Need help with 2nd brew!!!!!

I recommend: Designing Great Beers, by Ray Daniels or Brewing Classic Styles, by Zainasheff and Palmer

edit: ...or do a Google, etc. search if you'd rather

 

If you want to learn how to brew a stellar APA, I'd leave out the chilis and tamarind for right now. Learn how to make a killer base beer and THEN add your flare. Which commercial APAs do you like?

 

Extract, partial extract, all-grain?

 

You don't necessarily need to buy a kit but there's no way you're going to be able to build your own recipe without having a lot of experience brewing. I would recommend trying a clone of an american pale ale you like (there are lots of recipes for the bigger craft beers out there) or using a well reviewed recipe for a Pale Ale.

Also second what Jesus said. If you do want to add the Chili's I'd recommend splitting part of a batch into a one gallon fermentor to do that.

 

Welcome to the hobby. Congrats on your successful brew. What flair did you add, if I may ask? When I first started making my own recipes I sought to add flair. Spices, syrups, sugars, fruit,etc. But I didn’t like the resulting beers. I mostly brew close to style now. That doesn’t mean you should take my path.

 

Welcome to the BA site and to the Homebrewing forum, @GreeneBrewing!

I agree with the recommendations above to brew a straight pale ale first and then figure out what flair you want in a later version. I'd also not mess with designing your own recipe other than looking at some proven ones and seeing what the basics are in each one and compare the info to piece together into something that you can call your own. Some recipes may use hops that you like, and others use some that aren't your favorites, so here's a chance to pick-and-choose a custom touch.

Or you can just brew several existing proven recipes until you find one that you like. There are 6 pale ale recipes in the Recipes sub-section of this forum that wouldn't have been placed there by a BA member of this forum unless the recipes were good enough to share. Here's a link to a search that lists those 6 recipes:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/67778268/?q=Pale&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=67

All of them are all-grain recipes, but any AG recipe can be converted to an extract recipe if that brewing method is your preferred style.

Good luck.

 

I cut this post short before finishing. I like the idea of starting with the basics and branching out to the unusual as you learn. But I also recognize that a lot of people view the beer that I like as pretty ordinary, and feel that if they are going to invest time into it, they don't won't the result to be ordinary. Brew it your way! That's where the magic lies.

 

I've made only extract batches to date, and not that many of those. A couple had partial mash or steeped specialty grains, and I got mildly creative (for me) as a kind of "let's see what this does". They were all better than okay but only one would I make again, with minor tweaks. Each of them gave some clues to what I might want in the future.
My first all grain will be next week as a non-overly hopped SMaSH, mostly to see if all-grain is really worth my added effort/time compared to extract.

Yeah, but you've probably nailed what you like and can repeat it; that's what matters. I say your votes should count double in an Averagely Perfect Pretty Ordinary Beer.

Edited for @GreeneBrewing:
I echo the thought to find a clone recipe for a commercial American Pale that you like. Get that under your belt and then go for your signature tweaks. If you tweak first and it's not what you want it might be a challenge to know whether the underlying ingredients were the culprit, or if it was how you tweaked it.h.

 

If you're anything like I was starting out, you're not going to listen to folks telling you to slow your roll. With that in mind, I'll offer the following advice

• For an APA, simple is usually better. Base malt, some caramel malt, whatever hops you like, US05, and that should do it
• If you are dead-set on using tamarind and chilis, you probably don't need late hops
• I like to make a chili tincture when using them. I soak dried chilis in whatever liquor I think will work well in the beer for a couple of weeks, then strain and add at bottling. I usually do this for stouts/porters, so I use bourbon, but for an APA, tequila blanco or vodka would work fine.
• Goya makes a frozen tamarind puree that is available at most ethnic supermarkets that I've used in the past and recommend. Allow to thaw and add after you've ended the boil and allowed to cool to around 190*F
• Don't blame anyone else if this beer doesn't turn out the way you envisioned it.

 

I'm wearing this like a badge of honor, I think.

 

Yep.

 

No oats. London 3, or honey malt? Psh

 

It will be man. Ya, a little more work, physical and mental but it will be worth it!

 

@GreeneBrewing
I like you, kid. You’ve got spunk. My head says to take it slow, but from my heart I can tell you that brewing is not a spectator sport...ya gotta get in there and do it!
Take good notes and try not to change too many variables at a time, that way you can identify and fix things in the future. FWIW

 

Strictly FWIW...

When I was getting started, I always brewed with my buddy. He was wanting to take beer where it had never been before. I was trying to figure out how to make something I’d enjoy drinking and not spill it everywhere.

That was then, this is now. I’m making weirder and weirder stuff, but still enjoying drinking it. I’ve got one now that has lots of malted rye, Northern Bungleweed I picked, and fermented with Wyeast 3787 that I love but I’m not sure what style it fits into (although more experienced folks could sort that out).

For me, I think I’m coming up with stuff I like because I made various styles from good recipes (for example, the “Averagely Perfect” ones on this forum) which helped me learn how to develop a “base” to work from.

Enjoy and Cheers!!!