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niquejim

Burrowing Owl Brewery
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I really wish that someone would have told me this 7 years ago when I started instead of having to find it out on my own

The best advice I can give to any new brewer is to brew 1 good beer well repeatedly before you try to brew 100 "fancy" beers. If you can't do one well why should you make a Soured Chocolate Raspberry Imperial Porter(trust me)
 
true story. once i stopped trying to recreate the wheel and just focused on nailing down the 3-4 constant rotation recipes i came up with, I managed to take my brewing to a higher level.
 
exactly.
you have no idea how well your process is going if every beer you brewed is different.

Dial it in, THEN experiment.
 
True. My processes have improved 10x. I am glad I started out on a very forgiving 1st all grain, BM's Centennial Blonde. I missed mash temps, piss poor ferm temps and first time kegging mistakes all to produce a great beer!
 
main thing for me first time, temp control, specifically: you need more ice than you think

I brewed in summer, between trying to cool the wort and trying to cool and maintain low temps in the swamp cooler I was always a couple steps behind.

Make or buy a lot of ice, freeze a lot of water bottles.
 
I am still relatively new to brewing, and I have to agree with this statement. Ive got a small rotation of favorites going that keep improving each time I brew. In addition to keeping it simple, I constantly am reading up on improving my techniques, and I try to make at least 1 process improvement per batch. It's been going a long way already!
 
I am an 8th year rookie, and I finally decided on this around New Years. While I am still trying new recipes along the way, the focus of this year is to 'perfect' (IMO) one recipe. Also improving my equipment.
 
While a rational choice for some brewers, I prefer variety over boredom. It's the same reason I don't drink the same commerical beer all the time. My first brew was good enough that I keep trying new things. The only repeat was SWMBO's request of her favorite. Brewing isn't hard, though some of the engineering types try to make it hard. Most newbies should be able to brew a good beer and if they want a soured chocolate raspberry imperial porter, then go for it. Don't let the EACs get you down.
 
I like pale ales,so I brew a lot of variations on a theme. But I will do something different in between. Like the pale I was playing with that came out more like a hybrid lager. A happy accident that's slowly turning into a new recipe. Then a light & a dark version. Since midwest is 6 days behind on shipping from warehouse expansions,I'm not sure my PM Berliner Weisse or caps & dextrose will get here in time for the big brewday Saturday. I was looking forward to the start of some wheat beer experiments...
 
While a rational choice for some brewers, I prefer variety over boredom. It's the same reason I don't drink the same commerical beer all the time. My first brew was good enough that I keep trying new things. The only repeat was SWMBO's request of her favorite. Brewing isn't hard, though some of the engineering types try to make it hard. Most newbies should be able to brew a good beer and if they want a soured chocolate raspberry imperial porter, then go for it.


Don't let the EACs get you down.

Did you really need to toss my advice under the bus.

My first brew(275 batches ago) was good enough to keep me trying also. They finally got good when I started concentrating on consistency. You may discover you could be a far better brewer if you only realized that
 
I think it may sort of be the natural cycle of becoming a brewer. You start out, make a couple good beers, and then say "This is so cool!...now I wanna make this and this and this and this...." and you do for a time but then you start to say "I now know how to make good beer, but now I want to learn how to make really, really good beer consistently" and that requires settling down to learn how ingredients and styles interact and effect the outcomes before you can really branch out and have a good working knowledge of what your doing. But hey, the great thing about this hobby is you can do whatever slicks your hair back!
 
Do you mean that for my second brew I should not try my new reicpe for a Mocha mango sour vanilla chocolate ginger pepper rosemary hibiscus stout?
 
ricksam said:
I think it may sort of be the natural cycle of becoming a brewer. You start out, make a couple good beers, and then say "This is so cool!...now I wanna make this and this and this and this...." and you do for a time but then you start to say "I now know how to make good beer, but now I want to learn how to make really, really good beer consistently" and that requires settling down to learn how ingredients and styles interact and effect the outcomes before you can really branch out and have a good working knowledge of what your doing. But hey, the great thing about this hobby is you can do whatever slicks your hair back!

I agree with this. I'm 2 days away from my one year anniversary of brewing (woo!). I've done 11 batches of all different beers, but I keep it simple by just following extract recipes and focus on some of the important basics.

