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Hey!
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer but I've no experience with this beyond making ginger beer :D. I'm curious about what kinds of tastes can I expect? I've had a hard time finding information about what kind of taste ranges can I expect to make with basic homebrew setups.

Most kinds of commercial beers we love to drink, especially brown ales and stouts and darker beers but also lagers and "wheaty" beers.
The craft beers sold in my local area have been hit and miss. Mostly it's pale ales with fruity or herbal flavors that were not our favorite. But I really enjoyed some of the brown ales and the more wheaty lighter craft beers I drank on a trip to Poland were some of my favorites.

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

P.S. if you have tried simple beer kits with the kind of tastes I'm looking for I'd appreciate suggestions.
Cheers
 
There's a lot of variety available in kits. Dark beer, wheat beer, etc. And the kits that I've tried have been as advertised IMO - you can look through the catalogs and see what is available. It probably won't be long before you'll be ready to put ingredients together yourself and not even rely on kits. Good luck.
 
Basic homebrew "setups" or "kits" need to be considered as 2 separate things:
A. Equipment and Sundry kits, so you can brew beer​
B. Ingredients kits​

A. Equipment and Sundry kits:
Which equipment you need depends on the method of brewing you're going to use. There are 2 main methods, and many hybrids:
a) extract brewing - using premade malt extracts, and​
b) all grain brewing - using only crushed grain in a process called "mashing." Think of a very controlled steep in which grain starches are converted into sugars.​

Most beginners start out with extracts, to get the hang of it. It's simpler, easier, takes less time, and usually less equipment than all-grain brewing.

Extract brewing synopsis:
  1. Heat water in a large pot or kettle (say, 2-3 gallons for a 5 gallon batch).
  2. When the water has reached 150-168°F, turn off heat source.
  3. Steep crushed steeping grains, contained in a mesh bag; remove after 20 minutes. The liquid you now have is called: wort.
  4. Turn heat source back on and bring the wort to a boil; when it reaches a boil, turn heat source off.
  5. With the heat off, mix half the extracts into your wort. When fully dissolved, turn heat source back on.
  6. Boil the wort with some hops for a certain time (30 minutes to 1 hour is common). You can add different hops at different times depending on the beer style.
  7. Turn the heat off, and add the remainder of the extracts, mix until fully dissolved.
  8. Chill the wort.
  9. Pour into a fermenting vessel, such as a brew bucket, or another, fancier one.
  10. Top up with cold water to your intended batch volume.
  11. Add yeast, and ferment in a coolish place for 2-3 weeks.
  12. When done, package (bottle or keg).

B. Ingredients kits
Ingredient kits come in many different "flavors," for different beer styles.
I'd avoid any pre-hopped, pre-flavored extracts. They're disappointing and don't deliver up to the promising picture shown on the label...

You can create pretty much any beer using steeped grains and light color malt extract.

Also, use Dry Malt Extract (DME), a dry powder in a sealed bag, over Liquid Malt Extract (LME), a thick, honey-like syrup. Unless you know the LME is very fresh, stick to using DME. Cans of LME that have been sitting on a store shelf, or in a boxed kit, for who knows how long (no packaging dates) are most likely stale and thus unsuitable.

Alternatively, instead of buying a "recipe kit" you can buy all ingredients loose from your Local HomeBrew Store (LHBS) or online homebrew retailer. There are 100,000s of recipes out there.
Sometimes kits are offered on sale, for a better bargain than compounding your own. But make sure they're fresh! Stale kits make stale (undrinkable) beer.
 

ncbrewer , IslandLizard

Thank you!

I'll try starting with an ingredient kit to have at least a baseline of how it tastes like and then try experimenting.
YVW @garlicbread
Welcome to homebrewing!

If you want to link us to what you're eying up getting, we may give you some feedback.

What country or general region are you in? If not from the U.S., you may want to list your country (or general region) in the Location field on your member account's profile page.
It will show up in your info, underneath your avatar, in the left sidebar on your posts.
 
Thank you! The location would be more confusing than helpful I'm afraid :D I'm from the country of Georgia, which shares a name with the US State of Georgia and it's often source of confusion :D

I'm able to purchase from most US, UK, and German stores and have it shipped to me via relatively inexpensive shipping services. (8$ per KG)
I also found a local shop with a selection of grains and malt: Online store of Underground Microbrewery
I'll try to see if any recipes match the stuff they have and I think local microbreweries might be selling items as well.

