Complete newb here, but looking for some advice on getting started with small-batch (2 to 2.5 gallon) recipes, and anyways, some web-searches sucked me into the rabbit-hole of these here forums!
So far, I've just been playing around with recipes that sound like they might be easy and turn out half-way decent using BrewTarget. But then I plugged same recipes in to BrewFather.app, and noticed that while most things look identical, the IBUs differ pretty significantly! I hadn't heard of Brewer'sFriend before now, but I'll take a look at that, if it has a free trial.
Anyways, what I'm REALLY hoping to learn is how to know when I've got the right usage of bittering hops. Can missing either side of desired bitterness be fixed post-boil? I assume one could make a "hop tea" and adjust to taste, but having never tasted wort before, am hoping my first attempt isn't too far off the mark!
The kinds of beer I'd like to be able to brew: A nice, SIMPLE (aka SHaME) balanced amber ale, around 5 to 6% abv, but also a nice strong stout, not too sweet, not too roasty, and not too hoppy.
So far, I've just been playing around with recipes that sound like they might be easy and turn out half-way decent using BrewTarget. But then I plugged same recipes in to BrewFather.app, and noticed that while most things look identical, the IBUs differ pretty significantly! I hadn't heard of Brewer'sFriend before now, but I'll take a look at that, if it has a free trial.
Anyways, what I'm REALLY hoping to learn is how to know when I've got the right usage of bittering hops. Can missing either side of desired bitterness be fixed post-boil? I assume one could make a "hop tea" and adjust to taste, but having never tasted wort before, am hoping my first attempt isn't too far off the mark!
The kinds of beer I'd like to be able to brew: A nice, SIMPLE (aka SHaME) balanced amber ale, around 5 to 6% abv, but also a nice strong stout, not too sweet, not too roasty, and not too hoppy.