advice for a newbie

[rhinton]

Hows it going everybody... This past christmas i got a homebrew kit off of www.homebrewers.com and i was wondering what advice u guys have for me before i start brewing. This is going to be my first attempt at it, and i hope its a sucess. I got the kit that came with the blonde ale, so that will be the first beer i got. Ive read a couple books and it came with instruction, but if u guys have any advice i would appreciate it.. Thanks in advance...

[Davin]

Sanitize, sanitize sanitize. It really is the most important thing you will need to do as your first starting out, eventually it will just be second nature. Other than that, making beer takes time, don't rush it. You are probably going to want to bottle very quickly so you can try some of your finished product, if you give it more time your going to have a better product.

also if you have any questions this is a great resource so make sure you ask.

Happy brewing.

[john mills]

Welcome new home brewer,
I can't really give much advice about extract brewing, but looking at your kit, and ingredients, you should be fine. The important things I've found useful is sanitization, and time.

The best beers turn out bad with bad sanitization, and even bad beers (Bud, Miller, Coors) are drinkable with good sanitization practices. Sanitize everything that will come in contact with your post boil wort, and resulting beer through bottling. Everything that touches the beer before the boil simply needs just to be clean enough to eat from, as the bugs won't have enough time to make their nasty flavors before their killed in the boil.

Time is another thing that will help to make good beer. Don't rush fermentation, and especially bottling, unless you plan to make bombs. When your just begining brewing use your hydrometer. Take a reading before you put your yeast in. This is your Original Gravity. According to your kit it should be about 1.051. Now wait, and wait for fermentation to come to a completion. The only way to be sure it is finished is to take a couple of hydrometer readings again. I would say you'd be safe after a week of fermentation, but take a hydrometer reading. You should be in the neighborhood of 1.012-1.004. If you are on the higher side wait a couple of more days and take another hydrometer reading. If no change, you're good to bottle at that point. Then wait, and wait again. It could take up to a month (even longer for some other beers) for your beer to carbonate in the bottle. Test a bottle after a couple of week, worse case is that it is still flat, but don't worry if it is, just wait some more.
If you can come to a meeting, there is a whole room full of home brewers, and home brew to gain experience from.
Good luck!!

[rhinton]

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully this beer turns out good. When do u guys usually have meetings?

[sirgiovanni]

You're always welcome to drop by and check out an all grain. ;)

[Chris Norrick]

Welcome!

Meetings are held the last Wednesday of the month at the Germania Mannerchor 916 N. Fulton Ave., Evansville, IN, at 7 p.m.

If you don't have them already, “How To Brew” by John Palmer and “Brewing Classic Styles” by John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff are two EXCELLENT books.

The first book goes through the entire modern homebrewing process, lists what equipment is needed, and covers all the jargon used in brewing. It starts out simple in the beginning chapters and moves into more advanced techniques and scientific principals towards the end of the book.

The second book lists an award-winning recipe for each of the recognized BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program www.bjcp.org) beer styles with a couple of chapters on “extract” brewing techniques. The book covers each beer style and how to brew that style the correct way. Also get copies of all the mail order catalogs. They are all well illustrated and you can gain a lot of information just by looking at all the equipment options available to you.

Note: This info plus a lot more is soon to be published in OVHA's first instructional pamphlet "So... You Want to be a Homebrewer?". Coming to a free PDF download link soon.

[Chris Alvey]

All good advice.

There are a million other things we could tell you, but my advice for this first one is just to have fun with it. The first time you open a beer that you made and taste it, if you say to yourself "holy s***, that's beer, and I made it!" - then you can start worrying about details.

Oh, I do have a tip if you want to do this a second time and you're married ... don't boil over on the stove. Seriously.

[Dwayne_Delaney]

Welcome new brewer!!

As mentioned by most, sanitation is important. I used bleach for years to sanitize my fermenter, bottles, caps, spoons, hoses, airlocks, racking cane, thermometer, hydrometer, and everything that touches the beer after it cools, with no problems. If you use bleach, make sure that you rinse everything completely. I now use a no-rinse product called Star-San. Another good no-rinse product is One-Step. These are nice because you don’t have to rinse after soaking.

Another very important thing to consider is the water that you are using. Your beer is at least 90% water. If you are using tap water, filter or pre-boil the water for 30 mins. first to remove any chlorine. If your water contains chloramines, boiling will not remove them; you must filter or use a Camden tablet - 1 tablet for 20 gallons of water. This method also works for chlorine; just crush the Camden tablet and completely mix and dissolve in your water and let it sit for at least a couple of minutes.

The temperature that you ferment your wort is another thing that will make a big difference in your beer. Try to keep ale fermentation temperatures below 70 degrees if possible, 60 to 65 is better. Find the coolest location in your house to ferment.

Keep your fermenter in a dark location or cover with an old dark tee shirt. This is especially important with larger additions of hops. Light-struck beer is skunked beer.

Don’t forget to have a good time. Just remember that beer is an ancient beverage that has been produced for thousands of years in conditions a whole lot less controlled than our kitchens and garages and has come out just fine. Beer is not rocket science.

[BM1]

Dream big;Dare to fail.

[rhinton]

You're always welcome to drop by and check out an all grain. ;)

i would love to check out a all grain one sometime.. it would have to be a weekend though.. My job and the hours i do are horrible..

[sirgiovanni]

no problem. I usually brew on weekends. I just did an 8% cherry this weekend and I'm thinking 4 to 5 weeks in the fermeneter for this one. So probably Mid February for the next one. It'll likely be a 7.5% IPA. You can stop by earlier than that and I can run through the equipment with you and show you the tap to help yourself to some belgian love.

[john mills]

Weekend brewing is pretty much the norm for most members. You're welcome to come by my place and brew witness to an all grain batch also.

Big brew day is in May at Germainia. There will be several brewers there making all grain, and extract batches. If you know your available on a certain weekend put up a post that you're looking to see if someone is brewing that day.

Maybe that could be a new sticky post: Brewing schedule/demonstrations and members could post when and where they're planning on brewing.

[bradb]

Buy a copy of "How to Brew" by John Palmer. The first chapter is how to brew your first beer right now and the rest of the book explains the processes and materials. It really is the only book you'll need for a while but it really helps to get you going and conquer more advanced techniques and styles. Hope to see you at one of the meetings. Everyone there is very helpful answering any questions you might have. Good luck and don't forget to do your r&d by sampling brews.

[Don]

Here's a link to John Palmer's 1st book.
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
You can start off by reading it free before you buy.
It's a lot of help for a newbie (even an oldie still refers to it often).

Don