First Time Recipes - What Was everyone's first time?

[SEndorf]

My first brew was an extract kit - an Irish red ale many years ago. It was fantastic. Then I decided to go all grain and try again. It tasted like Vicks Formula 44. The learning curve was vertical in those days.....

 

[Cincybeer]

First brew was a all grain german hefe. Turned out really well. I was lucky enough to have a long time brewer with me to walk me through the steps. Has helped me a ton. Now I am hooked.

 

[Hayden512]

First beer I ever did was Midwests Front Porch PA extract. Came out decent but I knew nothing about temp control and you could taste it.

First beer I designed was my first AG batch lol. A pretty basic saison. Turned out pretty good actually but I got better efficiency than planned and ended up with a high abv saison which isn't my favorite.

 

[MrVix]

40 years ago my Grandfather ask me to help brew his Pilsner. We ground the grains with a meat grinder. Mashed in a huge Crock. He did what I think was a protein rest by using hot water from the tap and 15 minutes later adjusting it up to Mash temp with boiling water. He grew his hops in the garden and all I remember of the yeast was it came from a quart jar. I vaguely remember him bottling when the Krausen cap fell, no priming sugar that I can remember. That beer was always good....Damm I miss that wonderful man.

 

[brewbama]

40 years ago my Grandfather ask me to help brew his Pilsner. We ground the grains with a meat grinder. Mashed in a huge Crock. He did what I think was a protein rest by using hot water from the tap and 15 minutes later adjusting it up to Mash temp with boiling water. He grew his hops in the garden and all I remember of the yeast was it came from a quart jar. I vaguely remember him bottling when the Krausen cap fell, no priming sugar that I can remember. That beer was always good....Damm I miss that wonderful man.

That's cool ^^^^

My first brew was an extract kit from William's Brewing in 1992. An IPA boiled on the stove in a canning pot, fermented at room temp in a plastic bucket, and bottled in used/cleaned brown beer bottles.

 

[BisonHeadBrewery]

In 1970 I was a graduate student with a drinking problem (I couldn't afford to drink). My girlfriend had one of those cute little books that listed all the tricks college students could use to get by cheaply. The book included an instructional on making beer. The recipe was canned malt extract (Pabst Blue Ribbon) that was sold in the baking section of the grocery store, sugar, and yeast. This was years before home brewing was made legal and the only commercial yeast available was baker's yeast. I had been making cider for years so was familiar with all the fermentation processes, air locks, etc., and was experienced at capturing wild yeast. My first batch, and all subsequent batches, tasted about like you would expect with that list of ingredients. Yet, I was making beer for $0.05 per quart, and it was effective too

 

[filthyastronaut]

An APA, took a recipe online and added extra hops. I did some silly things like take out my hop additions when adding a new one, so my 60 minute was boiled for 45 then removed, 15 removed after 10 min., etc. I also didn't realize my carboy was 6.5 gallons, so I diluted the batch with extra top off water. It was a 50 IBU, ~4% pale ale with no dry hops. And it tasted good. So here I am.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

40 years ago my Grandfather ask me to help brew his Pilsner. We ground the grains with a meat grinder. Mashed in a huge Crock. He did what I think was a protein rest by using hot water from the tap and 15 minutes later adjusting it up to Mash temp with boiling water. He grew his hops in the garden and all I remember of the yeast was it came from a quart jar. I vaguely remember him bottling when the Krausen cap fell, no priming sugar that I can remember. That beer was always good....Damm I miss that wonderful man.

Best post I've seen in a LONG time.....

 

[Paps]

First fermentation was hard cider & tampico wine using bread yeast & raisins as there were no homebrew stores near me and i didn't want to wait to get started.
Was ok & i drank it but it got me further interested in the hobby.
First beer was a partial mash milk stout kit.
Followed the directions to a tee..... it showed me that the directions are garbage and that stouts need a few extra weeks to taste like a stout and not an ipa.
Once aged a bit i drank the hell outta it.
First all grain was a marris otter/fuggle SMASH
Turned out great & will do it again sooner or later just got some other things to do first.

 

[Horseflesh]

Our first brew was an extract pale ale, one of the local shop's recipes. Towards the end of the boil, a big fat crane fly did a swan dive into the wort. Of course, I was worried about infection...of course, it was fine. I named the beer Superfly Pale Ale in the bug's memory.

It came out drinkable, but ... well, it was a first-timer extract beer. Nothing to write home about.

A couple of years later and I doing AG brewing, and looking at expensive electric systems ...

 

[yeahfairly]

fall 0f 2007... SN clone from Mid West.... It turned out great but I ordered a few extra ounces of Cascade and doubled hopped it! I'm sure the IBU's went a long way in hiding my mistakes!

 

[Nightstrife]

Brewed a brewers best extract American amber ale kit - turned out great. Not quite to style but delicious non the less.

 

[Randolf]

My MIL got me a Mr. Beer Kit in 1995 for X-Mas and my 1st brew was the Englishman's Nut Brown Ale. I followed their instructions to the "T",and it came out pretty bad.I continued using the Mr. Beer products,and the same instructions for probably a year,even buying 2 of their 6.5gallon fermenter kits,but with the same results.Then came a 15 year hiatus from brewing.Now I'm back still using the Mr. Beer fermenters,but coming up with my own recipes.I mostly brew 2 gallon batches,which allows me to have a good variety of brews to enjoy.Cheers

 

[Nomofett]

My first was an all grain BIAB. I decided to try my own recipe just to test, it was just pale malt and nugget at the beginning, cascade in the middle and nugget/cascade dry hop (I live overseas so variety of hops is difficult here)
I remember it being not so bad but I think I was just stoked to have made a beer and not screwed it up.

 

[gilmore287]

A clone of Sierra Nevada's West Coast Stout. Mashed 5 pounds of grain and dry and liquid extract for the rest. It was delicious except for something that caused an off tannin or flavor in the grain. I guessed it was the chlorine in the water. Rebrewed the recipe using de-ionized water and expecting better results. I am going to repeat this recipe until I perfect it - inspired by what Maine Brewing Company did with Peeper.