I Wish Someone told me before I started homebrewing...

Hey guys I saw one of these on a bike forum that im a member of and i figured it would be a VERY informative thread for the newbie. I learned more in reading 5min of that one thread than my entire 2 months as a member.

So I'll start it off


I WISH SOMEONE TOLD ME.... To just spend the extra 20 bucks for the kit with a glass carboy and autosiphon...

And of course, to RDWHAHB

I wish someone told me...........forget about buying a 5-gal pot. Go with a 10-gal instead.

Not to buy the 1 gallon kits I ordered originally. Not that they weren't nice but the day after my wife sent me the groupon for the 5 gallon kit. Oh well the jug works well for trying new yeast and eventually for trying a sour.

I wish I had known about starters and swamp coolers when I started.

I also wish that when I had ordered some of my equipment I had gone all in so to speak. For example I wish I had gotten a 15 gallon instead of a 10 gallon kettle. And also I wish I had just coughed up the money for a valve and thermometer in the first place. I usually do 5 gallon batches but now I have got people asking me to make beer for special occasions and it would be great to be able to knock out 2 5 gallon kegs in one batch.

I wish someone had told me not to go for a pee after watching my kettle for 45 mins without a boil. My poor stove

I wish someone had told me I wouldn't be able to drink commercial BMC anymore. Tastes like skunky piss water now.

Boiling wort is like driving. If you take your eyes off the task at hand, you risk an easily avoidable tragedy.

I WISH SOMEONE TOLD ME.... It's addictive. You will spend you're free time (and money) reading about homebrew, writing recipes, cleaning, building equipment, fixing equipment, cleaning, reading forums, listening to podcasts, and did I mention cleaning.

Wish someone had told me you can't save money by homebrewing.

Cheap kettle makers lie. If it says 20 quarts, expect 16 if the pot costs under $20.

That you'll probably need to start taking sleeping pills before bed otherwise you'll just lay there thinking about your next setup, DIY project, recipe, etc. Then 2 hours later you'll realize you better fall asleep because you have to be up in 5 hours!

I wish someone had told me
You DON'T have to spend a million bucks on the fancy stuff. Plastic buckets work just as well (if not better) than the glass carboys.

I bought a 16 quart (4 gal) stainless steel pot from walmart for 59 bucks.. obviously there best one.. which worked for a bit but then I was upset I didn't get the 5.5 gallon they had for 69, so after making 3 batches of beer. I put the pot in a strong solution of PBW for a day got all the scorch marks off the bottom and inside, made my way to walmart and returned the pot. Owned.

Sippin37 said:

That you'll probably need to start taking sleeping pills before bed otherwise you'll just lay there thinking about your next setup, DIY project, recipe, etc. Then 2 hours later you'll realize you better fall asleep because you have to be up in 5 hours!

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I totally loose sleep because my mind is always racing about something "homebrew" related!

Stauffbier said:

I totally loose sleep because my mind is always racing about something "homebrew" related!

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Me too, so many things run through my head. I always sleep three nights and draw for a day before I choose a design

I wish someone had told me
You DON'T have to spend a million bucks on the fancy stuff. Plastic buckets work just as well (if not better) than the glass carboys.

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^ PLUS 1. And you don't even need a lid and airlock on the bucket. A piece of sanitized clear vinyl on top, held on with a rubberband is fine, and you get to watch your krausen without taking a lid off.

cincydave said:

^ PLUS 1. And you don't even need a lid and airlock on the bucket. A piece of sanitized clear vinyl on top, held on with a rubberband is fine, and you get to watch your krausen without taking a lid off.

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I wish someone would have told me I could get free food grade buckets to ferment in from my local bakery's dumpsters instead of buying a few... Granted most are only 5 gal or even 3 gal, but I just split batches or brew 4 gal batches to make up for it..

I wish someone had told me to go straight to All Grain.

I wish somebody had told me about homebrewing before my 21st birthday

Dillonks1 said:

I bought a 16 quart (4 gal) stainless steel pot from walmart for 59 bucks.. obviously there best one.. which worked for a bit but then I was upset I didn't get the 5.5 gallon they had for 69, so after making 3 batches of beer. I put the pot in a strong solution of PBW for a day got all the scorch marks off the bottom and inside, made my way to walmart and returned the pot. Owned.

