Do You Follow A Receipe Or Do You Go Willy Nilly?

[stowaway]

Im new to AG so far and just been following receipes..

To use up the last of the grain and hops i have available I was thinking about just going willy nilly. Making 5.5kgs worth of grain + whatevers hop addition i could get my hands on..

I know i can work out the IBU in beersmith, but to tell u the truth i really wouldnt know what IBU i like.

Do many people do this? Or do you al know what flavour the grain / hops you are adding brings to the mix?

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

I brew a few that are just made up as I go , sit in front off beersmith , add a bit of this and that, get the color and IBUs too what I'm thinking of and just brew it ...

Infact I've got a brown ale on tap ATM that has really surprised me , very malty and smooth...just what I was after , probly not to "style" but its very enjoyable sitting by the fire in the evening ...

I think you would have too really muck up your grain bill/hop ratio/yeast selection too brew a bad beer . All AG beer is good just some of it its bloody great ...

cheers

 

[gregb]

Usually start off with a recipe, but it tends to go out the window when the mash water starts to heat. :blink:

Cheers,
Greg

 

[MVZOOM]

I generally know what I want to brew, then write the recipe on my workbench, then go via that. Sometime refer to Designing Great Beers or whatever to get the basic style stuff right (ie... 60min addition sizes).

 

[buttersd70]

I normaly always do the recipe first, myself But I did do a similar thing once. As far as how many IBU, its really more a question of how many IBU to balance the malts. If you look at it in terms of BU:GU, or even in BV, it might make it a bit easier, because then your not locking into a particular IBU amount, it will vary it depending on how much grav you're getting. For a general value, 65%-70%ish BUGU will be neither too hoppy, or too malty.

 

[kook]

Designing Great Beers is a good book to help out out with creating new recipes.

Other thing is to taste your grain, and smell your hops. Crunch up the grain between your teeth, then let it sit in your mouth for a minute, the husk flavours will come out and give you an idea of what it contributes.

Rub the hops between your hands and take a good smell - the aroma will be similar to the end beer. Theres great flavour descriptions out there too which help a lot.

 

[Simon W]

Never made a brew from a recipe, tho a few in the RecipeDB are tempting.
I've always used the BJCP Style Guidelines and Beersmith/AHB ingredient descriptions(Hop of the week etc etc) to.... well.... guide me.
I just start playing with the ingredients in Beersmith 'till the numbers are within the guidelines.

 

[bindi]

Designing Great Beers is a good book to help out out with creating new recipes.







Designing Great Beers has bugger all about Belgian inspired beer which is sad, as if Belgian beers don't exist, only a couple of lines in the book about this style of yeast.

Rant over and off the soap box. B)
bindi out.

 

[Fourstar]

Designing Great Beers has bugger all about Belgian inspired beer which is sad, as if Belgian beers don't exist, only a couple of lines in the book about this style of yeast.

Rant over and off the soap box. B)
bindi out.

I recently became thew owner of a copy of desiging great beers, not that im heavily intrested in brewing belgians at this time i was shocked that there is basically no infromation about them! Not even Wit's! (only german and US!)

quite strage!

 

[kook]

Designing Great Beers has bugger all about Belgian inspired beer which is sad, as if Belgian beers don't exist, only a couple of lines in the book about this style of yeast.

Rant over and off the soap box. B)
bindi out.

Belgian beers are supposed to be creative. Take some inspiration from Fantome and throw your recipes away :lol:

I recently became thew owner of a copy of desiging great beers, not that im heavily intrested in brewing belgians at this time i was shocked that there is basically no infromation about them! Not even Wit's! (only german and US!)

quite strage!

Unless you were being prescriptive to BJCP or similar, it'd be difficult to write about a lot of Belgian styles. Just reading through BLAM/Farmhouse Ales/Wild Brews shows you how much variance there can be between brewers of the same "style". They can be drastically different beers, but still called the same thing.

 

[warra48]

I basically make most of mine up as I go along.
As soon as I have one batch down, I start playing around on BeerSmith with my next recipe. It's not really that hard. I normally choose a fair whack of a base malts, and decide what specialties I wish to add. Then the hops and yeast, and away I go. BeerSmith gives me the IBUs and IBU/Sg ratios.
I do have a fair data base in BeerSmith of recipes kindly sent to me by others on this forum, but I have yet to brew one exactly like it.
The more I brew, the more I understand the beers I want to drink, and hence want to brew. The notes I keep give me reminders of how to gradually modify my recipes to my requirements. Then, of course, I am finally limited to brewing with what's in my inventory.

 

[Murcluf]

When I want to do a specific style I read a lot of recipes to get a feel for the style then prceed to make up my own recipe based on what I like out of the other recipes. never follow a recipe completely yet.

 

[bindi]

Belgian beers are supposed to be creative. Take some inspiration from Fantome and throw your recipes away :lol:

Yep, it's common knowledge here that's what I do, But.......




Unless you were being prescriptive to BJCP or similar, it'd be difficult to write about a lot of Belgian styles. Just reading through BLAM/Farmhouse Ales/Wild Brews shows you how much variance there can be between brewers of the same "style". They can be drastically different beers, but still called the same thing.

Read all those books at least 3 times. Designing Great Beers sits in the toilet library. :lol:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

yes...Designing Great Beers is an essential, and its even better because it doesnt have any recipies in it...


I have heaps of recipies in Promash, and never seem to make the same beer twice. i always take a recipie and modify it....

Some time i just walk into the shed, look at what i have and go with it...and they are often the best...


I love AG...

 

[gerald]

If you read brew like a monk then you will understand why its near impossible to pin down specific style guidelines for many belgian beers. While they are put in the same category many of them differ vastly. I think thats part of the reason belgium beers are so acclaimed, they are doing things by their book not anyone else.

i usually start with a recipe and play with it in beersmith but often it changes when it comes to getting the ingredients. somewhat depends on what the HB shop stocks. I could always get the exact ingredients but that means driving further or ordering online. that costs more money blah blah blah


Cya
gerald

 

[peas_and_corn]

I go by recipes, but change them as I go along- make it better, adjust for what's available (especially re: hops, I buy a heap at once then go through it before ordering more). However I'm faithful to what I enter into promash.