Does everyone always follow a specific recipe or.....

Craig007red · Nov 15, 2018

Does anyone just brew a beer of the top of their head and its turned out OK?

For instance, I'm currently bottle conditioning my first brew which is a Brewdog punk IPA kit, as things stand things went well and it should be OK, but let's be honest it isn't the worlds best beer.

I was thinking of just making my own based on a kilo of malts, I have a kilo of golden promise and a kilo of maris otter and I was just going to put 500g of each into the mash. I also have a nice little collection of hops ( Citra, Centennial, Simcoe, Chinook, Ekuanot, Nelson Sauvin, El Dorado, Huell Melon etc) which I would add along the way into the boil (not all obviously), and I also have a small collection of yeast packets suitable for IPA's and pale ales.

Is it worth me experimenting or would you say stick to a certain recipe? My favoured tipples are IPA's and pale ales.

Any feedback welcome

Cheers.

Craig007red · Nov 15, 2018

I should have mentioned I can currently only brew up to a gallon. (very limited I know)

prog99 · Nov 15, 2018

Both. Depends on what I'm doing.

You can stick the numbers into here to make sure it won't be too daft - https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator

MmmBeer · Nov 15, 2018

Tried and tested recipes are good guidelines to follow, but as with cooking, it is fine to adjust here and there to suit your tastes and availability of ingredients. Keeping things simple when starting out helps you to pick out individual flavours from hops and malts to help you to build recipes in the future. Using brewing software like prog99 suggested helps you get the colour, bitterness and alcohol levels right for what you are trying to brew.

My brewing progress went roughly:- Kits, AG SMaSH's, Wild and wonderful kitchen sink brews, Published recipes, Modified recipes, Own recipes.

Oneflewover · Nov 15, 2018

For me designing my own recipes and seeing how they work is a big part of the hobby. I think you need to start with a good understanding of ingredients and processes though first, so as in cooking it's a good idea to start with tried and tested recipes

simon12 · Nov 15, 2018

I have never followed a recipe but look at a few as a guide for the style and go from there.

braziliain · Nov 15, 2018

Usually a recipe as a base. That said I brewed a pale ale for the corny using left overs a couple of months back, no recipe and it was one of my favourite beers to date!

DavidDetroit · Nov 15, 2018

For me, I followed recipes exactly for some time. Once I got the hang of it, I started adjusting them to my preference. As pointed out, there's great fun to be had by being the designer. Just be sure to write down what you did if you make a true beauty.

Gallon batches are great and have benefits.

Craig007red · Nov 15, 2018

davidfromUS said:
For me, I followed recipes exactly for some time. Once I got the hang of it, I started adjusting them to my preference. As pointed out, there's great fun to be had by being the designer. Just be sure to write down what you did if you make a true beauty.

Gallon batches are great and have benefits.

That's my plan, to write down exactly what i did and used and see what the end result is and then adjust from there for the future.

Linalmeemow · Nov 15, 2018

I used recipes to refine the malt bill for the different styles I make then play about with the hop additions til I'm happy. Using recipes is great and I still do that regularly too, but it's more satisfying when one of your own comes out well.

Dull Boy · Nov 15, 2018

Craig007red said:
That's my plan, to write down exactly what i did and used and see what the end result is and then adjust from there for the future.

As Prog99 states, plug the numbers in https://www.brewersfriend.com/ it will give you a good idea of how much grain/hop to use. I'm pretty sure you get 5 free recipe trials.

phildo79 · Nov 16, 2018

If you haven't already done so, get yourself some good beginner homebrew books. There is a wealth of info about hops, grains and adjuncts that aren't immediately obvious but can be quite important when it comes to making a balanced beer. Nothing worse than going to all the effort on brew day, only to end up with a **** tasting beer. It's happened to me a couple of times (through stupidity and a, 'sure it'll be alright' attitude) and it's quite a galling feeling, pouring 40 pints of beer down the drain.

Does everyone always follow a specific recipe or.....

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