Although I'm just guessing what might taste good.
 
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[...] and have it shipped to me via relatively inexpensive shipping services. (8$ per KG)
Excuse me, $8 a kg, just for shipping, doesn't sound like a good deal at all. :(

It takes 3 kg of DME for a 20 liter batch of 1.052, medium gravity beer.
That would be "$24" for just shipping.

That's in addition to the cost of the extract itself. Dunno what the case is where you live, but extract has become much more expensive the past 6 months, here in the U.S., now around $5-6 a pound, if bought in 3 pound bags.

1 kg = ~2.2 lbs.
 
Hey!
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer but I've no experience with this beyond making ginger beer :D. I'm curious about what kinds of tastes can I expect? I've had a hard time finding information about what kind of taste ranges can I expect to make with basic homebrew setups.

Most kinds of commercial beers we love to drink, especially brown ales and stouts and darker beers but also lagers and "wheaty" beers.
The craft beers sold in my local area have been hit and miss. Mostly it's pale ales with fruity or herbal flavors that were not our favorite. But I really enjoyed some of the brown ales and the more wheaty lighter craft beers I drank on a trip to Poland were some of my favorites.

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

P.S. if you have tried simple beer kits with the kind of tastes I'm looking for I'd appreciate suggestions.
Cheers

[/I]

I'll try starting with an ingredient kit to have at least a baseline of how it tastes like and then try experimenting.


I also found a local shop with a selection of grains and malt:
The ingredient kit may not give you an accurate baseline, depending on how fresh it is. Since you know what kinds of beer you like, take a look at the ale recipes here on HomeBrewTalk. With some light dry extract and some of the grains from the place you linked you can make about any kind of beer you want and you will probably get nice fresh supplies to do them with. Look at the left side of the black bar on the top of the page and you will find the tab for recipes.
 
Hey!
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer but I've no experience with this beyond making ginger beer :D. I'm curious about what kinds of tastes can I expect? I've had a hard time finding information about what kind of taste ranges can I expect to make with basic homebrew setups.

Most kinds of commercial beers we love to drink, especially brown ales and stouts and darker beers but also lagers and "wheaty" beers.
The craft beers sold in my local area have been hit and miss. Mostly it's pale ales with fruity or herbal flavors that were not our favorite. But I really enjoyed some of the brown ales and the more wheaty lighter craft beers I drank on a trip to Poland were some of my favorites.

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

P.S. if you have tried simple beer kits with the kind of tastes I'm looking for I'd appreciate suggestions.
Cheers
You've come to a good spot to start off on your journey. In the US, the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) style guidelines might be a good guide to help with tastes and such that you encounter sampling beer. You can download just the style guideline as a pdf. I keep a printed copy at my bar and one on my cell phone for quick reference. It contains lots of information for beer judging but I find it very valuable for beer sampling with friends.

Also as you get into brewing try some commercial example to first find what you'd like to try brewing. There's tons or kg's of beers out in the world so it gets overwhelming finding the style you want to brew.

Good luck and welcome to the group!
 
Thank you all for the very warm welcome and all the advice.
I will try to look up recipes and see what I can make with what is available locally first in terms of bulk ingredients.

Is there any downside to using plastic for fermenting vessels?
 
Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

In my experience, wheat and dark ales are the easiest, most forgiving homebrew recipes, great to start out with! The grain bills are simple, as are the hops. Dry yeast can be used with great results.

Northern English Brown ale is my favorite style. Fermentation can be done in the 60s, easier to maintain than low 50s for making traditional lager. Same for wheat beers, coffee stouts, etc.

Basic kits, AG and extract can be obtained for all of these styles, with a bonus that they are (usually) on the more affordable end of the price spectrum. ;)
 
Is there any downside to using plastic for fermenting vessels?

If the fermenter is in good shape, it should be fine for several batches.

Longevity is what suffers with plastic fermenters, as each cleaning cycle can potentially introduce another scratch/crevice for a future bit of bacteria to get stuck in. Same applies for buckets as to plastic carboys.
 
Is there any downside to using plastic for fermenting vessels?

#1 (PETE) or #2 (HDPE) plastics are safe and fine to use as fermenters. White being preferred over color ones for #2 plastics. Avoid any plastics with BPA, such as many polycarbonate containers do.

https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/plastics-by-the-numbers/
Don't use any abrasives on plastics, as (deeper) scratches can prevent sanitizers to kill harboring microorganisms that spoil beer. A clean, soft cotton cloth drenched in cleaner or sanitizer should be all you need. The smoother the plastic the easier it is to maintain, clean, and sanitize.

