[Buschleague]

Find a mentor or join a group:
My Grandfather and his best friend ( who worked at Iron City Brewery) taught me to brew in the mid 70's.
This was done on "backyard" equipment, most built and some borrowed. My Grandfather supplied the grains (usually just wheat, sometimes barley)and they would soak until germination they lay out in the sun for a couple of days. The hops used had been growing along the side of the barn "forever". Hops use to be medicinal back in the day. The yeast was usually borrowed. I didn't appreciate the knowledge nor the flavor until I matured and started my own brewing in the 90's. My Grandfather and his friend are long gone now and much of what they taught me is gone with them but the desire to create my own has not
left me.

[BrewBama]

I wish I knew who to listen to and who to blow off. So much crap out there. With experience you figure out what works and what is just a bit overboard.


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[klickitat jim]

I wish I knew who to listen to and who to blow off. So much crap out there. With experience you figure out what works and what is just a bit overboard.


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Yup! My first two years was unknowingly learning that trick by trial and error. It's a valuable lesson though. The trick is that it comes down to YOU are the only one who will eventually  know WHAT is the way. For me, it didn't all come from just one or two sources. And I'm sure there's way more yet to hear and try and learn

[charlie]

Two things:

1. I wish I had known that you could make brew pots from 1/2 barrel kegs. I would have saved a butt load of money buying Blichmann this that and the other brew pots.

2. I wish I had known that a total gravity rig was so much cleaner than trying to pump wort from the mash tun to the boil kettle. I switched to a gravity rig about 5 years ago. I get nary a particle of grain in the boil kettle, and it's downhill all the way to the fermentors.

Charlie

[Robert]

Two things:

1. I wish I had known that you could make brew pots from 1/2 barrel kegs. I would have saved a butt load of money buying Blichmann this that and the other brew pots.

2. I wish I had known that a total gravity rig was so much cleaner than trying to pump wort from the mash tun to the boil kettle. I switched to a gravity rig about 5 years ago. I get nary a particle of grain in the boil kettle, and it's downhill all the way to the fermentors.

was just real

Indeed!  If gravity could make 600 bbl flow sideways in a 20 acre pole building, macro breweries would gladly dispense with pumps!  The same principle applies to most equipment.  You needn't do things the way pros do, they might prefer your way.  Applies to immersion chiller vs counterflow, pumps, cip, all manner of brewery procedures.

[denny]

What I wish I knew when I got started is that there are many ways to end up with really decent beer. Id get frustrated by seemingly contradictory info. 

Amen!  Try anything that makes sense and only trust your results.

[hike20]

My tips are geared towards those interested in learning to make great beer. If you are just having fun feel free to ignore any of them.

1) Brew as often as you can. Practice really makes a difference. If you only brew twice a year it's harder to perfect your process. Brew smaller batches if that helps towards this goal (It did for me.)

2) Pick a couple of beer styles you really like and brew them over and over. It's tempting to go all over the style map, but again, you learn faster if you can evaluate each batch against previous. Brew the crap out of them.

3) Along with above, only make small changes to your recipes or process for each batch so you can better judge them.

4) Keep a few bottles of previous batches so you can directly compare differences.

5) Join a good club so you can learn from others and get (hopefully) honest feedback. If your club does style competitions, enter them. Keep in mind that feedback is subjective, you don't have to agree with comments, but keep an open mind. Another good reason for holding back a few bottles is so you can drink one while reading the judge's notes.

[BitterItDown]

