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I Wish Someone told me before I started homebrewing...

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That I might have to drink a lot of beers in a short amount of time because I need to bottle whats in my secondary so I can transfer whats in my primary, so that I can do something with whats boiling away on my stove... Sacrifices...
 
That carboys, even better bottles, are a pain in the neck. Buckets work just as well for everything (including long term storage) are stackable, and you don't need to fish anything out of a tiny neck like hop bags or the like. Save yourself the money and effort.
 
I wish someone would have told me to watch the videos on youtube, rather than read. You be surprised how far off what you envision can be from how it's really done.
 
I wish someone would have told me that brewing would takeover my life. And tell my GF not to buy me that basic starter kit last christmas, 800$ spent and 17 batch later the next year she would regret that a lot.
 
I wish someone had told me to remove the label from the plastic container of Breiss LME before dipping into the hot wort in order to get every last bit of LME out.

And, not to dip some hot, boiling wort out into the same container, put the lid back on, and shake vigorously causing the lid to explode off and hot steamy wort to spray all over me.

That was my second brew day and boy it was a doozy...
 
I wish someone had told me to NOT sell that mini-fridge at the garage sale three months before I decided to try homebrewing. You know that little fridge that everyone turns into a kegerator for fermentation fridge?
 
I wish someone told me before I started brewing that yeast rafts are status quo and not an infection. I nearly cried.
 
I wish someone had told me to buy a digital scale early in the game and not to "eyeball" or "guesstimate" the amount of corn sugar to use in bottle priming. But, it was fun to open a beer bottle and watch it shoot out six to eight inches above the lip!
 
I wish I had practiced syphoning with water first.
Lost a lot of beer to the floor.
Discovered my dog likes beer.
At least it was a good day for him :)
 
I wish someone would have mentioned how quickly I would notice flaws in commercial brews... and my own for that matter.
 
I wish someone would have told me how relatively difficult it is to screw up a batch of beer. Short of infection, there isn't really much that will turn beer into not-beer. I spent a lot of time early on worrying that I had ruined my batches by mashing 3° too high.

Fortunately, I started AG, as I didn't know there was any other option. Didn't even know there was such a thing as extract until I joined this site. First time I saw the Extract Brewing thread, I thought it was referring to flavor extracts (vanilla porters, chocolate stouts, etc.) :drunk:
 
Hahahahahaha! I thought it was
Relax
Dude
While
Having
A
Homebrew!!!

haha this could be the more modern meaning I suppose! In the end it's still the same message!

I wish someone would have told me ANYTHING! I jumped in head first and clueless!
 
I wish someone reminded me to not confuse a bad batch with a setback.

I used to get so pissed if the end product was not up to my expectations. Now, I just scratch my head and go back to the drawing board. Usually the next round goes alot better.
 
To get a good, digital thermometer...

Just did my first batch of AG (BIAB) and seemed to be guessing at the temp of my mash as measured with my crummy dial thermometer.
 
To get a good, digital thermometer...

Just did my first batch of AG (BIAB) and seemed to be guessing at the temp of my mash as measured with my crummy dial thermometer.

I was doing the same thing at first, and then I remembered I have a digital meat thermometer in the pantry!! Tried it on 1-1-12 (first brew of 2012) and it works great! You can even set an alarm to go off if temp rises too high!! I also do BIAB, by the way :rockin:
 
Wish someone had told me that brewing wouldn't make me taller, thinner or more handsome.

Actually, my wife did tell me that - I just didn't believe her. Been tryin' to convince her that the March Pump I want would probably do the trick...
 
That if you drop the whole bag of caps in StarSan they will be rusty by next bottling day. Oh, and to check your caps before the LHBS closes on bottling day.

That I should always have an extra bottling wand and racking cane, because one will absolutely break in the middle of a process.

I am really happy, though, that no one told me I should not try something more extreme and not to make my own flavoring tweaks in my first beer. Great beer.
 
I wish someone had told me that the necessary equipment includes a large tub, an aquarium water heater, an aquarium water pump, at least 4 carboys, and a cover story for my second life.
 
I wish I had practiced syphoning with water first.
Lost a lot of beer to the floor.
Discovered my dog likes beer.
At least it was a good day for him :)

Most dog foods have brewers yeast in them, I know blue buffalo does and kirkland. Maybe they smell/taste that :D
 
I wish the first time I witnessed homebrewing it wasn't someone doing all-grain with a propane outdoor rig using all the gear possible, kegging it, taking notes, and occupying his entire basement with beer gear and ingredients.
It took 15 years before I learned it doesn't have to be so complicated. (and even then I wasn't certain about giving it a try)
 
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