Personal Recipes

I just started brewing and have my first brew fermenting now. It's the Nut Brown Ale kit from Northern Brewer. After completing the kit I really would like to design some recipes of my own and experiment. Any recomendations as to how many kits I should go through before I start experimenting on my own? Any particular kit you think I should try?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Reply to
J.P.
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Kudos to you for being one of those guys who isn't content to just follow someone else's recipes. Here's what you need to do: Buy Ray Daniels' book "Designing Great Beers", read it cover to cover, then immediately begin designing your own recipes. Finally, read the book over and over and over again every day for the rest of your life. Seriously, it's that good. Not perfect, but just about the best book I've ever read. I honestly look at it almost every day because I'm always working on perfecting my next recipe.

Reply to
David M. Taylor

Here is something you could also do ....

Find one of the better kits in a style you like. Brew it a couple of times to ensure you can brew it consitently. Then begin to alter the various adjucts a little at a time. This will teach you how the relative quantities affects the flavour ....

just a thought

steveb

Reply to
steveb

I agree with both Dave & steveb, test your consistency then branch out a little at a time.

My personal recommendation would be to start with a very basic pale ale as your basis, experiment with different types & quantity of hops. From there add some wheat malt to your pale ale and make a hefeweizen, after that instead of wheat, mini-mash (or steep) some roasted malts & make a porter or stout and so on...the sky & your imagination is the limit...and that gets even better when you go all-grain or branch out into fruit beer (I have an awesome recipe for a Raspberry Wheat if you're interested!!).

The important thing is to move at your pace and make YOUR beer to YOUR tastes. KEEP NOTES!! This is the only way you will be able to go back & know exactly what you did or didn't do, I keep track of my batches for example: Pale Ale #1, Pale Ale #2 and so on...very simple system, that way if I am experimenting I can always go back & duplicate something I like, or adjust something I did not like.

I most definitely agree and encourage you to read, read, read & then re-read and not just one particular book, but any & all that you can find...websites, magazines...there is an infinite world of references out there. And don't be surprised...there's also a lot of contradicting or obscure information out there (especially on the web).

Most local brew shops are owned by homebrewers who have done it for years and years and many are excited and very eager to share their passion & experience with new comers to the hobby. Also look into local brew clubs & either join or ask if you can attend meetings. If there is a microbrewery (or even megabrewery) near you, you may even be able to chit chat with the brewmeister & glean some hints & tips from them, they of course won't share trade secrets, but may give you some good ideas or even let you sample!!!!

Look up the BJCP style guidelines, this will give you an idea of what is considered "acceptable" for a particular style of beer, granted you may not be looking to win awards with your beer just yet, but it is an invaluable reference if you are looking to remain true to a style of beer. They give excellent verbal descriptions of how beer should look, feel & taste that even the most novice beer drinker nursed on crudweiser their whole lives can read & say..."hey...I do taste that!!!"

I'll end my novel with "they lived happily ever after"

Kent

Reply to
blah

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your advice very much. I have seen a lot of books at the Brewery Store and will use the recomendation as to which I buy. Sounds like experimenting like this is a lot of fun. I look forward to getting started!

~jp

Reply to
J.P.

Excellent post Kent!

The key here is consistency. Being a home brewer you'll never get exactly the same results but you should get close. The key is follow a strict procedure and document it. Even the most subtle change in the process can have dramatic effects on the finished product. Like at what time during the boil you add your hops. I would suggest using one of the many software packages out there to track your craft.

Kent you suggested the hefeweizen path. One of my favorites and an excellent direction for home brewers as the style requires bottle conditioning. But people should try the commercial version first to know what to expect. This style has a unique clove flavor that not everyone appreciates.

An easy way to do the mini mash or hopping is to load your ingredients into a cheese cloth and tea bag it. This saves you/minimizes the filtering step at the end. Also watch your temperatures when using fermentables. You want to nail 155+-5 degrees.

Cheers, Eric

blah wrote:

Reply to
No spam

Hey there.

Some recipes I started with came from

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ahh the memories.

Hope it helps, Eric

J.P. wrote:

Reply to
No spam

Hey Kent,

I was wondering about that Raspberry Wheat you mentioned. Might I be able to get a copy? If so drop me a line on my hotmail account using my first name _englert.

Thanks in advance, Eric

blah wrote:

Reply to
No spam

Don't know if it was said, but check out

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also.

