Surly
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If using glass carboys get yourself a carboy harness. Before your first brew.
Tips you would like to have known when you first started brewing?
- Thread starter AustriaJoe
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And don't try to carry glass carboys up/down stairs...in the dark.
A good amount of people go through the stages of brewing: 1) Mr Beer or similar, 2) Extract Brewing, 3) Partial Mash, 4) Turkey fryer, 5) Grainfather or other coffee urn style All-in-one units and finally 6) a top-notch, top quality Brewing system (I wont mention names in order to eliminate arguments). What I would like to have known when I first started brewing? After I for sure I liked this hobby..... I wish I would have bought the top system and forgone the fermenting buckets, carboys and cheap fermenters. While a top of the line equipment does not make the brewer, it may help and certainly not hurt...
Snuffy
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When you move on from that Unibrau I’ll give you 500 bucks for it.
If you tell your friends and relatives you brew, then you will not have any or you will have very little for yourself. Best advice, when asked "How did your homebrewing turn out?". Reply, "It was awful. I had to dump it!" (laughing to oneself).
Recently I visit relatives and relative says to me "I thought maybe you'd bring some of your beer.". I replied, "This is your house. It's up to you to supply the beer. Visit me and I have my beer." Nothing like being taken for granted...
Recently I visit relatives and relative says to me "I thought maybe you'd bring some of your beer.". I replied, "This is your house. It's up to you to supply the beer. Visit me and I have my beer." Nothing like being taken for granted...
I doubt I will live that long...When you move on from that Unibrau I’ll give you 500 bucks for it.
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Zymurologist
Life's Too Short To Drink Garbage Beer
Don't add hard fruit (cut up apples) to your primary at the beginning, unless you want to be up in the wee hours cleaning the wort off the ceiling and walls, was just lucky that the chunks were small enough to blast through the air-lock once the pressure overcame the obstruction. That was a rough night.
Mentally knowing the keg is just about empty, but physically taking a LONG time to drain the keg (especially when wanting to keg another brew).
One of those Sci-Fi channel items of the "magic keg" that won't empty.
One of those Sci-Fi channel items of the "magic keg" that won't empty.
Best reply in a while haha.
I gave away so much mediocre beer when I first started....
hotbeer
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If you are only brewing 1 gallon batches, you need to be stingy about giving beer away.
Seems I've only one bottle of beer in the house and the next batch still has at least three days in the fermenter to go.
Might need to have more fermenters going at any one time.
Seems I've only one bottle of beer in the house and the next batch still has at least three days in the fermenter to go.
Might need to have more fermenters going at any one time.
Five gallons of beer disappears faster than you think it will.
Nuke83
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Man is this the truth!
I just shifted from bottle to keg. Converted an old mini fridge to a single tap. All I could think about was how much I was going to have to dump since there was no way I could drink that much beer before it would go stale. Kegged my first 5 gal batch for it and we started on it on Easter when the family came over. Keg blew dry during final round of the Masters. Immediately ordered a kit & regulator to convert to two taps, bulkheads to move CO2 out of fridge, and have two brews in fermentation. Waaaayyyy too easy to drink a pint or so a time and no empties to contradict my count with SWMBO. My textbook answer is now "yeah, just a couple".
Snuffy
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Leak test your fermenter before filling it.
Don't waste good craft beer on people that prefer Miller Lite.
Don't mod a recipe until the second time you brew it.
A wet glass helps with foamy beer.
Always keep your mouth closed when weed-eating.
( I know that's not brew related, but If I'd known that since back when I started brewing, it would have been handy.)
Don't waste good craft beer on people that prefer Miller Lite.
Don't mod a recipe until the second time you brew it.
A wet glass helps with foamy beer.
Always keep your mouth closed when weed-eating.
( I know that's not brew related, but If I'd known that since back when I started brewing, it would have been handy.)
This a thousand times over!
And also, if you have the income, don't let this forum or other groups bully you into not buying brewing stuff just because you want it.
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This is true. I didnt even know if I would like it but jumped all in, one of the best things i bought early was a good fermenter, its helped get me a consistent product i like to drink. Also get a Keezer and keg your beer, its so priceless.
