Anyone recommend a simple first ME brew?

[phatboytall]

Building my boiler at the wknd,
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24638

Then going to get the ingrediants for my first ME brew, Planning to use DME as i hear its much better.

Was planning to do the TT Landlord recipie from GW's book, it looks pretty simple and is ingredient light (ie i don't have to buy 4 different varieties of hops).

Plus i love TT Landlord (although concerned my version probably won't resemble that! )


Thanks!
Ed

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Sounds like you've already decided TLL would make a good first extract brew.

[Minimasher]

...and don't worry too much about having to have loads of different varieties of hops...

If you buy two basic types - one for bittering and one for aroma then you can use a calculator such as the one on the attached link to aim for the appropriate level of bittering. I use target (just because they were on offer) and fuggles/ goldings respectively.

http://www.yobrew.co.uk/card.php

It's getting the aroma ones right that's probably more important but your beer won't taste like the original because your not using the same yeast. GW even says so himself... This gives you even more licence to play around with the hops (which breweries do all the time anyway)!

Have fun.

[phatboytall]

Excellent, very helpful response.

cheers!

[OldSpeckledBadger]

If you're going for just one bittering hop variety I'd recommend Challenger which has a beautiful round bitterness. The bitterness of very high-alpha hops such as Target can be somewhat harsh if used on their own.

[Minimasher]

If you're going for just one bittering hop variety I'd recommend Challenger which has a beautiful round bitterness. The bitterness of very high-alpha hops such as Target can be somewhat harsh if used on their own.

I'd second that, I think Target is a bit crap and Challenger will be my next purchase.