Everyone in sports always talks about how a lot of football teams improve the most between the first game and second game. I feel like that's true for brewing as well.
Just bottled my first brew, and the lessons I learned are as follows:
#1 - If you've got anything other than yeast and hop pellets (for me, it was a spice pack with some orange and cloves), best to do the filter into the primary bucket before pitching the yeast. I didn't filter it at all, and it lead to a lot more air in my auto siphon, due to the end getting clogged with debris other than yeast cake. Ended up with about 4 gallons after issues both going into and out of the bottling bucket, mostly due to debris.
#2 - Get the bottling bucket as high as possible, gravity is your friend.
#3 - Don't forget to sanitize the bottle caps. Had to uncap 6 after realizing I hadn't dropped them through the starsan bath.
#4 - Drink a beer while working. Forgot that part, and it wasn't nearly as fun.
So, what were your lessons that you learned after your first go-round?
Just bottled my first brew, and the lessons I learned are as follows:
#1 - If you've got anything other than yeast and hop pellets (for me, it was a spice pack with some orange and cloves), best to do the filter into the primary bucket before pitching the yeast. I didn't filter it at all, and it lead to a lot more air in my auto siphon, due to the end getting clogged with debris other than yeast cake. Ended up with about 4 gallons after issues both going into and out of the bottling bucket, mostly due to debris.
#2 - Get the bottling bucket as high as possible, gravity is your friend.
#3 - Don't forget to sanitize the bottle caps. Had to uncap 6 after realizing I hadn't dropped them through the starsan bath.
#4 - Drink a beer while working. Forgot that part, and it wasn't nearly as fun.
So, what were your lessons that you learned after your first go-round?