Jumped In Head First...need guidance :)

[Mandlbrot]

Six weeks ago my buddy and I were having a beer...go figure...and I said "I'd like to try home brewing sometime". The next day we bought a basic kit from our local shop and a pre-made Sierra Nevada Clone kit (extract w/ steep grains).

In that time, I've read un-godly amounts, made a lauter tun cooler, and two weeks later we made up a partial mash, pumpkin recipe (with much lurking guidance from HBT.com), and now we are on to a Christmas, seasonal ale next week.

Note: we have yet to drink anything we have brewed

My question is this...

We jumped head first into these more complex brews, but i would like to step back and find a very basic, but very good, bare bones recipe for us to try as a baseline for experience and growth. We both like APAs so anyone have a knock out, simple recipe we should have started with six weeks ago?

 

[waldzinator]

Six weeks ago my buddy and I were having a beer...go figure...and I said "I'd like to try home brewing sometime". The next day we bought a basic kit from our local shop and a pre-made Sierra Nevada Clone kit (extract w/ steep grains).

In that time, I've read un-godly amounts, made a lauter tun cooler, and two weeks later we made up a partial mash, pumpkin recipe (with much lurking guidance from HBT.com), and now we are on to a Christmas, seasonal ale next week.

Note: we have yet to drink anything we have brewed

My question is this...

We jumped head first into these more complex brews, but i would like to step back and find a very basic, but very good, bare bones recipe for us to try as a baseline for experience and growth. We both like APAs so anyone have a knock out, simple recipe we should have started with six weeks ago?

I'm a big fan of taking baby steps. Check out northernbrewer or any of the other online homebrew retailers. Many of them offer preassembled extract kits. While it's commendable that you jumped directly to mashing, there are an infinite amount of cleaning, sanitizing, fermentation, etc processes that all need to be down pat for a good brew. AG adds a good degree of complexity that you may want to avoid until you get all these in order. You can find any good APA extract kit. Once you have a few kits under your belt, try for designing your own extract. Then build upon that to some AG recipe cloning/design.

IMHO, this progression allows you to troubleshoot your brewery and processes by isolating the fundamental stuff first.

 

[BigFloyd]

Here are a few fundamentals to consider before you get all caught up in recipes and such.

-What are you doing to control your fermentation temps?

-Are you chilling your ale wort down into the lower 60's before pitching?

-Are you pitching enough yeast for the size of the batch and the gravity of the brew? If using liquid yeast, are you making a starter?

Brewing is more about yeast and the work they do than most people realize. They are very temperature-sensitive critters. Each strain has what's called an "optimal range" for fermentation. If you pitch at a few degrees below the low end of that range, let it come up just a few degrees (measuring beer temp. not air), hold it there 4-5 days and then let it slowly rise toward the upper end of optimal, you'll get the kind of result that you and your friends will enjoy.

 

[biggmatt]

Irish red kits are easy, quick, and popular.

 

[IL1kebeer]

Here are a few fundamentals to consider before you get all caught up in recipes and such.

-What are you doing to control your fermentation temps?

-Are you chilling your ale wort down into the lower 60's before pitching?

-Are you pitching enough yeast for the size of the batch and the gravity of the brew? If using liquid yeast, are you making a starter?

Brewing is more about yeast and the work they do than most people realize. They are very temperature-sensitive critters. Each strain has what's called an "optimal range" for fermentation. If you pitch at a few degrees below the low end of that range, let it come up just a few degrees (measuring beer temp. not air), hold it there 4-5 days and then let it slowly rise toward the upper end of optimal, you'll get the kind of result that you and your friends will enjoy.

^This

As the saying goes. The mash/boil makes wort, but fermentation/yeast makes beer. So if you want good beer then you had better have a healthy fermentation. Without a healthy ferment your beer will have off flavors. Everything that was said above will help you attain a healthy fermentation. Pay close attention to pitching rates and fermentation temperatures, as well as the vitality of your yeast.

As far as recipe goes, try something simple like a single malt and hop beer (SMASH). Get like 8 lbs (depending on your efficiency) of two row, an half ounce or an ounce of a clean buttering hop like magnum, and 2-3 ounces of whatever hop you want, split between 10 min and flame out. Cascade is nice for beginners because it is familiar flavor in American ales. But you can use whatever you want.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Seems like everything has been covered but an actual recipe. Here is a fairly simple one thats very tasty. It uses a hop bursting technique to maximize hop flavor and aroma while giving a smooth and mild bitterness. The efficiency is set for 70% which is about what you get when buying pre-crushed grains from an online vendor.

Batch Size - 5.5gal
OG - 1.055
FG - 1.010
IBU - 44
Yeast - US05
Ferment - 17days @ 65f, dry hop 7 days @ 65f


Mash @ 155f

8.5# 2Row
1# Crystal 80
.5# Crystal 40


Boil 60min

1# Table Sugar @ 20min
.5oz Cascade @ 20min
Irish Moss @ 15min
.5oz Simcoe @ 15min
1oz Simcoe @ 10min
1oz Cascade @ 10min
.5oz Simcoe @ 5min
.5oz Cascade @ 5min

Dry Hop - 2oz Cascade, 1oz Simcoe

 

[Mandlbrot]

Thanks for the feedback...

I'm pretty OCD when it comes to researching stuff. Fermentation temps are in the 65-68 degree range. I've used the bucket/wet towel approach for the first brew and have modded an old fridge I'm using for pumpkin ale. I feel pretty good on cleaning/sanitation and fermentation have gone very well (as far as I can tell from comparing online info).

I've been using Beersmith and have been amazingly close to the numbers and efficiency it suggest.

