I think I need a book!

[NoTellin]

Hi guys, first time brewing on Monday Night...More questions than answers at this point. First off..I'm excited for this new venture and love the smell of brewing!! OK...The kit I bought was came with ingredients and instuctions but the more I read on this forum the more I think I might have screwed it up.
1st question: If the wort isnt at a rolling boil the whole hour, will it impact significantly?
2nd: The instructions stated to cool the wort, put it in the carboy and pitch the yeast...I did just that. (I followed the instructions on the yeast - 4oz of 80-90 degree water and mix) My question here is: Should I have mixed the wort in the carboy after pitching the yeast? Instructions didn't say that...

Thanks!
Brad

 

[mux]

This is a great book.
http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

[BBL_Brewer]

^ what the last guy said. And to answer your question, no. Stiring in the yeast is not neccesarry. They are a living organism and will go to work all on their own.

 

[jrobidoux]

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher is like my bible.

 

[CalmDreamer]

I don't think a book is of much help. There is a lot more info and knowledge gathered in there forums. Start reading, print the essentials and check back for additional info. Also stick to the forum, not the booklet of the kit.

 

[mux]

I don't think a book is of much help. There is a lot more info and knowledge gathered in there forums. Start reading, print the essentials and check back for additional info. Also stick to the forum, not the booklet of the kit.

What books have you read?

 

[DubBrew]

You want a rolling boil the whole hour. Don't start tracking the hour until you reach boil. If you are short the hour is it the end of the world? No, but a minimum hour boil is desirable. This becomes more important if you do all grain. No you don't need to mix the yeast in, it will take care of that itself.

Books I read when I started:
How to brew
The complete joy of homebrewing
Brewing classic styles
And every sticky on this forum

Also I think the brewing network and basic brewing radio archives were invaluable for me.

 

[stratslinger]

Also, check out this sticky for a great beginner's how-to.

Personally, I've read both How to Brew (online version and the printed version - the printed is the latest edition with quite a few updates over the online version) and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Both get across most of the same info, but come at it from slightly different angles. If you want to get more into the science and details of what's going on, and produce great beers, go with How To Brew. If you just want to kick back, relax, and produce great beers, go with The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.

But, I have to admit, there's not a whole lot I got out of those books that I haven't gotten several times over just reading HBT.

 

[Jayhem]

This has helped me more than anything I've read anywhere so far. Everything you need and want to know is in here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1.html

 

[BamaRooster]

I don't think a book is of much help. There is a lot more info and knowledge gathered in there forums. Start reading, print the essentials and check back for additional info. Also stick to the forum, not the booklet of the kit.

To each his own I guess. The very first thing I did was read 2 books about brewing and I found that it gave me an excellent foundation. With the information obtained from the books I was able to speed up my learning curve on the forums. But each brewer has to figure out what works for themselves.

 

[wailingguitar]

I'm still partial to Papazian's book for a great primer on brewing. Every brewery I have ever worked in had it on the shelf, and it was usually the first go to when someone had a question. It's a fun read and covers enough info to make exceptional beer.

 

[Homercidal]

I do suggest reading brewing books. They are enjoyable and might give you ideas and information. Easy to take with you and they make a great reference.

But you will get great and newer information on this site for sure.

Papazian is a good read and encouraging. Palmer is more technical, and I think he makes a great reference, but has a drier style.

Randy Mosher is a very interesting read with some great not-so-basic information. I'd recommend his books just the beertainment value alone!

Ray Daniels has a nice book for helping you to design your own recipes and although he basically just references past award winner data, he also gives some great insight into styles and brewing methods too.

After a couple of batches you'll get a good idea of what you are doing. I wish I had a great site like this way back when I started...

 

[flabyboy]

Brewing Better Beer by Gordon Strong is really good, but you really need to be doing all grain to get much out I it

 

[TorribleBrew]

+1 to "How to Brew"

I also really enjoyed "Brewing classic Styles" and "Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation".

However, this site is still one of the best resources I use daily!

 

[cimirie]

Far and away my favorite is "The Brewmaster's Bible." It gives great history, great technique, great why's and great descriptions of raw ingredients (malts, extracts, salts, yeast, and hops) and how best to use them.

I've read both Palmer and Papazien, and neither (IMO) is close to as helpful for both the beginner and the experienced brewer alike. Plus, it's an easy read - enough science to give understanding, but heavy on practicality.

 

[E-Mursed]

When I first got into brewing back in the 90's, we didn't have all the great Internet video available to us as we do today. All I had was Zymurgy magazine and The Joy of Homebrewing as references.

Youtube, Basic Brewing Radio video series, blogs, podcasts...all of these are available today and can give you some "instant" answers to your questions."

I highly recommend watching others through video and using books to immerse yourself into content that goes farther that a few minutes of video.

 

[Fennis]

I learned most of what I needed through this forum, especially as I moved on from extract brewing and on to partial mash and all-grain. For some basic brewing info and well-detailed you tube videos, I learned a lot from one channel in particular, CraigTube. I have a few of the books listed by others here, and they are helpful, but I am one that learns by doing. Its nice to use the books as a reference, but I mostly just move forward and try to make up for my mistakes in a future batch. Really through all of this I have learned that making beer is pretty forgiving. As long as you properly clean and sanitize your equipment so you do not introduce some wild bacteria or something into your beer, its very difficult to mess up your beer to the point of having to throw it out. Time will resolve most mistakes--that is probably the most important thing I have learned from this forum.

 

[Brewsef]

Wow, after reading some excerpts from the HowToBrew book posted above, I can find at least two mistakes I made with my 1st 5 gallon batch. Hopefully they are not big enough boo boos to stink up the whole batch.

Guess I didn't really understand that the grains in my first ever brew kit were specialty grains. I steeped some regular 2 row pale, and some Canada 2 row pale, and now I realize they needed to be mashed, not steeped. However I think I did add enough DME to make the batch turn out, I believe. Guess we'll find out in a few weeks.

Would be nice if the specialty grains in my fiorst kit were actually labeled, so I could have had an idea on what I was supposed to be using for a partial mash.

 

[Homercidal]

I often forget about it, but I have also read through "Homebrewing For Dummies" and it's actually a very good book on brewing.

 

[wolfpackguy]

I often forget about it, but I have also read through "Homebrewing For Dummies" and it's actually a very good book on brewing.

+1 to this. I like the layout of this book. Almost like a recipe. Makes it easy on brew day when you just want to cover your bases.

I also have Palmer, but its pretty wordy, so I use that for when I'm in the mood for technical info and trying to design things.

 

[Brewsef]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to grab two or three of those books and get reading b-4 my attempt at AG brewing. I'll stick to partials and extracts for now. I think I'm going to need to watch the AG process in action b-4 my first go round. Plus I need a bit more equipment.

 

[RM-MN]

While you are waiting to get the books, search out the info on BIAB on this forum. It takes very little additional equipment and you can be brewing all grain in just a few days, maybe even this afternoon.

 

[flabyboy]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to grab two or three of those books and get reading b-4 my attempt at AG brewing. I'll stick to partials and extracts for now. I think I'm going to need to watch the AG process in action b-4 my first go round. Plus I need a bit more equipment.

It's a lot easier than you think. There's just a bit more equipment involved