While on this topic, what kind of cleaners and sanitizers can you obtain for your brewery?

We prefer solutions of Sodium Percarbonate ("Oxyclean Free" here in the U.S.) for general brew equipment cleaning. Where more tenacious grime removal is needed, adding 10-30% of Sodium Metasilicate ("TSP/90") superpowers it. 1 tablespoon of the powder per 1 or 2 gallons of water is all you need. It can be stored for several days or longer but will lose it's oxygen action after a few hours. It still remains a good general cleaner, even without the O2. ;)

Starsan or an Iodine sanitizer (Iodophor or other Povidone-based) are on top of the list.

If you're serious about brewing, get a copy of: John Palmer, How to Brew, 4th Ed.
Make 100% sure to get the last, 4th Edition, not an older one.
 
Thanks! I think it would be a good idea to try some simple recipes at first so I have some hands-on experience and taste to compare/adjust things. And in the meanwhile get How to Brew book and learn from online resources.

I'm thinking of maybe following this YouTubers recipe somewhat loosely:
which is:
6.5L water
1 Campden tablet
.76 Kg Munich malt
13.5g Tettnang hops (Alpha acid 3.7%)
1/5 Pkg Saffale US-05 yeast
Priming sugar
No rinse sanitiser like 'Star San'

I think I'll get malt locally as it is heavy to ship.
Hops I'm not sure, how important is Alpha Acid %? The ones I found locally vary between 8 to 15 percent. I can order this if it's important.

I have 50$ amazon gift card so I'm thinking of getting these off amazon as they can be hard to track down here.


For Malt, I'm guessing this honestly but going by what is in local stores I'm thinking between these:
#1 Golden Ale Malt (Polish craft beers were out of this world when I tried it a few years ago. hoping their malt is good too :D)
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-693847926361-golden-ale-malt-500-gr
#2 Pale Ale
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-381726521798-pale-ale-1-kg
#3 CaraMunich Type 3 Malt Caramel malt (Weyermann®)
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-512604093553-carabelge-malt-500-gr
Or change for stout-ish beer instead of light beer. They have a bunch of roasted and caramel flavors.
 
The higher the Alpha Acid in a hop, the more bitter potential it has per given amount of plant matter.

Using the above recipe as the example:

For 6.5L water, 760g of Munich malt (10°L) and 13.5g of 3.7% AA hops (dropped at 60min) you get:

roughly 6.1 SRM in color (gold-ish yellow) and
around 19 IBU (hop bitterness units).

This is where calculus would be handy, as the color of the beer (SRM) and the bitterness (IBU) are both moving targets which depend on:

1. amount of water used
2. amount of malt used (more malt will overshadow the hop flavor, and vice versa)
3. type of malt used (higher lovibond number = higher SRM number = darker beer)
4. amount of hops used
5. TYPE of hops used (higher AA% = bittering early in the boil, lower AA% used more later in the boil for flavor/aroma)
6. TIME said hops reside in the kettle (longer time = more bitter)

The final water/grain ratio will express itself directly as your wort's Original Gravity (how concentrated are the sugars).

Playing with these ratios is the fun part of recipe creation. Some folks will use the BJCP guidelines for a particular style, where it gives ranges for SRM, IBU, ABV, etc and create a recipe that fits whatever particular profile the brewer is trying to reach.

Or just go wild! Mixing/substituting different malts and/or hops or even trying a different yeast can greatly affect the resulting product.
 
Awesome, so If I understood this right.
The higher wheat to barley in malt and lower amount of hops will is generally what I want for a light wheaty beer?

I also just found out a ton of wild hops are growing at a camping spot (away from roads). Should I try collecting it or start with a store-bought one?

And would I run into any trouble for using mason jars with fermentation lids during the initial fermentation, before bottling? I figure I could split the batches this way and experiment with addition of ingredients.
1652258422719.png
 
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For Malt, I'm guessing this honestly but going by what is in local stores I'm thinking between these:
Mind, those are malted grains, they're for all grain brewing. They need to be mashed for an hour, which is like a steep in hot water, but within a narrow temp. range of 148-160F. After the mash is completed, the wort then needs to be separated from the grains before bringing the wort to a boil. Better read up on all grain brewing and mashing if you want to go that route.

