Help: Trying to choose a few good beers to start with.

[Holiday101]

Looking to brew my first all-grain batch this month. I want to do small batches of different beers I like. I'm a pretty thorough student and feel comfortable in the kitchen but I don't want to shoot for the moon to soon.

Some beers I like include to clone are:

-Collective Arts Session IPA (not a big IPA fan but I do really find this one refreshing)
-Imperial Stouts and Oatmeal Stouts
-Wychwood Breweries' Hobgoblin ( I believe a Red Ale?)
-Dark Beers like Stonehammer Dark
-Bocks and Doppelbocks
-Belgians like Delerium Tremens, Orval, Rochefort

I would also include Pilsners but I have no way to properly lager beer at this time. Essentially I'd like to do a few lighter easy drinking beers and a few more robust beers. My set up is basic homebrew stuff so nothing fancy equipment wise. I'd prefer to do all-grain. Also anyway I can use the same malts for 2 different kind of beers would be good. I assume there is a beginner level tier of beers to homebrew. But I'm definitely not intimidated, I just don't want to spend time and money on beers I didn't brew properly because I'm still learning.

Any direction appreciated.

 

[ncbrewer]

Are you new to brewing or just new to all-grain?

 

[mattdee1]

When I decided to start in the hobby, I read all over the place that it's wise to start with extract; I said screw extract, and made a great all grain beer on my first try.

My point is, if you educate yourself up front you can probably succeed in just about any style you want. But, I still think it's a good idea to start with a beer that is hard to screw up. Just a few general suggestions:

- start with ales -- forget the pilsners and bocks for now
- of your list, my vote would be the oatmeal stout

 

[PADave]

Start with a style you like to drink. I wouldn't start with a big high alcohol beer, or something with a complicated mash, or something you need a starter for, or a brew that needs to age for 4 months. Keep it simple and advance slowly. That way you will make drinkable beer and not get too caught up in advanced processes. My first AG was an IPA, second was an IPA, third was a black IPA. I like IPAs. Next might be a stout, I also like stouts. That's the beauty of home brewing, you make what you like.

 

[andy6026]

I've found this to be an excellent resource:

NHC GOLD MEDAL HOMEBREW RECIPES 2004-2015:

http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2011/10/ahanhc-gold-medal-winning-recipes-for.html

 

[Aristotelian]

Start with a style you like to drink. I wouldn't start with a big high alcohol beer, or something with a complicated mash, or something you need a starter for, or a brew that needs to age for 4 months. Keep it simple and advance slowly. That way you will make drinkable beer and not get too caught up in advanced processes. My first AG was an IPA, second was an IPA, third was a black IPA. I like IPAs. Next might be a stout, I also like stouts. That's the beauty of home brewing, you make what you like.

Yes. I thought I would start with a bunch of styles and experiment, but that is exactly the wrong way to go about it. Just focus on one style and get it right until your process is nailed down. For one thing, you can buy bulk ingredients and use the leftovers for your next batch (if you just brewed an IPA, your ingredients will be useless a Belgian Saison etc).

 

[TheCrackpot]

I would avoid any beer that needs excessive aging. Personally, I was way too excited about tasting my first all-grain to wait any more than a week to crack the first one. Low-moderate ABV stouts and pale ales are good for that.

I would avoid the Orval (the Brett needs more time to get it's character) and the big Belgians at first. Get yourself a stock of ready to drink beers and then start on the ones that need age.

 

[estricklin]

I agree totally on brewing what you like. Don't be scared of the lagers, ferment them as cool as your able to and have fun. I would probably say to save some of the higher ABVs until you do have a few more under your belt though.

 

[TheCrackpot]

If you decide on a lager and want to speed up the process, this method works pretty good. I've adopted it and crank out moderate ABV lagers in a relatively short amount of time.

http://brulosophy.com/methods/lager-method/

 

[JohnSand]

Buy Brewing Classic Styles. It has good recipes for many styles that are not too hard to follow.
I agree that you shouldn't try something complex or high alcohol.

 

[Cyclman]

My first AG was a California Common, I upped the hops a bit. Drinkable, complex, wonderful.

 

[J-Drew]

From what you have listed, I would recommend trying to brew something similar to Hobgoblin. Between looking at other clone recipes and the website information http://www.wychwood.co.uk/permanents/, I would think you could come up with something you would like. Hobgoblin looks like it is a pretty standard ale (5.2% abv) and the chocolate and crystal malts should give you a little something to hide behind if you are still working on your process.

 

[Holiday101]

Thanks for the advice. I want to do two or three 1 gallon batches. Never brewed before, just been reading up for the last few months. Would prefer to do all grain as kits are expensive and I like more hands on. From the suggestions it looks like a session IPA, a red or dark ale and a Stout would be a good start.