Information For All Brewers!

[cfresh]

Tell your Mrs you already have most of the stuff and you just need a few extra bits that are cheap - then when you come home with loads of stuff explain that the plunging dollar has made made everything go up in price.

Check that your father in law has put sugar in the bottles.

Stay away from specialty K&K packaged kits that claim to be your favourite beer (or better) - they never are.

Stay away from Home Brew shops that sell you a kit and recommend Saflager in the middle of summer after chatting with them for 15 minutes on how new you are to brewing and the basic equipment you have.

When gathering up your bottles for your next brew dont tip them up over your eye to see if they are clean... or empty.

To reduce your current account deficit stop looking at this site! Your boss will be impressed with the increased productivity

 

[Pollux]

Untill you work out how much you would have spent on commercial beers, then its safe to let them know how much you saved...

That's how I worked on my missus, this increased my limit from $20 per 23L batch to $50 per 23L batch.....Was quite an easy conversation...

"Honey, you know I never get to buy a full case because I can't carry it and Charlotte (our near 2yr old daughter) and the shopping home, so I have to buy in 6packs....This means for the equivalent of a 23L batch, it would cost me $150 for the 10 5packs...."
"****, really?"
"Yes"
"How much have you spent on commercial beer this year then?" <_<

This was where I shut up and went to pour her a HB'd cider....


As for real advice.

1. Check the tap (I know it's been said, but I'll tell you now, cleaning sticky wort from between your toes sucks...)
2. Temperature control
3. If you are starting out in kits, use the instructions as kindling...
4. Employ your wife as a bottle filling assistant....
5. Brew faster than you can drink (Although this has already been said, I feel it's important)
6. Sanitation.
7. A watched pot never boils, but an unwatched one will cover your stove in sticky gunk within 2 seconds..
8. When all else fails, sit back and have a homebrew and wonder what you can learn from this experience...

 

[Tim F]

-It's amazing how well 4-6 months in the bottle improves a lot of beers
-Making slants is a piece of piss and will save you hundreds and hundreds of dollars
-Soaking in a strong Napisan solution cleans everything
-Check the tap
-AG is very easy, very rewarding, and much cheaper than you think

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Tell the Missus about the big fu.ken black hairy spider you saw in the shed, then you never need explain all that new gear.
GB

 

[PhilA]

:icon_chickcheers: For Christ sake enjoy and have a few whilst brewing , don;t take all the ***to seriously :icon_drunk:

 

[brendo]

Along with ensuring that the tap is off... make sure you have a tap on the fermentor.

I just racked a vienna lager to secondary for lagering, and in my haste, forgot to swap the bung out for a tap after washing/sanitising.

Looks like I have about 6 weeks to devise a plan for siphoning off the brew for bottling :icon_cheers:

Brendo

 

[jlm]

Plug in the MP3 player while brewing. If you must listen to to your record collection while brewing, 45's really aren't the best option.

 

[warra48]

Don't walk away when your brew is about to come to the boil. Disaster will overtake you even more sure than that the Titanic hit an iceberg.

Agree that if you can watch another brewer doing an AG brew, you're one step ahead of the rest. Wish I had that opportunity before my first AG brew.

Shop/buy your stuff from dependable reliable knowledgable shops such as Mark at Marks Home Brew and Ross at CraftBrewer.

It's NOT all about ultimate IBU levels. I've come to the conclusion that no more than your IBU's should be bittering additions. The rest should be added at 15 to 0 minutes. What's the point of say 50+ IBUs in your brew, if you have no hop flavour or aroma.

Enjoy the process, don't stress, little things go awry every brew, but you'll still make great a brew. And when you nail that brew you've always dreamed about, you'll know why you are a homebrewer.

 

[Stuster]

Looks like I have about 6 weeks to devise a plan for siphoning off the brew for bottling :icon_cheers:

Auto-syphon is good IMO, though others have not found them so helpful.

 

[Carbonator]

Brew day is sooooooo easy!

So from all the replies thus far, Boil-over is the worst outcome. My camera idea, plus a remote switch (2 wires) to turn off the heating elements when doing a Boil (like I do have) would be far too easy but way far too out of the box to comprehend.

Am I wrong? Yes, I'm currently pissed and possibly offending YOU!

 

[brendo]

Auto-syphon is good IMO, though others have not found them so helpful.

Auto-syphon? Whats that?

 

[Stuster]

One of these. I use it for all transfers out of primary and secondary, even if the fermenter has a tap as less trub/yeast gets through that way.

 

[rude]

Im not happy with my racking procedure Stuster how much are they mate ?

 

[Pumpy]

You will drink more beer if it is under 6% than over it :blink:

Just so you dont tie up your kegs

Pumpy

 

[Pumpy]

Auto-syphon is good IMO, though others have not found them so helpful.

I agree with that,the second bit

Engineer your brew system so you never have to use an Auto Syphon.

it will help you stress less !

I did and never need to syphon again .


pumpy

 

[reviled]

About $10, just dont use em for hot liquids, like boiling hot wort for no chilling, cos it will melt <_<

 

[Jase71]

Off-Topic: The auto-siphon sounds good to me, having a crook back that cripples me from time to time, it's a potentially damaging excercise to lift 20+ litre fermenters in and out of my plastic tub water cooler in order to tap-off into secondary, then lift that fermenter back into the tub. Whereas if I had a second cooling tub, I could do it side-by-side, and the only lifting I would need to do is when Im ready to bottle.

Quote: Engineer your brew system so you never have to use an Auto Syphon

Pumpy, why do you say that, what are the disadvantagaes to an auto-siphon, apart from another device to clean ?

Sorry for the OT, but this probably doesnt warrant a whole new thread.

 

[reviled]

Quote: Engineer your brew system so you never have to use an Auto Syphon

Pumpy, why do you say that, what are the disadvantagaes to an auto-siphon, apart from another device to clean ?

IMO they are a bit of a pain in the ass, its a million times easier to transfer via the tap with a piece of hose...

 

[Stuster]

Not sure exactly, but in the $15-20 range when I bought one a year or two back. Might be a touch more now with the lower dollar. Most LHBSs should have one or be able to get it in for you.

 

[Pennywise]

Keep fermenters where children can't get to them , yes, my 18 month old son loves taps as I found out after hearing him playing behind the bar, tap opens, tap closes, tap opens, tap closes, giggle f**king giggle