Do you even just wing it?

Nope.

 

Sorta. My last batch was an English DIPA just because I wanted to use up everything I had on had before my move. Came out bad.

 

I don't brew often enough to just wing it. I probably should, though, because I have a bunch of this and that laying around that I should probably use up soon...

 

I think it would be like taking random ingredients from the fridge and pantry and cooking them together. i.e. a very low probabilty of making something good.

 

Yeah I tried this and was less than pleased with the results, you have to have a method to the madness

 

i try to avoid religiously sticking to the recipe. but aside from skill, a good recipe is the only thing between a great beer, an ok beer and a drain pour.

unless you are very confident in your ability to predict brewing outcome i suggest you have at least a basic recipe to follow. for example, some chocolate malt sounds like a good idea at the time but chances are that you will wish you avoided using it.
thats my 2 cents worth anyway.
Cheers.

 

I've created some culinary masterpieces doing this late night after having a few. Problem is I can never remember what I did.

To the OP: I have done this many times when the grain rations get very low...this is what homebrewers sometime call a "kitchen sink beer"

edit: I do enter what I'm using in my Brewzor App so i know at least gravity/Ibu ratio and such

 

I often make game day decisions, but you still have to use common brewing sense, you can't just literally throw ingredients together at random and expert a revelation.

For example I'll do things like "maybe I'll brew this pale ale with pilsner instead of maris otter" or "maybe I'll mix a little amarillo in with the fuggles for this bitter", but never just "a lb of this, a handful of that, a few oz of this..."

 

Depends on what you mean. I generally have enough ingredients on hand to brew without a trip to the brew shop. Sometimes, I find that I have maybe a half pound or less of a specialty grain that I want to get rid of. I have no problem using it, but I try to incorporate it into a recipe in a way that makes sense, even if only for color. I don't simply dump a bunch of random grains into the mill and see what comes out the other end three weeks later.

 

You should really motorize that mill.

 

Just drank some scraps beer, I helped a homebrew friend use all the rest of his ingredients in mostly small quantities, he did the recipe out of the air that morning. Pretty tasty, we made it like a hoppy brown.

Otherwise, we make our recipes ahead, and stick to them much as possible.

 

I order my ingredients by recipe, so I never have extra laying around to do this. Even if I did, for the amount of time I'm investing between brewday and bottling, I'd rather spend some time on the recipe.

 

Nope. Too much time and effort involved. I only have time to brew every few weeks, and when I do, I've usually planned every detail. And then some.

 

Not entirely, but I have a couple times added an ingredient that wasn't originally planned for.

Did a red ale fairly recently w/ Hallertau & Saaz hops where I threw in with the mash grains some leftover Crunchy Nut cereal, added an interesting note to it.

 

Not exactly. I have however on several occasions given friends a list of ingredients and said pick one or two or whatever from each catagory and we will brew it. It's a pretty fun exercise.

 

I have basic recipes but I've been homebrewing long enough that I can make substitutions as needed and be pretty sure about what I'll end up with. I pretty much have to get all my ingredients by mail order so I can't run down to the LHBS halfway through a brewing session-I have to make do with what I have on hand. But OTOH I keep enough of everything that I can brew anything from a sour to an ESB or IPA when I get a chance to brew.

 

I don't really wing it on brew day. My last brew of the spring was what I called a Heinz 57, I used up leftover ingredients with some planning, from the rest of my brew seasonand did my first parti-gyle, it was an interesting and fun experience. I made a Belgian dark from the low gravity runnings that's turned out phenomenal. I'm about to check in on the barleywine part of the batch, it should be nearing drinkability.

 

I make a few pale and amber ales with 100% homegrown hops every year. Since I don't know the alpha acids I just use a bit lower than the average for the varieties in beersmith and shoot for the middle. I'll also occasionally brew with whatever I have on hand if I have a free day suddenly open up and can't find anything better to do. For these brews I'll often end up ending something I think of later to the fermenter after fermentation. I find it's pretty hard to make a *bad* beer unless you completely ignore the basic guidelines to brewing.