[rethatillman]

Over the last year, I've made the jump to all grain and have brewed some different styles. I'm wondering if anyone can point me towards a list of homebrew skills ordered from least to increasing difficulty. I want to level up my skills and brew quality,  and I'd like to get advice on where to go next. Thank you.

[majorvices]

Learn water and mash chemistry.

[denny]

I'd suggest reading the 4th ed. of How to Brew and picking what interests you.

[BrewBama]

+1 water is key. …but don’t let it ruin your beer adding everything in the cabinet. You need calcium, chloride, and sulfate. Some may disagree but everything else is not required IMO.

Do everything you can to promote strong yeast health.

Learn to reduce O2 in your beer. There are some easy to adopt processes that can help tremendously.

[Megary]

+1 water is key. …but don’t let it ruin your beer adding everything in the cabinet. You need calcium, chloride, and sulfate. Some may disagree but everything else is not required IMO.

Do everything you can to promote strong yeast health.

Learn to reduce O2 in your beer. There are some easy to adopt processes that can help tremendously.

+1. Give the yeast the best environment to ferment your beer.

Pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast into wort at the correct pitching temperature and maintaining the correct fermentation temperature until the yeast is finished….well, that’s number one for me.

[majorvices]

Yeast and fermentation, water and mash chemistry, reducing dissolved oxygen (especially post fermentation), and, obviously, strict cleanliness and sanitation are the keys to brewing great beer. You figure those out and you pretty much are just fine-tuning the rest.

[BrewBama]

Yeast and fermentation, water and mash chemistry, reducing dissolved oxygen (especially post fermentation), and, obviously, strict cleanliness and sanitation are the keys to brewing great beer. You figure those out and you pretty much are just fine-tuning the rest.

+1

[MNWayne]

Everyone first concentrates on grain, hops and yeast. Water is often overlooked.   1. Water, 2. pH, 3. Ferment temp control, 4. Minimize oxygen exposure.

[Kevin]

Don't stress over any aspect. All of these things mentioned are good to know but if you can not do water chemistry or fermentation temperature control don't worry about it. Do the best you can and plow through. Experience is the best teacher. The more you brew the more lessons you will learn that will make you a better brewer. It's a fun hobby but don't get so lost in the details that you lose the fun part.

[denny]

Don't stress over any aspect. All of these things mentioned are good to know but if you can not do water chemistry or fermentation temperature control don't worry about it. Do the best you can and plow through. Experience is the best teacher. The more you brew the more lessons you will learn that will make you a better brewer. It's a fun hobby but don't get so lost in the details that you lose the fun part.

ALL OF THIS

[ynotbrusum]

Also, appreciate that our knowledge base is constantly evolving and growing - for example - available homebrewing temperature controls went from simply fermenting in a basement area or cool closet, to a swamp cooler (bucket in a larger water bucket with ice additions), to a foam fermentation chamber with ice bottles swapped out daily, to a chest freezer with external thermostat, to glycol jacketed tubing fed by pump through an ice chest, to more advanced glycol systems, to using Kveik yeast and fermenting warm, to pressure fermentation to control esters in warmer fermentations....Just to name a few.

[Drewch]

Another way to look at this is to flip it around: when you taste your beer, what is it that you don't like? What is it that you'd like to improve?  Figure out that, and then research how to make it better.  And if you don't know what it is you need to improve, start with one of the off-flavor training kits. That might help you zero in on what's off. Then you'd have an idea where to invest to improve.

Or yet another way to look it would be: what part of the hobby is the most fun for you? Like gadgets? Go all out on fermentation temperature control or fancy mash recirculation. Like microbiology? Go nuts on yeast health.  Like hospitality? Go crazy with your home bar draft set up.

[denny]

Another way to look at this is to flip it around: when you taste your beer, what is it that you don't like? What is it that you'd like to improve?  Figure out that, and then research how to make it better.  And if you don't know what it is you need to improve, start with one of the off-flavor training kits. That might help you zero in on what's off. Then you'd have an idea where to invest to improve.

Or yet another way to look it would be: what part of the hobby is the most fun for you? Like gadgets? Go all out on fermentation temperature control or fancy mash recirculation. Like microbiology? Go nuts on yeast health.  Like hospitality? Go crazy with your home bar draft set up.

Another great answer!

[coolman26]

Good advice all around. I was going to add getting a home water test. I did that and brewed styles that matched my hard water. I focused on the processes, not so much on all the things that didn’t make sense to me. If you know what your water makeup is, it becomes easy to understand why some styles taste like dungus. Then I brewed my first dark beer, BVIP I believe. Wow, man I went through that batch. Then the lighter the beer got, the more I blended with RO. Control your fermentation temps and move to the next step. Don’t overwhelm yourself, it is a slippery slope.

[KellerBrauer]

Don't stress over any aspect. All of these things mentioned are good to know but if you can not do water chemistry or fermentation temperature control don't worry about it. Do the best you can and plow through. Experience is the best teacher. The more you brew the more lessons you will learn that will make you a better brewer. It's a fun hobby but don't get so lost in the details that you lose the fun part.

+1 to this.

My suggestion is: read, then read, then read some more.  There are many great educational books available.  Then find your niche and go for it!