Is a saison, dark porter, or weizen bad idea for a first brew experience?

I am putting my 1st homebrew setup together. Almost know where I am going to get what.

Time to decide on my first beer kit. I really don't drink pilsners. My favorites are saisons, porters, and weizens.

Am I being too ambitious? If not, where I can mail-order some of the decent kits?

I would say saison is something you should stay away from until you have a bit of experience, but a weizen or porter would be fine.

I vote porter.. easy, fun to see that dark wort, lots of flavor, etc.

Porter is quite easy. I brewed smokey porter for my first batch. Came out quite good. A nice thing about a dark beer for your first brew is that the heavier taste can mask some of the imperfections if there are any. Better to have a first good experience imho than go for the gold with something ultra-complex out of the gate, fail and possibly be turned off from the hobby.

Porter for sure is the least worry about things going wrong. However the weizen is pretty easy and forgiving also. Brew what you like to drink. It won't be perfect but it will be better than what you buy in the stores more than likely.

Saisons aren't hard to do and the warmer fermentation temps are, I think, more forgiving for a new brewer.

Stay away from the saison.. The yeast for this type is tempermental, and you sometimes have to dick around with adding a second yeast to dry it out. And since it's cool outside this time of year, you won't be able to get it to the temps it needs very easily.

Porter would probably be easy (though porters are gross, in my opinion). Personally, I'd make a weizen, since the weather is just about right for that type right now (at least where I live).

porter is about as easy as they get

For your first brew I wouldn't do a saison for the following reasons.

1. To get the right profile (in terms of dryness) you need to be able to mash your grains low. If it's your first brew you don't want to jump into All Grain and need to use extracts. As a result you'll have a hard time getting a dry enough beer.

2. As others have said, this yeast is temperamental. It will ferment like crazy then sputter out and take at least a month to finish (unless you use Wyeast 3711, but I don't think it's available right now).

3. Plus it's a brew whose temperatures you really want to be able to control. The last two I made fermented over 90 degrees for a while.

Do yourself a favor and do a porter. They're delicious and about as easy as it gets to brew. Plus Austin Homebrew has some really nice porter kits.

I would vote for the porter

I did a stout for my first brew. Kept one case in the brew closet for later drinking. I am drinking it 18 months later and it is HEAVEN in a bottle! NOM!

Porters & Stouts are great for first time brew! They can be very forgiving as the strong taste will normaly cover the minor screw ups...

What do you think about this as my first beer?
Power Pack Porter w/ White Labs Burton Ale 023
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/power-pack-porter-w-white-labs-burton-ale-023.html
Strong, dark, thick!
How long would optimal fermentation take?

I guess I have been, either really good or really lucky with my saison yeast (3724). I've had it ferment out without stalling or having to pitch a second yeast. Both times it fermented down to 1.003. 2nd batch only fermented in the high 70's too.

agurkas said:

What do you think about this as my first beer?
Power Pack Porter w/ White Labs Burton Ale 023
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/power-pack-porter-w-white-labs-burton-ale-023.html
Strong, dark, thick!
How long would optimal fermentation take?

Click to expand...

I would leave it in the primary for at least 2-3 weeks, do not rack it into a carboy after 5-7 days as the instructions say. That recommendation is outdated information. I do not use a secondary except for extended aging (i just aged for 6 months in for a bourbon barrel imperial porter).

check out these links for more in depth discussion on long primaries:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-long-too-long-primary-201014/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/