Section 4 – Recipes, Experimenting, and Troubleshooting
Chapter 21 - Developing Your Own Recipes
Now it’s time to drop the training wheels and strike out on your own. You have read about the various beer styles of the world and you should now have a better idea of the kind of beer you like best and want to brew. Homebrewing is all about brewing your own beer. Recipes are a convenient starting point until you have honed your brewing skills and gained familiarity with the ingredients. Do you need a recipe to make a sandwich? ‘Course not! You may start out by buying a particular kind of sandwich at a sandwich shop, but soon you will be buying the meat and cheese at the store, cutting back on the mayo a little, giving it a shot of Tabasco, using real mustard instead of that yellow stuff and voila’—you have made your own sandwich just the way you like it! Brewing your own beer is the same process.
This chapter will present more guidelines for using ingredients to attain a desired characteristic. You want more body, more maltiness, a different hop profile, less alcohol? Each of these can be accomplished and this chapter will show you how.
Developing Your Own Recipes
Recipe design is easy and can be a lot of fun. Pull together the information on yeast strains, hops, and malts, and start defining the kinds of tastes and character you are looking for in a beer. Make sure you understand the signature flavors of your chosen beer style before you starting adding lots of stuff—otherwise you will probably end up with a beer that just tastes weird. Choose a style that is close to your dream beer and decide what you want to change about it. Change just one or two things at a time so you will better understand the result.
To help get your creative juices flowing, here is a rough approximation of basic recipes for the common ale styles:Pale Ale—base malt plus a half pound of caramel malt,Amber Ale—pale ale plus a half pound of dark caramel malt,Brown Ale—pale ale plus a half pound of chocolate maltPorter—amber ale plus a half pound of chocolate malt,Stout—porter plus a half pound of roast barley.
Yes, those recipes are pretty crude, but I want you to realize how little effort it takes to produce a different beer. When adding a new malt to a recipe, start out with a half pound or less for a five gallon batch. This typically amounts to about 5% of the grain bill. Brew the recipe and then adjust up or down depending on your tastes. Try commercial beers in each of the styles and use the recipes and guidelines in this book to develop a feel for the flavors the different ingredients contribute.
Read recipes listed in brewing magazines, even if they are all-grain and you are not a grain brewer. By reading an all-grain recipe and the descriptions of the malts they are using, you will gain a feel for what that beer would taste like. You will get an idea of the proportions to use. For example, if you look at five different recipes for amber ale, you will probably notice that no one uses more than 1 lb. of any one crystal malt—all things are good in moderation. If you see an all-grain recipe that sounds good, but aren’t ready to brew all-grain, use the principles given in Chapter 12 to duplicate the recipe using extract and the specialty grains. You may need to use a partial mash for some recipes, but most can be reasonably duplicated without.
The choice of yeast strain is your number one determinant for flavor. Take any ale recipe and change the ale yeast strain to a lager strain and you have a lager recipe (though not necessarily an example of a particular lager style). Look at yeast strain information and determine what flavors different strains would give to the recipe. Use the calculations in Chapters 5 and 12 to estimate the IBUs and the gravity of the beer. Plan a final gravity for the beer and decide what factors you would use to achieve it, i.e., extract brand, mash schedule, yeast strain, fermentation temperature, etc. You as the brewer have almost infinite control over the end result. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Increasing the Body
Very often brewers say that they like a beer but wish it had more body. What exactly is “more body”? Is it a physically heavier, more dense beer? More flavor? More viscosity? It can mean all those things. In many cases it means a higher final gravity (FG), but not at the expense of incomplete fermentation. On a basic level, adding unfermentables is the only way to increase the FG and increase the body/weight/mouthfeel of the beer. There are two types of unfermentables that can be added: unfermentable sugars and proteins.
Unfermentable sugars are highly caramelized sugars, like those in crystal malts, and long chain sugars referred to as dextrins. Dextrin malt and malto-dextrin powder have already been discussed in the ingredients chapters. Dextrins are tasteless carbohydrates that hang around, adding some weight and viscosity to the beer. The effect is fairly limited and some brewers suspect that dextrins are a leading cause of “beer farts,” which result when these unfermentable carbohydrates are finally broken down in the intestines.
Dark caramel and roasted malts like Crystal 80, Crystal 120, Special B, Chocolate Malt, and Roast Barley have a high proportion of unfermentable sugars due to the high degree of caramelization (or charring). The total soluble extract (percent by weight) of these malts is close to that of base malt, but just because it’s soluble does not mean it is fermentable. These sugars are only partially fermentable and contribute both a residual sweetness and higher FG to the finished beer. These types of sugars do not share dextrin’s digestive problems and the added flavor and color make for a more interesting beer. The contribution of unfermentable sugars from enzymatic and caramel malts can be increased by mashing at a higher temperature (i.e. 158°F) where the beta amylase enzyme is deactivated. Without this enzyme, the alpha amylase can only produce large sugars (including dextrins) from the starches and the wort is not as fermentable. The result is a higher final gravity and more body.
