Noob seeks guidance with 1st Batch!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

the75

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Messages
301
Reaction score
34
Location
San Marcos
After being guided by this great forum with the purchase of my equipment, I seek further guidance on the purchase of a quality extract kit. I love hoppy IPAs (maharaja is my personal fave), so would love to start with as quality an IPA I can find in a kit. Any suggestions & links to a supplier would be great. Thanks in advance to a very helpful group of gents/ladies(just in case)... :ban:
 
For kits I have only used Northern Brewer and think they are excellent. I would also trust Austin Homebrew supply. On of the advantages of using a large supplier is their turnover. You are more likely to get fresh ingredients.

I did Northern Brewers Chinook IPA and it turned out excellent.
 
My favorite place for "clone" kits is Austinhomebrew.com.

How about this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...11687&osCsid=ca7fa2e2af0eb1cadbf7a834ac4cb971

Since that's expensive (due to the hops and all the malt, but if you get the partial mash kit, it's $5 cheaper!), how about another IPA or IIPA kit?
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1734&osCsid=ca7fa2e2af0eb1cadbf7a834ac4cb971

or

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...11675&osCsid=ca7fa2e2af0eb1cadbf7a834ac4cb971

look great to me! I've done a number of those kits, and can highly recommend them.
 
Why bother with a kit, there are plenty of recipe's out there that work well, and will be cheaper. You pretty much are paying someone to put the ingredients into a box and wrap it with tape...

Here is a recipe I've made before from my LHBS, and it turned out quite well: http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/MarylandHomeBrewInc/store/content/IPA.pdf

This is good advice if you know that the recipe is good. Depending on where you find your recipe it might just be someones idea. It might never have been brewed.

When buying a kit the supplier has, usually, worked on the recipe and refined it until they felt it was very good. It is not in their interest to put out kits that make mediocre beer.
 
I've used Midwest Supplies, Northern Brewer, Austin Home Brew, and my LHBS. All have great kits! Or you can just grab a good recipe on here (there are tons of them!) and grab the ingredients.
 
Why bother with a kit, there are plenty of recipe's out there that work well, and will be cheaper. You pretty much are paying someone to put the ingredients into a box and wrap it with tape...

Here is a recipe I've made before from my LHBS, and it turned out quite well: http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/MarylandHomeBrewInc/store/content/IPA.pdf

I didn't want to do a kit to be honest, but was talked into it on another thread. I've never brewed before & after thinking about it, I think a kit might be the best way for me to at least get used to the process. Originally, I looked up clone recipes & wanted to start there. I'm thinking I'll try a kit for the first batch, then if all goes well, I'll move onto recipes. I agree with your assessment on the cost of kits, kinda silly on some of the prices, but still, I think it might be a safer place for me to start.
 
We made our first brew with a kit from our local homebrew store. It was a British Mild Ale and it turned out great. We soon made up our own using recipes from our Local Home Brew Store )Homebrew Headquaters in Richarson, TX. Your local store can help a lot. If a generic kit (ie mass produced) get some extra yeast for insurance
 
My favorite place for "clone" kits is Austinhomebrew.com.

How about this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...11687&osCsid=ca7fa2e2af0eb1cadbf7a834ac4cb971

Since that's expensive (due to the hops and all the malt, but if you get the partial mash kit, it's $5 cheaper!), how about another IPA or IIPA kit?
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1734&osCsid=ca7fa2e2af0eb1cadbf7a834ac4cb971

or

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...11675&osCsid=ca7fa2e2af0eb1cadbf7a834ac4cb971

look great to me! I've done a number of those kits, and can highly recommend them.

SWEET!!!! Now I have to decide if I should start with a cheap kit in case I ruin it or start with an expensive kit & try to make one of my faves....
 
I jumped right in to using Beersmith2 to make my own recipes from the start. So far, 5 good batches, just making minor tweaks based on results to fine tune them.

My 1st recipe was just 8lbs pale LME, 1 lb C20, .25 oz Warriors @ 60 mins and.5 oz Citra at 15, .5 oz Citra at 5. US-05 dry yeast. Made a great pale ale...and cost about $17.
 
I jumped right in to using Beersmith2 to make my own recipes from the start. So far, 5 good batches, just making minor tweaks based on results to fine tune them.

My 1st recipe was just 8lbs pale LME, 1 lb C20, .25 oz Warriors @ 60 mins and.5 oz Citra at 15, .5 oz Citra at 5. US-05 dry yeast. Made a great pale ale...and cost about $17.

Now that's the kind of price that I can live with! The cost of these extract kits had me wondering where the savings were.
 
I jumped right in to using Beersmith2 to make my own recipes from the start. So far, 5 good batches, just making minor tweaks based on results to fine tune them.

My 1st recipe was just 8lbs pale LME, 1 lb C20, .25 oz Warriors @ 60 mins and.5 oz Citra at 15, .5 oz Citra at 5. US-05 dry yeast. Made a great pale ale...and cost about $17.

Do you have a dumbed down recipe for that. I would absolutely love to get good amber or stout recipe. If possible with some pictures of the steps. :drunk:

:mug:
 
Sure, here is a simple recipe breakdown and steps:

Type: American Pale Ale

Ingredients:

8lbs Pale liquid extract (un-hopped!)

1lb Crystal 20l malt (for steeping)

.5 oz Warrior hops (or any 14-16% alpha bittering hop)

1 oz Citra hops

1 11.5g packet of S-05 dry yeast

Steps:

1: heat water to 155-160 deg, steep the 1lb of crystal 20 in a hop sock for 30 mins.

2: Remove grain, heat to boiling
3: Remove pot from heat, add 1/3 (3lbs or so) of the liquid extract, stir well, return to heat and bring back to boil.
4: Add .5 oz Warrior hops and start 60 min timer.
5: Add .5 oz Citra with 20 minutes of boil left (for flavor)
6: At 5 mins left, remove from heat and stir in remaining extract, put back on heat and bring back to boil
7: Add remaining .5 oz Citra hops (aroma) and boil the remaining 5 mins.

8: After boil, cool down (I use an ice bath)

9: Add wort to fermenter when it is ~70 deg, top up water to 5 gals.
10: pitch dry yeast into fermenter (I don't re-hydrate it 1st)

11: Primary 64-68 deg for 2-3 weeks.
12: Bottle with 4 oz corn sugar, let them condition for 2-3 weeks at room temp.

OG: 1.058
FG: 1.012
IBU: 39
ABV: 6%
SRM: 9.2

Flavor: Very pronounced citrus from the hops, almost tastes like citrus juice was added (people always ask). Little hop aroma, I plan on increasing the late hop additions next time. Bitterness is in the background and doesn't seem like 39 IBUs.

Re-looking my notes, I adjusted my exact hop additions and my cost was actually right at $20 for this batch, it all depends on how cheap you can get your extract. I pay ~$1.75/lb for LME at my LHBS.
 
Back
Top