My first go at brewing

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KLITE

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Hi all

Im no beer connoisseur, to be perfectly honest until about 1 week ago i just had a faint idea of how beer is made. I do like beer and id love to be able to make my own and for gifts and such.

Ive researched a fair bit and what attracts me the most is everyone can makshift their own recipes. So maybe not the smartest idea not following a recipe first brew, but then it wouldnt be as authentic.

From what ive read for 5 gallons (bear with me im a metric guy) anywhere between 10 to 15 pounds of malt is what i find in most recipes.

My plan (here for comment) is to use 5% wheat (for head retention), 10% CaraAmber (for a bit of body), 25% pilsen and 60% pale ale.
For hops i plan on using an ounce of saaz for bittering and another ounce of cascade for flavour and maybe another bit of saaz again at finish to get some of their aroma into the beer. Not sure if to boil for 60 or 90 min (my understanding is the more boiling time the more sugar available for yeast?) I would like to make a slightly stronger beer to get ppl tipsy with a couple of bottles. Also some irish moss for clarity and i plan to use safbrew s33 high fermentation yeast.

Id like for the beer to be light like a lager, not orangey brown alei sh type. Id be ok with orange i think.

Am i way off? Would the recipe be ok? Any additives?
 
Welcome to the forum and to the hobby!

Download beersmith and use the free 30 day trial. Put in your grains and hops and see what you get. You can pick a beer style and it will tell you how off, or not, you are to that style.
There's also a free online homebrew calculator here you can check out too... http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask more questions or to report back with how your brew day went and the outcome of your first beer! :mug:
 
Using a 90 minute mash or boil can give more conversion when mashing less-modified grains. A longer boil can give clearer beer with same. But with well modified grains, a 60 minute mash & boil is fine. I second getting Beersmith, it's a great program for designing & modding recipes.
 
KLITE said:
Hi all

Im no beer connoisseur, to be perfectly honest until about 1 week ago i just had a faint idea of how beer is made. I do like beer and id love to be able to make my own and for gifts and such.

Ive researched a fair bit and what attracts me the most is everyone can makshift their own recipes. So maybe not the smartest idea not following a recipe first brew, but then it wouldnt be as authentic.

From what ive read for 5 gallons (bear with me im a metric guy) anywhere between 10 to 15 pounds of malt is what i find in most recipes.

My plan (here for comment) is to use 5% wheat (for head retention), 10% CaraAmber (for a bit of body), 25% pilsen and 60% pale ale.
For hops i plan on using an ounce of saaz for bittering and another ounce of cascade for flavour and maybe another bit of saaz again at finish to get some of their aroma into the beer. Not sure if to boil for 60 or 90 min (my understanding is the more boiling time the more sugar available for yeast?) I would like to make a slightly stronger beer to get ppl tipsy with a couple of bottles. Also some irish moss for clarity and i plan to use safbrew s33 high fermentation yeast.

Id like for the beer to be light like a lager, not orangey brown alei sh type. Id be ok with orange i think.

Am i way off? Would the recipe be ok? Any additives?
Click to expand...

My first bit of advice is to read a homebrew book. Having a good background makes the process WAY easier as a beginner.

My second bit of advice is to start with an established recipe. You don't even know what you don't know yet. If you make your own recipe and it turns out bad, what is the cause? Your recipe, or your brewing technique? Get a few brews under your belt, read a book, and get a feel for the taste of different hops and malts, and then start making your own recipes. You're trying to make your own recipe, but it doesn't sound like you even know the style you're trying to make. Throwing together a bunch of ingredients without knowing why or what you hope to accomplish is pretty unlikely to produce a good beer... Particularly when you've never even brewed before.

Trust me when I tell you that your first beer, particularly if you're doing all grain, will be plenty authentic, regardless of where the recipe came from. It's kind of an insult to everyone on here far more experienced that use established recipes to suggest otherwise. The actual recipe is a small part of what makes a particular beer a beer; water profile, mash process, sanitation, and fermentation temps play a huge role in producing a unique beer.

If you simply must start with an original recipe, read a homebrew book, go back and start with the style of beer that you want to create first, and then build your recipe based on that.
 
As the others have said, start with established recipes. But if you insist on brewing your own, know that recipes that include pilsner malt should be boiled for 90 minutes, not 60, in order to give more time for the DMS precursors to boil off.

Don't know what those are? Slow down and read a book. Brew someone else's recipes in the meantime.
 
