Best beer to learn with

[Westeinder Brouwerij]

Could somebody kindly tell me what they think is an easy to ferment / mature and carbonate beer?
Im only making and interested in making whole grain beer. I know lagers are difficult due to the cold ferment needed, tripels take long time due to a high alcohol percentage.
So what is a nice tasty beer for a 20 litre batch to make?

Any thoughts highly appreciated and may I wish all my fellow brew lovers a Merry Christmas and a healthy brew 2018

 

[Lefou]

If you prefer the lighter colored beers, a blonde ale is one of the easiest styles to plan and brew. All you need is a mix of Pilsner or pale, Vienna or Munich, and a bit of wheat and mild hops. You can use soft water with very few mineral additions so this style is not only simple, but crosses over well as a base recipe for more complicated beers.

 

[VTX1300]

One of the easiest beers to start all grain brewing is a SMaSH (single malt and single hop). I keep a Maris Otter and Mosaic hop pale ale on tap as my house ale at all times. You can find many simple recipes in the recipe section of HBT to try. For your first AG batch you definitely want to keep it simple. Merry Christmas and cheers!

 

[Lefou]

Single malt and single hop is even simpler than a blonde. Fewer ingredients, too.
Choosing a good grain with enough strength to convert itself is important.

 

[passedpawn]

The easiest beer to make is a german hefeweisen. The grain bill is simple (pale malt and wheat malt), the hops are minimal and not important. It's mandatory the correct yeast is used. I suggest finding Wyeast 3068. You'll get lots of banana and your friends will be impressed. You won't have to worry about clear beer because of the style.

As an extract beer (which I recommend for new brewers), it requires only one extract: wheat extract (which is actually 40% barley extract 60% wheat).

Here's a recipe:

Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen

 

[Kharnynb]

I like smash too, favourite is vienna malt/northern brewer hop. ferment with nottingham dry yeast.

 

[Miraculix]

One of the easiest beers to start all grain brewing is a SMaSH (single malt and single hop). I keep a Maris Otter and Mosaic hop pale ale on tap as my house ale at all times. You can find many simple recipes in the recipe section of HBT to try. For your first AG batch you definitely want to keep it simple. Merry Christmas and cheers!

This is the way to start! You can brew a few smash ipas, always changing either the hop or the base malt. That way you really get to know the ingredients. Once you went through the main base malts, start to add some additional malts for character, so you get to know those malts as well.

For example, brew the quoted maris otter ipa first, and next time add 30% Munich malt to it. See what it does to the flavour. Smash beers can be really good!

 

[CJ-3]

I highly recommend Yoopers Fizzy Yellow Beer recipe. It's a simple grain bill and has a fast turn around. You can find it in the recipe section. It's great to use this to learn your system and the brewing process.

 

[Westeinder Brouwerij]

Thanks all, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and happt 2018 of home brewing

 

[PADave]

Best answer is one that you like and will drink. No sense brewing something you don't like even if it's super easy.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Here's how I get friends started in all grain, long before I start teaching them (or scaring them away with) all the techie nerd science behind it... I prefer the easy route first so they enjoy their first brew. I don't whip out refractometers, pH meters, and pages of beersmith data. We just talk through brewing it while drinking a beer. Will it be perfect? No. Will it be yummy and drinkable? Yes.

5 to 6 pounds of wheat
5 to 6 pounds of 2 row whateveryouwant
half pound or so of rice hulls
mash at about 152F for 60 minutes (if it floats around a few degrees, don't worry about it)
collect as much wort as possible, then add water, rinsing or sparging (depending on equipment) until about 6.5 gallons
boil gutenhard for 60 minutes with 1.5 oz of Saaz or Sterling hops
when cool, toss in a package of WLP300 (or any other yeast labeled as heffy)
when it stops bubbling (week and a half to two weeks), keg it, chill it
after it carbs up, squeeze an orange in that sumbitch and call a couple friends over

 

[jrgtr42]

Like others have said, start with something simple. Honestly, if you haven't brewed before, I would suggest starting with an extract brew or 2, to get the basics down, and dial in your system - getting used to how much boil off you have, how long it takes to get to temp, and down from temp and so on.
ALso, what style beers do you enjoy? That would help to decide what to brew.
I have a simple pale ale that's always a hit when I brew it - but really, any brew is going to funedamentally the same - have your grain bill, mash at a certain temp (usually somewhere around 150 - 152 degrees F. (65 - 67 C) for a certain time - usually an hour - then drain and boil. hops additions at certain times - usually 60 minutes to go, 15 and 5, chill and ferment.
Yes, there are exceptions, longer mashes, more complicated mash types, longer boils, etc. but those are not as common, and something to hold off on. Same with additional fermentation steps, like dryhopping, souring, wood / fruit etc additions and so on.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Making beer consists (simplified) of malting, mashing, brewing, fermenting, and packaging.

If you go all grain, the malting has been done for you. If you do extract, the mashing is done for you.

By starting with extract, you learn and experience a large part of the whole process. Get some hands on practice, then step it up to all grain.

I think the most expensive 'mistake', as it were, that beginners make is starting too small. If you want 10 gallon batches, start with 10 gallon batches. Else you'll end up buying the most expensive items twice.

 

[branman]

Here's how I get friends started in all grain, long before I start teaching them (or scaring them away with) all the techie nerd science behind it... I prefer the easy route first so they enjoy their first brew. I don't whip out refractometers, pH meters, and pages of beersmith data. We just talk through brewing it while drinking a beer. Will it be perfect? No. Will it be yummy and drinkable? Yes.

5 to 6 pounds of wheat
5 to 6 pounds of 2 row whateveryouwant
half pound or so of rice hulls
mash at about 152F for 60 minutes (if it floats around a few degrees, don't worry about it)
collect as much wort as possible, then add water, rinsing or sparging (depending on equipment) until about 6.5 gallons
boil gutenhard for 60 minutes with 1.5 oz of Saaz or Sterling hops
when cool, toss in a package of WLP300 (or any other yeast labeled as heffy)
when it stops bubbling (week and a half to two weeks), keg it, chill it
after it carbs up, squeeze an orange in that sumbitch and call a couple friends over

Datum! Now this sounds like a good time!

 

[thekraken]

I know I'm late to the party but... It might be a good idea to start with more flavorful styles, that way it's easier to cover up mild off flavors that might otherwise show up in more subtle brews.