Wrucke's Wrecipes

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"... One could drink water instead of beer, but then it would be a shame to be thirsty ... "

I have generally developed all my own recipes since about my 4th batch. I initially started with the brewing template table thats contained in Charlie Papazian's "Joy ..." which shows typical ingredients for traditional styles. I extracted from his table info pertaining to the brews that I was interested in - pretty fundamental stuff - Pale Ale/IPA; Brown Ale; Alt; Porter and Stout. I started with a "base" brew for a style benchmark, and then I started tweeking ... I supplemented his table with info on hops and grains (the same stuff that I've got posted on this site) and I expect I'll still be tweeking into the next millenium .. ;-)

Note that Papazian's table indicates the use of amber and dark extracts - I start all my brews with light/pale and go from there (... because I could never find out what was making the extract amber or dark .. !)

A huge help in recipe development is the readily available homebrew software such as Brewer's Workshop or Suds - links to both are at my "Other Sites" page. These are not only useful for maintaining brewnotes, but really come in handy if you are working up a recipe and you want to do some "what-if'n" ... I've used them both (... yes I'm registered .. ) and have come to rely on Brewer's Workshop since it seems to be a little more comprehensive and the Color Calculator is pretty much right on ... for additional information pertaining to the color of beer (what is it, how to measure it and how to control it), see my BeerColor page

 

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Enough Talk - Where's Those Recipes .. ??

Fundamental Pale Ale Fundamental Pale Ale A very basic Pale Ale recipe with tips for tweeking the hops and specialty grains.
Summer Celebration Ale Spring Celebration Ale This brew is a big amber ale which resembles a Sierra Nevada Celebration in both color and taste, although the OG is toned down a bit from the original (makes it more drinkable IMHO ... ) The Brew's stat's are: OG = 1.052; FG = 1.015; IBU's = 51; color = 16
Summr Crystal Ale Summer Crystal Ale This is not your mother's lawnmower beer ... An American Wheat that looks and tastes like a big pale ale with a crisp bite that really hits the spot on warm summer days - Brew specs include an OG of 1.048; FG of 1.012; IBU = 60; and color = 10.
Dark Harvest Ale Dark Harvest Ale This turned out to be a great seasonal brew for the late fall and thru the winter season; this brew was a rich chestnut brown; clear as a bell, a big head that was still there when you drained the glass, and well balanced re. malt and hops ... you like Snow Goose but can't find it on our local's shelves?? ... well this brew is unintentionally very similar in color and taste
Kit & Kiboudle Ale Kit & Kiboodle Ale Like 'em a little on the dark side, and got a lotta grains hanging around .. ?? Not sure what I was thinking of when I formulated this surprising brew, but it is basically a big Brown Ale with a little roasted barley to boot - everything blended together very well, and this was a great fall and winter seasonal brew; amazingly smooth and mild considering the variety of roasted grains I threw into the pot.
"Damn It" Ale  Gaining weight; pants don't fit .. got a problem with a growing protrusion down around you navel sometimes referred to as a beer belly?   Brew up a Lo-Cal "lite" for a replacement to all those calorie-loaded high gravity homebrews.  This recipe produces a brew that I've found to be quite satisfactory, and certainly much better than any comparable brew commercially available.

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