Every Black Friday, folks head out in droves to do their holiday shopping. If you’re into craft beer, you know that Black Friday is also the day that Bourbon County Stout from Goose Island comes out. In very populated areas, it can be hard to get your hands on, and like many popular beers, clone recipe trials and tests are not far around the corner. Thankfully, Goose Island list some of the essentials on their website, so a close clone isn’t as hard to achieve in this case.
About Bourbon County Stout
If you don’t know, Bourbon County Stout a big beer (13-15% varies a bit yearly). It’s aged in bourbon barres and the label says it can age and develop an additional five years in the bottle. Prior to last year, they were available in four packs of 12oz bottles or in singles in many beer stores. Now (2015 and beyond), they are released in 16.9oz bottles. There are several other styles in the Bourbon County family, but today we are only talking about a clone for the bourbon county stout.
Bourbon County Stout Clone
I mentioned that they list a lot of important recipe information on their site, meaning we have a great jumping off point. So let’s begin there. The grain bill for the 2016 release includes 2 Row, Black Malt, Caramel malt, Chocolate Malt, Munuch 10L, and Roasted Barley. The only hops used are Millennium, so that makes figuring out things a lot easier. Lastly it has 60 IBUs and is 13.8% ABV. This is actually more information than you can usually find when trying to formulate a clone. Bourbon County is one of the thickest stouts you can get. The final gravity should land around 1.030, so to get to 13.8% we would need a starting gravity of 1.135. That’s a very high starting point, so extra care will be needed when it comes to fermentation management, which we’ll get to a bit later. Here is what the recipe looks like for a 5 gallon batch with 75% efficiency.
Bourbon County Clone
Grains / Extracts
Hop Schedule
Yeast
17 Pounds – 2 Row
.7 Pounds – Black Malt
1 Pound – Crystal 60L
1 Pound – Chocolate Malt
1 Pounds – Roasted Barley
5 Pounds – Munich (10L)
1oz – Millennium @60
1oz – Millennium @45
Safale US-05
By the NumbersOG: 1.135 FG: 1.030 ABV: 13.8% IBUs 60
Now, that grain bill likely pushes the very upper limits of your mash tun, if not exceeds it. Your mash will likely be a thicker ratio than you’re normally used to mashing at. This can have a negative affect on your brewhouse effeciency. Because of this, It’s a good idea to have several pounds of light extract on hand in case you don’t hit your numbers. The other option is to continue onward with a slightly lower starting gravity. You should still end up with a close rendition of Bourbon County, even at 10-11%.
Yeast Nutrition and Fermentation Management
It goes without saying that you should pitch a large starter to ensure full attenuation. Consider stepping it up 2-3 times. Oxygenation is another important method to employ to help your beer attenuate to your desired FG. Higher OG beers require a bit more oxygenation as they do not absorb oxygen as easily. You should also consider oxygenating twice, once at pitch, and once 12 hours later, to ensure the yeast has all it needs during its reproductive phase. You can charge your beer up to 8ppm of oxygen using an air pump oxygenation kit. In addition, you should look to add extra yeast nutrient to the beer. Adopting a staggered nutrient addition regiment, similar to that used by mead makers to ensure healthy and complete fermentations in high stress scenarios. Instead of adding the entire dose of nutrients when you pitch your yeast, simply add 1/3 of a full dose at pitch, another 1/3 after the lag phase has ended, and a final 1/3 a day later. Basically, this keeps the yeast happy without feeding them a bunch of nutrient up front where they may get lazy after a day or two.
Aging With Oak and Bourbon, and Conditioning
Now you’re on the home stretch of your Bourbon County clone. If you’re using chips or cubes, make sure you use heavy toast, or at least medium, as they will be the closest imitation to the wood used for a bourbon barrel. Soak the chips or cubes in bourbon while the beer is fermenting. When fermentation is done or mostly done, add the bourbon and oak to the beer. You’ll want to pay attention to not over-oak the beer. Once it’s at a point you are happy with (take samples to monitor progress) you can prime and bottle or transfer to a keg. When it comes to conditioning, Goose Island bottles in October, and the beer is released at the end of November. So plan on conditioning for at least 7-8 weeks for more accuracy, and continue to age as you see fit from there.
Thank you for joining us for yet another episode of the Homebrew Happy Hour … the podcast where we answer YOUR homebrewing questions and discuss all things related to craft beer!