Brew in a Bag (BIAB) is a very popular method for all grain brewing/mashing. More accurately, it's actually Mash in a Bag.
You need a fine weave nylon mesh bag to hold all your grain. After the mash you lift the bag out of the kettle, let it drip out, you may squeeze it too, to speed it up.
You can improve mash efficiency if you sparge (rinse) the bag with grain with some held over water in a separate bucket, then add the wort from the sparge to your kettle.

You need around 2-2.5 pounds of malted grain for 1 gallon of 1.050-1.060 wort.
The grain needs to be milled before you can mash it. For BIAB a rather fine crush is recommended.
The wort from ale malt needs to be boiled for 60'. Wort from Pilsner malt needs to be boiled for 90'.
 
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer
When sharing with a few friends, you need at least 3-5 gallon-sized batches. To get started you can make smaller ones to get the hang of it, and prevent having to drink gallons of swill.
And would I run into any trouble for using mason jars with fermentation lids during the initial fermentation,
Those jars are really too small for beer. What size are those, 1 liter? That's 2 glasses of beer, max!

They make larger canning jars, probably 5 liter being the max. Or use wine jugs.
But beware when handling glass, especially larger glass vessels such as multi-gallon carboys. They can cause serious injuries when they break (unexpected and unintentionally); the shards are big and crazy sharp.
I'd stick with plastic (fairly cheap) or stainless (very pricey!).
 
For Malt, I'm guessing this honestly but going by what is in local stores I'm thinking between these:
#1 Golden Ale Malt (Polish craft beers were out of this world when I tried it a few years ago. hoping their malt is good too :D)
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-693847926361-golden-ale-malt-500-gr
#2 Pale Ale
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-381726521798-pale-ale-1-kg
#3 CaraMunich Type 3 Malt Caramel malt (Weyermann®)
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-512604093553-carabelge-malt-500-gr
Or change for stout-ish beer instead of light beer. They have a bunch of roasted and caramel flavors.

Definitely get #2 Pale Ale malt if you choose to go all grain. In the USA, we call this "2-row" and use it as a base malt for pretty much every recipe that doesn't use Pilsner malt instead... and can even be used in place of Pilsner malt in a pinch.

Darker recipes? Consider Roasted Barley (unmalted), Roasted Barley Malt, Chocolate malt, and some flaked oats. Add some wheat malt for those Wheat beers. Unlike the base malt, a little goes a long way with these darker grains, so you don't need alot on hand.

With the eight malts mentioned on this post, you can make dozens of recipes. Then you can dial-in what you like, and will have a better idea of what you need to keep on hand.
 
When sharing with a few friends, you need at least 3-5 gallon-sized batches. To get started you can make smaller ones to get the hang of it, and prevent having to drink gallons of swill.

Those jars are really too small for beer. What size are those, 1 liter? That's 2 glasses of beer, max!

They make larger canning jars, probably 5 liter being the max. Or use wine jugs.
But beware when handling glass, especially larger glass vessels such as multi-gallon carboys. They can cause serious injuries when they break (unexpected and unintentionally); the shards are big and crazy sharp.
I'd stick with plastic (fairly cheap) or stainless (very pricey!).
Thanks! I'll try the Brew in a Bag method, ordered the brewing bag from amazon.
About fermentation vessel.
I have some wine carboy/jug glass thingie at home with a kind of wicker weave-like basket around it. It should prevent shards from flying around, but I'm by no measure a careful person so breaking glass is possible.
I'd have to look up what plastic is safe for fermentation, what I found sold online is either simple plastic "water bottles" like:
1652302262145.png

Or really heavy duty/more expensive wine storage like:
1652302350969.png


I have not really found Carboys or beer buckets locally yet. There could be a lot of stuff in wine stores, I'll need to check. (We have a ton of those, Georgia is considered the "cradle of wine", and some of the oldest wine-making-related ruins have been found here.)

Definitely get #2 Pale Ale malt if you choose to go all grain. In the USA, we call this "2-row" and use it as a base malt for pretty much every recipe that doesn't use Pilsner malt instead... and can even be used in place of Pilsner malt in a pinch.

Darker recipes? Consider Roasted Barley (unmalted), Roasted Barley Malt, Chocolate malt, and some flaked oats. Add some wheat malt for those Wheat beers. Unlike the base malt, a little goes a long way with these darker grains, so you don't need alot on hand.

With the eight malts mentioned on this post, you can make dozens of recipes. Then you can dial-in what you like, and will have a better idea of what you need to keep on hand.