1. Sanitation is one of the few things all homebrewers agree on. For good reason.
2. Keep it simple at first so you can learn the basics before adding more complicated stuff. Extract brewing is a good way to learn some basics. Changing up 1-2 things at a time helps identify what works/doesn't (as does splitting the batches into 2 smaller fermenters if you are so inclined).
3. Brew 4-5 times on cheap equipment and assess how much you enjoy doing it and what parts you most like/dislike, THEN start to assess what budget and equipment you want. I think you should plan equipment purchases around what you like and helping eliminate/limit what you don't like.
4. Best advice I got from a homebrewer - keep the line moving so that something is always "ready". Once you bottle or keg, start the next beer.
2. Keep it simple at first so you can learn the basics before adding more complicated stuff. Extract brewing is a good way to learn some basics. Changing up 1-2 things at a time helps identify what works/doesn't (as does splitting the batches into 2 smaller fermenters if you are so inclined).
3. Brew 4-5 times on cheap equipment and assess how much you enjoy doing it and what parts you most like/dislike, THEN start to assess what budget and equipment you want. I think you should plan equipment purchases around what you like and helping eliminate/limit what you don't like.
4. Best advice I got from a homebrewer - keep the line moving so that something is always "ready". Once you bottle or keg, start the next beer.
"Once you bottle or keg, start the next beer." true if one has proper cold storage otherwise one may be disappointed when the bottle/keg a brew that has been sitting for awhile at no so ideal temps.
True. Try to brew roughly at the rate you plan to consume. But also, too much homebrew onhand is one of those too few problems in life where can actually drink your way out. =c)
Man, that is the truth!
Just learned about underletting , makes my brew day easier and more efficient.
cactusgarrett
Well-Known Member
- Be OCD about your sanitation (Star San is a game changer)
- A secondary "fermenter" is unnecessary in 99% of brewing instances.
- Airlock activity isn't indicative of fermentation. Get two consistent FG readings 2-3 days apart before bottling.
- Know your starting water profile - specifically enough to know:
- if you need to mitigate chlorine/chloramines
- what your permanent hardness/alkalinity is
- how to achieve a desired Cl:SO4 ratio
Don't give beers to people who won't return bottles, one chance is all thet get, F it up means no more beer for him/her unless consumed at my house. Yes I am hard when it comes to not returning bottles despite promising to do so, but more on principle, I regard a broken word as a personal insult.
Just forget about "all the money you will save by not buying fancy craft beer" when you have earned in your starting equipment, you realise you need a better FC fridge, and a beer fridge, and better fermentors, and, and etc....See it as a hobby you invest time and money in to perfect the outcome of instead.
Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment a little within reasonable frames once you feel you start get a hang of the basics, and don't be afraid to fail a few times while doing so.
Just forget about "all the money you will save by not buying fancy craft beer" when you have earned in your starting equipment, you realise you need a better FC fridge, and a beer fridge, and better fermentors, and, and etc....See it as a hobby you invest time and money in to perfect the outcome of instead.
Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment a little within reasonable frames once you feel you start get a hang of the basics, and don't be afraid to fail a few times while doing so.
Snuffy
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Here’s a thread from someone with a similar brew ethic...
North Carolina - Unibrau Pro All in One 100L 240V System
Partly due to the lockdown and not having an office of coworkers to give my product to, I have the opposite problem. My friends, neighbors, wife, and I can't drink my beer fast enough to keep up with my production, so my house is filling with beer. I only started brewing in August 2020, but since then have become completely obsessed with it, to the point that I'm cooking up a new batch almost every weekend and running out of places to put all the bottles.
D.B.Moody
Well-Known Member
Excellent! I live in SoCal, and we have a neighborhood happy hour every Tuesday at which I supply the refreshments. Are you close?@hamachi, I've had my shots and am open to reasonable travel distances. Where do you live? I can bring a lawn chair and my own pint glass. If you can't handle visitors, my car has a good sized truck. Always glad to help out a fellow home brewer.
D.B.Moody
Well-Known Member
Not at all close. I live in suburb of St. Louis. But tomorrow at 4 PM I'll drink a home brew in honor of your kind invitation.Excellent! I live in SoCal, and we have a neighborhood happy hour every Tuesday at which I supply the refreshments. Are you close?
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