Complete Noobie Help!!

[erostgol]

Hi guys
This is my first post, I have never brewed before but want to give it a go. I received a brewing setup for free and think I have everything I need to start. I was wondering what is the easiest beer to do for your first beer? I was thinking a PA, but if any 1 else has ideas let me know. Also I guess its best to start with a liquid malt extract, but there are alot of different ones and the recipes I looked at seemed to have alot of different stuff going in IE LME with DME 2 types of hops ect is this the norm or does any one have a simple starting recipe for me? I currently have no ingredients so ill have to buy anything needed, so please keep that in mind with recipe ideas.

 

[Shooter]

At first I thought you were brewing Prince Albert, but I'm now thinking you mean pale ale. Pale ale won't necessarily be the easiest first brew, but it's also not as hard as something like a light lager. I like a stout or a porter for the first beer. They often only have one hop addition for bittering and are some what forgiving of minor off flavors. However, if pale ale is what you like, go for it.

 

[erostgol]

Hey shooter
thanks for the quick reply, I dont really care what type I start with just want something not to complicated to start with.

 

[Shooter]

Neither one should be that tough of a brew day, you'll probably have a few more and/or bigger late hop additions with the pale ale. Whichever way you go, I would look for a kit that provides a small amount of grain for steeping and not one that relies only on extract for all the flavor and color. The basic extract kits from Northern Brewer, Austin Homebrew Supply, More Beer, etc. should get you on the right track.

 

[funkapottomous]

a prince albert would be cool too. Just be sure to sanitize.

 

[DUNDASJ]

Go with a liquid extract kit made by your lhbs it'll come with step by step instructions and everything you need. Helped me do my first brew.

 

[janivar123]

You can make it as easy as you wish from pre hopped no boil ecstract kit to partial mash and beyond....

Do you have a brew calculator? and how big a boil can you make?

 

[JonK331]

i actually would skip the steeping grain for the first time. Something like this:

6 lbs light lme

1 oz Willamette for 60 mins
.5 oz Willamette for 5 mins
.5 oz Willamette for 1 minute

1 packet Safale 05 once the wort is cooled to 70F or so

This way you can just buy one 2 oz container of hops, a pack of yeast, and some lme. For your second batch, try steeping some grain. Start simple and add steps as you progress. Good luck!

 

[erostgol]

Great Help guys and thank you Jonk331 for that recipe. That seems to be right were I want to be for my first brew. Like I said everything I had seen had soaking grains and multi malts and this crystal malt thing not sure what that is lol. I just want to put down a batch and get a feel for the possess then ill expand. Can I ask what I should be paying for LME because the guy at the brew shop here was telling me it was 11 bucks a container and I would need 2, is that average? (sorry I dident get a size was a little over whelmed lol) also he told me it was 1.99 an oz for hop pellets and did not say what type they were. He then showed me the yeast there was both liquid and powered the 1st being 9bucks and the powder being 2 bucks. If these are normal prices im fine with paying them just dont want to get screwed because I dont know any better )

 

[Desrever]

That Sounds right to me 3 lbs DME $11.95 at my local home brew shop.

 

[Just1pepsi]

I did a pale clone for my first which included specialty grains and I think three hop additions.. came out awesome -- It was a Northern Brewer kit. My most recent is a WeizenBier, and it consisted of 6.6lb LME, bittering hops and aroma hops near the end.. couldnt have been easier IMO... it was a Brewers Best kit.

Good suggestion to start simple and add steps later.

only because I'm giddy, my wife came home with 5 gallons of Apple Juice today -- Operation Apfelwein is going to start shortly.

