How many batches of beer have you made until it's drinkable and tasty?

[mongoose33]

Stop brewing lagers and difficult recipes. Start with simple ales and go up from there

Some of the best advice ever for new brewers.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

I had to brew five or so until I started consistently liking the results. A lot of things were probably going on, and I didn't scientifically test or anything to see what it was. I have several theories:

I was fermenting S-05 too low and getting a (to me) nasty estery taste.
I don't like Crystal 60 as much as the people who design kit recipes at Northern Brewer.
I was buying several kits at a time and using specialty grains too long after they were milled.
I was using tap water with a mineral profile that didn't play nice with LME.

I just ended up investing in an 8 gallon pot, learning to BIAB, and going mostly all-grain. Everything is much better now, and I just make my own recipes. If I needed to brew a beer bigger than 1.06 or so, I'd add pale DME to make up the gravity. This process works great for me.

 

[neverfadeaway86]

my first brew turned out fine, and each one after as been good. My advice when starting out is just to keep it simple no need to get into anything to advanced where you need special equipment or to babysit to much. A nice wheat beer is a nice easy beer to start with

 

[Knightmare1]

I'm and expert at being a rookie. Made the same mistake on my first brew when I tried a lager without proper fermentation equipment to do it. I live in Florida so a refrigerator is mandatory for lagers. Switched to Ale and was able to ferment easily with a swamp cooler type setup. 1 year later and 11 batches since the lager fiasco. All beers coming out great or at least good enough my friends can drink it and lie about how good it is.
so I triple what others here have said and would go with a brew you can control fermentation temp on(any ALE) Good luck

 

[Mainer]

I'm and expert at being a rookie. Made the same mistake on my first brew when I tried a lager without proper fermentation equipment to do it. I live in Florida so a refrigerator is mandatory for lagers. Switched to Ale and was able to ferment easily with a swamp cooler type setup. 1 year later and 11 batches since the lager fiasco. All beers coming out great or at least good enough my friends can drink it and lie about how good it is.
so I triple what others here have said and would go with a brew you can control fermentation temp on(any ALE) Good luck

I live in Maine, so all that stuff people say about ales being super easy to brew without temp control? I find not so much. I've had several ales stall out on me during the winter because we keep the thermostat at 60, and our spare room (where I ferment) is colder than that. Don't even get me started on sours and saisons.
Lagers, though, are easy for me because our cellar stays at a pretty consistent high 40s/low 50s all winter.

Edit: Nottingham and Wyeast 1728 have never failed me, though, even in the dead of winter.

 

[Knightmare1]

Yea, I guess didn't think that one all the way through. sounds like the OP is in my situation trying to obtain cool enough temps to even ferment an ALE.
Will one day setup a way to make lagers, but next in line would be kegging for me.

 

[Txcheddar]

I am eight brews in and waiting on two in the mail. I have learned something each time I have brewed, always something new that I had not thought of, I find being able to be consistent is important. After my first two batches I immediately purchased a ink bird dual temp controller and sacrificed my chest freezer for a fermenting chamber. Having control of temperature has greatly helped me be consistent. Although using a freezer may not be the best due to moisture and the mold i have been finding. I also made a 50' copper wort chiller, very necessary. I also have been making one of the same brews. Fresh squished IPA. I have brewed this three times so far. I have learned a lot doing the same kind. Different things you do can affect the outcome. I try a new brew usually a stout along with the IPA. I like to brew two or three the same day it seems easier when dragging everything out the same day to brew more than one. Its makes for a long day but the outcome is worth the effort. So far no major problems, no infections and everything has tasted good. All the effort cleaning, sanitizing and being organized pays off. I recently confused my brews and put additions in the wrong fermenter. I put chocolate nibs in the Double IPA and the Hops in the Stout. See always learning something. I even made name tags for the brews but i did not put them on the when I transferred to secondary.

 

[motosapiens]

it sounds like you don't like to follow instructions. That makes the learning curve take longer. Starting with extract ales, any monkey can make very drinkable beer on the first try. For all-grain you will either need to learn about water chemistry, get lucky with your water supply, or use RO water and measured amounts of minerals to make drinkable beer right away, but a lucky monkey can still make good beer right away.

 

[Denny]

I am eight brews in and waiting on two in the mail. I have learned something each time I have brewed, always something new that I had not thought of, I find being able to be consistent is important. After my first two batches I immediately purchased a ink bird dual temp controller and sacrificed my chest freezer for a fermenting chamber. Having control of temperature has greatly helped me be consistent. Although using a freezer may not be the best due to moisture and the mold i have been finding. I also made a 50' copper wort chiller, very necessary. I also have been making one of the same brews. Fresh squished IPA. I have brewed this three times so far. I have learned a lot doing the same kind. Different things you do can affect the outcome. I try a new brew usually a stout along with the IPA. I like to brew two or three the same day it seems easier when dragging everything out the same day to brew more than one. Its makes for a long day but the outcome is worth the effort. So far no major problems, no infections and everything has tasted good. All the effort cleaning, sanitizing and being organized pays off. I recently confused my brews and put additions in the wrong fermenter. I put chocolate nibs in the Double IPA and the Hops in the Stout. See always learning something. I even made name tags for the brews but i did not put them on the when I transferred to secondary.

Try using Damp Rid in your freezer.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

My first one turned out great, but the quality went way down when I started using tap water even with campden tablets. Try doing a batch with gallons of "spring water" from the store using your current process. If it turns out great then great you identified water as the problem. If it is still bad then I guess you are out 5 or so $ and still looking.

You'll figure it out.

 

[bigplunkett]

You should try a cider supper easy. Unicorn blood is good 5 gal of pasteurized apple cider or juice with no additives thats important. Even with no suger you will be around 6 abv add a few pound of cherrys and your in buisness.

 

[JohnSand]

It took me a few batches to brew anything acceptable, a year to brew anything professional quality.
Study and practice will improve your beer.

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

The first instruction for every new brewer should be..... "Stop, don't even think about brewing, and don't buy anything, until you've determine how you are going to control fermentation temperature." There are lots of low cost ways to do this but most newbies don't really understand how important it is.

I was lucky and had good teacher from the start so my beer has always been something I'm proud to offer friends.