New to brewing with lots of questions!

[Rosemary]

Hi everyone! I’m Rosemary. I’m just going to air my thoughts out here then tell you why I’m here and what I want to accomplish. Bear with me! I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read and comment.

There are a lot of hobbies that start out hot and heavy and turn into a one and done thing. Anything with a kit attached to it appears that way. I do not think people don’t stay with it out of the lack of interest but because the perceived complexity. Before I looked into brewing, making alcohol has always seemed more like alchemy than science. But the more I read it seems very unlike the other types of fermentation I’m used to. Brewing now seems closer to chemistry than it does art. Am I wrong?

Im not a connoisseur in anyway. I like beer, wine, mead and hard cider but I don’t drink a lot of it. Im here because I bought my husband a brewing kit by Brewer’s Best from the local home brewing store for his birthday in 2019. He’s not a hobby type of guy but he drinks a lot of beer and it seemed like a good present. Fast-forward to 2025 and we’re finally busting out of the kit. The local home brewing store went out of business so we ordered a dry Irish stout from Northern Brewer. We did all the steps and sanitation and It’s been sitting in our closet (hopefully) fermenting for the last week. Although I will say I do t think it’s good that the airlock only bubbled for about a day and a half. But that’s why I’m here! I have no idea what I’m doing.

Like I said my husband is not a hobby guy. He works a lot and drinks beer on the weekends. I, on the other hand, have enough hobbies for both of us and then some. Home brewing sounds like a perfect thing: I get to make my husband happy and explore a new cooking method! I’ve always found fermentation fascinating and delicious! On a regular basis I make sourdough, sauerkraut and kimchi. But making alcohol now sounds so finicky and complicated because of sanitation and temperature. I’m very intimidated.

Luckily, we live in an old home with a space devoted to stuff like this. It’s technically a canning kitchen in the basement. It works as our larder, canning kitchen, where I start seeds and now brewing beer! It’s cooler in the winter 63°-65°(F)and no more than 70° in the summer. After brewing beer last weekend, I realize we need to install a hood vent because our house is literally going to smell like a brewery. I now understand why people make wort outside on propane cookers!

That said, I want to brew beer and eventually get good at it. I also would like to try making mead someday because I keep bees and I’ve got the honey covered. So I’m doing the research. I bought a couple books, watched the brewing 101 that northern brewers sells and searching the internet. I came across this forum and it looked like it would be a good place to be able to bounce ideas and ask questions.

I’m trying to figure out what equipment is essential to brewing beer and what makes it easier. I already know we bought too big of a kettle (10 gallon) because the thermometer didn’t reach the wort. I think we’d like to get glass carboys but the spigot on the bucket seems easier and faster than the siphon.

If anyone can direct me to some good threads for beginners, I would be much appreciated. I’m also wondering if I can move my beer bucket out of my closet and into the basement. I thought it would be to cold down there.

 

[micraftbeer]

Welcome. This forum works best if you split out your questions into smaller digestible chunks. Anything too broad and you'll either get no response, or people telling you it's too broad. But this forum is ready to drop tons of information on newbie brewers, so you'll be fine.

From the above, I'd recommend your first post to be about that batch you've got fermenting. Share the recipe, the equipment you used to brew it, what you're fermenting in, the temperature you're fermenting at and then describe the airlock bubble behavior and ask if that's normal.

A good second post might be- I've got this brewing kit (inserting link is good), what would people recommend as the most valuable next bit of kit I should buy?

 

[Rosemary]

Thank you. I tend to ramble on so that’s great advice.

 

[MaxStout]

Welcome!

As @micraftbeer suggested, better to break down specific issues to discuss. If we try to address it in such a broad scope the answers will go all over the road and we won't know what you're trying to achieve. The Beginners Brewing forum is a great place to post your questions and concerns. If you don't find discussions that answer your questions, post a new thread. People will be happy to jump in and help.

 

[Knightshade]

Ha..I read through your post and thought, "Hot damn..this sounds like me." Having said that, I am continuously reminding myself to not be obsessive compulsive w/this hobby, because that is how I've burned out of a couple others. Ingest all the info, obsess about every detail, get really good at it and then stress comes and it isn't fun anymore and...done.

