When I first started homebrewing I greatly overestimated the amount individual ingredients could impart. I thought, well I love the sweetness that caramel malt adds to a brown ale, lets add a couple of pounds of it in my recipe! It turned out poorly to say the least, way too sweet. Another time I thought it would be cool to add my own home-toasted malt to a beer, did the same thing of adding 3 pounds of it... came out tasting bad. My intentions were good, but my execution was flawed.
Take a look at some known recipes and look for the percentages of different ingredients. Crystal malts generally shouldn't make up 30%-40% of a grain bill. Each different grain is added to a beer for a different reason, make sure you know why and how much. BYO has a great description of each different grain and I suggest you utilize it in forming recipes. For hopping, make sure you stay within the style guidelines. This website has a good graph that approximates where your bitterness should be related to your gravity
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