Grain Brewing Question - Suggestion

[Tennessee Brew]

Ok I am totally new to grain brewing. All extract seems to be lacking in flavor. Im not partial to any one style beer other than the fact I don't like stouts or overly bitter flavors. So I'm looking to experiment with the following (as someone suggested)
(1) Gallon recipe
Briess 2 row 3/4 lb
Briess American Honey 1/4 lb
(May sub the American Honey with Briess Bonlander Munich Malt) for some added malt flavor plus sweetness?
1.5 gallons natural filtered spring water.

As for hops I was told Yakima Chief Citra so since this is 12.8 Alpha should I hop at the start of the boil or mid range or what? Im looking for a bit of bitter but not a lot.
Trying to get a mid range (not light but not heavy) malty beer with some sweetness and bit it tangy.

So to those Beer Obi Wan Jedi Warriors, throw suggestions. Mash temp, time etc Im open because like I said I KNOW NOTHING here lol

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

You may want to start with an existing 1 gal all-grain kit, existing 1 gal recipe, or brewing software (e.g. Brewers Friend).

0.75 lb Briess 2-row plus 0.25 lb "character malt" @ 75% efficiency
⇒
OG ~ 25; ABV ~ 3%.

 

[Tennessee Brew]

You may want to start with an existing 1 gal all-grain kit, existing 1 gal recipe, or brewing software (e.g. Brewers Friend).

0.75 lb Briess 2-row plus 0.25 lb "character malt" @ 75% efficiency
⇒
OG ~ 25; ABV ~ 3%.

Ok so I need to bring that up to at least 5% then. Im not much on ABV concern but 3% is going to be like water lol
By the way where can I find online resource to get those calculations.

 

[rburrelli]

What BrewnNKopperKat is saying is with that grain bill you won’t get to 5% ABV. Also a hop with that high of an AA would be very bitter if added at the beginning of boil (typically at 60 minutes). Use it towards the end of boil.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

By the way where can I find online resource to get those calculations.

Brewers Friend

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

... going back to a comment in the original post ...

All extract seems to be lacking in flavor.

It was suggested in an different topic that with extract

... you may need to steep character / specialty grains to get [...] flavors.

One can find DME/LME+steeping grains recipes that have flavor appropriate for the style (APA, amber, brown, ...)

 

[Tennessee Brew]

I missed that, my bad.
Im going to go with an already existing recipe but I do want to experiment with them to see what I can create. Maybe a Halloween Frankenbeer lol

 

[madscientist451]

check out the I gallon brewer's thread here on HBT:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/1-gallon-brewers-unite.311884/

 

[CascadesBrewer]

So to those Beer Obi Wan Jedi Warriors, throw suggestions. Mash temp, time etc Im open because like I said I KNOW NOTHING here lol

Giving brewing software a try is a good suggestion. Keep in mind that brewing software only provides some estimates for values like efficiency, boil off rate, losses, etc. It should get you in the ballpark, but it is best to brew a few times, measure, and update the values in the software.

A pretty solid process for getting a 1 gallon recipe is to start with a 5 gallon recipe and divide all the ingredients by 5. When you say "1 gallon" is that the amount of finished beer into packaging, the amount into the fermenter, or do you have a fermenter that maxes out at 1 gallon?

I have been doing a few 1 gallon SMaSH beers lately (Single Malt and Single Hop). These are 1 gallon of wort into a 1.5 gallon fermenter. I have been starting with 2 lbs of grain and 1.5 gallons of water (via BIAB). With a 30 minute boil that has been getting me to just about 1 gallon of wort at around 1.050. One batch was 0.15 oz Warrior for 30 min and the other was 0.15 oz Sterling @ 30 min + 0.2 oz Sterling @ 5 min (the Sterling batch is ready to bottle).

 

[Alex4mula]

If you can’t brew a good extract then maybe your overall process could still improve. Going to all grain just add a lot more variables. I would try some solid easy all grain brews with all measurements specified. But trial and error is ok if you have time to experiment.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you can’t brew a good extract then maybe your overall process could still improve. Going to all grain just add a lot more variables. I would try some solid easy all grain brews with all measurements specified. But trial and error is ok if you have time to experiment.

Unless the cause of the problem is stale LME. In that case, it's possible that the all grain attempt is markedly better (if water isn't the glaring problem).