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Im thinking my first brew will be a hoppy pale ale. Wanna work myself up to an IPA.

Seriously, do the IPA if that's what you want. There's no difference in difficulty, and with the added hops you'll be less likely to detect any off-ness in the IPA when it's drinking time.

For a quick and dirty IPA, I'd get a pale ale kit, but just buy an extra pound or two of amber extract and 2-4 extra ounces of Cascade hops. Follow the directions in the kit but add half the extra hops at 60 minutes, and the other half when you turn the burner off.

And finally, welcome! We get a lot of new recruits around Christmas time, but we hope you stick around.
 
Seriously, do the IPA if that's what you want. There's no difference in difficulty, and with the added hops you'll be less likely to detect any off-ness in the IPA when it's drinking time.

For a quick and dirty IPA, I'd get a pale ale kit, but just buy an extra pound or two of amber extract and 2-4 extra ounces of Cascade hops. Follow the directions in the kit but add half the extra hops at 60 minutes, and the other half when you turn the burner off.

And finally, welcome! We get a lot of new recruits around Christmas time, but we hope you stick around.

Interesting Idea! When would I add the extra pound or two of Amber Extract? When I am making the wort? Why the extra extract? The extra hops wont due?
 
What part of SD are you in?
We have a couple of Local Home Brew Supply(LHBS) stores here and quite a few SD brewers here on the site.

Welcome!! :mug:
 
Interesting Idea! When would I add the extra pound or two of Amber Extract? When I am making the wort? Why the extra extract? The extra hops wont due?

Extra hops will make your beer hoppier, but you want your IPA to be a little darker and a little stronger than a pale ale. You'd add the extract at the same time you add the other extract.

However, one thing some experienced extract brewers like to do is a late extract addition. That is where you add only about 1/3 of your extract at the beginning of the boil, and 2/3 in the last 15 minutes. What this will do is get rid of some unwanted caramel flavors in your beer, and increase the effect of your hops.

But in an IPA caramel flavors are not totally out of style.
 
What part of SD are you in?
We have a couple of Local Home Brew Supply(LHBS) stores here and quite a few SD brewers here on the site.

Welcome!! :mug:

I live in South Park and work in Carlsbad.

I know of Home Brew Mart cause I love ballast point Big Eye IPA. Was actually gonna get my gear from them once I got the money or if I did not find a steal off a craigslist.
 
Extra hops will make your beer hoppier, but you want your IPA to be a little darker and a little stronger than a pale ale. You'd add the extract at the same time you add the other extract.

However, one thing some experienced extract brewers like to do is a late extract addition. That is where you add only about 1/3 of your extract at the beginning of the boil, and 2/3 in the last 15 minutes. What this will do is get rid of some unwanted caramel flavors in your beer, and increase the effect of your hops.

But in an IPA caramel flavors are not totally out of style.

Thanks for all the tips!

I love this forum already!
 
I go to Homebrew Mart sometimes, but I've been going to Vance at American Homebrew for almost 14 years. Very knowledgeable guy. He used to be in Sorrento Valley, now he's in Kearny Mesa.

American Home Brewing Supply

There's also a place in Oceanside. I haven't been there yet.
 
Welcome to the forum from a neighbor. With your newly found love of craft beer are you spending a lot of time at Hamilton's?

If you need any help in person, let me know. I'm in the Southeast corner of South Park and I'm always willing to help out. The system I am brewing on is a bit more complicated, but I still have my old picnic cooler all grain rig if you wanted to see how an all grain batch was done at a very basic level. There are a lot of great brewers in our neighborhood, so there's no shortage of knowledge here.
 
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