Ditto what others have said, and remember that by learning proper technique and trying established recipes you are not killing your creativity. There is such a thing as "clueless creativity" where you do whatever you like and make wacky beers, but the results often suck, and you can't reproduce anything or hit a pre-determined target. You're just trying stuff out over and over. That gets old.

Creativity where you aim for something with knowledge/intent and hit it - then determine if it's good or not - is better.

Definitely get Beersmith or use Brewer's Friend to at least understand the objective aspects of piecing together a recipe. And read at least one decent book, Brewing Classic Styles is a quick and dirty one with lots of... classic recipes... to study.
 
Enthusiasm is great, and I think we all got bit by the bug when we started, but as others have said start by reading a book, and poking around the forums a bit, I would also recommend an established recipe for your first couple of brews.

I won't discourage the jump to AG that's how I got started look into BIAB it's awesome, and will save you some money in purchasing equipment.

You want to use an established recipe to get a feel for the process, this is all newto you, no need to complicate it.

When I started I had no real idea about different beer styles, or craft beer in general, once I got going I just kept learning I went from picking up a 6-pack of Bud to getting a different kind of beer every time I go to the store.

Try drinking some different craft beers too, this helps a lot, then Google about the beer you are drinking and try to get an idea of why it tastes the way it does, and what makes that style special.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction, you have come to the right place to get all the help you may need


Cheers
 
Holy smokes dude! If there was one suggestion I could make to a brand new brewer it would be start out using a good established recipe or kit and follow it to a T. First off, it will give you a frame of reference. OG. FG. Etc. but second you will know what the outcome is supposed to taste like if you don't screw it up. And further - the outcome will taste good.

Also, go with a simple recipe or do an extract kit. You're just learning all this stuff so the KISS principle is very much in effect.

A porter isn't a bad choice because it's flavor will hide some of the mistakes you will make.
 
+1000 on using a well established recipe..The top recipes from this forum got posted about a month or so ago and they are all rockstar recipes.
Any one of those you make extract or AG, will be great gifts to hand out as your "creation" and you will be proud to serve them up.

Never brewing before and starting with a custom recipe is a recipe for an end-resulting beer that will not be what you expected it to be which will ultimately be a disappointment and may cause you to turn away from brewing any further batches which would be a real bummer.
Trust the voices of reason..find one of the top HBT recipes that fits your taste and go for it. You wont regret it.

Start here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/homebrewtalk-top-homebrew-recipes-24-1.html
 
You can partial mash biab style too. I do it all the time. It can be a good transitional brewing style. Especially when you're still on the stove doing partial boils. Works just fine. In my 5 gallon SS kettle, my mashes have gotten up to some 8.5 pounds.
 
KLITE - welcome! Everyone here is smarter than I. so listen to them :) But let me tell you a story of my buddy who wanted to brew his own, dove right straight into all grain, wrote his own recipe, and knocked it out of the park ! Excellent beer. Following your passion and instinct can have amazing results. Granted, Russ is a class act as a chef and knows food science well, so that helped. He also comprehends very well what he reads. I think he had Palmer's on line version of How To Brew when he made that first batch, but he had read more than that as he put his system together. I definitely support the earlier ideas of using beersmith (or you can use brewersfriend) to plug in the recipe and get a good picture of color, ibus, begin and end gravity, etc. Good luck.
 
holy cow thanks for all the advice. Lol @soccerdad thats kinda what i what hoping haha.

I think I might slow my horses down a bit and perhaps do a pilsner recipe ive seen but using cascade as flavour hops. I like lager and light ales so if i get one right and familiarize myself with the process.

I grow a **** lot of mushrooms and have a few 30l presure cookers, gonna get a cooler for steeping the mash and sparge, ive got a **** load of bleach and vinegar for sanitizing and im very contaminant aware (i.e: i always change shows before going in mushroom fruiting area etc). TBH the whole process of making beer reminds me a bit of growing mushrooms, sort of creating available food and medium for a fungus to thrive.
On the issue do i need to take cleanliness as serious as with growing mushrooms? I suppose once the wort is cooling down is when one should be careful? try and do it in a bleached room and wear a face mask? How about when bottling?
What about the ph of the mash and the wort? Pretty sure certain enzymes are only active within certain not so wide ranges, like slightly acidic 5 to 5,5 or so. Should i worry about the ph of the starting water before malt goes in?
Just checked those calculators, pretty neat!!

