"Saying it in your outside voice" Tips for new members/venting and/or entertainment for regular HBTers

CornyKegs 728
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bracconiere said:
🤣 hey man, your's might be bigger but i still got my milk pail! :mug:

View attachment 771442


and if anyone has recomendations on how to mop that floor i'm all ears....
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Nice!
So I'm not the only one.
Mine's only a 10 litre one.

I'm still a beginner. Limited equipment, limited options due to location etc
Learned a lot from the fora and will be happy to help others!
Point is, that no issue is exactly the same and as an absolute beginner, it can be a bit overwhelming.
Hence so many of similar questions.
Lets just help, like others helped us :)
 
Big_D said:
I know @BrewnWKopperKat, this is post #27 and guess what.. it’s way off topic now.
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The second page is often a good place for the primary topic to return (could have something to do with the willingness of the reader to navigate between pages 🤷‍♂️ ). And there is no limit to the number of side topics ;)

Big_D said:
To be clear though, I’m definitely not one of those that would just ask for help without trying to help myself first! I know that can get old really quick. One thing I would ask of folks though, is to remember what it was like when they were the new guy asking for advice. I feel as though most on here already do, but there are some that come off as the "UberBeerMeister-God of All Things Beer".
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Posting from small screens vs big screens appears to be a factor. I've tried a couple of times to use tablets for content creation. I'll probably try it again in about a year.

Phone users tend to user all lower case, avoid punctuation, avoid paragraphs. That's neither good nor bad, just an observation.


Some more loosely related thoughts,

In 2022, web search remains broken. Especially when built-in site search produces better results than search engines.

Hobby specific search engines could be created using one of a couple of open source web search projects. Not sure how one gets paid for providing this service. Maybe hobby associations will offer this as a membership benefit over time.

There are also a couple of 'up and coming' note taking apps built around VSCodium (cross platform) and markdown. And git repos in the cloud make an interesting 'back end' for saving / sharing those notes. Perhaps with a module that provides recipe templates in markdown with TypeScript for the calcuations engine?
 
bracconiere said:
🤣 hey man, your's might be bigger but i still got my milk pail! :mug:

View attachment 771442


and if anyone has recomendations on how to mop that floor i'm all ears....
Click to expand...


Off topic, but seeing that thing has clamps on it tells me you could probably do pressure transfers to your kegs. I love those old milk pails!
 
-There is absolutely no brewing involved when making mead, cider and wine.
-If your water has mineral problems, then its likely you beer will have problems as well, however in some cases your tap water/well water may be just fine.
-You don't need to spend a big pile of cash to go from extract to all grain brewing.
- A stir-plate, oxygen system, PH meter and conical fermenter are all nice things to have, but you really don't need any of them to make good beer.
 
madscientist451 said:
-You don't need to spend a big pile of cash to go from extract to all grain brewing.
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It cost me $28 but only because I don't have a LHBS with a mill so I had to add a Corona style mill to the paint strainer bags to make it work. I still use the Corona mill but the paint strainer bags had to be replaced, another $3 down the drain. :p
 
Big_D said:
And here’s a gratuitous equipment shot just for the hell of it!!

I love this place! 😎🍺🤣


View attachment 771441
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For the record: I love your beer & geear pics. If it's not an invasion of privacy, how about a picture of that part off to the right of your fermenters that looks to be a well laid out 'wall of power'? My comment about hd pics posted by people with more money than brains is directed at a very specific type of narcissist: since the proliferation of 56K modems and HTML, I spent most of my time in the pro-sound and film production forums and there was always some spoiled rich-kid filling a page with $1000's worth of studio gear they assumed would compensate for their utter lack of skill or talent and then blather on as if they are some kind of authority on sound simply for owning slick gear. The gear in my own studio was all carefully and knowledgably chosen... often purchased used or broken (because I could fix or modify anything), but more important to me was that I worked for and dedicated the time to learn it inside out. Also important to me is good cable organization and power distribution, as my studio had about 30 miles or wiring, so even though I can't do my sound work now, I still love to see a well-organized bunch of cables. :)
 
Yesfan said:
Off topic, but seeing that thing has clamps on it tells me you could probably do pressure transfers to your kegs. I love those old milk pails!
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🤣 it takes two! here's my other one!