I think I still follow a nice progression for learning. I started just figuring out the equipment and the boiling process. Then I learned about yeast starters, the fermentation process, and temperature control (which I don't have the equipment to perfect this just yet, but I have a good idea on where I'm headed). Then recently I picked up a kegerator and two kegs, so I've learned the ends and outs of kegging. With the kegerator, Ive been able to try my hand at a few lagers by fermenting in the kegerator. And then my next few beers are going to hopefully give me some new experiences. I'm going to brew a fruit beer to get practice with that, and then the next two I'm going to try and make my own extract recipes.

I think the OP has a good point though. Once I move to all grain and get that process down, then I will focus on perfecting my few recipes and working on consistency.
 
Did you really need to toss my advice under the bus.

My first brew(275 batches ago) was good enough to keep me trying also. They finally got good when I started concentrating on consistency. You may discover you could be a far better brewer if you only realized that.

The advice wasn't tossed under the bus. Your advice, as stated, is a rational choice. The attitude has tread marks.

RDWAHAHB.
 
I decided after my second batch that I was going to follow this plan (I only have 3 brews under my belt right now). The idea is to avoid the "boredom" mentioned here while still doing what the original post suggests:

1. Brew IPA
2. Next batch, brew whatever crazy thing I want
3. Repeat IPA with tweaks to process/recipe
4. Next batch, brew whatever crazy thing I want

repeat until IPA is perfect and then replace IPA with a different style. This way, I give the IPA enough time to ferment and condition before I start attempting to fix what might be wrong with it...I can't very well brew an IPA this week and then try to dial in my process with another brew next week, can I?
 
I am certainly early on and trying to nail down a smooth, quality process. That said, I've brewed a different beer every time. Extract, PM, AG BIAB - each has been fun. What's nice about having solid recipes to refer to is that I know what my hydro readings should be, compared to what they are. I know what my ferment temps should be. I know what my mash temps should be. So if I can focus on my process - cleanliness, sterilization, temp control, boil-off, etc...I don't see much downside to making different beers. I think if I move to a traditional AG setup though I would want to really have my process down pat.
 
I decided after my second batch that I was going to follow this plan (I only have 3 brews under my belt right now). The idea is to avoid the "boredom" mentioned here while still doing what the original post suggests:

1. Brew IPA
2. Next batch, brew whatever crazy thing I want
3. Repeat IPA with tweaks to process/recipe
4. Next batch, brew whatever crazy thing I want

repeat until IPA is perfect and then replace IPA with a different style. This way, I give the IPA enough time to ferment and condition before I start attempting to fix what might be wrong with it...I can't very well brew an IPA this week and then try to dial in my process with another brew next week, can I?


You understand what I meant. I didn't mean one recipe, I meant one style(I could have stated it better). Looking back I enjoyed all (OK most) of my crazy brews, but I also know that if I brewed them now they would be far superior to what they were then due to the fact that I now understand the process.
If you can't make a consistent omelette why try to make a soufflé.
 
I decided after my second batch that I was going to follow this plan (I only have 3 brews under my belt right now). The idea is to avoid the "boredom" mentioned here while still doing what the original post suggests:

1. Brew IPA
2. Next batch, brew whatever crazy thing I want
3. Repeat IPA with tweaks to process/recipe
4. Next batch, brew whatever crazy thing I want

repeat until IPA is perfect and then replace IPA with a different style. This way, I give the IPA enough time to ferment and condition before I start attempting to fix what might be wrong with it...I can't very well brew an IPA this week and then try to dial in my process with another brew next week, can I?
This is my plan at this time. Started off with a black imperial IPA because I promised my brother to give him some beer in the 22oz bottles he gave me (and because I really wanted to try out the continuous hopping technique), then an IPA (which like you will be my staple), now started a lager (this will also help me slow down because it will take up the fridge).

Once the IPA is done I will critique and go over my process to see where I need to improve. The only trick here is that I would like to try out AG next time.

(Note: this is what I have done this year, have been a casual homebrewer for 8 years and I'm tired of making sub-par beers)
 
Here's some similar advise, once you get you procedure down where you think it should be then brew a light beer. Doesn't have to be a lager, just a light beer. Any mistakes in your procedure will rear their ugly heads if there are mistakes. Make a 1.040 beer at about 12 IBU's and see what it taste like.
 
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