Brew Day! Give me your best brew tip!
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adiochiro3
Well-Known Member
Extract, all grain, partial mash, or BIAB? I think most everything is covered in publications.
Generally I would suggest bringing your wort to as vigorous boil as possible (without boiling over) and leave the the lid off to boil off compounds you don't want in your beer. That was one thing I picked up on later in the game.
Generally I would suggest bringing your wort to as vigorous boil as possible (without boiling over) and leave the the lid off to boil off compounds you don't want in your beer. That was one thing I picked up on later in the game.
flars
Well-Known Member
Sanitize your hands.
PRE66_6TART
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Take good notes. Write down every detail you can think of no matter how trivial. It will come in handy later.
I actually do sanitize my hands, but that is a great tip! I just upgraded to Beersmith pro, so notes are much better this time around. I'm pretty new, so I'm not sure what to write, but I'll do what you said. This is great! Keep it coming!
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Hoppity
Just brew it!
Line up all additions to the boil ahead of time. I've forgotten Irish Moss and yeast nutrient too many times.
Plan ahead. So you don't miss any steps.
Keep sanitary especially after the boil. (which does not have to be vigorous as previously stated)
Temperature control of the fermentation. Aim for the lower half of the optimal range of the yeast you are using.
Patience. Let the beer finish. Kit instructions are notoriously too quick. Go by gravity readings not time.
Enjoy the process and the product.
Keep sanitary especially after the boil. (which does not have to be vigorous as previously stated)
Temperature control of the fermentation. Aim for the lower half of the optimal range of the yeast you are using.
Patience. Let the beer finish. Kit instructions are notoriously too quick. Go by gravity readings not time.
Enjoy the process and the product.
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
3 tips: temp control, temp control, temp control. Those who don't might say it ain't that important, those who dial it in to 1 degree F with a fermentation chamber will never go back!
Wear shoes! Slipping on wet floors, falling stainless steel, dripping hot wort...none of these are good for your feet!
Using a propane burner? Make sure you have a lighter that works!
Using a stove? Don't leave the pot unattended!
Brewing outside? Check the weather report!
Eating a big meal before brewing helps! I always get caught up in the brewday and forget to eat.
Keep an eye on your pets!
Keep your recipe paper dry!
Lay out all of your tools in advance...thermometer, hydrometer, funnel, etc...don't want to wait until brewday to find out you lost something!
Take pictures to share with us!
Sorry it's more than one tip I get carried away
Using a propane burner? Make sure you have a lighter that works!
Using a stove? Don't leave the pot unattended!
Brewing outside? Check the weather report!
Eating a big meal before brewing helps! I always get caught up in the brewday and forget to eat.
Keep an eye on your pets!
Keep your recipe paper dry!
Lay out all of your tools in advance...thermometer, hydrometer, funnel, etc...don't want to wait until brewday to find out you lost something!
Take pictures to share with us!
Sorry it's more than one tip I get carried away
If you drink while you brew, try to wait until everything is in the boil kettle. I've had a few instances brewing with friends and solo brewing that I've started at the beginning of my brew day and I either forgot items, timing was off i.e additions, or took sub par notes. Also if you're using White Labs vials open them prior to setting it out to get room temp. I learned that mistake once. 
You can get your water/wort to boil much faster by leaving the lid on the pot, but keep the lid off once the boil stars.
SC_Ryan
Well-Known Member
Have fun... but not too much fun...
Sanitation (clean well with oxy or pbw and rinse, sanitize with starsan - don't rinse.) You cannot make good beer with poor sanitation.
Once you have that under control, Temp. control and yeast health. It is hard to make good beer without good yeast starter (for liquid yeast) and good temp. control (65ish for most ales - beer temp, not room temp.)
Start with good, tried and true recipes/kits and resist the urge to "change them" until you have brewed them at least once.
Rebrew the same beer multiple times - that is, ultimately, how you really learn to brew well. Change one variable at a time if you want to tweak a recipe.
Be organized. Have everything ready to roll. recipe, ingredients, clean equipment, etc.
Clean everything really well immediately after you are done using it - makes a huge difference in sanitation in the long run.
Don't get (too) drunk when brewing. Pretty much every stupid mistake I have ever made brewing beer came after 3 beers.
Once you have that under control, Temp. control and yeast health. It is hard to make good beer without good yeast starter (for liquid yeast) and good temp. control (65ish for most ales - beer temp, not room temp.)
Start with good, tried and true recipes/kits and resist the urge to "change them" until you have brewed them at least once.
