all grain queries for a beginner

[Rodcx500z]

My view the worst you can start with is larger you can't hide any mistakes, i agree with Jim Brewster simple smashes, buy a sack of pale malt and 5 different hops,

 

[old dog new tricks]

My view the worst you can start with is larger you can't hide any mistakes, i agree with Jim Brewster simple smashes, buy a sack of pale malt and 5 different hops,

Good point I made that mistake in trying to help my son who likes Corona so tried a CML clone kit. Thankfully the good folks on here kept me right, time will tell still conditioning but tasted ok when bottling well as much as flat room temp larger can haha

 

[Dark Arts]

Mashing dark malts could potentially give a treacly taste. Which malts were in the recipe? Some people add the roasted malts just at the final 10 minutes of the mash for this reason.

Start simple I say until you get a feel for the processes. Single malt, single hops, something like a pale or golden ale. Once you get the hang of that (which won't be long), you can tweak things to your hearts content

Pre made up kits so all mixed in, having a quick look at 2 of the 3recipes, choc malt is the common malt 8% in both, I thought maybe I was doing the mash wrong and this was bring out more of the treacle flavour. I don't mide the taste, I'll have to pick a kit with less or no choc malt see if it's that? I'm still in that massive learning curve, I probably should just pic 1 style/kit etc and nail that but I'm impatient and wana try everything yesterday

 

[MashBag]

but I'm impatient and wana try everything yesterday

We have all been there, enjoy it. You might then find you settle on a recipe that you really like, fine tune and do the occasional festival / seasonal beer

 

[Jim Brewster]

I can't see any other reason for a treacle taste other than dark malts in the mash or just in the recipe. It's all learning though, hopefully you can pinpoint what it is that you're not keen on and avoid it. For me one of the worst things in beers is Lactose and I avoid any beer with it in like the plague

 

[Dark Arts]

Thanks for all the replies, done a bit more testing(drinking) and it turns out I was wrong about the flavour being in all the 3 AG Id done, it's been in 2 of the 3, the 1 without was actually thinned out/down from a 6.5%? To 4%(5ltr-7/8ltrs) and I've realised the treacle flavour is in a none AG brew ive just done, that I brewed short at 11ltrs and used dark DME in which ended up at 7.8%, so my current thinking is that its the intensity of the roast malts in the brew which are bring out the noticeable treacle flavour and not something im doing via a mash at the wrong temp etc etc

As I've just bought an load of dark malts to make a sodo O'Hara clone or Beamish clone