out kinda like a dry-ish stout. But I don't care about labels as long as it tastes good and gets me good and drunk. My next batch is basically everything I got left in the house, which is 10lb pale and 5lb Porter LME, and I will pitch the leavings from these two batches instead of new yeast. Recipe? Who needs one? Brew what you got. Only critical thing IMHO is a yeast that tolerates the target ABV and the fermenting temp. You can even do without hops, or use substitutes. Who cares?

You can make a basic ale with only pale 2-row or a pale ale LME or DME, either/or/and. Only got 5lb? Brew it. Got 20lb and you want a big beer? Brew that. Buy hops by the pound, separate into half oz baggies, one to three per 5gal batch. Go with a Kviek type yeast so you don't have to refrigerate during ferment. Save your yeast, use it again.

You can make rocket science out of it and maybe make a fantastic beer. You can exactly duplicate an established recipe and get same ol, same ol, identical to the original. You can keep it simple or just go with what you got, and if you use good technique you will almost certainly have a pretty darn good beer. Brew. Drink. Buy cheap stuff. Save money, get drunk. Share and impress. Life is good. Why ruin it with a recipe machine? Live a little. Be free.

Sounds like you and @bracconiere should get together and start a brewery

 

[bracconiere]

Sounds like you and @bracconiere should get together and start a brewery

LOL & @GrowleyMonster I like your "non-style"! (just a tip though, i probably would have thrown a lb of that pale in the oven night before brew day at something like 220f-250f over night, just to smooth out the transitional flavor from pale->chocolate)

 

[bobeer]

You can make rocket science out of it and maybe make a fantastic beer. You can exactly duplicate an established recipe and get same ol, same ol, identical to the original. You can keep it simple or just go with what you got, and if you use good technique you will almost certainly have a pretty darn good beer. Brew. Drink. Buy cheap stuff. Save money, get drunk. Share and impress. Life is good. Why ruin it with a recipe machine? Live a little. Be free.

Well said! This is pretty much what I tell to new brewers... You can make it as easy or as complicated, or as cheap or expensive as you want to. The point is to make good beer, share it with others and enjoy it. Cheers to that!

 

[JTOVERMOHLE]

Well hell guys..i came back in here to post the grains, dme, hops and yeast i have on hand. Screw it now...im just gonna throw some of the malts together (and write down amounts obvi) and see what happens. I brew in one gallon batches for now...is there a basic guideline for a total weight of malts to steep or just whatever fits into my boil 'sock'? In 6 to 8 weeks when it is done, ill post back if it was successful or not. Appreciate the push!

 

[GrowleyMonster]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator will help you predict the final IBU, ABV, etc for a given mash bill. But in general, a one gallon batch will call for approximately 2lb grain or the equivelant in extract, for something between 5% and 6% ABV I reckon. To make something closer to a big brand brewski, maybe a pound and a half. One pound would be pretty weak sister stuff, hardly fit to drink. For a heartier brew, go up to 3lb. This, for a standard 2 row pale malt. There won't be all that much difference in the alcohol level, from one ordinary 2 row to the next. Not enough to really matter, anyway. Try different types in the calculator and you will see. You can substitute unmalted grains for a portion of the malt. Try about 25% to start with. Oats is popular, as is wheat or rye or corn.

The type and color of the grains will affect the flavor and color of the beer a lot. Should be obvious. But good beer is good beer, if it is high yellow or nearly black. Hops will make a difference. For a gallon, a quarter ounce of most hops, boiled in the wort for 30 to 60 minutes, will be plenty unless you are going for an IPA style. The IBU in the calculator is a bitterness index. After your first batch using the calculator, the IBU will be a good point of reference for future hopping. You will soon figure out if 10 to 20 IBU is a good range for you, or if you prefer more like 50 or 60 IBU. Or more. If you aren't that particular, just get a pound of a popular hops, cheap, split it into 1/4oz baggies, store in freezer, and use one bag in every one gallon batch.

Honestly, I find a 5gal batch a lot easier than 5 one gallon batches. However, I keg, and almost never bottle. So YMMV.