Proteins are also unfermentable and are a primary contributor to the mouthfeel of a beer. Compare an oatmeal stout to a regular stout and you will immediately notice the difference. Brewers refer to these mouthfeel-enhancing proteins as “medium-sized proteins.” During the protein rest, protease breaks large proteins into medium proteins and peptidase cleaves the ends of proteins into small peptides and amino acids. High protein malts and adjuncts like wheat and oatmeal can substantially increase the body of the beer.
To add more body to an extract-based beer, add some caramel malt or malto-dextrin powder. You can also increase the total amount of fermentables in the recipe, which will raise both the OG and FG, and give you a corresponding increase in alcohol too.Grain brewers can add dextrin malt, caramel malt, flaked (unmalted) barley or flaked oatmeal in addition to using the methods above. Grain brewing lends more flexibility in fine tuning the wort than extract brewing.
Changing Flavors
What if you want a maltier tasting beer? A bigger, more robust malt flavor is usually achieved by adding more malt or malt extract to the recipe. A 1.050 OG beer is maltier than a 1.035 OG beer. If you add more extract, be sure to increase the bittering hops a bit to keep it balanced. This brings up another way to enhance the maltiness of a beer and that is to cut back on the flavor and aroma hop additions. You can keep the total hop bitterness and balance the same by adding more bittering hops at the beginning of the boil, but by cutting back on the middle and late hop additions, the malt flavors and aromas will be more dominant.
But what if you don’t want the increased alcohol level that comes with an increase in gravity? The solution will depend on what flavor profile you are trying to achieve. If you want a stronger or crisper malt flavor, substitute a pound or two of one of the toasted malts (e.g. Vienna, Munich, amber, etc.) in place of some of the base malt to help produce the malty aromas of German Bocks and Oktoberfests. Change the type of caramel malt you are using if you want to change the sweet malt character of the beer. You can add Carastan or Crystal 15 or 25 malt to produce a lighter, honey-like sweetness instead of the caramel of Crystal 60 and 80, or use the bittersweet of Crystal 120 and Special B.
If the flavor profile tastes a bit flat or you want to add some complexity to the beer, then substitute small amounts of different specialty malts for a larger single malt addition, while keeping the same OG. For instance, if a recipe calls for a half pound of Crystal 60L malt, try using a quarter pound each of Crystal 40L and Crystal 80. Or if a recipe calls for a half pound of chocolate malt, try using just a quarter pound of chocolate and adding a quarter pound of toasted malt or caramunich. For the same strength beer, you will have more flavors.
The hop varieties and malts from different parts of the world can have a significant effect on the character of the beer too. Sometimes these differences can be quite dramatic, and it’s a sign of a really good brewer to utilize this. Tasting and chewing the ingredients before brewing with them is a useful way to make yourself aware of these differences.
Yeast also have a strong effect on beer flavor, and not always in ways that seem particularly yeasty. Some strains accentuate hops, some malt; others add deep, woody or earthy notes, or a whiff of spicy phenol.
The best brewers use every little trick: the right malt, the right hops, technique, yeast, temperature, all working together to deliver a unified and memorable experience to the drinker.
Sugars Used in Brewing
Lots of different sugars can be used in brewing, and now that we know what the yeast want to eat and when, we can make better choices for their use. Which brings us to a good starting point—why would we want to use anything other than the sugars that come naturally form the barley? Well, there are a few reasons:• To raise the alcohol level without increasing the body of the beer.• To lighten the body of the beer while maintaining the alcohol level.• To add some interesting flavors.• To prime the beer for carbonation.
The first two are two sides of the same coin of course, but they do illustrate two different styles of refined-sugar adjunct beer. Belgian Strong Golden Ale has an OG of 1.065-80 and uses partially refined sugar syrup to achieve a brilliantly clear, high alcohol, yet light-bodied beer. American Light Lager recipes have an OG of 1.035-1.050, and use corn sugar, cane sugar, or rice syrup solids to obtain a very light-bodied beer of average alcohol content that is perfect for a day with the lawn mower.
Various sugars have various flavors. The monosaccharides are usually considered to not have a definable flavor other than sweet, although apparently the soda beverage industry have a definite preference for cane sugar over beet sugar for use in soft drinks. But other natural sugars like honey and maple syrup, and processed sugars like molasses have characteristic flavors that make a nice accent for a beer. This is what homebrewing is all about really— taking a standard beer style and dressing it up for your own tastes. You can make a Maple Syrup Porter, or a Honey Raspberry Wheat, or an Imperial Russian Stout with hints of rum and treacle. The possibilities are myriad. On the other hand, I have coined a phrase that will serve you well in your experimentation, “The better part of flavor is discretion.” A beer with 20% molasses is going to taste like fermented molasses, not beer.
