Advice for a first time homebrewer?

Have you read www.howtobrew.com yet?

 

Do you and your friends like hefe's? Simple, and ready to drink relatively quickly.

 

I strongly suggest reading How to Brew in addition to Joy of Homebrewing, I just think it is a better book.

Assuming you are doing a full boil with extract, there is no reason why you can't do something easy like a blonde ale (light on hops) or a pale ale (little bit heavier on hops). Something like 6# of extra light DME and some hops and US-05 for yeast would make a pretty good start.

What kind of beers do you family/friends like? What kind of beers do you like? Give us a little more to work with

 

Welcome, Purti1cc, to the BA site from a fellow Michigander. A lot of good advice above in just a few posts. There really is no such thing as a 'light' IPA, so your family and friends will have to like hops if you really want to brew that style. And, contrary to what your intent might be, it's not easy to come up with a homebrew on your first attempt that will impress people. You'll make a good beer on your first try, but impressive is a subjective word. However, I don't want to discourage you, but homebrewing is all about multi-step detail at what seems like a fast pace when it's your first time, and mistakes are easily made. Figure out what style that you really want to brew, and decide if you want to brew your recipe with extract (highly recommended to get started) or go right to the all-grain process. (You didn't say what all equipment you have, but you may need more if you want to do an all-grain recipe.)

Read back to previous pages in this forum because your general question is one that is asked very frequently here, and you'll get many more tips, recommendations, etc. that you may not see in this thread.

It's a fun hobby, and I hope that you aren't discouraged by what I've said here. Give us the feedback requested above and you'll see some more precise recommendations that will fit into your plans.

 

I have only done a few extract kits (1 gallon and 5 gallon). Look at www.northernbrewer.com They have some great kits that are easy to make. Easy to follow instructions!

 

Advice? Run far away before you get hooked into this addiction and actively start plotting to quit your job and open a brewery.

 

My advice would be to listen to this advice!

 

What they said ^
Seriously, sounds like you're in a good place to start.
Are you looking to start with all-grain or extract brewing? Obviously you're going full boil - good.
I would start with a simple pale ale to start.
If all grain, something like 10 - 12 lbs of 2-row malt, maybe a pound or so of Crystal 20.
An ounce of bittering hops at 60 minutes left in the boil, a couple ounces for aroma at about 10 minutes left, and another couple at flameout.
Use basic yeast - WLP01 / Wyeast 1056 / S-05.
Ferment for 2 - 3 weeks at about 65 degree F, bottle, wait a couple more weeks and enjoy.

Really, the most important parts of brewing are sanitation, yeast management, sanitation, temperature control, sanitation and sanitation.

 

(1) Read How to Brew -- or at least the relevant sections on Extract + Specialty Grains brewing.
(2) Buy a kit from the LHBS or an online vendor. Norther Brewer has really good extract based kits, for example.
(3) Brew up a batch. No need to get too worked up over your first batch. The experience of actually brewing a batch is worth more than most anything at this point.
(4) Go from there.

Cheers!

 

(5) find a brewer near you to brew with
(6) join a Homebrew club
(*) find a location and participate in The Big Brew next weekend.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/aha-events/national-homebrew-day/

 

Welcome to the obsession! Take the previous posters advice, read up!
The one most important thing you can do is pay attention to......
Sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation
In that order. Honestly, recipe formulation is fun but is the least of your worries. Don't let any bugs in once the boil stops.
Nothing more important. Learn it early.

 

1) +1000 on SANITATION. It's probably the single most important factor in good brewing.
2) Experiment, observe, and form your own opinions on what tastes good
3) Don't be a slave to the "style guidelines"...they are only relevant for competition brewing and have little or no relevance outside of that arena (and they don't always reflect reality anyway).
4) Most importantly, as a very wise man once suggested: "Brew with style, not to style"

 

Actually, that's not a bad idea. If you can find a club holding an open house or a shop putting on events, it's a great way to watch, ask questions and learn about brewing. Some shops may be having HOmebrew day sales, to boot.
but getting in there, watching, and maybe pitching in, if it's that kind of event will get your further along the road than a ton of reading will do. ( I still recommend reading How to Brew and Complete Joy of Homebrewing.)

 

I am in the same boat, got some equipment and going to link up with a local brewery who has been nice enough to offer some guidance teaching me. Am i crazy to swing for the fences for my first all-grain batch? Ordered some yeast, need to order hops, any suggestions for sites to use that ship to Canada?

PS im new here so if im asking questions in the wrong place lemme know!

 

I like the old Papazian book. Mine has some dated information. There's newer better information out there, but, you don't need anything more than what you have to get started. I'm a fan of jumping into the deep end not dipping my toes in.

Buy some extract (You did not list in your equipment that you had mashing and sparging stuff). Buy some hops. Get some yeast (just use the liquid stuff), but some star san, iodophor, iodostar, etc. get a carboy, bung, and airlock, buy 2 cases of bottles.

boil the extract put the hops in at whatever interval you have decided. Chill to pitching temp, and pitch the liquid yeast in (start with the white labs, it's easier to use the packaging, IMO).

Good to go.

 

I would not try all grain until you're comfortable with the initial steps of brewing. All grain can introduce additional equipment, a bit more fussing, and shocking low efficiency. I mean yeah you can swing for the fences, but it'll look like the kid at the teeball league swinging at the first pitched ball and spinning in circles and landing on their tush. Cute but... not the best way to get on base. :-)

(has a kid in tee ball).

 

and one more comment. There is no/zero/zip/zlich/nada shame in using extract! I've done brew tours where the brewers of the small scale breweries are using extracts to get higher gravity beers.

The point of All grain isn't to level up, the point of all grain is to introduce additional levels of control to your process:
Such as base malt selection, mashing adjunct, mashing specialty grains, first wort hopping, controlling grain crush (though very few all grain brewers are in control of this stage), controlling mash temperature, controlling sparge temp, etc.

But, all grain has several significant downsides.

probably first and most irritating is the disposal of the grain. I'm fairly happy with my spent grain process at this point, but it's something you have to think about, how can you dispose of a whole bunch of soaking wet grains, if you bought 14 pounds of dry grain you now have 50 lbs of wet sticky sopping wet grain that has to go somewhere. And then you have to clean your mash tun. (for the record, I have a composter, because I can't put that amount of grain in my garbage can with my regular waste stream and not get ******s OR be over my can weight limit, but, it takes 2 years for it to fully decompose in my particular compost bin).

 

I am grateful now that I have three hungry chickens that will tear through that grain quite quickly! lol