Ever Wanted to.......

hey all, ever wanted to see your name in a brew book? I plan on adding a Tips,tricks and Advice Section to My up coming book, i have many tips myself but i don't feel that i have enough to justify adding a chapter.This is where all of you can get the chance to share your Best Tips, Tricks and Advice on brewing! If you would like to see your name in the Book, and share your tips here is the format i would like you to use.This is to make sure you can get credit for your tip.


(Your First Name and Last Initial here)
(your City and State here)
(your tip here)

So it would look like this if i were to do it.

Vance H
Bryan,Ohio
Always Re-hydrate Dry Yeast, Do this by Boiling 2 cups of water,then cool it to around 80 degrees, Sprinkle your dry yeast on top, and let it set. When it has all sunk to the bottom gently stir and your yeast is re-hydrated and ready to Pitch.

So lets see all those tips! If you don't feel comfortable posting it in this thread feel free to Email it to me at [email protected]

I'll add one when I can think of it, but you may want to do a search for this kind of thing. I've seen a few threads about your favorite tips and tricks pop up in the couple of years I've been here.

Homercidal said:

I'll add one when I can think of it, but you may want to do a search for this kind of thing. I've seen a few threads about your favorite tips and tricks pop up in the couple of years I've been here.

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I would do that but this way is easier to make sure that everyone who does share a tip gets recognized in the book, hence why i went with the formatting i listed above.But i know what you mean. I just don't want to make anyone feel like they are not being properly credited for their input! Also this prevents legal issues from using someones tip without permission because if they post their tip they must want to share it in the book.

As a relatively new brewer, I can offer a couple that I learned very quickly.

Brad L.
Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee
When you buy your first homebrew equipment kit, buy a wort chiller. Not only will it significantly cut time off your brew day, the clarity benefits of a good cold break are undeniable.

Join a homebrew club. The advice of others and the opportunity to brew with experienced brewers are worth the membership dues.

Enter your beers in a BJCP sanctioned competition. I was talked into entering four beers (the first four I'd ever brewed) in a large local competition. My American Brown won gold in the style! That's one hell of a motivator. The other three didn't do so well, but I received impartial notes from BJCP certified judges that have improved my beers since.

apratsunrthd said:

As a relatively new brewer, I can offer a couple that I learned very quickly.

Brad L.
Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee
When you buy your first homebrew equipment kit, buy a wort chiller. Not only will it significantly cut time off your brew day, the clarity benefits of a good cold break are undeniable.

Join a homebrew club. The advice of others and the opportunity to brew with experienced brewers are worth the membership dues.

Enter your beers in a BJCP sanctioned competition. I was talked into entering four beers (the first four I'd ever brewed) into a large local competition. My American Brown won gold in the style! That's one hell of a motivator. The other three didn't do so well, but I received impartial notes from BJCP certified judges that have improved my beers since.

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Great tips! Thank you for sharing them!!!:rockin:

Anyone else? Come on guys and gals, i know someone has to wanna see their name in a book lol.

Avoid Boil Overs. Keep a spray bottle of water next to your brew kettle on brew day. If the wort starts to foam up, give it a few sprays from the bottle to prevent a boil over... then turn down the heat a bit!

Jawbox0 said:

Avoid Boil Overs. Keep a spray bottle of water next to your brew kettle on brew day. If the wort starts to foam up, give it a few sprays from the bottle to prevent a boil over... then turn down the heat a bit!

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Thanks for the tip! Still need your Your First Name and Last Initial and
your City and State So i can make sure you get proper credit in the book!

Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew

Papa C.

Brewtown, USA

(Used without permission)

Homercidal said:

Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew

Papa C.

Brewtown, USA

(Used without permission)

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Lol I think that one is covered in his book and on many forums

Vance71975 said:

Lol I think that one is covered in his book and on many forums

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Ok. Wasn't sure...

Homercidal said:

Ok. Wasn't sure...

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Yup yup its covered lol.

Bump!

Elliot K.
Peoria, Illinois

Sanitizing can be the most intimidating part of brewing at the start but it shouldn't keep you from enjoying your first brew day. Many brewers start by using bleach to try and save some money because its cheap and usually already on hand. However, bleach requires 20 minutes of wet contact time and rinsing which adds a step to the process and rinsing should be done with boiled and cooled water - what a pain. Further, if the bleach doesn't get rinsed completely, the yeast in your beer will process the chlorine and it will result in some funky off flavors (think band aid plastic). Do yourself a favor and buy Star San from Five Star Chemicals which is a no rinse sanitizer, eliminating the rinsing step. It is costly in comparison to bleach but will last a very long time if you buy a gallon of distilled water and mix the appropriate solution in a spray bottle to get even coverage and contact on your small stuff. You can also purchase an extra 5 gallon bucket with a lid that seals completely and some PH test strips. You can use the bucket to sanitize on brew day and then seal it up and store your Star San mixture for the next brew session. You can continue to use the stored sanitizer s as long as the PH of the mixture remains below three and the mixture is not cloudy. This extends the useful life of the sanitizer and will reduce the cost per use to pennies.

