Stone Cold Lead Pipe Lock'd N00b Advice

[RedIrocZ-28]

olllllo I agree with you.

Why wait for beer to correctly age and meld the flavors together like its supposed to? If it doesn't taste right from the get go, like they all do, then its obviously gone bad and is beyond saving. Might as well dump it because the hundreds of thousands of gallons of craft brewed beer on this forum are in fact NOT the same as your beer that has obviously gone bad. Yours is somehow different and unique to the millions of bottles of beer that have been properly aged and cared for by the HBT.com forum members that tasted funny after the primary, tasted still a little weird after secondary, and then at 1,2,3 weeks in the bottles just tasted not quite right, yet.

Ahhh... reverse psychology, I love it.

Unfortunately for me, my first batch had a bad case of DiMethyl Sulfide and even after 5 months in the bottles it did not go away.

The difference is that I waited it out to see if my beer would turn out rather than dumping it like a professional n00b.

 

[rico567]

No homebrewer ever stopped kegging and went back to bottling.

No homebrewer content with the simplicity and flexibility of bottling ever wanted to keg.

"Always" and "never" are seldom useful.

 

[Orfy]

Don't write articles in other peoples threads!
Keep advice and answers short and to the point.

If you feel the need for a reply that runs to more then a paragraph or so then link to a separate thread or the wiki.

Repeatedly copy and pasting the same information is not necessary.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

NEVER EVER ask what SWMBO means...it can get UGLY fast! lol!!

 

[theacolyte]

If you drop your bung into your carboy, you will be OK

 

[mordantly]

Your neighbor that offers brewing advice may not know what they are talking about.


Sanitation is above and beyond any thought that should enter a brewer's head.

 

[lurker18]

Canadian twist offs can be capped with wing cappers, and mine seal better than the flip tops.
Wait,give it time, instructions are not for everyone.
If the instructions say "IMPORTANT", it probably is.
It is quite hard to ruin a beer before boiling and fermentation, don't panic that you might have missed something.
Clear questions are much easier to answer.
Not everyone has tried everything. "Would this work" on ridiculous things need to be found out by someone, try it yourself.
Pictures are worth 1000 words, use them if needed.

 

[PHBalanced]

You will need to learn what EAC is by yourself. Yes it will take time to search for and find it. Just accept that fact and move on to soaking up all the great advice on the forum.

 

[truenewbrew]

will a carboy work as a bottling bucket?

 

[ToddO]

If you are brewing on your stove, do yourself a favor and take the burner off before you start and line the stove with foil a few inches around the burner and then replace it. If you do boilover its not as messy to clean and even if you dont you wont get those hard-to-get-off black spots from drips etc. This will keep the SWMBO happier and you brewing longer.

 

[DrDirt]

Don't waste everybody's time by posting a thread with topics like "bottle bomb", "broke carboy" or "huge blowoff" unless you have pictures to document it.

 

[truenewbrew]

Shake right before or right after picthing?

 

[kmack747]

Get a hydrometer and use it!! Heck get two or three they can and will break.

 

[brewagentjay]

5 Gallon PET Water Bottle (Without Handle) Can Be A Secondary or Primary(aka Carboy).

 

[mattd2]

And now, as it pertains to our latest imbroglio.

I think it would be fair to say that you should taste you beer at various points and reserve judgement until bottling time.

If at that point it tastes bad; and you have more money than time; or you are more impatient than curious dump most of it.

Bottle 3 and prime with carb tabs and evaluate after 1, 2, 3 months later.

The only problem I see with this method is after 3 months you might have just finished enjoying your last bottle of something that actually ended up tasting pretty good, and then start kicking youself for wasting the other 18 litres of it!
Sometimes ignorence is bliss

 

[fermenteverything]

You aren't going to save any money by brewing your own beer. It's about the fun/experience of it all.

Unless you live in Canada where it's $12 for a 12 pack, then it's a huge money saver!

 

[Acoma]

A few tips from my first brew day:
If your LME has a cap ring when you take the cap off remove it before pouring
Plan ahead if using a Brita water filter jug
Freeze some small blocks of water the night before for your ice bath

 

[lou2row]

A lot of new folks, a lot of repeat questions. This is a great read for starting out to learn from the vast wealth of experience here.

My tip; If you've read it here 20 times, you will probably remember it. All the other great tips you hear less than that, take notes.

 

[fermenteverything]

woops i meant $12 for a 6 pack... that stings.

 

[JackCrank]

Before you brew, lay out all your ingredients, check them against your recipe, measure them out, then get to boiling.

 

[gcdowd]

Beer doesn't need to be clear to be good.

 

[temptnmonkey]

remember to have fun!

 

[motleybrews]

1. Listen to Revvy and all the other "big guys".
2. Have fun. Relax. Be patient.

 

[viperh]

Not all dishwashers are created equal.

My cheap dishwasher is not good enough to wash and sanitize my bottles where as my old one worked just fine for 5 years.

I started using my new dishwasher to wash and sanitize my bottles and the last couple of batches have caught an infection. Some bottles come out alright others taste like Satan's Arsehole.

 

[Hannamet]

I'm probably not posting this correctly as a Noob, but one thing I'm not a Noob with is metals. As a corporate metallurgist for almost 30 years, I can tell you that the difference between stainless and aluminum is vast, as most of you can readily tell for yourselves. When it comes to brewing beer, I have been told by many who have done it, "cleanliness is everything". I have just started brewing, and enjoy it immensly, but I definately prefer stainless steel, for a number of reasons. My primary concern is how it gets cleaned. Aluminum is protected naturally by a self-healing oxide layer. If this layer is removed, it will corrode as a function of pH variation, (in either direction). The aluminum is more sensitive in that manner, but there is very little a home brewer could do to properly processed stainless steel to mess it up. If you do use aluminum, be sure to let it re-passivate in air if you have agressively cleaned the metal. An agressive cleaning wil change the lustre of the metal and leave "color" on your cleaning rag. Just my two cents.

 

[badhabit]

There is always more than one way to do it
Always search BEFORE you ask

 

[Frankiesurf]

I am still a newbie as my first real (not Mr. Beer) brew is done fermenting and will be bottled in two days.

My tip is when taking your first of two FG readings before you bottle, DO NOT take a big whiff of your brew after opening your fermenter hoping to smell your hoppy or malty goodness. You WILL get a nose full of nose hair melting Co2.

 

[masonsjax]

Don't post the word "Subscribed" to every thread you want to follow. Instead click the "Thread tools" link at the top of the page which contains an option to subscribe.

 

[VladOfTrub]

o. The "big guys" aren't necessarily brewing authorities.
o. A poorly brewed beer, aged out. Is a nicely aged, poorly brewed beer.
o. An aluminum pot holds water like a stainless pot. That's about it.
o. There are more acronyms used on this site than in the entire military.

 

[Timo21]

And if you DONT leave about a quarter of an inch behind and drink the yeast would that be an explanation as to why i have the squirts and my farts smell so gnarly?