Secret Beer recipe ?

[abbot555]

Is it just me or does anyone else keep their own great beer recipe a secret. Do you have that one beer recipe that is so good that you want to keep it to yourself and have on tap only at your place?

Personaly I have a Old ale and a mead that I just love and cant see sharing the recipe lol .

 

[david_42]

Just you I've always been willing to share recipes. I can't think of any higher praise than someone wanting to brew my beer; except maybe if they brew it and win a competition.

(hasn't happened to me, but it has happened on the board.)

 

[Yooper]

Nah, if anybody wants to do any of my recipes that's fine with me. Even Jamil Z and Tasty McDole share their recipes (and Denny Conn) and they are far better brewers than I am. Vinnie Cilurzo even helps brewers make a Pliny clone.

The cool thing is that 10 brewers could do the same exact recipe and get 10 different beers. Water chemistry, yeast strain, fermentation temperature, techniques, etc, all mean that each brewer will NOT make the same beer no matter what the recipe is.

There are only four ingredients in beer (usually), so it's pretty easy to assume that just about every combination has been done before so it's not worth keeping a secret. I've never yet had a beer that was so good that I felt like I had to have the recipe, although many brewers have given them to me. I can taste it and pretty much figure out what's in it.

 

[Airborneguy]

I've given out mine whenever asked, and I don't see that changing. I think the only time I wouldn't give one out is if I didn't like the person who asked for it. There's a guy in my brew club I really think is annoying, but he's not really a bad guy, so I even gave him a recipe once.

Like Yooper said, it's not like the beer is going to be the same anyway. Just the fact that it was made on someone else's equipment will change it.

 

[joebagodonuts]

It's not just the recipe - it's the equipment and the process that makes the beer - so you should be fine sharing your recipe and not worrying about someone reproducing the same exact taste.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

I'm one of those that thinks recipes aren't that special. If someone tastes my beer and wants the recipe they can have it. Many recipes I get online, from a magazine, book or from kits at my lhbs and brew it as is or change the hop schedule or yeast to suit my taste or whims. And I think if one I made from scratch turned into a masterpiece in my own mind of course I'd want to share it.

 

[Teromous]

It's not just the recipe - it's the equipment and the process that makes the beer - so you should be fine sharing your recipe and not worrying about someone reproducing the same exact taste.

This is the reason it doesn't matter. Odds are each person is going to make it a little different. If people like Charlie Papazian never made the effort to share their knowledge on homebrewing, guys (and girls) like us might not be homebrewing right now anyway.

 

[arturo7]

+1 on it's just you.

 

[COLObrewer]

I don't see any reason to keep a recipe secret, odds are that someone else has tried the same thing anyway given the sheer number of brewers and home brewers out there. As others have said, if your procedures are sound you should be able to make great beer.

 

[jgourd]

In my field of computer science, there's this thing called open source (and free) and this other thing called being an a$$hole. Well, on one hand people are willing to share and improve to make things better, to further the discipline/hobby, and so on. And homebrewing is a very open and sharing kind of hobby. To me, the mentality that goes with the "it's a secret, and I'm the only one that will get to make my super secret and great recipe--or charge you for it" is asinine. But that's just my $0.02.

I've shared many of my recipes. Others have modified them and made them better. They've shared back. And that's the joy of it. Everyone can learn from everyone else. No one is above that. Or at least not in reality. In the mind, well that's another thing altogether!

 

[hal2814]

I've been told that people who often have good ideas share them. It's the people who do not have good ideas often who are stingy with them.

I guess I have good beer recipe ideas often enough that I'm not afraid to let go of them. And the people I let go of those ideas are generally kind enough to share their findings and occasionally offer constructive feedback to my recipes. There's no chance to ever get outside help from your recipe if you keep it to yourself.