1.) More attention to detail does not necessarily equal better beer and each stage has it's highlights:
  a.) Milling - crush
  b.) Mash - pH, temperature, time, w/g ratio
  c.) Boil - pH, temperature, time, vigor
  d.) Fermentation - temperature, time, yeast cell count, oxygenation
  e.) Storage/serving - minimize oxygen exposure
2.) Malting your own barley, wheat, corn, etc... is not only possible but produces excellent beer
3.) Natural processes are the best (avoid additives)
4.) Write your own recipe and water software (if you can)
5.) It takes a lot of time and research to glean something useful from internet forums as you need to be able to distinguish facts from BS
6.) DeClerck and Kunze are very likely two of the best *textbooks* on the subject
7.) Brew weekly to maximize your skill and knowledge
8.) Experiment as much as you need to in order to convince yourself that something is good/bad, works for you, will help you in your process, works/doesn't work, etc... but recognize that it's still only your opinion until quantified by others.
9.) Anyone can write beer brewing books, the process is really that simple to understand and implement, and most of these books are just repeats of the same information.
10.) Recipes are a dime a dozen, without proper process and function they're essentially useless.  An example is the NEIPA thread or the Wesvleteren thread on HBT, recipes on the first page but everything else is mostly process.
11.) Kegging is much less work than bottling, but you'll need to bottle at some point so you might as well learn how up front
12.) Styles do help define a beer but are not something to be strictly abided over
13.) Radical Brewing and Brewing Classic Styles will help guide you but are not the final say in recipes (who can't put together a recipe for each style and write a story around it?)
14.) Brewing liquor (water) is easy to understand but you'll need to put in some time and effort if it's not your forte.
15.) You will at some point question whether or not you are an alcoholic.  Take a break, prove to yourself that you're not, get yourself healthy, etc...  come back with a fresh point of view or don't (come back).   You might go so far as to sell all of your equipment and move on... that's ok too.
16.) Honest feedback is difficult to obtain.  Finding some good folks at a local club may help but this can also be hit and miss.
17.) Everyone speaks with an agenda, learning the facts first hand will help overcome or embrace these agendas.
18.) Subscribing to BYO and/or Zymurgy magazines can lend itself to additional tips/tricks, processes, recipes, etc... reading the old back issues is very interesting.

[James K]

More than anything I wish I knew about equipment more than anything.
When I first made beer I was strictly extract, then I moved I to a preboil tea. But I did not know much about brewing. I read the enjoy of home brewing and always felt like steps were taken out. I never understood mashing until the concept of all grain was introduced to me.

When I first watched a friend all grain brew it was like an epiphany occurred. However. I still made some “mistakes” with acquiring equipment and attempting my own all grain production. Eventually a system was gifted to me. That made the process much easier. But now I am looking at new systems, higher efficiency in terms of shortening the brew day. Crashing beer post boil used to be very hard for me.

Then it comes down to batch quantity. Make more or less.

That has been my struggle, raw production capacity, similar to a new brewery is how I imagine, a long learning curve.

[charlie]

Here's a couple more:

Carapils is worthless.  It doesn't do what anyone says it does.

Strongly agree! I used to add Carapils to my recipes religiously to aid head retention, but discovered that I have good head retention without it. So I dropped it from my recipes a couple or four years ago, and I still have great head retention.

So I dunno why people use it.

Charlie

[charlie]

Indeed!  If gravity could make 600 bbl flow sideways in a 20 acre pole building, macro breweries would gladly dispense with pumps!  The same principle applies to most equipment.  You needn't do things the way pros do, they might prefer your way.  Applies to immersion chiller vs counterflow, pumps, cip, all manner of brewery procedures.

Or you could buy property on a hill. But your 20 acre pole barn is going to look weird. :-)

This is my brew rig. The components are identified with dinky red letter abbreviations.

I use a cold liquor tank (CLT) because the local water sucks, and I have to source it from a nearby town (or treat RO water to spec).

I recently switched to a natural gas burner, so no more running out of propane in the middle of a boil!



Charlie

[charlie]

Then it comes down to batch quantity. Make more or less.

In my case more is better. My schedule is hectic, and I have to brew every 3 or 4 weeks to keep up with demand. If I could find a couple or three of the old 1 bbl Sanke kegs I would cheerfully switch to 20 gal batches.

Charlie

[Druman07]

Take good notes! Though I brew small batches, I have become obsessed with learning the different variables that impact the quality of the beer you make. Absorb what you read, but confirm with your own results. Take good notes so you can look back and see what adjustments you have made as your brewing technique improves.

[yugamrap]

I wish I'd have known a lot sooner how much I enjoy brewing and how many great friendships, acquaintances and experiences it would lead to.   

[tommymorris]

Wrong thread...