What was your first recipe and have you reprised it?

[Soulive]

Mine was Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale seen below. It came out too sweet but not horrible. I wouldn't use the Amber extract if I did it over. I have never considered making it again, but maybe I should reprise it AG style...

3-4 lbs. of Pale LME
3 lbs. of Amber DME
12 AAUs of Bittering Hop (any variety)
5 AAUs of Finishing Hop (Cascade or other)
dried ale yeast

 

[brewt00l]

First brew ever?

Mine was a Coopers Australian Lager kit w/ tons of corn sugar that was fermented hot and rushed into bottles and consumed. Results were exactly as you'd expect.

 

[Orfy]

Mine was the BYO Hob Goblin.
I created Hob Goblin II

I think there might be a recipe somewhere.

 

[cd2448]

my first brew was a west coast pale ale, bit like sierra nevada - an extract only kit from the LHBS.

it was actually quite good up until the move to secondary when i oxidized the life out of it and it ended up cardboardy. drank it anyway.

wouldn't reprise as i'm an all grain man from here on in, but for anyone starting i'd deffo recommend it as a first batch.

 

[Anbrew]

Mine was a Brewer's Best Oktoberfest kit. I don't remember the ingredients. Some light LME, crystal malt of some sort,and dried ale yeast.

Actually came out pretty good (hence I continued to brew).

Never made it again, but I did crack open a nearly 3 year-old bottle of it the other week. It was still pretty tasty!

 

[waterse]

Mine was a Brewers Best Belgian Wit kit. came out ok. Redid the recipe using the kit's ingredient list as a starting point and converted it to a partial mash. Came out much better the second time arround. Enjoying it right now.

 

[menschmaschine]

My first batch was a 10 gallon, direct-fired, step-mashed, AG lager from a recipe I created which was primed and bottled with saved wort. Yep, thought I could change the world!:cross: And since I didn't know crap about what kind of hops (and how much and when) go better with what kind of beers, it ended up like some kind of Dortmunder or Belgian Lager.

My brew day was like 10 hours, but at the end of the day I thought, "this was TOTALLY worth it." I did everything pretty well including yeast starter size, temperature control, and my efficiency was WAY over my prediction. It was actually a decent beer... it got drank up at a neighborhood get-together, but the taste didn't "wow" me, so I probably won't brew it again. But it did prove to me that I had a knack for brewing.

 

[bashe]

Mine was an extract wheat kit from my LHBS. With that I found out I am not a fan of wheat beers so I will probably not make it again.

 

[thedude123]

Mine was a double IPA at a brew on premises place in NH. It was a partial mash recipe and I wouldn't make it again. It wasn't hoppy enough. The regular IPAs that I make now are hoppier then that was. The only benefit that I got from going there was learning the general process of brewing and 6 cases of 22 oz bottles.

 

[rabidgerbil]

My first was a crappy brown ale kit that was fairly old (a year or two).
It was not even my kit, but a gift that a friend had received, and we brewed
it together... and no, I will never try to revisit that particular beer again. I have
done other browns since, and they have a been far better than that kit could ever
hope to be.

 

[eschatz]

Mine was a Bock that I brewed as an ale! It was all fouled up but we drank the hell out of it. I loved it like it was my own ugly child. Couldn't wait to give people one when they came over. Couldn't understand why nobody thought it was amazing. haha The guy at my LHBS told me I could lager in my bedroom closet and everything would be fine. Fussel city! :rockin:

 

[Chriso]

+1 to the OP for this question! EXCELLENT thread idea!

My firstie was my Beer Quest competition Brown Ale. It was a 5 gal AG batch, since my brew buddy did AG that's what I learned from the git-go.

Recipe was:
6# 2-Row
1.5# Honey Malt
1.0# Cara Munich
.5# Cara 80
.5# Chocolate
.5# Flaked Oats
.25# Cara 40

Hop schedule is a little unclear, I have a few different, contradictory, remarks scribbled on the brewsheet. I *THINK* it was 0.5oz Tett at :65, .5oz Willamette at :30, and .5oz Tett at :10. It could've also been those same amounts at :30, :10 and :10. Not positive.

I bottle-carbed with 6.9oz Molasses in a pint of boiled water. It lent a VERY nice molasses taste to it.

I have been thinking of revisiting this brew, and in fact had the brew sheet sitting on top of my computer well before this post cropped up! If I did it again, I'd probably make the following edits:

8# Pale malt instead of 6#
1# Honey malt instead of 1.5#
.75# Cara 40, instead of (Drop) Cara-Munich and Cara 80.
.75# Flaked Oats instead of .5#

All Tett for the hops, or else go Goldings. Probably get rid of the late additions, and do all-bittering addition.

