What advice would you have for yourself back when you started out?

[fratermus]

If you could go back to that day you brewed your first batch, what advice would you give yourself, knowing what you know now?

I started a dinky webpage on this subject.

 

[Coastarine]

Don't be over anxious to make your own recipes. Use other proven recipes for a while, and when you do make your own recipe, KEEP IT SIMPLE.

No pumpkin, no more than 1 pound of honey, no more than two specialty grains, no unusual methods. Just not yet.

 

[MisterGreen]

Do not stick your penis in the carboy.

You will save yourself a lot of embarrassment and Crisco.

OMG LMFAO

 

[Yambor44]

Ok, I am brand new at this. I think I am going to start my first batch within a week. The question I would like to ask every experienced brewer on here is this.


If you could go back to that day you brewed your first batch, what advice would you give yourself, knowing what you know now?

Obviously no wrong answers, but I look forward to seeing what people say. Thanks!

Go ahead and get the 20 gallon brew sculpture now, it will be cheaper this way. And add the "smart system" while you are at it.

 

[conpewter]

Turn around slowly and walk away, do not run as carboys can sense fear.

 

[Homercidal]

1. StarSan. Great stuff. Santize Sanitize Sanitize.
2. Organize. Make sure you understand the process and write it down. Follow it.
3. RDWHAHB. If you sanitize, it's very hard to not make good beer.
4. Your first batch may be the hardest, it gets easier the next time

continuing...
5. Fermentation temps are important. Find out what is right for your beer, and keep the fermenter at that temp, or just below or your beer could have bad off flavors.
6. Practice transferring hot and cold water from vessel to vessel so that you can develop a good method of doing it without introducing germs or burning yourself.
7. Cool that wort! Whatever method you use to cool your wort after boiling, practice first and see how it goes.

I found that most of my problem wasn't that I didn't quite understand what I needed to do, it was that I was unorganized, and therefore unprepared when the rime came to do it. You can make great beer with little money spent in fancy equipment, but your life will be much easier if you at least practice moving liquid from here to there.

Lots of great advice here. We should build a sticky of advice or something.

 

[BugleBrew]

1. Buy an immersion chiller right away, even if not doing full boils. That was by far my best purchase.
2. Whenever you think to yourself, "ZOMG ARE MY BEER RUINED!!1!?" stop and take a deep breath and say, "No, probably not." It's hard to mess up beer, and if you do ruin it, you will know because when you taste it you will want to die. So, quit worrying.
3. Never buy a case of empty bottles! You can buy a 24 case at Sam's for about 24 bucks, and an empty case for about 15. That means you get 24 beers for 9 dollars. Also, take your friend's empties and return (some) of them with full home brew.
4. Buy a second and third carboy right away. Start another batch the weekend after your first, then start appfelwein the day after.

 

[chthonik]

The advice I always give is to start out with a quick beer. A nice middle of the road Pale Ale or English Bitter. Ed Wort's Pale Ale or Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde are great examples....

Yeah, I think that's a great idea for a new brewer. Hefeweizens are super-quick too. It's nice to start with a fast beer or 2 while getting the pipeline filled with the brews that take longer to mature.

 

[DRM]

I am currently waiting on my first batch, so this is all still very fresh for me.

I would say:

1. Brew a quick beer first. I choose Scottish 90/- and regret it. I believe a lower gravity ale would be the way to go.

2. Watch your beer as much as you like, but don't waste your time and beer taking needless hydrometer readings. It all adds up.

3. Try to remember to filter the wort. I forgot.

4. Aerate as recommended.

5. Leave it at least a couple of weeks in the primary (if using a secondary) unless you want to deal with everyone on this website telling you that you moved it too soon.

6. Relax and wait for your home brew.

 

[Endovelico]

I did ALOT of reading (both in this forum and in books) before brewing my first batch so i was prepared and already had the RDWHAH mindset, however one thing i wish i had done is pratice the racking/bottling more. It was very messy.

 

[carnevoodoo]

Temperature Control.

 

[DD2000GT]

In order of importance as my experience has found and why:

1 - Use Star San to sanitize instead of bleach! Bleach is hard to rinse completely off (especially since I was VERY anal about sanitation) and gives your beer a bad funky taste in unusually small amounts.
2 - Patience! Green beer sucks and good beer takes about 3 weeks in the primary and 4 weeks in the bottle.
3 - Control fermentation temps! It really is more important to the final product than you initially think.

 

[mmb]

Advice to myself:

Beer takes time. You can't rush it.

 

[McDegga]

My top three are, in almost no particular order;

Buy a wort chiller. This is crucial for lowering your wort to pitching temps very quickly and easily. I built my own in no time and I wish, more than anything else that someone would have told me this when I started.

Sanitize everything. Don't cheat. Do it, and that does include your hands.

RDWHAHB. Seriously. I can't tell you the number of times a beer that was a bit...off came together and was great after I let time do it's magic. There is a reason everyone here says RDWHAHB, it's true. When one thinks of beer, normally the images associated are thos of relaxation, friendship, sports etc. Keep those images in your head, and relax don't worry have a home brew. It's good advice, and true!

Welcome to the addiction!

-E

 

[greywolf]

Sanitize.
Brew in a bag.
When boiling wort on the stove-don't look away or try to do something else, It's just waiting to flood out and soak the stovetop. Especially if your married and only in the kitchen for 'special projects'.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

- Don't shy away from ancient threads, lol
- Don't listen to elitist twits
- Brew what you enjoy
- Don't be afraid to try all-grain
- Kegging is great

 

[Kharnynb]

get steel fermenters, they don't cost the world(should be able to get some decent ones around 80-100 dollars/euro's), they're easier to keep clean, don't break and ruin your day and you can dump them in a cold water bath and the metal will conduct any heat out fast, meaning you can just dump the hot wort straight into the fermenter and avoid one contamination risk of having cold wort in an open fermenter.

 

[toothandnailbrew]

So this would be like whats a mistake I wish I didn't make?
Don't do beer stuff on carpet.
When you go pro buy a good boiler and good floors before you bling

 

[layd0g]

Star-San is reusable
Time heals all things... even beer

 

[Knightshade]

Watch/participate in somebody else's brew session.
Relax......
Don't try to figure it all out at once...RELAX!!!!