Hi All, Jonno here.
Got into this very recently as my Father in Law home brews a bit. I thought he was pretty good until I read about 6 hours worth of topics on here
.
Only brewing from kits at the moment and I'm pretty much puting one down as soon as I've finished the previous one, having said that though, I'm only into my third batch. I have the patience to leave them though so hopefully they'll be okay.
I've already learnt from this site that even with the best of intentions, I've alredy made a stack of mictakes so far, so I am looking to rectify that and start to take more care. One thing I can say though is that I have started off with a very OECD approach to sanitation so that can only be a good thing.
Things I've learnt from two visits (but several hours) to this site:
Star San for sanitising already cleaned bottles. It's all about sanitisation.
Will probably invest in a bottle washer (would like your feedback on this if there are some obvious 'dont's')
Temperature, it's all about temperature. I have an outside shed that's brick built so great for storage and I'm also looking to move the whole process into there once I've made some room. Not looking to invest in a fridge just yet as I want to try and fine tune some of the other techniques and processes first. Am interested in this 75 can cooler technique though.
Seasonal. If you don't have a fridge, brew beers that are condusive to local temperatures and conditions, no point breaking your back to brew a lager when it's 40 degrees outside.
Yeast, I might invest in some good stuff as it seems not all is good that is provided in cheaper kits. It's also cheaper than buying individually at the LHBS.
Acronyms, it's all about bloody acronyms!!
Experimentation. It's all about brewing stuff you want to drink, and improving each time.
Reading. It's all about reading up on everything and anything, there's always more than a few tips in each thread obn here. A couple of books I've heard about on here that I might buy.
Patience, it's all about patience. Patience and attention to detail.
I think that's enough to be going on with, probably 10 years worth of work just in the above. Looking forward to reading alot more on here and possibly even indulging in the odd post, probably very odd at times.
Cheers in advance,
Jonno.