Thanks!

I want to purchase this Yeast from Amazon, (Shipped and sold by Amazon, North Mountain Supply brand?):
1652303149826.png

I think as it is dry yeast, it should be safe for international transportation? It will be maximum 10 days in storage/plane before I get it. Could changes in temperature spoil it somehow?
 
White buckets that are made from HDPE plastics are ideal for fermentation. Make sure to get a matching lid. They are mostly 5 gallon capacity which would be suitable for 2 1/2 to 4 gallon batches but not 5 gallons as you will need to leave space for the krausen during fermentation. You may be able to find a 6 1/2 gallon bucket and those work well for 5 gallon batches.

The yeast you show is a very good yeast for ales. It can be frozen without damage and acceptable in any temperature that humans can tolerate. Try to keep the fermentation temperature in the 60 - 70 degree F. as warmer will create off flavors and colder will make it really slow if it ferments at all.
 

If you can source those water bottles, and they provide a good enuf seal they will work as fermenters with the addition of a rubber grommet+airlock or some other blow-off hose into a bottle of sanitizer. I use vodka to minimize bubbles. ;)

I would not use them for bulk aging (i.e. letting the beer condition in the vessel for an extended period), 2-3 weeks tho should be OK. Be prepared to swap them every few batches for good measure.

Definitely check the wine stores locally, any fermentation vessel they sell for wine will work great for beer! Fairly sure you can pick a racking cane and/or auto-siphon there too, but you may already have one of those.

View attachment 768564
I think as it is dry yeast, it should be safe for international transportation? It will be maximum 10 days in storage/plane before I get it. Could changes in temperature spoil it somehow?

Safale US-05 works in endless styles of beer, and travels very well. 10-days in transit would not be long enough to spoil. It should be OK.

Honestly, it's about the best "first" yeast you can get.
 
White buckets that are made from HDPE plastics are ideal for fermentation. Make sure to get a matching lid. They are mostly 5 gallon capacity which would be suitable for 2 1/2 to 4 gallon batches but not 5 gallons as you will need to leave space for the krausen during fermentation. You may be able to find a 6 1/2 gallon bucket and those work well for 5 gallon batches.

+1 :D

The 6.5gal/24.6L brewing buckets are your best bang for the buck (aside from free) if you can find them. They are at every beer/wine store on this side of the pond, hopefully you have access to some.

A fairly entertaining howto on bucket fermenters starts at 4:19 on this video.
 
Definitely check the wine stores locally, any fermentation vessel they sell for wine will work great for beer!
Potential danger! My emphasis. ^
Yes, wine stores can be great resources for equipment, sundries, supplies, etc. :yes:

I have some wine carboy/jug glass thingie at home with a kind of wicker weave-like basket around it. It should prevent shards from flying around, but I'm by no measure a careful person so breaking glass is possible.

Just stay away from using large glass vessels ("carboys") over say, 5-10 liter, "wicker weave" jacketed ones (they're called Demijohns) included. If you need to know why, I'll send you to some gorey pictures, for needed motivation. 😲
 
Georgia is considered the "cradle of wine", and some of the oldest wine-making-related ruins have been found here.)
Sounds like a wonderful place! With all that winemaking going on you should be able to find lots of equipment to repurpose for beer making or maybe just stick with wine making.

All the info you're getting here is spot on. When I first started brewing (cans of extract with the unlabeled yeast packets under the lid) I could only find a plastic trash can to use as my fermenter. It wasn't ideal but it worked until the home brewing industry got better and offered proper equipment. I did eventually find food grade buckets and later in life graduated to a stainless steel conical. Starting out is a journey. learning as we go, you'll learn the basics first that will guide you for the future.
 
Trying to come up with a recipe now while awaiting the items to arrive. :D (Brew in a bag method with malt grains)
For going with the less bitter but more aromatic hops taste route and let's say 60-minute boil.
1) Is it better to add small amount of hops from the start, and some in the middle, and most in the end (15~10 minutes left)
2) Skip adding hops from the start, add in the middle and the end (15~10 minutes left)
3) Add all the hops at the end (20~15 minutes left)

And would it be a good idea to mix Pilsen base malt with Pale ale malt for an American Wheat Beer style thing?
I kind of want to try if I can get a slightly spiced up and higher alcohol(5%~6% instead of 4% local one had) American Wheat Beer-ish brew.

