First Brew.... But Which Beer?

[appius]

Hey All,

Well as im a uni student and funds are strapped and the wife doesnt like me spending loads on beer ive decided to give brewing my own a go. I was also inspired by a recent trip to the Cascade Brewery. I've been looking around these forums and for how to go about brewing, loads of useful suff on here! But ive found the more i read the more lost i get when thinking about what to brew.

Tomorrow morning im rigging up my Fridgemate which i got from craft brewer, and i have scored a load of gear from a mate. Im looking to start a brew maybe next weekend. Ive tried a load of beers recently but until then had only really drank XXXX gold, NEW and Cascade Premium. I wanna do a stout oneday but im not that keen on it yet to have a whole brew worth. Please any advice and recipes for kits would be great. Please beware im still new to all this and any help deciding would be great.

Cheers Appius

 

[Pollux]

Coopers Real Ale.........is easy as all hell to brew, is forgiving of mistakes, and tends to taste okay no matter what you do to it.

 

[chappo1970]

...only really drank XXXX gold, NEW and Cascade Premium....

Best thing Appius is it's all up hill from there mate...

Welcome BTW

Any of the coopers or morgan's Kits won't do you wrong. A bit of advice for your first kit and kilo would be to stick to an ale as Pollux has suggested. They are forgiving and come out with a good result IMO.

A+ for the fridgemate half the battle with producing a desent brew is temperature control IMO.

Don't try to do too much with your first brew. Concentrate on the basics of brewing and sanitizer everything like a $1000 a night hooker should. Search this forum heaps of good info. If ya have drama's post it the fellas here will help become a better brewer just search before you ask ok!

Use a brew enchancer #2 kit for your LHBS. Coopers do one that's available from most supermarkets which is great. Don't go the straight Dex ok.

Welcome to the dark art of Home brewing.

Coopers Real Ale.........is easy as all hell to brew, is forgiving of mistakes, and tends to taste okay no matter what you do to it.

A+ You is da man!

Edit: Shouldn't type and drink! Nurse...Nurse more beer nurse!

 

[LightLager]

Welcome. Lots of reading for you.... This is a great site with tons of information and friendly and helpful people.

I would go with a Beermakers Old. Really easy, and can be done with reasonable results using Kit yeast with 1Kg of Dextrose.

Much like a lager in mouth feel, but you can definitely notice the Caramalt and it is just a little darker....

 

[Pollux]

Coopers RA+Coopers BE2+Coopers LDME.........

Box of each, toss it in the fermenter, wait for it to try to climb out...

 

[bradsbrew]

Mate if youve gone to the trouble of grabbing a fridgemate before your first brew I reckon you could convince yourself to throw in some hops as well. Perhaps grab a pale ale can, a kg of malt and 15g of cascade hops as a dry hop into the fermenter. Simple

cheers Brad

 

[Pennywise]

Mate if youve gone to the trouble of grabbing a fridgemate before your first brew I reckon you could convince yourself to throw in some hops as well. Perhaps grab a pale ale can, a kg of malt and 15g of cascade hops as a dry hop into the fermenter. Simple

cheers Brad

Yep, totally agree. Although with my fascination with pale ales and hops atm I'd be using maybe 30g af cascade or amarillo (I know I know me and my amarillo )

 

[bowie in space]

+1 for the hops, it's so easy to just throw 'em in or boil for 15 mins and strain into brew. Just make sure EVERYTHING is sanitised. Use a decent yeast, and with your fridgemate to control the temp, i reckon you'd be looking at one of the all time greatest first brews :icon_cheers:

Welcome and good luck
Bowie

 

[Muggus]

Pale Ale for sure.

Brewing a kit lager to the kit specifications will result in something that barely resembles a lager. I won't be clean nor crisp as a lager should be.

Pale ale...more versitle. Can handle warm fermentation, additions of extra hops, malts, sugars, grain, whatever. Will also be ready in quicker time.

 

[razE]

Mate if youve gone to the trouble of grabbing a fridgemate before your first brew I reckon you could convince yourself to throw in some hops as well. Perhaps grab a pale ale can, a kg of malt and 15g of cascade hops as a dry hop into the fermenter. Simple

cheers Brad

+1 use a kg of malt and skip on the brew enhancers. Fridge mates rock, generally 17-20 degrees for ales and 9 - 12 for lagers.

 

[seemax]

Great to see a newbie with a temp controlled fridge straight up. I'm convinced that incorrect temp is the source of most new starts being disappointed.

