If you had a time machine...

...What would you go back and tell yourself about brewing before you started out into this hobby?

For me it would have to be:

1) TAKE NOTES!!!

2) Related to #1 - Keep track of how many beers you have brewed. I seriously have no idea how many I have brewed. Probably around 40-50 I would guess...

3) All-grain is a lot easier than you think and you can still make it work with what little space you have here.

4) You aren't going to save money doing this. Start making a budget and organize your tools so you can reach your goals efficiently instead of buying 3 thermometers, 5 hydrometers, 20 airlocks, and about 50 bungholes over the course of 4 years.

What have you guys got to say to your old self? :fro:

Sanitation procedures - get it down all the way through the process. Use PBW and Starsan - don't use bleach.

Water matters. Learn to understand the water you are brewing with, or use RO.

fermentation is not as simple as throwing the yeast in - yeast starters, keep temps on low end of ranges.

Edit..... oh yeah, just use buckets for fermenters - they are great, cheap and easy to use and clean.

To buy Apple stock as soon as it comes on the market, you're gonna need more money.

ButcherBoy said:

To buy Apple stock as soon as it comes on the market, you're gonna need more money.

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Das funny. I had some and sold it. Replace it with Tandy stock. BIG MISTAKE.

unionrdr said:

To try partial mash sooner than 2 years in. Keep brewing two batches every month regardless.

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Yes and Yes.

Be more patient in letting the beer age. I have drank way too many "Green" Beers due to impatience.

Make a checklist for each step in the brewing process and take copius notes. I have not been able to recreate my best beer.

Ask questions on HBT before your first brew.

1.AG isn't hard, it just requires an extra bit of equipment.
2. Don't sweat every minute detail. Instead, focus your energy on those factors which truly affect the product- ingredient quality, timing, and proper measurement.
3. Buy big, because it's easier to fill a smaller % of a large vessel than a larger % of a small vessel. Kyle

first off, I'd tell me when I was about 14. brew up a crap load of heavy BW's and bury the bottles in some sturdy crates about 10' deep in the Black Hills. and we'd go over sanitation, pitching rates, temp control, AG, and then we'd both go pay some of the neighborhood bullies a visit with some baseball bats. then I'd come back to now, dig up the BW and enjoy one with the kid in me.

ButcherBoy said:

To buy Apple stock as soon as it comes on the market, you're gonna need more money.

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+1 This

I would say to myself: in the future, your future self is a brewing superstar. People love you and your beer. Fame and wealth come with the territory and it complicates your personal life. But ultimately it's worth it because of all the meaningless sex and being able to afford the world's best treatments for your bad liver.

Coincidentally my future self came to me earlier today and told me that in the future, a doctor gives me a pill that makes me realize I live in a fantasy world and that the world is not nearly as much fun in reality and thus my future self said: don't take the blue pill.

iambeer said:

I would say to myself: in the future, your future self is a brewing superstar. People love you and your beer. Fame and wealth come with the territory and it complicates your personal life. But ultimately it's worth it because of all the meaningless sex and being able to afford the world's best treatments for your bad liver.

Coincidentally my future self came to me earlier today and told me that in the future, a doctor gives me a pill that makes me realize I live in a fantasy world and that the world is not nearly as much fun in reality and thus my future self said: don't take the blue pill.

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You just blew my mind.

Buy equipment with growth in mind...so if you start by thinking you only want to brew 3gal batches buy HLT, MT and BK with expansion to a 5 or 10gal setup then the growing pains won't be half as painful.

Start brewing the second I turn 21,(1992) then come up with a catchy name like Dogfish head, or something simple like Stone or Rouge.

PhelanKA7 said:

You just blew my mind.

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Wait til you hear the story about how I take a customized DeLorean back 20 years ago to prevent myself from making a terrible mistake (I dropped my hydrometer by accident).

I wish they would invent a square hydrometer so when you lay it down it wouldn't roll off the table...

Don't brew beer in your on college campus apartment. Not worth the wasted beer. Wait until you're off campus.