very new to this hobby

[bros. ale]

me and my brother went to a place called brew it up and brewed 6 cases of ale (thus the name) well needless to say i thought i was ready to do my own that is till i read some of these threads now i am very confused on what to do cause i have been reading things on here that we never did in our brew any help would greatly appreacitate

[MagTheGrate]

It would be much easier to help if we knew some specific questions that you had.

-Mag

[wortchillergoal]

There are alot more right ways to do things in this hobby than wrong. As stated ask a specific question and you will get a ton of useful and sometimes amusing advice. We homebrewers have a great sense of humor.

[paul84043]

Stop worrying and thinking about it and JUST BREW IT!

It's the only way.

Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation.

Remember those three things, pop in here when you have a question, and you will make awesome beer. (assuming that you're not making a Mr. Beer kit.....)

[sullydavid]

I restarted this hobby just as you did. My wife bought me a day at a brew on premesis (spelling?) for my birthday. Ended up getting me hooked on brewing again. Had done about 5 batches about 5 years before.

Anyway, pay attention to the boards and any books you may have read. The place I brewed at skipped some steps, or at least had some stuff going on behind the scenes that I didn't know about. Not that the beer I made there wasn't good, but I now know some small things that could have made it better.

From my experience, beer is like pizza....very easy to make it taste good.

[danno]

bros: I would highly recommend looking at any of the startup kits from a reputable homebrew shop. They come complete, and will have everything you need (except empty bottles and some sort of boiling vessel) to make mighty fine beer. I would recommend a kit that had a plastic primary fermenter/bottling bucket and a glass carboy for a secondary fermenter. You should be able to pick this up, plus a complete ingredient kit for under $100. Any more than that and you're getting taken for a ride. These kits will include clear, concise instructions, just follow them along...

I'm lucky here in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area to have two very fine LHBS's; Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies. (Midwest Supplies even has a "how to brew" videotape free with any purchase... NAYY...)

Like Paul said, sanitation is the biggest thing to concern yourself with. I wouldn't even worry about stuff like understanding hydrometer readings until you get a couple of batches under your belt...

[YamahaXS]

There are several excellent books that provide you will a clear and concise presentation of exactly what you are getting into.

Palmer has one on-line....
Pappazoni (?spell?) has probably the definitive beer bible...it is included in many "starter kits"

Anyways, this is a good place to get advice to specific questions or concerns, but you need a big picture, step by step resource. A book should fill that need.

cheers and beers friend!

[Brownbeard]

Palmer has one on-line....
Pappazoni (?spell?) has probably the definitive beer bible...it is included in many "starter kits"

This book is called The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I just got my first batch in bottles today bros. The book is extremely helpful. This website is extremely helpful. The people here are really great about info. And, unlike a lot of other boards, this has heavy traffic, so the response time is good.

Hey danno, do you ever go to Windriver brewing in Eden Prairie? I am doing extracts, and I see they make their own, as opposed to the canned stuff. I can only assume, like with anything, the small volume producer like Windriver would be superior to the mass produced John Bull in a can. Just wondering if you had tried it. I am gonna be in the twin cities in early october, thought I might pick up a larger jug.

[bros. ale]

ok i guess i was not very clear i guess i will just explain what we did as far as making the beer ok here it goes cracked the barley put it the bags and boilied it got wort then added more water and the malt extract took this up to 212 degrees added hops then it was put in a plastic bucket added yeast and corked it . ok now i guess what i dont understand is this secondary?? primary??did we do this in our steps just called it something else? i have a turkey cooker which i plan on using and i found a all glass starter set is glass better? and as far as bottleing can i just pour it in the bottles and cap? cause at brew it up they had this real fancy machine that filled the bottles and then capped it. PS our beer we made was a dark ale and have had many complaments now if i can only do it again on my own dark beer rock light beers stink

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by bros. ale
ok i guess i was not very clear i guess i will just explain what we did as far as making the beer ok here it goes cracked the barley put it the bags and boilied it got wort then added more water and the malt extract took this up to 212 degrees added hops then it was put in a plastic bucket added yeast and corked it . ok now i guess what i dont understand is this secondary?? primary??did we do this in our steps just called it something else? i have a turkey cooker which i plan on using and i found a all glass starter set is glass better? and as far as bottleing can i just pour it in the bottles and cap? cause at brew it up they had this real fancy machine that filled the bottles and then capped it. PS our beer we made was a dark ale and have had many complaments now if i can only do it again on my own dark beer rock light beers stink

Don't ever boil any grain. It's extracts tannins and unconverted starch that will have a noticeable taste impact.