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Ha,now your brewin. Thats what they get for making you scorch up your pans and making u waste your pbw on them to clean.

Petho said:

I wish someone had told me to go straight to All Grain.

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I'll go with this one. I did about 5 crappy extract batches, then quit for 5 years, then started again but with AG.

Go to the brew shop and spend 20 bucks on a bottling wand, a bucket with a spigot, and an autosiphon.
Go to Home Depot and get 6 feet of 3/4 inch tubing. Cut 2 inches off to connect the spigot to the bottling wand and use the rest as your transfer tubing.

Put the bottling bucket as high as possible and let drain.

With those steps which would have taken 30 minutes of my time, I would have saved hours of time and frustration on my first several batches.

Cacaman said:

I wish somebody had told me about homebrewing before my 21st birthday

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Couldn't agree more (although it would have been my 19th birthday in British Columbia )

I wish someone had told me to buy my favorite hops in bulk... in the beginning.

I wish someone would've told me how easy it is to spend $100+ at a time when making upgrades - even small ones. My family calls my new hobby "Time & Money" while they drink my beer.

I also wish that someone would have told me to go straight to kegging and all grain. That would have saved me a little bit. :rockin:

I wish someone had turned me on to this hobby before I turned 55.

I'm totally glad no one told me to buy a glass carboy and I will never own one! I did my research and bought Northern Brewer's deluxe kit. I opted for better bottles. The kit had every thing that I had to have to start except a brew pot, bottles and an ingredient kit.

I wish someone had told me that all the information needed to brew properly is not included in ingredient kit instructions.

I wish someone had told me to try BIAB earlier! Just did my first batch today, and none of my fears were justified. Too much time spent worrying about screwing up, when I could have spent that time screwing up less badly and learning from it.

I wish someone had told me about the importance of aeration.... I might have skipped over that lecture in "How to Brew." And I second that to temp control and swamp coolers.

pyth said:

I wish someone had told me I wouldn't be able to drink commercial BMC anymore. Tastes like skunky piss water now.

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Amen!

I wish someone had convinced me to just go all grain from the start so much more control!

AG is easy.

....that if you have access to fresh craft beer, you're just wasting your time and money, not to mention making a giant mess, but goddang if it isn't fun somehow.

boswell said:

....that if you have access to fresh craft beer, you're just wasting your time and money, not to mention making a giant mess, but goddang if it isn't fun somehow.

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This

I wish someone had told me to save all those bottles I've been tossing into the recycling for the last few years. Now I'm begging my friends and relatives for all their empties and will probably have to buy some for my second batch.

Mike

Cacaman said:

I wish somebody had told me about homebrewing before my 21st birthday

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+1... actually I'll be 21 on Jan 26th. My first brew should be ready to drink the weekend following my Birthday!

I wish somebody had told me how addicting homebrewing is. I need to get more bottles so I can get a pipeline started.

MikeWI said:

I wish someone had told me to save all those bottles I've been tossing into the recycling for the last few years. Now I'm begging my friends and relatives for all their empties and will probably have to buy some for my second batch.

Mike

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+1 to that!

Thanks for this thread.

Time heals most brewing ills (ales?). Get a pot big enough to do full boils from the get go. Skip bottling and just keg. Oh, and work WITH gravity, not against it.

I wish someone had told me...that getting into homebrewing as a hobby will more than likely mean weight gain, in the neighborhood of 20-30 pounds.

lutherslagers said:

I WISH SOMEONE TOLD ME.... It's addictive. You will spend you're free time (and money) reading about homebrew, writing recipes, cleaning, building equipment, fixing equipment, cleaning, reading forums, listening to podcasts, and did I mention cleaning.

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^^^ This

I am overcome with the whole homebrew experience. Wish I woulda started a long time ago!

Gary

My advice is to go straight to Kegging, All Grain, Get the Grain Mill (went from $30 per 5 gallon bath to $22), Start with Full Boil.

Get the Chest Freezer or Frig to Ferment in it is WAY easier than trying to maintain the right temp any other way!!!

That fermentation generates heat, and I wish someone would have told me about PBW and the importance of CLEAN AND SANITIZE