BeerBorg

95% of mine are my AGs are my own. I like to brew to style and typically shoot for the middle to upper middle of the style range. For me, half the fun is trying to figure out how to hit the style and be able to consistently reproduce it. I have one more tweak to make on my APA, then I "should" be ready to start tweaking my Irish Red (although the sample was excellent, so that one may get finalized after one or two batches). I'm not big on super hoppy, or big beers (although I will drink just about anything). Ideally I'd like to end up with 5-6 styles that are my own recipes. Also being of 100% German heritage, I try to stick to the Reinheitsgebot!

I guess I'm with the others here - I brew a gamut of recipes; some are 100% my own, some are 100% from other brewers, and lately, I've been taking Jamil Zainasheff's and John Palmer's recipes (Brewing Classic Styles) and tweaking them. I have to say - Brewing Classic Styles has some tasty recipes!

Kealia wrote:Have you used up all of those winnings yet?

Still have about six cans of extract, I believe...

EDIT: Yep, six cans, as well as a bunch of generic yeast, and a few other dry yeasts...

russki wrote:I guess I'm with the others here - I brew a gamut of recipes; some are 100% my own, some are 100% from other brewers, and lately, I've been taking Jamil Zainasheff's and John Palmer's recipes (Brewing Classic Styles) and tweaking them. I have to say - Brewing Classic Styles has some tasty recipes!

+1

I have used BCS as well as a jumping off point and can verify ruski's findings...

There are some very good recipes in there if you just want to brew them.

For me, I have been able to use it to define a style, then create something from scratch within the style...

Many times they work out, other times... Well...it's beer...

I like to approach brewing like I do cooking... Getting to know the ingredients and what they bring to the party... How they will interplay and what the end result might be.

In that sense, I will often investigate numerous sources for similar but different recipes, and then aggregate that with my own experience into a new recipe.

Like I said, many times they work out, other times... Well...it's beer...

"...the thrill of victory... And the agony of defeat."

I go to brewtoad.com to create a recipe and then tweak the ingredients until it fits into the style that I'm shooting for.

swenocha wrote:I kinda do all of the above. Sometimes I just wing it based on ingredients on hand, or if I have a new ingredient I want to try. Other times I grab a recipe from one of the several recipe books I've picked up over the years. And sometimes I like to clone beers I've liked before and seek out recipes from trusted sources. Occasionally I'm slid a recipe from a brewery/brewmaster that I try. And at least once I win a contest and thus use those ingredients either straight up or as an ingredient base.

^ this, although I ted to tweak everything a little bit, change the hops to my liking, etc.

Kealia wrote:Have you used up all of those winnings yet?

I don't know about Swen, but I actually still have a couple of cans left. I had bought a Northwest before I won stuff, and brewed it and was not much of a fan... so that can is sitting here for one. I'm going to add dme and a crap load of hops to bury the POR in it when the temps drop here. Then maybe I'll like it.

FedoraDave wrote:This requires a little explaining on my part.

I guess what I really mean is how do you formulate your recipes, and roughly what percentage of them are totally original?

For instance, I go from one extreme to the other. For my 2.5 gallon batches, I use HME/LME recipes and don't change them at all, for ease and quickness of preparation. But my 5 gallon batches are all AG batches, and they're recipes I've invented on my own. There really isn't any in-between for me.

I'm the same way, except my 5 gal BIAB batches ... are usually simple recipes. I don't go crazy with specialty grains much anymore. A little 60L, whatever.

I would like to try a Maris Otter SMaSH, though. I probably will soon.

Hey, you got more posts than me!

I havent brewed a straight HME recipe it quite awhile. since i moved to AG BIAB i formulate my own recipes based on the grains and what style i am trying for. Have learned so much from the brewers here over the years. That i now come up with some really fine brews. I like to experiment with the same grain bill and different hops to taste the difference and find what i like. The worst that happens is i make beer. Usually pretty good beer

mashani wrote: I don't know about Swen, but I actually still have a couple of cans left. I had bought a Northwest before I won stuff, and brewed it and was not much of a fan... so that can is sitting here for one. I'm going to add dme and a crap load of hops to bury the POR in it when the temps drop here. Then maybe I'll like it.

This is likely my plan with this as well. I was really not a fan of the original pass at this (I had bought all four of the big cans right before the contest as well), but managed to like it well enough after it sat for nine months and mellowed the PoR. Hopefully I can use Sorachi, Warrior, Amarillo, or something else to bury it in an IPA-ish type of thing. I'm worried I may run into the same thing on the pilsner, patriot, and american pale... Anyone have experience there?

The pilsner is POR city. I do not like it. You can pile on the saaz and it still tastes like POR. Although it would seem to be a good base for a light Belgian, I do not recommend it for any Belgian beer as that flavor just doesn't go well there. I think the Canadian makes much better Belgian beers, as it's more lightly bittered and the POR doesn't stand out. If someone wants a pilsner HME, I'd strongly recommend they either get a Brew Demon version, which is tasty and makes good beer or else a Muntons Gold kit.

The patriot - same deal, really am not a fan.

Those are probably my 2 least favorite new Mr. Beer refills. I'd bury them under a bunch of late hops or add a bunch of crystal and other stuff to turn them into something totally different to bury that flavor.

Which American are you talking about? The American Ale, I actually found to be ok. I added a pound of DME and did a hop boil of some Centennial for flavor/aroma. It has some crystal in it that covered up the POR enough for me. I didn't taste it at all after a bit of age and it became very smooth and good APA type of beer.

The American Light I added to a Canadian and added some sugar and styrians and turned it into a strong golden type of beer that came out decent. It's bittered so lightly that the POR should not show up in it, unless you are one of those super POR tasters.

mashani wrote: The pilsner is POR city. I do not like it. If someone wants a pilsner HME, I'd strongly recommend they either get a Brew Demon version, which is tasty and makes good beer or else a Muntons Gold kit.

So even though the Brew Demon refills are the old Mr Beer refills, they're not using the POR hops? Is that correct?