Planning first AG

So I'm planning to do my very first AG beer here in the next couple weeks and I was thinking about Edworts Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale. I thought this would be a great beer to get my feet wet in AG with. It seems like a fairly easy and to the point recipe, but does anyone have any suggestions or feedback for my first one?

Check out "Brew Your Own" (BYO) magazines 150 clone issue for ideas of various beers you know you like. I started with a clone of Sierra Nevada's IPA.

A lot of brewers like Ed' recipe becuse it is simple,easy to drink and rather inexpensive to purchase the ingredients. Stouts are fairly straightforward to make and BierMuncher has a lot of recipes and styles. What beer do you like best?

Do you have a good thermometer...?

beergears said:

Do you have a good thermometer...?

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I asked this in another thread, but I think it'll be of help to the OP here too (and myself)... what makes a good thermometer? I have:

1. Cheap (~$8) probe thermometer w/ appropriate range
2. Turkey fryer thermometer w/ large range
3. Cheap Craftsman digital multimeter w/ temperature probe

Any of these good enough? Will the multi be as good as a dedicated digi thermometer?

I would guess the turkey fryer thermometer is a piece of ****.

The owner's manual for my turkey fryer says, "be sure to test the thermometer before using in a pot of boil water, it should read 212F +/- 20F"........nothing like a thermometer with accuracy of 41F.

I have this one and have been very happy with it:

http://www.target.com/Taylor-Commer...browse=1038576&rh=k:taylor thermometer&page=2

{Target thermometer, online}

I have one. Can be calibrated!
Caution; My Target store had another model, not this one (missing calibration).

It may be popular, as I got the last one on the self at Linen&Things store near me..

abracadabra said:

Check out "Brew Your Own" (BYO) magazines 150 clone issue for ideas of various beers you know you like. I started with a clone of Sierra Nevada's IPA.

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I like SNIPA.

Blender said:

A lot of brewers like Ed' recipe becuse it is simple,easy to drink and rather inexpensive to purchase the ingredients. Stouts are fairly straightforward to make and BierMuncher has a lot of recipes and styles. What beer do you like best?

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I like beer period so cant say I have a favorite. I like the hop-monsters, but I can also appreciate a good Pilsner or Lager too . Some of my favorites lately are Rogue Brutal Bitter, Nut Brown Ale, and Lagunitas IPA, and Censored. I was thinking about a Chimay Blue Clone (another one I've been loving lately) but the recipe I found is HUGE and complicated as I expected it would be. I am drinking an extract Barley wine that I just finished so I was thinking of something lighter and more of a crowd pleaser that my friends who aren't beer fans(a.k.a. swill drinkers) can appreciate. I also want to do something that doesn't have to age long like barley wine (even though I didn't let it age lol). The more I look at it the better Edworts recipe appeals to me, as you said it seems simple enough and it's inexpensive so I won't waste much money if I f**k it up.

I brewed the Bee Cave Pale for my first all-grain batch just last weekend.

The recipe was simple and inexpensive, except I had to spring for 4 oz of Cascade due to the low alpha content, but at least the shop had Cascade.

And I must say, everything went fantastic. I used Beersmith to calculate strike temp, upped that two degrees on instinct, and hit the mash temp dead nuts.

I really enjoyed the process. The most interesting thing for me is how fast it fermented out. The beer was done in 48 hours, using a single 11-gram pack of dry Nottingham (properly rehydrated). I've never had an extract beer ferment out so fast.

FYI, Morebeer.com has a Rogue Brutal Bitter kit.

beergears said:

Do you have a good thermometer...?

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That's one of the items that I will need to pick up along with a burner. I have my eye on one at my LHBS but I'm going to look around to see what I can find that may be cheaper.

I have a Sunbeam digital meat thermometer. Picked it up at Fred Meyer for $20. Definitely worth buying.

My first was Edwort's Pale as well, it was easy and I got to say for being so simple it's quite tasty. Biggest thing to remember is getting your mash-in temps right but to be honest for your first brew it's all a learning experience anyway. I made a few screwups on my first and it still came out good, first beer SWMBO has ever liked so it cant' be that bad.

farmbrewernw said:

My first was Edwort's Pale as well, it was easy and I got to say for being so simple it's quite tasty. Biggest thing to remember is getting your mash-in temps right but to be honest for your first brew it's all a learning experience anyway. I made a few screwups on my first and it still came out good, first beer SWMBO has ever liked so it cant' be that bad.

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I'm already using Promash so temps should be pretty easy to calculate with that.

EvilTOJ said:

I have a Sunbeam digital meat thermometer. Picked it up at Fred Meyer for $20. Definitely worth buying.

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Can you calibrate it? Also have you seen any cheap turkey fryer kits around town anywhere?

Hey Quercus, how's that Bee Cave coming along? I used Notti yeast for the first time in Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale that I brewed on Easter. Turned my airlock into a jet engine. Less than 48 hours later the thing is done done done!

BTW, are you in Sonoma County? I saw in another post that you mentioned the Santa Rosa Home Depot. I'm in Petaluma.

Cheers!

No, you can't calibrate my thermometer, but I've tested it from time to time and it seems to jive with other thermometers. Well, GOOD ones, not the turkey fryer one. I'll keep an eye out for cheap turkey fryers if I see any. If you want a big, cheap brewpot WinCo is selling these ginourmous Al kettles for cheap. If I didn't already have a plethora of boilers I'd pick one up.

I have the yellow thermo from target.com and it's NOT available in stores. The stores have the one that's black, half the price, and NOT waterproof or recalabratable. It's worth picking up TWO online.

Brew the HAUS, it is a recipe with all the right elements not too much not to little and edwort has great instructions on his post