Suggest a simple recipe.

[joehelsing]

I'm about to bottle my first batch which is from a Brew Your Own kit, it is a Yorkshire style bitter.

I would like to try my hand at brewing a beer from scratch. I'm looking for a nice pale under 4.5% ABV beer. If someone can suggest an nice simple recipe for a beginner that would be great!

Thankyou in advance.

 

[estricklin]

Here is one I brew sometimes, its simple enough, I've had good results. You can go ahead and use the all Cascade, or sometimes I brew a variation with Warrior and Amirillo.

6.5 lbs 2 Row
.5 lbs Maris Otter or Pale Ale Malt
7 oz Caramel 40

Cascade
1 oz for 60 min
1 oz for 30 min
1 oz for 2 min
2 oz dry hop

For yeast I go with WLP 002, for dry I would choose Notty.

OG is 1.045 and IBUs are about 55.

When I use the Warrior and Amirillo, I only use 1 oz of Warrior for bittering, then 1-2 oz of Amirillo at flameout, then 2 oz of Amirillo for dry hopping. I've substituted Simcoe for Amirillo a lot last year, since Amirillo was sometimes hard to get.

Any questions don't be afraid to ask, I'm sure others will have some nice recipes too.

Edit:

I hope you meant all grain. Also, I will warn you, this recipe isn't very malt forward, it showcases the hops.

 

[spark_plug]

I have done this one a couple times to have a decent session ale, you can of course adjust the abv to your liking by adding more grain as well. I usually add a few extra pounds to get mine to 5ish %.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

 

[BrewerDan1]

American Citra Pale Ale

5 Gallon Batch
3.5 Gallon Boil (60 minutes)
ABV ~ 4.5%
OG 1.049
IBU 32

Fermentables
5 lb Dry Malt Extract – Light
1 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 20L
0.5 lb Maltodextrin

Hops
0.5 oz Citra 60 minutes
0.5 oz Citra 20 minutes

Steeping Process

3 gal Steep Grains 152 F 30 min
1 gal Rinse Grains 170 F

Other

1 each Whirlfloc Fining Boil 15 min

Yeast
Nottingham

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

I would like to try my hand at brewing a beer from scratch.

The words 'from scratch' can cover a wide range of possibilities, but I assume you are looking for something that is extract-based but not from a kit. The 5.5 gal. extract version of Centennial Blonde (the same one spark_plug mentioned, just in an extract-based form) is probably one of your best bets - a solid, well-known and respected recipe that several people have had success with. It does use 1 pound of steeping malt, but this shouldn't be a big problem.

What equipment do you have, and are you doing full boils or partial boils? Have you used steeping malts before (I don't know the kit you used so I can't tell just from what you've told us)? Can you get pre-crushed malt from your LHBS? If you can't, do you know any other local homebrewers who might have a mill? Crushing a pound of malt by hand (with a rolling pin or something similar) is a bit tedious, but doable; larger amounts would be more problematic, and even with a small amount you're better off if you can use a real mill for it.

 

[joehelsing]

Thanks for the responses. I'm liking the look of the Citra Pale Ale. Still open to more suggestions.

 

[patthebrewer]

How about Cascade SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hops)....doesn't get much simpler than that.

Actually pretty good too....a great way to learn to appreciate the individual flavors presented by grain, and hops. Not only that but you can come as close as you want to scratch built. . It's easy to malt your own grain on a small scale you can either buy unmalted barley or grow your own . I also grow my own hops (cascade, and magnum).