Take it serious with the intent to get better, but along the way remember that it is....just that, a hobby and meant to be fun! You'll find plenty of information on the forum though, and plenty of people willing to help out!

 

[Rosemary]

Ha ha ha!! Yeah. You got my number.

 

[bestcoast]

Agreed with everyone's advice here on how to get the most out of the forum. I'd also say that I think it's worth doing a few batches with your basic equipment before you try and upgrade much. You'll have a better sense of what you need if you use things a couple times and do some reading on here. For example, most of us have given up on glass carboys because we've seen one too many posts on here about a carboy breaking and at best, dumping a whole batch on the floor, at worst, slicing up your arms. Most people use stainless steel fermenters or plastic fermenters these days (if you want to go plastic but upgrade from the bucket, check out a Fermonster). There are tons of other similar practices that you can pick up on if you scroll through recent threads here.

Welcome to the hobby! It's a ton of fun!

 

[Rosemary]

Thank you. I was definitely leaning towards glass but what you say makes sense. I’ll check that out.

 

[Snuffy]

You can approach brewing initially as just a recipe using extracts and a basic kit to make pretty darn good beer. Once you get your sanitation routine down and get thru a few of those, you'll want to try different yeasts and maybe go all-grain - which adds more steps and equipment and another layer of complexity. As far as chemistry vs alchemy is concerned, if you are scientifically inclined, this is the perfect hobby to flex that and get all sorts of testing gadgets: pH testers, thermometers, refractometers, hydrometers, floating devices. filters, screens, vessels, tubing, connectors, pumps, grain mills. You can toss a lot of cash at it. But - you can also make great beer using simple methods and basic equipment with proper sanitation, a dark, clean location with stable temperature and Patience. (Notice the capital P). Let us know how your beer turns out.

Also, if your basement is relatively cold (say 50s F) you could try fermenting a lager down there. Lager yeast likes it cool.

 

[Willy]

Welcome to HBT! Always remember - beer tastes good and brewing it should be fun. Lots of places to start looking - beer kits, extract brewing, stouts - etc...

Also - thankfully ! Making beer is quite forgiving. Malt, hops, water and yeast can be blended in a million ways just like cooking.

If you have any questions - just ask. This is a very helpful group.

 

[Ramjet]

Welcome to the forum. All good advice above. I agree to stay away from the glass carboys. If you eventually get into all grain brewing you will want that 10 gallon kettle assuming you are going to make 5 gallon batches. Don't hesitate to ask any questions we are here to help.

 

[keystonehb]

You can approach brewing initially as just a recipe using extracts and a basic kit to make pretty darn good beer.

+1 to this. The easiest way to think of brewing is like a cooking recipe. The first couple of times you make the recipe you read the directions and go step by step. As you get more confident in your ability to cook the dish you can start making changes here and there to make the beer more "your own"

The process can be as easy or hard as you make it. We see brewers that have been making extract kits for 10+ years, they rave about the beer they make and they are super happy with it. We see people who start with All grain versions. A lot of hobby brewers don't look at water chemistry and always use tap water or buy spring water and that is okay. What matters is that you enjoy what you make and you learn to make changes over time to improve.

It’s cooler in the winter 63°-65°(F)and no more than 70° in the summer

65 tends to be good for a majority of yeast strains, Lagers like cold (55), ales often are 65-70, and belgians and ester/phenol driven yeasts (Wits, weizens, belgians) can even go warmer to 75s or so. What matters is that when picking your yeast choice you look at the temp and see what fits in your space.

Cheers

 

[Mack]

Welcome to the forum! I'm a little obsessive with my hobbies and tend to dive in head first most times. I began with two extract kits and then bought an electric all in one brew kit (just a cheap one from Vevor). I've brewed 12 all grain bags since then. I DO drink a lot of beer, it seems most on here drink one or two pints a day, where I drink 7 or 8.

I learned SOOO much on YouTube watching homebrew 4 life videos. I discovered you can't really screw it up as long as you're keeping everything clean and sanitary.

Your basement temps are perfect for all season brewing!!!

A lot of the folks on here seem pretty condescending when you ask questions, I don't know why. Maybe that's just my perception though.

