New to Home Brewing

[Griddle]

Hi all,
I'm new to this home brewing lark, so far just done a couple of kits with addition of spraymalt and extra hops.
Anyone got any foolproof recipes for taking things to the next level? I suspect eventually I'll be doing all grain stuff but for now just looking to create a bottled ale or porter that can convert some friends to the cause!
Guy

 

[Uziyahu]

Welcome to the forums. I'm a relatively new brewer, too, brewing since Christmas. My plan to start getting into the next step is doing a bunch of tests so I can see what the ingredients of beer taste like in the finished product. My first effort is to make a whole bunch of 1 gallon single hopped beers to see each variety's flavor profile is like. I think doing experiments like that will help new brewers (like me) to be able to understand the ingredients we work with so we can make better recipes.

 

[Griddle]

I should do something similar, but I quite like the 5 gallon quantity- even the possibility of 40 bottles of something that doesn't quite work doesn't put me off.

By the way are most people on this forum in the states? UK here and I think homebrew is maybe less popular over here.

 

[Uziyahu]

I'm doing the 1 gallon size because I make 5 gallons of beer about once every month and a half. If I were to do that, it would take most of a year to get through the list of hops I want to try. If I do one gallon batches, I can make 10 bottles of each variety in just a month or two. When I have all of these bottled and ready to go, I'll do side-by-side tastings to really bring out the flavor differences.

I think most of us HBT people are from the states, though there are quiet a few in the UK, too. Good luck brewing!

 

[SledgeH]

Your next step would be a kit with steeping grains. Your LHBS or one of the major supplies have a ton of different kinds. But that would be the next move toward AG.

 

[Griddle]

Your next step would be a kit with steeping grains. Your LHBS or one of the major supplies have a ton of different kinds. But that would be the next move toward AG.

The choice of kits is nowhere near as good over here, haven't seen a single one with grains in a bag. LHBS has all the grains and malts so I should be able to get what I need easy enough - but might need to find some sort of idiot proof recipe!

 

[SledgeH]

Some websites like Midwest supplies actually let you look at the ingredients of their kits w/ directions too. You could always copy one…

 

[duboman]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f82/

The above link is to the recipe forum where you will find countless recipes in all style categories. Each recipe will be listed as extract, partial grain, all grain. You can check out these recipes and then order the ingredients required as you are able to in your location. If you find things that are not available then you can post here and people can make suggestions for substitution for you. Otherwise, as already stated there are a lot of on line retailers that sell proven kits that come complete with everything you need to brew a 5 gallon batch of beer.

 

[Griddle]

Thanks for the tips got a couple of kits in primary right now and I tweaked them a little after reading quite a lot of recipes. I think it's brilliant that every batch I brew can be unique!

 

[BirdmanBrewingCo]

Welcome to HBT Griddle!