First Brew, trying to put a recipe together

Hey guys, Just new to home brew, thought it looked like a good hobby so I thought I'd try it out. Anyways, I have a recipe that I'm going to make, just want your guys opinions before I start making it in about a week from now.

Well here it is: (5 Gallon)

Golden Light LME 3.3 lb
Briess Sparkling Amber DME 2 lb
1 oz. Northern Brewer hop @ 60 Minutes
1/2 oz. Amarillo hop @ 15 minutes
Safbrew T-58 Ale Yeast

Feel free to give your opinions, Just wondering what alcohol % I'm looking at, and what kind of taste I'm going to have. Also, just making sure, 11.5 grams of yeast is equivalent to 2 smaller packages right?

what type of beer are you trying to make? I'm really not sure the T-58 goes well with the rest of your recipe. if you switch it to S-05 it should make for a fine american pale ale

as is, its about 4% ABV

agree on the 05. it is a staple of my dry yeasts. throw in the whole oz of amarillo.

You'll end up at roughly 4.5% ABV.
Myself, I love the idea of using the T-58 and making a Belgian-y pale ale.

But I reckon given that it's your first brew you're better off starting simple. Using US-05 with that recipe would give you a nice, simple, easy drinking APA, and that's probably your best bet.

maltbarleyhops said:

agree on the 05. it is a staple of my dry yeasts. throw in the whole oz of amarillo.

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I completely agree on using a whole oz of amarillo, heck I'd even throw in another ounce at flameout, but if you do back down on the northern brewer to 0.75 oz. Also, this is going to effect your sweetness/bitterness balance.

As far as malts, I would increase the amount of light LME if it were me, by about 2 lb or back down on the bittering hops. I think that your current recipe will be a bit too dry for the IBUs, even without adding the extra amarillo. I would up the light liquid extract to 3.5-4 lb, and add in the extra hops to put you right at 5.5% ABV and slightly on the high end of everything for an amber. On the otherhand, if you keep you current recipe just back down the bittering hops to 0.75 oz to bring the IBU's in balance. I would still add the 1/2-1oz of amarillo at flameout to get some more hop aroma and flavor into the beer.