Water is important. You can buy RO or distilled water and add salts, or you can use tap water it it tastes and smells good. You can spend $60 and have your water analyzed by Wardlabs. That's the "science" behind brewing.

Basically, if you brew something that tastes good, you've succeeded. I've only made two batches that were marginal, but I drank them and they weren't horrible.

Glass carboys are okay but most don't use them anymore for safety reasons. You don't need fancy "brew buckets" when you can buy food grade buckets at Wal-Mart for 5 bucks and a 3 pack of spigots for 7 bucks. You can spend as much or as little as you want on this hobby. If you have a homebrew supply near you, you will save a butt ton of money by ordering your grains from them. I go on northern brewer or great fermentations and look at their recipe kits and then order the grains from my local store and its usually less than half the price. Now youre looking at $25ish bucks for 5 gallons of beer. (I'm cheap lol)

Ales are "easy" and lagers are hard if you follow the traditional lagering steps. You can experiment with yeasts and fermenting temps. I've used kveik yeast to "speed ferment" with a heating pad and had a batch kegged in less than 5 days. Purists will claim its blasphemous, but it was delicious blasphemy.

I can't offer advice on bottling - I don't do it. I bottled one batch of beer and said no more - lol.

I'm no expert, there are many of them here. I know what tastes good and what doesn't (to me). All of this is subjective.

I encourage you to read up on BIAB set-ups - it's a game changer and makes this a pretty simple process.

Also, check out homebrew4life on youtube, he has a TON of tutorials, and really made brewing beer a piece of cake for me.

Good luck!

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi @Rosemary . First let me reassure you that home brewing IS alchemy and chemistry IS art.

The stuff you're doing in your kitchen sounds as if brewing beer would fit in nicely. You're already doing fermentations and you've already got sanitation sorted otherwise they'd probably poison you.

Everybody starts off knowing absolutely nothing and the way I would approach it is to try to get an overall view of field so that you can see how everything fits together and what steps you need to follow. In short, you need to read a beginner's book. I could recommend a number of English starter books, but I don't know the American market too well. Papazian and Colby's books are excellent, but, even though they claim to reach out to beginners, they end up trying to tell you everything at once and they end up as reference books. And it's important you stick to one or the other to start with: US measures colour in degrees Lovibond and SRM, Europe uses EBC; we use grams and litres while you use pounds and ounces; centigrade instead of fahrenheit and, worst of all, your pints and gallons are different to ours by about 20%. If you can find a beginner's guide of about 80-100 pages including some recipes then grab it with both hands.
Brewing is easy. It's complex but it doesn't have to be complicated. It's not much more complex than bread- especially sourdough. The real difficulty is sifting all the good advice to what suits you.

I started brewing at the age of 16 because I wouldn't afford to go to the pub. I was still a schoolkid then and the objective was (1) to make something alcoholic (2) as cheaply as possible (3) if it tasted good then that was a bonus. (4 and 5) as cheaply as possible. That would be my advice to any beginner- start as simply and as cheaply as you can until you begin to get the hang of things. If your first brew is barely drinkable then learn by that.

 

[Skeeter686]

Lots of great advice here.

My wife and I started only a few years ago. What worked for me was to start with a couple extract kits to get my process down. I started with the goal of doing all grain, but the extract kits eased me into it, helped me learn, and let me prove to myself that I could create good beer before I started investing in more equipment. (It didn't take me long to upgrade to a 10 gallon kettle. )

Like others have said, this is like pretty much any other hobby: you can go as deep as you want, and can spend a little or invest heavily in equipment.

I thought that Papazian's "Joy of Brewing" was a great starter book. It covers a lot, although there have been a lot of advancements in beer and brewing knowledge which aren't covered there, but which you can learn elsewhere, such as in this forum.

Palmer's "How to Brew" is excellent, but is also dense reading. Definitely worth it if you really want to understand more of the technical details. I wouldn't say it's essential for brewing good beer, though.

If your water isn't terribly hard and doesn't have other obvious defects (e.g., high iron or something) then I wouldn't focus on water yet. And if you're doing extract kits, I think the water would be even less of an issue. If you keep going with brewing, I'm guessing that you'll eventually want to learn more about your water, but that can come later. (If your beers don't seem to come out right, water would be something to be look into sooner.)

I've always been happy with the Northern Brewer all grain kits that I've bought, and I assume their extract kits are also good. Seems like a good starting point.

Finally, the words of Charlie remain true: Relax, don't worry, and have a home brew. It's very easy to make beer. It's not hard to make good beer. If you aspire to making truly great beer, that's where you'll need to invest in a lot of learning and experience and great attention to detail.

 

[keystonehb]

You can also see what homebrew shops might be local to your area and if they offer classes. Not only will that help you understand the process but you’ll have someone you can ask questions to in person. We try offer them at least 2-3 times a year.

 

[An Ankoù]

I thought that Papazian's "Joy of Brewing" was a great starter book. It covers a lot, although there have been a lot of advancements in beer and brewing knowledge which aren't covered there, but which you can learn elsewhere, such as in this forum.

Palmer's "How to Brew" is excellent, but is also dense reading. Definitely worth it if you really want to understand more of the technical details. I wouldn't say it's essential for brewing good beer, though.

Papazian's books "Joy..." and "Companion" are legendary. But, together, they're 900 pages. Palmer is similar. I must say I enjoyed Papazian more than Palmer. When I was a nipper and home brewing was in its infancy, I started out with Dave Line. I think there were about 20 or 25 pages of background and some very amateur pencil drawings, but the basis was sound and everything else has built on that. The important thing is to approach it like cake making: make a sponge before tackling a wedding cake.

Finally, the words of Charlie remain true: Relax, don't worry, and have a home brew. It's very easy to make beer. It's not hard to make good beer. If you aspire to making truly great beer, that's where you'll need to invest in a lot of learning and experience and great attention to detail.

.... and it won't be your first brew.
I'd add, making good beer is relatively easy compared with making a good copy of another beer.

Greg Hughes. Check out amazon.com

This is a good BASIC book. It's English, but the author gives conversions for most units of measure. Note that "pints" are UK pints of 20 fl oz. A short intro and the rest is recipes. A great starting point.

 

[AlexKay]

Welcome!

Here's my advice for (1) starting out, (2) making decent beer, (3) not spending too much money, and (4) having fun. I will probably gloss over or ignore many things that are important when you're really getting into the hobby, but that (in my opinion) can be skipped in order to concentrate on those 4 things.

• Making beer is actually fairly easy. You'll undoubtedly miss a number of things your first few times, and the beer will almost always turn out fine. Making exactly the beer you want can be quite a bit more challenging, but making good beer is fairly easy.
• You're right that you've lucked out with your canning kitchen. Fermentation temperature is often the hardest thing for new brewers to get right, and the mid 60s are great for many different yeast strains. Measure the temperature in the room, and depending on what it is (i.e., the season), choose yeasts that will do well at a temperature a couple of degrees hotter than that. (Eventually you'll start to measure the temperature of the fermenting beer, which runs hotter than ambient because fermentation releases heat. Don't worry about that at the start.) Then choose beers to brew that will use those yeasts.
• Cleaning and sanitation can be intimidating, but it's not really that bad. Sanitize everything that touches wort on the cold side -- that is, after boiling and cooling down. StarSan is a no-rinse sanitizer, so all you need to do is wet every surface with StarSan and you're good to go. Remember that things need to be clean (free of surface dirt) first, before you sanitize them. Most batches will not get infected with unwanted yeast or bacteria, even if you don't do everything right. On the other hand, almost everyone will have an infected batch eventually, even if they do do everything right.
• NO GLASS! For beginners, I always recommend a PET carboy with a spigot. The Fermonster is a solid choice. (If you get one, grab a lid opener at the same time.) When you move to plastic, remember that ultraviolet light skunks beer, and skunked beer is terrible. Ferment in a dark closet, or use a drop cloth, or some such.
• The closer you can get to filling your fermenter and leaving it alone for two weeks, the better. Never open the fermenter unless you have to, and you almost never have to. It's not that every fermentation goes perfectly, but when there are problems, there generally isn't much of anything you can do to fix them mid-fermentation.
• Write down everything. Part of the fun is going back to your recipes and saying, "that was good, but next time I want to change ..."
• If your water tastes ok, don't worry about it at all if you're using extract. Once you start all-grain brewing, worry about hardness, and stick with RO water if your tap water is hard. (Eventually people start worrying about anion ratios and such. Wait.)
• Always use dry yeast if you can. Modern dry yeasts are very good, and you won't have to worry about yeast viability or wort oxygenation. If you're buying kits, sometimes the "suggested" dry yeast is not a good one. WB-06 is a common but almost always bad suggestion. You can always post here to check. (And again, choose yeast that will work well given the temperature you will be fermenting at.)
• Taste your ingredients, taste the wort, and taste any samples you take during fermentation. Taste everything except hops (just smell those), yeast, whole oat kernels, and Carapils.
• Extract-based kits make good beer. But ignore the directions about "transferring to secondary." When you have a fermenter with a spigot, you can bottle directly from it. Less mess, less chance of contamination, less oxygen exposure. Once you switch to brewing from malt, you can probably save a lot of money buying ingredients separately. (Also, I personally think this is more fun.)
• As for mead, I'm a beginner, but my impression so far is that the production process is easier, but that it's harder to get good results. Also, you have to wait a long time before it's drinkable.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Hi @Rosemary . First let me reassure you that home brewing IS alchemy and chemistry IS art.

The stuff you're doing in your kitchen sounds as if brewing beer would fit in nicely. You're already doing fermentations and you've already got sanitation sorted otherwise they'd probably poison you.

Everybody starts off knowing absolutely nothing and the way I would approach it is to try to get an overall view of field so that you can see how everything fits together and what steps you need to follow. In short, you need to read a beginner's book. I could recommend a number of English starter books, but I don't know the American market too well. Papazian and Colby's books are excellent, but, even though they claim to reach out to beginners, they end up trying to tell you everything at once and they end up as reference books. And it's important you stick to one or the other to start with: US measures colour in degrees Lovibond and SRM, Europe uses EBC; we use grams and litres while you use pounds and ounces; centigrade instead of fahrenheit and, worst of all, your pints and gallons are different to ours by about 20%. If you can find a beginner's guide of about 80-100 pages including some recipes then grab it with both hands.
Brewing is easy. It's complex but it doesn't have to be complicated. It's not much more complex than bread- especially sourdough. The real difficulty is sifting all the good advice to what suits you.

I started brewing at the age of 16 because I wouldn't afford to go to the pub. I was still a schoolkid then and the objective was (1) to make something alcoholic (2) as cheaply as possible (3) if it tasted good then that was a bonus. (4 and 5) as cheaply as possible. That would be my advice to any beginner- start as simply and as cheaply as you can until you begin to get the hang of things. If your first brew is barely drinkable then learn by that.

Beta testing should always be done cheaply, if the tested medium permits.

 

[keystonehb]

NO GLASS! For beginners, I always recommend a PET carboy with a spigot.

One thing tho point out that’s often overlooked, if you’re using a spigot make sure it’s removed and cleaned often. One of the most common points of infections that we’ve seen is from people with spigots. If not properly cleaned gunk can build up by the gaskets.

 

[AlexKay]

One thing tho point out that’s often overlooked, if you’re using a spigot make sure it’s removed and cleaned often. One of the most common points of infections that we’ve seen is from people with spigots. If not properly cleaned gunk can build up by the gaskets.

This is a good point. Disassemble everything, every time.

I’ve also had spigots crack and snap on me. Given that you can get a replacement spigot for ~$2 on Amazon, best practice is probably just replace them every 5-10 batches or so. (But even if you do that, clean them every time.)

 

[Snuffy]

I'd add, making good beer is relatively easy compared with making a good copy of another beer.

THAT is a true statement. When your only metric for success is “good” because you only have the general style characteristics to go by, it’s relatively easy to get a thumbs up. But when you have the baseline of the original to compare with, “close but no cigar” is right there on the checklist.
Still, that is my favorite way to brew. When it works out, it’s magic.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

we ordered a dry Irish stout from

The online kit instructions indicate that liquid malt extract can be used.

If the beer doesn't come out good, there are a couple of possible sources. Two of them are

1. Stale LME: easy to avoid next time - use DME.
2. minerals in tap water: easy to avoid next time - use RO or spring (low mineral) water.