This, for just sort of a starting point into nonspecific brewing. When you see a sweet deal of some reasonable quality fermentables, get it. Then figure out how much you want to grind for your batch. Almost the same with hops. Yeast can be somewhat critical, and if you don't have a cold place to ferment, you will want a fairly temperature tolerant yeast, especially in the summer. Any of the kviek style yeasts work great at room temperature or even up into the 90f area. The ordinary classic ale yeasts are good into the low 70's.

 

[BQ&W]

Style? Recipe? I don't really go by either one any more. Whatever I got, I make beer from. Last brew day I mashed 15lb pale and 2lb chocolate, in 7.5gal and boiled with an ounce of hops and 5lb LME. The Hothead yeast I had was kinda old but I pitched half, anyway, along with a pack of Voss Kviek from LHBS. I am sure it will come out great. Meanwhile the once-used grain I sparged with 5.5 gallons and boiled with 13lb or 14lb, I don't remember, of LME and the same hops and yeast. So two 5 gallon batches, no recipe. literally room temp fermenting. It ought to come out kinda like a dry-ish stout. But I don't care about labels as long as it tastes good and gets me good and drunk. My next batch is basically everything I got left in the house, which is 10lb pale and 5lb Porter LME, and I will pitch the leavings from these two batches instead of new yeast. Recipe? Who needs one? Brew what you got. Only critical thing IMHO is a yeast that tolerates the target ABV and the fermenting temp. You can even do without hops, or use substitutes. Who cares?

You can make a basic ale with only pale 2-row or a pale ale LME or DME, either/or/and. Only got 5lb? Brew it. Got 20lb and you want a big beer? Brew that. Buy hops by the pound, separate into half oz baggies, one to three per 5gal batch. Go with a Kviek type yeast so you don't have to refrigerate during ferment. Save your yeast, use it again.

You can make rocket science out of it and maybe make a fantastic beer. You can exactly duplicate an established recipe and get same ol, same ol, identical to the original. You can keep it simple or just go with what you got, and if you use good technique you will almost certainly have a pretty darn good beer. Brew. Drink. Buy cheap stuff. Save money, get drunk. Share and impress. Life is good. Why ruin it with a recipe machine? Live a little. Be free.

As someone once said/wrote: "RDWHAHB"!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I would like to create my own recipe, but don't want to overpower with too much of a certain grain that I have on hand

Along with Designing Great Beers and Brewing Classic Styles, there are a number of "recipe strategy" diagrams in Mastering Homebrew. The diagram for red/brown beers (link to diagram) can be found at the book's web site page (link). Product information for brands of malt will often contain flavor wheels and/or suggested usage levels. If you are looking for an update to some of the style data in Designing Great Beers, check here (link).

Somewhere between recipe software and @GrowleyMonster 's ideas (#13), there are "back of the envelope" calculations for estimating OG/ABV, bitterness, mash pH, and brewing salts flavoring additions. IIRC, How to Brew, 4e hints at some of them. Designing Great Beers and The Brewers Companion (Mosher), which predate the wide-spread use of recipe software, could be additional sources.

 

[madscientist451]

I am only 4 one gallon brews into this and so far i am loving it. But feel the want to create my own brew based off my prior kits.

Thanks again

I can relate to the idea of wanting to do your own thing, I tried it early on myself and sometimes had ok beer, sometimes not. But when I follow a well regarded or established recipe, I find I can make really good beer. Someone else has already gone through all the trial and error.
So my 2 cents: choose a style you like, pick a recipe that has good reviews and then tweak it to suit your taste or to experiment with different ingredients.

 

[JTOVERMOHLE]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator will help you predict the final IBU, ABV, etc for a given mash bill. But in general, a one gallon batch will call for approximately 2lb grain or the equivelant in extract, for something between 5% and 6% ABV I reckon. To make something closer to a big brand brewski, maybe a pound and a half. One pound would be pretty weak sister stuff, hardly fit to drink. For a heartier brew, go up to 3lb. This, for a standard 2 row pale malt. There won't be all that much difference in the alcohol level, from one ordinary 2 row to the next. Not enough to really matter, anyway. Try different types in the calculator and you will see. You can substitute unmalted grains for a portion of the malt. Try about 25% to start with. Oats is popular, as is wheat or rye or corn.