I don’t know where you’re tuning in from but, here in central Texas, it is FINALLY feeling like brewing weather. High 40’s, low 50’s (Fahrenheit, to clarify for our international crowd!) and sunny days. I LOVE IT! I hope you’re having good weather and even better brewing days too.
On Today’s Show:
Matt Bolling from the American Homebrewer’s Association joins me today to discuss the upcoming “Learn to Homebrew Day” which is THIS SATURDAY, November 2nd, 2019. It’s always the first Saturday of November and it is always a good time!
Matt is the Events & Membership Coordinator at the AHA and we’ve known him for a while. If you’ve ever attended any of the events put on by the AHA and/or the BA, you’ve probably seen Matt around or at least experienced a good time thanks to the efforts of Matt and the entire team there at the AHA.
He talks about Learn to Homebrew Day as well other fun stuff such as the other events going on throughout the year, his own homebrewing experience, and the benefits and joys of being a part of a local homebrewing club. I had an absolute blast with Matt and hope to have him on again in the future!
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
Let us know what you think and enjoy the show!
cheers,
joshua
——————-
Become a Patron! Reminder that these episodes are ultimately made possible because of YOUR support. Consider becoming a member of our newly launched Patreon page and receive perks such as merch, exclusive group access and content, recipes, and some tiers even get monthly recipe kits mailed to you!
Thank you for joining us for yet another episode of the Homebrew Happy Hour … the podcast where we answer YOUR homebrewing questions and discuss all things related to craft beer!
On Today’s Show:
Todd and James join me for a fun filled episode of the show! We catch up with the birthday boy, Mr. Carlson, about him turning 50. We also are reminded how annoyed Todd gets by me and how much he’s looking forward to me starting to gush about Founder’s Breakfast Stout (can you sense the sarcasm yet?). We also eventually take a couple of questions and it’s this segment of the show that I’m most thankful for Todd and James! Kidding aside —
I would also like to remind everyone that our very first Patreon exclusive LIVE Q&A is THIS FRIDAY (October 25th) at 6pm in our private Facebook group that you can join at ANY level of our Patreon community. The lovely Lorena Evans will be taking your questions and it’s going to be a blast!
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
Let us know what you think and enjoy the show!
cheers,
joshua
Become a Patron! Reminder that these episodes are ultimately made possible because of YOUR support. Consider becoming a member of our newly launched Patreon page and receive perks such as merch, exclusive group access and content, recipes, and some tiers even get monthly recipe kits mailed to you!
October’s Patreon Featured Recipe: https://www.kegconnection.com/koln-kolsch-true-to-style-all-grain-recipe-kit/
https://www.patreon.com/HomebrewHappyHour
Bohemian Pilsner that James brewed –
All Grain: https://homebrewsupply.com/bohemian-pilsner-all-grain-recipe-kit/
Extract: https://homebrewsupply.com/bohemian-pilsner-extract-recipe-kit/
02:28 – Todd’s idea for promoting our Patreon
07:41 – New recipes we’re developing
08:56 – News and exclusives for our Patreon community
12:00 – Update one James’ latest brew, a Bohemian Pilsner
15:40 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES!
18:13 – Question 1, upgrading fermentation equipment
34:50 – Question 2, using a kegerator to serve and ferment?
We’ve gotten a few requests from listeners of our podcast on how to replace the bonnet on their premium Taprite regulator whenever it strips. Stripping isn’t a common issue with these regulators but can occur, especially if you’re using your system consistently to force carbonate your beer. Fortunately, it’s easier to fix than you might think! James Carlson from CMBecker International shows you how in this short and sweet video. REMINDER – if you did purchase your Taprite regulator from Kegconnection.com, it does come with a 2-year extended warranty! So, if you don’t feel like replacing the bonnet yourself, you can ship it to Kegconnection and they’ll replace it for free and cover the shipping costs. However, if you’re like us and would rather not wait longer than you have to, you can also get the replacement kit shipped out to you and do it yourself! T
When I started brewing in 2017, I just wanted to brew the clearest brightest IPA I possibly could. I used several different fining agents including gelatin, Biofine clear, and Whirlfloc. I wanted the beer to be so translucent that you could read a magazine through it. Flash forward two and a half years and now I find myself trying to create the haziest IPA possible. While NEIPA’s have become extremely popular amongst professional breweries, they have become an even more desirable creation with the home brewing community. Homebrewers are constantly trying to match the appearance, flavor, and aromas often found at popular breweries such as Treehouse, Trillium, and The Alchemist. In late 2018 I made my first attempt at mastering this style, and while the beer was most certainly drinkable, it still lacked many of the characteristics found in this relatively new style. I used a ton of flaked wheat and flaked oats, in hopes that my beer had as much opacity as a tall glass of heavily pulped orange juice. No matter how hard I tried I still fell short with one facet or another. Over the next several months I worked on developing a silky mouth feel, juicy flavors, unique aromas, and most importantly creating a stable haze that could be produced without merely shaking the keg prior to pouring each pint. While I still haven’t mastered the perfect NEIPA, I feel like I am very close to reeling in this white whale.
