What do you typically brew? I started out doing kits, then started doing my own recipes. But sometimes I feel like brewing kits just for the hell of it; for something different than I’d normally brew. Lately I’ve been running out of ideas or desires to brew my own recipes because basically all I know how to create recipes for are IPAs, pale ales, amber ales and stouts…I get a little bored with stuff like that all the time.
I’m a full blown recipe creator (big surprise). In a lot of ways, for me that’s the biggest pants kicker I get from homebrewing is the thought experiments on what to create.
I’m not even sure I can remember the last time I did a kit!
I started out like most–a Mr. Beer Kit. Then box kits (extract/partial grain). Now, All-Grain.
I’m like Drew–I really like knowing why I use each ingredient in the recipe.
I also find the process fascinating–especially how so many people brew in so many different ways and still make great beer.
Yes, I daresay that brewing can be a cerebral and creative process–if you want it to be.
I spend more time thinking up recipes than I do actually getting around to brewing. I have been planning a rhubarb and rye concoction ever since I had a rhubarb/strawberry jam peanut butter sandwhich on rye bread. If I could actually find some time to try it I could move on to other things. Like Drew, I think designing the beers is fun. I try not to get hung up on a style. Just what I think will taste good and refreshing. of course go look at extreme brewing and radical brewing, or the homebrewer’s garden for some unique stuff to try.
I’ve never used a kit. Started brewing extract/specialty grains copying recipes. Now all grain and all original recipes for the most part. I reference other recipes for some inspiration and general aiming in the right direction (if I don’t know the style very well), but I try to put my own stamp on them.
I’ve found experimentation a great way to understand the ingredients that I am using and it really makes it rewarding when you knock one out of the park and the recipe is all yours.
the last time I brewed a kit was the first time I brewed at all.
almost all the recipes I brew with regularity are my own evolutions, though I do use JZ’s Amber and most recently, majorvice’s helles, as ‘house recipes’
if I am looking to create something new such as last year when I started on the “Dunkel Project” I’ll consult JZ’s BCS or online, but I tend not to like a lot of the recipes in the BCS, so it may only be to see what level of Carafa Special he used or something like that to get a ballpark and go from there.
honing in recipes is part of the fun for me, but not as much as the taste testing.
I’ve 3 maybe 4 extract kits many moons ago. I’ve used many recipes from other people, both extract and all grain. Like others I generally start with a published recipe to establish what a new brew should taste/look like and then they start morphing.
I have recipes I make now that are still named the same but haven’t been the original brew in 6 years. I keep telling myself I need to change the names.
+1 on that! I usually use a recipe - either from “Classic Styles,” BYO, or one my my clone books, and then go from there. I find that JZ’s recipes usually give me a good foundation to work with. I will be guaranteed to make something at least drinkable the first time out with a recipe, which is not the case if I do one from complete scratch.
I never used to be a big kit user, but have recently started playing with them - NB makes some fine kits! If it’s a style I don’t brew a lot or am unsure of, I might hit a kit. Example - a couple buddies helped me roof the garage last year. They both like Wits, but I’m not a big fan. So, I bought NB’s to brew them for a thank you. Gave them most of it and saved a 12’er for myself. I’ve also found kits to be a little more “economical” in that I’m not left with a lot of odds and ends of specialty grains and hops laying around - you get what you need. I might be doing a few more of them in the future. However, I do like adjusting a recipe to my specific tastes - that’s why I brew! ;D
I brew my own recipes exclusively now and, especially now, I am basically only brewing about 4 recipes over and over and over again - mixing in a few seasonals as they come along.
I have brewed other’s recipes in the past but I have only ever bought two kits - the one that came with my first brew kit and the B3 “Pliny the Elder” kit about 5 years ago.
When I first started brewing I used to tweak the Papazian recipes in his two original books. But I have always been the kind of brewer who takes a recipe and “makes it his own”. Those Papazian book (TCJ and HBC) were great inspiration design books, though.
ya, i agree with that…it’s hard for me to take a recipe verbatim that i find online and not do something differently. at the same time, the recipes i’ve followed and the kits i’ve bought and stuck with, for the most part, have all treated me well.
yeah - I can see that. Guess it depends how you buy/stock your stuff.
I keep my brew supply areas like I keep my kitchen pantry - stocked with all my essentials - always having Pils/Pale/Munich/Vienna base malts, Med and Light Crystal, Victory, and a few others. Simcoe/Columbus/Centennial/Amarillo//Magnum/Tett/Hallertau in the freezer and at minimum US-05 and 830 in the fridge.
With that ‘pantry’ always being restocked, I can pretty much brew any of my house recipes at the drop of a dime, and in turn I build all my recipes around what I like to stock.
Started 7/11/2006. My first 9 batches were extract. 11/4/2006 I “sponsored” an all grain brew demo at my LHBS and never went back to extract. I’ve never bought a kit. I’ve looked to other’s recipes for inspiration, or to figure out why my beer didn’t taste like I thought it would, but never copied one. This weekend will mark my 95th and 96th batches. Looking forward to the century mark in September.