Thanks for everyones input its greatly appreciated.
 
I use Starsan, rather than bleach. Bleach needs to be well rinsed to get rid of the smell, which could ruin the beer. And having to rinse it off, to me, negates any sanitizing done. Starsan is a no-rinse sanitizer & much better/easier to use, in my opinion.
 
I use Starsan, rather than bleach. Bleach needs to be well rinsed to get rid of the smell, which could ruin the beer. And having to rinse it off, to me, negates any sanitizing done. Starsan is a no-rinse sanitizer & much better/easier to use, in my opinion.

For sanitizing my jars and such for mushrooms i make a 20l 20 ml bleach and 20 ml vinegar no rinse solution. Never had a contamination issue with the mycelium.
Theres no smell to the solution and i doubt itd leave a taste, it costs about 1,60 euros for a lifetime supply of disinfectant.

Is a wort cooler something thatis compoletely necessary for a 20l batch? Or am i ok just putting the pot in ice water, for the first couple of times see if im into it to get more equipment.
 
KLITE said:
I use Starsan, rather than bleach. Bleach needs to be well rinsed to get rid of the smell, which could ruin the beer. And having to rinse it off, to me, negates any sanitizing done. Starsan is a no-rinse sanitizer & much better/easier to use, in my opinion.

For sanitizing my jars and such for mushrooms i make a 20l 20 ml bleach and 20 ml vinegar no rinse solution. Never had a contamination issue with the mycelium.
Theres no smell to the solution and i doubt itd leave a taste, it costs about 1,60 euros for a lifetime supply of disinfectant.

Is a wort cooler something thatis compoletely necessary for a 20l batch? Or am i ok just putting the pot in ice water, for the first couple of times see if im into it to get more equipment.
Click to expand...

Mixing bleach and vinegar will produce noxious chlorine gas. Although they're both pretty dilute in the solution you make, I wouldn't go this route... For anything.

A wort chiller isn't completely necessary, and it's not a bad idea to use an ice bath before investing equipment in case brewing isn't your thing.
 
Mixing bleach and vinegar will produce noxious chlorine gas. Although they're both pretty dilute in the solution you make, I wouldn't go this route... For anything.

A wort chiller isn't completely necessary, and it's not a bad idea to use an ice bath before investing equipment in case brewing isn't your thing.


Im from, the third world it goes agianst my code of honour to order something online i can most likely make shift from grocery store products. Im 100%^ cure that solution wont make chlorine gas and should kill all bacteria in 1 min contact. I dont mind rinsing just to be safe...

Thanks man thats what i was thinking. I make dry ice at home very often, would it be smart to use it to make an extra cool and spooky ice bath?
 
KLITE said:
Im from, the third world it goes agianst my code of honour to order something online i can most likely make shift from grocery store products. Im 100%^ cure that solution wont make chlorine gas and should kill all bacteria in 1 min contact. I dont mind rinsing just to be safe...

Thanks man thats what i was thinking. I make dry ice at home very often, would it be smart to use it to make an extra cool and spooky ice bath?
Click to expand...

I'm 100% sure that mixing vinegar and bleach WILL create chlorine gas. The only question is the amount of gas it makes. I'm guessing with this mix, it's pretty low, but I'd avoid it altogether if it were me.

In all honesty, I think using dry ice in this way would be a waste of the dry ice. Ice water is already near the freezing mark, and won't drop below 32 F without freezing solid, without the addition of salt (or another solute). You'd be much better off adding salt to the ice water rather than adding dry ice.
 
If you want to learn the fundamentals of all-grain brewing without investing a ton of money or hauling a gigantic barrel of boiling wort around, then consider this:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/beer-making-kits

Based on the preferences you mentioned, I'd start with the Summer Wheat Kit (which happens to be on sale now) and also order the Grapefruit Honey Ale Mix or the Bruxelles Blonde Mix. The total will be 45$, which will make the shipping free.

This will allow you to make two gallons of good, light ales that you will enjoy, and leave you with equipment for brewing more...or possibly for dabbling in mead, cider or wine. If this gig isn't for you, then you're only out 45$ - but if you like it, then you have just opened up a whole new world, as they say. If you REALLY like it, there's plenty of time to step the production up to 5 gallons; plus, you can be drinking your own homebrew and learning more about the process while you save up for it or build the setup.

