Starting from Scratch

[Go Gators]

Hey y'all. I am thinking about taking my brewing experience to the next level, and start creating my own recipes. I am currently doing extract brews, but have been encouraged to go all grain. SWMBO is actually the one pushing for me to start tinkering with my own ideas even make the move to all grain (even though she isn't too happy with more brew stuff around the apartment). I have just started the howtobrew online book, and have read a few other books.

I guess what I am really getting at, is where do I start? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Orfy]

Build a mash tun.
Start steeping grain if you don't already.
Do some tried and tested recipes
Move on to partial mashes.
Learn what the different grains add to a brew
Build buy a wort chiller.
Get the stuff to do full boils.
Make the jump
Voila.

 

[jds]

I'd also recommend hitting your local library or bookstore for copies of the following books:

Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher

Both books, while loaded with recipes, spend some quality time talking about recipe development and how to achieve your desired goal in a recipe. For me, the Daniels book was a worthwhile read from the library, but Mosher has a place on my bedside table.

 

[findthefish]

And get Beer Smith to help you out. BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum

 

[Bob]

+1 to JDS! Except I keep DGB by my bed.

If you want to devise your own recipes, you must first learn the ingredients. Learn what they look like, taste like, smell like on their own. Only then can you suss out how the ingredients complement each other and build a great beer.

Once you learn the ingredients, DGB is the way to learn about brewing classic styles. It's not going to give you recipes, because it's meant for all brewers, amateur and professional; to give recipes means batch sizing issues. So he'll tell you to brew a "Wunderbier" by mashing a grist comprised of 80% Pale malt, 10% Munich, 8% Crystal, and 2% Black malt just for color. It's up to you to figure out the exact types of those ingredients. For example, do you use Maris Otter pale malt? Or Belgian Pale? Or Pilsner? How about Belgian Pilsner? Or Canadian 2-row Pale? Now, is that Munich 10L or Munich 15? And Crystal? There's Crystal malt from 10 to 120L. Black malt? or black patent? Or Carafa I, II, or III? That doesn't even acknowlege hops!

You see? You don't have to have all the ingredients memorized. Hell, I don't, and I've been brewing going on fifteen years, both pro and amateur. But you've got to have some idea of how it all works, and know where to look. HBT helps!

Bob

 

[Go Gators]

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I have been meaning to download brewsmith to help with the balancing of ingredients. As for the books, that is exactly what I was looking for as far as advice. I will be sure to buy/rent both of those and possibly a few others I can get my hands on.

Build a mash tun.
Start steeping grain if you don't already.
Do some tried and tested recipes
Move on to partial mashes.
Learn what the different grains add to a brew
Build buy a wort chiller.
Get the stuff to do full boils.
Make the jump
Voila.

Just to give you an idea of where I am at. I have done all these other than the mash tun (have the cooler already), wort chiller, and full boils. As well as truely understanding what each grain bring to the beer.

Well with a birthday and X-mas around the corner, it will sure give SWMBO some opportunities to help me along the process :rockin:

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Well I was going to post a long message but eveyone above has it all right.

Start with partial mash and move on from there.

 

[Ecnerwal]

Many many routes to this.

I have been doing extract/steep for 15 years with a full-boil pot and a wort chiller. Those are both pretty easy upgrades (I still boil on the kitchen stove - it's just a 40 quart commercial thick aluminum pot).

Gave the grainbag PM a try last weekend, which made a mash-tun look good (I have 3-4 40 quart rectangular coolers cluttering up the landscape). It worked, but was somewhat awkward - making me see the appeal of a tun/manifold.

Recipe creation does not require AG, of course. But you gain more places to play with the recipe and results by going to AG, for sure.

Without upgrading pot size, you can do a lot by shrinking your batches (and if experimenting with recipes, do more experiments, more often). When you have one you like, it's better to be able to brew a large batch, as it takes little more time than brewing a small batch, but when you are fiddling with a recipe it's not bad to make just a couple of gallons and see what it's like before scaling up.

 

[Danny013]

Hoggetowne Ale Works on University & 34th is always very friendly and helpful if you haven't been there already. They occasionally have classes/seminars on AG and such (I believe the last one was last week?), you should check into it.

http://www.hoggetowne.com/

 

[Go Gators]

Hoggetowne Ale Works on University & 34th is always very friendly and helpful if you haven't been there already. They occasionally have classes/seminars on AG and such (I believe the last one was last week?), you should check into it.

http://www.hoggetowne.com/

Ya I have been through there a few times with mixed opinions. Sometimes I leave with a smile, while other times I kind of feel like I wasted my time. That is certainly an option I have considered, and I have been to the brew weekend before. Now I will have to stop by in a month or so to get a taste of whatever they brewed :cross:

 

[TexLaw]

Just get in there and do it. Formulating recipes means you must experiment. You don't have to come up with something completely off the wall, or even brand new. Just start tinkering around with some of the recipes you find in the database, and see where that takes you.

I found it best to stick with very simple recipes at first. Start with one base grain, one or two speciatly grains (although you can get by fine with none), one or two hops, and a basic yeast. That's your baseline. Next time you brew that beer, change one thing (e.g., use a different yeast; add, delete, substitute, or modify amounts of a grain or hop; use different water; vary one aspect of your mash). Keep it to ONE variable, though. That is how you learn what does what in a recipe. Resist the temptation to make more than one change, as that actually will slow your learning.

And, over all, have fun!


TL