Hopefully that plastic bucket isn't actually corked in the sense that it's airtight - kerrrrbbllooooeeeyyy!! The yeast will release CO2 that will build up and blow the lid off.

The primary is where you place the wort and then pitch the yeast - your plastic bucket in your current setup. Let it stay there for a week or so. Let it stay two weeks if you don't have a secondary. The secondary is where you siphon the beer, out the primary, into after the first week is over. It's used to get the beer off of all the crap that settles to the bottom of the primary. It's not an absolutely necessary step, we're all just picky bastards when it comes to our beer so I think everyone here uses a secondary.

Usually people have a bottling bucket - which is a plastic food grade bucket with a little spigot at the bottom. To the spigot a long clear tube is attached. To the end of the tube a bottle filler is attached.

Make a sugar solution that the yeast will use to create CO2 in order to carbonate the beer in the bottle. (Read the numerous threads on the proportion of DME or sugar) Add cooled sugar solution to beer. Siphon the beer out of the secondary(or primary if you didn't use a secondary) into the bottling bucket. Attach all of the bottling equipment. Open the spigot. Then the bottle filler is pushed on the bottom of each bottle bottom which causes the beer to flow out into the bottle until you release the pressure on the bottle bottom.

Now if push comes to shove I don't see any reason that you couldn't add the sugar solution as above and then just use a sterilized funnel and 1 pint pot to fill the bottles.

Hope some of this makes sense and welcome to your obsession ;)

[Brownbeard]

I can't stress enough how helpful Papazian's book has been. All this is explined in detail, with pictures. I read it 1 1/2 times before starting the first brew. It made my confidence level much higher when brewing, and so far my first batch is going very well.

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by Brownbeard
I can't stress enough how helpful Papazian's book has been. All this is explined in detail, with pictures. I read it 1 1/2 times before starting the first brew. It made my confidence level much higher when brewing, and so far my first batch is going very well.

I agree with Brownbeard on this point. I would recommend anyone wanting to start the hobby read up first. Papazian's book was very helpful when I was starting out. I still use it for reference once in a while.

[MagTheGrate]

I've read Papazian... but my vote for best book goes to John Palmer's "How to Brew".

Second place book for a brewer looking to improve is "Designing Great Beers" by Daniels

-Mag

[YamahaXS]

see here...

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html


this is as good as it gets. Papazian is also good. You don't need to read both, or even all of either. JUST READ THE PARTS THAT PERTAIN TO EXTRACT or BEGINNING BREWING.

cheers and beers

[Beerconnoisseur]

Papazian's book is pretty good; it includes the most important advice, which I'm surprised no one has mentioned:

Relax. Don't worry.

After all it's brewing beer, not brain surgery. If you get a batch wrong, you just dump it and try again. No biggie.

If you're looking for good beginner equipment kits, MoreBeer (http://www.morebeer.com) has some good ones. Their beginner equipment kits also come with a book, which covers as much of the basics as you need to get started. All their ingredient kits also come with directions, so it does take some effort to have a real disaster on your hands. If you follow the directions, and keep your stuff clean, the worst thing that ever happens is you make a mess, and with practice, you learn to avoid that part of homebrewing.

Also, if you get a wort chiller (highly recommended!), and a Whirlfloc tablet(s), you can avoid needing a secondary fermenter altogether, at least for ales. They also cut down on the hours you normally spend waiting for your beer to cool down.

[YamahaXS]

Originally posted by sullydavid

From my experience, beer is like pizza....very easy to make it taste good.

And it makes for a great breakfast when cold.

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by YamahaXS
And it makes for a great breakfast when cold.

You only drink it for breakfast? There's more than one meal in a day, y'know.... :D

[Tom C]

"Breakfast" is great ny time of day....as Alan Jackson's song suggests...."It's 5 o'clock somewhere"

Tom C