I'm staring my new beer adventure today with Northern Brewers Extra Pale Ale Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains. It comes wit 3 oz of cascade hops and they recommend adding 2oz at the start of the boil, and 1 oz at 1min. My plan is 1oz at start,1oz at 40min, 1oz at 1min. Also, I am planning on dry hopping this beer in a couple of weeks because I enjoy a strong hop presence. I think I am just going to stay with the cascade hops since it's my first beer and that will give me a jumping off point to start experimenting with diff hop combos in the future. If there is anything that doesn't sound right with this plan, feel free to comment and thank you to everyone on this site. I have learned so much reading all of the posts on here. Wish me luck!
First Brew Day!
- Thread starter HopPhish
- Start date
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Nope. Your plan sounds great. Just remember there are three stages for adding hops. Whatever u put in at the 60 minute boil is your flavor (more here = more hoppy). Your midway point is ur bittering/flavoring as well (creates a hop balance). Your last 5 minutes is your aroma hops (beer smell). If you like a hoppyier beer and a hoppyier smell I would do the final hops for 5 minutes instead of one to get a stronger aroma.
lbaker
Well-Known Member
Cheers buddy! have fun! And don't listen to people telling you to stay sober during your first batch... 
I like the idea of the final hops at the 5 min mark I'll take your advice on that one.
The only one telling me to stay sober is my wife and I rarely listen to her
I have a few DFH 60 min to keep me company.
The only one telling me to stay sober is my wife and I rarely listen to her
I have a few DFH 60 min to keep me company.
lbaker
Well-Known Member
HopPhish said:The only one telling me to stay sober is my wife and I rarely listen to her
I have a few DFH 60 min to keep me company.
nice! I'm Indiana and stock piled all the DFH I could get my hands on. As soon as the last 60 is gone I'm doing a clone.
That's not my understanding. The 60 minute hops are for bittering, NOT flavor. The 40 minute hops will also be for bittering, not flavor, but not as much bittering. The flavor hops are added with 15-20 minutes left in the boil. The aroma hops are added at 5-0 minutes left in the boil.
I'd probably do the recipe as is, but if you had another ounce of hops you could do this:
2 ounces 60 minutes
1 ounce 15 minutes
1 ounce 5 minutes
Alright, first brew day is finished. Procedurally, everything went better than I could have dreamed. I have been doing so much research on here that I had everything laid out perfectly, sanitized(including my spray bottle just in case), and ready to go. My Hop additions ended up being 1oz @60 min,1 @20 and 1@5. My only problem came with my hydrometer reading. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it to stop leaning on the side of the thief. I spun it, tapped it, tried to wiggle it, don't know? Maybe it's defective but it was probably a mistake on my end. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get an OG reading. However, all in all it was a great day and I can't wait to see how this beer progresses. Next up...maybe a breakfast stout
It is a fantastic beer. Luckily in Jersey it is everywhere, but i have already thought about trying to do a clone.
I have a really good clone recipe posted on this site. It's under my avatar under "recipes" if you want to take a look!
lbaker
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the heads up!:rockin:
Well, after three weeks in the primary I threw in another oz of Cascade to dry hop for a week. Bottled them a little over 2 weeks ago and somehow held off until this weekend to crack some open. I immediately exclaimed "Holy Sh*t!" I was hoping for mediocre and praying that it wouldn't suck. I can't believe how good this beer that I made is! It has a nice balance between the malt and bitterness from the hops and a fantastic hop aroma comes out as soon as you stick your nose over the glass. Even SWMBO was impressed :fro: I believe she said,"it tastes just like those beers you drink". Which meant although she didn't like it, (still mostly a Miller Lite drinker with an occasional Blue Moon)she could tell I made a decent beer.
Needless to say, I'm totally hooked. I already have a nice summery wheat going and I see a new fermenter and a stout in the very near future.
Needless to say, I'm totally hooked. I already have a nice summery wheat going and I see a new fermenter and a stout in the very near future.
It happens every time,you're hooked & you know it. Congratulations! you are now a home brew junky. By day,I'm as normal as I can be. But,by night,I'm a home brew junky,good Lord have pity on me...lolz. I did a three step addition myself this last time of 20mins,10mins,& -10. I bottled it yesterday,waiting anxiously to see how it works out all said & done,having used a can of cooper's OS Draught as a base.
bonzombiekitty
Well-Known Member
I think you meant that the 60 min is bittering, not flavor. 30/20/15 min is the flavor addition which gives some bitterness (the latter having the least bitterness), and the last 5-0min is aroma.
bonzombiekitty
Well-Known Member
Meh, it's not a big deal really, especially for you. Given you did an extract with steeping grains recipe, your OG should be right around what the recipe says (assuming you have the correct volumes).