Featured Product
Juicy Sundrops NEIPA
This isn’t your Grandfather’s IPA. This fruity, “juicy”, hazy ale looks, smells, and tastes like straight up fruit juice. Bountiful citrus aroma & flavor cascade in every pint you pour. What are you waiting for? It’s time to join the Haze Craze!
$38.24 Order Now
Water and the Grain Bill
Initially
I thought that the most important ingredients to a perfect NEIPA were yeast and
flaked malts, such as wheat and oats, but after several attempts I discovered
that there were far more factors to consider. The first variable to consider is
the water chemistry being used to brew. NEIPA’s require a water base higher in
calcium chloride and lower in sulfate. In fact, many experts agree that a good
starting ratio is a 2 ppm of chloride to 1 ppm of sulfate. Some brewers have
even gone as much as 2.5 to 3 ppm to 1 ppm. I tend to stick close to the 2 to 1
ratio, which places my water profile around 190 ppm chloride to 90 ppm sulfate.
Using this profile on my latest NEIPA produced a fantastic silky
mouthfeel.
The
next major characteristic that I focused on was color. I wanted a nice bright
orange appearance that could easily be mistaken for orange juice, but everything
I had produced to this point appeared too amber or copper in color. I tried a
variation of caramel malts to produce the orange hue, but it wasn’t until I
tried Viking caramel 150 that I finally got close to the desired shade. I
attempted to use Vienna malt and I noticed that it enhanced the orange color
even more. I finally discovered the sweet spot was around 2% Viking caramel 150
and 2% Vienna malt. Combined with 80% Viking pale 2 row I was finally able to
produce the preferred color.
Next,
I moved on to the specialty grains that would produce the haze I was seeking.
For this I turned to flaked oats and flaked wheat. I had been told by a number
of brewers that 15 or 20% of the grain bill should include these unmalted
grains, but after a bit of research I discovered that using too many flaked
grains could lead to unwanted oxidation, even if all the necessary steps were
taken to avoid it. So, I scaled back the unmalted additions to around 6.5%
each. Dropping this part of the grain bill lowered the amount of haze slightly,
but it also avoided the undesirable taste of oxidation as well. In the final 3%
of the grain bill I include rice hulls to help avoid any potential stuck sparge
I might encounter.
Hop additions
With
the water profile and grain bill in place it’s now time to focus on the
all-important hop additions. There is a huge debate among brewers regarding the
hop schedule for NEIPAs. Some will have you believe that you should never
introduce any hops into the kettle during the boil. There goal is to extract
all of the flavors and aromas during the whirlpool. Some, on the other hand
will tell you that it doesn’t hurt to include a hop addition late in the boil.
Still others will stick to a more traditional hopping and at least add a
60-minute addition along with a 20 to 25-minute whirlpool. In reality it comes
down to a matter of preference. I personally have tried no additions until
whirlpooling, as well as late boil additions. I prefer a NEIPA that has some
backbone, so I perform a first wort hop during the sparge. Once I have about 20
minutes left in the sparge I will add .5 to 1 oz of a mid-level Alpha Acid hop
such as Amarillo or Galaxy. Once boil begins, I will wait until there is about
10 minutes left in the boil upon which I will add a small dose of flavorful
hops like Citra or Azacca. When the boil has finally ended, I will kill the
heat source and begin to cool the wort until it reaches 185 F. At that point I
will turn the chiller off and re-fire the heat source to maintain the whirlpool
temp, and then I will add a generous dose of hops. I will stir the wort for 20
minutes and then once again kill the heat source and turn the chiller back on. Once
the wort has been chilled to about 68 F I will transfer to the conical, and drop
the air stone in. I like to let the stone aerate the wort for about 10 minutes
before I pitch the yeast.
