Needing advice on extract kit.

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Mizzou90

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I'm getting ready to buy my first kit. I'm interested in northern Brewers American whear extract kit and u was wondering if I added specialty grains to the recipe if it would inhance the beer more or if I should just go by what the recipe calls for?? Thanks
 
first brew, stick with recipe. if the beer does not turn out well, you won't have to wonder if it was your brewing process or your additions to the recipe.
 
Yeah, you need to develop a good brewing process that works well in your situation first. Then experiment after you learn a few things. You'll get better results after you get the basics down & do a lot of reading.
 
If you want to start planning future batches once you are more confident, try reading " brewing classic styles". It goes over each classic beer style, describing where it was brewed, the reasons for its development and offers both extract and AG recipies as examples.

Look at it this way: we as hobby brewers have at our disposal several hundred years of brewing experinence passed down by our forefathers. That's a great place to start. Not to religiously " brew to style" but to understand what ingredients work best together as a platform for experimentation.

You can convert most AG recipies to extract and steeping grains by merely substituting the base malt with an appropriate amount of light malt extract.
 
Or to partial mash by subbing some of the base malt for extract. I did that with the BYO recipe for dampfbier. They listed AG or AE, so I converted it to PM.
 
I tried several kits and had ok beer. Have been brewing the same kit for 6 batches and am learning much faster by having a point of reference, the comparison from the first to last is night and day.
Take good notes and go slow, no need to hurry.
D
 
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