If anyone can direct me to some good threads for beginners, I would be much appreciated.

For all-grain brewing, Palmer has a set of UTs based on his book.

• https://www.homebrewersassociation....er/how-to-brew-video-series-with-john-palmer/
  (Here's a direct link to the 1st video).

There's also an overview video of brewing with extract here

• https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/the-easy-guide-to-making-beer/. And a direct link to the video.

that may be helpful.

As for books, BYO's Big Book of Homebrewing (Updated Edition, 2022) is a solid book that covers the major brewing techniques. How to Brew (4th edition, 2017). For a few more dollars, [Big Book of Homebrewing/I] is shorter and newer in exchange for depth of content. FWIW, I have both and have read most of both.

 

[Rosemary]

The stuff you're doing in your kitchen sounds as if brewing beer would fit in nicely. You're already doing fermentations and you've already got sanitation sorted otherwise they'd probably poison you.

Than you for the reply! This forum is amazing! Sanitation is definitely something I’m wondering about. With sourdough, a certain level of cleanliness is important but the bacteria from your hands and in the air help support the wild yeast that develops over the course of a couple weeks to make starter. With fermented vegetation the acidic or alcoholic environment is inhospitable to bacteria, such as salmonella and other things that caused food poisoning. (Unlike canning low acid foods that can cause botulism if not processed correctly) Honestly, you just have to make sure there’s not a bunch crud all over everything. You really don’t have to sterilize anything.
Everything I’m reading about beer is basically sterilize, sterilize, sterilize. I’m perfectly happy to comply with that but I wonder what that means exactly. What does that look like?

 

[keystonehb]

Than you for the reply! This forum is amazing! Sanitation is definitely something I’m wondering about. With sourdough, a certain level of cleanliness is important but the bacteria from your hands and in the air help support the wild yeast that develops over the course of a couple weeks to make starter. With fermented vegetation the acidic or alcoholic environment is inhospitable to bacteria, such as salmonella and other things that caused food poisoning. (Unlike canning low acid foods that can cause botulism if not processed correctly) Honestly, you just have to make sure there’s not a bunch crud all over everything. You really don’t have to sterilize anything.
Everything I’m reading about beer is basically sterilize, sterilize, sterilize. I’m perfectly happy to comply with that but I wonder what that means exactly. What does that look like?

Easiest thing to do is use Star San. It’s acid based and not harmful once diluted and no rinse. You can also keep it in a spray bottle for a couple of weeks for spot sanitation. Much easier than mixing up a batch every time you need a small bit

 

[mac_1103]

Everything I’m reading about beer is basically sterilize, sterilize, sterilize. I’m perfectly happy to comply with that but I wonder what that means exactly. What does that look like?

We don't really sterilize, we sanitize. It's critical, but not as intimidating as it sounds. Get some Starsan and follow the instructions and you should be good to go.

 

[Rosemary]

Cleaning and sanitation can be intimidating, but it's not really that bad. Sanitize everything that touches wort on the cold side -- that is, after boiling and cooling down. StarSan is a no-rinse sanitizer, so all you need to do is wet every surface with StarSan and you're good to go. Remember that things need to be clean (free of surface dirt) first, before you sanitize them. Most batches will not get infected with unwanted yeast or bacteria, even if you don't do everything right. On the other hand, almost everyone will have an infected batch eventually, even if they do do everything right.

Thank you! I was specifically wondering about that. All the points you made are extremely helpful!

 

[Rosemary]

Ha! Yeah, I guess there is a an ocean of difference between those two words. A lot less stress too.

 

[AlexKay]

The idea is to beat down the wild yeast and bacteria population in your wort, and then add a couple hundred billion cells of the yeast you do want. They take it from there with biological warfare (acidity and alcohol). It worked for thousands of years before the invention of sanitizers.

 

[Rosemary]

As for books, BYO's Big Book of Homebrewing (Updated Edition, 2022) is a solid book that covers the major brewing techniques. How to Brew (4th edition, 2017). For a few more dollars, [Big Book of Homebrewing/I] is shorter and newer in exchange for depth of content. FWIW, I have both and have read most of both.