KAMMEE said:

Elliot K.
Peoria, Illinois

Sanitizing can be the most intimidating part of brewing at the start but it shouldn't keep you from enjoying your first brew day. Many brewers start by using bleach to try and save some money because its cheap and usually already on hand. However, bleach requires 20 minutes of wet contact time and rinsing which adds a step to the process and rinsing should be done with boiled and cooled water - what a pain. Further, if the bleach doesn't get rinsed completely, the yeast in your beer will process the chlorine and it will result in some funky off flavors (think band aid plastic). Do yourself a favor and buy Star San from Five Star Chemicals which is a no rinse sanitizer, eliminating the rinsing step. It is costly in comparison to bleach but will last a very long time if you buy a gallon of distilled water and mix the appropriate solution in a spray bottle to get even coverage and contact on your small stuff. You can also purchase an extra 5 gallon bucket with a lid that seals completely and some PH test strips. You can use the bucket to sanitize on brew day and then seal it up and store your Star San mixture for the next brew session. You can continue to use the stored sanitizer s as long as the PH of the mixture remains below three and the mixture is not cloudy. This extends the useful life of the sanitizer and will reduce the cost per use to pennies.

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Excellent advice, i am also a firm believer in star san!

Revvy needs to chime in with his bottling setup.

Hoppus_Poppatopolis said:

Revvy needs to chime in with his bottling setup.

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Bottling and kegging tips would be great!:rockin:

Next to Sanitation, Fermentation temps are probably the most crucial element in brewing. understand your yeasts needs and strive to give them the best environment for making the best tasting beer that you can. For most beers styles and yeasts, ferment at the lower end of their optimum range. This information is usually found on the yeast container, or on the yeast manufacturers website.

Homercidal said:

Next to Sanitation, Fermentation temps are probably the most crucial element in brewing. understand your yeasts needs and strive to give them the best environment for making the best tasting beer that you can. For most beers styles and yeasts, ferment at the lower end of their optimum range. This information is usually found on the yeast container, or on the yeast manufacturers website.

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Should i just list you as Anon since you didn't include a first name and last initial?

Bump bump glorious bump!

Bill M.
Japan

Perhaps a little too simple, but I learned this the hard way after blasting through like 2 bottles of sani solution. I think I read this here and I think it helps prevent running out of sani when you least expect it:

A nice way to save sanitizer (and costs!) is to use a spray bottle. Also very convenient to keep around for clean up on almost anything.

EDIT: Nevermind, just saw it above where my previous scanning didn't!

Joshua Q.
Boston, MA

Never give up on a beer. I've learned that letting a beer condition for longer than anticipated (or just longer in general) has yielded me some GREAT tasting beers that are much improved from early tasting, in taste, mouthfeel, clarity, and harmony of flavors. There's nearly nothing an extra few weeks (or months depending on brew) in conditioning can't fix!

Toby B.
Grass Valley, CA

Brewing can be as simple or as complicated as you want; regardless it will involve chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering. How much you choose to understand these things is up to you... Oh and just buy some StarSan for sanitizing, you won't regret it. And make a starter if you use liquid yeast, but only rehydrate if you use dry yeast. And fermentation temperature is probably the most important thing to get a handle on.

Marc G.
San Diego, CA
Add the priming sugar solution to your bottling bucket before racking your beer to insure it is evenly mixed throughout the beer.

Marc G.
San Diego, CA
When using a wand type bottle filler, fill your bottles close to the top of the bottle before removing the wand. This should leave about 1" to 1-1/2" headspace in the neck of the bottle.

Chris Z.
Camp Pendleton, CA

Besides a wort chiller and StarSan, a good brew kettle is one of the most important investments you can make. I started out with a Stainless Steel kettle that came with the kit (and had the thickness of an aluminum can) My stove burner left marks that I could see from the inside of the kettle on the very first batch and it was rusting by batch number 10. It is worth it to spend a little extra money to get a good quality name brand kettle to begin with.

Mike C.
Wyandotte, MI

Buy 2 hydrometers. When you find yourself needing the second one, you'll be glad you have it.

Also, I keep most of my brewing stuff in a small tool box. It makes it easy to bring stuff in and out of the house (I generally brew in the garage), and everything's in one place.

