Newbie easy beer recipe.

Rudibrew

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i think we should have a standard recipe that is very basic,a smash.
That any newbie should be able to brew easily,without all the jargon yet to learn.
You want to try your hand at making a quick ,easy beer,this is the one.
No exotic,speciality or adjuncts malts.
So when a newbie joins and wants to churn out a beer,impatience,yes,but a good one ,a easy,no frills recipe.
just a beer.
 
The ‘ol 2 row and cascade at 60/15/flame?
 
See that's a good idea but thinking back I wouldn't have used it...
I think there's largely 2 types of new brewers.
The ones that want some sort of training wheels who will typically start with a kit and the over-ambitious ones who are going to make what they want even after smart well meaning people on a home brewing forum tell them they should start with an easier style.
I'll let you guess what group I'm in...
 
That's exactly how I did it too. Everything was a kit that I changed or added to in order to make it "unique" and "mine," and most of it was pretty bad. The best beers I've done so far have been a Berliner weisse from a kit that I didn't doctor at all, and a basic single hop pale ale with one specialty malt. I have to keep reminding myself, "keep it simple stupid!" haha
 
Amen no need to overcomplicate it:).
I think we all need to keep that in mind when formulating a new recipe do I really need that malt or hop in there what is it going to add to my beer that I'm trying to create.
 
i think we should have a standard recipe that is very basic,a smash.
That any newbie should be able to brew easily,without all the jargon yet to learn.
You want to try your hand at making a quick ,easy beer,this is the one.
No exotic,speciality or adjuncts malts.
So when a newbie joins and wants to churn out a beer,impatience,yes,but a good one ,a easy,no frills recipe.
just a beer.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of simple recipes in the data base. Just choose the a hop you want to work with, click the SmaSH toggle or just type smash in the title box and you'll be presented with pages of recipes. Concentrate on the ones with higher number of times brewed and look at the rating. You'll be able to narrow down to a recipe that a number of people have brewed and have presented feedback about.
 
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There are dozens, if not hundreds, of simple recipes in the data base. Just choose the a hop you want to work with, click the SmaSH toggle and you'll be presented with pages of recipes. Concentrate on the ones with higher number of times brewed and look at the rating. You'll be able to narrow down to a recipe that a number of people have brewed and have presented feedback about.
I think what @Rudibrew is saying like have a couple of those SMaSH recipes and link them like into the Brewing for Beginners section or something so they don't have to be sought out. Easy enough for those of us that are familiar with the search feature and know what we're looking for to find but maybe not a total newbie. It's really not a bad idea. I only questioned how many will actually use them. But for something that's as easy as as adding a few hyperlinks to an existing page, maybe add and link a blog post detailing how to copy and scale the recipe in the editor, even if it only helps a relatively small number of people it might still be worth it.
 
I think what @Rudibrew is saying like have a couple of those SMaSH recipes and link them like into the Brewing for Beginners section or something so they don't have to be sought out. Easy enough for those of us that are familiar with the search feature and know what we're looking for to find but maybe not a total newbie. It's really not a bad idea. I only questioned how many will actually use them. But for something that's as easy as as adding a few hyperlinks to an existing page, maybe add and link a blog post detailing how to copy and scale the recipe in the editor, even if it only helps a relatively small number of people it might still be worth it.
Yes, that makes some sense but there's a lot that already here on the site. First thing in the "Learn" dropdown menu , there's the "Brewing for Beginners" but only for Extract. Maybe @Yooper is willing to make an addendum to her excellent Tutorial to link to a couple of simple BIAB/All Grain Smash recipes. There's also the Blog section and clicking it brings up "10 Beginner-Friendly Beer Recipes", which looks to be exactly what's being asked for. There are resources all over the site already.

As a separate "feature", it seems redundant. Anyone capable of brewing an all-grain batch of beer should have the wherewithal to navigate a simple recipe search. Yes, beginners need encouragement and advice but the owners/admins have already "dumbed down" the recipe calculator to accomodate beginners to the point that it's no longer efficient or accurate in many cases. Maybe the noobs can utilize what's already in place before we start changing more things. ;)
 
Yes, that makes some sense but there's a lot that already here on the site. First thing in the "Learn" dropdown menu , there's the "Brewing for Beginners" but only for Extract. Maybe @Yooper is willing to make an addendum to her excellent Tutorial to link to a couple of simple BIAB/All Grain Smash recipes. There's also the Blog section and clicking it brings up "10 Beginner-Friendly Beer Recipes", which looks to be exactly what's being asked for. There are resources all over the site already.

As a separate "feature", it seems redundant. Anyone capable of brewing an all-grain batch of beer should have the wherewithal to navigate a simple recipe search. Yes, beginners need encouragement and advice but the owners/admins have already "dumbed down" the recipe calculator to accomodate beginners to the point that it's no longer efficient or accurate in many cases. Maybe the noobs can utilize what's already in place before we start changing more things. ;)
Seems to me the issue isn't lack of resources but the ability for beginners to find and know how to use the existing resources. The question is whether it's a matter of visibility or if beginners aren't finding them because they aren't looking for them. Like I said in my case I think it was the latter. I don't think anyone wants anything dumbed down to take anything away from you experienced guys. I know there's been an effort to make how-to videos, maybe just link those directly into the learn section from the main menu. But yeah doesn't sound like a new feature is needed, just more awareness of existing ones. Depends how much onus you want to put on the user to learn the site vs trying to make it, no offense intended, "idiot proof" in terms of navigation. Personally I think the site is fine but if you can make things easier for beginners without much shake up why not?
 
