Recommendations for 1st AG brew?

[OldThumper]

Hi all,

I am just in the process of making my own mash tun and boiler following the good advice on these forums (such as viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17728&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) and i was wondering if there is a simple recipe I can use for my first AG brew? Fewer the ingredients the better I guess?

My favourite types of beer are golden hoppy beers (like summer lightning, crop circle etc) as well as very dark and porters (hobgoblin, old peculiar, Ringwood porter etc)

As I have only ever brewed from a few kits I was wondering what the most full proof recipe out there is which also gives a damn good beer after 1 month! Or am I worrying about nothing and should just make whatever I think I will like the most (any hobgoblin recipes for example)? I have not sourced any grain/hops/yeast yet so will purchase what is necessary.

Jeez, I am addicted to this "potentially" liver pickling hobby already!

thanks guys

[yashicamat]

Have a search about - there's a Summer Lightning recipe on here. Good choice too, single hop and you could just make it with pale malt (I think the Hopback one has a touch of wheat in it). Hops are East Kent Goldings (readily available) and just pale malt will do a fine job. Drinking some at this moment as it happens - it's a nice pint.

[aceuass]

My first was a Porter, some great flavours and easily hides any inperfections in cloudy, hazy beer
Port Ahhhhhhhhh
3628.74 gm Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.12 %
340.19 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.79 %
340.19 gm Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 7.79 %
56.70 gm Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.30 %
1.00 oz Bullion [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 29.0 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (1 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale
Cheers
Paul

[Jymbo]

Porters and Stouts are a lot more forgiving. I started of with a Silver Dollar porter for my first AG and it turned out great. It's a clone of Anchor Porter. Here's the thread.

[Hogarth]

Fewer the ingredients the better I guess?

Not really. Weighing out three different types of hops/grains isn't difficult. Stuck mashes, pipes falling off, elements cutting out are the sorts of things that'll slow you down. The thing is just to take it very easy and expect a few problems. You're bound to get good beer whichever recipe you do.

[OldThumper]

You're bound to get good beer whichever recipe you do.

Fantastic!!

thanks for all your input guys. I will have a look around and then decide what recipe to go for. right now, I am just testing out my new coolbox mash tun i just finished building to see if it can maintain a water temperature of roughly 150F over 90 mins with a sleeping bag around it. Without a sleeping bag the water dropped to about 115C earlier today after 90 mins! fingers crossed

[adm]

You're bound to get good beer whichever recipe you do.

Fantastic!!

thanks for all your input guys. I will have a look around and then decide what recipe to go for. right now, I am just testing out my new coolbox mash tun i just finished building to see if it can maintain a water temperature of roughly 150F over 90 mins with a sleeping bag around it. Without a sleeping bag the water dropped to about 115C earlier today after 90 mins! fingers crossed

One thing to bear in mind is that when there is grain and water in the mash tun, it will have much greater thermal stability than just water alone.....testing it with just water won't really tell you much.

[Russ]

How about Styrian Stunner, a recipe here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12097

I made this for my 1st all grain (although I made it several times previouslywhen doing extract)

Easy, pale and great- *issed on anything I'd ever made before. AG is the way to go I'm sure whatever you make you will not be dissapointed (only that you didn't go AG before )

Good luck

Russ

[fraserjaxx]

I agree with Russ -go for a brew with minimal ingredients.My first brew was Carolines Ale ,just pale malt and hops and was the best thing I had tasted for a long while and I never looked back !
Once you get the first one under your belt there'll be no stopping you !! Good luck and get stuck in fella !!!

[Invalid Stout]

I'm planning my first AG too. I think I'm going to do something really simple. 100% lager malt, 100% Cascade. Someone stop me if this is a bad idea.

[adm]

I'm planning my first AG too. I think I'm going to do something really simple. 100% lager malt, 100% Cascade. Someone stop me if this is a bad idea.

Personally, I'd go for Pale Malt instead of Lager Malt. But your mileage may vary.

How about something like a very yummy but very simple American Pale Ale type beer:

5Kg Pale malt
250g Crystal malt (not required, but wouldn't hurt)
66C mash for 90 mins

25g Cascade First Wort hops
50g Cascade 15 mins from end
25g Cascade at turn off
(uses a 100g pack of Cascade which is convenient if that's the pack size you have)

1 protafloc tablet 10 mins before end of boil

1 sachet US-05 yeast.

Off the top of my head, that should give you around 1050 or so for a 23l brew and about 40 IBU if the Cascades are around 8% AA.

[OldThumper]

Do i need to worry about using things like epsom salts in my mash water with all these recipes or can I just use normal tap water? I have campden tablets which I think help to remove chlorine,if necessary? I am assuming I can just forget about all these things for now and still get an excellent beer and then revist once I get a hang of things. e.g. just tap water, grain, hops and beer yeast (and steriliser for cleaning).

?

[adm]

Do i need to worry about using things like epsom salts in my mash water with all these recipes or can I just use normal tap water? I have campden tablets which I think help to remove chlorine,if necessary? I am assuming I can just forget about all these things for now and still get an excellent beer and then revist once I get a hang of things. e.g. just tap water, grain, hops and beer yeast (and steriliser for cleaning).

?

Just crush a campden tablet and put it in your water before you start and you're good to go...

[lukesharpe]

Hi there,

For my first brew I used the "Big Book of Brewing" by Dave Line. In Chapter 3 he explains your first brew in detail. I followed it to the letter. His recipe is for Best Bitter and is very simple:

6 ld Pale Malt
1/2 ld of Crystal Malt
1 ld Demerara Sugar
3 oz Golding Hops
Beer Yeast

However, the problems I've encountered were equipment related. What's the best way to do this, where should I position that, why is there a puddle of hot beer at my feet. And all told, I think it took me the best part of 10 hours to get it into the Fermentation Bin. But you learn, and with each new batch I do, the process gets more refined and slicker. There have even been some batches where I've managed to keep most of the beer in the vessels! But it all pays off when the final product appears and especially when you test it out on the unsuspecting public and get positive reactions. Apart from tainted beer, there isn't much you can't fix if it's not behaving anywhere along the process. So as long as you keep everything sterile, jobs a goodun.

[subsub]

I started my mates on either Jim or Daabs (Chrisx-1) basic bitter. If you like beer and are looking for a good starting point you can't go wrong with the recipes