Hello All !

[mortonbrew]

Hi chaps and chapesses!

Loving the site and the forum! I'm new to home brewing, just bought my kit yesterday from a very helpful chap at Fireside Brews in Shipley, UK

I'm avidly reading the forums for tips and I will keep you updated on the success of my first brew!

Ben.

 

[BigFloyd]

Greetings. I'm from Texas, but my favorite styles tend to be British (ESB, brown ale, etc.)

If you spend a bit of time reading some of the stickies in the "beginners" area and run searches if you have questions, you'll be making tasty brew from the start.

Enjoy!

 

[mortonbrew]

Reading all the forums, harvesting all the info! -

 

[BigFloyd]

Reading all the forums, harvesting all the info! -

It can be overwhelming, can it not?

To make it less daunting at first, focus on the basics and don't worry too much about the other stuff for now:

1) Sanitization - Get some Star-San. Use it liberally. It is no-rinse. Keep some in a spray bottle that has never had any cleanser in it. Anything that touches the wort/beer or yeast after the boil is done needs to be sanitized.

2) Temperature. Yeast are temp-sensitive little buggers. When doing ales, get the wort cooled from boiling to around 17-18*C (63-65*F) as quickly as possible. The yeast needs to be within 5*C of the wort when you pitch. Try to ferment at the lower end of the optimal temp for the yeast you are using.

3) Yeast - start off with dry yeast. It's easier to use and to get enough cells for a 5-gallon (20L) batch. No need for making a "yeast starter". Take a good look at instructions for rehydrating dry yeast and do that. Lots more cells survive the pitch that way. I'm drinking a batch of ESB (on tap) right now that was fermented with rehydrated S-04 and it's beyond delicious.

4) Patience - Once you put that wort in the bucket/carboy, the long wait begins. As a rule of thumb, 3 weeks in the primary, 3-4 weeks bottle conditioning and another few days in the fridge. Until you get a good pipeline going, the waiting is the worst part.

It is inevitable that you will make mistakes. Don't sweat it. Learn from them and move on.

Above all---have fun with this cool, addictive hobby.

 

[willamettevalleyamature]

Reading all the forums, harvesting all the info! -

First batch good start used nott.aleyeast. so far so good.