What's the 1 bit of advice you wish someone had given you, which you'd pass on to a new brewer?

[Bigcol49]

'Ow do!
Get divorced!

 

[Graz]

If it looks clean,clean it again and then spray it with sanitiser.

On the other hand I'd would say whilst cleanliness and sanitisation are good practices don't get too obsessed. I've heard newbies on here asking if they should throw their beer away because the accidently stuck an unsanitised thermometer in it or something daft like that. Most of the time you will get away with such things even sucking the syphon!

 

[BeerCat]

Don't give up if your first beers are crap.

 

[Ajhutch]

Be patient. It’s evergreen advice and applies in many different ways. You have to be patient while beer is fermenting, but you also need to be patient with your process, and learn from each experience.

How many posts do we see along the lines of
- “nothing has happened in the 12 hours since I pitched my yeast is my batch ruined”
- “the beer I bottled four days ago doesn’t taste great shall I throw the rest away”
- “my second all grain isn’t as good as my local craft brewery so I’m going to quit brewing and take up wildlife photography”

Patience is the answer to all of these.

My favourite quote, can’t remember where I heard it first: malt wants to become beer

 

[Thumper]

I was trying to work out it Drunkula's post was meant in the negative, as in here's what I'd advise not to do?

I think drunkula is joking.

My piece of advice would be to join this forum first. I lurked for a couple of weeks before getting my first kit, and avoided loads of newbie errors as a result.

 

[jceg316]

You can sink a lot of money into brewing on equipment which breaks. Buy something that works, even if it's more expensive as it will cost less in the long run. And there is no need to stockpile ingredients!

 

[Brianbrewed]

Patience young grasshopper

 

[mickthetrick]

keep it simple.

 

[chewie]

Clean your **** after you used it, not a fortnight later....

 

[Nicks90]

Brew what you want, when you want and don't give in to all grain snobbery.
You can make spectacular beer using kits if you tweak them and it will probably lead to AG if you have the time and space. But if you don't, content yourself on still brewing excellent beer at half the cost of shop bought.
Oh and don't obsess about cleanliness.
I forgot to sterilise an entire batch of bottles and they all turned out perfectly

Oh and last one.
Work out how much you ACTUALLY drink and build a stockpile, so you are always drinking something that is 3 months conditioned.....

 

[Sadfield]

Don't get suckered in to believing that the process of dehydrating wort will have no impact on the quality, freshness and subtlety of the final brew.


Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[IainM]

Look after your yeast. They make the beer.

 

[chthon]

If it looks clean,clean it again and then spray it with sanitiser.

Double likes for this!

 

[MrL73]

Start simple. SMaSH is your friend. It WILL make good beer.

 

[GerritT]

Keep tasting. And don't aim for high ABV just for the high ABV.

 

[Spoon]

Recipes are good, but don't be afraid to freestyle.

As long as your process is sound then whatever goes in will make good beer and it teaches you to think about what you're throwing in the mash/boil (I.e. why does this recipe need mashing warm or cool, what is the right amount of hops for a grain bill/style) rather than just ticking off recipes in a book.

My favourite beers of the last few years are some fruit beers derived from wheat beer. Didn't realise until I bought some commercial ones that they're supposed to be sweet, I liked my homebrew'd versions which were dry as a bone as I'd put the fruit in secondary then bottle conditioned rather than after adding sulphites and force carbonating.

 

[MrL73]

Oh, and if it's too bitter, leave it for another month.

 

[svenito]

If you go all all grain there's some math to consider:

1 hour mash + 1 hour boil = 6 hour brew day

As already mentioned, patience. If there's one thing I've learned from brewing it's patience.

 

[Manxnorton]

clean n sanitize everything.
TIME IS OUR FRIEND.
just go for it, don't get tangled up n getting confused..
all in good time.
take notes from the start and use them.
above all else enjoy it....its not a competition.
Bri

 

[Oneiroi]

1 hour mash + 1 hour boil = 6 hour brew day

This /\

Brew days are so much nicer when they’re relaxed and don’t finish at 1Am