Recipe Formulation Project

[Oktober]

Hey all,

Several topics here on HBT and other forums got me thinking more and more about recipes and why people choose what goes into them. Through this thought, my brother and I decided to setup a project wherein we'll start exploring flavor combinations and recipe formulation. The idea was to go through each step of recipe formulation (concept, initial recipe and brewing, initial tasting, revising the recipe and rebrewing, follow-up tastings, etc) and learn what worked and what didn't. To reinforce this, one of the rules of the project was decided that each participant must be willing to write about each step of the experience (both the good and the bad) as a means of disseminating the information to anyone else who is interested. As a result, we decided to put our ramblings up on our shared blog as a means of sharing the info. A link to the kick-off post can be found below if anyone is interested:

Recipe Formulation Project - Exploring Brewing Ingredients

In order to keep the project fresh, we also decided to incorporate some randomly assigned brewing ingredients to each of the participants. Not only would this add a little 'fun' to the project, but it would force us to expand our comfort zones as we worked with new ingredients.

As a side note, one component of the project which we did not expect was the level of interaction we've gotten so far from readers. We've already had one individual join us in the project, which was truely a surprise treat.

If you have any comments, feedback, or questions about the project, by all means please let us know (either as a comment on the blog or here on the forum).

Slainte!

-Okt

 

[Captain Damage]

I like that you're controlling the ingredient list, and limiting the ingredients to three. I might actually suggest narrowing the list, maybe even to the point of everyone brewing the same beer with only one ingredient changed. For example I've heard of brew club projects where everyone gets the same ingredients, but uses a different yeast. Or that could be another project for another club?

Are you just doing this from square one or have you read up on the characteristics of the ingredients? My first few recipes were done blind, without knowing what the ingredients were actually for. They were at best "word salad," e.g., "Biscuit sounds nice, I'll put some of that in!" Or at worst just plain misguided, e.g., "Crystal malts don't need to be mashed - I'll use lots and lots of them!"

While they all made drinkable beers, I was always nagged by the fact that I didn't actually know what I was doing. Trying to improve them would have been as much of a guessing game as making the recipes was in the first place.

Eventually I got Designing great Beers by Ray Daniels and my life as a brewer changed. I'm a techy, analytical guy and I like to learn and understand things, and DGB was a huge aid in that regard (I've read people here say the same thing about Brewing Classic Styles by Zainasheff and Palmer). Learning the principals hasn't stifled my creativity at all - in fact it's fueled it. Instead of stabbing in the dark I'm making educated guesses; and instead of guessing, I'm making decisions.

Just my $0.02.

 

[Oktober]

The concept for the first beer in our Recipe Formulation Project was posted this morning:

Tom's Beer Concept - Spring in Your Step

-Okt