This weekend I'll be going through with my first home brew, Northern Brewer's Dead Ringer, IPA. List some tips you learned through experience that will either make the experience easier or create a better beer Cheers!
make sure to use proper sanitation, keep your temperature constant, and use a secondary fermentation and cold crashing to remove excess yeast and sediment. Also keep a empty (and new) spray bottle nearby to hit the wort to avoid boilovers......that was MY issues with my first homebrew!
I agree with almost all of this but I would skip a secondary especially for a first IPA. Also read as much as you can.
Once you reach a boil, turn the heat down. At least on my stove high heat is not required to maintain a boil, and leaving it there made it impossible to keep it from boiling over. Second, make sure the wort is cool before pitching (<70 I think). Third don't believe anyone who tells you the circulation from siphoning is enough to mix in the priming sugar - you need to stir it. And as always there is the obligatory read howtobrew.com.
If you are like most new homebrewers, you'll be tempted to rack it after a week...don't do it...wait 2 or 3 weeks.
Clean, then sanitize. Follow the directions. No free-styling Wash your hands. Follow the directions. No free-styling Allow plenty-o-time Follow the directions. No free-styling Calibrate your thermometer Follow the directions. No free-styling Keep in mind...your wort really really wants to be beer. You have to be a total fuck-up not to end up making beer. -- 1st Time Homebrew Haiku -- Your best beer ever It may not be but it's beer Better brews ahead.
Watch the boil like a hawk and don't leave the pot unattended because that's when the boil-over will occur. Write out a time line on your recipe for each time period after the boil starts for the addition of the hops and anything else that will go into the boil. That includes inserting your wort chiller for the last 10 minutes. Don't forget to take your yeast out of the fridge to be at room temp in time for pitching it. Have a good time.
Sanitize, follow directions (especially for fermentation temp), sanitize, read, learn have fun, sanitize.
I watched the video provided by Northern Brewer of them brewing that specific beer several times. I made notes detailing each section of the video. I then went and delved deeper into each section by researching/googling it and culling info from may different websites.
Sanitization and temperature are everything. Dont drink while youre doing the first batch. And dont drink too much on any other batch. Hah. Welcome to the wonderful world of home brewing!