Just my .02$ - I doubt that many will agree with me, but as a fellow newbie, I'm very happy with the route I've taken.
 
Dude, go get some Starsan. Don't put bleach and vinegar near your beer unless you like the taste. Starsan will eliminate any wild yeast or bacteria that you need to worry about in less than a minute and it doesn't leave any flavor behind. You don't need to rinse after using starsan.
 
Dude, go get some Starsan. Don't put bleach and vinegar near your beer unless you like the taste. Starsan will eliminate any wild yeast or bacteria that you need to worry about in less than a minute and it doesn't leave any flavor behind. You don't need to rinse after using starsan.

At such a dilutions theres a higher chance of getting fish out my tap water than making chlorine gas. Im in the third wolrd itl cost me a fortune to get some of that, plus levies and taxes and duties and ****! If you mix bleach and vinegar directly yes get ready for a party but at 0.01% in water? If i get serious and my beer turns out awesome ill consider giving them my business.

If you want to learn the fundamentals of all-grain brewing without investing a ton of money or hauling a gigantic barrel of boiling wort around, then consider this:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/beer-making-kits

Based on the preferences you mentioned, I'd start with the Summer Wheat Kit (which happens to be on sale now) and also order the Grapefruit Honey Ale Mix or the Bruxelles Blonde Mix. The total will be 45$, which will make the shipping free.

This will allow you to make two gallons of good, light ales that you will enjoy, and leave you with equipment for brewing more...or possibly for dabbling in mead, cider or wine. If this gig isn't for you, then you're only out 45$ - but if you like it, then you have just opened up a whole new world, as they say. If you REALLY like it, there's plenty of time to step the production up to 5 gallons; plus, you can be drinking your own homebrew and learning more about the process while you save up for it or build the setup.

Just my .02$ - I doubt that many will agree with me, but as a fellow newbie, I'm very happy with the route I've taken.

Thanks for the afvice but i wanna do it like the monks, no beer kits and no tricks. Just good water, malt, hops and yeast. From what i see online ppl have great success using a cooler as a mash tun and a 30l pot for boiling it off. But good website much appreciated

ive landed on a recipe now, i see a lot of pilsner beers are just pilsner malt with different amounts of caramel malt added and a german lager yeast. I will use saaz hops and casace for flavou hopefully make it taste slightly grapefruity. I shall post pics of the process/progress.


A quick question, in your brewing experience what makes a hoppy beer? A sin how many ounces of total hops (no dry hopping) in 5 gallons of wort? Does dry hopping pass the sedative effects of hops onto the serum as well, or just taste?
 
KLITE said:
Thanks for the afvice but i wanna do it like the monks, no beer kits and no tricks. Just good water, malt, hops and yeast.
Click to expand...

Hi, KLITE, and thanks for the comments. I can appreciate what you say there because I feel essentially the same way. To me, taking an older-school-ish, "monk" approach is the way to go, in my opinion.

Because of that, I wanted to clarify, there really isn't anything "gimmicky" about the kit that I can see. It's a jug, a tube and a thermometer and the grains that you would use to make beer, and hops and yeast. Possibly the most "gimmicky" thing about it is that they have you add different flavourings now and then (such as grapefruit peel, wood chips, a jalapeno pepper or things of that nature), but you don't have to if you don't want to - and come to think of it, I bet the monks experimented with all kinds of things like that, without a cooler! :rockin:

Anyway, you are free to choose your own adventure, of course - I just wanted to clarify that, based on my experience. I also want to point out this video showing how their stuff works, so you can see for yourself and decide.

[ame]https://vimeo.com/11354805[/ame]

Good luck ~ and for what its worth, I agree with the other guys - there are better options out there than using bleach and vinegar mixed. If you insist on "making your own" sanitizer," consider just using a bleach solution - or maybe oxy-clean. Please, for the love of whatever you hold holy, do not mix ammonia and bleach. I've seen the results.

Anyway, if you have any questions, I'm always available to answer as I can.

Ron
 
Chlorine bleach works both as a cleaning and a disinfecting agent, rinse thoroughly.

Bleach + Vinegar = Toxic Chlorine Gas. While the combination does create a good disinfectant, these two common cleaning agents should never be used at the same time. Why: Adding any weak acid to bleach will release toxic chlorine and chloramine vapors.
 
