recipe formulation - share what you know about ingredients

[BrewStew]

I've done 5 recipes now (several times repeated) based on nothing more than gut instinct from what i've learned so far, all turned out really well, and one perfect for my tastes

so then I started wondering... how many of you all have done recipes based on nothing but what's in your head or whatever takes your fancy at the time? how did it turn out? what did you learn?

I guess my aim for this thread is to create a discussion on recipe formulation.. what people have found works well together, what has not etc.

hopefully this thread will help both new and experienced brewers have a little more confidence when deciding on their own recipe :thumb:

i think for consistency, if we're to quote weights, we should be referring to a 5 imperial gallon batch



so here's mine:

for me i've found adding 500g of wheat malt to a stout really improves it's depth, and mouthfeel. making it silky smooth and slightly sweeter tasting

I use crystal malt mainly for colouring bitters (usually about 500g for the darker end of the scale), it usually ends up being more "orangy" rather than ruby coloured.

adding 100g of roasted barley gives a beer a nice ruby colour, but doesn't impart a roasted flavour or aroma

the combination of Fuggles and Challenger in similar quantities gives a nice unique and hard to describe flavour that i've not yet come across in any other beer i've tasted.

you need at least a kilo of rauchmalt to impart that lovely smokey taste to a beer. however a kilo also seems to be (for me at least) the perfect amount to add an interesting flavour to a dark beer.

 

[Vossy1]

we should be referring to a 5 gallon batch

We better qualify that as U.K gallons

how many of you all have done recipes based on nothing but what's in your head or whatever takes your fancy at the time?

I've never done it. I like to know what gravity I'm going to end up with, and how many IBU's I'll get. Colour doesn't bother me, but I like 4.5% ABV at least.
I don't really like chancing 8 hours, money, and agro from her indoors for a 'possibly' good beer.
From a positive point of view, I can understand that it would be fascinating though, and thoroughly rewarding, with a great beer.

I pretty much discovered what I like by doing a lot of M Ollossons recipes. The recipes are tried and tested, so I always ended up with a good pint of whatever. By knowing what I liked I could then formulate a recipe to my taste.
My first big jump was to look at recipe ingredients as ratios as opposed to weights. Then a study of various malts and the worlds your oyster. The only problem is moving on when you find a recipe you like

I reversed the theory to also find what I didn't like, eg, buy a bottle of beer, look for a clone recipe, and then identify what the ingredient was that I didn't like.

Wheat malt was my first substitution at 5% of the pale malt in the grist. Only recently I discovered that I don't like crystal above 5%. I couldn't identify what the taste was until Aleman pointed me in the right direction at a local CBA meeting.

For the moment I know what styles I like, IBU's at the upper end, and most hops.
There are plenty of recipes to try before throwing my own together....but the day will come

 

[BrewStew]

We better qualify that as U.K gallons

done :thumb:

speaking of your beers... what was in that stout that "tasted funny".... i think i've got the same taste in my taRd... but only after it'd been sat in the keg for over two months. i think it may be an ageing issue with one of the ingredients.... roasted maybe?

 

[Vossy1]

speaking of your beers... what was in that stout that "tasted funny".... i think i've got the same taste in my taRd... but only after it'd been sat in the keg for over two months. i think it may be an ageing issue with one of the ingredients.... roasted maybe?

I still don't know what it was. Do you remember that we thought it might be in the new batch...well, I've been avoiding the disappointment of finding out, but the other day I ran out of bitter...so there was only one thing to do

The new batch doesn't even have a hint of it :party: and it's a totally different beer to my normal oatmeal stouts. It's far roastier, and the chocolate comes through a treat. It's now 10 weeks old and drinking fine :drink:
I only mashed 0.5 deg higher than normal, and either that's caused the difference in body, or it's the ageing.

Back to 'that' taste....I can only put it down to infection now, but I'm still not happy lying it at that door.
My methods remain unchanged, and I would have thought I'd have seen problems with pales and bitters first :hmm:
I'll have to try another pint to make sure though :

I will be interested to see if I will ever experience that 'special' taste :sick: by someone elses hands :shock:

 

[BrewStew]

so nothing was different apart from the mash temp? wow that's weird. didn't aleman and i try another batch for which we could taste "that" taste everso slightly? or were we tasting that taste as a result of having it on the palate :lol:

i seriously doubt it's an infection knowing what you're like with your sanitising routine mate :lol:

did you use wheat malt? cos IIRC the bottles of genius i had that were from the yeast test i did never had a hint of "that" taste.

i'll be interested to see if my Winter Sunrise goes that way as that's got wheat malt in it

 

[Vossy1]

didn't aleman and i try another batch for which we could taste "that" taste everso slightly?

Yep

or were we tasting that taste as a result of having it on the palate

Probably, I can taste that 'taste' for weeks afterwards in everything I drink :sick:

did you use wheat malt?

Nope

 

[BrewStew]

yesterday i learned that mash temps really aren't that critical to making a good tasting beer after tasting my Winter Sunrise that was mashed at 64'c dropping to 60'c over the 90 mins cos of quite a few issues :thumb:

i cant wait to get the atto brewery going to taste the difference between a higher mash temp and a lower one though! :thumb:

 

[Wez]

I picked up some info from a head brewer which i've found to be great advice.

1% Chocolate Malt added to the grist gives beers a nice mellow complex flavour

 

[MEB]

I've not ever done a brew to a 'recipe' exactly. I don't have any brewing books and most of the time when i want to copy a recipe i see i don't have the exact ingredients so i substitute.
I think i'm getting closer each brew to my ideals but it's a long hard slog drinking all that beer. :lol:

Recently i have been playing with Amber and Brown Malts. No definitive results yet. Except Styrian Slapper which was horrible untill it reached 2 months maturity. I have found the more your recipe's tend to steer in one direction or have complex malts the longer they will take to mellow out and reach their peak.

I have decided that i'm not overly fond of Cascade hops. But i adore Nelson Sauvin, Northdown, Challenger, Green Bullet and Fuggles.

I think that rather than the balance of malts being the factor i think it is the balance of malts AND the right yeast that provides the best drinking experience. :hmm: