Looking For Ideas On First Ag Brew

[doombrewer]

Hi all, first time poster, gained a lot of knowledge just skimming around the different forums on here, pretty decent community kicking here it seems.

A group of mates and myself have been extract/partial grain brewing for a bit shy of a year now, dabbled in most basic styles, slowly gathered up the gear to move to all grain and in the midst of getting the rig put together at the moment. Was just wondering if anyone can vouch for any good start up recipes/ideas to start our move to all grain with.

We were kinda running with the idea of repeating a basic pale ale recipe just to nail technique and get some form of consistency happening, but yeah open to any ideas or direction people may be willing to offer

Cheers guys.

 

[loikar]

If you want something simple...

Simple Kolsch

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 33.70 L
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 3.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.75 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 95.0 %
0.25 kg Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
60.00 gm Tettnang [4.50%] (40 min) Hops 27.6 IBU
1 Pkgs German Ale/Kolsch (White Labs #WLP029) Yeast-Ale

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

My base APA is (for 25L) 5kg base malt .5kg spec malt (can be a 200/300g split of 2 different varieties); Yank hops at 30m to 15 IBU and enough hops at 10 m for the other 15 IBU (to 30IBU).

Get hold of brewmate (it's free) and plug the figures in, it'll all make sense.

US-05.

It means that you can alter for the ingredients available/cheap to you and play around with different varieties of malt and hops, within the same type of beer.

As an example:

5kg Perle Ale Malt (Bairds)
.2kg Heritage Crystal
.3kg Red Wheat

10g Galaxy at 30m
20g Galaxy at 10m
20g Citra at 10m
10g Cascade at 10m

(dry hop 20g cascade in secondary)

US05.

You and your mates did research BIAB? Just checkin'.

Goomba

 

[Thefatdoghead]

10 min IPA.

95% pils malt
5% carapils
Riwaka saaz-D to 65 IBU (230g is what I used) @ 10min left in boil.

Think I did a single infusion mash @ 66deg until converted then mashout @ 77 for 10min.

wyeast 1272 American ale

I just made this recipe and it is the bomb! You wont be disappointed.

 

[Pistol]

10 min IPA.

95% pils malt
5% carapils
Riwaka saaz-D to 65 IBU (230g is what I used) @ 10min left in boil.

Think I did a single infusion mash @ 66deg until converted then mashout @ 77 for 10min.

wyeast 1272 American ale

I just made this recipe and it is the bomb! You wont be disappointed.

Do you know where to get Riwaka at the moment?

 

[Tanga]

Massive IPAs and APAs aren't to everyone's tastes. I've done 3 all grains so far (BIAB) and by far the easiest has been DSGA, not just coz it was the last I think. Not a massive malt bill (so not too heavy for BIABers. Plus a popular and tasty brew.

 

[warra48]

Why not do what 90% of first time AG brewers do, and that's to brew: DrSmurto's Golden Ale (it's in the recipe data base).

Easy single infusion, nothing too complex, and makes a great beer.

Otherwise, it really depends on what style of beer you like. I'd steer clear of lagers, step mashes, or decoctions for your first one.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Do you know where to get Riwaka at the moment?

I got mine from craftbrewer a month ago mate but you can also do this with Amarillo or other hops like these.

 

[Silo Ted]

Why not do what 90% of first time AG brewers do, and that's to brew: DrSmurto's Golden Ale (it's in the recipe data base).

Yea, do that. Follow the herd.

 

[sim]

You could see what your local homebrew shop suggests...?

 

[Nick JD]

I would suggest for you to make something up, start a thread with the recipe you invented and then get opinions on why it will or won't work.

While this sounds like trouble (with all the ruffians and vagabonds and scallywags here) it'll be a great learning experience as to why certain ingredients go with others, and more importantly, why some don't.

The joy of AG (for many people at least) is the creative side. The recipe variations are literally endless - which is why this caper is as much art, as science. And that's why it's so cool.

But yeah - drinking your first DSGA will well and truly tell you you're doing it.

 

[argon]

As a first ag, why not try something that is supposedly like one of your favorite beers. Then you'll get a handle on what it's supposed to taste like. What do you like drinking? Let us know and I'm sure there will be plenty of advice forthcoming on how to formulate a recipe that will have the qualities you enjoy.

 

[pk.sax]

As a first ag, why not try something that is supposedly like one of your favorite beers. Then you'll get a handle on what it's supposed to taste like. What do you like drinking? Let us know and I'm sure there will be plenty of advice forthcoming on how to formulate a recipe that will have the qualities you enjoy.

+1 I did Tony's LCBA just because of that reason.

