[ShawnMull]

And first batch of Irish Red tossed in the carboy... Time to let the yeast do the heavy lifting :-)

[santoch]

I love Irish Red.  Goes PERFECT with pizza.

[norcaljp]

In addition to much of the great advice here, I find reviewing the NHC winning recipes posted by the AHA (one of the many great perks of being a card carrying member) helps when developing a recipe. I look at multiple winning examples of the same style and look for similarities. In particular, I look at things like grain %'s, hop schedules, yeast used, fermentation profiles, and mash profiles. The similarities as well as the differences you find can help you get a good starting point.

It's a bit daunting at first, but once I started learning more about various ingredients, it has helped me out. I've also received great advice on specific recipes I'm planning from this forum.

For my first brew I found a great clone recipe and brewed that. That way I stood a better chance of coming up with something that I knew I would like. I've known on or two guys who went wild with their first brew and made a very complicated beer that ended up undrinkable. Turned them off of brewing. A cherry bourbon vanilla imperial porter, may sound good, but it's not easy to nail something like that and can get nasty if you overdo things.

My advice is start simple with basic and proven recipes until you get your process down. Also seek out a few good commercial examples of any style you're interested in. You might find that it sounds better than it tastes to you. 5 gallons is a lot to go through if you don't really like the beer.

[S. cerevisiae]

Thanks, I checked out the Beer Smith program. Pretty sweet! I'll have to look into a bit more, I also liked how you can convert All-Grain recipes.

People know how I feel about brewing software, and, that is, use it as a tool, not as a crutch.  Becoming a true-blue brewer is more than being able to parrot the calculations given to you by brewing software.  It is about learning the underlying processes in gory detail, including the mathematics encountered in brewing.  That way, one is positioning oneself to be leader, not just a follower.  You should work hard to transform what appears to be magic on the surface into little more than a craft-oriented application of science and engineering.  You will find yourself relying on software less and less as your knowledge base grows. 

By the way, converting a recipe from all-grain to extract or partial-mash is a trivial exercise if you learn how to use points per pound per gallon.

[RPIScotty]

Thanks, I checked out the Beer Smith program. Pretty sweet! I'll have to look into a bit more, I also liked how you can convert All-Grain recipes.

People know how I feel about brewing software, and, that is, use it as a tool, not as a crutch.  Becoming a true-blue brewer is more than being able to parrot the calculations given to you by brewing software.  It is about learning the underlying processes in gory detail, including the mathematics encountered in brewing.  That way, one is positioning oneself to be leader, not just a follower.  You should work hard to transform what appears to be magic on the surface into little more than a craft-oriented application of science and engineering.  You will find yourself relying on software less and less as your knowledge base grows. 

By the way, converting a recipe from all-grain to extract or partial-mash is a trivial exercise if you learn how to use points per pound per gallon.

This is the reason I made my own Excel sheet. It got my hands dirty with calculations and much of what I now know was a direct result of the time spent putting it together.

[Phil_M]

While all that is true, sometimes folks need a crutch. While I agree folks should learn the math and science behind what's going on, if someone is just looking for beer they made they can get by without it.

That being said, I'm certainly relying on beersmith right now. I've read a good bit on the math and science in brewing, but other than converting an all-grain beer to extract by hand I've never "worked through" the formulas. I'm too busy. I work full time in a technical field, am working part time on an engineering degree. Any spare time that I'd be able to devote to the science of brewing would be better spent on the science of electricity for now.

Once I'm done with school I fully intend to start playing with brewing formulas.

[RPIScotty]

I work full time in a technical field, am working part time on an engineering degree. Any spare time that I'd be able to devote to the science of brewing would be better spent on the science of electricity for now.

Once I'm done with school I fully intend to start playing with brewing formulas.

I hear you. I worked 35 hrs/week as Sears while I attended Hudson Valley Community College and RPI for my Bachelors. My son was born in my Junior year at RPI and I didn't have much time to sleep, let alone crunch brewing numbers.

You will be rewarded when you do though. The brewing software is surely convenient but inferior to one's own brewing sheet for depth suitability to a brewer's individual process.

[Phil_M]

You will be rewarded when you do though. The brewing software is surely convenient but inferior to one's own brewing sheet for depth suitability to a brewer's individual process.

I hear you there! The more I learn about modeling in school the more I want to apply those concepts to brewing. I'd much rather develop my own model rather than using the software designer's. It's like using a canned MATLAB script vs. writing your own, the canned script may still get you an answer you can work with, but with a personal script you know where you need to focus.