Brewing newbie...

My husband and I just got a beginners brewing kit today with a recipe kit for an Irish stout. Very excited to get started!

Congrats and welcome to the hobby! You have found the right place for info!

My wife and I are new to the hobby too. Well making it anyway! :0)

Congrats and welcome to the forum. Hope you get hooked like the rest of us!

you're all in for trouble..... prepare to get hooked quick.

We've done two brews and still waiting to bottle. Now we're talking about moving to an all grain setup and we've not been doing this two weeks yet.

Now's the time to read the instructions and ask any questions you have.

Better to ask first (measure twice) before you start brewing (cut once).

Do wet run first (just water)to get your sanitation method down pat and to check out you equipment (leaks and such).

Best of luck on a fun and productive addiction.

bosco

Thanks for the tips! I'm still watching a ton of videos and learning. We've been hitting the local brew house for classes for several weeks (yeah I was nervous about screwing up) before we started. But it seems like I just enjoy the whole process of making the beer as much as drinking the beer. Weird.

The biggest set back for us is the initial cost of everything. Also the classes sort of scared us on attempting all grain in the beginning. So we decided to start with partial mash recipes. And now we can see where the costs are involved. All grain looks like a better quality beer and a whole lot cheaper for us to make. My wife being from Belgium already sets the standards too high for me.

NoTrubble said:

We've done two brews and still waiting to bottle. Now we're talking about moving to an all grain setup and we've not been doing this two weeks yet.

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NoTrubble said:

Thanks for the tips! I'm still watching a ton of videos and learning. We've been hitting the local brew house for classes for several weeks (yeah I was nervous about screwing up) before we started. But it seems like I just enjoy the whole process of making the beer as much as drinking the beer. Weird.

The biggest set back for us is the initial cost of everything. Also the classes sort of scared us on attempting all grain in the beginning. So we decided to start with partial mash recipes. And now we can see where the costs are involved. All grain looks like a better quality beer and a whole lot cheaper for us to make. My wife being from Belgium already sets the standards too high for me.

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@ Trubble - I think it's great that you took classes. You'll learn a lot in a nice structured environment. I would like to throw in my $.02 here and tell you that you should keep in mind that the practices and techniques you are taught in a class are really the opinion of one person - and everyone has their own methods and opinions. Keep an open mind to all that you read and hear. Say for instance the class taught you to always use a secondary, there are many, many alternates theories that may sway you away from that - that kinda thing. It's all up to you to develop your own style.

@ both of you - don't feel pressure or even over-anxiousness to jump to all grain. All grain is not hard, but it's not hard for a brewer, even an extract brewer, that has experience brewing and a solid knowledge of brewing practices. To a completely inexperienced brewer, the jump to AG can be difficult, can result in some less than stellar brews during the learning phase, and discourage you. Today's extracts are excellent and you can easily make competition worthy beers using them. You'll gain more control with AG, but before you have reached the point in your progression where you are making your own recipes and understanding the methodology of selecting each ingredient and why, you probably won't have much use for that control. Going to AG early on is great if you do it, and you certainly can do it. But if you do take it slow and work through each stage, it really is a very natural progression.

Welcome to the addictive world of brewing! Definitely stick with the extract/partial mash for the first recipe or two. Nothing wrong with that! As was said before it's the best way to get used to the practices and sanitation. Then when comfortable, all grain time.

Just don't forget you can't brew beer with out drinking a beer! Good Luck

Terryism said:

My husband and I just got a beginners brewing kit today with a recipe kit for an Irish stout. Very excited to get started!

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Welcome, new myself bottled my first batch a couple weeks back, second batch happily fermenting and will start a third batch, just acquired a second fermenter, Saturday. Trying to get my pipeline started. Warning, once hooked brewing will be on your mind 24/7.

Congrats, I got my first kit a few weeks ago, cracking open the first batch in 2 days!

You will be surprised at how easy it is.....good luck!

Congrats and welcome to the addiction.

I just started this past September and have already brewed up 16 different 5 gallon batches just did my first all grain the other day.. It's a lot of fun and the rewards for having a ton of patience is totally worth it.

Best of luck and be sure to read the instructions a few times, and spend some time to watch various youtube videos.

Welcome, I am also new!

My husband and I brewed our first beer two weeks ago, an american amber and it was a partial mash. The beer is still chilling out in its primary, all the yeasties have seemed to have flocced to the bottom, and the gravity has been holding steady at 1.015 since Monday (the recipe says GF should be 1.014-1.016). I'll check it again tomorrow to make sure it's still holding and then we will probably go ahead and bottle on Saturday.