Thank you for the information!
Books are definitely my preferred go to when working on a project. There’s something about holding a 6x3 screen, desperately scrolling to find what I need, while doing exactly that something I’m looking for. It’s particularly grating.
At least with a book I have to stop what I’m doing to look it up. Right now I have Palmer’s How to Brew 4th edition, Brewing Porters, and Stouts by Terry Foster, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd edition and some multipurpose books on fermentation by Sandor Ellie Katz.

 

[Rosemary]

The idea is to beat down the wild yeast and bacteria population in your wort, and then add a couple hundred billion cells of the yeast you do want. They take it from there with biological warfare (acidity and alcohol). It worked for thousands of years before the invention of sanitizers.

That’s the truth! I’ve been reminded exactly what you said a couple times during this process: that people used to brew beer before StarSan existed! Not sure what it tasted like, but our pallets are all as finicky is a courtesan.
Fermentation is transformation. I suppose it’s really about controlling that transformation to get the desired outcome.

 

[Skeeter686]

Sanitation is definitely something I’m wondering about. ... With fermented vegetation the acidic or alcoholic environment is inhospitable to bacteria, such as salmonella and other things that caused food poisoning. ...
Everything I’m reading about beer is basically sterilize, sterilize, sterilize.

With beer, you want to keep everything after the boil sanitized so that you give the intended microbe (i.e., the yeast) the best chance of taking over the environment, and that's primarily for ensuring the quality of the beer. With the low pH and the alcohol content, it's extremely unlikely that you would end up with an infection that would make you ill. I usually shy away from the word "impossible," but it is probably nearly impossible from what I've read.

So do your cleaning and use StarSan to avoid accidentally creating a sour beer. I'd say it's more something to practice than to worry about. Worst case, you might end up with a bad tasting beer.

 

[Rosemary]

Greg Hughes. Check out amazon.com

This is a good BASIC book. It's English, but the author gives conversions for most units of measure. Note that "pints" are UK pints of 20 fl oz. A short intro and the rest is recipes. A great starting point.

I’ll get that book. I’ll never have enough books as long as I live! I have a love hate relationship with Amazon. I’ve been buying books from Amazon for 20 + years… wasn’t that what it originally started as?
You’re right about Palmer’s book. It’s a bit of a tome.

 

[An Ankoù]

I’ll get that book. I’ll never have enough books as long as I live! I have a love hate relationship with Amazon. I’ve been buying books from Amazon for 20 + years… wasn’t that what it originally started as?
You’re right about Palmer’s book. It’s a bit of a tome.

You and me both, on both points. You can do things with hard copy- like turn down the corners, annotate it and stick notes here and there. When I download stuff from pdfdrive it invariably gets printed out if I'm going to read it from cover to cover.
Amazon are getting greedier and greedier, at least here in France. I cancelled my Prime some time ago, but they remain a good safety net when others can't provide or are too slow.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Books are definitely my preferred go to when working on a project. There’s something about holding a 6x3 screen, desperately scrolling to find what I need, while doing exactly that something I’m looking for. It’s particularly grating.

At least with a book I have to stop what I’m doing to look it up. Right now I have Palmer’s How to Brew 4th edition, Brewing Porters, and Stouts by Terry Foster, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd edition and some multipurpose books on fermentation by Sandor Ellie Katz.

Big Book of HomeBrewing (2022 edition) has value to me because it is 1) more current, 2) more concise, and 3) better organized.

The BIAB content in Big Book of HomeBrewing (2022) is a solid starting point. There may be equally good videos / blogs / free content available on BIAB (but I haven't gone looking for it).

Magazines: If you have hobby money to pay for curated content (beyond books), a one year subscription to BYO or CB&B may be worth a look Both provide access to about a decade of previous magazine issues.[/i]

 

[redrocker652002]

Hi Rosemary, I was very much like your husband, I like beer (sometimes too much) but don't have too many hobbies now that the kids have grown up. I enjoy tinkering with my dad's old 56 Belair and my son bought a 69 Chevy pickup he has since abandoned in my driveway. LOL.

Now, I will admit I read your post but did not read all the replies, so if I am saying something that has already been said I apologize.

