Help me concoct a fine ale

[snarf7]

I'm a novice at this but what I'd like to do is try multiple small batches (i have a small kit so that limits me anyway) so I can experiment and see what works and what doesn't. I grow my own hops and this is year 2 (last year I gave em away to a friend, i had no time to try them sadly) and I got a pretty decent harvest. I won't know the working weights until I dehydrate them but I have more or less equal quantities of Cascade, Nugget and Sterling. I was planning to use my homegrown hops at the end during the bittering process and was looking to brew a nicely balanced Amber or IPA. What are some good baselines to start from to experiment with this a little bit? Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Are you looking for a balanced amber ale recipe with the malt bill? Or do you have a base recipe, and want to have input on the hopping?

 

[snarf7]

Are you looking for a balanced amber ale recipe with the malt bill? Or do you have a base recipe, and want to have input on the hopping?

I guess looking for a base recipe that is tried and true to work off of and play with.
Also, if you are familiar with those hop varieties, I'm always eager to hear what you like/dislike about them or what worked/didn't work, cheers

 

[Staticsouls]

Most of us started off SMASH brewing, using one hop selection and one malt. With this you will learn your hops and grains. With this you could do lagers, pale ales, ipas by varying the grains and hops.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/best-smash-recipe-youve-made.336665/

 

[Miraculix]

Most of us started off SMASH brewing, using one hop selection and one malt. With this you will learn your hops and grains. With this you could do lagers, pale ales, ipas by varying the grains and hops.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/best-smash-recipe-youve-made.336665/

This sounds like the best idea, certainly helped me a lot.

Take just one malt, pale or, if you are a fan of maltier beers, use Vienna instead and then brew one small batch with each of your hops and the same malt. You learn everything about your hops and the beer will be nice! Use some clean American ale yeast like us05 or mangrove jack new world strong ale. Both are excellent and quite forgiving regarding temperature fluctuations.

 

[JohnSand]

I find that using established homebrew recipes is a good start. My go to source is Brewing Classic Styles, or the recipe section here on HBT. For any online recipe, I look for plenty of positive feedback. I generally will substitute hops that are reasonably close. Look for substitute tables in print or online.
Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[jtratcliff]

I'm a novice at this but what I'd like to do is try multiple small batches (i have a small kit so that limits me anyway) so I can experiment and see what works and what doesn't. I grow my own hops and this is year 2 (last year I gave em away to a friend, i had no time to try them sadly) and I got a pretty decent harvest. I won't know the working weights until I dehydrate them but I have more or less equal quantities of Cascade, Nugget and Sterling. I was planning to use my homegrown hops at the end during the bittering process and was looking to brew a nicely balanced Amber or IPA. What are some good baselines to start from to experiment with this a little bit? Thanks!

Yooper's Haus ale is a very robust base recipe for a balanced malt/hop pale ale ..

I've varied both the malts and the hops to great effect.

I have several tasty ales based off her original base recipe.

 

[divrack]

I find it hard not to make good ale. Just get some brewing software to keep the ibus in check and don't go too high on caramel Malts to start with and you can't go too wrong. Play about with early late additions of hops.
Have fun.
Smash is a good idea too, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of pot luck for fun. You can always post any recipe here to check you haven't done anything too nuts.