Rebrew the same beer multiple times - that is, ultimately, how you really learn to brew well. Change one variable at a time if you want to tweak a recipe.
Be organized. Have everything ready to roll. recipe, ingredients, clean equipment, etc.
Clean everything really well immediately after you are done using it - makes a huge difference in sanitation in the long run.
Don't get (too) drunk when brewing. Pretty much every stupid mistake I have ever made brewing beer came after 3 beers.
PasbitinusBluinusRibbinus
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Also if you're using White Labs vials open them prior to setting it out to get room temp. I learned that mistake once.
I've got to ask you to explain this one... why do they need to be opened?
dhoge
Well-Known Member
Turn the heat down before you add hops. Helps prevent a boil over. Brewing outside with a burner, have the hose ready, if you boil over shut the heat off and spray everything down immediately, then re-light burner. I have heard second hand that it turns into a sticky mess.
If you take a whitelabs vial out, let it warm, shake it up to mix yeast, and then open - it will spray all over the place like a can of pop that you shook up.
Twist them open a bit (don't take lid off) and close back up. Shake and mix, let sit, crack it open again and reseal, etc. repeat, repeat, repeat..... this will let the pressure off so that when you go to pitch your yeast, you won't have it foaming out the top of the vial all over the place. Treat it like a two liter bottle of pop that got shook up too much - vent, seal, vent, seal, vent, seal - until the pressure is ok.
Also if you're using White Labs vials open them prior to setting it out to get room temp. I learned that mistake once.
When you take a White Labs vial out of the refrigerator it will start building pressure inside as it warms up. If you let it totally warm and open quickly you will be likely to get a face full of yeast.
When you first take it out of the fridge, crack it and release the pressure carefully, then crack and slowly release pressure every 10 minutes or so. This way there won't be a large pressure buildup.
YNOT2K
Well-Known Member
My advise is to remember you are a homebrewer and it takes beer to make beer.
1. Healthy yeast
2. Good water (no chlorine)
3. Pay attention to mash Ph (5.2 - 5.5)
4. Pitch yeast as soon as you can into oxygenated wort (lag time once you've cooled wort is high infection risk - once yeast starts making alchohol, infection risk declines a bunch)
5. Mind your fermentation temps - cooler is better than warmer
6. Be patient - most of my early flaws went away once I started giving my beer more time to condition.
2. Good water (no chlorine)
3. Pay attention to mash Ph (5.2 - 5.5)
4. Pitch yeast as soon as you can into oxygenated wort (lag time once you've cooled wort is high infection risk - once yeast starts making alchohol, infection risk declines a bunch)
5. Mind your fermentation temps - cooler is better than warmer
6. Be patient - most of my early flaws went away once I started giving my beer more time to condition.
walloon
New Member
Calibrate your thermometers regularly. I got lazy and skipped this for a while. The dial thermometer I use for mash was off by about 9 degrees which I didn't discover until three batches. Ugh.
BreezyBrew
IPA is my spirit animal
Use high quality malts. Don't get too drunk and forget stuff, like taking gravity samples. Or pitching the yeast .
.
Puddlethumper
Well-Known Member
After the boil be sure to adequately cool the wort before pitching the yeast. Better to cool it to below fermentation temp and let it rise than too warm and let it cool. Yeast should be within 10-15F of wort temp. The closer they are to the same temperature the better.
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bajaedition
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wear an apron or you will end up dedicating what you are wearing as brew clothes.
Spookgolds
Well-Known Member
My advise is to remember you are a homebrewer and it takes beer to make beer.
This is true, however a piece of advice directed at myself-
Don't drink too much too soon. The drunker I am, the sloppier I get and things get forgotten. Except the fun.
Hoppity
Just brew it!
Clean everything when you're done, especially the mash tun. Especially in the summer. A mistake you'll only make once. Ask me how I know...
Try to limit the distractions. While it might seem fun at first to have your buddies over to hang out on brew day, if they are not into brewing they can draw your attention away from what you need to be doing. Pounding down a bunch of brews with them only adds to the chaos.
OTOH, a friend who is truly interested in the brewing process can be of great assistance when you need a little help.
Another tip: make up some sandwiches before you start. At lunch time, you might not be able to pull away to prepare a meal.
OTOH, a friend who is truly interested in the brewing process can be of great assistance when you need a little help.
Another tip: make up some sandwiches before you start. At lunch time, you might not be able to pull away to prepare a meal.
jrgtr42
Well-Known Member
Lots of good tips here.
