Recipe Compositions...

[Leemond]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on putting together recipes? I have used the Brewer's Friend tool today and am very impressed with it. I went for a "British Golden Ale" and what I've composed has ticked all but two of the boxes for the style and come out at just over 4% ABV which is roughly where I want to be. In terms of hops though, I've selected two that have similar flavours and aromas as I wanted quite a fruity tasting beer that wasn't massively bitter.

Do other people try and match similar hop flavours or is there some way of working out which ones go together? I know a little about bitterness units etc now and know to use less of a hop if it has a higher bitterness etc. In terms of aroma hops though, how do you decide which you put in during and/or post boil? (I don't yet think I'm advanced enough for dry hopping).

In terms of grain i have deliberately selected styles grown for ales and not lagers, Belgium beers etc but again there are different options.

Is it all trial and error? Should existing recipes be used as a base and tweaked to begin with?

Just having a wonder after spending an age putting my recipe together!

Cheers :

 

[ExpatBrewer]

When you get into DIY recipes there's limitless possibilities and it can get to be quite overwhelming. I've often used popular recipes as a place to start but many styles are so wide open to interpretation that you can almost do what you like with them! For the sake of my own sanity I decided to narrow the choice by restricting myself to local fresh ingredients, which in my case is NZ hops and Gladfield malts.

I've brewed quite a few Golden ales this year, after my first I quickly realised that it could well be one of my favourite styles. My understanding of the style is that they are most often single hopped so what I decided to do, as part of my own 'hop education' was to brew essentially the same partial-mash beer, but each time showcasing a different 'main' hop. I base my mini-mashes on a Coopers lager can (as it's a good 'neutral' bittered LME base) and mash 2kg of grain. I have a late addition of waimea hops - a nominal 10g@15mins to both bring the IBU's up to 30 and of course contribute a little to the flavor. The 'feature' hop though is in the form of 50g added post-boil (sub 80ºC) which steeps during wort cooling for around 30 - 40 mins. It's been a good way to get to know the hops individually and I've discovered a few favourites along the way, namely riwaka, kohatu, pacifica and of course nelson sauvin.

As for hop combos, that's one area I lack experience. I think it's safe to say it's very complicated because the particular hop, the malt profile, the relative quantities, boil or steep times etc etc all have an impact. So I've tended to take more of a 'try it and see' approach. One thing that did become very apparent with my golden ales was that 50g of one hop can have quite a different impact to 50g of another. E.g. 50g Nelson really made it's presence felt, that's seriously one 'in-yer-face' hop! In contrast 50g of kohatu, an absolutely delicious hop by the way, was very mellow and subdued in comparison. I don't dry-hop my golden ales, I save that for my pale ales!

 

[Sandimas]

I've been putting recipes together for a few years now and still feel that I'm on a steep learning curve, particularly with late hops and hop combinations. But experimentation is the fun part of brewing, I'm one of these people who learns through doing not reading so I like to make a lot of small-volume brews 10L-15L rather than the bigger volumes. I do look at lots of recipes and try to learn from them.

Surprised on your comment about dry hopping - that's the first thing most people do when they start to pimp up kits. For a British ale, something like 20g-30g of Goldings dry hopped will liven up a brew nicely.

Care to post your recipe, or at least the hop schedule, so we can have a look?

 

[Leemond]

Thank you for the replies.

Expat - 50g post boil? That may change my recipe somewhat then as I really want to extract the fruit notes from both the hops I've chosen.

Darrell- I will look to dry hop some future brews then. I assume dry hopping is done with 'complete' hops (not pellets etc as I've only used these up to now).

Here is my current recipe...

3kg Golden Promise
1kg Hook Head Pale Malt

20g Challenger (60 min boil)
8g Huell Melon (last 10 min)
8g Belma Post Boil

Could I increase the amount of both aroma hops and put them both in post boil? I don't want to increase the bitterness anymore as its already at around 27. I know a lot do 90 min boils but this increases the bitterness. Should I do a 90 min boil but drop the amount of challenger hops?

Hmm :hmm:

 

[Sandimas]

8g Huell Melon (last 10 min)
8g Belma Post Boil

Crikey - you say you're new to this and are not comfortable with dry hopping, then come up with a recipe with 2 hops I've never heard of :-o

I'd be tempted to keep it simple for your first brew. Challenger is a good choice for bittering a British ale, why not use East Kent or Styrian Goldings for your late hops? 10g last 10mins followed by a 10g post-boil steep, maybe a bit more steep if you want more aroma.

 

[Leemond]

I'll be honest I chose those hops based on the flavour profile on the website I got them off, not because I have a vast experience of different hops! I've bought them now so will give them a go at some point but will also get some of the hops you've mentioned to do something a bit more simple. Walk before I run and all that! :thumb:

 

[Sandimas]

Oh, as you've already got them then you might as well use them.

I think you may find 8g too little to notice, I'd be tempted to up your 8g additions to 15g or 20g each. But other than that, I reckon it'll turn out good - let us know how it goes, those hops sound interesting.

 

[ACBEV]

This is my recipe for golden ale. The hop choices and schedule work well.

3600g Golden Promise
200g Caramalt
200g Wheat Malt
Mash @ 65c
Wyeast London III @ 18c
15g Challenger @ 60 mins
15g Fuggles @ 30 mins
10g Goldings @ 15 mins
5g Goldings @ 5 mins
OG 1.042
IBU 27
EBC 9.5

Challenger, Fuggles and Goldings work well together. I have subbed the Challenger for Cluster and the 5g of Goldings for Cascade....This works well too...
15g Cluster @ 60 mins
15g Fuggles @ 30 mins
10g Goldings @ 15 mins
5g Cascade @ 5 mins

If your interested in classic British beer, I'd recommend keeping a stable of hops, my top 5 are Challenger, Fuggles, Goldings, Saaz, Cluster. Although Cluster and Saaz are not British hops, they have been used in the UK brewing industry for a very long time. With these hops I can brew all British beer types.

Have a look at Ron Pattinsons blog... He has hundreds of classic British recipes covering the last two hundred years. It gave me a better understanding of recipe design, beer types and hopping...
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/beer recipes