Is There a Bad Recipe ?

[Beer Nuts]

After half a dozen kits I found hops for $5 a pound.
I bought 5 varieties and went rouge.

A fist full of this hop, half a hand full of that one a scoop of another for dry hopping.

Nine different batches and all good.

What am I doing right?

 

[devilssoninlaw]

Same here, brother! I'm still quite new and after about 10 kits, I feel like a brewmaster.

 

[Yooper]

If you're happy and love the beer, then you're doing it right.

 

[devilssoninlaw]

Can I get an Amen!!??

 

[powerpunk5000]

Can I get an Amen!!??

where did you find hops for $5 a lbs?! hook me up with a link in private message haha

 

[kh54s10]

If you don't go crazy with ingredients and like hops you should get good beer.

It is possible that you could make an average pale ale recipe and hop it with a hop that you don't like. Though I am not picky and have yet to identify a hop that I don't like.

If you brew a pale ale and spice it with a pound of ginger I guarantee you will not like it. That would be a bad recipe.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Making a drinkable beer is easy as long as you follow basic good brewing practice don't do something stupid like a pound of ginger or a grain bill of 100% black patent malt. Even then if people want to experiment with something wacky (I did a 100% maple syrup "wine" years ago, treated like a mead in terms of process) then go for it, understanding the result may not work (in my example it was interesting and drinkable but hella expensive and not something I would do again). I also experimented with a "malternative" along the lines of Zima, that I didn't get to try myself but I was told worked quite well (long story). I might redo it just to see for myself.

Making a good beer isn't hard either. Knowing basic ingredients. Use in reasonable quantities.

Making great beer is where it gets tough. Whether it's dialing something in perfectly or nailing a classic style. There recipe very much matters.

 

[bracconiere]

After half a dozen kits I found hops for $5 a pound.
I bought 5 varieties and went rouge.

A fist full of this hop, half a hand full of that one a scoop of another for dry hopping.

Nine different batches and all good.

What am I doing right?

who would have thunk it...the worlds most popular/best drug is easy to make! there is that quote "Beer is proof god loves us!" lol

 

[Beer Nuts]

@Qhrumphf

I know.
I haven't been shooting at any target.
Just getting to know how different hops
can make such a difference in the end.

Lovin' it.

 

[Beer Nuts]

where did you find hops for $5 a lbs?! hook me up with a link in private message haha

https://hopsdirect.com/

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

It is pretty awesome. I think that the recipe is less important than the process. I’ve drank all my beers that I’ve made and every beer is a journey, but those beers that haven’t been perfect are due to mistakes in my process.

 

[devilssoninlaw]

It is pretty awesome. I think that the recipe is less important than the process. I’ve drank all my beers that I’ve made and every beer is a journey, but those beers that haven’t been perfect are due to mistakes in my process.

Years ago I made wine and I had an old wine book that listed recipes for just about anything fermentable. I saw one for Pineapple wine and noticed Pineapple juice for sale at the local grocery store... long story short, down the drain with all but 1/2 a bottle of 5 gallons!!

 

[ListerH]

There are some basic fundamentals that need to be followed and as long as you stay within those boundaries then I guess a recipe is just as good as how much you like the product!
To consistently deliver the same product, then you get into the process side of things.

What I mean by basic fundamentals is that you start with the principle that you're going to have 4 ingredients as the starting point of the beer and that base malt is going to account for the majority of the malt bill, malt and hop quantities are going to be reasonable for the size of the batch and you're going to pitch enough yeast for it to ferment properly, then you cant go far wrong.

Don't follow these fundamentals and yes, even without talking about chucking in ginger, jalapenos or anything else, you can have a very bad recipe!
To test this theory, try using 20lbs of black malt in a 5GL batch , boil it with half a pound of warrior hops added for 90 minutes... and then ferment it out with half a packet of US-05 and see what kind of beer you get haha

 

[Still Brewn]

To test this theory, try using 20lbs of black malt in a 5GL batch , boil it with half a pound of warrior hops added for 90 minutes... and then ferment it out with half a packet of US-05 and see what kind of beer you get haha

With that recipe you could save a lot of money by just grabbing a few lumps of hardwood charcoal, maybe a half a cup of ash from the fireplace, a pound or two of sugar, the hops and get the same result. It might have more interesting flavor if you use charred oak or sugar maple.

 

[El Nino]

Try an all caramel malt batch and let us know how it goes

 

[mirthfuldragon]

a grain bill of 100% black patent malt.

Just reading that left a bad taste in my mouth.