First Brew Recipe

[humboldthomebrew]

Hey, tommorow, i will be attemping my first batch ever. Ive got all the equipment and well be going to purchase yeast, hops, and malt extract from a very helpful local microbrewery. I need a recipe for a good beer to start with. One suited for a beginer. I would like to use malt extract, and perhaps some extra grains. Can someon out the hook me up with some good directions and recipe including other ingredients? Thanks!
humboldthomebrew

 

[todd_k]

Do you have the Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing? There are recipes for all levels of experience.

 

[Blender]

What types of beer do you like? It's hard to recommend something when we don't have a base of where to start.

 

[humboldthomebrew]

I like every kind of beer u can think of but i would like to start with an amber ale, pales, IPA, or red ale. Which ever would be good for a beginer

 

[Blender]

A very basic and clean recipe would include steeping some crystal malt and hops of your choice. Try to balance the bitterness with the gravity and you should be quite satisfied. Sierra Nevada uses Cascades,Magnum and Perle in their Pale Ale, Lagunitas uses Willamette in their IPA and Columbus is a great tasting hop that I used in my last beer. I had a Speakeasy brewery pale last night and it was great.

 

[humboldthomebrew]

Thanks for advice, ill think Ill try that. By the way your, down in Santa Cruz, so you might be able to get these, espically at a specialty beverage store, Anderson Valley Boondt Amber Ale, is absolutly phenominal and is brewed organically, in very small batches in Mendicino County, north of you, also if you can get your hands on it, Mad River Brewing Company's Steelhead beers (pale ale, stout and porter) are very very good brews, made in humboldt county, in fact they supply almost all the homebrewers in No. Humboldt with fresh hops and free yeast!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Echo all of the comments so far. A lot of folks try to jump straight to either a very pale, light flavored pilsner/lager, like their favorite commercial swill, or they take a dive to the opposite end of the spectrum and try to brew a super high alcohol porter or stout. Neither of these styles lends itself to first-time brews, but neither is all that tough once you master the basics, either. Stick to the middle of the range, nothing too exotic, and just be humble and tell the brew shop folks that this is your first time.

 

[Brewsmith]

An amber would be great. Use the light extract and maybe a half pound of each, medium crystal (L60) and dark crystal (L120) steeped for a half hour. That will get you in the neighborhood with the color.