Over
the past few months I have begun to focus deeply on limiting cold side
oxidation, especially when dry hopping. To accomplish this, I dry hop while the
wort is still fermenting. With NEIPAs I like to dry hop between 24 and 48 hours
into fermentation so that there is plenty of CO2 still in the conical to eat up
any oxygen that may enter when I open the hop port.
Pitching the perfect yeast
Yeast
selection is key in creating the perfect NEIPA. I have talked to several
brewers that use WLP066 London Fog, Wyeast1318 London Ale, Imperial A38 Juice,
or Imperial Yeast A04 Barbarian. I have achieved some pretty outstanding
results with A38. It really tends to enhance citrus fruit esters that are
highly desired in an NEIPA. No matter which yeast you choose I would always
recommend using some type of yeast nutrient to give the yeast a little extra
kick.
There
are a lot of people that will tell you NEIPAs are produced from lazy brewing
practices, but I would debunk that by saying some of the most complex brew days
that I have ever had involved the creation of Hazy Juicy IPA’s. In my personal
opinion NEIPAs are some of the easiest drinking and most satisfying home brews
one can create and I would highly encourage you to give it a shot at least once
before passing a negative judgment.
We welcome you back to another episode of the Homebrew Happy Hour … the podcast where we answer YOUR homebrewing questions and discuss all things related to craft beer!
On Today’s Show:
Ladik Joe Ermis from HomebrewSupply.com joins me today and we talk about the brown ale we recently brewed, the newly launched Patreon community (www.Patreon.com/HomebrewHappyHour), and we take questions about converting recipes from extract to all grain as well as a question on using Cabernet grapes in a beer recipe. It was a ton of fun and always a blast when Joe gets to come on the show!
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
Let us know what you think and enjoy the show!
cheers,
joshua
Become a Patron! Reminder that these episodes are ultimately made possible because of YOUR support. Consider becoming a member of our newly launched Patreon page and receive perks such as merch, exclusive group access and content, recipes, and some tiers even get monthly recipe kits mailed to you!
At first glance home brewing appears to be a linear process that follows a basic premise with fundamentally universal procedures. Those new to the brewing game will often hear seasoned vets preach about sanitation, maintaining mash temps, hitting the proper water PH, and most certainly the importance of temperature control during the fermentation process. That is until recently. Over the past several months a type of yeast has made its way to American yeast propagators, and it is not only changing the game in professional breweries, but it’s also whipping the home brewing sector into a frenzy. One of the most difficult things to master with Kveik is the pronunciation of the word. To English speaking people the word sounds like quake, as in earthquake. In Norway the W sound doesn’t exist so when a native of Norway pronounces the word it comes across as Ka-Vake. Regardless of how you say it Kveik has brought a whole new approach to the way we as home brewers ferment our frothy golden creations.
A blend of three different traditional Norweigan kveik, Kveiking can produce a ton of tropical fruit aromas! Pineapple and guava dominate the aroma profile, with other tropical and stone fruits mixed in. While a lower pitch rate can be used to really drive these aromas, care should be taken to ensure a continuous high fermentation temperature with a low pitch rate.
Kveik is not a particular strain of yeast in the traditional sense. The term itself is derived from a specific Norwegian dialect meaning “yeast”. Traditionally, yeast used in brewing consists of one specific strain such as California Ale or English Ale. Each of these strains imparts certain characters into the beer that are often quite easy to identify. Kveik on the other hand is formulated from the mixture of multiple strains of yeast that aren’t nearly as simple to identify. Kveik is a blend of yeasts that have been used for hundreds of years in Norway, and it is often passed down from generation to generation. Kveik is a central ingredient used in these Norwegian beers to create a number of unique and quite delicious farmhouse ales.
What makes Kveik different from single
strain yeast?
While
the modernized brewing processes have found their way in to Norway, Kveik is
still used on a regular basis, and for the most part it remains relatively
unchanged. There are two major differences that can be identified between Kveik
and single strains that are more commonly found in modern brewing yeast. The
first difference is the way in which the yeasts are stored. Traditional liquid
yeasts come in a liquid format packaged in a plastic container that should be
kept in a refrigerator to maintain its viability. While modern Kveik can be
stored in packaging much like its single strain counterparts, in the olden
times Kveik would be dried out on wooden rings and stored on logs or other
materials that the yeast would cling to leaving it unharmed and quite viable
until the next brew day. Once it was time for pitching the yeast would be
dipped back into the wort which would awaken the yeast and allow it to work its
magic once again.