1654976602377.png
 
Here's a mix of tips, unpopular opinions and gripes

-When brewing on new equipment aim for a gravity target OR volume target not both. Take notes, once you become consistent with one you'll be able to hit the other a lot easier

-Sanitation is important but people sometimes take even this too far. There was a thread about sanitizing your hands. I don't see a situation where this would be necessary. Your gear needs to be clean enough so that your yeast can win the population war (There's more to it but that's the gist)

-patience is the most important ingredient. It's the cheapest ingredient (it's free) but many new breweries are fresh out. Leave that fermenter alone!

-It takes a lot of big mistakes to screw up a batch especially on pristine (clean) new gear. It'll beer, don't dump it unless you really can't stomach it after it's been packaged and carbed up.

-Maintaining a Kegging system (properly) takes just as much time as bottling (I do both).

-if you tell HBT that you are going to come back later and report your findings once you have the chance to taste your finished batch, please don't disappear!

-Afterall we are making beer, people! It's a hobby. Have fun and do it how you want to do it.
 
Dr_Jeff said:
A pressure washer !?!
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if only they built homes with homebrewing in mind, it'd have a drain installed, and that would be perfect! just hose the kitchen down after brew day! i envy people with dedicated brew rooms! :mug:

but the best luck i've had is soaking it with a wet towel, and using my feet to clean it after 10-20 minutes of soaking, mops don't work....
 
Yesfan said:
This thread is going to be like the home brew version of "bad drivers" isn't it?
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Bad driver discussions pop up like dandelions everywhere.


Velnerj said:
-patience is the most important ingredient. It's the cheapest ingredient (it's free) but many new breweries are fresh out. Leave that fermenter alone!

It's a hobby. Have fun and do it how you want to do it.
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These.

And finally, you'll never ask a question that is stupid. Some of us are built to help others learn; some are built to feel superior via ridicule. You will also likely never ask a question that's never been asked before, and there are many fine threads you could spend hours reading about the very question you ask, but it's really ok, just do try a little.
Eg1
Eg2
Eg3
Eg4
Eg5
Eg6
Eg7
Eg8 (read this one first, take notes, pull out your college physics hyrdrodynamics textbook; there will be a quiz)
 
balrog said:
there are many fine threads you could spend hours reading about the very question you ask
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First, thanks for the "link dump" - a number of good topics.

And, on a real computer with a real web browser, control+"mouse click" opened them all quickly.


moving back to a more general discussion.

What is also interesting is this: many longer running topics here at HomeBrewTalk are nicely summarized elsewhere. And let's introduce the idea that topics may have a "shelf life".
  • Quality books from the late 2010s and early 2020s have incorporated much of the information in topics before the mid 2010s.
  • Information from suppliers and producers (yeast labs, maltsers), new ingredients ("crystal 40" that's self converting), etc starts to make some of the older topics a "historical" resource.
  • "Brewing Water Chemistry Primer" has an external "Cliff Notes" page.
  • For those looking into brewing low ABV beers, there is a delightful site that embraces and extends the best of "Low Enzymatic/Cold Mash/Low alcohol beer" and other sources on the WWW. That site comes with recipes for all the low ABV brewing techniques that are covered.
  • The numerous topics on bottling NEIPAs that had to "push back" against "that can't be done" have resulted in a number of quality blog posts over the last couple of years.
  • The relentless "Extract darkens more than expected during the boil" meme from the late 2010s seems to have been replaced by "buy fresh LME". All it took to kill that meme was a number (from 2005), a number of people brewing one simple recipe with a (relatively) simple measurement.
  • If one knows where to look, there are a couple of resources on shorter brew days that can be obtained for about $15 (ebook) and a $5/month subscription.

Like any body of knowledge, we have the ability to "stand on the shoulders of giants". "Giants" come and go. Their knowledge is "embraced and extended".
 
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During my daily perusal of HBT, I usually check General first, then eventually I'll say to myself, let's see what the noobs are up to and go to Beginners. On any given day, a few of the threads are questions that could have been easily answered by a quick Google search..or a quicker search on HBT. Or just completely silly, like the obviously underage poster who wants to know how to make quick alcohol with sugar and water, when mom/dad aren't looking. Like the majority of us, I check there to see if there's anything I can help with, but also for the entertainment/head smacking value. Not nice, I know, since I was there myself a few years ago; trying to figure out why ALL of my beers tasted like bandaids. Eventually got it figured out, that I was pitching yeast when the wort was too hot. But it's still fun.

