looking for first all grain brew.

[attyindaburgh]

So I have been lurking a bunch of web sites, including this one. I also sat in on a friends brew day. I am putting together my equipment and hope to do my first brew early fall. I like pale ales, hoppier the better. What about a smash brew to start with? And if so, what malt and hop to do?

 

[j1n]

Take a look at the recipe section to get an idea of what you might want to brew.

 

[dmashl]

For SMASH, Vienna or Maris Otter works well for the grain. Try to figure out what hops trip your trigger. Find a commercial beer you like, look it up online and most companies will tell you what hops they put in their beer. If you have a Local Homebrew shop(LHBS) in your area, look at the hop bags to see what flavor and aroma characters are listed on the bag. I did a vienna/Centennial beer that was really good, to me. But I like the citrusy hops. Quite a few of my recipes have cascade(my favorite) hops, even my honey wheat recipe.

 

[rlmiller10]

+1 on the Maris Otter. I just finished what I called a MATH rather than a SMASH. [Malts and two hops]. I used 60% Maris Otter and 40% two row for the malt and Magnum as the bittering hops with Chinook for the other additions. I like the pine/clean bitter (some call it dank) of chinook better than the citrus/grapefruit of cascade or centennial but that is just a personal preference.

If you are going for a summer beer, something in the 5% range then don't chase the IBU. Instead look at the bitterness ratio, SG/IBU. I like it around 1.00 to 1.10 for an easy to drink summer beer.

 

[sptaylor70]

For you first all-grain batch, you might try Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde. Not really a pale ale,* only slightly hoppy, but easy, inexpensive, and delicious.

*I just brewed a version of it as an APA, so that can be done easily enough.

 

[RonPopeil]

Since you're new just keep your recipes simple. Two row pale and a single hop. You'd be surprised how good your beer will be.

Try 13# of two row and 3oz of centennial with US05.

.5oz @ 60
.5oz @ 15
1.0oz @ 5
1.0oz @ 0.