Wow guys and/or gals those are some great tips! keep them coming!

Just to give you a little background on the book,The Title is Bizarre Brews 101, I have a great publisher in Iuniverse who is putting it out world wide, it is mostly a recipe book with a twist Below ill include a sample recipe from the book so you can see the twist If you love brewing by the BJCP guidelines, well, this book goes totally against that in a way, but due to these tough economic times, i decided to add as much info as possible without going full "how to brew" book, because i feel that type is already covered well and im no Papa C.But there is a section on hops, yeast and now putting together a tips tricks and advice section. Keep those great tips coming. If your worried about conversion with the following recipe, feel free to add a lb of 6 row.

Oat Brown Ale


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.038 SG
Estimated Color: 20.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.6 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 lb Oats, Malted (1.0 SRM) Grain 55.17 %
1.00 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 13.79 %
1.00 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 13.79 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 13.79 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.6 IBU
1 Pkgs Burton Ale (White Labs #WLP023) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Medium Body
----------------------------
Double Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
30 min Protein Rest Add 6.53 qt of water at 132.1 F 122.0 F
30 min Saccrification Add 5.80 qt of water at 197.3 F 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 5.08 qt of water at 205.6 F 168.0 F

Ok so it needs a bump!

"Get yourself the plastic container used for glue when hanging wallpaper. It's long enough to place items like thieves, spoons, and hydrometers in. It provides a controlled surface for maintaining sanitation"

This is from terpsichoreankid over on youtube. It is honestly the best 2 bucks I ever spent. I got to take samples looking like a doctor with my thief, hydrometer, and sample vial all in one handy sanitized easy to carry package.

Jon V
Vestfold, Norway

Share ! Enjoy your best brews with family and good friends. You'll learn and improve on their feedback.

Bryan H
St Petersburg, Fl

When chilling wort with an immersion chiller, use a recirulating ice bath. Go to the local hardware store and purchase a cheap immersible pond pump (about 20 dollars). You can place the pump into a bucket of ice water, then pump the ice water through the wort chiller and return it back to the ice water. This significantly reduces the amount of water used to chill the wort (saving you money and protecting the environment) and will greatly reduce the time it take to chill the wort to pitching temps.

Don't forget when chilling the wort, to use a steriled spoon/paddle to sowly stir the wort around the chiller.

Adam G.
Natick, MA

Remember the efficiency of ANY wort chiller is related to the temperature of the water being used to chill the wort. If your tap water is ~50F, it will chill the wort faster/better than if your tap water is 75-80F (southern states)...

Do yourself a favor, get a quality thermometer for use in brewing. You'll need one accurate at higher temps (200F and above) to know when you're about to hit boil, as well as for lower temps (60-80F) to know when it's safe to pitch your yeast. You might need to get two thermometers. If you can, get one with a long probe so that you can easily send it into a carboy/bucket/etc. to check the wort temp before pitching yeast. It also helps to have the electronic part of the thermometer away from the vapor column coming from the pot (during boil time).

Don't be afraid to adjust your brewing procedure/process from batch to batch while still fairly new to brewing (for the first few years).

Take good notes on what you're brewing, as well as any/all hydrometer readings (date, time, reading). Keeping decent records will help you to either replicate the batch later, or figure out what you want to change for the next time you brew it.

Brew the styles YOU want to drink. Don't let others tell you what to brew.

Great tips guys and gals! Keep um coming, i dont go to publisher till between the 4th and 10th of February, there is still time to get your name and tip in the book!

Bump time

Eddie K.
Sacramento, CA

Always have a pipeline in your mind of your goals in your brewing. Having a planned brew list aids in the antsy feeling we all get staring at that fermenting bottle/bucket/whatever of brew. Having that plan in mind helps the restless feeling to stay in check. You already have spent money on equipment and ingredients, just have the patience to wait out the time the beer really needs to get where it's going. For example, I want to do a lambic or some sort of year-long-aging blend, I know I'm gonna have 5 or 6 brews in the pipeline to help keep my mind off the aging blend. Keep that pipeline and your goals posted in the front of your head.

JD E.
Mt. Hood, OR

Don't be afraid to DIY. There are many brewing items that can be built from stuff laying around the house or the loading dock at work.(ask before taking) Finding new DIY projects for me is almost more fun the brewing, and is great if you're on a budget.

Great tips guys and gals, i am accepting tips up till the 1st of Feb then i have to finish up the book and do all the finishing touches before it goes to publisher!

Vance71975 said:

Should i just list you as Anon since you didn't include a first name and last initial?

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-Homer
Reed City, Michigan