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atr

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Hi all.
Let me confess first, I've never done it before and I have to start from the very basics. of course I've entered the beginners forum but I'm under the impression that the common level of knowledge there is a few notches above my ignorance, therefore, I would like to ask if you can let me know if and where I can find a book that can provide me guidance of the very basics (if it can be downloaded - even better) to begin with.
Thanx.
 
I would highly recommend buying a hard copy of John Palmers book. I was in your shoes 18 months ago. And I wanted to start out in AG (all grain). I am now fermenting batch number 21 and have made some very good beer. I spent 2 months reading everything I could get to learn the entire process before buying anything. There is a great amount of knowledge and experience right here as well as other online resources. Just do a search for any questions you may have. The answer is probably already here. Many videos online that cover every step of the process. Another way to learn is to find a homebrew club in your area and join them for a brew day so you can see the entire process. Most importantly, have fun with it.
 
I would like to ask if you can let me know if and where I can find a book that can provide me guidance of the very basics (if it can be downloaded - even better) to begin with.

John Palmer's How To Brew, 4th edition. $10 (USD) in eBook format. The book is written so that you only need to read chapter 1 before doing your 1st extract-based beer. (The online version of how to brew is almost 20 years old. And yes, things that matter have changed in the last 20 years.)

If you want to go "all free" route, consider starting here (https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/) to get a broad overview and good vocabulary.
 
Agree on the books above.

The best advice I can give is to see if there is someone local who brews who would allow you to watch or participate in a brew day. That would cause your understanding to advance by leaps and bounds.

See if there's a local homebrew group; if so, join it, and ask if there's someone who'd allow you to watch, or mentor you a little bit. If not that, post something on Facebook or similar asking if anyone knows of a homebrewer you might consult on this. You'll find there are a lot of people willing to help and advise you.

When I started I'd read Palmer's stuff online, and it made some sense, but there is all this new terminology that is confusing--sparge, mash, mash tun, hot liquor tun, dough-in, fly sparge, batch sparge, no-sparge, BIAB, grist, grain, hops, hop pellets--the list goes on. A friend was brewing an extract brew so I asked if I could watch, he said yes, and I did.

It had a HUGE effect on advancing my learning curve--suddenly what I was reading about made a lot more sense.

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When it comes time to do your first brew, let me suggest this: choose a simple recipe. I see a lot of new homebrewers deciding their first beer should be that Double-IPA Watermelon Belgian Coffee-Stout lager-thingy, and there are so many moving parts that if it doesn't turn out, they can't figure out why. Recipe? Process? Screwed up bottling? What?

Simpler is better at the outset. Think on where you want to be six months from now, and use the time at the beginning to learn the process so that you CAN do that weird beer--and have it be successful. Homebrewing can be relatively simple--but it's not simplistic. There are moving parts, so to speak, and you want to get them under control, AND have a good beer to drink after your first time.

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You'll wonder about doing an all-grain recipe versus an extract recipe. Let me also suggest you do an extract brew first. There's enough to learn w/r/t doing a boil, adding hops, chilling, getting things ready to bottle, and so on, that the mash elements of all-grain may be daunting. Again, not rocket science, but not trivial either; among other things, you need to get the water right, the mash temp right, and so on. Again, where do you want to be six months from now?

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Know what the hardest thing for new brewers to learn is? Patience.

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I taught a buddy how to brew; I also taught him all-grain from the get-go, but he watched me do a brew day using all-grain, then he did his own with me supervising. Then he did a third with me not there (got a few texts and phone calls along the way :)). He was successful because he did what I told him to do, left him few choices other than recipe. Once he had it down, he could go back and figure out why what I told him to do was the right thing to do, and it made sense to him. But he had the wisdom to listen, and it accelerated his learning curve hugely.

So--if you can, find someone to help you at the outset--it'll pay dividends.

Good luck!
 
Hi
First, let me thank you all for your friendly comments and specially for mongoose33 for the detailed explanation. as per your advise, the first thing to do is to purchase John Palmer's book and to start from there. I guess that you will be questioned quite a lot afterwards.
 
Hi all.
Let me confess first, I've never done it before and I have to start from the very basics. of course I've entered the beginners forum but I'm under the impression that the common level of knowledge there is a few notches above my ignorance, therefore, I would like to ask if you can let me know if and where I can find a book that can provide me guidance of the very basics (if it can be downloaded - even better) to begin with.
Thanx.

I would highly recommend watching some beginner homebrewing videos on youtube. I am a visual learner and when people start throwing out lingo that I am unfamiliar with it becomes easy to get lost.

I agree with mongoose, if you know someone that brews, ask them if you can tag along and help out with one of their brewdays. Best experience is hands-on learning. Do you have any quality local homebrew stores around your area? If so go in with your list of questions and they should be able to help you.

I went straight into all-grain because that's what my best friend has done for years, but maybe look into an extract kit for your first couple of goes. They are slightly less overwhelming from what I've heard and more difficult to mess up.

One of the biggest pieces of advice is don't overthink your first brew day. You will have plenty of other times to perfect your craft.
 
I agree with mongoose33 whole heartedly, but I would add one small thing. When you do your first few beers (and I also recommend starting with an extract kit to learn the process), DO keep it simple, but also make a beer that you like. Make it a style you're familiar with, and when you do your first non-kit recipe, maybe do a clone of one of your favorites. I did an extract stout kit for my first beer because I like stouts. My first non-kit beer was a Smithwick's clone as that is my favorite beer, bar none. My 3rd beer and first all grain was a Hoegaarden clone as that is my wife's favorite. Doing clones of your favorite beers not only gives you something you KNOW you will want to drink, it also allows you to objectively judge what you've done by comparing the results to what you know. For example, my Smithwick's clone was great, but a little more malty and a little bit on the chocolatey side compared to the original. My next attempt will be all grain and I'm cutting the chocolate malt in half and replacing with something a little more caramel like to adjust the flavor. Point is, your choices aren't "I made a great beer vs. I made a crap beer", it's more like "my beer is good, but different, and here's how... now how do I fix it (if that's what you want)."

