what kind of beer should I make? Here's what I got....

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pop_shots

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beer does a body good.
Alright first of all I'd like to say I like the site!

Moving on...I decided to get my foot in the door, unfortunately the closest brew shop was somewhat limited. My aim is a dark brew, around 7-8% alcohol, with chocolate/caramel/raisin/plum/woody notes, of course I know I won't achieve this with my first brew, and am prepared for the worst. I will now give a list of the following ingredients I've purchased from the nearby homebrew shop.. (which was actually a hardware store, with a tiny 'brew shop' area to give you an idea of how limited it was)

pretty big pack of 'sprayed' dark malt extract (looked like powder)
4 lbs munich malt, which went through a grinder they had there
2 lbs of chocolate malt, which went through a grinder they had there
2 lbs of wheat malt, which went through a grinder they had there
2 lbs of crystal malt, which went through a grinder they had there

their extract choices were very limited, all they had were these White Labs Pitchable Liquid Yeast extracts...I grabbed 1 of each, they had German ale/Kosch ale yeast, and English Ale yeast. so, what kind of beer should I make? thanks in advance for your suggestions!
 
Hey there! Welcome! Yeah I started out buying things from just a small section of a liquir store many years ago:) Sometimes you know the limited amount of supplies for somoene just starting out is actualy a relief:)

Couple of questions....
Are you mashing? Crystal and chocolate I know is fine not to mash, but I dont know about the wheat and munich....

What hops did you get and how much?

Did you get an equipment kit?
 
Michael_Schaap said:
Hey there! Welcome! Yeah I started out buying things from just a small section of a liquir store many years ago:) Sometimes you know the limited amount of supplies for somoene just starting out is actualy a relief:)

Couple of questions....
Are you mashing? Crystal and chocolate I know is fine not to mash, but I dont know about the wheat and munich....

What hops did you get and how much?

Did you get an equipment kit?

Sorry about not adding which hops I got!!!

I picked up Perle, Liberty,Saaz, abd Tettnang. all were pellet form except the saaz.

i have no masher, although I put all the grain through a hand operated grinding-type machine which was there at the little brew shop before purchasing the grain. still reading up on everything, thanks for the reply!
 
here's your numbers based on that recipe:
Original Gravity 1.049
IBU's (bitterness) 33.4
SRM (color) 18.3
 
DeRoux's Broux said:
i'd use 4 lbs of the extract, 1 lb munich, 1 lb crystal, .5 lb wheat, 2 oz chocolate,
.75 oz perle at 60 min, .5 oz tettnang at 15 min, and .5 oz tettnang at 0 min. use the German Ale/Kolsch yeast. and follow these instructions:
http://www.defalcos.com/recipesbeer2.htm

probably be pretty good.

cheers, and thanks from your eastern neighbor (I live in baton rouge)
 
pop_shots said:
i don't have any of the bru-vigor, is that necessary
Bru-Vigor is yeast nutrient...if you don't have it then don't worry about it. It's not absolutely necessary.
 
pop_shots said:
cheers, and thanks from your eastern neighbor (I live in baton rouge)

cool! my brother used to live on the east side of baton rouge south of i-12.
bru-vigor is just yeast nutrient. no biggie ifyou don't have it. just helps, especially if you don't make starters.
 
Looks good! Based on the OG that DeRoux posted, you'll be at ~5% ABV. You'll definitely have a dark ale with that Dried Malt Extract (DME) you've got. White Labs liquid yeast is all I use, so I think you're off to a good start.

If you are really looking to boost the ABV, then you might want to consider adding some adjuct fermentables; easily found at your grocery store. You could use honey or, one of my personal favorites, Turbinado Sugar :p. One pound of either during the last 15-20 mins. or so of the boil will do.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
what's up guys, thanks for all your replies. I find it very interesting that you all think the DME will be fine, because people over at this site in this thread I made located here: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/What_Kind_Of_Beer_Should_I_Brewl_Here_s_What_I_Got-t8710.html
did nothing but whine about it. ><


they told me that the DME wouldn't work too well. /shrug, I planned on using munich/wheat malt grains as the main base and adding a small percentage of my 3lb Dark Dunston's DME to it just to give it a nice darker hue and hopefully better flavor.

PS- Oh, and as for the sugars, I went ahead and got 2 bags of this 5.00 a bag belgian cubed sugar. I grabbed Dark, and Amber...(not a pale guy ><)

Today I spent a good 2 and a half hours at Lowes with the guy who worked at Plumbing. He asked me what the hell I was doin with all the copper tubing, I told him it was for homebrewing and he showed great interest in beer, so I figured he drank. (was making a copper manifold for my homemade masher,)I told him if he wrote down his home info, I'd mail him a sixpack, just to give him a lil extra motivation to help me out..lol. (im not gonna mail em to him, but i really will drive him over a sixer for his help...he spent some serious time helping me cut pipe, he even made the notches i wanted, like 40 notches) So yeah, the guy pretty much busted his ass helping me out, I got a decent looking manifold that I think will work pretty well.. Tommarrow bright and early I'll be off to the brewshop again for Bottles, a hand capper, caps, wax pellets for the bottles, airlocks for my fermentors, and that pretty much does it. I may pick up some more malts, specifically some dark roasted grains, and maybe some other specialty flavoring grains if they have em at this new place im goin to. Later all!
 
one good way to make friends. good tact!!!

Rhoobarb, i like Turbinado Sugar in my boston butt, rib, and brisket rubs too!
 
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