Recipe Formulation

Our May 2015 meeting educational topic was put together by VP Andrew Ayers. We asked brewers to consider how recipes are formulated and why. We explained the foundations for a good recipe and used sensory analysis to dissect a commercial pale ale.

Conceptualizing Your Beer

  • Know the language
  • Know your ingredients
  • Know your process
  • Style Guidelines vs. Personal Goals

Style Guidelines

Style Guidelines offer a solid foundation for building recipes.

Example guideline:
“May contain several malts, prominently dark malts, which often include black malt (chocolate malt is also often used). American hops typically used for bittering, but US or UK finishing hops can be used; a clashing citrus quality is generally undesirable.”

Your personal goals may dictate a different direction.

Example personal goal:
“A hoppy, citrusy/tropical-flavored beer with some sweetness to impart an almost candy-like finish. Medium-light body.”

Building a Malt Bill

  • Choose your base – this is your beer’s foundation.
  • Choose your supporting cast – adjust for flavor, color, and body.

General Guidelines

  • Crystal malts: limit to about 15%
  • Roasted malts: limit to about 15%
  • Avoid all-extract recipes: use 25–50% grain

Adjusting Recipes

  • For brewhouse efficiency changes, adjust only the base malt.
  • Limit changes per batch so you can evaluate what worked.
  • With crystal malts, consider both °L (color) and percentage.

Rejuvenating Recipes

  • Try different maltsters
  • Swap in new hop varieties
  • Explore different yeast strains

Commercial Clone Example

Deschutes Red Chair NWPA

  • Stats: ABV 6.0%, IBU 60, OG 1.066

Grains

  • Pale Malt – 52%
  • Pilsner – 24%
  • Munich – 8% (“hefty toasted bread character”)
  • C40 – 4% (“smooth flavors of sweet toffee and caramel”)
  • C90 – 4% (“molasses and sweet date flavors”)
  • Carastan – 4% (“caramel/toffee flavor, toasted bread”)
  • Carapils – 4% (“foam stability, palate fullness”)

Hops

  • Centennial – 60 min (45 IBU), 15 min (5 IBU), 5 min (3 IBU)Pleasant spicy citrus aroma, clean bitterness
  • Cascade – flameout (~0 IBU)Grapefruit citrus aroma and flavor

Yeast

  • Wyeast 1968 London ESB (English Ale)Produces malty beers with fruity esters, slightly sweeter finish due to lower attenuation.

Recipe Exercise: Design Your Own

Malt options:

  • 2-Row
  • Wheat Malt
  • C20 – produces golden hues, mellow candy-like sweetness, mild toffee flavor
  • Clear Candi Sugar

Hop options:

  • Columbus
  • Mt. Hood
  • Willamette