Kit yeast, when fresh and fermented at the right temp will produce decent beer, but not great.

All great suggestions above.

Using extra malt will make a beer with real body, but will be too sweet. Adding hops for your first time may be too much.

I suggest a coopers real ale (or pale ale), coopers enchancer 2, and SafAle S-04 from a LHBS. Dissolve it all in boiling water, add cold water up to 21L (bit less than they say more slightly higher alc %), pitch the yeast straight from the packet at 20C and ferment at 18C. Take a SG reading just before pitching and note this down.

Leave it in your fermentor for 2 weeks, then take SG and bottle. Sample in 2 weeks time... the result should be a beer with nice body, decent head (not softdrink style!) and a balanced flavour/bitterness profile.

 

[The Big Burper]

Hello dere,

Go to your local HBS and get a can of Morgans Qld Bitter, 1kg brew enhancer (BE2) which
should contain 500g dex, 250g light dried malt, and 250g dried corn syrup.

My local HBS sells 1kg brew enhancer for 4.95, which is a lot cheaper than the Coopers stuff.

Get a Morgans Cluster hop tea bag and follow the instuctions on the pack.

Leave in fermenter for 2 weeks.

The secret is in the cluster hops, which smell wafts over the Milton Brewery, home of God's
own neck oil (commercially speaking). :huh:

Good luck,
Dave

 

[appius]

Thanks for all the helpful tips guys! Got my fridgemate rigged up and its working great so i'll start this on friday this week! I've now decided to go with the pale ale (coopers or morgans if they do it). Some people have suggested malt over dex or brew enhancer? This is something im torn about. Ive done a brew with a mate yrs back n we used straight dex but the brew was bad (maybe largely due to poor temp control). If i was to add malt instead of sugar should it be LME or the dry stuff?

Cheers

 

[Pollux]

You can use either, just remember that 1kg of liquid = 800g of dry in terms on doing calculations.

If you go all malt you may want to add some hops to balance out the additional sweetness.

 

[Gavo]

I've now decided to go with the pale ale (coopers or morgans if they do it). Some people have suggested malt over dex or brew enhancer?
If i was to add malt instead of sugar should it be LME or the dry stuff?

Dry is fine, it is also easier as you are not as restricted to adding say 1.5kg at a time as you are with liquid.
Go the malt, make it an all malt brew.

If you go all malt you may want to add some hops to balance out the additional sweetness.

Coopers pale ale with some Cascade hops would go down quite well.

Gavo.

 

[appius]

Going to the LHBS tomorrow to get the gear for this and brew it hopefully same day or on the weekend. Will update to let you know i how go. Thanks for the help so far!

 

[Ronin]

Going to the LHBS tomorrow to get the gear for this and brew it hopefully same day or on the weekend. Will update to let you know i how go. Thanks for the help so far!

just had to chime in...do not under any circumstances do the cascade porter without serious modification. I know some people have said it turns out good but it was the most vile thing I've ever tasted. Was my first brew and almost put me off homebrewing.

 

[appius]

just had to chime in...do not under any circumstances do the cascade porter without serious modification. I know some people have said it turns out good but it was the most vile thing I've ever tasted. Was my first brew and almost put me off homebrewing.

Cheers mate! Im gonna go with the Pale Ale option (due to overwhelming poll results) using malt and hops rather than brew enhancer or dex. The thing im not solid on yet is what brand kit to get. Most people have recommended coopers but im not completely sold (i think i have a problem with over common brands i.e. coopers is in every supermarket). What other brands are there which are good? I know of morgans.....

 

[raven19]

You can't go wrong with a pale, esp with a fridgemate in tow!

The porter would be a good second beer though to try IMO.

Keep us posted on how it all goes. :icon_cheers:

 

[boingk]

Muntons are top rate, morgans are good too. Coopers are everywhere, but they are actually pretty good. Their premium rages are better than the standard ones but either way you'll have a decent brew on. If you're after some more insight into kits check this link out. Basic site with kit ratings and recipes, I used it a bit early in the game to check what went well with what, and which kits were rubbish. A dead-easy kit to do is an ESB or Xtract 3kg kit, they look like a paint tin. Pour the goop into the fermenter and top with water. Add whatever hops (if any) you may want and pitch the yeast in. Done.

Also, I'd recommend the Cluster hops for you if you like the aroma of XXXX - thats what they use. I don't mind them at all.

Cheers - boingk