Helping a new Brewer - any tips or suggestions

[Willy]

I have a nephew who is into home brewing. He owns no gear. He helped with a few batches and I made a 5 gal batch with him based on a recipe of what he was looking for. We will be bottling this in about 10 days - so he can take it home.

He is into the whole home brewing thing. I want to help him on his way but not overwhelm him (with my insanity and wanting to know every possible permutation of achieving beer greatness).

This will allow me to pass on some gear to a good home - but mostly it would be cool to help a new Brewer on his way.

Never done this before. Please help with suggestions on how to help a new Brewer go next level. Thanks.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

What does he need help with? What is he willing to spend? More accurately, how much does he THINK he's willing to spend? We'll just multiply that by 5 since we know how this works.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Please help with suggestions on how to help a new Brewer go next level.

The next time you brew together, ask him to be the lead brewer. Have him outline the brew day process & review it with him before the brew day begins. On brew day, your roles are 1) be his assistant (he gives you things to do) and 2) be his coach (he you asks questions).

 

[hungupdown]

There's a lot to take in, so try to keep it simple as possible, and using no more equipment than he'd be starting with.

Maybe:
Minimal (or no) water additions.
(if all grain) Go for fixed mash; sparge and boil procedures, volumes and durations.
A direct pitch yeast (rather than starter).
Have a brewday checklist, and maybe another for fermentation.

Simplest, might be for him to start off fermenting extract kits, or wort prepared on your system. Before moving on to the full process.

It'll get easier to understand, once he starts using his own gear. Maybe offer to be on call, for his first solo batches.

 

[Ninoid]

Perhaps he should start with the simplest method that requires the least investment, equipment and space, which is eBIAB, No Sparge, No Chill, bottling with natural carbonation, without regulating the fermentation temperature using dry yeasts depending on the current ambient temperature. This will not make a top quality beer, but it is certainly very good to drink with friends.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

This will allow me to pass on some gear to a good home

What equipment will you pass along? and what equipment will he need (or want) to buy?

"Ambient temperature": does he have an area in mind for fermentation / bottle conditioning? Does he know the temperature range for that area and is it reasonable for fermentation / bottle conditioning with the yeast strains he plans on using? (side story: I'm trying bottle conditioning at 58F (ambient) with the Flash Brewing kit yeast - for this batch, bottle conditioning is very, very, very, very, very, very slow, but appears to be 'on course' (but not 'on schedule') for getting a good carbonation level. If I'm going to 'warm up' the bottles, I'll put them in chest cooler at 75F for about a week).

 

[odie]

biggest tip...cleanliness and sanitation...nothing else will matter if not.

start basic, no fancy stuff. probably minimal BIAB equipment is best. get a few beers done and get a feel for the process before building/inventing money into equipment that you may not use in the long term.

I can't tell you how much cool looking brewing "stuff" I have that is basically useless.

 

[MaxStout]

Like @BrewnWKopperKat suggested, have your nephew run the show for a brew. See how he handles all the tasks at hand, from planning and setup to takedown and cleaning.

Once you both have a good idea what he wants to do going forward, put together a list of supplies in a few groups:
1. Stuff that's necessary to do basic brews.
2. Stuff that isn't necessary, per se, but would be helpful and would improve the process.
3. Stuff that's esoteric (bling).

Help him gather items in 1., and let him fly solo on a brew or two. When he has the basics down, help him get items from 2. Ignore 3.

 

[bwible]

How much does he already know? Start where we all started - with a book. How to Brew, Designing Great Beers, something like that. In addition to those I had a couple recipe books at the beginning. I learned about different grains and also different yeasts from seeing them in recipes and looking up what they are and what they’re for. There are so many new hops now and so many I haven’t even used myself I wouldn’t even know where to start with those. Probably the basics. It sounds like you know what kind of beer he likes. Pick a recipe and brew it and refine it til he gets it right.

 

[Ninoid]

What equipment will you pass along? and what equipment will he need (or want) to buy?

"Ambient temperature": does he have an area in mind for fermentation / bottle conditioning? Does he know the temperature range for that area and is it reasonable for fermentation / bottle conditioning with the yeast strains he plans on using? (side story: I'm trying bottle conditioning at 58F (ambient) with the Flash Brewing kit yeast - for this batch, bottle conditioning is very, very, very, very, very, very slow, but appears to be 'on course' (but not 'on schedule') for getting a good carbonation level. If I'm going to 'warm up' the bottles, I'll put them in chest cooler at 75F for about a week).

The ambient temperature would be the temperature of the room where the fermenter is placed. Carbonation using priming sugar requires a slightly higher temperature (room temperature), but carbonation will be done at 30'C, but also at 15'C, but at lower temperatures it will take longer.

