Recipe Generator 2023 – Create your own bespoke recipe kits

Back in January 2016 Rob launched the first All Grain Recipe generator on The Malt Miller website, this was revolutionary for the UK home brew market. The ability to build bespoke recipes for you to brew at home, plus the option to share these recipes with the home brew community.

Whilst writing this post I spent a bit of time on WaybackMachine reminiscing how the site looked, this was the site I used to shop from  as a customer.

One of the biggest changes for The Malt Miller took place in December 2017 when we launched a completely new website, this wasn’t just a new fresh look, but completely new software, and new company to work with. Every single page had to be created. As such the Recipe Generator had to take a bit of a break and follow on afterwards.

In May 2018 we launched Recipe Generator v2.

There was nothing else like it in the UK home brewing market, a tool that gave home brewers the chance to build and save their own bespoke recipes to their account, duplicate and edit. V2 allowed the choice to share for publishing on our website, for others to brew.

Hops and malt by the gram, including crushed, uncrushed or fine crushed options for malt, all created fresh for each customer. We even label every part of the recipe kit with the customer and recipe name, along with the order number.

We were so pleased with what we had made we even documented it in this blog post

We’re not known for standing still here at The Malt Miller, always innovating and making changes to the site. Make it more user friendly, easier to find the products you need, and constantly adding new products to our ranges.

March 2023 sees the biggest update to our much loved Recipe Generator, a series of changes of which we are extremely proud. Proud enough to give it some fanfare and talk customers through some of the new features this release includes.

The new Recipe Generator has had a visual refresh and this is the first thing you’ll notice when using it with a desk/laptop. However, a big part of this refresh is making it far easier to use with mobiles and tablets.

So where ever you are, a new recipe or access previously saved recipes can be referred back to As well as the methods to brew. You never know when you might just start thinking about how you can tweak a recipe or have an idea for a new one to brew.

Building your own bespoke Recipe Kit

Let’s look at how you to build your own bespoke recipe kit, it’s easy and intuitive.

CHOOSE YOUR INGREDIENTS

The first step is choosing your ingredients, you’ll notice that there are two drop down boxes to work with, let’s start with the first one that gives you the choice of the following ingredient categories:

Malts
Hops
Yeast
Flavours
Malt Extract
Sugars
Hop Oils
Coffee

After selecting the main category of ingredient, you will be presented with a second drop down box breaking that ingredient out into more defined categories.

Categories such as Malt, Hops, Yeast will all have second choices to filter out because of the amount of ingredients we are able to offer within in those areas.

Once filtered, either scroll down the list or use the search filter at the top, finding the exact ingredient you’d like to add to your recipe.

To add ingredients, simply enter in the amount you need, then hit the + to add to your kit

Progress and add all required ingredients. The items chosen will turn to green, if you wish to edit the amount, do this in the Ingredient section (top right of above image).

All malts are offered by the gram, you can choose just how much required. There is also an option to have them crushed (most brewing systems) or fine crushed (for BIAB), We then mill them to spec and bag them all together.

Those customers who prefer to crush their own malt will receive their malts in separate bags, so you can vary the crush for each one, exactly as we do.

If we are currently waiting for more stock to arrive from our suppliers then the product will be greyed out until the stock arrives.

At all points you can move from one ingredient to the next, you can choose to start in Base Malts, then move onto Yeast Wyeast, or head over to Coffee, having complete freedom to add ingredients in any order you wish. As we know, this helps with the creative process of building your own recipe. It doesn’t need to be completed in a fixed order

When it comes to adding hops to your Recipe Kit we have a huge range of hops and hop products available for you to use. All of our hops are cold stored, and supplied in the best protective packaging available.

Whole Hops, these pre-bagged into 100g mylar foil bags, the air is then removed, nitrogen inserted then vacuum packed. When you are adding them to your recipe you are choosing to add a single 100g bag to your kit.

Pellet Hops by the gram, you choose exactly how much you want for your bespoke recipe, we weigh them out just for you, nitrogen flush and seal them specifically for you with the same love and care that we always use.

Pellet Hops By The Bag, this is a totally new addition to the Recipe Generator for 2023. When we pack in bulk and the same amount per bag it takes less time per bag, so this saving is passed onto you. Here we offer mostly 100g bags, a small selection of 50g bags, and also a few larger bags (250g and 500g) on some more popular varieties.

Within each of these various hop products you’ll find the hops separated out according the the area of the world they are grown.

When you have added all the ingredients you want you can then select your crush type if you haven’t already done so then give your recipe a name, and save this to your account, or add to your basket and save it.

Advanced Recipe Building

Its not just about building an ingredient kit though, with the last update we added the ability to add brewing method to your recipes too.

This means you can really store all of your notes digitally and together, so when you come to brew again you know exactly what you were thinking when you created the recipe, and you can note the method you used to brew it. And if it didn’t quite go to plan, then you can come back and make tweaks to the recipe and the method, so that you can keep improving and advancing your recipe.

The other great thing is you can duplicate your recipe, so say you brewed the perfect IPA but want to swap a malt or a hop, whilst keeping the original then yes you can do that and have a new version of it.

With this new 2023 Recipe Generator there are a few changes here to help make it easier to use and record, the first being that when you hit the Method tab you’re ingredients stay visible on the screen so you can ensure you record all of the things you’re planning to use.

Also added into the first section is a space for your to record what your typical efficiency is, this will help you, and other brewers dial in any software information should you choose the share the recipe on our site.

And then below this there is a note section where you can record what kit you used or specific brewing method, so if you used a 35ltr 3 vessel kit, or a Grainfather G40, or even if you were doing BIAB, it all helps for future referencing.

 

As you then progress to recording your mashing details we’ve expanded on the mash steps, giving 5 possible steps. You of course don’t have to use all of these, but some recipes might call for it on occasion, but in most cases it might just be a simple single step followed by a mash out. There is also a handing section at the end for any additional notes about the mash that you might wish to add for yourself or others if its going to be a shared recipe.

After the mash comes the boil section, here have space for your kettle additions, then a new field for information about any hop stand or whirlpool additions.

Then its onto fermentation, and noting down the yeast you’ve included or if you are suggesting to choose from a range of different yeasts, and the fermentation technique you’re using for your beer.

Secondary additions then is there for you to add in any additions you’re adding into the fermentation process, along with details of time of adding, how long for and any specific gravity or temperature to achieve the beer you’ve planned.

The final field then is probably the most important one and where you can really make a difference to the recipe, this is where you can detail any final notes to perfecting the beer and of course what the beer tastes like, smells like and looks like, its your chance to remind yourself in future or to sell your recipe idea to the home brew community.

Extract Recipe Kits

The Recipe Generator is a not only for our All Grain brewers, not many realise it but you can also use it to create and develop your own bespoke extract recipe kits.

By having all of the liquid and spray malts that you find on our main website you can combine these along with hops by the bag or by the gram, add in your yeast and in the same way as an all grain brewer you can save the method and steps in the same way to your account too.

When you’ve filled out all of the information on any of your recipes you then have the option to share these to our website for the rest of the home brew community to brew.

Over the years we’ve had some fantastic recipes shared, some have even become favourites of the team here to brew, so why not give it a go and get yours publish on The Malt Miller website.

We really hope you like this new updated Recipe Generator and that the upgrades help you in your brewing and this guide helps you to make the most of this awesome tool.