Newbie Tips

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Brewtah

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I have been thinking a thread on brewing tips would be great. Being a newbie myself, it is not totally selfless. Some of what i have learned has been at the school of hard knocks. With sketchy instructions and barebones instructions the norm, tips from experienced brewers would help a lot. Many of you have a lot to give.

My tip: take your pot off the burner before LME or DME addition, stir like hell. I know it sounds obvious, but i scorched my first batch.
 
Boil with the lid off.
I didn't know that on my first batch and it is not mentioned in the instructions or how to videos I watched.
 
Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew. On my first batch, i did not sanitize the fermenting bucket because I thought the cleanser was the sanitizer, i had a massive boilover, and I poured my hot wort into my fermenting bucket before chilling. I freaked out when I realized my mistakes the next day, but the beer turned out just fine. In fact, I'm enjoying one right now.
 
There are SEVERAL threads of brewing tips on here....... You don't think over the years we people would have asked, and we wouldn't have put a lot of time and effort into that?

like this if full of a ton of tips.

Bottling Tips for the Homebrewer.

And all the stickies in the beginner section are tips.....if they weren't important, they wouldn't have been stickified. Everything the beginner needs in terms of tips is up there. In fact the best tips for just about every aspect of the hobbies, are compiled in the stickeys at the top of each section.
 
There are SEVERAL threads of brewing tips on here....... You don't think over the years we people would have asked, and we wouldn't have put a lot of time and effort into that?

like this if full of a ton of tips.

Bottling Tips for the Homebrewer.

And all the stickies in the beginner section are tips.....if they weren't important, they wouldn't have been stickified. Everything the beginner needs in terms of tips is up there. In fact the best tips for just about every aspect of the hobbies, are compiled in the stickeys at the top of each section.
Of course i think that there are resources on this forum. I did a search for "tips" and did't come up with what i was looking for. Don't assume people read this forum before their first batch or they read the stickies. Don't be offended, just a fun thread to pass on little or big tips. Some learned the hard way.
 
Of course i think that there are resources on this forum. I did a search for "tips" and did't come up with what i was looking for. Don't assume people read this forum before their first batch or they read the stickies. Don't be offended, just a fun thread to pass on little or big tips. Some learned the hard way.

The thing is, a lot of us put a LOT of information on here for new brewers, everyday...so when someone asks for a tip thread, it implies to us, that you basically want us to -recreate all the work we've already done, because YOU don't want to actually look for it for yourself. You want us to spoon feed it to you.

MANY people come here BEFORE their first batch...I did, and I've been on here quite awhile, and you find every day that people are coming on here, even before they bought their first kit...they want to avail themselves of this resource before they start their first batch. I don't need to assume it, I see it every day.

You said this place needed a tip thread, I merely pointed out there are already many dedicated tip threads on here...and most of them have been stickified.
 
The thing is, a lot of us put a LOT of information on here for new brewers, everyday...so when someone asks for a tip thread, it implies to us, that you basically want us to -recreate all the work we've already done, because YOU don't want to actually look for it for yourself. You want us to spoon feed it to you.

MANY people come here BEFORE their first batch...I did, and I've been on here quite awhile, and you find every day that people are coming on here, even before they bought their first kit...they want to avail themselves of this resource before they start their first batch. I don't need to assume it, I see it every day.

You said this place needed a tip thread, I pointed out there are already many dedicated tip threads on here...most of them have been stickified.
Don't want you to do anything or re-create anything, like i said just a fun thread for people to tell others about little tips. BTW I never said "this place needed a thread. Re-read what i wrote. I said it would be fun, not need. Why is this bothering you? This is not replacing "your" instructions, just a different way to learn.
 
Don't want you to do anything or re-create anything, like i said just a fun thread for people to tell others about little tips. BTW I never said "this place needed a thread. Re-read what i wrote. I said it would be fun, not need. Why is this bothering you? This is not replacing "your" instructions, just a different way to learn.


Dude, I'm not going to argue..you said "this place needed a thread." That implies to most in the English speaking world, that this place must not have them. I thought you wanted some tips....well I showed you that this place HAD tip threads.

