1st time brewer

[loki4312]

I'm about to start brewing and trying to perfect recipes. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which are the hardest to mess up? I'd like to start easy and work my way up as I learn.

 

[loki4312]

Also I would be interested in finding some brew folk in the middle tn area to learn from and maybe meet up to discuss things.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Start with a few kits. Brewer's best, and austin home brew have kits with good instructions. I say get a few kits, follow instructions to get the feel for how brewing day will go, then start perfecting recipes. You really need to get a feel for sanitizing and everything else. Good luck bro!

 

[rico567]

I started with a nice middle of the road beer- Midwests' Copper Ale kit (extract, of course). I then moved on to hefeweizens, which are also easy. They are all hard to mess up, if you get a good handle on your procedures. I started out by reading the online version of John Palmer's How to Brew (about three times), and subsequently bought the latest edition. The three principles to be certain you understand before starting out are sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.

 

[RM-MN]

At the top of this and every page on HomeBrewTalk is a section called recipes. These are recipes that have been brewed and many have comments on how they turned out or how thew were later modified to improve them. This is a great place to start as you know something about the beer that was brewed. From there you start making a few (very few to start with) changes to develop your own recipe. As you develop a feel for what the various grains, hops, yeast, etc bring to the beer you can go wild with your beers.

 

[Backporchbrewery]

For starter recipes I'd recommend the Brewing Classic Styles book. Every recipe in that book is a winner and it's all extract based recipes.

 

[beerman0001]

If you do not know the basics they are all easy to screw up. Start with an extract kit and dry yeast. Get you process down then venture out.

 

[ploppythesausage]

Start simple, with a few ingredients (hops, grains or extracts) to get a feel for what they bring to your beer. Also, there's no off-flavour a ton of dry hopping can't disguise

 

[beergolf]

A kit is the easiest way to start. My first brew was a Brewers Best APA. The instructions were pretty good until the fermentation time. Disregard the times they give you and just leave it in the primary for about 3 weeks, then bottle. The thing with the BB kit was they gave a good checklist for the brew process to help keep you on track.

Practice good sanitation, keep you ferment temps where they need to be, and give it enough time and you will make good beer. Spend a lot of time here on the forum, there is a ton to learn and there are a lot of very well informed people here. Every question you have can be found somewhere on this site. I spent a ton of time reading up on brewing before I even brewed my first beer, and it went very well and turned out great.

Once you do a kit and understand the process, there is a great recipe database here that has many tried and true recipes. Decide what style beer you like and look for a recipe that has a lot of feedback. My second brew was from the database. Another good investment is some brewing software. There are several good ones out there and they all offer a free trial. Software is essential if you ever want to get into making your own recipes.

Welcome to the addiction. enjoy.

 

[beerman0001]

Start simple, with a few ingredients (hops, grains or extracts) to get a feel for what they bring to your beer. Also, there's no off-flavor a ton of dry hopping can't disguise

Except for ASS..

 

[loki4312]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm going to all seasons in Nashville for the equipment and some guidance this Thursday. I have high hopes and would like to eventually start a nano in Columbia but we will see how this plays out first.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

For starter recipes I'd recommend the Brewing Classic Styles book. Every recipe in that book is a winner and it's all extract based recipes.

+1! Everything I have brewed out of there has been a winner, but I brew the all grain versions. I love that it has both extract and all grain for each style. Brew a few kits to get the process down, then start with recipes.

 

[loki4312]

I started an Irish stout from a kit by brewers best. Did all the steps and it is going into the secondary tomorrow night. It isn't really bubbling that much anymore though. Should I be worried?

 

[neosapien]

nope. bubbles are not a sure sign of continuing fermentation, they're just a sign of CO2 escaping from a valve RDWHAHB and gratz!

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Check the gravity a few times with your hydrometer over the course of a few days to make sure it is stable before moving the beer. Many here, including myself don't bother with a secondary unless you are adding fruit or something along those lines, but it is your beer so do what makes you happy. The hydrometer is the only way to make sure fermentation is done.