Life lessons - if I could do it all again...

[SwissRico]

So I made a mistake (or two) in my first non-kit extract brew - this was not meant to rhyme. And thought I might share so that someone else might avoid the same mistake.

1. Most folks on here know what they are talking about - and they are very generous with their advice.
- I wish I had asked earlier rather than later, for help. If in doubt, ask.

2. Don't follow a recipe by the calendar but by the specific gravity. Take your OG before pitching your yeast, and then you'll know when your beer is done.
- 7 days at 70F is not the same as 7 days at 63F for you yeast. Your hydrometer is your friend.

3. In general- You don't need to rack to secondary.
- I might do it again if I were to make a BIG beer that was going to sit there for over a month. But the old school thinking has been overturned by lots of practical experience (see point #1)

Anyone else made some mistakes they would be willing to share?

I would be quite happy to not repeat someone else's mistakes as well as my own.

 

[RM-MN]

So I made a mistake (or two) in my first non-kit extract brew - this was not meant to rhyme. And thought I might share so that someone else might avoid the same mistake.

1. Most folks on here know what they are talking about - and they are very generous with their advice.
- I wish I had asked earlier rather than later, for help. If in doubt, ask.

2. Don't follow a recipe by the calendar but by the specific gravity. Take your OG before pitching your yeast, and then you'll know when your beer is done.
- 7 days at 70F is not the same as 7 days at 63F for you yeast. Your hydrometer is your friend.

3. In general- You don't need to rack to secondary.
- I might do it again if I were to make a BIG beer that was going to sit there for over a month. But the old school thinking has been overturned by lots of practical experience (see point #1)

Anyone else made some mistakes they would be willing to share?

I would be quite happy to not repeat someone else's mistakes as well as my own.

Change that from one month to 3 to 6 months and I'll agree. A month doesn't seem like a long time to me anymore.:rockin:

Many of my average gravity beers sit in the primary for a month or more. Doesn't seem to hurt them a bit and it may even improve them as it gives the yeast more time to settle out so I don't have much in the bottom of the bottles.

 

[SwissRico]

Change that from one month to 3 to 6 months and I'll agree. A month doesn't seem like a long time to me anymore.:rockin:

Cool! Even easier.

One thing I haven't worked out yet is how best to dry hop in the primary - with pellets could I just open it up and dump them in once the krausen has subsided?

 

[andy6026]

Yes, you can just dump the pellet hops right into primary.

My biggest mistake was to follow poor recipes. And it's not that I was aware that they were poor, they don't come with a sign that says, "hey everybody, I'm posting this recipe that frankly sucks", nor could I easily identify that's as the problem when tasting. Instead I spent countless brews trying to identify mistakes in my process before I realized that whatI really needed to do was try recipes that were guaranteed to be decent.

As a new brewer you will likely come across all kinds of recipes posted here or elsewhere that might look good. I highly recommend that to start out, you avoid brewing them.

Instead, Google, "award winning beer recipes" and you'll find lots of great recipes in all kinds of styles that you know there is a general consensus amongst tasting experts that they are good. If you brew them and they taste off then you can start dissecting your process to identify where you can improve.

I must have spent over a year brewing recipes that just frankly weren't that good.

 

[pwnshop]

Yes, you can just dump the pellet hops right into primary.

My biggest mistake was to follow poor recipes. And it's not that I was aware that they were poor, they don't come with a sign that says, "hey everybody, I'm posting this recipe that frankly sucks", nor could I easily identify that's as the problem when tasting. Instead I spent countless brews trying to identify mistakes in my process before I realized that whatI really needed to do was try recipes that were guaranteed to be decent.

As a new brewer you will likely come across all kinds of recipes posted here or elsewhere that might look good. I highly recommend that to start out, you avoid brewing them.

Instead, Google, "award winning beer recipes" and you'll find lots of great recipes in all kinds of styles that you know there is a general consensus amongst tasting experts that they are good. If you brew them and they taste off then you can start dissecting your process to identify where you can improve.

I must have spent over a year brewing recipes that just frankly weren't that good.

Can you give a couple examples of recipes that you chose that were great/guaranteed to be decent?

I have chosen all the recipes i have made just by googling the style and picking one from this forum that has a lot of positive comments etc.

 

[GrogNerd]

Can you give a couple examples of recipes that you chose that were great/guaranteed to be decent?

I have chosen all the recipes i have made just by googling the style and picking one from this forum that has a lot of positive comments etc.

in the Recipes section of these forums, pick your style, then click REPLIES at the top of the thread listing. I usually find the more replies to a recipe, the more reliable it is

also... if the recipe OP is Biermuncher, EdWort or Yooper, you can be sure it is a tested and trusted recipe

 

[Mismost]

1. Invest more in that goofy sounding Apple company.

2. Not married my first two wives.

3. Never started smoking.

The beer stuff is going pretty good!

