All Grain Beginner's Recipe - Any Recommendations?

[Gangles]

I am getting ready to do my first All Grain Brew. I have been brewing for about a year now and done 5 great extract brews. I have done all my research into the techniques and I only need two more pieces of equipment. In Ontario, this Monday is a civic holiday so I want to have everything ready for an all grain brew that day.

Could someone recommend a good all grain recipe to start with? Nothing to complicated, like a pale ale or something. I will be doing a 2 or 3 gallon batch to start with, and if all goes well I will do a 5 gal next time.

I will be batch sparging, but if you have a great No-Spage recipe I would be cool with that too. Really, I'm just looking for a good malt/hop combo with approx amounts of each. I'm not shooting a specific gravity or %, just trying to get the skills down.

I'm heading to a relativly well stocked LHBS on Saturday morning, they don't have everything but they the standard stuff (2 row, mars otter, cascade, fuggles, ect)

Thanks in advance!

 

[wildwest450]

I'm sure 10 people will tell you to brew Ed's haus pale. But why? It's a decent beer, but it's not any more "simple" than any other single infusion all grain beer.

Pick an ale style you love and go from there. It's all just grains and hops, no matter the recipe.

And you can do no sparge with any recipe.

 

[Revvy]

Except for recipes that call for steps like decoction mashings and stuff like that, MOST all grain recipes are the same in terms of what you need to do. "add x amount of strike water to y amount of grain to achieve a temp of z for yadda yadda minutes, then sparge with more water" (unless you are doing no sparge) otherwise the only true difference is the recipe itself.

So like wildwest said, you can do whatever recipe you want.

 

[TokyoRoad]

6 lbs Marris Otter
1.5 ounces Amarillo hops (.5@ 60, .5 @ 20, .5 @2)
Notty yeast
~3.5 gallon batch

 

[jezter6]

Why only a 2-3g batch? Just as much work as a 5g batch, so why waste all the time for a smaller end result?

 

[Revvy]

Why only a 2-3g batch? Just as much work as a 5g batch, so why waste all the time for a smaller end result?

A lot of us like to make 2.5-3 gallon batches....there's tons of threads on small batch brewing on here. It may not be your bag, but a lot of use do it for various reasons.

 

[jezter6]

I understand why you do it - for convenience and storage. But for this guy, who does 5g batches on the regular and plans to continue doing 5g batches after this test run, that's why I asked the question. No sense in doing all the same work for a small batch if you're routinely set up for 5g batches.

Not knocking the concept. WHen I move out of my roommate's place and build electric, I'm going to be doing the 2.5 or 3g batches because of space (and consumption backlog) concerns. But if I was doing routine 5g batches, I don't know that doing a 2-3g batch as a test is worth it considering the work involved.

 

[TokyoRoad]

Why only a 2-3g batch? Just as much work as a 5g batch, so why waste all the time for a smaller end result?

Do you ever buy beer in less than a keg? Same reason. I like to try different beers, making small batches allows me to brew more varieties.

 

[Palefire]

I'm sure 10 people will tell you to brew Ed's haus pale. But why? It's a decent beer, but it's not any more "simple" than any other single infusion all grain beer.

Pick an ale style you love and go from there. It's all just grains and hops, no matter the recipe.

And you can do no sparge with any recipe.

This is all true ... but I'd still vote for Ed's Pale. The reason: if things don't go right, and you get way different efficiency than expected, it'll still taste awesome. If you pick a beer with a more complicated grain and hop bill, one that really depends on getting just the right balance (like a clone of your favorite beer, e.g.), if your efficiency goes wrong it might not taste quite right. It'll still be beer, mind you, but IMO until you get your system figured out it's better to go with something simple. Doesn't have to be Ed's; that one is just a nice, basic recipe.

 

[Synovia]

This is all true ... but I'd still vote for Ed's Pale. The reason: if things don't go right, and you get way different efficiency than expected, it'll still taste awesome. If you pick a beer with a more complicated grain and hop bill, one that really depends on getting just the right balance (like a clone of your favorite beer, e.g.), if your efficiency goes wrong it might not taste quite right. It'll still be beer, mind you, but IMO until you get your system figured out it's better to go with something simple. Doesn't have to be Ed's; that one is just a nice, basic recipe.

That, and a pale ale matures relatively quickly, so its not like something bigger where you'll have to wait 6 months to figure out if you screwed up.

 

[phatuna]

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

One of the cheapest AG's that you can do, tastes great, and when / if everything goes wrong, you've spent $20, and it will still taste ok.

 

[Revvy]

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

One of the cheapest AG's that you can do, tastes great, and when / if everything goes wrong, you've spent $20, and it will still taste ok.

IIRC that was the first AG batch did.

(And come to think of it, I too did it as a 2.5 gallon batch.)

 

[lpdb185]

i just ordered, because there are no LHBS's in Mississippi, a Dunkelweizen recipe kit from austin homebrew for $19.99 ($30 after yeast and other) to serve as my first AG. i too wanted something cheap and forgiving in case i screw it up.

 

[Gangles]

Well I did it; my first all-grain beer.

Things went pretty well all things concidered. I hit my temps within a degree or two for the full times. I didn't get boil over either, which I'm pretty proud of myself for. But man that was a long 7 hours of work by myself.

Only problem was, I didn't put as much in the carboy as i could have. I put 2 gallon in and dumped about a gallon (thinking it was all the junk). But hey, after 48 hours of fermentation, all the milky-ness has dropped out, and its developed a nice krusen. Good smells too! So i am pleased, over all. LOTS OF AREA for devlopment, but that's what it is all about, right?

I learned a lot from this and my next attempt should take me 2 hours less and will yeld a gallon more in all likely hood. I'm already looking forward to my next free weekend to take another stab at it.

Thanks for the recipe. I'll give you an update when its all done and post a pic.

I have been homebrewing for about a year now and all-grain has been my goal since the start. There would have been no way to acheive this without the help of this forum. I can't thank all of you guys enough for helping me get on my way in this new passion. If there are any homebrew groups in the Toronto area let me know, I'd love to buy (or brew) a round for my fellow HBT-ers.