Repeat Recipes

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I have 8 recipes I keep repeating over and over with small tweaks every time trying to dial them in. I started this about 2 years ago and it's made a HUGE difference in the quality of my beer. I was all over the map trying recipes or making my own and never happy with them. Finally settled on 8 styles, found some award winners to copy, and then have been tweaking them ever since. I'm up to 4 or so iterations of each and the changes keep getting smaller. Not sure what's next but I'm not done with this quite yet.

I highly recommend repeating recipes with small changes to learn the differences.

 

[Velnerj]

Slightly off topic, has there been any published books with recipes from the ameture homebrewing community?

Reading this thread got me to thinking that not only are there probably some great recipes here but stories behind them as well. It would make for a good read... But I'm afraid it's been done already.

 

[bwible]

Slightly off topic, has there been any published books with recipes from the ameture homebrewing community?

Reading this thread got me to thinking that not only are there probably some great recipes here but stories behind them as well. It would make for a good read... But I'm afraid it's been done already.

Websites like Brewers Friend or BeerSmith or BeerTools, etc are full of user submitted recipes. Not so much the stories that I’m aware of. This site has a recipe section.

I’m not aware of any such compilation. Individuals like Gordon Strong, Jamil Z etc have their recipe books, some stories included.

But I agree, always say I usually can’t think of anything someone else hasn’t already thought of.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Slightly off topic, has there been any published books with recipes from the ameture homebrewing community?

Reading this thread got me to thinking that not only are there probably some great recipes here but stories behind them as well. It would make for a good read... But I'm afraid it's been done already.

Take a look at the book Homebrew All Stars.

 

[_BullDog_]

The last several years I have had certain beers I brew each season( spring will be miabock, blonde ale and likely a Scottish ale) so most of those are repeats with very little tweaks and the other beers were I’m trying new things, keeps a good mix of new and getting consistently good results on the same recipe

 

[JAReeves]

Slightly off topic, has there been any published books with recipes from the ameture homebrewing community?

Reading this thread got me to thinking that not only are there probably some great recipes here but stories behind them as well. It would make for a good read... But I'm afraid it's been done already.

If you are an AHA member, you can search through their recipe database of competition winning beers in almost every style.

 

[davidabcd]

Tweaking comes with the territory until the recipe is spot on. Once in a while the recipe is spot on from the start.
I've made the same recipe five times in a row, no changes.
In the beginning I tried out some different styles but they weren't in my wheelhouse.
If it's not a Belgian Tripel, it's an Old Ale. If it's not an Old Ale, it's an Imperial Stout. So just the three.

 

[Velnerj]

Websites like Brewers Friend or BeerSmith or BeerTools, etc are full of user submitted recipes. Not so much the stories that I’m aware of. This site has a recipe section.

I’m not aware of any such compilation. Individuals like Gordon Strong, Jamil Z etc have their recipe books, some stories included.

But I agree, always say I usually can’t think of anything someone else hasn’t already thought of.

Take a look at the book Homebrew All Stars.

If you are an AHA member, you can search through their recipe database of competition winning beers in almost every style.

I'm well aware of the many recipe repositories, especially the one on this site. Furthermore I know about Denny and Drew's book. But that is a book with more or less "professionals."

My vision was a bit different. I also have a copy of Colby's homebrew recipe Bible, where I heard it slip that he may or not have even tried all the recipes in his own book (not that it would be a requirement.). I would fancy a book that collects the top recipe from homebrewers who have spent time honing a recipe to their satisfaction. Each recipe would have some info about the brewer and how he/she came up with the recipe that appears in the book. It's the back story that is often missing but could bring some richness to just a list of ingredients on a page. Add some photos and I think it would make a good addition to my library...

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I would fancy a book that collects the top recipe from homebrewers who have spent time honing a recipe to their satisfaction. Each recipe would have some info about the brewer and how he/she came up with the recipe that appears in the book. It's the back story that is often missing but could bring some richness to just a list of ingredients on a page.

While it's not in "book" form, there are brewers who blog about refining their recipes (see #7 for an example). These blogs occasionally show up in other homebrewing forums, along with the back story.

 

[Velnerj]

While it's not in "book" form, there are brewers who blog about refining their recipes (see #7 for an example). These blogs occasionally show up in other homebrewing forums, along with the back story.

Thanks for this! Skipped over that entry reading through the first time. As I was reading the blog I was thinking... Have I read this before?! Nope, you were on basic brewing radio, right?

 

[shoreman]

I like to do a mix of recipes, recently I’ve brewed two batches that I have brewed multiple times - German country ale kolsch and an Allagash white clone - the recipe will get tweaked based on what I have on hand - maybe I made it with saaz but I have ekg in hand.

This weekend I’ll brew a new recipe, a CTZ west coast pale ale.

It’s great to work on and nail a beer that you really like - over the past two years I worked on a trillium fort point clone beer - brewed maybe 5 times and nailed it but now I don’t really enjoy that style much.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

As I was reading the blog I was thinking... Have I read this before?! Nope, you were on basic brewing radio, right?

