screw ups

[mglicini]

Ok so I have been brewing for just about a year now and a lot of my beer seems to turn out tasting good. Obviously that seems to feed the hobby more i would not consider myself an expert but I think I know a lot more about beer then I did a year ago. But it seems that I get the confidence to try something new and instead of hitting or being close I make a stupid mistake that seems to be a novice mistake and screw the beer up. For example tonight I tried making a DFH 60 min. Clone and I think everything seems to be going well and my og was ridiculously high so I added more water to bring it down and sure enough I added to much water and made a o.g of 5.8 when I was aiming for 6.4.. So I guess my question is is there a point you stop making these stupid mistakes. I'm sure the beer will taste fine but I like matching the numbers I feel it's just such a hit at the ego you know, ESP when all I had to do was check HBT and its says don't water it down so it's a common new mistake.

 

[mdpotter01]

Test your gravity throughout the boil with a refractometer. You should be able to gauge your boil off and you can end your boil sooner if your first wort was too high or boil it longer if your first wort was too low. Remember to adjust the times for your hop addition times to reflect the change in the length of your boil. If you adjust your gravity by adding water during your boil, you can always boil it a bit longer to bring it back up.

 

[daksin]

Yea, once you get comfortable on your equipment, you definitely develop a muscle memory for it. There's a lot going on, but you can commit the whole thing to memory after a while.

 

[chuckstout]

I feel ya, and have been brewin about 5 years. I have only tried to brew anothers recipe once, guess what happened i pushed a stopper through the opening of the carboy and right into my wannabe clone. It was an anything but cloned, so I just stick with making my own recipes. Reading up on styles buying books, listening to podcasts, drinking beer and of course browsing HBT daily. Now I learn about my process and different styles threw trial and error. Its might be more expensive, but it seems I always learn more when I make mistakes.

Cheers and brew on!

 

[mglicini]

[QUOTE="chuckstout". Now I learn about my process and different styles threw trial and error. Its might be more expensive, but it seems I always learn more when I make mistakes.[/QUOTE]

I just keep telling myself " I guess I won't make that mistake again" and then wait to see how they turn out.. a Thomas Edison approach "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

 

[MetallHed]

I'm not sure what size batches you're making but if you're worried about messing up a whole batch of a new recipe, you can do small batches as a test. If that turns out good, scale it up to your full size batch and have at it.

I think what you're describing, though, is what everyone has already been saying: knowing your system. That just takes time.

 

[badgerbrew14]

Don't feel bad - I've been doing this for about 20 years and I still screw things up occasionally. It's usually when I'm trying something new. It seems the best way for me to learn is to screw everything up once.