I made a batch a few weeks ago, the first one since last winter, and realized I never referred to any instructions except to the recipe itself. I didn't post, ask questions, look at the usual web sites or open a book. I just brewed. I also didn't make any mistakes or forget anything in the process. Everything just went from beginning to end.
It helps that I finally figured out a sanitizing setup that doesn't require much work. I make a 5 gallon batch of star-san in one carboy, and let it sit overnight to kill the foam. I have a flat plastic bin that I store my equipment in that coincidentally holds about 7 gallons so I now take out the equipment and siphon the sanitizer into the bin. It's flat so I don't even need to raise the carboy, I just pour the remainder in. Since the equipment all fits in, I can throw anything in and it will cover. I just use the siphon, tubing, funnel, airlock, caps and whatever straight from the bin. The carboy is also sanitized since it was holding the sanitizer. When I'm done brewing I siphon into my other carboy and I'm done cleaning too. I used to spend a lot of time washing, sanitizing, waiting to dry, having to run the long equipment through.
It also helps that I made a wort chiller. The two best purchases were an auto-siphon and the chiller. My next purchase will be a kettle for full boil.
The batch was an American Ale, nothing fancy, and first tastes were clean. Still in the secondary at this point.
It helps that I finally figured out a sanitizing setup that doesn't require much work. I make a 5 gallon batch of star-san in one carboy, and let it sit overnight to kill the foam. I have a flat plastic bin that I store my equipment in that coincidentally holds about 7 gallons so I now take out the equipment and siphon the sanitizer into the bin. It's flat so I don't even need to raise the carboy, I just pour the remainder in. Since the equipment all fits in, I can throw anything in and it will cover. I just use the siphon, tubing, funnel, airlock, caps and whatever straight from the bin. The carboy is also sanitized since it was holding the sanitizer. When I'm done brewing I siphon into my other carboy and I'm done cleaning too. I used to spend a lot of time washing, sanitizing, waiting to dry, having to run the long equipment through.
It also helps that I made a wort chiller. The two best purchases were an auto-siphon and the chiller. My next purchase will be a kettle for full boil.
The batch was an American Ale, nothing fancy, and first tastes were clean. Still in the secondary at this point.