Just my 0.02(insert currency here), but from my experience, either you brew kits or you learn your setup. There are 1000s of simple recipes out there.The deciding factor is HOW you brew, not WHAT you brew!
 
The question is whether it's a matter of visibility or if beginners aren't finding them because they aren't looking for them. Like I said in my case I think it was the latter.
Agreed...it's likely that folks new to the site, whether experienced or beginner aren't actually aware of the forum. Once there, of course, the beginner brewing forum is right up top with the links we're describing but that's not likely the first stop for a visitor to the site.

I notice that on the home page for first timers, not logged in, etc, there are several redundant links to some of the resources but they're not particularly well laid out or eye-catching. One of the main "clickbait" features is a big green "Start New Recipe" button. Maybe that needs to be a re-direct to Beginners Resources or something. Inviting a first time visitor to start a new recipe without more info about what the site and Recipe Calculator is all about is inviting confusion? Changing a few things about the first-time-user interface that would allow experienced brewers to explore in a different direction than newbies would help get everybody off to a better start with the site.
 
My first brew was the only kit that I have ever worked with. From then on, I have brewed all grain using brew in a bag (BIAB) technique. After some research, I found a simple recipe for an American Pale Ale, from which I made drinkable beer. From that point on, I have created my own recipes. For the most part, my grain bills are simple, usually consisting of a base malt, a small amount of light caramel/crystal malt, and usually a pinch of acid malt. My hops additions are usually a few (3 or 4) of the “C” hops - Cascade, Centennial, Chinook - on occasion, I have used Citra and Simcoe, Magnum for bittering. It can be as simple as you want to make it.
 
PS, the "simplest" brews are often the hardest to get right...:D
 
PS, the "simplest" brews are often the hardest to get right...:D
Like how dozens of sites and blogs say Hefeweizens are simple and suitable for beginners... Lies!! That style is definitely not going to become my white whale or anything..
Agreed...it's likely that folks new to the site, whether experienced or beginner aren't actually aware of the forum. Once there, of course, the beginner brewing forum is right up top with the links we're describing but that's not likely the first stop for a visitor to the site.
Definitely not my first stop. While I did discover there forums before my first brew it was probably on more than my 10th visit to the site. That's the other challenge though is you can't really control how traffic comes into the site. I discovered the site from Google recipe searches and don't think I ever came in to the front page, think it was always right to a recipe page or the search page. But yeah maybe like a green button that says "new? Start here!" And directs to the tutorials and beginners forum
 
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But yeah maybe like a green button that says "new? Start here!" And directs to the tutorials and beginners forum
It shouldn't be too hard to make a short "site tour" video that explains more about the whole concept. It just all seems so piecemeal when you start to use it. I used the recipe builder a lot before I even got around to figuring out the brew logs and the calculators, equipment profile, etc. It works for someone who's willing to just explore the site and happen upon something that they can use...well, to clarify, many years ago, it worked that way - now I don't know how anyone coming into it finds their way around the oddities and glitches. But...it would be nice if there were some sort of how-to tutorial for actually using the site. Then the other information can be accessed as needed.
 
I really enjoy the discussion everyone. I'm going to take a back seat on this for now, but I like the ideas.

As far as more tutorials and how-tos, that is on the agenda. As we complete some of the more nuanced updates, and overhauls (mash guidelines, scaling recipes for example), I'm hoping we'll be able to put together some quick articles/posts/videos on how they work. We'll likely include the more important ones in the documentation pages, as well as in the announcements/tutorials sections of the forum.
 
I really enjoy the discussion everyone. I'm going to take a back seat on this for now, but I like the ideas.

As far as more tutorials and how-tos, that is on the agenda. As we complete some of the more nuanced updates, and overhauls (mash guidelines, scaling recipes for example), I'm hoping we'll be able to put together some quick articles/posts/videos on how they work. We'll likely include the more important ones in the documentation pages, as well as in the announcements/tutorials sections of the forum.
I think the landing page is a great place to focus in terms of letting folks know more about the various resources. The forum should be pushed forward more and some sort of new brewers' intro right up front would probably be useful for pulling in brew-curious web surfers. ;)
 
Agreed...it's likely that folks new to the site, whether experienced or beginner aren't actually aware of the forum. Once there, of course, the beginner brewing forum is right up top with the links we're describing but that's not likely the first stop for a visitor to the site.

I notice that on the home page for first timers, not logged in, etc, there are several redundant links to some of the resources but they're not particularly well laid out or eye-catching. One of the main "clickbait" features is a big green "Start New Recipe" button. Maybe that needs to be a re-direct to Beginners Resources or something. Inviting a first time visitor to start a new recipe without more info about what the site and Recipe Calculator is all about is inviting confusion? Changing a few things about the first-time-user interface that would allow experienced brewers to explore in a different direction than newbies would help get everybody off to a better start with the site.
how to brew a simple, basic,no fuss beer,and then we get started
 

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