And lastly, the topic of priming— the addition of 2-3 gravity points of fermentable sugar per gallon to carbonate the batch. Most folks did their brewing at the boiling stage, they don’t want to change their flavor profile at this stage, they simply want an unobtrusive sugar to carbonate the beer. Other brewers actually look at this last stage of fermentation with an ulterior motive; they want to add character with this final step (although this only adds about 1-2% to the overall fermentables). Whatever your goal, you can select one of several sugars to accomplish it.
Glucose-type sugars
The most common example of a simple brewing sugar is the corn sugar that is commonly used for priming. It is about 92% solids with 8% moisture. The solid is about 99% glucose. Corn sugar is highly refined and does not contain any corn character. Brewers seeking a corn-like character for a Classic American Pilsner need to cook and mash corn grits as part of an all-grain recipe. It is known that a relatively high proportion of glucose in a wort (more than 15-20%) will inhibit the fermentation of maltose. The fermentation can be impaired or become stuck if the yeast is underpitched or there is a lack of free amino nitrogen (FAN) or other nutrients in the wort.
Rice syrup solids are another glucose product, and there are different types. For example, one high glucose type is about 75% sugars (50% glucose, 25% maltose), 20% other carbohydrates (dextrins), and 5% moisture. A high maltose type could contain only 5% glucose, 45% maltose, 45% other carbohydrates, and the same 5% moisture. Extract brewers seeking to brew a Budweiser clone can use rice syrup solids and will obtain nearly the same malt character as the real thing (assuming that all the other brewing variables are the same also).
Sucrose-type sugars
Pure sucrose is the reference standard for all fermentable sugars because it contributes 100% of its weight as fermentable extract, and is 100% solids (no moisture). One pound of sucrose dissolved to form one gallon of solution has a gravity of 1.046, or in other words, an extract yield of 46 points per point per gallon.
Lots of different brewing products are made from sucrose or the semi-refined byproducts of sucrose. Both sugar cane and sugar beets are used to make table sugar and the refined products are indistinguishable from one another. However, you do not get useful brewing byproducts from beets, only sugar cane. Molasses is a common byproduct and it is added to refined cane sugar to make brown sugar. The fermentation of molasses produces rum-like notes and sweet flavors, but there may be sharp harsh notes as well. Brown sugar, which only contains a small amount of molasses, will only contribute a light rummy flavor. Partially refined cane sugars like panocha or panela, demerara, turbinado, and Barbados have better flavors than molasses, which often contains impurities from the refining process.
Here’s a quote from Sykes & Ling, 1897: The impurities of the raw sugar derived from the beetroot are of a nauseous character, whilst those of sugarcane sugar have an agreeable, full, and luscious flavor; and so much is this the case, that the impure cane sugars are more valuable for brewing purposes than the refined, since the raw variety yield to the beer their luscious flavor.’
Belgian Candi Sugar is solid sucrose that has been caramelized to some small degree, depending on the color. Dark Candi sugar will have slightly more of a caramel taste than the Amber. Aside from the caramel notes, it will behave exactly like table sugar. Note from 2006: It has recently come to light (or pounded into our American heads) that the Candi sugar that the Belgians actually use in their breweries is not the solid form, but rather the semi-refined syrup, which can be caramelized readily during manufacture. Look for this other form in your local brewing shop soon.
Invert sugar syrups, such as Lyle’s Golden syrup, are made from sucrose that has been hydrolyzed to separate the glucose and fructose. This has two effects: one, it makes the sugar more syrupy and less likely to crystallize, and two, it makes it sweeter. Invert sugar syrup is like artificial honey without the characteristic honey flavors. Golden syrup type products tend to be a bit salty tasting due to the acid/base reactions during manufacture. Treacle is partially inverted molasses combined with other syrups. The flavor contributions from treacle can be strong, so it is best to use it in heavier bodied beers like English Strong Ales, Porters, and Sweet Stout. One half cup per five gallon batch is a recommended starting point.
Maple Syrup
Maple sap typically contains about 2% sucrose. Maple syrup is standardized at a minimum of 66° Brix, and is typically composed of 95+% sucrose. Grade B syrup can contain 6% invert sugar, while Grade A Light Amber will contain less than 1%. You will get more maple flavor from the Grade B syrup. The characteristic maple flavors tend to be lost during primary fermentation, so adding the syrup after primary fermentation is over is recommended to retain as much flavor as possible. This practice will also help the beer to ferment more completely because it will not trigger maltose inhibition as discussed in Chapter 6—Yeast. For a noticeable maple flavor, 1 gallon of Grade B syrup is recommended per 5 gallon batch.
