Learn How to Formulate Beer Recipes

Recipes are important. Without a recipe, brewers would struggle to remember how to make beer consistently or know where to start when making a new beer. The reason for this blog post and the reason I am talking about recipes is that the IBD are about to launch our first ever technical short course and its subject is Beer Recipe Development.

An illustration of the Beer Recipe Development Course learning material.

I’ve had the pleasure of developing the course over the past ten or so months and one of the first tasks I faced was defining what a recipe is. In days of old I would have reached for a dictionary but of course, in this instance I Googled it. In most people’s minds, recipes are associated with cooking rather than brewing. All but the very rich or very lazy cook, while only a few brilliant and enlightened souls choose to brew beer! It was therefore no surprise when my Google search filled my screen with recipes for the best chocolate chip cookies, carrot chutney, oven-baked taquitos, ad infinitum. This made me question, what makes a recipe for beer (and hence beer recipe development) different to a recipe for food?

To make a successful commercial beer recipe, we need to specify hundreds of parameters from ingredients to how the beer is packaged. Each one analogous to an instrument in an orchestra playing together to produce a symphony of enjoyment for the beer consumer.

My brain was fitted back to front so I started with the similarities. Beer and food recipes both detail the ingredients required, the activities you need to undertake and the times and temperatures of the processes that you use. Delving further into the best ever recipe for chocolate chip cookies, highlighted the real difference between a recipe for food and one for beer. To make the best ever chocolate chip cookie, you need to use six ingredients and then undertake five activities from beating eggs to baking in an oven. Some, and arguably the best beers are made from only four ingredients, so on the face of it beer is simpler to make than the best ever chocolate chip cookies (I hope that any brewers reading this are shaking their head to the point of neck pain).

The opposite is true. While we might only use four ingredients, the level to which we need to understand and specify them for beer is infinitely greater than is the case for food. The best chocolate chip cookie recipe specifies simply all-purpose flour. While in a fit for purpose beer recipe, malt should be specified according to at least 15 parameters. This is already more parameters than are found in the entire best ever chocolate chip cookie recipe!

To make a successful commercial beer recipe, we need to specify hundreds of parameters from ingredients to how the beer is packaged. Each one analogous to an instrument in an orchestra playing together to produce a symphony of enjoyment for the beer consumer. And to extend this analogy we, the brewer are the composer of the music and the conductor of the orchestra. Making great beer is so much more than a Google search for the best ever IPA recipe or reading a book on brewing beer styles you love. This need to ensure that all recipe details are attended to and understood is the reason why what you get from the new Beer Recipe Development Course is an essential addition to any brewer’s skill set and continuing professional development.

As you would expect from IBD, the course is based on rigorous science and best practice and will help brewers of all scales develop recipes without the need to rely on spreadsheets or apps. If you understand what the recipe calculation involves and carry it out yourself, it gives you a feel for what the ingredient or process step contributes to the beer. You don’t get this by plugging numbers into an app. As well as the IBD’s knowledge, there is expert advice and guidance from the brewers responsible for iconic beers such as Orval, Sierra Nevada beers, Doom Bar, Fullers ESB, St Austell beers, Leffe Royale and many more.

If you are an experienced brewer it will help you calculate everything you need for a recipe. It will enable you to navigate the vast array of factual and less than factual information about ingredients and process steps that you might come across in books and online. You get access to the course for 90 days, a certificate of completion and a PDF containing recipe calculations, facts and figures. If you take brewing seriously, you seriously shouldn’t miss this!

Stuart Howe

Technical Development Manager and creator of the Beer Recipe Development Course