I'm about to show my ignorance....

but i'll ask anyway. I ordered the AHS Stille Nacht clone extract recipe and want to TRY brewing it this weekend. Kinda worried now because this will be my first batch. Are there any tips or caveats i should be aware of, or should it be as easy as following the instruction?

For my next batch, I would like to find something very similar in taste to The Beast Grand Cru or DFH 120. Not looking to get 17-22% ABV (although that would be awesome), just looking for the taste (if that's possible). Any suggestions on a recipe or clone??

I would suggest following the directions with your kit. AHS has very nice kits and their instructions are great.

As for your other recipe needs, I can't help ya there. You probably should stay away from higher ABV beers though until you get a little experience with fermentation and temperature control. Higher gravity beers can be a PITA, especially at the level you're talking.

Everybody started somewhere, so don't be afraid to ask some questions

Read up here: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html it's a real good starting point.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

read it, your taste buds will thank you in 6 weeks

Keep the fermentation below 70 degrees if at all possible. Once I figured out temperature control, the quality of the beer I brewed improved significantly.

I have ordered many AHS kits and they all turn out great by just following the directions. Very easy. I agree that you may want to hold off on a high gravity beer until you are a few more batches into it.

play around with some tamer beers first, maybe small batch. I jumped in on trying high grav at first with some disasters, luckily I was brewing 2.5gal batches then.

If you do go for only big beers first, remember they take alot longer to be drinkable than normal gravity beers. I have a quad that I made a year ago and is now finally tasty.

It's all up to you, the higher gravity and / or high hops beers are more costly to make. My experience is that they are not that much "harder" to make though. Fermentation can be a little more vigorous so as long as you can contain that, no problems.

My suggesstion is to make a couple of inexpensive beers while you are learning your process. you will find that you can make some great beers for pretty cheap (like Biermunchers Centenial blonde).
If you like the DFH, I would suggest taking a look at Yoopers DFH 60 clone in the IPA recipe database which can be found on this websites homepage, just scroll down to the recipe area. The 60 wont break the bank on hops and will produce a great beer. The most complicated thing to deal with on her recipe is dry hopping, which really isn't a big deal at all.

good luck!

wow, that was a lot of quick responses. i have gotten into this because i LOVE belgians (beer that is) and can't get anything over 6% where i live. i do love a cold hoegaarden though, so maybe i'll try a regular witbier like that for some practice before really laying into the tripels and quads. thanks for the responses!

aww just go for it

And get another batch going two or three weeks after you brew the first one. Trust me.

Rick500 said:

And get another batch going two or three weeks after you brew the first one. Trust me.

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yeah, i would drink a few a day if my wife would let me. for a while there i was on a role, and she finally gave me an ultimatum; only get to drink twice a month . so, i proably won't be going through it too fast. then again, maybe i can convince her it is merely for artisinal/learning purposes .

i gotta say, i'm a seasoned member on three other boards (all car/racing related) and i have never seen this many responses this fast. i can tell this is gonna be a great site to learn from. thanks!

If you like a Belgian Wit, you should try the Austin Homebrew Supply Belgian White Beer or Hoegaarden White Clone. I have the Belgian White kit on tap in my kegerator, this is how it turned out.

I would echo the advice of the previous poster who recommended making a few cheap kits to get your process down and then moving on. It isn't that there are that much harder, but you will make mistakes, so it is easier to make cheap mistakes. Check out Austin Homebrew Supply's 50 cent beers. I have made the Belgian White (see above), Texas Blonde, and Ordinary Bitter. All have turned out great. The only flaw was one that I unfortunately added (see thread on Texas Blonde).

Have fun!

Eric

lpdb185 said:

yeah, i would drink a few a day if my wife would let me. for a while there i was on a role, and she finally gave me an ultimatum; only get to drink twice a month .

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I think if my g/f told me I could only drink twice a month, I'd either go to jail for beating her or leave her because I couldn't deal with her sober.

Kidding of course.

As for making high gravity beers, I want to clarify my original post.

Making high gravity beers in the 6-10% range isn't difficult. It's when you start breaking the 10% barrier that it starts to get fun. Yeast don't really like to deal with gravities much beyond 10%. They will, but it's extremely stressful on them and you risk a stuck fermentation every time. At this point, it really comes in handy to feed them sugar slowly. You start out with a 8 or 9% ABV beer, then add a few more pounds of sugar to the fermentor every few days or so. This allows the yeast to stay active and not become overwhelmed.

Read up on how Sam Adam's brewed their Utopias if you really want to get into high alcohol beers.

lpdb185 said:

yeah, i would drink a few a day if my wife would let me. for a while there i was on a role, and she finally gave me an ultimatum; only get to drink twice a month . so, i proably won't be going through it too fast. then again, maybe i can convince her it is merely for artisinal/learning purposes .

i gotta say, i'm a seasoned member on three other boards (all car/racing related) and i have never seen this many responses this fast. i can tell this is gonna be a great site to learn from. thanks!

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I have to say...there are lots of fish in the sea. If she is that controlling...well, let's say that I would put her back in the ocean

Eric

lpdb185 said:

yeah, i would drink a few a day if my wife would let me. for a while there i was on a role, and she finally gave me an ultimatum; only get to drink twice a month .

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So what's the ultimatum? only get to drink twice a month... or.... what? :cross:

If it's no sex...I think I could do without for a few months and just go on a massive homebrew bender.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

If it's no sex...I think I could do without for a few months and just go on a massive homebrew bender.

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yeah, i have gladly traded a few nights of beer for a few nights of sex. The last time i went out of state and brought back about $150 worth of Belgians, i think i went without for about a month straight (just couldn't stop drinking them).