Mixing bleach and vinegar is a bad idea. Toxic chlorine gas is released, which essentially serves as a way to wage chemical warfare on yourself. Many people mix bleach and vinegar, knowing it's dangerous, but either underestimating the risk or else hoping for increased cleaning power. Here's what you should know about mixing bleach and vinegar, before you try it.

Why People Mix Bleach and Vinegar

If mixing bleach and vinegar releases toxic chlorine gas, then why do people do it?

There are two answers to this question. The first answer is that vinegar lowers the pH of bleach, making it a better disinfectant. I'll explain how that works in a bit. The second answer to 'why people mix bleach and vinegar' is that people don't know any better or underestimate the risk. They hear mixing the chemicals makes them better cleaners and disinfectants, but don't realize it isn't going to make enough of a difference to justify the considerable health hazard.

What Happens When Bleach and Vinegar Are Mixed

Chlorine bleach contains sodium hypochlorite or NaOCl. Because bleach is sodium hypochlorite in water, the sodium hypochlorite in bleach actually exists as hypochlorous acid:

NaOCl + H2O ↔ HOCl + Na+ + OH-

Hypochlorous acid is a strong oxidizer. This is what makes it so good at bleaching and disinfection. If you mix bleach with an acid, chlorine gas will be produced. For example, if you mix bleach with toilet bowl cleaner, which contains hydrochloric acid:

HOCl + HCl ↔ H2O + Cl2

Chlorine gas attacks mucous membranes, such as your eyes, throat, and lungs and can kill you, so causing that reaction isn't in your best interest.

If you mix bleach with another acid, such as the acetic acid found in vinegar, you get essentially the same result:

2HOCl + 2HAc ↔ Cl2 + 2H2O + 2Ac- (Ac : CH3COO)

There is an equilibrium between the chlorine species that is influenced by pH. When the pH is lowered, as by adding toilet bowl cleaner or vinegar, the ratio of chlorine gas in increased. When the pH is raised, the ratio of hypochlorite ion is increased. Hypochlorite ion is a less efficient oxidizer than hypochlorous acid, so some people will intentionally lower the pH of bleach to increase the oxidizing power of the chemical, even though chlorine gas is produced as a result.

Try using an iodine solution instead, at about the same ratio as you would with Starsan: 1oz per 5 gallons of warm water, 2 minutes contact time, no rinse necessary. It could save your life.
 
Nice infos

Ill be taking it into consideration, thanks.

One question i have is when do i check the mash ph and adjust it? Should i ph my water to 7 or thgereabouts before adding grain?
 
Mash in first, it's the actual mash pH that you're concerned about. Lots of salts in the malt already that will change and buffer your water
 
kombat said:
Nit pick: Oxy-clean is a cleaner, not a sanitizer.
Click to expand...

Contains no chlorine, which can leave a film on glassware and corrode stainless steel. One Step is an excellent oxygen based cleanser. Requires two minutes of contact time, no rinsing required! Environmentally friendly and non-toxic. Use 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.

Note: while technically a cleanser, One Step does have some sanitizing properties through the release of hydrogen peroxide. It can be used in no-rinse applications in most home brewing tasks.
Click to expand...

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/one-step


In the U.S.A., "sanitizer" is a legal term defined by the Environmental Protection Agency. In order for a product to be called a sanitizer in promotional literature or on its packaging, that product must be approved by the EPA, assigned a registration number, and have an open file maintained with the EPA. Unless a company would like to invest an enormous amount of capitol in this process (or use another company's product through a process called "sub-registration"), they may not call their product a sanitizer.


If you purchase a bottle of bleach from the grocery store, unless it shows an EPA registration number on the front of the label, it is not a sanitizer. However, it will certainly be a good cleanser (although somewhat hazardous, not environmentally sound, and it will require rinsing).
Click to expand...

https://www.midwestsupplies.com/one-step-cleaner.html



I used to use one-step as a cleanser and sanitizer with no infections. I now use and prefer star san, but I think too many people get caught up with one-step not being labeled as a sanitizer.
 
As others have previously advised, i would advise in starting with a book on Homebrewing, Palmers "How to Brew" and Papazians "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" are great reads and a starting point for homebrewing. For Recipe Creation "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels, and "Brewing Classic Styles" by Jamil and Palmer are both great.
 
Oxiclean free or PBW for cleaning, Starsan for sanitizing are the most commonly used ones here. Other things are borderline toxic, &/or must be rinsed, negating any effects sought. And reading the books mentioned is always a good starting point. And, of course, this sight for the latest experiences.
 

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