Newbie ale recipe needed

[Wadworth]

I'm really new to brewing. Does anyone have a simple recipe for hopless ale that could be made using minimal equipment?

I don't know anything about gravity and OG, so please don't say anything too technical.

I understand that for hopless ale you really need to put some other flavouring in, otherwise it'll taste foul. I have tried a really simple experiment with grain and yeast - it just tasted like alcoholic yeast juice.

What sort of grain should I use? Can I use rice? Can you recommend a herb or spice to use as a substitute for the hops?

 

[Dude]

I'm really new to brewing. Does anyone have a simple recipe for hopless ale that could be made using minimal equipment?

I don't know anything about gravity and OG, so please don't say anything too technical.

I understand that for hopless ale you really need to put some other flavouring in, otherwise it'll taste foul. I have tried a really simple experiment with grain and yeast - it just tasted like alcoholic yeast juice.

What sort of grain should I use? Can I use rice? Can you recommend a herb or spice to use as a substitute for the hops?

Why would you not add hops? You can make a beer with hops and still not have it overpower the beer. The balance of the sweet wort and the bitter hops is what makes beer GOOD beer.
Try something mellow like a Fuggles or something and your beer will turn out much better than not adding any hops at all.
Hopless beer? Yecchhh!!!!!!

 

[Wadworth]

I know hopless beer doesn't taste that good.
but I don't have any brewing shops near me so I can't get any hops.
I also kinda want to try and make a medieval english ale. They made them without hops but added other flavourings to mask the nasty yeast-juice flavour.

 

[fsinger]

There are good websites to get some hops - I bought 4 pounds of hops for about $5 per pound at www.hopsdirect.com. You can choose from about 20 varieties, etc. I bought Willamette, Hallertau, Cascade, and one more I can't remember. I broke up the packs into 1-1/2 oz sealed bags and have 'em in the freezer. Should last me for better than a year.

Don't even bother making ale without hops, really! It's worth the wait to get some ordered.

 

[Wadworth]

Yer I might try that.
Really desperate to get something going though. I might try and flavour the beer with something like sage or rosemary.

This probably seems like a foolish idea, but it is the only way i'll learn.

 

[Dude]

Yer I might try that.
Really desperate to get something going though. I might try and flavour the beer with something like sage or rosemary.

This probably seems like a foolish idea, but it is the only way i'll learn.

I disagree. You aren't going to learn anything from flavorless beer. Experimenting with the right hop/malt balance is the key, IMHO.

 

[Dark_Ale]

I disagree. You aren't going to learn anything from flavorless beer. Experimenting with the right hop/malt balance is the key, IMHO.

Try a Honey Wheat......mmmmmm Yummy. This was the first beer that I just wanted to drink right out of my primary.

 

[fsinger]

. I might try and flavour the beer with something like sage or rosemary.

This probably seems like a foolish idea, but it is the only way i'll learn.

Who knows, you might just come up with something great! I keep a logbook of my brews just in case - you might try that because you won't know for a month or so. If it is good you should share!

 

[Wadworth]

I might come up with something brilliant, or then again I probably won't.
I'll probably find that the reason people put hops in beer was because it didn't taste very good without it.

 

[Tomico]

I wrote on another thread what was used trditionally before hops was used. Personally, I hate the taste of hops so I don't like beer. The Scotish beer made with heather actually doesn't taste bad and there are Belgians that don't use hops that taste fabulous. Beer and hops are not synonymous, though in this day and age most people think it is. Check out the other thread.

Tomico

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Well you can try spruce tips off new growth of spruce trees (NOT Pine) but you'd have to wait till spring or find some spruce essence, but since you have no access to a HBS that doesn't see likely.

Or try a ginger beer?

Otherwise mail order or a long drive....

Where do you get the malt? If it's a kit it will probably have some bittering hops boiled in the extract all ready.

Where do you live?