It seems to me that if you're looking for information, then you would want to know where it is, right?

So my tip for you, is read the tip threads that are already on here, a lot of people spent a lot of time putting those things together for people looking for tip threads. ;)
 
I have been thinking a thread on brewing tips would be great. Being a newbie myself, it is not totally selfless. Some of what i have learned has been at the school of hard knocks. With sketchy instructions and barebones instructions the norm, tips from experienced brewers would help a lot. Many of you have a lot to give.

My tip: take your pot off the burner before LME or DME addition, stir like hell. I know it sounds obvious, but i scorched my first batch.
Revvy,
No "need in this thread". There is a very steep learning curve in beer brewing. Some "tips" are in brewing stickies, books, etc. But many are scattered through out different threads and forums, some you think of out of necessity. Thought it would be FUN to have members participate. I do a lot of research through different forums, books and friends. I don't need to be spoon fed. So don't put words in my mouth or make arrogant assumptions.
 
Are you guys gonna break up? It's Christmas :-(

I know, right? Let it go already! To the OP...I see revvy's point. Take it in good spirit and roll on. A lot of people have put a LOT of work in around here to provide us noobs a LOT of great info.

Revvy, I see the OP's point too. One thread with ALL of the tips in it would be good for some. maybe.

I personally like it the way it is. A nice search will bring you all KINDS of tips.
 
I know, right? Let it go already! To the OP...I see revvy's point. Take it in good spirit and roll on. A lot of people have put a LOT of work in around here to provide us noobs a LOT of great info.

Revvy, I see the OP's point too. One thread with ALL of the tips in it would be good for some. maybe.

I personally like it the way it is. A nice search will bring you all KINDS of tips.

The point of the thread was sharing tidbits of information that are not common knowledge, or not a how to. An example would be; i put my full glass carboys on a dolly used for big planter pots. Helps me move them around the house. Didn't mean to step on toes. Not trying for a how to forum. Yes, when you know what you are looking for there are great resources and this forum is outstanding.
 
if they weren't important, they wouldn't have been stickified.


QUOTE OF THE FREAKIN' YEAR! I love it.


My contribution if not already listed is: sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.

I keep my 5gallon bucket of starsan right with me just in case I scratch my nose, pet a puppy, touch the counter, kiss my wife or whatever. During a typical brew day I end up washing my hands 20-100 times and dunking/holding them in Starsan for a few seconds. I haven't had any sort of infection in my 20+ batches so I think at least that part I am doing correctly.


Oh, and I am OCD and sanitizing has fallen easily into being just one more thing that I compulse(sp) about. SEE! Being OCD isn't always a bad thing. :mug:
 
Mine is a two parter -
1) if San star is cloudy, it isn't working - it reacted with the minerals in your water. Mix it up with a gallon of distiller water, however, and it lasts for-ever.
2) Store that "forever lasting" San star solution in glass or hdpe plastic. It *WILL* eat through the grocery store water jug. Once I spent 20 minutes trying to fix a leak before I realized it was my jug of sanstar mix.
 
Mine is a two parter -
1) if San star is cloudy, it isn't working - it reacted with the minerals in your water. Mix it up with a gallon of distiller water, however, and it lasts for-ever.
2) Store that "forever lasting" San star solution in glass or hdpe plastic. It *WILL* eat through the grocery store water jug. Once I spent 20 minutes trying to fix a leak before I realized it was my jug of sanstar mix.

That's a good one distilled water. I think i am covered with San Star spray at the end of a brew day.
 
I just found this one out the other night, when brewing outside below 30* that you need to put your propane tank in a tub of hot water so it doesn't freeze up and add 3 hours to what started as a brew night that turned into brew morning.
 
Here's a tip.... research, read, brew beer, read some more and do a bit more research. Then brew a few batches and read another book or three. Really, this thread is about as sad as it fvcking gets around here. Oh yeah, don't eat yellow snow, it's not really lemon flavored.
 