Another
major difference with Kveik is its incredibly high heat tolerance. Traditional
single strains of yeast have varying fermentation temperatures, ranging from
48F (9C) to 58F (14C) for lagers, and 62F (17C) to 76F (24C) for ales. Kveik on
the other hand does its best work when fermented in the range of 65F (18C) all
the way up to a balmy 104F (40C). In fact, some of the best results of Kveik fermented
beer have come from maintaining a temperature closer to the higher end of the
range. Fermenting at these higher temps would of course lead many to believe
that the yeast would produce fusel alcohol, off putting fruity esters, or
plasticky solvent type flavors that are normally undesirable in the final beer
product. However, this is quite the opposite when utilizing Kveik.
How is Kveik beneficial to a home brewer?
Not
every homebrewer has the ability to consistently control the temperatures of
their fermentation chambers. In fact, homebrewers often find themselves
spending a lot of time and money in an attempt to rig a system that allows them
to keep their fermenting wort in the desirable temperature range of 60 to 75
degrees Fahrenheit or 16 to 24 Celsius. Kveik yeast allows a much more
forgiving range. Maintaining a temperature in a 45-degree span is less
stressful than that of 15 degrees. Glycol chilling or other temperature-controlled
systems not only costs a lot of money on the front end, but it can also require
a lot of time babysitting a fermenting beer. Kveik gives a home brewer the
ability to in essence, set it and forget it for the 7 to 14 days often required
to produce a delicious quaffable beer.
What styles of beer can be produced from
Kveik?
While Kveik can be used with a variety of styles, it really fits nicely into a farmhouse Saison, or the highly popular New England IPA’s. Some home brewers have even gone as far as using Kveik in fruitier stouts, porters, or other English ales. Over the past couple of months, I have brewed a couple of NEIPA’s using Kveik and they have turned out quite nice. In the beers I brewed I used OYL091 Hornindal from Omega, but there are several other cultures from both Omega and Imperial including OYL061 Voss, A44 Kveiking, and A43 Loki.
While Kveik may not be a yeast culture that homebrewers will use on a regular basis, I think its one that should certainly be considered for an occasional recipe. Not only will you produce a quality beer with highly desirable esters, but you will also enjoy the speed in which this yeast ferments. If there is one thing, I have learned over the past few years of brewing it’s that I love producing delicious, highly drinkable beer as fast as possible. So the next time you’re at your local home brew store and you see a pack of Kveik yeast available pick it up and toss it in your brew. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. Cheers!
We welcome you back to another episode of the Homebrew Happy Hour … the podcast where we answer YOUR homebrewing questions and discuss all things related to craft beer!
On Today’s Show:
Todd and James are BOTH able to join me this week to take YOUR questions! Specifically, we talk about using hydrometers and refractometers and we also take a question about better understanding what temperatures are important when setting your brew day timers. It’s a great episode for newer brewers and we appreciate those who continue to send questions in as well as trust us to help you as a new brewer!
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
Let us know what you think and enjoy the show!
cheers,
joshua
https://youtu.be/1MxvQGN6O84
————————–
Become a Patron! Reminder that these episodes are ultimately made possible because of YOUR support. Consider becoming a member of our newly launched Patreon page and receive perks such as merch, exclusive group access and content, recipes, and some tiers even get monthly recipe kits mailed to you!
It’s time for another episode of the Homebrew Happy Hour … the podcast where we answer YOUR homebrewing questions and discuss all things related to craft beer!
On Today’s Show:
It’s been a couple of weeks since we released an episode! If you haven’t kept up on our social media (Facebook or Instagram, specifically), a lot has gone on the last several weeks. Between Todd’s neck surgery, my vasectomy (insert sad violin music here), and then my daughter Esther had a week long stay at the hospital for a brain tumor, no kidding! Long story short – everyone is doing fine now. They successfully removed a ganglioglioma tumor from my daughter’s brain, it was benign, and has a less than 10% chance of ever coming back. I want to thank you all for reaching out to me during the whole ordeal and for your thoughts and prayers. Truly, it meant the world to me and our community is the best community ever!
