What should my first brew be?

[r-evans]

Got most of my AG equipment now so time to start thinking about my first brew. Had a look around the recipes and how to's on here but can't find any recommendations for first time recipes.

Any things I should not try being a novice? Should I try a kit to start with?

My preferred styles are American style Pale Ale/IPA/DIPA so was thinking about a single hop APA but I guess having more hops doesn't really make it more difficult.

In my mind I'd want it to turn out something like a Beavertown Gamma Ray, tropical fruits, hoppy and maybe a bit of haze which I like. (I obviously know I'm not going to create anything close to that quality but just for an idea of the style I like)

Any recommendations?

Cheers in advance.

 

[CraftyZA]

Easiest is make a pale ale base and wack it with simcoe. Will give you a nice american style ipa. Boil simcoe at 60 mins, then 10grams at 5 minutes, and 5 grams dry-hop.

 

[IainM]

This is a popular recipe on the forum: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53516

I have the grain for it to make it up soon, but will play around with the hops a bit.

 

[r-evans]

Easiest is make a pale ale base and wack it with simcoe. Will give you a nice american style ipa. Boil simcoe at 60 mins, then 10grams at 5 minutes, and 5 grams dry-hop.

This is similar to what I have in mind, although I don't know what a pale ale base is :lol: I'll have a look into it.

This is a popular recipe on the forum: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53516

I have the grain for it to make it up soon, but will play around with the hops a bit.

Yea I've seen this and interested in it too but I was thinking more 5%ish for my first go.

 

[CraftyZA]

This is similar to what I have in mind, although I don't know what a pale ale base is :lol: I'll have a look into it.

Go 5 kilos standard 2 row or pilsner malt, then add about 350grams 40L crystal malt.
You can use 60L if you want a slightly darker/amber type beer. Don't worry, it will not go sweet with 60L as long as you keep mash temp low, and constant.

 

[strange-steve]

What about a nice straight forward APA with loads of hop flavour:

For 20L

5KG pale malt

30g centennial @ 60 mins
30g centennial @ 5 mins
30g centennial @ 0 mins
60g centennial dry hop for 5 days

1 packet US-05

That'll give you a nice hoppy beer around 5.5% (depending on efficiency).

 

[chewie]

Can only echo what above have said, have a play with the grain bill quantities to get the target abv you want, large quantity of a base malt like marris otter, pilsner/lager (cheap and cheerful as you can source) and a small amount of colouring from a crystal type malt. The citra amber i make has about 300-500g of crystal 100 and around 4-5kg of marris otter pale ale mix (at work so can't be exact on numbers). Hops are about 35g of northern brewer pellets at 60 mins (cheap and plentiful) and 50g of citra pellets dry hopped for the last 7 days. Really nice beer with a curry:)

 

[r-evans]

Go 5 kilos standard 2 row or pilsner malt, then add about 350grams 40L crystal malt.
You can use 60L if you want a slightly darker/amber type beer. Don't worry, it will not go sweet with 60L as long as you keep mash temp low, and constant.

Cheers, still learning :)

What about a nice straight forward APA with loads of hop flavour:

For 20L

5KG pale malt

30g centennial @ 60 mins
30g centennial @ 5 mins
30g centennial @ 0 mins
60g centennial dry hop for 5 days

1 packet US-05

That'll give you a nice hoppy beer around 5.5% (depending on efficiency).

That sounds good, I do love Centennial.

Can only echo what above have said, have a play with the grain bill quantities to get the target abv you want, large quantity of a base malt like marris otter, pilsner/lager (cheap and cheerful as you can source) and a small amount of colouring from a crystal type malt. The citra amber i make has about 300-500g of crystal 100 and around 4-5kg of marris otter pale ale mix (at work so can't be exact on numbers). Hops are about 35g of northern brewer pellets at 60 mins (cheap and plentiful) and 50g of citra pellets dry hopped for the last 7 days. Really nice beer with a curry:)

I didn't realise you can dry hop with pellets too. Guessing that could clog up the tap on my FV though?

 

[chewie]

Muslin hop sock weighted down with something like a couple of spoons will keep the gunk outta the FV.

 

[Razor]

Muslin hop sock weighted down with something like a couple of spoons will keep the gunk outta the FV.

I used washed and starsan'd glass marbles from a Christmas cracker.


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[DoctorMick]

What about a nice straight forward APA with loads of hop flavour:

For 20L

5KG pale malt

30g centennial @ 60 mins
30g centennial @ 5 mins
30g centennial @ 0 mins
60g centennial dry hop for 5 days

1 packet US-05

That'll give you a nice hoppy beer around 5.5% (depending on efficiency).

I'd do something similar, keep it simple and concentrate more on the process than the recipe. More hops might not seem like much extra effort but on a first brew ever little extra can seem quite daunting.