One recipe four versions!

[Battleaxe]

I've been reading a lot recently and one thing I see over and over again is experienced Brewers advising to only change one thing at a time when brewing

So far I've brewed 4 AG batches a TT Landlord clone, A Dark ruby based on York brewery's Centurions ghost ale, a Yorkshire terrier clone and Inspired by the recent DIY Dog release I brewed an Ipa using what hops and malts I had to hand just to see what happens!

As you can see I've brewed 4 different beers The only change one thing mantra hasn't really been used! So this has given me an idea.

I'm going to brew Four batches of the same Recipe and change one thing each time!

One of these is a control recipe, one that provides the base for changes in the next 3 batches.

The control reference recipe is as follows

4.5L batch
7L Boil
Mash @ 68c
OG 1.048
FG 1.013
ABV 4.5%
IBU 32

Grain:

Pale ale 900g

Hops

Cascade 7.5g @ 60min

Cascade 10g @ 0min

From that does anyone have any suggestions on what to change? Obviously I'm Considering Hopping differently (Higher IBU/Different. Schedule) another option is adding a % of crystal, mashing at a different temperature etc etc any other ideas would be welcomed I'm up for some experimentation!!!

 

[Halfacrem]

Are you able to do one mash to produce the wort for all 4 batches?

 

[wfr42]

I was thinking about trying something similar.

Splitting 4 gallons of wort and dry hopping each demi john differently, maybe leaving one with just the bittering and aroma hops.

Good luck with your experiments.

 

[Battleaxe]

Are you able to do one mash to produce the wort for all 4 batches?

Unfortunately not, I'd be brewing once a fortnight as one batch is bottled I brew another.

I can see this being an issue as id be comparing batches of a different age thus affecting the consistency or perception of any changes I might make.

The biggest batch I could produce would be 9L so in theory I could run of enough wort to boil in two boils I only have one pot so time could be an issue.

 

[JapanBrew]

You should first try different yeasts. One with s04 another with 05 and the 33 yeast as well as another strain. If you can get the California super lager, it can take ale temps.

That will show you how much different yeasts are in flavoring. You'd be surprised.

Now when you say change one ingredient, do you mean add one as well? Because your only using 2, one type of grain and one hop.
I would use a Pilsner base malt, 80% and then swap out the 20 with other types to see what that does to body and taste. Keep the hops the same.

 

[brisboy]

You should first try different yeasts. One with s04 another with 05 and the 33 yeast as well as another strain. If you can get the California super lager, it can take ale temps.

That will show you how much different yeasts are in flavoring. You'd be surprised.

Now when you say change one ingredient, do you mean add one as well? Because your only using 2, one type of grain and one hop.
I would use a Pilsner base malt, 80% and then swap out the 20 with other types to see what that does to body and taste. Keep the hops the same.

Yes! I just did a batch which I called "split personality porter." One mash, one boil, two demijohns: one with s04 and one with a west coast American yeast. Amazing difference in the two beers with only one thing different.

 

[JapanBrew]

It makes you think more about yeast. Some people just stick with one yeast. That said, we can only get like 3 or 4 kinds of yeasts here in Japan. So recently I've been harvesting yeast cultures from all over. Wild yeast is everywhere but the ones on fruits are especially good. Just growing them to a pitchable size takes time.

 

[GHW]

Here's what I'd do:
1) basic recipe
2) same basic recipe, different yeast
3) same basic recipe but add a dry hop
4) same grain bill as the basic but a different single hop (maybe something like galaxy or Amarillo, but have a read of hops and see what you fancy)

You could do more
- add a small amount of specialty malt to the grain, eg crystal
- change the pale malt base completely (use Maris otter then something else, like redx
or Munich)
- add a second hop to the base recipe (centennial would be a good addition, but anything really)
- tap v bottled water v treated tap water
- use cascade again but increase the ibu to see what that's like
- big amounts of flameout hops

That should keep you busy for a while though you'll have a lot of fairly similar beer to get through!

 

[Halfacrem]

I think the 'change one thing approach' is sage advice if you want to perfect one type of beer. I have to admit I had the same thought, but soon got lost in 'variety is the spice of life'

Good luck with your experiment. Perhaps the first questions you need to ask yourself is, 'what do I want to achieve from this and what am I most interested in learning about first?' Then choose your variations on those.

 

[bochgoch]

I'd play around with malts, with quantities of crystal, chocolate & amber for example. Assess the impact on body, colour, mouth feel and flavour.

 

[GlentoranMark]

Instead of changing the yeast I'd just bung the next recipe onto the trub of the last one. This will save you both money and cleaning. I'd start with a low hop beer and increase the hops on each recipe. Do the same colour wise, lighter beers first.

My house stout is done this way, tweaking on every brew. I'm adding vanilla to my next one, maybe orange next one etc.

 

[Battleaxe]

I wouldn't say I was trying to reproduce or re create anything.

It's mainly for future reference if I'm trying to re create something I'd like to know what each individual change I can make will do to the final beer. I currently have no reference of what crystal adds to a final beer or what two hops instead of one will do etc etc the list goes on.

I have recently tried Nottingham instead of S-04 and the difference is noticeable Nottingham is much drier and cleaner.