Here's a tip.... research, read, brew beer, read some more and do a bit more research. Then brew a few batches and read another book or three. Really, this thread is about as sad as it fvcking gets around here. Oh yeah, don't eat yellow snow, it's not really lemon flavored.

So grumpy....did someone pee in your primary? I love to read, I am on my third book and this forum is like the candy factory for me. This thread was intended to cultivate participation, but I see the Thread Police Academy just released some new graduates. Lighten up, the world is a rough place. I also appreciate the like you gave me on page 2.
 
Lighten up

Pot calling the kettle black, bud. No insult to your idea, it's great, thing is is that this site has all those tips. The worthwhile ones have been stickied at the top of the beginners forum. The rest, well, you're bound to learn that if you ask 10 brewers the same question, you'll get 11 different answers, and the'll all be right to varying degrees. The best advice an experienced brewer can give a new brewer is to learn for themselves, brew a lot and read a lot.

As for the "Thread Police Academy" thing, we'll chalk that up to me being kind of a ****** and you not realizing that all of these tips can easily be found by simply clicking the search function at the top of the site. :mug:
 
Pot calling the kettle black, bud. No insult to your idea, it's great, thing is is that this site has all those tips. The worthwhile ones have been stickied at the top of the beginners forum. The rest, well, you're bound to learn that if you ask 10 brewers the same question, you'll get 11 different answers, and the'll all be right to varying degrees. The best advice an experienced brewer can give a new brewer is to learn for themselves, brew a lot and read a lot.

As for the "Thread Police Academy" thing, we'll chalk that up to me being kind of a ****** and you not realizing that all of these tips can easily be found by simply clicking the search function at the top of the site. :mug:

Ok we are in agreement. I love to learn and I want newer brewers to get some extra "tips". No one told me to put my 5 gallon carboys on dolly's I had to figure something out to help myself. Advise like that is really helpful. BTW I am not a dude or a bud. :mug:
 
Ok we are in agreement. I love to learn and I want newer brewers to get some extra "tips". No one told me to put my 5 gallon carboys on dolly's I had to figure something out to help myself. Advise like that is really helpful. BTW I am not a dude or a bud. :mug:

Then you're in the right place. I mean it when I say the best advice is experience; yours and other's. You'll learn a lot in a short time here. Oh, and aren't ya glad I didn't call ya "guy"? That's my usual term when I'm being snarky.
 
If we all did our due diligence and searched there would be no reason for new posts right. It's all been said before :)
 
If we all did our due diligence and searched there would be no reason for new posts right. It's all been said before :)

That's actually kinda how it works at this point.... except that not everyone searches before posting. I always have tons of questions and usually a search will find the answer, or at least a thread on the subject that I can read and ask questions on.
 
NordeastBrewer77 said:
Pot calling the kettle black, bud. No insult to your idea, it's great, thing is is that this site has all those tips. The worthwhile ones have been stickied at the top of the beginners forum. The rest, well, you're bound to learn that if you ask 10 brewers the same question, you'll get 11 different answers, and the'll all be right to varying degrees. The best advice an experienced brewer can give a new brewer is to learn for themselves, brew a lot and read a lot.

As for the "Thread Police Academy" thing, we'll chalk that up to me being kind of a ****** and you not realizing that all of these tips can easily be found by simply clicking the search function at the top of the site. :mug:

I am in total agreement on the reading and brewing and reading and brewing some more. As to the search function, it sucks.....especially if its on your phone. I read A LOT and google is my friend. I think what the OP was trying was to put all those helpful tips in ONE thread instead of spending hours using the sucky search feature.
 
But thats just it...you dont have to use the search function...the tops are STICKIED to the top! Read the stickies! All the info is in there.

Amen to that brotha. Reading through thread after thread, of even one thread full of various topics is at least as annoying as the search function (which I find very easy to use. And fairly good at finding the info I search for. Laptop or smartphone. Ditch the app, use your phone's browser.).
 
I am guilty of posting a lot when I first started, but once I figured out my way around here, I figured out that search was my friend.
 
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