Partial Extract Recipes

[foley178]

Give me some of your best recipes for bocks/light ales/ and ambers. I'm trying to fiddle with some recipes. Bring on your amazing beers

 

[RM-MN]

Here's a bunch of great recipes but you'll have to sort out which ones are partial mashes. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82

 

[foley178]

Thank you

 

[msayler]

I made a nice amber-y ale that turned out reeeally well. Bonus is that it's only a half-hour boil, so it made for a short brew day:

6lb Pale DME (half at the start, half at the end)
1lb Crystal 60 (steep for ~45m @ 154)

1oz Cascade - 30m
1oz Amarillo - 10m
.5oz Citra - 5m
.5oz Citra - F/O

Nottingham, ferm'd at 65 for 10 days, then dry hopped with 1oz of Citra for 7. Next time, I'd double the dry hop, as I really like aroma and flavor that it has.

 

[Morrey]

I made a nice amber-y ale that turned out reeeally well. Bonus is that it's only a half-hour boil, so it made for a short brew day:

6lb Pale DME (half at the start, half at the end)
1lb Crystal 60 (steep for ~45m @ 154)

1oz Cascade - 30m
1oz Amarillo - 10m
.5oz Citra - 5m
.5oz Citra - F/O

Nottingham, ferm'd at 65 for 10 days, then dry hopped with 1oz of Citra for 7. Next time, I'd double the dry hop, as I really like aroma and flavor that it has.

To date, my brewing efforts have been extract w/grain kits that have come pre-assembled with all of the ingredients packaged. Occasionally I'll buy liquid yeast separately while some kits have dry sachets included.

My question is how would my costs compare buying all of these ingredients separately as opposed to buying a preassembled kit? Not considering the recipe's flexibility factor...just the cost. I don't have a LHBS close (60 Miles) so I probably wont benefit from a group buy or a club who does quantity.

 

[msayler]

Well, it's hard for me to get a purely "apples to apples" cost comparison from my recipe and a kit. I've got a LHBS here in town, and this particular one was a hair over $40 for everything, purchasing piecemeal.

Similar things sold as a kit through the various sites range from $35-40, but then, generally, you also have to pay some amount for shipping. The only kit that I have purchased ended up being a disappointment (it was a Blue Moon clone). Had it not been for the 20% off coupon, I'd be pissed about the way the beer turned out. It's drinkable, but I'm not sure I'd let my guests sample it until they'd had a couple of my good ones first.

If it is any indication, the preassembled kits sit on the shelf for quite some time at my LHBS, while the bagged DME rotates out pretty frequently. I'm sure the grains are much the same as the extracts.

 

[RM-MN]

There won't be a major difference in cost between buying the ingredients and buying the kit with all the ingredients. If you buy the kit, all the ingredients are weighed and just the right amount is in there. If you buy ingredients you buy them in the quantities they are package in (usually) and then you have to work up another recipe to use up what is left. That usually means you need to buy more and then you have leftover ingredients again....

The cost savings really don't happen until you get into all grain and buying in bulk. However, doing so usually ends up with you buying more equipment so it takes quite a few batches to break even.