We aren't even two brews in and I've already made the executive decision to go all grain. Can't be that much more difficult than partial mash, right?

Now I'm wondering if I should wash and save the yeast for future brews....

Anelda said:

Welcome, I am also new!

My husband and I brewed our first beer two weeks ago, an american amber and it was a partial mash. The beer is still chilling out in its primary, all the yeasties have seemed to have flocced to the bottom, and the gravity has been holding steady at 1.015 since Monday (the recipe says GF should be 1.014-1.016). I'll check it again tomorrow to make sure it's still holding and then we will probably go ahead and bottle on Saturday.

We aren't even two brews in and I've already made the executive decision to go all grain. Can't be that much more difficult than partial mash, right?

Now I'm wondering if I should wash and save the yeast for future brews....

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No need to check it again. If it's within your range and already stable for four days, don't waste the beer by checking another sample. Just bottle at your convenience.


Don't be fooled by how helpful that extract crutch can be. Once you are completely without it, it will certainly be more difficult. You can make the leap and learn as you go, providing you have necessary equipment - assuming you have a wort chiller, 8-10 gallon kettle, 8-10 gallon mash tun, and a plan for sparging, either another kettle or a bucket switch-a-roo or whatever.

Thanks everyone! I've read through the instructions a few times and watched the included video. I've got plenty of time to set up the equipment and check it all out because I'm waiting for a response from the company about my beer kit, one ingredient is the wrong amount and it was missing the yeast, *sigh*. I'm not looking to try anything difficult just yet, my husband could be a different story, ha ha! So I think we'll try out a few of the beer kits. See how they turn out, then maybe think about tweaking things around.

Terryism said:

Thanks everyone! I've read through the instructions a few times and watched the included video. I've got plenty of time to set up the equipment and check it all out because I'm waiting for a response from the company about my beer kit, one ingredient is the wrong amount and it was missing the yeast, *sigh*. I'm not looking to try anything difficult just yet, my husband could be a different story, ha ha! So I think we'll try out a few of the beer kits. See how they turn out, then maybe think about tweaking things around.

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Not sure where you bought the kit or how that brewshop does it, but note that many times yeast and hops are sold separately due to the fact that people often choose different yeasts, they are kept cold in a fridge at the shop, and people often repitch yeast or have stock of yeast.

All good comments and advice. Thank you! From the pricing I can afford to screw up a couple of batches of all grain in the start but I'm patient enough to go slow. At least from what I can tell the extracts are like $16/ 3 lbs and that was the bulk of the price for my Tripel. So to cut the cost in half and have a better beer in the end, we're definitely game.

I'll be building out the all grain rig over the next couple of weeks. I will continue to do partial mash since it's easy right now. I've got 10 gallons of beer fermenting on the floor and I feel I need another 10 just to feel "safe". You know, for emergencies and stuff. :0P

Speaking of addictions, we're self employed, so please don't tell my wife I'm spending more time on these forums when I should be focusing on business.

@J187 you are right about being taught "their fool proof way" but boiling the grains isn't the "right way" to do it. I can easily put in several hours on an all grain batch. And sanitation? Well I worked at a hospital in the past and I'm familiar with all methods including ultraviolet. No I don't think I will go so far as doing all that but I am very very thorough. Even if I use a spoon to stir my wort I will hot rinse and throw it back in the sanitation bucket before using it again.

Also I love to tweak things so I think this actually may be a bad hobby for me (it will keep me broke and busy). And yes it's hard to make a beer without having a beer for drinking.

RagingBull said:

...Warning, once hooked brewing will be on your mind 24/7.

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This is true. I find myself pondering different beer ideas/recipes/styles constantly.

Well, they are sending me yeast, but hubby was too impatient and bought some on the way home from work. Soooooo, there is fermentation going on in this house!! We both had a good time sipping a few and making this beer...and it smelled amazing. We expected stink, but it was more like fresh brewed tea and cake in my opinion. I can't wait to try it!

Doctor_Wily said:

you're all in for trouble..... prepare to get hooked quick.

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I'm already ready for batch # 2!

Terryism said:

We expected stink, but it was more like fresh brewed tea and cake in my opinion. I can't wait to try it!

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One of our friends warned us that we'd have to store our beer somewhere in another building because of the stink. To us it smells like brownies and cake!

I think her motive was to have our beer at her place so she could help out! :0)