I am pretty sure the author was on Basic Brewing Radio talking about his Red IPA trails. I am not sure I could devote 8 brew cycles to a specific recipe in a year! I actually find that it takes me about 18 months to fit in 4 or 5 iterations of a recipe. For a low gravity beer, it is about 4 weeks from brew day before you can get any real evaluation. I also like to see how a beer ages over a month or so. Then I am usually not wanting to brew another batch until I have finished up the prior batch.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@CascadesBrewer: the Basic Brewing episode may be February 15, 2018 - A Year of Red IPA.

Thanks for this! Skipped over that entry reading through the first time. As I was reading the blog I was thinking... Have I read this before?! Nope, you were on basic brewing radio, right?

Good to hear that it might be what you're looking for.

I'm not the author of the blog and haven't been on Basic Brewing Radio.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I actually find that it takes me about 18 months to fit in 4 or 5 iterations of a recipe. [...]

That's been my experience as well.

When I was exploring the idea of adding minerals "in the glass" to adjust extract-based recipes, it was 2 or 3 batches over 6 months.

 

[Sam_92]

I would read that book if you do write it. It would be about like a distilled version of this site. You should include the guy that created the Pirate Strong Ale that includes pineapple and rum soaked oak chips, I would love to read about how that idea came to him.

 

[Beermeister32]

Jamil Z and John Palmer have a book out on Brewing Classic Styles. A good jumping off point, full of currently award winning recipes of most styles.

 

[bwible]

I'm well aware of the many recipe repositories, especially the one on this site. Furthermore I know about Denny and Drew's book. But that is a book with more or less "professionals."

My vision was a bit different. I also have a copy of Colby's homebrew recipe Bible, where I heard it slip that he may or not have even tried all the recipes in his own book (not that it would be a requirement.). I would fancy a book that collects the top recipe from homebrewers who have spent time honing a recipe to their satisfaction. Each recipe would have some info about the brewer and how he/she came up with the recipe that appears in the book. It's the back story that is often missing but could bring some richness to just a list of ingredients on a page. Add some photos and I think it would make a good addition to my library...

Not a bad idea. Maybe start a new thread for it here.

 

[bwible]

I'm well aware of the many recipe repositories, especially the one on this site. Furthermore I know about Denny and Drew's book. But that is a book with more or less "professionals."

My vision was a bit different. I also have a copy of Colby's homebrew recipe Bible, where I heard it slip that he may or not have even tried all the recipes in his own book (not that it would be a requirement.). I would fancy a book that collects the top recipe from homebrewers who have spent time honing a recipe to their satisfaction. Each recipe would have some info about the brewer and how he/she came up with the recipe that appears in the book. It's the back story that is often missing but could bring some richness to just a list of ingredients on a page. Add some photos and I think it would make a good addition to my library...

One other, while its again not the same thing, this is how Ray Daniels wrote Designing Great Beers. He collected all the winning recipes from the NHC I believe and did analysis on them all. Each chapter he goes through different styes and shows most commonly used grains, hops, etc and the end of each style chapter has key points for success. This was by far my favorite brewing book and I had to buy a second copy. My first copy was in such bad shape from wear and use. It was folded, bent, beer stained, dog earred, part of the cover was missing and pages were just loose falling out of it. I got alot out of that book.

 

[balrog]

I always repeat my @Yooper Haus Pale, tweaked a little less malty, but all Cascade
I always repeat my altbier, tweaked the first 10 or rebrews, now unchanged for the last 2 dozen times
I repeat my Kolsch, unchanged
I repeat my dry Irish and my oatmeal stouts

But I usually brew something outside those, maybe 20% of brews I will do a new-to-me hop pale, or try a new-to-me yeast.

 

[monkeymath]

I have an immoral confession to make:
I don't actually brew for the beer. I brew because I'm curious. And I hardly ever repeat a brew because I already know (more or less) what the beer is going to be like.

I brew 5gal batches with a friend, so that's about 2.5g for me, about one a month. I'll wait eagerly for the beer to finish, then taste a couple of bottles over the next two weeks, but honestly I lose interest rather quickly when the upcoming brewday nears and I start building the next recipe.

 

[hotbeer]

I brew 5gal batches with a friend, so that's about 2.5g for me, about one a month. I'll wait eagerly for the beer to finish, then taste a couple of bottles over the next two weeks, but honestly I lose interest rather quickly

Brew 1 or 2 gallon batches and you can brew every week or less if you are more motivated by the processes of brewing than the beer itself. You'll also have just enough to taste and share a couple with friends.

You can also do them on your kitchen stove if you desire to stay in the warmth or coolness of your home instead of the great outdoors.

I've been scaling the 5 and 10 gallon all grain recipes back to about 5 quarts and brewing them. I am quite pleased with them so far. The low quantity of beer I get allows for tweaking or trying out different things from one small batch to the next with one recipe or moving on to a new recipe sooner.