Newer Brewer looking for suggestions

[arl6280]

So I'm new-ish. But I've caught the bug. 3 batches in and I am addicted to brewing. Currently brewing extract, small batches(1 gallon), mainly for time and space constraints. First batch(kit) was meh. Just bottled the 2nd(kit), and dry hopping the 3rd(cobbled together 1st recipe) in secondary(yes I know it's not necessary). I didn't do a brew day this past weekend, and I've got the DTs. I got a bunch individual ingredients when i first stocked up on supplies (I had bought the 2 kits but knew I would want to make my own), so I have enough stuff for a few brews? My problem is I'm not good at putting together a recipe yet, I'm still learning different profiles of different ingredients. I have absolutely no problem throwing some **** together and see what happens, but I guess I'm just looking for some insight from the more experienced.

My ingredients include:

About 1.5lbs NB Rye malt LME
3lbs gold LME
1lb victory Malt
.5lb English Pale Malt
.5lb dark Munich Malt
couple oz ea of various hops:
(Pellets)
Willamette
Chinook
Azacca
Us Golding
(Leaf)
1oz simcoe

What would you all make?

 

[thehaze]

I would add the Rye, Gold and maybe a bit of Biscuit malt, along with Willamette, Chinook, Golding and Simcoe, to get a sort of an English Bitter, with firm bitterness, a tad of biscuit goodness in the background and some hop aroma from the hops. That would be both refreshing and satisfying to drink in the summer.

 

[madscientist451]

I've experimented with LME and for me, the "extract" flavor is a problem.
Keep the extract around if you need to bump up your ABV or make starters, but get some more grain and play around with BIAB. keep it simple and make some single malt, single hop beers and then branch out from there.
You can also learn a lot from using established recipes and then tweaking them to suit your taste.
I'd keep your stash of victory and Munich malts, get some more base malt and try some different recipes.
If you really want to use up your ingredients, the 1lb victory 1/2 pound of pale and Munich all together will make a gallon of 5% Amber ale. I'd use your US Golding and Willamette hops, maybe about 30 IBU.
Use the recipe builder on the Brewer's friend website to determine your ave starting gravity and what the IBUs would be.
Get a 3 gallon better bottle fermenter and you can ferment 2.5 gallon batches. It takes the same amount of brewing time and you'll have more beer.

 

[Soulshine2]

start with some 2 row pale or pilsner malts, add some vienna and /or munich,add others sparingly,maybe some redX or melanoidin.
citra, mosaic, brewers gold
nottingham or possibly kolsch yeasts

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

My problem is I'm not good at putting together a recipe yet, I'm still learning different profiles of different ingredients. I have absolutely no problem throwing some poopy together and see what happens, but I guess I'm just looking for some insight from the more experienced.

Starting out, clone recipes can be helpful to know which ingredients work well together. Check out the clone recipe threads here at HBT. For example, if you have access to these two beers, compare / contrast a "Two Hearted" clone to "PsuedoSue" clone.

Beer styles can also be helpful. The "Make your best" series on styles (for example: https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-esb/) and the recipes (https://beerandbrewing.com/beer-recipes/) can help with overview and recipes for various styles.

Many people keep a supply of basic ingredients on hand. In addition to what @Soulshine2 mentioned, take a look at https://beerandbrewing.com/building-an-ingredient-library-part-1/ https://beerandbrewing.com/building-an-ingredient-library-part-2/ . With small batches (2.5 gal or less) partial packages of dry yeast is a common approach.

Learn BIAB. With a little practice, it's not hard to soak grains in 150-ish F water for around 45 minutes.

If you are fermenting in one gallon carboys, over time, you may find them to be constraining (or frustrating). Decide how much beer you want from a batch (12-pack?, 24-pack? 5 gallon keg?), find an appropriate FV, and scale existing recipes appropriately.

 

[arl6280]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. BIAB is definitely my next move, and I will be going to bigger brews, another reason I'm only doing small batches now is to practice, practice, practice. My thoughts are to make a bunch of small batches and work out any mistakes, and figure out all the best practices for everything. I would rather have to drink 8-10 crappy beers than 50. Once I have my SOPs and feel generally comfortable in all areas of brewing and fermenting, then I will likely up my batch sizes.

Also I was unaware that my O.P. auto corrected to the word "poopy", I think you all know what word I meant

-A

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

My thoughts are to make a bunch of small batches and work out any mistakes, and figure out all the best practices for everything.

I'll suggest moving sooner, rather than later, to your desired batch size. You'll likely use different techniques for temperature control (especially when mashing and fermenting) when brewing 5 gallon batches.

That being said, many people brew experimental batches with a "smaller" batch size, so knowing how to brew good one gallon batches (or 12-pack, or 24-pack) is a useful skill.

 

[TGFV]

What kind of beers do you like to drink?

Those ingredients can be used in a mass variety of styles just from yeasts etc being tweaked. Or you mash them all together in saison /farmhouse styles.

But u would recommend finding a style you like and then looking at established or clone recipes.

 

[arl6280]

I ended up deciding to go with a simple pale ale with Azacca and Willamette hops, gold malt extract, victory malt and some caramel40 i forgot to list above for my specialty grains. In the process right now. Just bottled my first hodgepodge recipe that I'll just call a Northwest Rye for now. We'll see how it came out in a couple of weeks. Forgot to get a gravity sample, just a belly sample but pre carb it tastes pretty good.