So I'm just starting out doing some home brewing....well, I haven't actually started just yet..... Are there any tips/pointers you could give to a first time brewer? Any books I should be reading? What supplies will I most definitely need to get started? Any books/supplies I should stay away from? Any information would greatly be appreciated!! Thanks, and Cheers!!!
Best resource is this book.... http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Ever...F8&qid=1408815945&sr=8-1&keywords=How+to+brew Also an older edition is available for free online: http://www.howtobrew.com/ I'd read that first. My top two recommendations would be 1) sanitation, sanitation, sanitation. After your boil, everything that comes into contact or could come into contact with your beer must be clean and sanitized until you're pouring the beer into your glass for consumption. The two steps are Clean...and Sanitize. I personally clean with Five Star's PBW and use their no-rinse sanitizer called StarSan. Great stuff. 2) fermentation, fermentation, fermentation. After you have your cleaning and sanitation procedures down, your most difficult work is done. The rest is up to the yeast and your second most important job is preparing the way for a clean, quick, vigorous fermentation by creating an ideal environment for the yeast. There are a few tips in this regard I've learned in my short brewing experience that have made incredible differences in the quality of my beer. Cool your wort after the boil to BELOW your target fermentation temperature, ideally 2-3 degrees lower, BEFORE pitching your yeast. I've heard of folks in Australia that cool in a sealed container overnight before pitching their yeast. I use a copper immersion chiller that I built for $30. Second, pitch a lot of healthy, active yeast. Beginners usually use dry yeast. That's an ok place to start until you have your sanitation procedures down pat, but be sure to follow the directions on the yeast packet itself, not necessarily the yeast-related directions from the kit vendor (that iif you get a kit). If you are using liquid yeast from white labs or wyeast I highly recommend making a starter. Use mrmalty.com or the brewers friend pitching rate calculator. I like the brewer's friend calc (http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/). Finally, tightly control your fermentation temperature. About 12-24 hours after you pitch your yeast, fermentation will likely be noticeable by airlock activity or krausen on top of your beer. The yeast will begin working hard and will generate quite a bit of heat, raising the beer temperature several degrees above your pitching temp, sometimes 5-10*F more. This needs to be controlled. Keep that temp down around your target fermentation temp for at least the first 72 hours after pitching. Here's an example: your instructions say to ferment at 67*F. Cool your wort after the boil to 65F and pitch your yeast. The temp will gradually rise to 67 as the yeast get started. The temp, without your intervention, could easily rise to 72F or beyond...that's what you need to avoid at this point in the fermentation. After about 72 hours, most of the yeasts initial lag phase and about half the fermentation will be done. After this, a temperature rise of a few degrees can actually be helpful to the yeast, helping them fully attenuate the beer (eat allllll the available sugars!). however, try not to allow the temp to fall from your target fermentation temp (in this case 67). Yeast activity increases with a rising temperature and decreases with a falling temperature. If the temp drops to much during the active fermentation period (first 4-7 days) the yeast could go to sleep and leave sugars in your beer unfermented (this is called poor attenuation). Anywho. Hope I didn't load you down too much up front. To recap, check out how to brew and focus on cleani and sanitation for your first few batches. Then focus on doing everything you can to create an ideal environment for the yeast...and they will make you some fantastic beer!
Wow! Thank you! I just bought the book and hope to finish it within a week....I cant wait to start my first batch! Thank you for your generous time and all of your information!
To second jmitchell, always keep in mind that brewers make wort, but it's the yeast that make beer. Treat them right.
Research was a big thing for me. I think I read different articles and tips on brewing for a couple months before I even brewed my first batch. Sanitation is definitely key. A great/expensive batch could be ruined by failing to sanitize properly. One thing I've learned and although it's not always easy, try not to worry about it. There's a lot going on that you won't be able to see or control even. Just enjoy and have fun, that's what it's about. Good luck. Cheers!
Here's a thread from last week or so. Maybe there are tips that will be helpful to you. There are also other threads further down in this forum that you can look thru. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/pre-first-batch.203818/
Too bad the Bros didn't host a SEARCH engine feature where new brewers could look for answers to questions that have been asked over and over again. Oh wait!
Haha.... Yeeeeeeeeeeehhhhh I probably should've done a little more SEARCHING before I posted..... But on the other hand, sometimes you get fresh/different answers the more you ask
Click "next" at the bottom of the page and look for the threads. The search function is almost obsolete when you realize that there is one of these threads on virtually every page.
The biggest tip I can give is find a mentor of sorts. OR join a club, or do what I did. Watch others brew a few batches. I jumped right in at all grain. Why? Well the engineer in me wants total control over all phases. sure the first few 10 beer batches were not anything I would think could be called really good beer, but none were drain pours either. Why because I am lucky I can watch things that require skills and ask a ton of questions as to why you did this and that. You then "learn" the beginnings of the skill. Clean everything well and Patience to do the steps. I also know you can get by on starter kits, but I wanted to keg and I wanted to do 10 gallons a pop. So I bought the gear to expand with first. Of course one needs a HOUSE to do all this, lol. I do not think anyone ever stops learning but I guess after 20 or 30 years or so you could "know" it all. good luck. there is no stupid questions. I hope you get lucky and find a really great brewer to maybe learn from. I also have every kindle book on beer brewing put out in the last 10 years at this point in time.
Videos are a huge help. I still haven't brewed my first batch but I feel pretty good about my abilities/knowledge for when that time comes and I got there by reading the web version of How to Brew, using the search feature, Google!!, and watching/searching for Home Brew videos on You Tube. Take your time and enjoy! Cheers
fundamentals are key. without them you should take up underwater basket weaving. fermentation temperature control - below 70F for ales, preferrably about 62 yeast pitching temperature (below 70F) full boils sanitation fast cooling (wort chiller) KISS methodology and recipe forumuation patience (don't open fermentation vessel for any reason for at least two weeks) not getting too drunk on brew day proper fitting and wearing of your aluminum foil deflector beanie (aka tinfoil hat) to prevent psychotropic mind ray penetration of your skull, and thus avoid intrusions by da gubmint
