When I want to get out of a kit and into my own recipes?

[KMKsuburbannoise]

I am starting out and will do plenty of kits before i experiment. When is a good time to experiment. I am a true rookie and know very little homebrew vocabulary.

What I know right now. I know the process of extract brewing with my little 3 gallon brew pot and my 5 gallon carboy.

What I want to know? How do I start making my own brews or a clone brew. i really want to clone 3 Floyds Gumball Head. This may sound stupid but I don't know If I can do this with my set up. And I am not too sure what a mash is? (please don't make fun of me) But what is a mash?

 

[DubbinFive1Eight]

Search the site dude, read all you can. All of the information is here. Definitly check out the FAQ's..

 

[dandw12786]

Buy John Palmer's "How To Brew," or go to howtobrew.com. He explains everything pretty well. In terms of experimenting, go baby steps. I'm a beginner myself, just brewed #5. Did a few kits, and a few recipes we found around on the internet (mostly this site!). What I ended up doing on my last brew was buy a kit, and added a couple things to it (a couple different steeping grains and a slight variation in the hops schedule). Write down all the ingredients in your kits, so you have a good base recipe to experiment with later, when you know a bit more about what you're doing.

And nobody here will make fun of you!

Sorry, can't answer your question about mashing. Don't know anything about it myself, want an extract brew to turn out great before I start getting in over my head.

 

[VTBrewer]

That's great that you have the extract process down. A good time to experiment is now.

You know what comes in the kit you made, so when you're ready to make one similar don't get it in a kit, and change the hops, or the yeast, or the specialty grains based on what you think could be better.

Coning a brew will come naturally after you do that for a bit and have more under your belt, there are books you could get, but right now, experiment.

A mash (or mini-mash) involves using base grains instead of liquid or dry extract. The grains are held at a temperature of usually around 150 for about an hour. This is oyur mash, and the starches of the grains convert to sugar. After that, a sparge is done, which is basically raising the temperature of the grains to around 168 and collecting the "wort"

At this point an all grain brewer would have the equivalent of water plus the extract and starts the boil and hopping just like you do.

Very very very simple answer to what is a long process and lots of steps, but hope that gives you an idea.

Keep brewing!

 

[Nuggethead]

I was once in your shoes as was everyone when they started. But to answer your question, a mash is the process in All-Grain brewing where the malted grains are soaked in hot water, usually between 150 and 155 F for an amount of time to convert the grain starches to sugar. This is just the very short version of what you asked and there is alot more to the process. There are some great books out like, "Brewing Quality Beers by Byron Burch" and "How to Brew by John Palmer", that will help to get you started. You can also do searches on this forum and find unlimited answers to every question imaginable. My Home Brew Store also holds monthly classes for people just starting out which was a huge help in showing me just what type of equipment was needed. Check to see if you have one in your area, they may do the same thing. As for formulating your own recipes, there are several software programs online to help with this like Beersmith.

 

[frazier]

Brewing Classic Styles is an excellent book, tons of good recipes for the extract brewer, plus instructions on how to do them as all-grain. Nothing wrong with doing extract brews until you get comfortable with the process.

 

[KevinW]

I am starting out and will do plenty of kits before i experiment. When is a good time to experiment. I am a true rookie and know very little homebrew vocabulary.

What I know right now. I know the process of extract brewing with my little 3 gallon brew pot and my 5 gallon carboy.

What I want to know? How do I start making my own brews or a clone brew. i really want to clone 3 Floyds Gumball Head. This may sound stupid but I don't know If I can do this with my set up. And I am not too sure what a mash is? (please don't make fun of me) But what is a mash?

Check out Palmer's online version of "How to Brew"! Read a little, then read some more, then experiment, then read some more and so on and so on....!

Extract(either dry or liquid) is the mashing step already completed then concetrated(LME) or dried(DME). As an extract brewer you do not need to mash since it is already done for you, steeping specialty grains can give a more complex flavor profile to your beers but if doing a mash then you just throw all the grains in together(some specialty grains do need a mash while others can just be steeped)

Mashing is pretty easy to do with some practice and equipment set up for it. For a minimun of expense you may want to research "brew in a bag" although a simple mash tun and 10+ gallon boil kettle will make things a little easier.

My opinion is if you do not want to spend a lot of upfront money then extract is the way to go but in the long run you can spend quite a bit on the extract itself.

All grain may be a little extra upfront cost but ultimately you can spend less per batch and it offers a little more flexibility.

If you like it simple then stay with extract and make some award winning beers like many brewers here do!

Just my opinions here so good luck and just keep on brewing!!

 

[Beer_Guy]

I see you are thinking like me.

The wife got me the book Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels. It has helped me a lot, not in the HOW to brew beer part but in putting together a beer that I like. A lot of good info on grains, hops and styles.

Plus this way you too can call say it is MINE!!!!