first beer!

[spiffystump76]

I have made many mashes for spirits but now I wanna turn some of this left over rye in beer, I have flaked and milled rye, was thinking about mixing pecans, blueberries and real maple syrup. I know to convert starch to sugar you need to cook and add amylase enzyme or barley (I have both) the barley I have is 6 row, will that make a difference from 2 row? Is my fruits and nuts a bad idea? what's your favorite rye brew? What's makes a brew good? What things do I need to do to a beer that I am going to drink instead of distill?

 

[RM-MN]

One of the ideas of beer is that it has head of bubbles on it. Oil will destroy that. Pecans have oil in them.

Many people want blueberry beer but blueberries are delicate in flavor and rather acidic. They need to be added in fairly large quantities to get the flavor but then the beer becomes too acidic and ...becomes purple, not like the color of beer. A good quality flavor extract is superior to blueberries....and superior to poor quality extract which often tastes very artificial.

Malted barley has the enzymes to convert the starch to sugar, they just need to be activated by mixing the milled malt into water of the correct temperature.

The best way for you to start making beer is to read, "How to Brew" by John Palmer. After that you can ask specific questions that arise. The first edition has graciously been provided online by John Palmer and while I recommend one of the later editions you can get a really good start with the free one.

www.howtobrew.com

 

[hotbeer]

Beer is barley, water, hops and yeast.

While I too have made beer flavored with various fruits, you probably should just make beer a few times before experimenting with adjuncts to it that might have you incorrectly diagnosing issues of what went wrong or extremely well.

Patience is probably the thing you need most. You only need something to mash in, boil in and to ferment in. And you can do two or all three in the same thing. Hydrometer and thermometer are the other tools that will help greatly.

Large batches, particularly all grain require some handling that might be awkward the first time or two till you work things out. Also requires something to boil that much volume of wort. 3 or less gallons can be done on most kitchen stoves.