Advice For A New Brewer

[LiveWirez]

Hello to everyone. I am new at home brewing and like a challenge. I currently am heavy into the reef aquarium hobby and have been for many years and now I also have a large interest in home brewing as well. I started with a Mr. Beer kit a few weeks ago and did not like the taste of the results. I let it ferment for an extra week as the fine print said and then bottled a week later I tried one and it tasted like wine lol. I will try another down the road and see how it goes.

Anyway I am now looking into full grain brewing and did buy the next step up today and got the ale pail set up along with a kit that includes hops and barley but still has the malt extract. So I am going to try that next as I think about making a setup for full grain. I need to get measurements for a setup and I am wondering if they are posted somewhere on the forums here? Also I would like to get any helpful info that will help me along the way so all input is very welcome. I know the basics of sanitize and sanitize but are there any other helpful hints or info that will help me along the way to become a great brewer?

 

[h22lude]

When you say you bought the next step up, do you mean next step up in equipment or ingredient kit?

If all you did was bought an ale ingredient kit to use with your mr beer kit...my advice, throw away the mr beer kit and buy something like this http://morebeer.com/view_product/15909/102142/Personal_Home_Brewery_#1_-_Standard

I have tasted beer from mr beer kits and it was gross. I have also heard this from people that bought mr beer kits.

 

[Conan4480]

Read, read and then read some more. I am getting started on my first batch this week, but I have been reading as much as I can before I get started.

 

[veritas524]

http://www.howtobrew.com

read.

 

[h22lude]

I read Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione. I found it to be a great read and he even gives you some Dogfish Head recipes.

 

[LiveWirez]

I bought a kit that contains the following:

The True Brew Handbook
6.5 gallon Primary Fermeting Bucket with drilled and grommetted lid
6.5 gallon Bottling Bucket with spigot
Hydrometer
3-piece airlock
True Brew Rack & Fill kit including:
True Brew Spring Filler
5' flex tubing
24" curved racking cane with tip
Tubing Clamp
Tube Holder
Double Lever Capper
Bottle Brush
C-Brite Sanitizing Cleanser
Fermometer (fermenting thermometer)

I also bought a True Brew Canadian ale kit to start out. I will also have RO water at a TDS of 0 for the batch. So my water is pristine I dont have a wort chiller yet but have seen videos using an ice bath. I will get a wort chiller this weekend most likely. But are there any other things that will help the first brew to turn out better than normal? I have been reading a lot and watching all the videos I can find.

 

[superjunior]

you'll see there are many sub forums here that cover pretty much every subject. also check out the stickys on top and use the search function. tons of info on this board
happy brewing

 

[mikeysab]

Seems like you bought a starter kit from somewhere. When you say you bought a kit with hops, barley and malt extract, that's called partial mash. You'll mash, or steep some grains, but the majority of your fermentables will be from extract. You can make great beers using PM, certainly better than Mr. Beer.

As far as advice, I would say to be patient. Don't expect to just rush through things and be making great beers. Patience is important on all levels. If you need an ingredient, you can make substitutions, but sometimes you have to wait for something, like waiting for a starter to be ready, instead of just pitching a smack pack, or waiting to get some real hefe yeast instead of using 05.

Patience during brewing is key on a lot of levels. Make sure you hit your temps, make additions at the right times, cool your wort to pitching temps, and sanitize everything that will touch your wort. Don't rush anything. It may seem like if you cut one corner it won't be a big deal, but it could be the difference between a great beer and an OK beer.

Have patience while your yeast is doing it's thing. Just because you have wort in a bucket with some yeast doesn't mean the process is over. Let them ferment your wort, clean up after themselves, and carbonate your beer. 3 to 4 weeks in primary is the norm for most people. Another 3 or 4 weeks to carbonate and condition a little is normal, and needed. While carbonating, you could crack one every week or 5 days to see what's going on, but don't expect to be drinking them before 3 weeks in the bottle.

Also have patience with your brewing experience. If you make a kit, or put together a recipe and it's no good, don't worry about it. You'll have some less than perfect batches, but stick to it and keep your head up. You'll learn something with every batch. I just pulled off 2 stinkers in a row. Both drinkable, and both of which others have said are great, but not good by my standards. I learned something from both of them, which I plan on brewing both recipes again, but changing certain things.

That's my little tidbit of advice. Hopefully it will help you brew some good beers. Other than that, welcome to the obsession.

 

[LiveWirez]

Thank you for the great information! I will make sure to take my time and double check everything. I have also been thinking about getting beer tools pro in the future and hope that will help me with my new obsession. I guess I am more of a complicated style makes me more happy person or a challenge is better then just putting things in a 2 gallon brown keg and saying its done. I would rather get in all the ingredients and mess up that way and know where I made the screw up.

I will make sure to sanitize everything 2 times over. I will take my time and put a lot of thought into what I am getting ready to do before I do make the brew. Some other questions are do the coolers work well for the mash and do they keep their heat? And also should I use an air lock or just go with a blow off all the time to be safe? I already know this will be an obsession for me and all the extra information I can get before I start brewing is very appreciated!