One thing you'd tell a NEWB

[blackwaterbrewer]

dont bottle your beer. it is a pain in the ass. start off kegging and then bottle later if you feel like you have to. there are too many ways to screw up bottleing and it adds an extra month onto your grain to glass time.

 

[cheesecake]

Relax and pay close attention to the instructions. And brew another batch in 4 days to a week if you dont you will bother your first batch and want to open everything up and check on it.

And have fun

 

[coy]

Wow alot of good information. looks like the #1 thing to do is relax and be sanitary.

Hows the saying go in the book.. "relax, have a home brew" or something close to that.

and what does - RDWHAHB mean?

How can you have 55 posts and never have brewed a batch? What are you just a marketing knob, pushing your signature links? Please explain.

LMAO that's funny right there. I've never been called a marketing knob(?) and I didn't add my signature till around posts 45 (last wed/thursday) or something not really sure.
I've been hanging out in the label/logo area responding to posts there since I'm a designer it drew me to it. other than that I've mostly been reading.

I didn't know people payed that much attention to post counts. Second time in a week it's been mentioned.

 

[pkeeler]

and what does - RDWHAHB mean?

Relax, Don't Worry, and Have A Home Brew

 

[BlueSunshine]

One thing I don't see mentioned alot for beginners is: be comfortable and familiar with your brewing area.

The first time I brewed, I never used my 2nd kitchen and I ran into all types of problems with room and logistics so I had to make changes on the fly.

 

[glockentalk]

Don't let anyone tell you that you make lousy beer, especially not your own self.

 

[bob1852]

The Karate kid didn't bust out the crane kick on day 1.

Yes, but would he of even busted out the crane kick if Bobby Brown hadn't taken out his knee?

The new version of the Karate Kid comes out June 11, 2010

Wow alot of good information. looks like the #1 thing to do is relax and be sanitary.

Also, make sure you're fermenting at the proper temps. It doesn't matter how sanitary your equipment is, and how relaxed you are, if you're fermenting at 85 degrees.

 

[NorCalAngler]

One thing I recommend is have a trusted friend sample your brew before you try to introduce it to people. Like a parent who thinks their kid can do no wrong, you won't be able to critique your own brew because you will be blinded with love of your new baby. I knew my first beer was a little off, but it wasn't until my buddy tried it that I realized how many mistakes I made and I was then able to taste the off-flavors and realize what caused them.

While I agree it's good to relax and enjoy the process, I don't think we brew beer to have mediocre results. If you don't think something is right then use the search function because somebody has run into the same problem, no matter how obscure you think it is.

 

[TheGeek]

If you are as absent-minded and scatter-brained as I am, there are 2 important things for brewing.

A checklist of supplies (because if I don't use one, I inevitably forget)

and

A journal to write down my recipes and procedures in.


I refer back to methods and results of said methods and make adjustments from my notebook, I rely on it quite a bit. And its nice to see how my knowledge improves with each batch as I read through. =]

These two items keep everything stress free and fun filled while I'm doing my favorite activity.

Cheers

 

[coy]

I have a note book ready. I read that earlier.. I may just keep a database for it in my computer.
I've arranged a designated place for my fermintation that I can controll the temp well. My garage is either cold or hot so I have a little office of the garage, that can be controlled. If it gets to hot I open the door to the garage, if it gets too cold I turn on the heater. it's shut off from the rest of the house which is nice.


Would me using bottled water benefite me..
I have a feeling my tap water may be to chlorinated? I'll be contacting the water company later today to see what the chemical balance is.

 

[Synovia]

Yep in antisipation for brewing my first batch..
I was curious to see; What would be that ONE thing you'd tell a newb just getting started?

good, bad or indifferent what is that one thing you think everyone should know.

Buy a bigger pot.


Don't read anything about All Grain. Just watch a video. Then decide.

 

[coy]

LOL thanks. I'm thinking it'll be a bit before I do the grain thing.

for now I'll just utilize my $5 16qt pot. I'm sure I'll need to upgrade sooner than later.

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

Relax and go with the flow. Be flexible in the process - not everything will go as planned but staying calm and relaxed will help you figure it all out. HAVE FUN!

 

[Synovia]

dont bottle your beer. it is a pain in the ass. start off kegging and then bottle later if you feel like you have to. there are too many ways to screw up bottleing and it adds an extra month onto your grain to glass time.

Absolutely untrue. Forced rapid carbing leads to drinking green beer. People complain about bottle carbed beer tasting better than kegged beer for this specific reason.


It takes time for the carbonic acid to react with things. Beer needs to age whether or not its in a keg or a bottle.

 

[PanzerBanana]

Use a blow-off hose. I'm really championing that. It was my very first inkling when I brewed my first original beer, and I was glad I did.

Residual Co2 in the fermenter or not, I don't want to throw anything off by having to remedy a blow-off I could have avoided from the start.

 

[Obelisk]

Although I'm new to the forum, I've been brewing since 2005. I can think of several things that would help someone just starting.

Start with proven Ale recipes.

Always use a checklist for your process. It's easy to forget critical steps when things get busy or when you get interrupted.

Keep a log - spreadsheet. It's invaluable when you are trying to improve things. What went right is just as important as what went poorly. Be honest about about activities that you don't understand and read up about them.

Don't brew at night. Most of my problems have occurred because I was tired and just wanted to finish up - and screwed something up.

Chill the wort below 75F. It's hard if you don't have a wort chiller and you just want to pitch the yeast and finish up. The temptation to just pitch before you get the wort below 75...or 70F (better), is great - and it does odd things to the taste of the finished brew.

 

[ipso]

1 – Brew often. Brewing is like golf - if you only do it once a quarter, you’re never going to improve your game. But if you string 4 rounds together in rapid succession, you’ll find you become adept rather quickly. Being sanitary almost goes without saying, but to do that it’s a matter of having good form. (e.g. when you take off that plug/air-lock to check for a reading, where do you put it? Do you sit it on the counter?) Good sanitization is about a smooth clean process. You can’t learn that by reading online – only by doing it. Even in all the YouTube videos they skip all the small stuff.

2 – Understand the proper usage of your sanitizing agent. (i.e. don’t rinse off your Iodophor/StarSan.) People go for decades using it improperly: rinsing it off with tap water, waiting for a “full” [arbitrary] soak time, using 3x as much as needed, using .3 times as much as needed, etc. If you’ve used the proper amount, it’s specifically designed not to be rinsed off. It’s also designed to have contact time for only 2min. If you rinse your equipment with “clean” tap water, you negate the purpose of the sanitization rinse product. Will you get away with it if you’ve cleaned your equipment well before? – sure. I did for years. Then I listened to a couple of radio podcasts with the creators of Iodophor & StarSan and they took all the myth out of it and explained that if you rinse with tap water, you negate the sanitization product’s purpose. Save yourself some grief and learn that up front.

Watch the pot when it is coming up to boil after you've added the extract. Be super ready to reduce heat and stir.

+1

3 - If you do boil-over, take the kettle off, turn off the heat, and clean up immediately rather than baking the sugar onto your stove. The extra 10min of stall time won’t hurt the wort at all.

4 – You don’t have to purchase anything other than what you already have in the kitchen, but if you do purchase a large brew kettle, don’t get one less than 7.5 gal (30 quart). (Note: if you have an electric stove you may have to stick some washers under the heating element to lift it up to make sure you have 100% contact to your kettle to get a full boil.)

 

[coy]

thank you - thank you - thank you

all very helpful.