Another thing I have learned; don't answer questions when I'm not absolutely sure I have the correct answer. Too many times I've had a few of my own HBs, gotten on here, and answered questions that I had no right to even try and answer. I always chuckle when I see an answer to a beginner's question from another beginner, who may (or may not) know what they are talking about. And the beginner, who jumped in with all four feet to all-grain, buying everything shiny they could get their hands on, and still doesn't understand why their beer isn't perfect. Show me a beginner who made a perfect beer on their very first try, then I'll look for a star in the east. Six years in and I am STILL learning new things, if not every brewday, then most of them.
 
bracconiere said:
if only they built homes with homebrewing in mind, it'd have a drain installed, and that would be perfect! just hose the kitchen down after brew day! i envy people with dedicated brew rooms! :mug:

but the best luck i've had is soaking it with a wet towel, and using my feet to clean it after 10-20 minutes of soaking, mops don't work....
Click to expand...
Thats why I brew outside. I've never had to sweep the grass.
 
Just because a process is harder doesn’t mean it will necessarily make your beer better. Conversely, taking shortcuts can negatively affect the flavor of your beer. It is the divining of good value for work to result ratio that characterizes a veteran brewer.

Like any food preparation, quality ingredients is the number 1 indicator as to whether your beer will taste good.
 
Big_D said:
Ok.. it wasn’t $50K worth, and I didn’t post a TON of pics!

And, I know this won’t be popular… but I HATE reading books! If I sit still long enough to read a book, I’ll fall asleep. Unfortunately, it’s just not in my nature. It’s obvious that this is a rare trait in this hobby though, because that’s the first thing everyone throws at you when you start looking for help. I get it, there’s a plethora of great info out there published in books, but thankfully that’s not the only medium available.

I won’t speak for every noob that comes here looking for advice, but I found the forum probably the same way most do.. researching. I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to do to brew my first batch, I really just needed a good nudge (or kick in the ass) to get me going. Thankfully, there were a lot of great folks that jumped in and helped me out!

To be clear though, I’m definitely not one of those that would just ask for help without trying to help myself first! I know that can get old really quick. One thing I would ask of folks though, is to remember what it was like when they were the new guy asking for advice. I feel as though most on here already do, but there are some that come off as the "UberBeerMeister-God of All Things Beer".


-D
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Some people doesn't like to read. I can't watch videos, they're way too slow to exchange information.

And I look into forums for opinions (share your god damn perceptions about), not researching. The last is better at sites and books, like How to brew. Hahaha

Also, seriously, don't tell newbies they can't make good beer without using very expensive equipment or time consuming process. Homebrew is supposed to be simple. If you like it more complex, it's ok, really. But someone could be crying right now because can't afford a tilt hydrometer ( or anything fancy) that you suggested.
 
I get tired of the posts that ask an honest (and yes, maybe newbie) question. And then someone feels compelled to post something like: "Well I have never had that problem in my many years of brewing, I have always have perfect batches. And now they are even better with the $50k brewing rig I just bought." That is neither relevent nor helpful to the OP. you want to brag? No problemo, just start a thread for that, or post in one of the existing threads that are about that.

I have accidentally made a few necromancer posts myself. Too easy to click those bottom links and forget you did so. How about HBT puts a background tint, or stripes or something in a thread once the thread has been dormant for 3 or 6 months? You can still post and everything else, but just a reminder that it is a stale thread. Anyone else like that idea?
 
TheBluePhantom said:
I have accidentally made a few necromancer posts myself. Too easy to click those bottom links and forget you did so. How about HBT puts a background tint, or stripes or something in a thread once the thread has been dormant for 3 or 6 months? You can still post and everything else, but just a reminder that it is a stale thread. Anyone else like that idea?
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Pro's and cons... There's entertainment value to be added when somone comes in to a 14 year old post with a "Perfect Solution" specific to the OP's urgent and unique one-time problem and it's one of those days when a lot of people don't notice the date, only the new response, and everyone piles in adding refinements and links to parts. :thumbsup:
:bigmug:
 
TheBluePhantom said:
Too easy to click those bottom links and forget you did so. How about HBT puts a background tint, or stripes or something in a thread once the thread has been dormant for 3 or 6 months? You can still post and everything else, but just a reminder that it is a stale thread. Anyone else like that idea?
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I like it.