One thing I always say is if you are looking for equipment Craigslist or Facebook Market place is the place to check. Like you said in your post, most get into this but don't stay long and buy a boat load of stuff that they sell for pennies on the dollar. I was lucky enough to have a guy here want to get out of the hobby and basically got rid of all his stuff. I ended up with two truck loads of equipment, kegs, and all kinds of odds and ends I am still going thru. So, with that said, I would for sure check the local websites.

You mentioned getting a glass carboy. I would really encourage you not to. They are very slippery when they are wet, and as a member here once posted, very dangerous if they break. I have two plastic buckets I got from Norther Brewer but to be honest you can go to your local hardware store and buy them cheaper as long as they are food grade. Again, I refer to Craigslist as I have seen full setups for sale for less than 100 bucks here in my area.

Which leads me to my next point. Where are you located? If you are local to someone maybe they can let yo know when they are going to brew and you can go and observe and help out to see how they do it. Or better yet, bring what you have and have a brew day with a group. I watch Youtube Vids all the time as I work nights and have plenty of free time to check them out.

The idea of the books was a good one, but for me, the Palmer book that most are going to suggest was just way over my head as a new brewer. To me, I learned more with Youtube and just posting here. But different people do things differently. There is another book that was written by Denny and Drew that I found to be a bit more helpful. It is called Simple Homebrewing. If you can find that one it might be a good start.

The 10 gallon pot and propane burner will serve you well. I used one for about 3 or 4 years and always made good beer. You have to watch your mash temps but once you get the boil going it is smooth after that. One thing I have learned but not tried is to put a fan or two pointed at the top of the pot to try and keep the steam at a minimum. Like I said, I read about it but have not tried it yet.

Yes, sanitation is key and once you get the hang of it isn't that tough. Find a process that works for you and go with it. I clean everything after brew day and store it all in a closet. The next brew day I then break out the sanitizer and sanitize my keg, buckets and anything that will touch the beer after the boil. For the most part, the sanitizing process is just to mix up some Starsan or whatever you use, and make sure it contacts everything for a minute or two. I usually mix up about 2.5 gallons and shake my buckets around then pour it into my keg and seal the keg and roll it around. Pump the liquid thru my tap and into a pot, submerse all the smaller parts in the pot and let them sit for a few. Most of the sanitizers don't need a rinse and you can just go with them right after you are done.

Sorry for the long post, but I was you about 4 or so years ago. I wanted to try it, but had not clue. My wife bought me a Norther Brewer Starter kit with an extract kit included and off I went. If you start with extract kits your process is even easier to do the boil get it into the fermenter.

If you have any questions this is a great place to be. These folks are rock stars and I have learned so much from them. You can either PM me or email me directly if you have anything you want to ask. If you are in the San Francisco area I have a lot of stuff that I am not using anymore and would be willing to part with to somebody who will get good use out of it.

Good luck and enjoy the hobby.

Edit to add that your temps in the room you use for all of this seems to be good for most lager yeasts. I used a hallway closet for a long time and it got from low 60's to mid 70's and I really never had a problem.

 

[An Ankoù]

One thing I always say is if you are looking for equipment Craigslist or Facebook Market place is the place to check.

If you are local to someone maybe they can let yo know when they are going to brew and you can go and observe and help out to see how they do it. Or better yet, bring what you have and have a brew day with a group.

The idea of the books was a good one, but for me, the Palmer book that most are going to suggest was just way over my head as a new brewer.

Find a process that works for you and go with it.

Agree with all the above, especially the second point.

If you are in the San Francisco area I have a lot of stuff that I am not using anymore and would be willing to part with to somebody who will get good use out of it.

Ditto if you're passing through Le Morbihan, Equipmment sort of accumulates- mainly from donations!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Welcome to the forum, Rosemary. Follow directions on the kit (for the most part) it is a blend of science and art to create your own wonderful “house beer”. Professional brewers have reasons and intended outcomes for every ingredient they use, and it’s okay to experiment. It’s a hobby so have fun, be challenged and enjoy the rewards of beer, cider and mead!

 

[Brewbuzzard]

When I first saw this thread I thought, I don't have a lot of questions when I brew...

 

[Rosemary]

When I first saw this thread I thought, I don't have a lot of questions when I brew...

You’re lucky! I can overthink anything.