Reply to
Josh Button

Eric,

I'll post it here for all to enjoy..I'm not shy!! A wheat man too...love it!!! All my life I had NEVER had a wheat beer of any kind until I brewed one...and then I never got to taste it because I bottled too soon....needless to say we all know the end result of that...my second batch was no different...I thought it was ready, boy was I wrong...then I tried the Raspberry Wheat...SAME thing!!! I was starting to get pretty discouraged but persevered and man am I glad I did.

I plugged my recipe into

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recipe calculator. Sorry about the Magnums...I love using Magnum for kettle hops and use it in almost all of my beers (unless its completely out of style), you can always substitute proper AAU of YOUR favorite kettle hop. This beer has some serious bite & is prickly on the tongue, not only from the kettle hops, but from the Raspberries...when I siphon from secondary, almost all of the berries have been leached pure white.

Rockin' Raspberry Wheat Ale (all-grain)

General

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Category: Fruit Beer Subcategory: Fruit Beer Recipe Type: All Grain Batch Size: 5 gal. Volume Boiled: 6 gal. Mash Efficiency: 65 % Total Grain/Extract: 10.00 lbs. Total Hops: 0.8 oz. Calories (12 fl. oz.): 181.5 Cost to Brew: $22.13 (USD) Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.): $0.41 (USD)

Ingredients

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5 lbs. American 2-row 5 lbs. German Wheat Malt Light 0.25 oz. Yakima Magnum (Pellets, 14.50 %AA) boiled 60 minutes. 0.5 oz. Hallertau (Pellets, 4.50 %AA) boiled 15 minutes. 1 tsp Irish Moss boiled 15 minutes Your favorite yeast (I use SafAle in the blue packets) 5 lbs of frozen Raspberries

Procedure

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  1. Step mash in 2.5 gallons of water at 122F (Protein) for 30 minutes, raise to 158F (Saccharification) for 30 minutes, by adding gentle bottom heat & boiling water, this also thins out the mash and decreases viscosity. Finally raise to 165-170F with a 10 minute rest for mash-out.

  1. Recirculate 15 minutes or until wort runs clear. Sparge with 165-168F liquor and collect the boil volume of 6 gallons. (You may need rice hulls dependent upon your lauter/mash tun set up, I know I could have used them.)

  2. Boil 90 minutes and follow hop/adjunct schedule as above.

  1. Cool to pitching temp, take OG reading & pitch yeast. Primary fermentation should take 5-7 days.

  2. Using a large (6.5+ gallon or 2-3 gallon) carboy(s), add frozen Raspberries and siphon fermented beer on top of fruit. Allow beer 2-3 weeks for secondary fermentation (fruit sugars) and clearification, which should be a crystal clear, brilliant red color. You can rack another time if there is a lot of suspended debris (I always do). Wait another week then bottle or keg using your favorite method.

  1. Enjoy! I like to add a few frozen rasperries to each glass before serving just as a visual accent.

  2. Extract option: Replace the grains with a 3.3lb can of pale liquid malt extract and a 3.3lb can of liquid wheat malt extract, skip steps 1 & 2 and adjust your boil time as necessary.

Vital Statistics (Before Fruit Addition)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Gravity: 1.046 Terminal Gravity: 1.009 Color: 3.60 SRM Bitterness: 19.4 IBU Alcohol (%volume): 4.8 %

Kent

Reply to
blah

Is this recipe saved on bertools?

Reply to
Josh Button

Hey Josh, what is bertools?

Reply to
J.P.

To answer both of your questions...first, Josh it is saved under my account...not sure if it's publicly available...I haven't upgraded to "Gold" status yet so I only have one save slot.

Second, J.P., BeerTools.com is an awesome website with a beer recipe calculator check it out some time.

Kent

Reply to
blah

You don't need "Gold" status. You just click "add to library" I think.

I have saved a few recipes, and I'm certainly not a gold user.

Reply to
Josh Button

Thanks Josh...never even saw that!! I added it.

Kent

Reply to
blah

Hey thanks Kent,

I can't wait to try it out. You're a step brewer as well; that's great. It's nice to get the temp/time steps that you used letting the rest of us get as close to your style as possible.

I'm just in the middle of re-rigging my infusion setup and as soon as it's up I'll give your recipe a run.

Cheers, Eric

blah wrote:

Reply to
Toga_clad

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