My top 10 tips for new brewers

[ArizonaGoalie]

Been brewing for 8 months now, with plenty of wins and my share of losses as well. Looking back, I sure was naive just starting out. So I put together these 10 tips for new brewers - things I wish I would have known then but know now. Of course, I have a lot more than 10 tips, but I shaved it down for y'all. Cheers!

(in no specific order)
1. Keep the first recipe easy! I brewed a simple Wit that turned out really good - made my friends say, "you brewed this??" Avoid trying to perfect a double IPA or and Imperial Russian stout right out of the gate. Keep it simple.

2. 1lb hops purchased online save you a lot of $$$$. I still buy my grains, malts, and specialty hops from my LHBS, but my go to yeast and hops get purchased online to save me a ton of dough.

3. Powdered yeast is great. Let me explain: I had several accomplished brewers tell me liquid is the only way to go, so it was they only way I went for months. Then I found Safale 04 and 05. For most of the styles I brew, these two powdered friends simply kick a$$. So experiment with both liquid and powder.

4. Never panic, it's hard to screw up beer. On my first batch my airlock backed up with krauzen and my friends on HBT were here to calm me down. Stuff will happen. It's beer. Relax and have fun.

5. Kits are fine, but get creative with your own recipes! If you have a LHBS with a friendly owner, he/she is just waiting to help you develop your own signature brew.

6. Get the outdoor gas burner. Best $40 I ever spent. Enough said.

7. Spend time here on HomeBrewTalk. Seems simple, I know, but some of the questions I see are easily answered by surfing a few threads. This site and the people on it are awesome.

8. Have spares of the essentials or only brew/bottle when your LHBS is open. We've broken thermometers, ran out of caps, forgotten hop bags, etc. It's key to have an extra thermometer, racking cane, hydrometer, etc. If it can go wrong eventually it will.

9. Experiment with 1 gallon batches. This is one of my big wins. Getting a 1 gallon fermenter and testing recipes small scale has been fun and I don't waste an entire 5 gallon batch on something that's mehhh.

10. Never brew 2 batches of 1 brew before you try it. Really, I made this mistake. Brewed a black IPA that I was so happy with out of the bottling bucket I brewed it again that night. Two weeks later I was shaking my head at 10 gallons of a beer that was average at best and missed the mark of where I was aiming.

Hope a few of these have helped you. Happy brewing!!!!

 

[plumber_bob]

Good points!

+1 on all of 'em

pb

 

[sok454]

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

misread instructions and doubled the hops...and they were Nugget...so instead of 2 oz I used 4... and they are high alpha...so made a huge diff... now my RIS seems like an ultra hop...like 100+IBU

 

[BrettFitz]

Excellent post. Thanks.

 

[Hackwood]

Very nice.

 

[FlyDoctor]

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.

 

[adamdillabo]

Went to bottle last night and found u had 15 or so caps. Cost me an extra 1.50$ or so on priming sugar.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

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.

Good one. I still struggle with temps, especially w/ picky yeast strains.

 

[neosapien]

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.

 

[MaxStout]

#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.

 

[RacingRam]

I would also add "don't drink too much while you're brewing". Most of us have done it at some point, probably as new brewers. You're more likely to make a mistake, which could ruin your beer or (worse) cause injury. After a few drinks, you're not as careful carrying a full glass carboy or moving your boil kettle from the stove to the sink for chilling. Have one or two, but don't get hammered till after.

 

[KGB09]

Watch where you put your fermenter & bottles while fermenting/conditioning. Violent fermentations and bottle bombs are a quick way to turn the SWMBO off to brewing.(closet is not the best place to ferment)

 

[dogbar]

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

misread instructions and doubled the hops...and they were Nugget...so instead of 2 oz I used 4... and they are high alpha...so made a huge diff... now my RIS seems like an ultra hop...like 100+IBU

Give that a few months to age and it will likely be great.

 

[sok454]

That's what the beer judge in my group said. Just let it sit till Xmas! I'm just waiting for it to stall and then have add another pack of yeast

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

I would also add "don't drink too much while you're brewing". Most of us have done it at some point, probably as new brewers. You're more likely to make a mistake, which could ruin your beer or (worse) cause injury. After a few drinks, you're not as careful carrying a full glass carboy or moving your boil kettle from the stove to the sink for chilling. Have one or two, but don't get hammered till after.

I've been guilty of this for sure. Rocked my bucket, cleaned up, and got ready for bed before I realized I never pitched. One homebrew too many on a Friday night.