 

[pwnshop]

in the Recipes section of these forums, pick your style, then click REPLIES at the top of the thread listing. I usually find the more replies to a recipe, the more reliable it is

also... if the recipe OP is Biermuncher, EdWort or Yooper, you can be sure it is a tested and trusted recipe

Thanks!

 

[muels]

.....if the recipe OP is Biermuncher, EdWort or Yooper, you can be sure it is a tested and trusted recipe

I was going to post that exact same thing! I've only used 1 or 2 recipes that weren't directly from those 3!!! This weekend I made 10 gallons each of Yoopers oatmeal stout and BM's blonde, last weekend it was 10 gallons of Edworts pale!!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[daksin]

All good advice here. Also, press the "like this post" button more. It doesn't cost you anything.

 

[GrogNerd]

All good advice here. Also, press the "like this post" button more. It doesn't cost you anything.

good advice

 

[andy6026]

Can you give a couple examples of recipes that you chose that were great/guaranteed to be decent?

I have chosen all the recipes i have made just by googling the style and picking one from this forum that has a lot of positive comments etc.

That's one way to find recipes that you know some people liked. Googling "award winning beer recipes" I find is an even better way.

Try this site:

http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2011/10/ahanhc-gold-medal-winning-recipes-for.html

 

[Kharnynb]

I would probally saved a bit more cash up and bought this:
https://www.brouwland.com/en/our-pr...rm-superior-starter-kit-electric#.VTXmWPDD9w4

instead of going back and forth several times between the badly stocked 2-shelf brewsection of the local supermarket and several other stores just to get everything and then still having to wait 2 weeks for my brewkettle.

 

[pwnshop]

That's one way to find recipes that you know some people liked. Googling "award winning beer recipes" I find is an even better way.

Try this site:

http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2011/10/ahanhc-gold-medal-winning-recipes-for.html

whoa! bookmarked. thanks!!

 

[fuelish]

Hmmmmm....if I could do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing...ya learn from life's mistakes, hopefully

 

[ntculenuf]

At first I kept changing from one recipe to another, I finally found one I liked and the tweaking started.

If you read enough about a product that your interested in, just buy it

 

[Bosh]

Let`s see:
1. Trust not a word of brew kit instructions. Not one single ****ing word.
2. Don`t panic. It`s really really easy to make at least mediocre beer.
3. A three week primary and then sample as bottle conditioning progresses works well for most beers.
4. If you have a small brew kettle don`t try to add ALL the DME to it during the boil, it`ll kill you hop utilization and give you crazy boil overs. Put most of it in at the end of a boil.
5. Don`t be overly paranoid about sanitation. I`ve done all kinds of stupid **** and only had one infected batch and even that was an accidental lambic that was OK after aging.
6. Swamp coolers are awesome.
7. If you`re using an old bucket to ferment in for the love of **** fill it up with water and test that it won`t leak out the spigot before you put wort in it.
8. Always hydrate your yeast and put a little sugar in to make sure it`s alive.
9. When doing 8 in tupperware with the lid on the yeast can blow the damn lid off if.
10. When bottling beer for the last bottle use a big container and get a whole lot of yeast cake in it. You can still drink it and it also functions as an emergency backup starter if you shake it up and pitch it and all of the yeast into the wort.
11. Keep curious toddlers away from your fermentors.

 

[SwissRico]

Let`s see:
7. If you`re using an old bucket to ferment in for the love of **** fill it up with water and test that it won`t leak out the spigot before you put wort in it.

LMAO. Yes a friend of mine found he hadn't closed the spigot after cleaning and sterilising. I can only imagine the swearing as his aerated wort went in at the top and out the bottom..

 

[GrogNerd]

2. Don`t panic. It`s really really easy to make at least mediocre beer.

in this regard, I believe I have reached perfection

I hate to be the one who blames his equipment (it is a poor craftsman who blames his tools), but I do need not just fermentation temperature control, but mash temperature control is essential too. two areas in which I'm severely lacking

 

[steveoatley]

My biggest mistake was to follow poor recipes. And it's not that I was aware that they were poor, they don't come with a sign that says, "hey everybody, I'm posting this recipe that frankly sucks", nor could I easily identify that's as the problem when tasting. Instead I spent countless brews trying to identify mistakes in my process before I realized that whatI really needed to do was try recipes that were guaranteed to be decent.

I must have spent over a year brewing recipes that just frankly weren't that good.

Mistake that I have made more than once !

Plus 1 to this one

My 2 cents
Steve