Do you brew from the bottom up or the top down?

[Tim Bulin]

What I mean by that is, when you set out to make a beer, do you try to duplicate the traditional process and conditions(bottom up) or look at the end result and fit the recipe to the conditions/process you have(top down)?

I do top down. Tend to use different yeast and ingredients to get there because they work with what I have.

 

[Donoroto]

I tend to go bottom up, as I am not confident enough in my knowledge of the effects of different changes I might make. But I do make small adjustments as needed - ingredient availability usually - and I have my process requirements due to the equipment I have.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Bottom up for me. I like to try to follow what’s recommended for the style and rarely stray in of course adjust since most of the time there are a few different ways recipe and techniques to get the beer. I tend to make the simplest version of a style since my batches are small and I don’t want to buy 6 different malts. I don’t feel like I know enough to change up a lot. I do use my own process tough.

 

[Minbari]

Since I BIAB i usual have to alter something.

So top down

 

[Herm brews]

BIAB small batches, I am a top down brewer.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Maybe I don’t understand what the question means lol.

I also use BIAB but don’t let that affect ingredients. If I see a recipe and plug it in it’s so close I don’t worry. My biggest issue for recipe adjustments are knowing how much water is to be used since that affects the calculators and the AA on hops being different. For example the EKGs I’ve been using for a while were 5.1 AA but the ones I used in the last batch were 4.3.

 

[Craigerrr]

I come in from the side like a wrecking ball with massive hop additions!!!

Kidding, if I understand the question properly, I am a top down brewer, I think

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

top down, my brewing process is set and I don't buy every ingredient on the recipe to brew "that beer", at the same time I buy in bulk so I have most everything in stock before I start, for my own recipes sometimes I change it just because I'm lazy lol

 

[Mark Farrall]

Binary dichotomies . I start with a taste profile in mind, but I'll use the style guidelines that seem relevant. The initial recipe generally changes noticeably, but not always significantly, from those style guidelines.

Even when I'm happy with a recipe I'm still likely to change a yeast or an ingredient to see if there's a better version I hadn't imagined. So I suppose top down?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Sounds like I'm top down as well then.
I'm always changing things up.
I've even made a few recipies up as I go as I'm waiting for mash liquor to hit strike temp.

I try n treat the BFC's a little differently though there bottom up brews def dont wanna be caught with me bottom out that's for sure lol!

 

[Josh Hughes]

Now I don’t know what he he’ll I am! Haha. It’s so cool how everyone on here approaches stuff so differently and still turn out good drinkable beer.

 

[Megary]

I think now I’m more of a Top Down brewer. I try and envision the end result in my head and then have fun figuring out how I’m going to get there. I’ll scribble out a page full of ideas and often search the web for others experiences to come up with a recipe that I think fits the bill. If I’m close to a style I may or may not adjust to fit the guidelines. Sometimes they are helpful, sometimes they get in the way.

But I’m a Bottoms Up drinker.

 

[Nosybear]

Depends on the brew. If I take top-down to mean starting with a result in mind and working my way down to the recipe, I've done that with several brews by reproducing beers from notes. I've also done bottom-up brewing, taking a design to see what it would result in on my system.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Not sure about this, but I brew broadly based on style and augment based on what I want to use. So......I haven't a clue.

 

[56 Firedome]

I'm not sure but I may be a bit of both.
I usually start out with a recipe, brew it pretty much the way it was written but not as a slave to the written word.
If I like it I will brew it again but with variation of grain (I hate Black Prinz) or Hps (love Galaxy & Citra) or yeast (usually liquid but last 2 brews were dry yeast).
Then I'll brew it again as a dark or IPA or a Lager.
So, Top Down followed by Bottom Up followed by a Left Turn in the Middle.
Some Miserable Failures & some Stunning Successes.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

 

[GFHomebrew]

I am a real Boy!

 

[Hawkbox]

I randomly swap ingredients based on what I have available far to often to hold true to any serious recipe.

 

[Turnip]

Usually bottom up first time brewing a new recipe. Then, once baseline is established, next try - top down is ON.