Hello from Comber

[Phil]

Hi all

I'm new to the home brewing scene, my first batch was a wheat beer which wasn't too bad, just didn't have a great head retention. I've just bottled a coopers pale ale. Should be ready in a few weeks.

Both batches have been from kit, but was hoping to be a bit more adventurous with the next batch and maybe do an extract with mini mash.

Any hints or tips?

[Bubbles]

For me, the move to partial mashing resulted in a serious leap in quality in my beers. All because of the wide range of grains you now have available to you compared to when you were simply steeping. If you're careful, you can produce beers almost as good as all-grain. Amber, biscuit or munich are good grains to add character to your PM brews.

My biggest tip is, use only dry malt extract to make up the result of your fermentables after you've mashed your grain. Much better flavour than liquid imo.

[Bubbles]

Oh, and welcome!

[LordEoin]

Try steeping come crystal or carapils to improve the head retention and freshen the beer up a bit.
Also a hop tea steep or dryhop goes a long way.

Check this thread out about kit hacking : http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html

[sub82]

Hi Phil and welcome!

I think yarmot is from Comber too. We've a Homebrew meet this Friday in the Hudson if you can make it down.

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/wordpress/event/belfast-homebrewers-meet

[Phil]

Thanks for the advice.
I'll try hacking with the next batch.

I'll try and get down to the meet on Friday.