Easy First IPA

I like the idea of starting out with a darker beer which can hide flaws a lot better than lighter beers, but if you're going to be doing extract alongside someone that's done it before there's no reason you couldn't do a low to medium ABV IPA. A lot of homebrew shops can put together kits of clones for popular beers (or for a lot of them you can find extract clone recipes online and bring that in hand to you local shop to see what they can put together for you.)

 

I think overhopped ipas can hide way more than a big stout and make great first brews.

 

The first homebrew I ever did was the Chinook IPA kit from Northern Brewer. It turned out really well and I've brewed it several times since. My advice is to add another ounce or two of Chinook, late in the boil though. Have fun!

 

Making beer is not hard. Sanitation and sterilization will be the key to your success! Good luck

 

Check out NB's Chinook IPA or Dead Ringer IPA - Both are solid, tasty IPA's. I will definitely brew those again.

 

FTFY.

 

An IPA is a great style to start with. And just because it's your first beer, you should not assume that you will need to hide flaws. I recommend getting a good kit, following the directions, and make sure that anything that comes in contact with the wort after the boil is sanitized. It's not rocket science.

 

IPA's are one of the easiest styles there are. You're essentially going to use pale malt, and throw a bunch of hops in at varying times. As others have mentioned it, the amount of hops you use can mask many mistakes that you could make throughout the process.

It might actually be one of the best brews you can do as a beginner.

 

I assume you're still doing extract? Using steeping grains yet?

There's not that much to it really. Choose your malt or extract. You don't really need steeping grains, but you could use them if you wanted. I might just skip them if you're using a good extract tho. Add lots of hops.

A possible hops schedule for an IPA:

??? oz magnum at 60 minutes (adjust the amount according to its AA% and how many IBUs you want)

1 oz cascade at 15 minutes
1 oz centennial at 10 minutes
1 oz cascade at 5 minutes
1 oz cascade at flameout
1 oz centennial at flameout

1 oz centennial dry hop
1 oz cascade dry hop

There are countless possible hops schedules, depending on the hops you want to use. This schedule is somewhat "typical" but is certainly not the only possible schedule.

For an OG of 1.060 I might choose a total IBUs of say 60. YMMV.

I suggest you come up with a possible recipe and ask for feedback.

 

This. first beer I brewed was the NB Dead Ringer IPA extract kit. Easy to follow instructions for a 1st timer, and a fine recipe. Turned out very good. As others have mentioned, a hoppy beer will hide many off-flavors.

 

It has been mentioned a couple of times but I would also recommend the NB Dead Ringer kit to the OP.

Cheers!

P.S. For full disclosure to the Crystal Malt Police, the Dead Ringer kit includes 1 lb. of Crystal Malt!

 

I like a bu:gu ratio of at least 1.1 if not higher for my ipa's. 60 gu, 66 ibu, and that's a bit low for my tastes. 75 is my magic number, but I use plenty of crystal too, so there ya go. But I dig the hop schedule you got going there.

 

IPA's a great first beer, IMO. There's nothing particularly difficult about the style, and the hops tend to cover up the flaws most early efforts are going to have. Plus, if you've never tasted a really fresh IPA, you're in for a treat. The only potential pitfall I can see is going overboard and trying to brew a monster DIPA first time out. Keep your OG under 1.065 or so (which simplifies yeast management somewhat), and keep your BU/GU ratio reasonable (ie, don't go nuts with the IBUs, at least not this time) and you should be fine, especially given that you've got an experienced friend on hand.

Recipes? I'd suggest you get a copy of 'Brewing Classic Styles' and BREW THE RECIPE AS PUBLISHED. Sorry for the caps, but I would say that at least half the time a new brewer posts one of those "Is my beer ruined?" threads, the root of the problem turns out to be that they deviated from the recipe in some way that, well, ruined the beer.