One thing you won't find in a book is how your system works. You'll only be able to figure that out by trying. What is YOUR process, YOUR timing, how long does YOUR kettle take to heat and how long will your mash hold temperature. When do YOU sanitize and get your cold side gear ready. How long does a brew day take for YOU. I've refined my process so much that I panic and think I've forgotten something because my timing has improved so much. Give yourself time to understand it. Remember, it's YOUR beer, YOUR brew day. It can be as long or as short as you want it to be.

Oh, and one last thing I bet no one will tell you... give your spouse or significant other (if you have one) a few days notice about what you'll be doing and when you'll be doing it. They'll appreciate the heads up and may even be willing to help. If you use the kitchen, like I do, clean it spotless the night before, and leave it spotless when you're done. A happy home makes for a happy brew day and a happy brew day leads to good beer/good memories.
 
maybe look into an extract kit for your first couple of goes. They are slightly less overwhelming from what I've heard and more difficult to mess up.
I’m a relatively new extract brewer. Theres still plenty to screw up but Abbas is correct..much less than all-grain. Its a great way to dip your toes into brewing and still make great beer while saving a considerable amount of time during your brew day.

One of the biggest pieces of advice is don't overthink your first brew day. You will have plenty of other times to perfect your craft.
This!! And get that Palmer book. I’ve had the fortune to meet a few brewery owners around the Sacramento area and every one of them recommends it.
 
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I learned everything by reading this forum and watching youtube vids lol. First batch was an extract kit, 2nd batch I basically followed the process on the BIAB forum (sticky at the top). Been pretty much doing it that way ever since, of course with some modifications due to trial & error, and some good advice on these forums.

One thing about brewing is experience is the best teacher. I read and watched videos pretty much non-stop weeks before leading up to my first brew, and I still felt slightly unprepared. But every time I did it, I increasingly became more confident and the process went smoother. After about 4-5 brews / bottling sessions, I felt like I got it nailed down and could do it in my sleep. Like anything, the more experience you get, the easier it gets.

Everybody has their own way of doing it, but I've brewed smaller batches, and I believe that has helped me gain experience at a faster rate, since I'm able to brew more often. I've had 8 brew days so far between now and late April when I started.
 
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I think this guys process is alright, not perfect, if you want to hop straight into all-grain using the Brew In A Bag Method (BIAB). It's definitely an inexpensive and simple process that he uses, but there are some tweaks I would make.

 
The advice and books recommended is great. But you can start without all that if you really want to. I did a little research on beginner equipment kits and ordered an extract kit in 2011. I brewed it using the instructions before reading any of those books. It turned out very good even though I realized that I started the fermentation a little warm. I quickly went online and on Northern Brewer's forum and here learned a lot about fermentation temperature. From the second day until now I have been reading, watching videos and participating on this forum and learn new things just about every day
 
I did a little research on beginner equipment kits and ordered an extract kit in 2011. I brewed it using the instructions before reading any of those books. It turned out very good even though I realized that I started the fermentation a little warm. I quickly went online and on Northern Brewer's forum and here learned a lot about fermentation temperature. From the second day until now I have been reading, watching videos and participating on this forum and learn new things just about every day

Respectfully, I'd like to note that the 2016 edition of How To Brew, in chapter 1, covers the problems you (and many other brewers) encounter with their first batches. And the book gets better from there. There are a couple of other books published in 2015-2017 that are similar in quality. Obviously, new (since 2016) styles and techniques won't be in recently published books.
 
I've got the 4th edition of How to Brew and it gets opened on almost every brew day, even 3 years in and too many batches to count.

NEVER be afraid or embarrassed to ask your questions here, that's what this forum is for. All of us were new brewers at one point. Homebrewing is kinda like multi-level marketing, but in a good way; the more new homebrewers we get started on this extremely satisfying hobby, there's the chance that new LHBS (local homebrew supply) stores or online retailers will pop up, prices will go down, and everyone is happy.
 
I think this guys process is alright, not perfect, if you want to hop straight into all-grain using the Brew In A Bag Method (BIAB). It's definitely an inexpensive and simple process that he uses, but there are some tweaks I would make.

Entertaining video, but I cringed when he "racked" the beer from the primary to the bottling bucket by pouring it from one bucket to the other. WOW!!
 
Entertaining video, but I cringed when he "racked" the beer from the primary to the bottling bucket by pouring it from one bucket to the other. WOW!!

Definitely agree!!! I did not like everything about his process, but it was a fairly simple process overall. It goes to show that even "flawed" processes can yield good tasting beer. I enjoy watching videos and pulling something I like from each one.
 
To the OP, I am in your shoes right now. I bought Palmer's book, How to Brew (most recent edition) and read it cover to cover annotating along the way. It is a real page turner. He really does a great job of explaining the entire process of beer making.

I came from the cider brewing world where some aspects are much simpler but a lot of parallels in terms of sanitizing and yeast management. I had a lot of equipment in place already so I didn't have to go out and buy too much to get going.

The idea originally was to jump right into all grain brewing but I rethought that idea and did a liquid malt extract recipe from Palmer's book. It seems to be a standard. I plan on doing one or two more extract recipes before jumping into all grain. I also joined a local brew club too which has been great.

I hope that helps and good luck.
 
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