Easiest type of beer to brew for your first batch

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I am new to home brewing and I just recently bought a beginners home brewing kit. I was wondering what would be the easiest/best type of beer to brew for my first batch? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
An ale in the 1.040-1.055 SG range. No dry hopping or anything else added after the boil. Other than that brew what you like.
 
What do you like? A pale ale will be easy to brew and the hops will mask common flaws. Many people try to make a really light, low bitterness ale for their first beer, but that is one of the hardest styles to get right. I agree with the suggestion to stay away from dry hopping for the first beer, but I disagree with boil additions. If you can work a timer then multiple boil hop additions aren't difficult.
 
Porter is a pretty forgiving style to brew, if you like those. I'm not going to claim it's easy to make a great one, but you almost have to try to make a really bad one.
 
My first years ago was a brown ale. I still brew brown ales and milds on a regular basis, they finish quick and are nice to drink young. They also come in many types so style of brown ales can vary...

My second choice would be a Pale ale. This is just a fun style to tinker with, change a hop, change a yeast, change a specialty grain... fun!

Third would be a hefe. Get the yeast right on a hefe for the style of hefe you want and it's hard to go wrong. I like a big banana & clove thing going on in my hefe so wyeast 3068 is the way to go.
 
I agree with the suggestion to stay away from dry hopping for the first beer, but I disagree with boil additions. If you can work a timer then multiple boil hop additions aren't difficult.

I said after the boil. I agree that hop or any additions to the boil are pretty easy. Not that dry hopping or other post boil additions are hard, just that for a first brew I would go with something you can boil, dump in the fermenter and forget about for until it is time to bottle in 3 weeks. Something with a normalish gravity so you are not making a yeast starter. Basically something where you can focus on the boil with the fewest added on steps to cut down on the chances of something going wrong.
 
Good on ya man! Too many times I see new homebrewers trying to make something like a Bourbon RIS with Cherry, Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon and Raisins. Then they come back with "beer tasted like gorilla poop". Good to start off with something fairly easy to get the process down, then you can make gorilla poop!
 
I did a pretty simple IPA to start with. It came out great, and it gave me the confidence to continue. Do something small, but something that you can maybe build upon in future brews... something that you can make your own in the future. Good luck! Keep us updated!
 
If you post what styles of beer you prefer it may be easier to narrow down the difficulty/recommendations.
 
Do a base line brew you can't go wrong with like just an american ale with 4 to 6 lbs of DME and 1oz of hops @ 5to7% AA for bittering at 60min boil and a pack of safale-05.. Cost ya like 25 bucks.. Then your next batch do the same but maybe steep some specialty grains or add aroma hops at the last 2 min or etc.. You get the idea and will learn what everything adds to your brew..
 
Easiest? = prehopped extract can of lme and some nottingham yeast
Best? = A brewers best Cream Ale kit (For your first kit attempt)
 
Don't be afraid of steeping specialty malts in your first batch (esp if you can have them crushed for you) just 1 extra step and the results generated are well worth it.
 
I am new to home brewing and I just recently bought a beginners home brewing kit. I was wondering what would be the easiest/best type of beer to brew for my first batch? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I would STRONGLY suggest a Blonde ale. Super easy, takes about 3 weeks to fully ferment and is ready to drink 3 weeks after bottling in my experience.
 
I just did the Texas Blond Ale from Austin Home Brew and it was super easy. I've also done their American Wheat which was easy too.
 
Pick a style you like to drink. You're going to have 5 gallons of it.

My first was super basic amber. 6 pounds amber DME, 2 oz Cascade, 2 oz Willamette. Wished I had steeped some grains in that one, but did that on batch 2. Went all grain a few batches later.
 
Basically jot down your favorite beer types and go look at some of the kit instructions on either NorthernBrewer.com or Midwestsupplies.com. You'll find for a lot of the beers (meaning not super complex one's) the instructions are crazy simple.

I did an Amber Ale kit from NorthernBrewer a few weeks ago and it was so easy and included steeping grains. Steeping grain is basically like steeping a tea bag so don't worry whatsoever about added complexity - though it does help to have a good thermometer to get the temperature correct. I got their lab thermometer for under $5.


Rev.
 
Extract + steeping grains American Pale Ale. First, you want to do an extract for your first batch. It gets you used to the boil, cool down, and yeast pitching process. Second, with the amount of hops in a pale ale, it's hard to screw it up so bad you won't drink it. My first batch was an APA and is still one of the best I ever did. (Ah, memories.) Third, the APA is an accessible style that your friends can try and say, "Damn, you made this? It's great!"

Best of luck!

(Oh, and if you need a good APA recipe, try this one. It was my first: http://www.brewsupply.com/HowTo/Recipes/smpaleale.html)
 
I brewed an Imperial Pale Ale for my first about a month ago. It was pretty easy. Just like following a recipe. We just did a Brown Ale for our follow up. Don't be afraid, and just pay attention to the times and you'll be fine.
 
Ok, you've now received 22 responses on almost 22 different brews. All of these answers are right. Its possible for you to make every beer suggested so I'm not going to tell you what I would brew. What it comes down to is how much you want to/will learn before your first brew day. The more you learn and prepare, the easier and more effective your brew day will be. Some people started out doing all extract, some did extract with steeping grains, and some started out doing all-grain. The ones that started out with all-grain are the ones that took the time to learn about this method. It isn't hard but requires more knowledge than doing just an extract brew. I don't know how much of a hurry you are in but IMO, I would suggest you read as much here as possible. I would also read John Palmers book "How to Brew". It was probably over-kill but I spent 5 months reading here before I did my first one. This isn't hard but having some knowledge about what you are doing helps from starting a "Is my beer ruined" thread and having to have Revvy come to the rescue. :D
Good Luck
 
Thanks all for the responses and different suggestions. I think I am going to go with an ale, not sure what kind yet, and then go from there. Hopefully it comes out ok.
 
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