Greetings from Central California!

First off, I love your forum! Been lurking for a while and have been thoroughly impressed with what you've all built here. Lots of great information being shared here! This is EXACTLY what I need as I begin my long-awaited maiden brew!

I've been intrigued by the idea of brewing at home for the last decade, but only after I stopped drinking mega-corporate beer for good (about 2 years ago) did it become a serious desire. My wonderful, craft beer loving girlfriend bought me a decent setup (glass carboy and everything, bless her soul) for Christmas, so my dream is about to come to fruition! I also have the support of several beer-swilling moocher buddies who, like Pavlov's dogs, instantly begin to salivate when the word "beer" is paired with the phrase "five gallons".:rockin::cross:

See you on the boards!

welcome aboard!

only problem with cen-cal is the lack of brew shops. we have one i know of, so it is mostly mail order.

after a while, i hope to get together with a couple of local guys and buy some bulk ingredients.

so, whats the first brew on the agenda?

Well, I have Amber extract, White Labs British Ale Yeast WLP005, Fuggle hops pellets, Willamette hops pellets, and some unspecified grain malt (for an infusion mash?). This all came as part of my gift. The guy at the homebrew shop in town told the gf that this is a good set of ingredients for an Amber ale, but I'd like to do something adventurous. Of course, I need to go by the place and:

1. Find out what that grain is
2. Buy a scale
3. Maybe buy some other extract, crystal malt, etc. depending on the recipe I go with

I like my beers a bit on the strong side, like 6% or better, so I may just do a simple ale with double the extract. I'm kind of undecided. Any suggestions would be welcome.

how much extract do you have?
how much grain in weight do you have?
you need to find out if you have base grains that must be mashed.(as you said above)

he likely set you up with everything you need, but likely gave no instruction on the hop schedule, or steeping..

as for doubling the extract, see what you have first. doubling might be a bit too much.

Keep it simple for your first brew.
Hopefully they gave you some "instruction" with the ingredients.
If not here are some real basic ones:
Steep the grain in about 2 qts of water at 150F.
If you don't have a grain/hop sack to use, just use a different pot than your brew kettle and then strain the liquid into it.
Add about half the Amber extract and enough water to make about 2.5 to 3 gal in the brew kettle.
Stir really well and bring to a boil.
Add one of the hops, whichever has the higher Alpha acid and set a timer for 45 minutes.
Keep an eye on the pot for boil overs!!!!
When the timer goes off, add the rest of the malt, and set the timer for 10 minutes.
When the timer goes off, add the other hops.
Boil for 5 more minutes.
Cool, add to your fermenter, and top up with water to 5 gal.
Mix really well to aerate, take a gravity reading (if you have a hydrometer) and pitch your yeast.
Close up the fermenter and wait about 2-3 wks.
When the ferment is done, boil up your priming sugar in about a pint of water, add to your bottling bucket and rack the beer.
Bottle, cap, and let the beer sit about 2 more weeks around 70F.
Enjoy.

Thanks guys! DragonTail, that was a great streamlined step-by-step. Yeah, simple sounds like the way to go.


Cheers!

greetings from tehachapi

Welcome to the best brew site ever from a northern neighbor and former Bulldog.

HBHoss said:

Welcome to the best brew site ever from a northern neighbor and former Bulldog.

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Hey, your just around the corner from me.

nosmatt said:

Hey, your just around the corner from me.

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Yup. I built some log railing for a cabin on Bass Lake, nice area. I like the beer selection at the market in Coarsegold too!