 

[Lakey]

:icon_chickcheers: Congratulations on the move to AG, you will never look back! My advice would be to keep it simple and do a single malt and single hop brew to get you used to the process. This is what i did for my first BIAB a few months back and it was 10 times better than any kit or extract beer I had brewed in the past. For a 20L batch try 5Kg of BB Ale malt and some Cascade hops and just use a IBU calculator to get your preferred bittering, and dry hop some of the cascade too. :beerbang:

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Massive IPAs and APAs aren't to everyone's tastes. I've done 3 all grains so far (BIAB) and by far the easiest has been DSGA, not just coz it was the last I think. Not a massive malt bill (so not too heavy for BIABers. Plus a popular and tasty brew.

30 IBU isn't a massive APA, it's a fairly boring one.

But yeah +1 for DSGA - though I've never tried it, it's got the runs on the board from newbs, and rather than being part of a herd, there's enough proof that it's a good recipe.

Otherwise do what argon said - one like your favourite (so long as your favourite isn't a German Lager - that's a bit ambitious first brew).

I like APA, so I've pretty well started on them, and almost always have at least one on tap - but weissbier, mid-strength English Pale Ale, dark ale, stouts have all graced my bottles/kegs in the last 12 months. Like Nick said - creativity is half the fun.

And drinking beer - that's fun too.

Goomba

 

[kymba]

what ever you do, don't try to do a paledoppelamberstoutbockweizenalelager

pick a simple recipe and nail it...simple does not mean bad or lacking either

e.g. coopers pale clone - 93.75% pale malt, 5% wheat, 1.25% dark crystal, and POR to 28 IBU

this, along with the yeast from two paley bottles will have your mates both plastered and asking 'how the fark you did this?!'

 

[ekul]

AndrewQLD's coopers pale ale is a cracker if you feel confident reculturing yeast (which isn't hard btw). I did it for my first brew, it was so cheap, so easy and it tasted better than any homebrew i'd made before it. I still remember that first sip from the fermenter before i bottled it, realised i'd never HAVE to buy beer again. Funnily enough i don't remember drinking any of the conditioned stuff.

I usually do the sugar version
3.5kg ale malt
.65kg sugar
.2kg wheat
.03 dark crystal.

POR to 28 IBUS (around 25g)

The sugar version is easier when doing BIAb becuase its less grain to lift.

what ever you do, don't try to do a paledoppelamberstoutbockweizenalelager

pick a simple recipe and nail it...simple does not mean bad or lacking either

e.g. coopers pale clone - 93.75% pale malt, 5% wheat, 1.25% dark crystal, and POR to 28 IBU

this, along with the yeast from two paley bottles will have your mates both plastered and asking 'how the fark you did this?!'

 

[peaky]

Hi all, first time poster, gained a lot of knowledge just skimming around the different forums on here, pretty decent community kicking here it seems.

A group of mates and myself have been extract/partial grain brewing for a bit shy of a year now, dabbled in most basic styles, slowly gathered up the gear to move to all grain and in the midst of getting the rig put together at the moment. Was just wondering if anyone can vouch for any good start up recipes/ideas to start our move to all grain with.

We were kinda running with the idea of repeating a basic pale ale recipe just to nail technique and get some form of consistency happening, but yeah open to any ideas or direction people may be willing to offer

Cheers guys.

It depends on what beers you like to drink. You've been brewing partials for a year so you'd have a fair idea of what you like. Have a scout through the recipe database and read the discussion threads for the recipes that you like the look of. If you're into American beers there are plenty of APA's etc to choose from in the database. When I went to AG I picked a few recipes that were recommended by several people in the database and just started brewing them. To find out if I was close to style I entered them in comps. Some of them did bloody terrible....

It's good to have a few different beers on rotation. If you just try to perfect one beer brew after brew you're going to get sick of that beer, best to mix it up a little I reckon. 3-4 on rotation is good for a start.

Myself, I wouldn't be keen to brew a CPA clone 8 times in a row, in the end..... :icon_vomit:

 

[doombrewer]

Cheers for all the responses, a lot of food for thought there and lots of decent looking recipes, may skim over the recipe database too. Stylewise I tend to lean towards the hoppier pales whether APA or IPAs so may shoot for something along those lines

 

[Thefatdoghead]

10 min IPA.

95% pils malt
5% carapils
Riwaka saaz-D to 65 IBU (230g is what I used) @ 10min left in boil.

Think I did a single infusion mash @ 66deg until converted then mashout @ 77 for 10min.

wyeast 1272 American ale

I just made this recipe and it is the bomb! You wont be disappointed.



EDIT: forgot to add OG=1.060

My next batch of this will be with marris otter malt and Amarillo