Hi, I'm looking for good resources and threads for beginners but I found nothing. Can anyone tell good resources to learn this hobbie. Thanks before.
any special threads?Just start reading in the beginners brewing section.
I've learned that everyone on HBT has good advice, but it is all based on their personal circumstances and preferences (including this post!). You just have to review the advice, don't overthink it and go with what makes you comfortable. I've found that making good beer is easier than making bad beer. I'm not sure if I've made great beer yet.
I was given a partial setup from someone getting out of the hobby. It had carboys, tubing, bottle capper, mash tun, airlocks. Essentially everything but a boil kettle (which he used a stock pot on the kitchen stove). I purchased a propane burner and 8 gallon kettle (didn't get a bottom valve - don't now if I made the right decision). I chose to start with extract recipe kits for styles I know I would like. Starting with extract gives you experience with boiling wort, sanitizing, fermenting, and bottling. The bulk of my training was from you tube videos. I also did a "dry run" where I boiled water following the recipe instructions, just holding at the temperatures and times on the instructions. My third extract kit is in its 14th day of fermentation today and I'm looking forward to bottling it so I can start the all grain recipe kit that Santa brought me.
Things that have worked out well for me - skipping the secondary fermentation and just using the primary fermenter for the entire ferment time.
Things I'm still working on - Still struggling with hops in the wort - First batch I transferred them all to the fermenter which gave me some troubles with bottling. Second batch I strained them during transfer to the fermenter. This was OK but caused some trouble on my third batch which had 3 oz. hops (which rehydrates to a much greater volume). Next batch I'm using cheese cloth for hop bags.
thanks this is a good text@mamacym Welcome ! You made a wise first step by asking questions first. Lots of us just jumped in without doing much research or when we started there wasn't as much material out there.
Any of the books mentioned are good ones, I think Charlie P's books are great, lot's of basic stuff in them. Yes they are somewhat dated but unless a book was printed yesterday, it will be. There is a "Homebrewing for Dummies" also, I have it and I think it's a good "newbie" book, very non-technical, easy to read and not too serious. It can be also found in a downladable PDF for little $$.
Learning the terminology is important. Those with more experience toss them around in conversations thinking/expecting you to know what they mean, sometimes it results in more questions than answers. If you ask questions here be upfront and honest about your knowledge level, it saves time on all fronts.
Last but not least, View attachment 711900
Cheers,
Joel B.
any special threads?
I'd start with the later ones and browse/read backward.All of them
I would start with a Pale Ale extract Kit (Plus new Yeast) from a Local Home Brew Store if you have one. A friend of mine said we should brew some beer at my small hobby ranch, and I said OK. As I had been in the Air Force in England and loved British Beer, we found a Courage Ale Kit at our Local 'HomeBrew Headquarters" (LBS). We made the beer on a patio and moved our rudimentry brew pot into a horse trough with iced water to chill. After I tasted our first Brew, I was IN! We use a up to six vessels in a Brew and have moved to BruControl for automation. It is a fun and great hobby, and there is always something new you want to buy or try.@mamacym I for got to add that no matter what direction you chose to go,(as in extract, mini-mash,, all grain or variations thereof) keep your first couple of brews simple styles. Get through the basics with , let's say a pale/amber ale "kit" ( kit = most, if not all ingredients in one box). It will increase your success rate and be less stressful your first few times. Oh, and keep notes, more the better.
Cheers,
Joel B.
John Palmer - How to Brew.
It was recommended to me and it was well worth the $20. If you haven’t invested in anything yet I would get that and start reading it so you can get an idea which direction you want to go before spending money on anything else. Likewise you can always start with small 1 gallon car boys and get that down on a smaller scale.
These both are IMO essential parts of any homebrewer's library. As others mentioned, you can read the first edition of How To Brew online, but there are a lot of things in there that Palmer's changed his mind on. So investing in the latest edition is definitely worth it.Charlie Papazian's book The Complete Joy of Home Brewing is a great first intro to the brewing world.
These both are IMO essential parts of any homebrewer's library. As others mentioned, you can read the first edition of How To Brew online, but there are a lot of things in there that Palmer's changed his mind on. So investing in the latest edition is definitely worth it.
Also, check out Brew Your Own magazine. They have a beginning brewing edition (for lack of a better term) that I think is available online.
IMO for a beginning brewer water isn't the most essential thing to worry about. If you can drink your tap water and don't have any taste in it, you'll be fine - you can fill a bucket and let it stand for a couple days to let the chlorine dissipate.
You can also get spring / distilled / RO water at the store for under a buck a gallon.
Lastly, check out if there is a local homebrew shop (LHBS) or brew clubs nearby. They are often invaluable for information and advice.
IMO the most important items to pay attention to are sanitation, temp control, sanitation, yeast health / happiness, sanitiation, ingredient condition (freshness,) sanitation, PATIENCE and sanitation.
Most in the know for brewing water will recommended (in no specific order):To start I would just stick with either distilled or bottled spring water.
See my post #30 on using RO water instead. It tends to be (much) cheaper than distilled. If this is more than incidental use, consider installing a small under-counter RO filtering unit for around $100-150. Check with Russ at Buckeye Hydro, he's one of our sponsors.Yup, I bought RO water for 80 cents, cost me $4 for 5 gallons. Honestly it was worth it to have the gallons handy and I’m going to reuse them for next time to measure out my water ahead of time.
Also, sanitation is important, I think you forgot that.
Perhaps the two biggest Myths are fermentation temperature and trub in the fermenter.
In my mind, there is only one Primary Rule in Brewing that cannot be broken:
1. Sanitize, Sanitize and Sanitize.
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