Good first beer choice

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WhiteWhale

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Myself and a buddy have gathered all the necessary equipment for AG brewing. We have been doing our research pretty hardcore, since neither I nor my friend has taken a swing at this, not even extract; we are wandering what a simple AG recipe would be? I’ve seen a lot of recipes that look amazing on here, but a lot of variables to it. Looking for something clean cut with a great taste? Anyone have ideas for us? Much appreciated in advance
 
Well, I guess we'd need to know what you like before we suggest stuff. Any particular microbrews you prefer? Do you like malty stuff, or hoppy stuff?

Basically, there are nice, simple recipes for almost any beer style (even certain ales that simulate lagers). Unless your favorite is a barleywine or a Belgian Tripel then there is a simple version for you to enjoy.

SMaSH beers are the absolutely easiest AG beers to make, but since the only difference between a SMaSH and something else is what mixture of grains and hops to use, the relative difference in difficulty is approximately nil.

Go to a brewpub, order a flight or a sampler (whatever they call it when they serve you four or five beers in shotglasses) and then look for a recipe based on what you like best. That's the best advice I think I could give you and your friend. :)
 
I am also thinking of taking the dive into all grain soon. I found the Ed Worts Hause Pale Ale to be intriguing and it looks simple enough.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/bee-cave-brewery-haus-pale-ale-31793/

That was my first beer brewed, and I started out all grain as well, it is a great beer, and simple enough to brew. My version is on tap almost constantly, I say go for it! that or Biermunchers Centennial Blonde recipe, I make that one often as well.
 
Honestly, any simple recipe would work fine. Your first few AG batches are all about figuring out your system anyway (MLT dead space, efficiency, etc.).

That said, Ed Wort's is nice and tasty, and will undoubtedly come out good no matter what OG, final volume, etc. you end up with. The same probably wouldn't be true if you used a more complex recipe where hitting your numbers was really important.
 
I did BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde as my first AG. It came out fantastic. I had done several extract batches first, but since you're starting fresh a checklist like this one might come in handy. BobbyM, on this board had a nice write-up about doing AG on his site that was really helpful to me. Check his profile for a link to the site. I can't seem to find the link I had to his article. Good luck! :mug:
 
I did BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde as my first AG. It came out fantastic. I had done several extract batches first, but since you're starting fresh a checklist like this one might come in handy. BobbyM, on this board had a nice write-up about doing AG on his site that was really helpful to me. Check his profile for a link to the site. I can't seem to find the link I had to his article. Good luck! :mug:

Thanks, Orfy had a really nice walk through on AG. Im on deployment out in Afghanistan, and all I have been doing is reading this site, as well as palmers online book, whenever I have off time from Post. I found a MLT blueprint on here , which Ive stolen compeletly except im going with a coleman Xtreme. So its just going to be a combo of new equipment, and first time results, so I wanted something easy to see how my equipment plays out.
 
If the MLT is new you may want to try dumping some water at a temp above mash temp into it before you actually mash with it to make sure you don't have any leaks when dealing with hot liquid as opposed to cold, and to get an idea of how much heat you loose over time.

Nice thing about the centennial too is that its a very inexpensive grain bill.
 
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