New Brewer Here

[roosiecharm]

Hi

 

[roosiecharm]

hmm...not sure what happened there...

anyway, Hi all, my names Tom and I'm 20 - just getting into home brew.

Found this site whilst I was looking for home brew sites that I could use to talk to experienced brewers and find advice, help and new ideas with my brews.

Just wondering if anyone had any fundamental tips for home brew? Essential equipment, techniques etc? I'm a bit in the dark about the whole thing so was hoping for a bit of genreic advice at this stage?

Hope to get to know you guys a bit better.

Cheers

 

[O'Henry]

So, if you use the search function in the top, that will give you a lot of info. Any question you have, type it up there first. If you can't find the answer or need clarification then post away.
What set up do you have atm, if anything? Doing kit beers, extract, partials, all grain...? Or have you not brewed at all and are keen to get into it?
Also, put your location on your profile, that way if there are brewers nearby you might be able to meet up with them and talk beer. They may even have you along for a brewday.

 

[roosiecharm]

g'day there - thanks for that. I'll update my location in my profile

Erm - at the moment I just have an inherited 25L fermenter, and a heap of bottles! And from there I'm open to suggestions!

 

[O'Henry]

How much time do you want to be putting it to brew? Do you live alone? If not, do you have sympathetic parents/flatmates/girlfriend?

 

[roosiecharm]

Yep, co-inhabitants are very cool and sympathetic to it all - beer lovers. I'm keen to put a fair bit of time and effort into it, I'm hoping to make a bit of a hobby out of it, so it will be recieving daily attention, and maximum effort.

 

[O'Henry]

This is a good link. I recommend getting a hard copy of this book, but the online one is still just as good. Old edition though.

I suppose what you need to do is work out how you want to make your beer, and what you want to make. Time and cost are two major things to think about. How much time do I have to brew, how much money do I want to spend on the equipment and the ingredients. Those are the two things I would be thinking about.

And read. A lot. There are several great books out there, Palmer's is just one of them.

 

[roosiecharm]

Fantastic. Thanks a lot for your help. I'm gonna go and have a read, then a good hard think about the direction I'm going to take my new found interest!

Thanks again

Tom

 

[enoch1973]

Tom,

Hey there. I just started in January after my wife bought me a complete kit for Christmas... It's her fault right?
If you have a local home brew shop to I would go in there and have a chat to them.
I would start with something simple like a Coopers Australian Pale Ale Kit + one of their Brew Enhancers. You can get them @ Coles.
You'll also need a good sanitizer which is why having a local home brew shop may be a good place to go and have a chat.
From there you can look at hop additions to make it more interesting... at that point you'll find your obsessed and doing extract brews in no time.
Again, the home brew shop will be good for that as well + everyone here is super-friendly as well... which helps.

Pete

 

[Mickthe]

Welcome to the obsession mate!

Like any hobby, you can get fanatical and into the science of it all, but it can also just be a simple fun way to make great beers, and cheaply too!

I am just six months in and what has been said above all great advice, i read the book, read the articles on here, asked a mate some questions and then made a simple pale ale as my first good beer. (We won't talk about my first effort!)

Sanitation and temperature very important but not hard. Any questions give me a shout.

Mick.

PS. Once you have the basics - if you like a particular style of beer commercially you will be able to find recipes that will give you a similar result, and a lot of times, a better result.

 

[TroyNZ]

Gidday Tom,
I bookmarked this thread (Link) when I first started and have found it very helpful. As O'Henry said, the search function is a great tool too.
Happy Brewing

 

[mkstalen]

I also wrote up this after I'd learnt some lessons. Hope it might be useful

 

[flano]

I also wrote up this after I'd learnt some lessons. Hope it might be useful

cool thanks for that...I have just added that to my favourites.

I have also just started brewing again after a few years off .

I got a kegerator and a 30 ltr fermentor to put in post mix kegs.

first 2 batches were a bit hit and miss.
Brew 1 was a fresh wort kit but I didn't have the fermenters lid tightened up enough and then went away for 2 weeks.
It was ok....very sweet for some reason.

brew 2 was a toohey kit and it was a bit rough to be honest.

Brew 3 was the same freshwort ( ezybrew little creatures pale ale )..7 days to ferment.
two days in the keg in fridge then gassed up at 24 bar for 48 hrs and it turned out great.
Nothing like any home brew I made in the past.

Oneday I will get around to maiking it from scratch but if I can recommend anything I would say the fresh wort is a good start for a good to great result.

Very simple to do ..