Need Suggestions, Charleston SC

Whats up forum, first of all let me just say that this forum is inspirational. I thought I would be saving money getting into this hobby, and well 2 brews later I've already got the upgrade bug.

But a little background... Got my first two extract brews done (well bottling my mocha porter tonight), first was an IPA that came out really nice. Got my extracts from austin homebrew. Scored 80 grolsh fliptops on craigslist and I feel lucky to have them, so nice to bottle with. Anyways my brewing buddy and I are about to boil up our third batch tonight (mine is a west coast pale ale) and I wanted some suggestions on how to 'spice it up' a little so its not so similar to my ipa (which basically tastes like an elegant pale ale imo). Don't know if i'll really have time to add anything to the boil tonight unless its readily available, but something I could add to the secondary would be great. Maybe fruit? MAybe spices? white chocolate? I dunno, just want some suggestions. My buddy did his second (a wheat) and added 3 lbs of raspberries to the secondary, bottled last week and smelled and tasted delish already, so I need to step up the competiton.

Anyways, I'm in charleston sc so if anyones in the area and wants to trade brews, recipes, or generally shoot the sh-t, hit me up. peace.

cheers,
andy

Welcome to HBT!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have, we're all here to help each other...

welcome. congrats on the fliptops.

re: suggestions - maybe hop it real heavy - that's always nice in an IPA. I'm not a big fan of adding fruit or other stuff, but that's just me. Simple beers can be real good too.

Welcome to HBT.

Have you considered adding ginger? Peel a thumb sized chunk, slice it into rounds and boil it with a cup or two of water for 10-15 minutes and add it all to the secondary. That would add a crisp, spicy, citrus note that wouldn't (or shouldn't anyway) fight with the hops.

Just a thought.

Chad