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

[tobyjrn6]

Hmmm, it's a difficult choice, between:-

There are 2 types of brewers on home brewing fora. People who brew their own beer because they want to try to produce better beer, and come up with new (to them) flavours. People who brew their own beer because they want to produce something that tastes enough like beer to get by and gets them squiffy as cheaply as possible. The first give good advice on how to improve your beer, the second give good advice on how to get drunk on the cheap. :p Learn to tell them apart as quickly as possible, and decide which camp you belong to so you know which advice to take.

*Cough* Craigtube... really liked what he was saying for the first month or so of my brewing journey and he does give solid advice for a beginner but since ive progressed myself and noticed the change of quality from kit to extract to AG, I cant help but think hes very VERY easily pleased.

As for my advice: TEMPERATURE!! do not let Nottingham yeast ferment above 20 degrees, you will produce hoppy paint stripper

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

Svenito's comment struck a chord with me too. I've read loads of brew day commentaries but nothing so succinct as 1+1=6.

Planning and organising your brew day so that it doesn't impede upon family commitments, isn't perceived as a selfish retreat to the "man space" means being realistic about the time it'll take. My last one was a teatime into late night effort. My next will be 5am and done by brunch (which I'm told is like brekka with chips or summat).

 

[Covrich]

Svenito's comment struck a chord with me too. I've read loads of brew day commentaries but nothing so succinct as 1+1=6.

Planning and organising your brew day so that it doesn't impede upon family commitments, isn't perceived as a selfish retreat to the "man space" means being realistic about the time it'll take. My last one was a teatime into late night effort. My next will be 5am and done by brunch (which I'm told is like brekka with chips or summat).

Following on from this I would say plan a brew day where you are likley to be at home alone.. during Mash and or Boil you can get a few chores done to keep everyone happy..

By the time other half comes home your yeast is pitched (hopefully have had time to clean down any pots or boilers).. and the washing machine is churning away

 

[RichK]

as others, time/patience - 2+2+2 is a good starting point (for kits) so that's six weeks till you get a beer & not the overly optimistic timings manufacturers put on the can

 

[Thumper]

brunch (which I'm told is like brekka with chips or summat).

And booze. Brunch exists so that we can claim that it is acceptable to drink before midday- don't waste that opportunity!

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

And booze. Brunch exists so that we can claim that it is acceptable to drink before midday- don't waste that opportunity!

:thumb:

 

[scomet]

KEG! simples.

 

[GerritT]

Bottle! Bottles share easier.

 

[Grizzly299]

Try different yeast strains. Liquid, dry or whatever. There is so much more out there than Nottingham and US-05. Sometimes it's nice to have a yeast that isn't neutral.

Control your fermentation temperatures.

Aerate your wort thoroughly.

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

Try different yeast strains. Liquid, dry or whatever. There is so much more out there than Nottingham and US-05. Sometimes it's nice to have a yeast that isn't neutral.

Control your fermentation temperatures.

Aerate your wort thoroughly.

yeast - yup

temp - yup

aerate - when & how?

 

[GerritT]

yeast - yup

temp - yup

aerate - when & how?

Info here.

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

Perfect :thumb:

 

[Grizzly299]

Perhaps I should have said oxygenate. It depends on your setup. Some people use pure oxygen and a diffusion stone, others just shake the fermenter before pitching the yeast when the wort is at pitching temperature. Don't aerate/oxygenate hot wort.

 

[svenito]

And booze. Brunch exists so that we can claim that it is acceptable to drink before midday- don't waste that opportunity!

Or do what the Germans did and just give drinking before lunch a name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frühschoppen

 

[svenito]

Aerate your wort thoroughly.

Although sometimes you might not want to do it too much. Wheat strains produce different flavour profiles with less oxygen (that's one way to stress them any way)

 

[Covrich]

Try different yeast strains. Liquid, dry or whatever. There is so much more out there than Nottingham and US-05. Sometimes it's nice to have a yeast that isn't neutral.

Control your fermentation temperatures.

Aerate your wort thoroughly.

+1

There are times when those yeasts are appropriate and good to use but a lot of time is is far better to branch out and get some character from your yeast

 

[Clint]

Be inspired by great story tellers....particularly fiction...then you can spin a few yarns on why you need so much beer and what shiny stuff costs and how long you've had it...

 

[Grizzly299]

Although sometimes you might not want to do it too much. Wheat strains produce different flavour profiles with less oxygen (that's one way to stress them any way)

Indeed +1

 

[james1988]

"If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean" following that will cut down a brew day by quite a bit.
Beer is far more forgiving than we give it credit for. A slight cock up in sanitation may not always equal a ruined batch; have patience and see how it turns out.
Brew less more.

James

 

[MrRook]

Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.