Inventing Ale Recipes

[tronnyjenkins]

OK, so say after I am a little more experienced I want to try inventing some recipes. Would I just use a beer calculator to find out how much sugars to use? My point is, could I just throw ten pounds of extract, some hops, and some yeast together and end up with beer, or is it a lot more scientific?

 

[DKershner]

OK, so say after I am a little more experienced I want to try inventing some recipes. Would I just use a beer calculator to find out how much sugars to use? My point is, could I just throw ten pounds of extract, some hops, and some yeast together and end up with beer, or is it a lot more scientific?

You can do exactly what you said, and as long as the yeast are of the correct type and pitched correctly, you will have beer.

What will it taste like? Well, tell us what you are throwing in and we can probably tell you.

 

[tronnyjenkins]

Interesting.
I was reading a thread where a member was talking about brewing 2.5 gal batches of SMaSH beer so he could get to know how the ingredients tasted, and that doesn't sound like a bad idea to me...
Of course, it would probably be more fun when I was to the point of brewing All-Grain as opposed to just partial/extract.

 

[McGarnigle]

Looking at existing recipes will help give you an idea of what might go together. I'd suggest not trying to re-invent the wheel. With extract, you can still play with specialty grains.

Use a recipe calculator to check your OG and IBUs. There are free ones online that will suffice for now.

 

[Homercidal]

You could try Beersmith, or one of the other programs to find out what your recipe will look like compared to the standards. Or you could read a brewing book and do the math yourself.

For a basic ale recipe, you could also just throw 10 lbs of malt in and go for it. You will come up with beer. However, you ought to have a good idea of the relative amounts of malts and hops in order to prevent having to toss 5 gallons of undrinkable beer. (more likely you will have to add hop tea, or let it age instead of throwing away, but you get the idea).

I'm inclined to suggest the reading of the formulas for making beer, and then using a program. Beersmith is pretty easy to figure out, and a great tool for tweaking recipes to a basic style.

 

[Glasfeena]

Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels is great. The first part, he talks about the different aspects for designing beers (grain bill, color, bitterness, yeast, water, etc) and the mathematical formulas for coming up with recipes. The second part he goes into details about many different styles, noting grain composition and hops usage, as well as a history of each.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381500/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The book is fantastic and really got me thinking about what grains to put in my beers.

 

[DeathBrewer]

ProMash, BeerSmith, BeerTools, The Recipator...or just post on HBT and ask for advice.

 

[tronnyjenkins]

DeathBrewer, I was just glancing at your stovetop AG method, looks pretty easy.
If I wanted to give a small batch, say even a 1 gallon AG batch a shot would it matter if I only have 5 gallon fermentors? I don't know how important the headspace is in that case.

 

[homebrewer_99]

If you look at enough recipes you find they have a lot in common.

Keep this formula handy: 1 lb of grain = .75 lb of LME = .6 lb of DME.

I have a mush more detailed chart if you like. Email me at [email protected] for a copy. Anyone can ask for it so don't be shy.

More or less a simple recipe is:

10 lbs of grain (or 6.6 lbs of LME (2 cans) or 6 lbs of DME)
(variations abound...) in 5 - 5.5 gals of water
1 oz of hops (4-6%AAs)
add yeast and you've got beer.

 

[DeathBrewer]

DeathBrewer, I was just glancing at your stovetop AG method, looks pretty easy.
If I wanted to give a small batch, say even a 1 gallon AG batch a shot would it matter if I only have 5 gallon fermentors? I don't know how important the headspace is in that case.

Sure, a gallon will work fine. Headspace is only a problem if you leave it in there a long time (like weeks or even months after it's done fermenting)...it will still push of co2 long enough to be fine.

1 gallon batch seems wasteful, tho. Go at least 2-3!

 

[bob1852]

If you look at enough recipes you find they have a lot in common.

Keep this formula handy: 1 lb of grain = .75 lb of LME = .6 lb of DME.

Bill, that implies 75% efficiency, correct?

 

[tronnyjenkins]

judging from this article, i would say that is what he is getting at...
http://www.brew-dudes.com/all-grain-to-extract-conversion/78