Come on, now - first time grain session beer recipes??

[Sykomiko]

Relax man,

I just made the jump to AG recently. It isn't nearly as scary as it seems. I've got 4 batches under my belt now. My first 2 batches were both Jamil's recipes. One was the ordinary bitter, and the other was the robust porter. Both turned out excellent.

Make the leap. You won't go back!

mike

[Tom-O]

Hey -
Second, does anyone have a recipe for a good session beer as a first time grain brew? I am leaning towards Kolsch, after hearing Jamil's archive,
Any suggestions for a recipe? I really want to start mashing in my little 5 gallon cooler (batch sparge, adding extract won't be frowned upon...)
wood

Wood,
with 5 gallons you are gonna need a smallish grainbill.

I highly recommend Jamil's Dark Mild Recipe. I brewed his Nut Brown and Dark Mild recipes exactly as-is, and they seem like well polished recipes. Mixed the kegs up but could tell right away which was the dark mild... it tastes exactly like a dark mild SHOULD taste, and is very quaffable "session" beer.

There are a few reasons why I recommend it:
-you don't need a starter. just a fresh vial (focus on mash, not starter)
-its quick, so you are rewarded faster. (WL002 yeast drops like a rock, but you might want to leave on the cake for total of 7-10 days in fermenter to reduce diacetyl/acetaldehyde)
-dark beers hide any minor process flaws better until you get practice
-dark mash smells great, and even if you have really hard water you won't have major conversion or efficiency problems

http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/The ... _Mild.html

[beer_bear]

I agree with Tom-O. A smallish grain bill is needed for 5 gallons. I used a 7# grain bill for a pale ale. There are recipes that even go lower than that. That's the great thing about a Gott sized cooler. You can do a smaller grain bill.

Go for it. It won't hurt.

[wood]

Thanks for all the great advice on this - I dropped my paranoia and am going to say *f* it and do a clone of Sierra Nevada's Celebration ale from a kit - I went to a new to me homebrew shop, and the guy (Kevin) was very helpful and milled my grains for me while I asked a million questions...I trusted his advice simply based on the fact that he mentioned he has a Brew Shed, AND a 1550.

I will let you all know how it works out...

In the meantime, I just bottled the IPA thing, and when I tased it it almost tased EXACTLY like grapefruit juce. I used Northern Brewer hops for bittering (with some chinook), then did amarillo and cascade for both aroma, flavor, and dry hops...crazy...

You all rock!!


more later...

Wood

[DannyW]

In the meantime, I just bottled the IPA thing, and when I tased it it almost tased EXACTLY like grapefruit juce. I used Northern Brewer hops for bittering (with some chinook), then did amarillo and cascade for both aroma, flavor, and dry hops...crazy...

Give it some time and that grapefruit will probably settle down a little and let some of the minty from the NB and the piney from the chinook come through.

Although....my last batch of Chinooks (2005 harvest) were more orange/grapefruit than the piney-resiny I've had in the past.

[Speyedr]

I have a question, being a newbie to Ag and all. I have noticed in two of my four AG brews an odd smell coming out of the air lock. It smells like beer and neoprine. I don't know where I might have done anything wrong. I kept everything that touched the beer coated in Star San. It was all wet and all that. One of the beers that smelled like that is already finished and tasted fine. But I'm getting concerned about it. I would rather smell a clean beer than the funny smell that I am getting. I hit my numbers close enough and it fermented out pretty good. I'm waiting to see if the first batch starts to go bad in time. That would let me know if it's an infection, but I hope not.

What yeast is it, and what do you put in your airlock (Iodophur, Vodka)? Did you change anything else, like are you culturing yeast or doing starters now, but not before? Are you using a different hose, or any other new piece of equipment, and what are you mashing in?

[beer_bear]

I have a question, being a newbie to Ag and all. I have noticed in two of my four AG brews an odd smell coming out of the air lock. It smells like beer and neoprine. I don't know where I might have done anything wrong. I kept everything that touched the beer coated in Star San. It was all wet and all that. One of the beers that smelled like that is already finished and tasted fine. But I'm getting concerned about it. I would rather smell a clean beer than the funny smell that I am getting. I hit my numbers close enough and it fermented out pretty good. I'm waiting to see if the first batch starts to go bad in time. That would let me know if it's an infection, but I hope not.

What yeast is it, and what do you put in your airlock (Iodophur, Vodka)? Did you change anything else, like are you culturing yeast or doing starters now, but not before? Are you using a different hose, or any other new piece of equipment, and what are you mashing in?

First let me appologise for highjacking this thread.

I'm using Wyeast American Chico Ale smack pack. I use straight water ( I know it should be something else, but it always worked for me.) when I don't use a blow-off hose into a bucket of Star San. Everything else is pretty much the same. I mash in a 48qt Igloo rectangular cooler. I'm fermenting in glass carbouys. One of them is the 6.8 gallon and the rest are 5 gallon.

Other than that the only real difference is that it's an Ag beer. I'm going to try another batch on Nov. 3rd since I work on National Teach a Friend to HomeBrew Day. I'm thinking of doing a new beer, but it seems like I should take care of this problem first.
WTF. I might just go to back extract and see if I get the same results. At least I could do that in a few hours. Then I could have them both fermenting at the same time for a real side by side comp.

[Speyedr]

It all sounds OK, but if you still have that smell then just change out any hoses (siphon) or other items that are in contact with the wort. You may have an infection in a scratch in something.