Small amount (4oz) of Molasses at flameout, and then keg prime with another 4oz Molasses.

It's on my "next 3 months" list for sure. In between then and now, I need to do some Lake Walk, some Centennial Blonde, and some Pac Gem Smash to get another hop checked off my list.

 

[BrewBrain]

Agreed - excellent thread idea!

I consider my first beer my first AG because I dumped every one of my extracts, which were all kits.

It was a Drydock Brewing ESB clone they have on their website. I'm not sure if it is still there. I loved it, but I'm not sure if it was just because it was drinkable.

I would brew it again, but I'm more focused on doing my own recipes now.

 

[Soulive]

I consider my first beer my first AG because I dumped every one of my extracts, which were all kits.

Wow, how many extract kits did you brew/dump?

 

[BrewBrain]

Wow, how many extract kits did you brew/dump?

I'm not sure, but not too many. Maybe three or four. I did a few several years ago and one when I started up again over a year ago. They all tasted the same - watery and weird. I guess it's probably the twang people talk about, but I don't know.

 

[jklotz]

My 1st was an IPA kit from my LHBS. part LME, part DME, dry yeast. Drank most of it before it really matured. Had a bottle of it recently from the "dark hole" under my counter where a few from every batch go, and it wasn't bad! Wish I had given it a little more time to mature before I drank most of it.

I've since done it again, using wl california ale yeast, and adding 1/2 ounce cascade, dry hopped in secondary. Came out ok, but a little to dry of a finish. Could have had a little more maltiness to balance it out. I really like a good IPA, so I think I'll try it a 3rd time soon, but I'll be posting the recipe here and asking for suggestions first.

 

[mnadamn]

my first was apfelwein a year ago thanksgiving. Since I am a college student, I cannot afford tooo much so I gave my family and friends 2 wine bottles of apfelwein each. Everyone liked it so much that I have been told that I have to give it as a gift again or I am not welcome at the xmas party (jokingly of course). Now I have 35 gallons going.... 15 for friends and fam, 10 for the kegs (we go through a lot), 5 to try making a cran apple and 10 for the roomates xmas gifts.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Austin Homebrew's AHS Ahtanum Pale Ale minimash kit. I'm going to rebrew this as all grain, the recipe is definitely a keeper (2-row, 1/2# C40, 1/2# Carapils, 1oz of ahtanum at 60, 15, and 5). It's one of my favorites to date. After six weeks it hit its peak of flavor and I was hooked... Now you b'ds have to put up with me every day with my diabolical planning.

 

[billtzk]

My first was a Northern Brewer ESB extract+steeping grains kit. I later did an all-grain approximation of it that came out pretty good. I'll brew it again, but with further revisions. I'm not sure what, but I always change something.

 

[FishinDave07]

My first was AHS Bavarian Hefe. It came out awesome and i hope to do it AG when i have the time! My first recipe that i developed myself came out equally good, if not better (just because of the fact that i came up with it myself, ofcourse). Which is my Yakima Blonde Ale.

 

[Freezeblade]

My first Batch was a pineapple wine. it was a bit strong (well, still is, I've got like 8 bottles left, they only get better with age) so I revised the recipe using a yeast that metabolizes acid, and used some water instead of just the pineapple. they are both awesome. The first beer however was a failed gruit experiment

 

[spage]

First batch was a brewer's best Arrogant B@stard clone, I replaced all the hops with simcoe, dry-hopped it, and called it "Simcoe B@stard". It was great! Now if I could only duplicate it...

 

[tfries]

For me it was a can of Blue Ribbon Malt extract, a couple pounds of cane sugar, 2oz packet of Northern Brewer hop pellets and a packet of dry Ale yeast. That was 28 years ago. I brewed that one a few times then found that 2 cans Muntons & Fison Amber with the Northern Brewer hops made a decent Anchor Steam style beer. A few years later I moved to all grain brewing.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

A Wheat Ale from Jaspers Home Brew shop in NH

 

[thataintchicken]

a canned kit - pale ale.
Twenty Years ago.

It was horrid. I think the cane sugar and the inebriation factor during brewing had something to do with that.

Thankfully, the homebrews have improved since then.

 

[Bob]

Elbro Nerkte.

And yes, I'd do it again. In fact, I just might, for giggles!

Bob