[rebelcruiser]

my first AG was an ESB.  I wanted to have at least SOME AG experience before I fired up the brew sculpture I was working on at the time.  The beer turned out well but I had HORRIBLE efficiency.  Still not entirely sure why, luckily I still had some DME that I was able to get the gravity where it needed to be.

Gary

[beveragebob]

My first AG was an American Brown. Used 4# of Dark brown sugar in the boil. It turned out great but, at 7.5% it made for a real short session beer. Maybe you can ask your wife to give you a list of what beers she likes and brew the easiest one. Just an idea.

[1vertical]

Just did my 1st all grain Beer in a Bag beer...a 2.5 gallon trial of a wild yeast.
The brew in a bag went smooth...I took 5 lbs of crushed grain and tied it up
in a 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag....pre heated my 5 gallon vertical gott water
cooler....Orange btw....with hot tap water.  Put in the bag of crushed grain
and filled the orange water cooler with 168*f water to get a mash temp of 158...
Which was a bit high but shrug.... stirred the grain with a giant wire whisk..
removing the dough balls...and then closed the lid for an hour....couple times
I went in the container and dunked the bag like a tea bag...rinsing the sugar out.

I pulled the bag...let it drain and set it into another pot...where it proceeded to
drain while I dumped the rest of the wert into the BK...for a beer as usual boil.
Pretty dang easy and the numbers were not that far off...O.G. was 1.056...
somewhat high due to my over zealous boil and evap rates which were incorrect.

I was shooting for 1.050
Temp was pretty warm in this photo it finished at 1.056

[grant]

My first all grain beer was about four years ago at "Teach a friend to brew day" at Denny's place. I brewed a Robust Porter. I learned a lot that day, made lots of mistakes, but in the end I made beer!

[kgs]

I think it was a dry stout. I did a series of partial-mash small batches where I bumped up the grain ratio batch to batch to rely more heavily on the conversion. I think more than anything all that math finally got to me!

[euge]

Avoid dark beers so you don't have to sweat pH issues.  Something along the lines of an APA or blond ale would be good choices.

That's a good point, that I forgot about.  It helps to know what kind of water you're dealing with (hopefully from previous EG brews).  Don't forget though that for some of us not "sweating ph issues" means having to brew dark beers.  All depends on your water.

As I read down this thread was thinking- man what about the dude's water? Nice to brew but maybe a "blonde ale" might taste like crap if he doesn't have the water for it.

Mine was a Brown ale/Bitter and it was awesome. Only by accident did I brew a beer just about right for the local water. I ignored the obvious and had erratic results after that when I tried to brew lighter beers. That knowledge was available to be sure but not given freely by brewers in that forum (not this one).

So I suggest getting a report of your local water if you can. Might be available online. Regardless, you should go to John Palmer's How to Brew and read up on this chapter including, and most specially the part about water. Utilize the nomograph- it will save you some grief.

You might consider this. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/lets-brew/get-schooled/master-the-mash

[abraxas]

I'd personally avoid an IPA.  It was one of my first AG's and I missed my OG by a bit, it was unbalanced hoppy for about 3 months before it was actually very good.

A modest gravity, modest hopped pale ale might be more forgiving in case your OG is a little high or a little low.

[1vertical]

Avoid dark beers so you don't have to sweat pH issues.  Something along the lines of an APA or blond ale would be good choices.

That's a good point, that I forgot about.  It helps to know what kind of water you're dealing with (hopefully from previous EG brews).  Don't forget though that for some of us not "sweating ph issues" means having to brew dark beers.  All depends on your water.

Euge that nomograph is so neat. it takes the brain damage out of water chemistry. I have my 1st beer @ srm11
in primary, ready to move to secndary. When I taste the sample as it goes by, I will try to report my results since
It was the 1st beer ever I built around RO water.

[bearcat]

My first was a kit from NB -the nut brown ale-forgiving...  I wish I would have taken my girl to a place with lots of taps and have her sample away to find out what she likes.  If she gives you a free ticket to brew what you want... I would consider attending a brew club meeting if you have one close.   Mine had a mentoring program to where one of the more experienced brewers would show up and do the brew with you if you wanted.  It sure helped make the transition easy and to avoid mistakes.

[pweis909]

What was your very first AG brew... and why?

The first brew that I mashed grains was an American Pale Ale.  Although I never brewed an extract version, I selected this style because I was familiar with it from commercial examples.  I felt like I was in a good position to evaluate the results. Because I was a concerned about ruining the beer with a low mash efficiency, I decided to do a partial mash, with half the extract coming from mashed grains and half coming from light DME.  I know I used Maris Otter, and think I also used biscuit malt and some caramel pils malt.  It had Chinook and Cascade hops.  It was a better beer than my previous extract batches because a lot of my technique changed with this batch (doing a full boil, oxygenating wort, making a starter, using a chiller).

[gimmeales]

on a wild hair, I tried a 1.070 Gruit for my first all-grain recipe.  Only batch I've had get a noticeable infection - a slight white ring in spots at the liquid level in the carboy.  Wasn't totally my fault, as our house needed some emergency renovation and the contractors knocked the airlock off the carboy where they were working (I thought it was well out of their way) - not sure how long it sat with the top off....no cover, no hops, you get the idea...

It had some interesting wine-like notes, so whatever got a hold of it wasn't totally bad.  Aged it for six months or so hoping it would improve, but never got to where I could handle more than a few sips (and that was with an 'open mind').

[Wheat_Brewer]

I went for a strong honey wheat and just fell in love with the process and that style!

[dbarber]

My first AG was Denny's RyePA, that was 5 years ago and for some reason I haven't made it since.  I would suggest a simple APA or blond ale, but brew whatever you like.

[ladylupulin]

Way, way back in 1996, my first AG was a basic American pale ale. Several years have passed and when I got back into AG last year I brewed an ESB. It's a great first brew for checking your efficiency and if you don't hit the numbers, hell, it's an even greater session beer!

So what have you decided?

[tubercle]

Tubercle's first all grain was a Red Ale.

Ms. Tubercle surprised him with a kit many years ago that came with a pale ale can extract recipe that turned out better than my expectations. Ordered 3 more extract kits and made them, Oh, yes! I can do this.

 4th order was a mix up on my part ordered an all grain kit by mistake. I wondered why the price was so cheap

 Well, sense the ingredients were on hand the decision was made to take the plunge. To the library to read up, bought a corona mill and made a mash tun out of a round cooler all in 2 days

 There has been no turning back.