 

[Willy]

What equipment will you pass along? and what equipment will he need (or want) to buy?

"Ambient temperature": does he have an area in mind for fermentation / bottle conditioning? Does he know the temperature range for that area and is it reasonable for fermentation / bottle conditioning with the yeast strains he plans on using? (side story: I'm trying bottle conditioning at 58F (ambient) with the Flash Brewing kit yeast - for this batch, bottle conditioning is very, very, very, very, very, very slow, but appears to be 'on course' (but not 'on schedule') for getting a good carbonation level. If I'm going to 'warm up' the bottles, I'll put them in chest cooler at 75F for about a week).

Some plastic ferm buckets, a 10 g pot, bottles and bottles, and more bottles. Bottle filling tube - I don't bottle anymore and all stainless steel.

 

[Willy]

Car

The ambient temperature would be the temperature of the room where the fermenter is placed. Carbonation using priming sugar requires a slightly higher temperature (room temperature), but carbonation will be done at 30'C, but also at 15'C, but at lower temperatures it will take longer.

Carbing at room temp. 2 weeks. Using corn sugar or carb drops if I got them. Keeping it simple.

 

[bwible]

Do you belong to a homebrew club or is there one in your area? I get alot out of our club. Everybody brings their creations and you get to taste and discuss. Alot of exposure to things and ideas I might not have found on my own.

 

[Willy]

How much does he already know? Start where we all started - with a book. How to Brew, Designing Great Beers, something like that. In addition to those I had a couple recipe books at the beginning. I learned about different grains and also different yeasts from seeing them in recipes and looking up what they are and what they’re for. There are so many new hops now and so many I haven’t even used myself I wouldn’t even know where to start with those. Probably the basics. It sounds like you know what kind of beer he likes. Pick a recipe and brew it and refine it til he gets it right.

He likes my English Brown ale and an Irish Red - so we put together a recipe with Marris Otter, Pale Ale, Brown malt, a little of this and that to redden it up a bit, but mostly English Ale style. Hops were fuggles and cascade (he loved the smell of them and we subbed out the usual EKG. Fermenting is about 1/2 done for time, final gravity has been reached - works out, spot on at 4.9 ABV, but I always go 12 days to ferment at least, mostly 14 days. Bottling next weekend.

 

[Willy]

Do you belong to a homebrew club or is there one in your area? I get alot out of our club. Everybody brings their creations and you get to taste and discuss. Alot of exposure to things and ideas I might not have found on my own.

Not yet. I live out in the sticks and the meetings are about a 30+ min drive, one of these days I will go.

 

[Snuffy]

I agree with Odie on the sanitation part. He needs to know Starsan, PBW and how to clean everything before and after the brew. Once you get that down, the brewing part is gravy. I'd let him be grunt and pay some dues. He will thank you later. Also, the list of things NOT to do is helpful. (ie the "Don't Do That" thread)

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Maybe find a few good YouTube videos on brewing. When I went to all grain, I had only seen it done once, and it was a “live show”, so it was a one shot deal. Watching a few videos was helpful for me in seeing how others were manipulating the equipment and process to get the desired results. I also listened to a few podcasts while I was working that brought a number of tips/ideas forward.

After he gets comfortable with the basics, tell him to hang out here. I can’t tell you how much I have learned just from following the folks here.

 

[Willy]

Maybe find a few good YouTube videos on brewing. When I went to all grain, I had only seen it done once, and it was a “live show”, so it was a one shot deal. Watching a few videos was helpful for me in seeing how others were manipulating the equipment and process to get the desired results. I also listened to a few podcasts while I was working that brought a number of tips/ideas forward.

After he gets comfortable with the basics, tell him to hang out here. I can’t tell you how much I have learned just from following the folks here.

I agree. He has helped with a few all grain batches - was planning on starting him off on a hybrid brew day - some caro malts and assorted grains but use LME or DME for the base malt side of things. Slow....

 

[mac_1103]

Some plastic ferm buckets, a 10 g pot, bottles and bottles, and more bottles. Bottle filling tube - I don't bottle anymore and all stainless steel.

This is the stuff you used to brew with before you got all fancy. So just show him how you used to brew when you were using it. Except also tell him what you would have done differently if you'd known better back then. Learning from our own mistakes is good. Learning from someone else's mistakes is better.

 

[Willy]

This is the stuff you used to brew with before you got all fancy. So just show him how you used to brew when you were using it. Except also tell him what you would have done differently if you'd known better back then. Learning from our own mistakes is good. Learning from someone else's mistakes is better.

Spot on. That's why I am doing a small mash with the extracts... So he can get the palette for making great beer. Understanding the contributions of the different grains to the taste, color and bitterness profile of the beer is key to making beer so good it is wonderful.