Basic 3.5 - 4.0% ale recipe

[gobuchul]

Can anyone recommend a very basic 3.5 - 4.0% ale recipe?

Looking for something that is cheap to produce, using only pale malt and not too many hop varieties.

I want to practice a few more brews and want too avoid any expensive failures. Also, want to get the most use out of any hops I buy.

Also, I am looking for a "baseline" beer which I can then tweak and try to understand the changes to the beer when the ingredients are added or taken away.

[AnthonyUK]

For a basic ale try just Maris Otter and some crystal in a ratio of between 90:10 to 80:20.
Use a clean bittering hop for around 30-40 IBUs and some classic UK hops for flavour/aroma such as EKG.
Most breweries have something similar as a staple.
You can work on this to adjust to your taste or ingredients such as adding something to aid head retention.

[gobuchul]

Anthony - Thanks for that.

Quick questions -

What can you add to aid head retention?
Does that small amount of crystal malt make much difference?

[orlando]

Anthony - Thanks for that.

Quick questions -

What can you add to aid head retention?
Does that small amount of crystal malt make much difference?

Torrified wheat & yes.

[Clibit]

A SMaSH makes a good base point. One malt one hop one yeast. You can then vary any one of these, or add an ingredient. Try a two hop blend, or add another malt. Wheat, crystal, carapils, Munich, chocolate etc. Or try a different yeast. The more stripped back your base point is, the better you can judge the difference.

[Fil]

+1 for a Smash brew , Challenger, Goldings and good ol Fuggles all make grand smash brews with a marris otter base, personally i think challenger, S04 yeast, with 3.75-4.5kg of maris otter depending on your efficiency makes a smashing crisp light summer ale..