Recipe please

[Immy's Dad]

Hello everyone!

I have stumbled upon this forum with help from a US site called Tastybrew. Firstly I'd like to say it's great that there is a UK site that deals with the issues we homebrewers face, hopefully I can get a bit more sympathy when I say 'we don't have that over here' or 'that costs a f***ing fortune over here'.

Secondly I would like to raise a question that I posted on the forums at tastybrew, but got little response.

"Hey guys.

I am an inexperienced extract brewer and have just been to my LHBS and managed to buy the following ingredients with a view to making a decentish beer. Can anyone give me any ideas or suggestions?

1.8kg tin of hopped extract
1.5kg (500 gram bags) Light DME
500gram crushed pale malt
4oz bag of goldings hops

I know it sounds like a mixed bag and, to be honest, I'm not particularly happy with the amount or variety of the ingredients, I bought some yeast too but it just says 'brewer's ale yeast'. The hopped kit also has a pack of dried yeast of unknown origin."


thanks for any responses.

[Frothy]

I'm in a similar situation, i've got a load of gear from the shop and I'm trial and error working my way through creating my own recipe. Guy from the shop frowned at me and suggested I stick to recipes but I use them as guides and I figure this way I make sure I learn the "hows? and whys?" behind making the beer. The first few batches are undoubtably the hardest.

The one tip I can give is that once you've opened the bag of hops - store the rest in a sealed container in the freezer otherwise they quickly loose their potent aromas and flavours. 4oz should be enough for about 20gallons of beer (4x5gal)

Matt

[Immy's Dad]

Thanks for the responses chaps, I am really looking forward to using my ingredients. What would you suggest about boiling times. I have a 38pint aluminium stock pot so have enough space for a resonable boil. Is this better than following kit instructions?

I just need to get a bit of time now to brew my beer.

[Immy's Dad]

Thanks for that, will try this method.

How would you adjust your method for brewing a particular style, an IPA for example?

[Immy's Dad]

Thanks for that, I have an imersion chiller, but still haven't got all the bits to hook it up yet. I really am hoping at the moment to brew the best beer I can with the ingredients I have available.

I have so far done about 3 brews (5 gal each). The first two I followed the kit insructions, the last one I boiled the kit in about 3 gallons of water, cooled it in the bath and added cold water to top up to 5 gallons. I'm afraid I drank my supplies before the beer had a chance to age properly but a few bottles I gave to my brother were opened a good deal later and he said they tasted excellent.

Do you think that I should just take it one step at a time? Perhaps modify kit beer with additional hops and DME to make them taste a bit nicer? I like highly hopped beers, especially aroma and flavour, but find them difficult to buy commercially.

Thanks for all your responses on this one, I really am a sponge when it comes to beer, I soak up information as fast as I can get it. (Come to think of it, I soak up beer that way too!)