I was thinking for 1 gallon of water 2.5 pounds Pilsen malt and 2 pounds of Pale Ale, and maybe 25 grams of hops? Maybe add just a tad of specialty malt?
 
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For going with the less bitter but more aromatic hops taste route and let's say 60-minute boil.
You start with a neutral flavor hop to bitter the beer. You choose the hop and note its alpha acid percentage. The amount you add at 60 minutes will determine the base amount of bittering. Then you choose a flavor hop and add that at 10 minutes or less to boil. That hop also adds to the bittering. Make sure to account for this added bitterness. Chill your wort quickly for as long as it stays above about 170F the hops you added at 10 minutes will continue to add bitterness.

Now you ferment the beer for several days, probably at least 10 days. Check that the beer has reached its projected final gravity using a hydrometer. If it has reached the final gravity or nearly so, add hops for aroma. Taste and aroma are quite closely linked so the dry hop give you flavor too. Leave the beer alone with those hops for at least 3 days, maybe as long as a week, then bottle or keg the beer. Once bottled or kegged, let the beer have another 2 - 3 weeks to carbonate and create the heading compounds and to let suspended yeast and other particles settle.
 
And would it be a good idea to mix Pilsen base malt with Pale ale malt for an American Wheat Beer style thing?
If you were to look at a chart of malts you would find that Pilsen is the lightest in color, followed by brewers, pale, pale ale, etc. If you want the lightest color beer you use only Pilsen. If you don't mind a little darker beer, pale malt will get you that and a slightly different flavor.
 
There are whole books on the subject with lots of techniques, but going with RM-MN's suggestions should be good. Make a special effort to avoid mixing air into the beer and letting air into the fermenter when adding the dry hops. Air at this point is not your friend.
 
Thank you!
Is this recipe a good idea for a slightly spiced-up wheat beer?
Is IBU calculator in beersmith accurate?
Is 100 grams of Rye malt good idea?
(First pic imperial, second in liters/kg)
1653062127714.png
1653062032436.png
 
Thank you!
Is this recipe a good idea for a slightly spiced-up wheat beer?
Is IBU calculator in beersmith accurate?
Is 100 grams of Rye malt good idea?
(First pic imperial, second in liters/kg)
View attachment 769397View attachment 769396
I don't think this will make a good wheat beer. There doesn't seem to be any wheat in it. Change the pale malt to white wheat malt and you will get a wheat beer. The addition of the rye malt will change the flavor from a standard wheat beer. Some call that flavor spicy.
 
Ah :D I thought Pilsen was wheat. Thanks!

Edit: changed the recipe:
Downside I won't get the make world's first Wheat beer that does not have wheat in it.
1653074548475.png
 
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Now that you have changed the recipe that much, here's another problem to think about. What method are you planning to use, a conventional mash tun or BIAB? Conventional mash tuns utilize the grain husk to help form a filter bed. Wheat and rye do not have husks. Second thing to consider, wheat and especially rye tend to be really sticky in the mash. Having that amount of the two will give you lots of problems with a conventional mash tun (won't drain) and even BIAB will require squeezing the bag of hot, wet grains to get the wort out. Stories are that the office staff take vacation time when Briess makes wheat malt extract because even a big company with lots of experience will have trouble with the mash tun plugging and their wheat malt extract only has about 30% wheat.
 
BIAB, honestly I have no idea what I'm doing, first time brewing but the excitement of trying some minor alchemy magic with the custom recipe is overpowering rational approach of sticking to basics. :D

I've visited the microbrewery that sells ingredients I'll be buying (Limited options here) and tried their craft beers. Two I liked were very strong 9%abv and very flavorful barleywine and the second one was very light American Wheat Beer. I thought WB would be easier to get started with, but it felt too light and one-note so I wanted a stronger alcohol version of that with some additional flavors added through specialty malts, some pale ale malt, and by adding some hops towards the end of the boil.

I'll try lowering the wheat to barley ratio. Would 20% wheat be enough to give its character?
Ideally, I want to get a wheaty taste, some richness like unfiltered beers have and some additional flavors to make it interesting.
 
An OG of 1.085 seems high for a first batch. Something 1.060 or under might be less problematic. Oxygenation and fermentation are more demanding with a high OG. You could think about getting it down into the suggested range for the style.
 
Thanks for all the advice! I appreciate it.
I tried to get in the recommended range and got the recipe below. This seems reasonable. But then again unreasonable route leads to 10% ABV murder wheat beer! I'll have to see how I feel on brewday.

1653081502289.png
 
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