Personally some things I've learned:
Write down your planned recipe and procedure on one column on a notebook (even if you do most everything online.) write the actual numbers and so forth on the second column, to make sure you have everything.
set out all your equipment beforehand, make sure it's clean and sanitized long before you need it.
Ditto ingredients. Make sure your grains / extract are what you want, and in the amounts you want. Hop additions, if it's not even amounts for the packaging, weigh them out before you need them as well (during mash or waiting for things to boil is a good time)
WEar long pants and closed-toe shoes - wort and burners are hot.
Clean what you can as you go. if you're all-grain, you can start while the wort is coming to a boil or after the 60-min addition, cleaning out your mash tun and so forth.
I personally do not like to drink while I have open flames - too much to possibly go wrong, and forgetting steps. I don't pop the first one until the wort is in the fermenter.
Make sure your yeast is ready to go - I set it out when I start the brewday.
Personally some things I've learned:
Write down your planned recipe and procedure on one column on a notebook (even if you do most everything online.) write the actual numbers and so forth on the second column, to make sure you have everything.
set out all your equipment beforehand, make sure it's clean and sanitized long before you need it.
Ditto ingredients. Make sure your grains / extract are what you want, and in the amounts you want. Hop additions, if it's not even amounts for the packaging, weigh them out before you need them as well (during mash or waiting for things to boil is a good time)
WEar long pants and closed-toe shoes - wort and burners are hot.
Clean what you can as you go. if you're all-grain, you can start while the wort is coming to a boil or after the 60-min addition, cleaning out your mash tun and so forth.
I personally do not like to drink while I have open flames - too much to possibly go wrong, and forgetting steps. I don't pop the first one until the wort is in the fermenter.
Make sure your yeast is ready to go - I set it out when I start the brewday.
Puddlethumper
Well-Known Member
The last post reminded me of something....
I like to wear Crocks when I brew. Very comfortable and easy on the feet. They provide a decent level of foot protection. And the best part, the are made of rubber (or something like it) so it doesn't matter a whit if they get wet. If you happen to spill something hot you can kick them off in about two seconds and get those toes cooled off.
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I like to wear Crocks when I brew. Very comfortable and easy on the feet. They provide a decent level of foot protection. And the best part, the are made of rubber (or something like it) so it doesn't matter a whit if they get wet. If you happen to spill something hot you can kick them off in about two seconds and get those toes cooled off.
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Good stuff, I save identical plastic tubs (same tar weight) from sour cream. I measure out all my hops and additions, put them in the cups and stack them in order. Have an extra propane cylinder available. I wear Nitrile Rubber gloves to keep my hands from being eaten up by star san, I can spray gloved hands. Have clean towels handy. I keep a cheap hot plate available to heat wort to increase mash temp and to heat cleaning water. Two clocks, two thermometers.
My very best advice....
Keep it simple. Over complicating a hobby turns the hobby into work. Who likes to work at a hobby? Psychotic individuals, that's who.
Keep it simple and enjoy the hobby. Otherwise, punch back in and go back to work.
Keep it simple. Over complicating a hobby turns the hobby into work. Who likes to work at a hobby? Psychotic individuals, that's who.
Keep it simple and enjoy the hobby. Otherwise, punch back in and go back to work.
Hamaki
Well-Known Member
What he said...I like music while I'm brewing and a beer or two.
Have some homebrews while you're brewing... But don't drink too many. Every single one of my really stupid mistakes was done when I drank too much while brewing.
The worst was when I put my auto siphon racking cane with tubing into my kettle while it was cooling. The tubing was already primed. When I left the room, the end of the tubing slipped out of the kettle, and when I came back ten minutes later, I had all five gallons of wort on my basement floor. Needless to say I wasn't happy after having spent the last five hours brewing only to have it all over my floor. It was a heavy-hopped IIPA too, so the grain and hop bill was fairly substantial.
Also, clean things as you go. Don't leave anything to clean for the next day. Cleaning is easy when it's done during the brew. If you leave it for the next day, especially the boil kettle, you'll really wish you had done it when it was easy.
The worst was when I put my auto siphon racking cane with tubing into my kettle while it was cooling. The tubing was already primed. When I left the room, the end of the tubing slipped out of the kettle, and when I came back ten minutes later, I had all five gallons of wort on my basement floor. Needless to say I wasn't happy after having spent the last five hours brewing only to have it all over my floor. It was a heavy-hopped IIPA too, so the grain and hop bill was fairly substantial.
Also, clean things as you go. Don't leave anything to clean for the next day. Cleaning is easy when it's done during the brew. If you leave it for the next day, especially the boil kettle, you'll really wish you had done it when it was easy.
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