 

[Cimerian]

I just recently started brewing. I did an American light ale for my first beer. It was crazy easy. The only hard thing was I had to learn to control the heat of the brew when I added the LME and DME. Second brew I did was an IPA. In that one I had to steep grains so had to learn heat control even more to keep the grains 150-165 the whole time which was harder than it sounds. I'm using a turkey fryer for heat so that may be why controlling temp is my biggest thing. Really I don't think the recipes are that hard the hard part is learning to control the whole process. Learning how to prevent boiling over, learning how to siphon off without siphoning all the trub, learning how to cool it, learn to check gravities before topping off, etc. At least that's been the parts I have needed to focus on.

 

[Desrever]

but you wouldn't give it to me Just1pepsi! cool name

I just bottled that brewers best Weizenbier kit Saturday it was pretty simple to brew, it had a good taste going into it's bottles

 

[Ravenshead]

1.99 an oz for hops is pretty good, I usually see 3.99 an ounce at my LHBS. Two dollars for dry yeast is pretty good too and I think I'm paying 7.99 for liquid these days.

 

[dmbRedGetta]

Yeah, those prices sound about average. A 3.3 lb can of lme runs about $13 here, hops are usually $2 to $4 an ounce, dry yeast is the same, and liquid yeast is between $6 and $10.

If you have a thermometer (which you should), you shouldn't be afraid of steeping grains. You'll probably only be dealing with a pound or so, and you'll get a disposable grain bag for them. It's as simple as heating some water, killing the heat once you've hit your target temp and letting them steep for 20 or 30 minutes (or whatever your recipe says; I kill the heat since it holds pretty well for me, just make sure it doesn't fall too low). I double-check that I have everything that I need and review the brew schedule while the grains are steeping.

Just my .02. Probably the biggest factor in making a good beer is to make sure everything is clean and sanitized, and that you give it enough time. Other than that, just find a kit you like and give it a go.

Welcome to the hobby!

 

[LandoLincoln]

Great Help guys and thank you Jonk331 for that recipe. That seems to be right were I want to be for my first brew. Like I said everything I had seen had soaking grains and multi malts and this crystal malt thing not sure what that is lol. I just want to put down a batch and get a feel for the possess then ill expand. Can I ask what I should be paying for LME because the guy at the brew shop here was telling me it was 11 bucks a container and I would need 2, is that average? (sorry I dident get a size was a little over whelmed lol) also he told me it was 1.99 an oz for hop pellets and did not say what type they were. He then showed me the yeast there was both liquid and powered the 1st being 9bucks and the powder being 2 bucks. If these are normal prices im fine with paying them just dont want to get screwed because I dont know any better )

That sounds like a good plan. Just take it easy on the first one and work up from there later on.

When I do extracts, I usually operate only from kits, so I can't help you figure out what price LME should be by itself. Liquid yeast smack packs for 9 bucks? Seems a bit pricey. I usually pay 5-6 bucks for those.

Read up on John Palmer's "How to Brew" online version for free. Very, very helpful stuff in there. Welcome to the club!

 

[Shawnylocks]

for what it is worth. i bought a kit from a local brew supp;y shop. the kit was for a harpoon ipa clone. came with everything i needed ie. DME, Specialty grains and muslim bag for steeping, yeast, and hops. the whole thing had instrusctions. steeping for me was very very easy brought water to 155-160*f and used the muslim bag like a tea bag for 30 minutes i belive. then added malt and brought to boil. then 3 addition of hops and cool quickly. steeping grains at least in this manner for me was very easy and the whole kit with everything was 33$ and change

cheers-
shawn

 

[jeliasik]

My first beer was a Belgian Tripel.

Sounds like a challenge for a first beer, but it really wasn't. It was on the "sweet" side, so using all light DME for the base malt didn't not seem to affect the flavor. And, I only used one "flavor" malt - belgian aroma. Also, bitterness and hop flavor/aroma was low, so not easy to mess up on the hops.

It turned out great!

something like:
----------------
5 gal batch
-----------------
9 lbs extra light DME
4 oz belgian aroma (steeping)
1/2 oz northern brewer (60 min)
1 oz saaz or willamette (30 min)