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[revhewett]

Hey. Just wanted to say that, as of this Christmas and an awesome gift from the wife, I am a new brewer. She got me a kit that came with a what recipe. She loves a wheat beer. What better to try on? Over the last two days, I've been so stoked about my first batch fermenting, she ordered more fermentors and sure lock caps as a birthday present.

If you have any advice about what to do to play around with easy brews, let me in on some things that might help spark some creativity.

 

[Nivekt]

Congrats and welcome to the hobby! I started about 3 months ago and absolutely love it. It gets addicting real fast and you'll be looking at expanding into kegging and all grain brewing pretty soon if you're anything like me. Your wife sounds totally awesome too. Enjoy!

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

Read, read, read. There is a ton of great info on this site. There is also how to brew by John Palmer available for free on the Internet.

The effects of sanitation can not be over stated. Get yourself either some PBW or Oxyclean Free along with either Star San or Iodaphor. Use the PBW/Oxy to clean, and the star San to sanitize. Doesn't matter how good you brewing process is if your sanitation is sh!t, your beer will more times than not be sh!t.

Next on the list would be temperature control for fermentation. Make sure you get the sort chilled down to below 70f before pitching the yeast. After that, get yourself a tote or something similar that is bigger than your fermenter to make a swamp cooler. Fill the tote with cold water and put the fermenter in the water bath. Keep the water bath water around 62f using ice bottles of necessary. If you have a room or closet that maintains a temp of around 62f this will not be necessary.

You can also get yourself some brewing software. If you have the extra $25 you can get beersmith, else, there are plenty of free options available. Mybrewco.com is one. These will allow you to enter ingredients, both extract and all grain, and tailor a recipe to make sure they fit within the parameters of a selected style.

Most importantly, have fun.

 

[brewbama]

Welcome Aboard. Lot's of knowledge on this board. Some advice you get here, on other sites, and in books can conflict with recipes you get in a kit. I vote follow the sage advice here or on sites like BYO, AHA, etc over the recipe or a vendor's site for consistently better beer.

Besides sanitation the most important thing is to take notes. Before brew day review them so you don't repeat mistakes.

...and have fun! Enjoy the success and the failure as you gain experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[JBIII]

Welcome to homebrewing, I'm sure you'll love it. I would definitely recommend using kits during your first few batches in order to get your feet wet. The person that will be able to help you the most will be your local homebrew supply store. Just tell them the type of beer you're looking to brew and the skill level you're currently at and they'll get you fixed right up and share valuable knowledge and insight along the way.

The process which has helped me the most over the years...whenever I brewed a similar brew a similar batch, I only changed one ingredient at a time, whether it be the yeast, hops or grain bill. This process really accelerated my knowledge of individual ingredient profiles and really helped me excel at creating fantastic beers.

Hope this helps and happy brewing...

 

[revhewett]

Unfortunately the closest store is probably about 45 minutes away. My brother in law had shared tons of his magazines with me. My wife has a professor that's been brewing now for what seems like centuries (although it's probably only been decades). I will take s picture of my first wort and post it. From what my brother in law says, it looks pretty awesome.

 

[revhewett]

The first fermenting wort.

View attachment 1419780517617.jpg

 

[unionrdr]

Looks OK so far. I'd stay with kits or simple recipes until you develop a brewing process that works for you. Besides becoming familiar with the process of brewing itself. Then branch out, maybe with recipes on here? Click on the inverted triangle next to "recipes" under a member's avatar. This brings a drop down menu of recipes they've posted, whether they be all grain, partial mash or all extract.

 

[WouldBeBrewmaster]

There are a couple ways you can go and it really depends on your palette. If you only like certain styles brew different variations, use different ingredients, and over time you can fine tune and perfect a recipe. For example if you really like and want to stick with Pale Ales brew different recipes using different malts, hops, and yeasts. As you go you will learn about different ingredients and which ones you like the best.

The other option is what I did and experiment with different styles. I thought I was an educated beer drinker, but I only knew a fraction of what I would learn about different beers by brewing them. The first English Mild I ever had was one I brewed at home! You can buy kits for almost any style and learn while doing. If you opt for the diverse approach I can't recommend Brewing Classic Styles enough (and my blog www.WouldbeBrewmaster.com!)

 

[JimRausch]

Congratulations! Keep that wife!
One hint- every time I brew a batch, I wash the kitchen floor afterwards. Started when I would brew in the kitchen, but continue now that I'm in the garage. Anything to keep SWMBO happy....

 

[titansvol]

congratulations and welcome to great addiction. Fermentation temp control and using enough yeast are 2 keys to good beer.

 

[revhewett]

congratulations and welcome to great addiction. Fermentation temp control and using enough yeast are 2 keys to good beer.

I actually ended up putting a bit too much yeast in the batch pictured. How will that affect the brew?

 

[revhewett]

congratulations and welcome to great addiction. Fermentation temp control and using enough yeast are 2 keys to good beer.

I actually put a bit too much yeast in the batch pictured. How will that affect the brew?