SO – with all that being said, episode 150 features Tyler Sadler; a fantastic homebrewer out of southern California who is brewing up some awesome beers and is very active in her local homebrewer club, the Socal Cerveceros! It was so much fun getting to know her and learn more about her background and future plans in brewing. You definitely need to be following her on Instagram at @TylersBrew
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
Let us know what you think and enjoy the show!
cheers,
joshua
01:11 – Introducing Tyler Sadler
02:08 – Catching you up on why we went two weeks without an episode
04:30 – Tyler recaps her California Craft Beer summit experience
07:08 – Background about SoCal Cerveceros
15:16 – Tyler’s background as a homebrewer
25:11 – Tyler going over the equipment she’s used and currently using
32:17 – Thinking of the season when preparing for a brew day
33:27 – Tyler’s future goals as a brewer
36:08 – Where you can follow Tyler online
————————–
Become a Patron! Reminder that these episodes are ultimately made possible because of YOUR support. Consider becoming a member of our newly launched Patreon page and receive perks such as merch, exclusive group access and content, recipes, and some tiers even get monthly recipe kits mailed to you!
Beginning beer brewers are often stymied when faced with the task of creating their own recipes from scratch. Many may start with recipe kits from their homebrew store (a good bet for beginners), or from a recipe they found from a book or the internet so creating a brand new recipe may seem a bit formidable.
Just like with baking, where set amounts of flour, sugar, salt and cocoa come together to form the beginning of a chocolate cake, malted grain, hops, yeast and water come together to form the basics of a beer. It’s the combination of those ingredients and the amounts needed that form the final product and that is the key to creating the beer you wish to make.
Getting Started
The very first step is to consider the style or type of beer
you are going to brew. Do you want
something light and crisp for summer, something heavy and roasty for sipping by
the fire, or something unlike either of those?
If you don’t have a specific recognized style in mind, think of some
adjectives to describe the beer you picture drinking, and even consider writing
them down. Descriptive words like
malty, hoppy, roasty, fruity, clean, British style, toasty, warm, tart, etc.,
will all give you a base to start with.
Decide if you want a lighter style like a ‘lawnmower beer’ or something
bigger and bolder, and combine it with those key words you selected. For example, if you’re thinking “clean”,
“crisp” and “light” you may be considering something like a cream ale or a
light American lager. Once you have
that style or type in your mind, with the qualities you wish for it to have,
you are well on your way.
This is also a good time to consider the amount of alcohol
you’d like the beer to have, within a rough percentage so you can begin to
choose the amount of ingredients you will be using.
With that done, it is now time to think about the
ingredients you will use in your recipe, and begin selecting them.
Malt
Malted grains form the base of any beer. Whether brewing from all grains or from malt extract, this is the largest component of the beer. When choosing the grains, think of the qualities again of the beer you are making and that will help you decide what to begin with. Generally, a base malt from the country or area where the style originated is a good bet. Base malt is the grain that makes up the majority of your grain bill. For example, if you’ve decided you would like a British brown ale, choosing a British malt like maris otter or a malt extract made from English malts would be a good base. The base malt should make up 85-100% of your beer in most cases and is the first building block.
Specialty grains are the (usually) malted grains that give color, flavor, aroma, and even body to your beer. They range from crystal malts that can impart different degrees of sweetness all the way to black malt that can give a roasty or even a burnt acrid flavor to your brew. Think of the characteristics again you’ve decided upon. Do you picture a toasty flavor with some sweetness? Or a bit of roast? Or perhaps a bit of both? Now is the time to choose the grains that will give you those flavors.
A word of caution here- “less is more” usually applies. Until you are well experienced with the
proportions and amounts of specialty ingredients in the beers you like and are
making, using less specialty grains to start with is advised. Many beers may utilize crystal malts in
varying amounts from 1-15% in beers where crystal malt is appropriate, but unless you are certain that you are
hopping enough to balance a very high percentage of crystal malts, you may want
to stay in the middle of that range.
A good place to start is to plan on your grainbill being at
least 80-90% base malt, using the specialty grains for color and flavor in the
remainder.
Using our example of a British brown ale, where you may want
a malt-forward easy drinking ale with an alcohol level of about 5% and some
caramel notes with a hint of nutty character, choose maris otter as the base
malt (or an English pale ale extract), in the amount of 85-88% or so. Add your specialty grains in smaller amounts. Generally, about 5-7% medium crystal malt
would be a good choice for this style.
Adding about 2% British chocolate malt for color and dryness would be
welcome here, and even some victory malt or biscuit malt for that “toasty”
flavor would be nice (up to 5% or so).