Honey
The sugars in honey are 95% fermentable, typically consisting of 38% fructose , 30% glucose, 8% various disaccharides, and 3% unfermentable dextrins. Honey contains wild yeasts and bacteria, but its low water content (~18%) keeps these microorganisms dormant. Honey also contains amylase enzyme which can break down larger sugars and starches into fermentable sugars like maltose and sucrose. For these reasons, honey should be pasteurized before adding it to the fermentor. The National Honey Board (www.nhb.org) recommends that honey be pasteurized for 30 minutes at 176°F (80°C), then cooled and diluted to the wort gravity. To retain the most honey flavor, and ensure best fermentation performance, the honey should be added to the fermentor after primary fermentation.
The NHB recommends the following percentages (by weight of total fermentables) when brewing with honey:• 3-10% For a subtle honey flavor in most light ales and lagers.• 11-30% For a distinct honey flavor note to develop. Stronger hop flavors, caramelized or roasted malts, spices, or other ingredients should be considered when formulating the recipe to balance the strong honey flavors at these levels.• 30-66% The flavor of honey will dominate the beer. These levels are associated with braggot, which is considered by the BJCP Style Guidelines to have maximum honey to malt ratio of 2 to 1. • 66+% Any brew with more than 66% honey is considered to be a form of mead, according to the BJCP.
Table 28 – Common brewing sugars.
Table 28 - Toasting Your Own
Toasting Your Own Malt
Author’s Note, 2025: Yeah, this used to be a thing that we would do back in the bad ol’ days of early homebrewing.
As a homebrewer, you should feel free to experiment in your kitchen with malts. Oven toasted base malt adds nutty and toasty flavors to the beer, which is a nice addition for brown ales, porters, bocks, and Oktoberfest. Toasting-your-own is easy to do and the toasted grain can be used by both steeping and mashing. If steeped, the malt will contribute a high proportion of unconverted starch to the wort and the beer will be hazy, but a nice nutty, toasted flavor will be evident in the final beer. There are several combinations of time and temperature that can be used in producing these special malts, so I will explain a couple of the factors that influence the flavor and describe the two methods I use.
The principal reaction that takes place when you toast malt is the browning of starches and proteins, known as the Maillard Reaction. As the starches and proteins brown, various flavor and color compounds are produced. The color compounds are called “melanoidins” and can improve the stability of beer by slowing oxidation and staling reactions as the beer ages.Since the browning reactions are influenced by the wetness of the grain, water can be used in conjunction with the toasting process to produce different flavors in the malt. Soaking the uncrushed malt in water for an hour will provide the water necessary to optimize the Maillard browning reactions. Toasting wet malt will produce more of a caramel flavor due to partial starch conversion taking place from the heat. Toasting dry grain will produce more of a toast or Grape-Nuts™ cereal flavor that is perfect for nut-brown ales.
See Table 28 for suggested times and temperatures.
The malt should be stored in a paper bag for 2 weeks prior to use. This will allow time for the harsher aromatics to escape. Commercial toasted malts are often aged for 6 weeks before sale. This aging is more important for the highly toasted malts—toasted for more than a half hour (dry) or 1 hour (wet).
Discretion is the Better Part of Flavor
There comes a time in every home brewer’s development when they look at an item (e.g. maple syrup, molasses, Cheerios, chile peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, loquats, ginger root, spruce tips, heather, licorice, stale bread, mis-matched socks) and say, “Hey, I could ferment that!” While many of the mentioned items will indeed work in the fermenter (socks work well for dry-hopping), it is easy to get carried away and make something that no one really wants to drink a second glass of. I thought I would like spiced holiday beer—I didn’t. I thought I would like a molasses porter—I didn’t. I thought I would like loquat wheat beer—4 hours peeling and seeding 3 bags of those little bastards for something I couldn’t even taste!
Experimentation is fine and dandy but be forewarned that you may not like the result. Refined sugars like molasses, candy sugar, honey, and maple syrup can taste wonderful in the right proportion—as an accent to a beer as 3-5% of the fermentables. But keep firmly in mind that you are brewing beer and not a liqueur. Refined sugars often generate fusel alcohols which can have solvent-like flavors. If you want to try a new fermentable or two in a recipe, go ahead but use a small amount so that it doesn’t dominate the flavor. I feel hypocritical telling you to hold back after first saying to spread your wings and develop your own recipes. But I don’t want you to spend a lot of time making a batch that is undrinkable. Just because it can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done. Okay, enough said.
In the next chapter I will lead you through common problems and their causes and define some of the most common off-flavors.