Hello from Michigan

[Purebloom]

Hello -

For Christmas I received the Brewer's Best set by LD Carlson. I have been lurking on these forums for awhile reading up here and there in preparation for my first batch. The set I received came with the ingredent kit for the IPA, which I have read is a good one to start with and coincidentally one of my personal favorites. Eventually I'd like to experiment and not make direct from a kit, but it will be a great thing to start with. It will be a couple weeks before I begin my batch and I wanted to say hello and also see if anyone has any small tips or advice that they would like to offer that may be overlooked from inexperienced, first time brewers.

I don't think this is going to be easy, but I do think it will be lots of fun! Can't wait to get going.

 

[dblvsn]

First off, it is easy to make good beer. I'm definately not the expert brewer here but I'll see how well I can do as far as giving you some advice as I'm a newbie to the hobby myself. I've gotten a few batches under my belt now and ran into what feels like most problems a homebrewer can run into. But they weren't really problems, it was lack of patience. Everything has always turned out well. The biggest thing to brewing is PATIENCE! Brewing is easy, it just does its thing and sometimes does things a little slower than what is expected. RDWHAHB! (Relax! Don't Worry! Have A Home Brew) You're gonna notice the beer do strange things that just doesn't look natural and it's gonna make you panic. RDWHAHB! I'm gonna mention yeast now as it falls right in line with patience. For the most part once you pitch your yeast fermentation should start up within 24 hours. It may take 72 hours. RDWHAHB! Just give it a little time. Next thing is SANITATION! You cannot make good beer with dirty equipment. Sanitizers are cheap and easy to use. Don't overlook cleaning anything during the brewing process. An extra couple minutes cleaning your equipment will go a long way. There's a lot of other advice but if you've been lingering around the forums awhile I'm sure you've read up on some of the other hints and tricks. Brewing is one of the best hobbies I've discovered. Anyways, I hope I helped in some way. Good luck in your brewing adventures and welcome to the forums!

CHEERS!

 

[Blender]

Hello and welcome. Brewing kits are a great way to start as you gain experience with the process. I would read the instructions through a couple of times before starting so that you pretty clear on the steps. As stated above cleanliness is important,aerating the wort after boiling and keeping a stable fermenting temperature. what type of yeast did they include with the kit?

 

[Purebloom]

Thanks! Yeah, it certainly does seem like a thing of patience.... so I'll have to remind myself of that.... and I really hope it turns out drinkable!

Thanks again and I'll remember to RDWHAHB!

 

[lancomm]

A coincidental first post for me, for I too am from Michigan and received the ID Carlson brewing kit for Christmas. I went to my local brewy and purchased an ingredient kit for my first go. It is titled the "We would call it Bass but that would be a little fishy ale", and I am hoping it will turn out well becuase I really enjoy bass. My main concern is whether the ID Carlson "easy clean" will sanitize my equipment enough, so I will probably run some of it through a high heat no detergent dishwasher run prior to cleaning. I saw that several others have had success with this in some of their posts. Let me know how your kit treats you and I will let you know what goes well / bad with mine.
Cheers!