New Brewers Next Step.

[vicelore]

Hey guys.

Well as said above im a new brewer. iv only made 1 kit brew with average results. i know that my main mistake with my 1st brew was the temp that i added the yeast.

however. My thaughts atm are that im looking for the next step to expand my knowledge in brewing. I am a very active member of a 4x4 forum and taught my self allot about how they work just by reading forums and asking questions for a couple of years now.

When i became interested in brewing the 1st thing i did was find a great forum that i could do the same with brewing and my love of beer.

but i seem to be at a dead end. And dont really seem to be picking up terms and processes as fast as i would like.

my next thaught is maybey i should be looking into a brewing club and get some hands on learning experiance.

so my question is there anyone out there who taught them self and how did they go about it ?? i have read a brewing for beginers book but this had allot of confusing terms and wasnt really easy to learn from. ( i think i learn the best by seeing things happen in real life. )

Thanks in advance looking forward to your replys.

Cheers vice

 

[BoilerBoy]

John Palmers book "How to brew" would be the best place to start,

As for a club I'm sure vic brewers here would know best

Cheers
BB

 

[reVoxAHB]

Hey mate,

Welcome aboard.

Start by reading the articles section of these forums. You'll see sections like New to Brewing, etc.
There are several great books for the beginner, most notible how to brew, by John Palmer. The entire book is avail. online and will take you through brewing a first batch, up to techniques for the very advanced.
As you are in Victoria, there are a few brew clubs happy to take a new guy onboard... I'm not a member of any club, so can't advise but there are at least 3 main clubs, afaik. In interim, hit the Grain and Grape website, sign up for their newsletter... you will be notified of upcoming brew demos (and they're available on the homepage, generally). Basically, you can watch a batch being brewed from start to finish (not including fermentation, of course) by knowledgeable brewers who are more than happy to answer questions along the way.

Cheers,

reVox

 

[Goat]

Hi Vicelore,

The best thing I ever did was to invite myself to a brew day. The amount you will learn in a couple of hours will really set you up. And those myriad of little questions that get answered just by watching - you wont look back.

Being on the other coast, I can't really help other than that - but by the end of the day I'm sure someone from the Victorian Chapter will be able to hep.

 

[bconnery]

I taught myself entirely from on-line readings and the book Laurie Strachan's 'Guide to Home-Brewing in Australia', (It is called something a long those lines, I don't have it to hand to check)
Although the AG section might seem a little daunting and his beer information is out of date it is an excellent guide for kits and extract brewers to start with for mine...
If you want to go straight to grain then something like how to brew or articles in the article section will give you loads of info but for beginners I believe the above book is excellent.

I did kits and adding extra hops etc., then stepped up to extract and mini-mashes all before I found my local club or this site.

The depth of info here is amazing but sifting through it all can be a time consuming task.

My advice would be to decide where you want to get to brewing wise in the short term, and concentrate on that for a while.
This site has taught me a great deal in a short time, but taking it all in has been a lot easier because I had a bit under my belt before I got here...