How long...

[Knightshade]

I’ll +1 some of the advice I’m here. Select 1 fermenter, stick with it and refine your process.

Suggest going simple with recipes too, do a couple SMaSH beers, again to refine your process. Use different hops if you want some variety. I brewed a SMaSH(ish) pale ale a couple weeks ago because I felt I had lost my way and had recently made a REALLY meh beer and a dumper.

Heck, this is a great recipe for hop discovery too. Simple grain bill, consistent yeast, all you’re changing is hops.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/base-pale-ale-recipe-for-single-hop-beers.673718/
I went more or less straight to AG brewing and kegging. It can be done.

A question though, don’t see it specified and wondering if this is where something is going wrong is how you’re bottling? I’m assuming from fermenter into priming bucket. All bottles are already cleaned, sanitized and ready to go?

 

[wepeeler]

A lot of good feedback in this thread! I started doing extract batches. After about a year I switched over to all grain, but the experience I gained making about 10 extract batches was invaluable. Once you have the process down, it makes moving to all grain much easier. That being said, all grain can be super overwhelming. It's like going into a fully stocked pantry and not knowing how to cook well. Even after brewing for 5+ years, I still find it overwhelming, but easier to navigate through the abyss. I would say research is the number 1 thing that helped my beer. I read everything I can, and I pick everyone's brain. I read on styles I'm interested in brewing. Lots of home brew sites have simple recipes to follow, to get your feet wet. YouTube! Every time I visit a brewery I ask about their process, ingredients etc. I joined a local beer club, which also has helped tremendously. Most people are very willing to help or at least offer advice on how to improve.

Most local breweries will have someone working that is willing to talk beer. Tell them you just started brewing and are having a difficult time. Keeping it simple is a great approach. Truth be told, most really good beer isn't super complex. You can make most styles with fewer than 3 or 4 grains (often times just 2 or 3), 2 to 3 hop varieties and yeast. Water can be a concern, especially if it's tap. I started using Poland Spring bottles from Walmart, and the beer was absolutely drinkable. Once I learned about water chemistry, I switched to RO water, but that isn't a necessity to brew good beer.

This site has also been great. Met tons of nice people and learned a lot. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Keep it simple!

 

[Kharnynb]

I've never had a real dumper, some were better, some just okay.
I think I lucked out with having amazing city water, so my basics were easier than some people's.

the only beer that really didn't work well was a saison that i forgot to use any clearing agents, so it was a cloudy yeasty mess.

 

[Craftyape007]

What does that mean, it didn’t look like beer? Cloudy? Color off?

It looked like bottling process caused an infection and it had a faint rotten egg smell. And a bit too yeasty seemingly

Are you using lager yeast? Lager yeast produces a sulfury smell that will go down with aging. Lager beers need to be aged cold.

No a an empire Ale yeast

Start with a basic recipe, nothing too fancy to begin with. Stout and brown ales are good first time brews. Get the basics down before trying flavorings and extra things.

Ok sounds like good advice

 

[BrewChem]

Started out with extract kits and paid attention to the details while trying not to over-think … ended up making decent, share-able beer from day one. Been brewing for over 12 years now and have had a few “disappointments” along the way as well as the occasional “not what I expected but ok” batches too… only had 3 dumpers though. Last one was a year ago.

 

[Craftyape007]

Had a couple dumpers (extract batches) early on. Both infected, had bottle volcanoes. I stepped up my sanitation, replaced tubing and other plastic parts...

What is your method for keeping the tubing sanitized and fresh? Which plastic components did you switch out?

 

[MaxStout]

What is your method for keeping the tubing sanitized and fresh? Which plastic components did you switch out?

I always keep a 5 gal bucket of Starsan solution. On bottling day I'd toss everything in that bucket for a while. Siphon hoses are a bit tricky, but I'd make sure to fill up the tubing with Starsan to sanitize the insides. The bottling bucket valve can be disassembled--I put the parts in a jar of Starsan to store until next time.

I'd replace vinyl tubing (siphon hoses, etc.) every so often. I usually get 20' rolls of 5/16" and 3/8" tubing from the hardware store for a few bucks, so the cost of replacement is minimal.

 

[JAReeves]

I started home-brewing full-time about 4 1/2 years ago. I had a Mr. Beer pre-2000, and it sucked compared to what I could buy, the kits were never in stock, etc., so I quit home-brewing. Since 2017, though, I have brewed/vinted 20+ batches per year. Not a lot of wine or mead, but a decent amount of cider and a lot of ale. I have yet to successfully make a lager. Anyways, my first few batches were hit and miss, the darker beers were better because the malt and hops can cover some major process flaws. As I have moved to better temp control, O2 ingress control, and ingredient understanding, I am making 4-5% Pale Ales with wonderful hop expression and clean flavors (and some in-demand beers from people I know).

I am a stickler for sanitation (comes from being a profession chef) and I take copious notes of every step of the way including how it tastes from wort to throughout the fermentation, end of fermentation, and then every day (or so) as it carbonates in the keg. Some beers don't need that much testing anymore, I have them dialed in, but new brews get careful attention until I am satisfied that other humans are allowed to taste it.

 

[Craftyape007]

UPDATE: i simplified my approach on the recipes, then i also switched to kegging, instead of bottles. Additionally, I also added one additional week for fermentation. All is good now. I now have a wonderful porter and an IPA that turned out fantastically well.

Thanks everyone for the insights and help