[jueypls]

Hi guys,

I'm getting ready to brew my first beer and I found the Zaith Weizen recipe under the beginner tab of the this website.

Do you guys think this is a good starting point? I've noticed that many of you have recommended pale ales as a first brew.

I'm looking for something that will be easy enough for a newbie but also challenging enough to introduce the skills I'll be seeing in more advanced brews.

Last thing! this recipe recommends Perle or Liberty hops but through research I've found that these 2 arent considered interchangeable.

Thank you all so much! I'm looking forward to being part of such a large community

[Gary Glass]

I think that is a good recipe to start off with.  It limits the variables by not including any specialty grains to steep and has just one hop addition.  I'm a big fan of keeping it as simple as possible for your first batch.  From there you can launch into whatever you feel comfortable with.

Don't worry too much about the hops.  With this recipe, you're just doing a bittering addition, so the exact hops don't matter all that much.  I'd steer away from more pungent hops like Chinook or Columbus, but you don't have to limit yourself to Perle or Liberty either.

[santoch]

Perle is a German hop that is traditionally used for Bittering.  Liberty is an American hop that has German Noble Hallertaur in its lineage.

The Liberty will impart more hop aroma if used late in the boil.  However, a good Germen Hefeweizen recipe will only use bittering hops anyways, with no need for hop aroma or flavor.

If you can't find either of those, any of the following will be just fine in your beer:

Hallertaur
Tettnanger
Spalt
Mt Hood
Crystal
Magnum (though you would need  a lot less - Magnum is packed with Alpha Acid)

The recipe just calls for 1 oz of either Perle or Liberty.  The intent of that recipe is to try to keep the target IBUs to between 16 and 20 IBUs.  All that means is 1 oz of 4% AA hops.  Use more if you buy hops with lower stated %AA.  Use less if the hops you buy have higher stated %AA.

Ask here once you have the actual hops in your hands, tell us the actual varietal and %AA you bought and we can help you figure out exactly how much to add to stay in that range.

Good Luck and welcome to the hobby-
S

[jueypls]

Thanks guys! Before I get started on the brew I'll let you guys know what strain of hops I am planning to use and how much I was planning to use