I like the idea of a basic 2-row/crystal and single hops mash for a reference. I'll try Cascade as suggested.

Also like the other recipe KWBrewing...thx

 

[BigFloyd]

Thanks for the feedback...

I'm pretty OCD when it comes to researching stuff. Fermentation temps are in the 65-68 degree range. I've used the bucket/wet towel approach for the first brew and have modded an old fridge I'm using for pumpkin ale. I feel pretty good on cleaning/sanitation and fermentation have gone very well (as far as I can tell from comparing online info).

I've been using Beersmith and have been amazingly close to the numbers and efficiency it suggest.

I like the idea of a basic 2-row/crystal and single hops mash for a reference. I'll try Cascade as suggested.

Also like the other recipe KWBrewing...thx

Sounds like you're in pretty good shape on fermentation.

For a SMASH beer, I'd chose a base malt with a bit more character than pale 2-row. Something like Maris Otter, Vienna or Munich (light) will make a nice flavorful SMASH.

Last week, I poured the final bottle of a Vienna/Amarillo SMASH I had made a while back. It was delicious. Mash 11lbs of Vienna @ 153*F. 1oz of Amarillo for 60 min. If you want some extra hop flavor, another 1oz at 0 min. Fermented it with a packet of Nottingham starting at 57*F and ending at 66*F.

 

[Homercidal]

Thanks for the feedback...

I'm pretty OCD when it comes to researching stuff. Fermentation temps are in the 65-68 degree range. I've used the bucket/wet towel approach for the first brew and have modded an old fridge I'm using for pumpkin ale. I feel pretty good on cleaning/sanitation and fermentation have gone very well (as far as I can tell from comparing online info).

I've been using Beersmith and have been amazingly close to the numbers and efficiency it suggest.

I like the idea of a basic 2-row/crystal and single hops mash for a reference. I'll try Cascade as suggested.

Also like the other recipe KWBrewing...thx

I'd say you are doing pretty good for basic brewing and are ready for the more advanced/complex recipes.

But, most of the advanced recipes are simply just more ingredients, while the process remains exactly the same.

That said, any SMaSH recipe is quite simple and pretty much any APA or AIPA is going to be pretty simple. Just base malt with a bit of crystal and maybe some vienna or something for interest. Then more hops later in the boil and some dry hopping. Nothing hard.

I really want to restate what a couple have already said. It's not the recipe so much that makes a beer difficult, it's the process. If you have the basic techniques such as sanitary process, temp control, proper yeast management and pitching rate, oxygen management (adding when it's needed, keeping it out when it's not), the beer will turn out fine.

With that said, there are some things to think about such as:

For Extract, do you need RO or Distilled water for brewing? If your water is fairly low in minerals, tap water is fine. If you have a LOT of minerals, you might do better using a mix of RO/Distilled and tap to reduce the amount of minerals in the beer. This is often determined by the beer style as well. Some do just fine with the right ratio of minerals in the finished product. Normally water adjustments are done when mashing with AG brewing to get a proper pH as well as adjusting the flavor salts. With Extract, the extract itself probably has plenty of the components the yeast need from the grain and water the malsters used. Adding more is not necessary, but may not hurt either.

For AG brewing, water can play a role as mentioned above, to set the pH for a good conversion and to set the desired flavor salt amounts.

With both of these you need to make sure you aren't using chlorinated water, but I'm guessing you already knew that.

I like your desire to get back to basics.

 

[eltorrente]

Brewing is more about yeast and the work they do than most people realize. They are very temperature-sensitive critters. Each strain has what's called an "optimal range" for fermentation. If you pitch at a few degrees below the low end of that range, let it come up just a few degrees (measuring beer temp. not air), hold it there 4-5 days and then let it slowly rise toward the upper end of optimal, you'll get the kind of result that you and your friends will enjoy.

This is the most important advice you can give/get.

People don't realize how critical fermentation temperature is. If you control your fermentation temperature, your beer will come out clean and delicious, and taste like it's supposed to.

Remember that it's always best to wait as long as it takes to cool the wort down before pitching your yeast. So many people get impatient, or worried, and toss the yeast in when the wort is too warm - which produces all sorts of off-flavors.

 

[Mandlbrot]

Remember that it's always best to wait as long as it takes to cool the wort down before pitching your yeast. So many people get impatient, or worried, and toss the yeast in when the wort is too warm - which produces all sorts of off-flavors.

I live in FLA and built a copper chiller. I can get it to 70 in about 15 minutes. That's the temp I've been pitching. Is that ok?

One thing I have not delved into is PH or worried about water much yet... water we use taste great. Sound like my next OCD research project. We've used bottled water from local Publix just to keep it simple. Haven't messed with tap water or anything else yet because of the chlorination and other unknowns.

 

[eltorrente]

I live in FLA and built a copper chiller. I can get it to 70 in about 15 minutes. That's the temp I've been pitching. Is that ok?

One thing I have not delved into is PH or worried about water much yet... water we use taste great. Sound like my next OCD research project. We've used bottled water from local Publix just to keep it simple. Haven't messed with tap water or anything else yet because of the chlorination and other unknowns.

70 is fine - low 60's is optimal.

Best thing you can do is to ferment in a "swamp cooler" if you don't have a temp controlled kegerator to ferment in. Cool it as much as you can, pitch the yeast, and the first few days have it sitting in some sort of basic swamp cooler. After the first few days, pull it out and let it finish at room temp for the diacetyl rest.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Agreed on keeping it in the low-mid 60s if possible. I always leave my carboys in the swamp cooler until I'm ready to bottle though. Never had any stalled fermentations or issues with off flavors.