 

[dracus]

Agreed with all these points.

+10

 

[Andrikos]

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

misread instructions and doubled the hops...and they were Nugget...so instead of 2 oz I used 4... and they are high alpha...so made a huge diff... now my RIS seems like an ultra hop...like 100+IBU

Definitely better to err on the side of more hops than less in a RIS...
100 IBUs are extremely hard to get in a beer so you'll be fine.
You'll just have all these extra hop oils in there to enhance the head formation and mouthfeel...

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Another mistake I made - after letting my first ever batch bottle condition for a week, I tried it, and it tasted great. So, as a newbie and quite dumb, I put every bottle from the batch in the fridge. MISTAKE!!!

Later I found a bottle in the back of a cabinet. A month of aging made it even better. (it was a wit)

Lesson learned - some beers were meant to drink quickly (hoppy pale ales) some are great when aged for 24-30 days (standard ales and wheats) and some are better aged 30-60 days (stouts) while some are great 60-90 days or more (dubbels and barleywines).

Cheers!

:fro:

 

[mkenitzer]

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.

+1

This I agree with. I've spent many times worried about this and that.

As a quote I've seen a lot in my books. And others will know it well. This is my "Golden Rule". As Charlie Papazian says...

"Relax! Don't worry, have a homebrew".

 

[dantodd]

The first two things every brewer should concern themselves with and if you are absolutely careful about these two things you can make great beer with extract, all-grain, even pre-hopped canned extract.

1) Cleanliness/sanitation. If the only critter growing in your beer is the yeast you pitch it will get you 70% of the way to excellent beer.

2) Temperature control. This will give you control of fusels, esters, phenols, etc. a craigslist fridge or freezer plus a controller is cheap and can be easily repurposed if you quit brewing. Plus there are tons of other fermentation chamber designs available here.

Once you have these wo things locked down you will get clean beer from just about any brewing kit out there.

This also makes future troubleshooting much easier when you are confident that your gear is all clean and sanitary an dot hat you can control the fermentation temperature you want. As you are leaning how to partial mash or make your own wort via all grain you can concentrate on these new skills knowing that your foundation of brewing is solid.

 

[Eman24dx]

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...

 

[boscobeans]

1. Patience.
2. Keep the temperature in the fermenter where it is supposed to be ( fermentation raises the temperature IN the fermenter so ambient temperature should be several degrees cooler--I find 4-5 degrees at the minimum.)
3. Use a fermenter that is at least 1 1/2 to 2 gallons larger than the volume of beer in it. This will help prevent messy, beer wasting blowouts. Keep a blowout tube handy just in case.

OMO

bosco

 

[Clonefan94]

- Don't be afraid to search for your question.

almost every question i've had so far, was answered quite easily by going to google, typing in "homebrewtalk" then your question. I've probably had 10 really serious questions, and had found each one almost word for word when I did the search for it. I am far from a forum Nazi, but this one is two fold, it does get annoying to see the same question pop up every day and also, I then feel bad for the person, who had a serious question, who then gets blasted for posting instead of searching.

 

[evrose]

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.

 

[sfgoat]

#12 research. Find out everything you can about the ingredients and processes you are using. Been brewing for roughly about 10 years and never had a bad batch. I like to think its because I educate myself with all of the brewing information I can get my hands on so that there are no surprises. That might just be the physicist in me though.

 

[jmcquesten]

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.

Agreed. Kegging isn't the end-all. It's expensive to get into. Messing with pressure and line length is a pain, not to mention multiple serving pressures for different beers. Added cost of running another appliance, and the space it takes up. Still have to bottle if you want to take somewhere, which turns into more equipment(bottle filler). Other than saving a little time bottling, kegging is just more of a headache.

 

[Eman24dx]

You can bottle from the tap and/or fill a growler in seconds, not a headache at all. Also I haven't filled my CO2 tank in over a year. Cheap and easy to clean or replace beer lines. Until you experience both it will be tough for you to get.

I still bottle some but probably less than 10%. I would say majority of those who keg would prefer it to bottling hands down but thats just my .02

 

[plumber_bob]

I'm a kegger fan!
It does cost $$$ to start out, ...I love it. And I can bottle just what I need , when I need it.

pb

 

[maria]

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

 

[Vedder014]

#11. Always carefully measure your priming sugars, even if using a kit. Bottle bombs and bottle cannons (my name for when the cap fires off into your hand when you touch it) are a pain to clean up, make you significant other question if you should be brewing, and are potentially dangerous.