What Beer Can I brew from ingredients - Help

[Andy_C]

Hi

Does anyone know is there any software or spreadsheet out there where I can enter my ingredients and it will tell me what Beers I can brew ?

Thanks

Andy

[jimp2003]

Hi Andy!

Not sure there is anything out there that works in the way you describe but there are several free to download brewing software packages like Beer Engine HERE or Brewmate HERE

These often have example recipes that you could look through but mostly you have to add the ingredients and build the recipe yourself.

Or you could post what you have and get some input from the members here...

Jim

[seymour]

Does anyone know is there any software or spreadsheet out there where I can enter my ingredients and it will tell me what Beers I can brew ?

Sure there is, it's called the Jim's Beer Kit Recipe Forum. An international brewing think-tank, available free online, 24/7.

Whatcha got left? And what sorta beer(s) do you like best/what sorta beer(s) would you never wanna brew?

[Uncle Joshua]

Sure there is, it's called the Jim's Beer Kit Recipe Forum.

Best brewing program on the web.

[Andy_C]

Hi

Thanks for the replies on this and yes the 'Jim's Beer Kit Recipe Forum' is a great resource and has really helped me to get started.
I've already downloaded brewmate and have found the process of entering receipes off here and there has helped me to get the brew process 'sorted' in my own head before actually starting to brew.

So I got some Pale Malt, Black Malt, hops: Golding,Styrian and Challenger. Planned brews are going to be Timothy Tailor Landlord & Exmoor Gold (Straight from Graham Wheelers book) and am looking for a third. Yes I could do the Hop Back Summer Lightening from the same book also (Seems almost to be a heavier version of Exmoor Gold), but am looking for something perhaps a little more different from the other two.

The yeast I intend to use I will try to recover from a bottle conditioned 'Kinver Khyber'. This is brewed at a Kinver Brewery just down the road from me. I had a bottle last night and I just can't say how impressed I am with the overall quality of this beer, if the yeast is good enough for them it's good enough for me. And it gives me a good excuse to buy another few bottles .

So what do you reckon with these ingredients, any ideas ?

Cheers

Andy

[seymour]

Well, with just two malts your options are fairly limited, but a cool historic Scottish recipe which comes to mind is Ushers India Pale. It was resurrected by brewing scholar, author, and fellow Jim's member Ron Pattinson on his excellent Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog: http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2011 ... rs-ip.html

Another Jim's member, Hanglow, brought it to my attention. It's definitely different from your other two proposals. You should definitely read the original blog in full, but you could play around with brewmate and adapt the recipe somewhat like this:

1885 Ushers I.P. (tweaked hops)
Ushers Brewery (Historic, 1817-1981) in Edinburgh, Scotland
Style: India Pale Ale
OG: 1046
IBU: 44
Colour: 7°SRM/14°EBC, amber
Grainbill: 99.2% Pale, .8% micronized Black Malt added to boil
Hops: Challenger (90 min), Styrian Goldings (20 min), Goldings (dry-hops)
Yeast: It sounds like your Kinver culture is good, but you could differentiate this one with the McEwans Scottish strain (Wyeast 1728 or White Labs WLP028)

Not to dissuade you, but In reality, if you're brewing three batches from the same two malts and three hops, they will undoubtedly taste very similar. It sounds like an interesting experiment, though, and a good way to determine how much impact your diverse ratios and techniques have on the final beers.

Of course, it's never a bad idea to keep it simple and brew Marc Ollosson's consistent award-winner "Styrian Stunner", a classic SMaSH (single malt and single hop): viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12097&hilit=stunner#p135629

[Andy_C]

Hi Seymour
Thanks a lot of information there is plenty for me to take on board from yor post.
I appreciate your comments about the similarity of the brews. I'll have a rethink perhaps another grain won't break the bank. But the beer you pointed me too looks very interesting so I may well go with that.
Cheers
Andy

[JKaranka]

Seymour, you convinced me right there to try micronized black malt.

[TheMumbler]

Micronized eh? I take it that means finely ground.

[seymour]

Micronized eh? I take it that means finely ground.

Yep, that's all, just run it through your coffee grinder which makes it finer than a grainmill.

[TheMumbler]

I'm not sure how my partner would react to me putting grain through the coffee grinder

[seymour]

I'm not sure how my partner would react to me putting grain through the coffee grinder

Just wipe it out with a paper towel afterwards. No one will ever know, I promise. In fact, roasted barley and chicory is a historical poverty-replacement for expensive imported coffee, and tastes remarkably similar.

[TheMumbler]

I'm not sure how my partner would react to me putting grain through the coffee grinder

Just wipe it out with a paper towel afterwards. No one will ever know, I promise.(snip)

Easy for you to say, she won't track you down all the way over there Missouri! I'll be within easy reach next to her on the sofa.

Actually I think I have an old hand coffee grinder with a broken handle somewhere that might do the trick.

Do you think using micronised black patent differs much in taste to using cold extract or carafa 3?

[seymour]

...Easy for you to say, she won't track you down all the way over there Missouri! I'll be within easy reach next to her on the sofa...

That's funny. I didn't realize your partner is a coffee-addicted, domestic-abusive, bloodhound.

...Do you think using micronised black patent differs much in taste to using cold extract or carafa 3?

It ought to taste a bit roastier, but whichever malt you select, the odd distinction in Usher's recipe was that the fine-ground Black Malt was added to the boil (not the mash tun, as usual), which I expect would contribute a bit of body, mouthfeel, and yeast nutrient as well. I hadn't seen that technique before.

[TheMumbler]

...Easy for you to say, she won't track you down all the way over there Missouri! I'll be within easy reach next to her on the sofa...

That's funny. I didn't realize your partner is a coffee-addicted, domestic-abusive, bloodhound.

Love is a many splendoured thing Also I may be ever so slightly misrepresenting her likely reaction