The type and color of the grains will affect the flavor and color of the beer a lot. Should be obvious. But good beer is good beer, if it is high yellow or nearly black. Hops will make a difference. For a gallon, a quarter ounce of most hops, boiled in the wort for 30 to 60 minutes, will be plenty unless you are going for an IPA style. The IBU in the calculator is a bitterness index. After your first batch using the calculator, the IBU will be a good point of reference for future hopping. You will soon figure out if 10 to 20 IBU is a good range for you, or if you prefer more like 50 or 60 IBU. Or more. If you aren't that particular, just get a pound of a popular hops, cheap, split it into 1/4oz baggies, store in freezer, and use one bag in every one gallon batch.

Honestly, I find a 5gal batch a lot easier than 5 one gallon batches. However, I keg, and almost never bottle. So YMMV.

This, for just sort of a starting point into nonspecific brewing. When you see a sweet deal of some reasonable quality fermentables, get it. Then figure out how much you want to grind for your batch. Almost the same with hops. Yeast can be somewhat critical, and if you don't have a cold place to ferment, you will want a fairly temperature tolerant yeast, especially in the summer. Any of the kviek style yeasts work great at room temperature or even up into the 90f area. The ordinary classic ale yeasts are good into the low 70's.

I have 1.5# breiss pilsen light DME. I'll throw together a combo of: weyermann abbey malt, breiss caramel 20L, weyermann vienna malt, breiss pilsen malt and flaked maize in my boil bag for flavor depth and color. I'll have to see what my wife has planned for the weekend...hopefully i will have 3 or 4 free hours to put together something. Last weekend I bottled a pumpkin ale kit and an Oktoberfest (with abbey malt addition) kit. Testing in a couple weeks...now have 2 empty carboys waiting to be filled.

 

[JTOVERMOHLE]

I have 1.5# breiss pilsen light DME. I'll throw together a combo of: weyermann abbey malt, breiss caramel 20L, weyermann vienna malt, breiss pilsen malt and flaked maize in my boil bag for flavor depth and color. I'll have to see what my wife has planned for the weekend...hopefully i will have 3 or 4 free hours to put together something. Last weekend I bottled a pumpkin ale kit and an Oktoberfest (with abbey malt addition) kit. Testing in a couple weeks...now have 2 empty carboys waiting to be filled.

And i have crystal hops and safale05 in on hand

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'll throw together a combo of: weyermann abbey malt, breiss caramel 20L, weyermann vienna malt, breiss pilsen malt and flaked maize in my boil bag for flavor depth and color.

Be sure to take a swag at the diastatic power needed for the mash and you should be "good to go".

 

[JTOVERMOHLE]

Be sure to take a swag at the diastatic power needed for the mash and you should be "good to go".

Being new to this, what you wrote reads in chinese to me! #confused.....side note, is thhere a link to a thread with brewing terms and/or slang terms anywhere. I'd be a much better member if i understood better

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Swag: You'll want roughly a pound of base malt (e.g. pilsen) for every pound of character malts / adjuncts (caramel, flaked). Vienna malts tend to have enough diastatic power to self-convert (but it doesn't don' have enzymes to share). Not sure about Weyermann Abbey malt.

BeerSmith blog: Diastatic Power and Mashing your Beer (link)

Craft Beer and Brewing dictionary (link)

 

[JTOVERMOHLE]

Swag: You'll want roughly a pound of base malt (e.g. pilsen) for every pound of character malts / adjuncts (caramel, flaked). Vienna malts tend to have enough diastatic power to self-convert (but it doesn't don' have enzymes to share). Not sure about Weyermann Abbey malt.

BeerSmith blog: Diastatic Power and Mashing your Beer (link)

Craft Beer and Brewing dictionary (link)

Thank You!!!

 

[slurms]

SWAG: scientific wild-ass guess

I think the only time I followed an actual recipe was with my first two kits. Since then I thought it was more fun to just make up my own. Brewers friend is good for putting ingredients together to show stats of your beer. One gallon is great for experimenting like this.

Most tasted fine at first, except after a few weeks in the bottle, a weird taste came about. Probably from chlorine in water (didn't treat for it, I know, I know...) Or oxidation (unlikely though, hopefully).

If you're just tossing stuff together, you're probably not going for any style (just a rando ale), so just figure out how bitter you want/need based on your OG and hop to whatever BU:GU will balance it out.