Broken Crow said:
Pro's and cons...
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Pros: it drives traffic

Cons: beyond the laugh track, the posts often are not worth reading.
 
One common newbie post goes like "my fresh wort has off taste,".. or "just racked beer tastes like yeast, or too bitter, etc".

There are two main parts of brewing process; "hot side", the process of making wort, and "cold side", temp control and conditioning.

While hot side is where one puts most active effort, paying attention to cold side is just as important, along with patience, to make good beer.
 
Dland said:
How so?

Either I have a simpler system than you, or I'm not doing it "properly". Used to bottle 10 gallon batches as well, between the bottle filling and sanitizing = almost another half a brew day.
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Well I don't want to be too pretentious so perhaps "properly" was a bit overstated. You can run your kegging system however you want so your way is the proper way.

Nevertheless, for me it means for each batch I clean the kegs: disassemble all the small parts soak, rinse and sanitize. Then use the kegs to clean/flush the lines (thereby also purge them) + clean the taps and make sure the kegerator inside and outside gets a good wipe down etc.

Packaging then burping kegs, finagling with the lines to get everything back in the kegerator. Making sure there are no leaks liquid or gas (usually there is something).

Also what's specific to my situation is that my kegerator doubles as my fermentation chamber. So this requires reassembly every time (understand this is a unique situation to me).

All in all takes about 2 - 2.5 hours to get everything done which is how long it takes me to bottle 5 gallons as well.

There's also time committed intermittently to getting the CO2 tank filled, switching the lines every now and then. Cleaning the drip tray (if you have one). Not to mention the time invested if you DIY your kegerator/keezer. It all adds up.
 
Velnerj said:
Nevertheless, for me it means for each batch I clean the kegs: disassemble all the small parts soak, rinse and sanitize. Then use the kegs to clean/flush the lines (thereby also purge them) + clean the taps and make sure the kegerator inside and outside gets a good wipe down etc.
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Sounds good and completely reasonable. My dispensing rig consists of one tap with an adjustable pressure compensator, that I move around to the kegs I want to draw from. I top off carbonation in kegs that are tapped when pressure slows, either from CO2 tank or one of the conditioning kegs that is somewhat over pressure from spunding.

Used to do the whole gas mainfold thing w constant CO2 to every keg, or at least 6 of them, but with all the cleaning of back blows, not to mention the potential gas leaks, cut back & simplified. Beer tastes just as good. No one going to be impressed with my bar, but mostly no one there but me, at least at serving.

Have even intentionally over built pressure w spunding in kegs to dispence older kegs. Just practicing for when we can't buy CO2 anymore.

Velnerj said:
Packaging then burping kegs, finagling with the lines to get everything back in the kegerator. Making sure there are no leaks liquid or gas (usually there is something).
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I use fermentation gas to purge sanitized kegs, CO2 from a ten gallon batch can easily purge three cornys, but I usually only do two, as that is all I need for any batch.

Couple of good threads on that here, should you be interested.

Velnerj said:
Also what's specific to my situation is that my kegerator doubles as my fermentation chamber. So this requires reassembly every time (understand this is a unique situation to me).

All in all takes about 2 - 2.5 hours to get everything done which is how long it takes me to bottle 5 gallons as well.

There's also time committed intermittently to getting the CO2 tank filled, switching the lines every now and then. Cleaning the drip tray (if you have one). Not to mention the time invested if you DIY yo
IMG_1213.JPG
ur kegerator/keezer. It all adds up.
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No drip tray and bottom of my coffin rig is not pretty, but beer still tastes good. My 12 keg unit does lagering/crashing and distrabution.
IMG_1213.JPG
 
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I haven't been here for a long time, but I'd say take all advice with a giant bag of rock salt. I've had good advice and extremely bad advice. Luckily nothing has ruined my beer, but at least one batch suffered like a sickly orphan.
 
Plastic Brewkettle said:
I haven't been here for a long time, but I'd say take all advice with a giant bag of rock salt. I've had good advice and extremely bad advice. Luckily nothing has ruined my beer, but at least one batch suffered like a sickly orphan.
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as should everything on the internet...just a BUNCH of random food for thought?


(and it wasn't something i said? i do try and avoid actually talking about making beer as much as i can!)
 

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