Experimenting?...

[Trotters80]

I'm guessing a lot of people on here experiment with their brewing, but do you take big risks or subtle changes?. I wanna experiment but if I wait a few weeks & the thing isn't nice I aint gonna be happy wasting my ingredients ;-D

 

[Simonh82]

I love experimenting. My first brew was an extract clone kit from BrewUK but every other thing I've brewed has been my own invention. First extract, then all grain.

So far I've not made anything I didn't really enjoy drinking and some of my beers have been bloody delicious (if I do say so myself).

I think if you look at a lot of recipes you can pick up some general guidelines about proportions of malts and hops. Then use software like Brewers friend to make sure you make something that is roughly what you are thinking of.

Don't sweat it. Get experimenting.

 

[chuffer]

Yeh I'm only getting started but cant wait to play around with recipes etc....if it turns out **** then there's always the next brew...

 

[GHW]

Depends what you mean by experimenting

If you mean different yeasts, malts, hops then experiment away.

If you mean adding all sorts of additional stuff, like herbs, spices, coffee, fruit etc then again, by all means experiment, but be prepared for a harder time learning what works.

You can keep things very simple, with variations on a few basic ingredients, and still produce a vast range of beer styles. None of which will be ****.

Also you have the rest of your life to brew in, so why rush into stuff?

 

[MyQul]

I'm contsantly trying stuff out. Sometimes it works better than other times. Beer is very forgiving, I've never done and experiment I couldn't drink. My attitude is, I made it, I'm drinking it!

 

[JapanBrew]

As long as you keep the percentages in the ball park of grains that will give you fermentables, then you're fine. But the biggest thing I found is don't skimp on grain and work with your hops. Bitter is good, but doesn't have to be.
Gareth said it, brew for a long time. So go each step. Get to know what each type of grain does to flavor and mouth feel.
And last point, there's no one right way to brew, but there are a ton of wrong ways to brew.
Enjoy and keep us posted on your recipes and findings.

 

[Cwrw666]

I tend to use recipes straight out of the Greg Hughes book the first time. Usually when I'm drinking it i think, well that could have done with a few more hops, so next time I up it a bit. Same with speciality malts. So subtle changes usually, and even then you can go too far, so the next time you brew it you pull back a bit.

 

[geetee]

I'm guessing a lot of people on here experiment with their brewing, but do you take big risks or subtle changes?. I wanna experiment but if I wait a few weeks & the thing isn't nice I aint gonna be happy wasting my ingredients ;-D

First rule of experimenting: only ever change 1 thing at a time otherwise you don't know what works and what doesn't

Having said that I have been guilty of making several changes in recipe and when you look back you don't know which is the critical change.

A good way is to split a brew and treat the two half to either different yeast or different dry hopping regimes but remember the first rule only one change at a time.

 

[Trotters80]

Hey, some good advice there from everyone.

Thank you

 

[brumbrew]

Coming to you from the guy who tried and sort of didn't fail to make WW1 potato beer.

That was when I was still doing kits, so may bring this experiment into the AG world. See what I get this time. I still have some plastic 2ltr bottles of the stuff buried in the back of the outhouse/workshop.

Nettle wine, dandelion wine, maple syrup wine, Swede wine, birch sap, carrot and hop, carrot and coriander, Etc etc.

If it's a risky recipe from the get go. I just make a 5ltr batch.

I've only ever chucked a couple of wines and 2 beers so far. Fingers crossed.

I say go for it. Someone has to do it. :-)

What did you have in mind?

 

[Trotters80]

Coming to you from the guy who tried and sort of didn't fail to make WW1 potato beer.

That was when I was still doing kits, so may bring this experiment into the AG world. See what I get this time. I still have some plastic 2ltr bottles of the stuff buried in the back of the outhouse/workshop.

Nettle wine, dandelion wine, maple syrup wine, Swede wine, birch sap, carrot and hop, carrot and coriander, Etc etc.

If it's a risky recipe from the get go. I just make a 5ltr batch.

I've only ever chucked a couple of wines and 2 beers so far. Fingers crossed.

I say go for it. Someone has to do it. :-)

What did you have in mind?

A citrusy type pale ale. I use citrusy hops but feel I need that something extra to give it that burst of flavour. When I go in a pub & get a real ale & look at its description it sounds so simple but tasty, so I wanna try something like that???