My top 10 tips for new brewers

[sfgoat]

HELLO, I{m back since long to homebrew,
but I lost Charlie Papazian´s book, and
i need to know sugar amount need for
Ale´s second fermentation in bottle....

could you tell me proper proportion?
thanks a lot from Chile
Maria

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?16235383#tag

Using this site will help you a lot but typically you can be safe with about 5 oz (150 g) of sugar.

para la carbonatación utilizar 150 g de azúcar cuando el embotellado

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Adding another tip - after a year of perfecting my extract brewing, I've moved to all grain. What was once intimidating wasn't difficult at all and has opened a whole new world of creativity. I'm looking forward to perfecting my own signature brews/recipes in the next few months.

 

[GASoline71]

#13 Sniffing airlocks will make you sterile.

In all seriousness... just leave your fermenting beer alone. Let the yeast do their thing. Leave it be for 14 days. Yes... 14 days! Minimum! No need to go pokin' around in there with hydrometers after only 5 days in the bucket/carboy. No need to take "taste test" samples... wort and green beer taste like crud if you ask me. It "might" give a hint of what the beer will taste like when completey conditioned... but I have never experienced that. Plus it's just less beer to have in your bottles or kegs.

#14 If using a bucket for a fermenter you can drop a SANITIZED hydrometer right in the brew for your FG readings. No need for theives or turkey basters.

Cheers!

Gary

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Let those beers age! Especially once you go to all grain.

Brewed a red kolsch that was very disappointing a month into the bottle. Four months later is was one of the best beers I've ever brewed. Same with a bourbon dubbel. Two months in it was an oakey, bourbony bomb. After six months, utterly fantastic.

With certain styles, your beer needs a little time to mature. Fill your pipeline with some quick drinkers (wheats, IPAs) but give your stouts, belgians, and kolsch's a little time to perfect themselves.

Cheers!

 

[DwightCD]

A couple, about to be three this weekend, batches in myself and I found the below advice just spot on:

Nice advice.

#11 the,Perrier control - spend your money on a way to control fermentation temperature before anything else as an upgrade. Partial boil kit brew can win awards if the fermentation is managed properly. Better upgrade than full boil, better wort chilling, better burner, keg, pretty much anything.

Just the type of thing I was looking for on this forum (thinking to self: what should the next upgrade/purchase to make things better?). Going to start off with a Rubbermaid and aquarium heater based on other posters and see how it goes.

great advice all around.

if I might be so bold...

#11) PATIENCE! Slow your roll. Build up a pipeline. Give your beer the time it needs to perfect itself.

Fact. Brewing another batch and building the pipeline helps take the edge off of the addiction. That and having a second or more hobbies to fill your time and think about beer.

#12) If using liquid yeast, make starters. Especially for higher gravity beers. With a minimal investment of a 1/2 gallon jug or growler, foam stopper and some DME, you can multiply your yeast population prior to pitching to get your brew off to a healthy start. A stir plate is nice, and will ensure even bigger growth, but is not essential. Simply swirling the starter in a jug every time you walk by it will build up a nice batch of yeast.

Definitely planning on this for my third batch (stout). Though, for my fourth, I'm going to give dry yeast a shot. First batch took a while to get going (for a few reasons, I believe) and second batch was better but still took a while.

I would put this in my personal top tips.

#11 Move to kegging ASAP

By my 4th brew or I should say 4th time bottling I was pretty much over the process of bottling 40-60 bottles. Almost at the point where I would leave the beer ferment longer than it needed to, it almost became a chore. And then I picked up 3 cornys from a local watering hole (No charge really made my day) and the rest is history.

On kegging day, it takes me 1/100 of the time it took to bottle and I have never felt like more of a man then having 3 homebrews on tap in my basement. I would say between craigslist and freebies I spent less than $100 to build my Kegerator...

This is pretty subjective... and not always the best for everyone. Yes, kegging saves time compared to the actual act of bottling. However, how much time do you spend cleaning lines, driving to a store to refill CO2 canisters, and generally messing with the system? I bet the total amount of time spent with a keg system isn't that different than bottling. Now, if bottling is a chore that you hate, and cleaning keg lines is fun... well, lucky you!

As for cost, it sounds like you got lucky and were able to move to kegs VERY cheaply. That's not an option for many people. A good keg system typically runs several hundred dollars.

Also, how easy is it for you to take a 6 pack over to a friend's place?

If you want to condition a big beer for several months, do you have extra kegs that can just sit there out of rotation? Are there places to put them?

Lastly, there's the issue of space. Not everyone has a place to put even a small kegerator. I've looked in to it myself, and I have no idea where I'd put it. There just isn't room.

Much like the "carboy vs. bucket" debate, the "bottle vs. keg" issue isn't as clear-cut as it seems to diehards on either side. There are advantages and disadvantages to either. I'm a bottler now, but I'd love to get a kegerator at some point... I'd still probably bottle a few from each batch though.

I've been looking into kegging for a little while and have decided to stay with bottles for the time being and spend the funds elsewhere. There's a lot of good reasons to bottle and good reasons against kegging and you've brought up a lot that were going through my head.

Let those beers age! Especially once you go to all grain.

Brewed a red kolsch that was very disappointing a month into the bottle. Four months later is was one of the best beers I've ever brewed. Same with a bourbon dubbel. Two months in it was an oakey, bourbony bomb. After six months, utterly fantastic.

With certain styles, your beer needs a little time to mature. Fill your pipeline with some quick drinkers (wheats, IPAs) but give your stouts, belgians, and kolsch's a little time to perfect themselves.

Cheers!

Wish I'd have seen this a couple of months ago! My first beer is a Belgian Saison, my second (to be bottled this week) is a pale ale, and my third (have the ingredient and to be brewed this weekend) is a stout. On top of the stout, it sounds like I should make a quick drinker this weekend as well. A blonde or wheat style beer would be perfect for spring/summer and would make SWMBO quite pleased. Thanks for the ideas. Someday I'll be able to drink homebrew.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Updating a few more tips for new or novice brewers:

Go all grain as soon as you can afford to.
Extract is fine, but all grain is the real deal. It's much easier than you think. Buy that mash tun and the extra tank for sparging. So worth it. If I can do it, anybody can.

Replace cheap stuff often.
I finally had a batch of beer infected. Tasted like apple cider out of the bottle. So, I replaced by bottling bucket, hoses, racking cane, bottling wand, and got all new bottles. No chances. Should have done this earlier. It may appear easy to clean, but replace the little stuff often. (BTW my next batch was fantastic)

Don't underestimate your influence.
If you've brewed a few successful batches, extract or all grain, you can help someone else see the light and experience home brewing. It's so gratifying to mentor another new brewer. We need new brewers. It's fun. Share your new expertise.

Establish your flagship.
After brewing Cream of Three Crops, people were wow'd. I was asked to brew beer for a big party for the COO and CEO of the company I work for. I started varying this recipe and I called it Backyard Ale. People love it. It's the beer I use to introduce common beer lovers to the craft world. It converts them. It's my go to ale. What's yours? Find a style or recipe you can brew like clockwork and keep it in the pipeline often. Amazon sells more books now than they ever did.....

Ask for help.
This forum is built for us all to help each other. There are thousands of YouTube videos. There are local groups. There are people in your hometown who would love to brew with you. There are brew shop owners willing to help day or night. If you run into a challenge or problem (and if you will, unless you're not pushing the envelope), asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.

There you go, five more tips from someone who learns something new every day

 

[cxvgjcgyj]

Sounds good! I'm at about the same place you are... I just had my first big mistake...