Advice to new brewers (warning: long post)

[carrisr]

So after 9 months of brewing here's a summary of some of the things I've learned hands-on. Feel free to add on to the list. If people think it's worthy maybe we can make the discussion sticky.

First, take every opportunity you can to go see club members brew. There's tons of different ways of doing this and it's a great time to ask questions and see their workflow.

Don't be in a rush to go all-grain. Extract with steeping grains is less time intensive and is much easier for making consistently good quality beers. If your goal is to provide yourself and friends with a regular supply of decent home brew, you can't go wrong with extract. There's a wealth of great kits available, and you can do recipes too.

Go all grain if you want control over the entire process. I went all grain because I want to learn as much as possible, and I have the luxury of both plenty of free time (no kids, work from home) and a tolerant spouse. I have found it significantly harder to get consistently good batches going all grain though.

The first equipment upgrades I would get are: large enough pot to do full boils and some kind of wort chiller. Immersion is cheapest, but you can also find plate chillers or counter-flow around $100 or less now. From there I would put a high priority into getting a way to control fermentation temps. Just because your basement is 68F doesn't mean your fermenting wort won't go above 70F!

You can also use a fridge to bring the wort down the last 5 degrees or so that can be tough with a chiller. As long as your sanitation is good, it doesn't hurt the wort to sit a few hours or even overnight (lagers) before pitching. You're better off pitching at the target fermentation temp.

If you want to try partial mashes, don't bother with brew in a bag. I found it extremely messy and a literal pain in my backside. BIB sucks!!

If you do decide to go partial mash or all grain, you can get started for under $50 by using a cooler, a ball valve kit and a home-made braid/manifold or a bazooka-type screen. Just make sure that whatever cooler you buy will work with the ball valve kit. I bought a cheap round Coleman cooler at Wally World only to find out the hard way it's spigot assembly wouldn't work. The Igloo ones seem easier to work with. Batch Sparge or No Sparge is the way to start IMHO.

Also important for the all grain brewer is an accurate thermometer for the mash. You just can't cut corners here. I tried 5 different cheap thermometers, both analog and digital, and none of them agreed. The variance was as much as 5 degrees at mash temps. All read correct at 32F and 210F, but were wildly off at 150F. Buy a good quality built-in for your tun or get a certified accurate hand-held such as a thermapen.

Water: If you do extract and have CR water all you need to do is get rid of the chloramine. Use campden tabs or let your water sit out overnight. If you have well water or sucky water like in Marion you're probably better off just buying RO water. Don't use water from your water softener! If you are doing all grain you are probably fine to start using CR water with perhaps some gypsum and/or calcium chloride, but learning about building water is worth it too.

Everyone talks about liquid yeast, but don't rule out using dry yeast. Dry yeast is fairly cheap and reliable, and doesn't require starters. You can also store dry yeast much longer without losing much viability. If you do want to use liquid yeast, I'd still try to have a packet or two of something dry like Fermentis S-04 or S-05 on hand as a backup in case your starter fails.

Doing small batches makes a lot of sense (I do 2.5 gallons) if you: want to brew frequently but can't drink it fast enough, have limited space, or like to do a lot of experimenting with recipes.

If you bottle condition to carbonate, get yourself a PVC 90-degree pipe fitting to fit on the inside of the bucket spigot. It makes getting the last bit of beer out of the bucket easy without having to tilt it. It was probably the best/cheapest addition in my arsenal. Also, a bottle tree and a vinator for sanitizing make things a lot faster/easier.

If you can afford a mill (you can get a corona mill cheap), buy your grains un-crushed. When you order supplies at stores with flat rate shipping, always add some extra grains to your order. You can build up a nice inventory of base and specialty grains this way. I'll often buy 10 or 20# as the freight is basically free.

[tompb]

Great post Randy! From newbie to sage advisor in under a year.

For my thoughts what I would add is:
You don't need a whole brew system to start. A cheap turkey cooker, or large enamelware pot on the stove will get you going.

Ale pails are fine for fermenting. So are the water bottles from the stores (HyVee, Lowes, etc). Controlled fermentation temperatures will make more of a difference.

Check out The Brewing Network's Brew Strong. Jamil Z and John Palmer have put out more brewing info then any book around. They just did a kit beer episope that I have recommended to a few newer brewers that I know.

Take your beers to meetings and ask for people to evaluate it. There are some good palates that can help with flaws. Don't be afraid to ask "What's do you think is wrong with my beer?" And if you do take the advise you get. Most of the time you are your own worst critic.