Reading through some of the common base malts and specialty
grains will help you decide on which to use in your recipe. Most homebrew stores have a list of the
grains and extracts they sell, along with a good description. The reason to choose maris otter in the
British brown ale came from this description from Homebrewsupply.com: Developed
in Cambridge by Dr.Bell, Pale Maris Otter is 2 row winter barley perfect for
British Ales. Developed in order to preserve the traditional flavors found in
British Ales of all sorts Pale Maris Otter offer a rich, slightly nutty flavor
with an orange tinted wort.
If choosing malts seems to be overwhelming, you may want to consider a SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beer. Using one base malt in the amount of 10 pounds per 5 gallon (US) batch would give you about a 5% beer. Choosing one or two specialty grains at a time, in smaller amounts, and adding that to your recipe will give you a distinct image of what each ingredient brings to your beer.
Hops
Hops are grown around the world now, giving brewers a larger selection than ever before and new varieties are being introduced frequently. Choosing them can be tricky if you’re not experienced with the different types and variety available. Hops are primarily used to provide bitterness to the beer, as a counter to the sweet malt but hops also provide flavor and aroma as well.
When making your first few recipes, you may decide to go
with a safe choice, using a variety from a country/area where you are sourcing
your malt. Again, in the example of the
British brown, you can find some classic “English” varieties, like East Kent
Goldings that would be terrific in this beer.
Alternatively, if you’re making an American IPA using US base malt, you may pick some wonderful and unexpected choices like the newer varieties from Australia or some of the newer “cryo” hops. The key is to find hop that won’t clash with your goals, and will enhance the entire beer. Reading the description of the hops from the producers’ websites will give you a good idea of what the hops will bring to your beer. Words like “woody”, “dank”, “tropical”, “floral”, “fruity”, “spicy” and “minty” may seem strange for beer ingredients at first, but the descriptions will help you imagine the balance of those flavors in your beer.
Yeast
Yeast is the undersung hero of the brewing world. The brewer makes the wort, but it’s the yeast that makes the beer. Choosing yeast is the final step in creating your recipe. There are many manufacturers of quality brewing yeast nowadays, and you can find a great selection in your homebrew shop. The best source of information on the yeast is on the manufacturer’s website They have descriptions of their products, along with recommended styles for their use as well as the fermentation temperature ranges and attenuation percentages.
When choosing a strain, once again consider the beer you are making. Choosing a strain designed for certain beer styles will be a good bet. As in our example above, English brown ale, picking a quality yeast meant for English ales would give a good result. Most manufacturers have a selection of English ale yeast strains to help you decide.
Water
Water is the final ingredient to consider. Since beer is 90% water, chlorine-free non-softened water is crucial for making the best beer. Getting a water report for your water is the best way to begin to delve into brewing water treatment. Many brewers have great brewing water naturally, while many others do not. Once you have a water report, or make a choice to purchase reverse osmosis or distilled water, you are ready to consider adding water treatments to your repertoire. We have a beginning’s guide to using reverse osmosis water here: https://www.homebrewsupply.com/learn/intro-reverse-osmosis-brewing-better-beer.html If you tap water has been working for you (and you take steps to remove the chlorine), that could be a fine choice as well.
Putting it All Together
Once you’ve chosen your ingredients, it’s time to create
your recipe. While many use paper and
pencil, the vast majority of brewers find that using some brewing software
makes the process far less painful and even more fun. The software does the calculations for you,
including the percentages of the grains, the likely original gravity and final
gravity of the beer, the ABV (alcohol by volume) and the IBUs (International
bittering units) of the beer. An added
bonus is that the ingredients often have descriptions, country of origin, and
even recommended amounts to use.
In our English brown ale example above, we decided on our
grain and hops.
Putting that into a software package, in this case Brewer’s Friend, we see:
And now for the hops. In our software, it helpfully gives us tips as to how many IBUs (and the color of the beer) we need for our English brown ale, and we have green check marks showing we are in range:
Now, we choose the yeast and we are all set!
Our recipe is finished (except for the water calculator
part), and we’ve hit all of our goals for an English brown ale:
Most software packages are similar in the calculations part,
so choose one that meets your needs and feels right to you. There are many free or very low cost ones
out there, many of them cloud based.
Entire books have been written on the creation of beer recipes, and if you’d like more information, Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels and Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff & John Palmer are the most notable ones geared for homebrewers. There are also websites and forums online dedicated to helping others learn more about brewing and they can also be a valuable source of information.
