Things I have learned in last brews

poetic_entropy said:

1. Beer is good (oh wait I knew that)

2. If you don't solder your manifold in your mash tun, it can come apart when moving it.
a. 152 degree mash is very hot to put hand in

3. Warm up mash tun, so your temp doesn't fall so much

4. only 1 beer per step until comfortable with process of all grain

5. Don't get involved in a good beer site while mashing. you might end up over 80 minutes.

6. Just because you are new doesn't nessecarily mean that you need to add 3 extra #'s of malt to compensate. 8.5% is still good beer

7. Reitteration of beer is good, to qwell wifies dirty looks

8. Craigslist and ebay kick a$$ for pumps and 10+ gallon carboys

9. BREW ON my good fellow brewers

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Trappist Artist said:

10.) Shaking your MLT that is full of boiling hot water will blow the lid off and steam into your face!

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mummasan said:

i had a perfect storm yesterday - my copper manifold came disconnected from my spigot/bulkhead and i quickly discovered that a 158 degree mash is too hot to put my hand into - i then had to dump most of the mash into my kettle which aerated it fabulously (isn't HSA great?) - then i had my first boil over - it was almost like a volcano i was hypnotized

now it appears my starter wasn't big enough - i have some fermentation today but it is rather tame

things i haven't learned - make big starters for lagers, crimp a copper manifold with pliers to keep it together, have the water sprayer in hand after raising the heat on a boil

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