new to forum

[fire4life]

just started intermeddiate brewing with all grain and hops willing to learn some new stuff from anybody.. working on honey ale right now and a canadian lager. any tips would be great.. thanks

 

[Evan!]

Welcome to the funhouse, slim. HBT is the best forum on the interwebs...

Tips? Well, here are a few pointers that I feel are indispensable, regardless of whether you're a n00b or a seasoned veteran:

• Nothing is as important for the quality of the finished product as fermentation temps. A typical ale (there are exceptions) fermented at 75f will be vastly inferior to one fermented at 66f. Control your fermentation temps, no matter what.
• Liquid yeast isn't worth the extra $$ unless you need a specific strain that imposes a lot of character on the beer. Hefeweizens, Saisons, Belgian Ales, etc., benefit greatly from specialized liquid strains. But for the most part, stouts, IPA's, etc., don't showcase the yeast very much, and as such, are perfectly great when fermented with Nottingham or US-05 dry yeasts.
• Sanitize everything! While contaminating a batch is pretty difficult, you don't want to take any chances. Get a big jug of StarSan and use it liberally.
• If you think a batch is ruined, DON'T DUMP IT. Ask HBT'ers, and just wait until you're absolutely sure that it's undrinkable. 99% of the time, it'll turn out fine.
• Use the search function when you have a question. If you can't find what you're looking for, THEN ask the question. You'll save yourself a whole lot of "duh, do a search, dude!"
• Oxygenate the hell out of your beer. Spend the $50 on an oxygenation kit. It's worth it.
• If you want to brew cheaper, the best way to do it is go all-grain as soon as possible.
• Planning is everything. I recommend ProMash, Brewsmith or some other kind of brewing program.
• Read Palmer's "How to Brew". Then read it again.
• RDWHAHB. This will soon become an obsession. FYI.

 

[mrk305]

...... all grain isn't intermediate. More like advanced for most of us! If that is where you want to start, then go for it. Welcome to the forum!

 

[sidewinder02132]

Hola! So I'm turning an epic 40 in March and decided that it was about freakin' time that I learned to make my own beer. *LOL* That, and it seems better than a mid-life crisis which seems epidemic in my friends! I got a kit and some ingredients for a chocolate oatmeal stout. Everything was going pretty smoothly until after the yeast inoculation. I did that at 12:30 pm EST and it's now 7:42 pm EST with no sign of fermentation. I followed the instructions of the kit; perhaps a mistake! It suggested I add the yeast directly to the wort upon reaching ~90 F. I'm pretty sure the wort was below this when I added the yeast, though this is based upon feel rather than an accurate measure of the temperature. The ambient temperature of the room is ~62 F but I see no sign of the fermentation. Now, I do know that there is a lag time for the yeast to reach critical mass but I've no idea how long that is for a five gallon batch. Some heads up as to your experiences would be totally appreciated!

 

[sidewinder02132]

Hah! Found a cool link to my answer:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=43635