The Virtues of Experimentation

So this is a rant.

It is a rant about something that I see all too often on homebrewing forums:

"So I'm trying to make a clone of..." where some decent craft or microbrew is then named, followed by a recipe that may or may not seem like a close approximation of the target beer.

All the forum regulars then chime in, suggesting in turns that the original question asker add some crystal (rarely), use less crystal (more often), use (or not use) Carapils,

We're brewing beer here, people, not transplanting kidneys (to paraphrase an old co-worker of mine). I don't want my renal surgeon to say "hey, I'm fresh out of kidneys, so I think I'll pop a spleen in here instead...spleens look kind of like kidneys." But if I'm out of C20 and I substitute some Caravienne...I mean really, what's the worst that is going to happen?

Perhaps the beer won't be quite the same. Perhaps no one will notice the difference. Perhaps it'll be a little less sweet or a little more complex or a little more caramel and a little less burnt sugar. Or whatever.

The point is, ultimately, that without at least some experimentation, nothing will ever change - for better or for worse. You'll never grow in your understanding of the flavors and interactions of the ingredients and techniques that make up brewing.

I once decided that British crystal malts sounded yummy, so I ordered a bunch of them at a rather considerable inconvenience. It turns out I really don't care for British crystal malts. I tried a couple in some really malt-forward beers and the results were OK, but not as good as the same beer brewed with American malts. Lesson learned. I used the rest up here and there in darker, fuller bodied beers that would have enough going on that the flavor of any individual malt was somewhat suppressed.

A few brews ago I used Caravienne for the first time. Love it, great stuff. Same thing with Victory, now it is a standard of mine.

Got a hold of some Summit hops a bit over a year ago. Totally disappointing - none of that "onion" thing that some people complain about, but really nothing there much at all. On the other hand, I gave Chinook a chance and it has now worked its way into half of my house beers.

Now this is my point - experiments work and experiments fail. Or perhaps I should put it this way - experiments may produce the expected results or they may not. And if the results diverge from expectation, they may in turn be better, worse, or simply different than expected.

So stop fussing and trying to clone your favorite beer (though I will say that the exercise of working up a clone is a great learning experience!). Stop relying on recipes published in books or online.

Go out there, plan your own recipe (use some software if you need, there is plenty out there). Try some malts you've never tried before and a new variety of hops.

See what you get!