AG1 Planned, now what for AG2?

[jimny14]

Hi everyone, so the dark side has taken me! I've collected all the kit I need now and am thinking about planning a couple of brews to do after the summer hols.
The first one i've planned is a hobgoblin style do. If someone could just look over this to see if it looks about right i'd appreciate it -

Grain -
MO - 4.6kg
Crystal - 0.25kg
Carapils - 0.2kg
Choc malt - 0.15kg

90 min mash

60 min boil -

4.6% goldings - 17g 60 mins
4% fuggle - 17g 60 min
goldings - 17g 30 mins
fuggle 17g 60 min
golding 17g 0 min
fuggle 17g 0 min

The next brew however I cant decide on. So if anyone here could give me some ideas of what i could do with the stock i've got please let me know. I'm thinking about doing a stout for over winter, and a hoppy session ale about 3.5-3.8% to keep me in beer for a while. I'd like to give building specific recipes and quantities a go myself so I learn instead of just copying other peoples. I'm sure everyone on here will get sick of checking my recipes after a while but i'd really appreciate the help.

My stock after my first AG (above)

Grain -
Plenty MO
crystal - 0.65kg
carapils - 0.15g
torrified wheat - 0.3g
choc malt - 0.35g

Hops
challenger 6.4% - 50g
northdown ?% - 52g
golding 4.6% - 133g
fuggle 4% - 62g
saaz 2.5% - 80g

Anyone any rough ideas what works well together i'd appreciate the thoughts. For example what hops work well together etc.

Cheers for any comments guys,

James

[Barley Water]

Well, a brown ale is a very good choice for an initial all grain brew. I don't know how close your formulation will come to Hobgoblin but the beer should be good. For your next brew, since you don't have any roasted barley in your inventory, I don't see you doing a stout unless you suplement your stores. If you do a stout, I rather liked the Four Shades of Stout you will find the formulation for on these boards. I really like London Porter also and it is a bit higher gravity, good for winter drinking. Both those beers are rather easy to make, single infusions and both ales so should be no problem. As far as a pale ale/bitter, I am a big fan of a London Pride clone I make all the time, I use the old formulation in the Wheeler/Prost book (again a pretty easy to make beer). As you can tell, I hold the good folks at Fullers in high regard.

If you want to get "out there" a bit (and also bother the Badger a little) you can also try making an American pale ale or IPA. The techniques are the same, just use American ale yeast (much more neutral than most British strains but easy to work with) and hop the hell out of it with American Northwestern hops (you know, Cascade, Amarillo, Chinook etc). You want the beer to taste like grapefruit, be pretty bitter and reak of hop aroma (try dry hopping, you will be amazed at how it affects the aroma and to some extent the flavor of the beer plus it's easy). I am a fan of Dogfish Head 60, Dale's pale ale, Bell's Two Hearted ale just to name a few. You will also find that American pale ales are a little higher gravity than most British beers (what can I say, out motto over here is "more is better"). Anyhow, enjoy, it's a great hobby and endlessly facinating, have fun.

[Brotherton Lad]

You'll get a thousand suggestions. I've just done AG9. I'm still dipping into the recipes on this forum and looking what I can brew with the stock I hold. I'm not averse to tinkering with a recipe if I haven't got exactly the right hop or in the right quantity, but do keep notes of what I've brewed and whether it's to my taste. The session ales in the recipes have all been good so far and I also like the golden ales with bobek hops for summer drinking. AG10 beckons this Saturday (or maybe tomorrow), maybe a Coniston Bluebird.

[jimny14]

Thanks for the replys guys, i'll have to try n make a recipe with what i've got after a bit more reading around. Already set up a little spread sheet and word doc so I can keep account of recipes, tasting notes and how much of what i've used etc. Trying to use it so I can work out how much each batch costs and how much i've spent during the year, i'm a bit geeky like that. Anyway, back to thinking about recipes, so many decisions. Also testing my beer fridge atm to see if I can use it for temp controlling lager fermentation. If I can do it then that's gonna be awesome. If not there's an unused freezer that I may have to try n use, unfortunately can't mod it though as its my landlords.

[Barley Water]

I strongly suggest never, and I mean never, try to figure out how much you have spent on the hobby. There are some things in life that you really just don't want or need to know.