What u wish u had known

[ETCovey]

Im in the middle of my first brew and was wandering what the experts out there wish they had known on their first brew?

 

[lumpher]

everything i know 12 years later

 

[ETCovey]

everything i know 12 years later

That's super specific......lol

 

[Diaperload]

Wish I had known about Fermcap-S

 

[lumpher]

ok, if you have to nail me down to 1 thing: how ferm temps affect various yeasts

 

[Teromous]

That 99% of the people on the forum who are using neat looking toys, are using them because they make life easier, and not just because they look neat. (ok I just made up 99% but you know what I mean)

Contrary to the first tip, the more you add to your system, the more you have to clean.

Experimentation will often rend poor results. Success is an exception, not an expectation.

You can never have too many pots, coolers, or buckets.

Propane is not cheap.

Brewing is not hard despite how many books, threads, videos, and opinions there are.

You will never stop accumulating homebrewing supplies…ever.

You will drink more beer than ever.

 

[RM-MN]

I wish I had known that cooler fermentation temperature and longer fermentation time would make my beer better. I wouldn't have drunk so much "swill" in the early days had I known that little amount.

 

[mjdonnelly68]

Wish I had known to buy a brew pot twice the size of my intended batches. Boil-overs blow.

 

[msa8967]

I wished I had known about the Brew in a Bag method about going all grain. It is much easier to use to make that transition from extract to partial mash to all grain using the BIAB method. I also wish I had started using the brewing software Beersmith earlier when I made the transition to going all grain. It helped me start formulating my own recipes for styles i like.

 

[unionrdr]

This is a tough one for me,since I had the patience to wait 3 weeks to open my 1st beer. I learn quickly,& from my mistakes. I guess I'd have to say needed a little more patience with the ice bath to let the temp get down lower than 80 or 90F. Beers were still in primary 3 weeks or more. So off flavors aged out that I tasted in FG samples.
I also started experimenting early on,but left the stuff most add to beer on the dessert plate where they belong.

 

[ktblunden]

That hooking up a $20 eBay temp controller to an unused fridge in the garage would be the most important piece of equipment I have.

 

[gbx]

No rinse sanitizer. I don't understand why every beginner kit is sold with pink powder. Throw it out, buy some star-san and keep a spray bottle of it handy.

...and fermentation temps. Low and slow makes better beer.

 

[ScottG58]

I wish I had known not to worry. The first few batches I might have thought "Oh no, it finished at 1.020" rather than enjoying the process and the product. I might have thought "that looks weird, smells weird or tastes weird" and been certain that some microbial monster had overthrown the yeast and created undrinkable pond water. I wish I had known that RDWHAHB was some of the best (and most frequent) advice given on this forum. Enjoy your day! It's supposed to be fun.

 

[emjay]

Not to use a pound and a half of leaf hops in a 2 gallon partial boil.

 

[SavoryChef]

Don't use too much crystal malts

 

[eric19312]

US 05 yeast

And, Fermentation temperature control means controlling the temperature of the beer, not the temperature of the beers environment.

 

[Tabb]

I wish I would have known years ago how easy homebrew is.
I wish I would have known how easy all grain is.
I wish I wasn't so cheap and bought a bigger brew pot. A lot bigger.

 

[ron,ar]

I wish I had known that fermentation temp control is one of the keys to good beer.
I wish I had known how addictive this hobby is.
But most of all, I wish I had known that taking up this hobby would run my first wife off.......if I had known that I would have started brewing years earlier :^)

 

[CBU123]

Not an expert, but wish I would have known about blow-off valves. It would have saved me from a very messy situation.

 

[ETCovey]

Don't use too much crystal malts

Whats wrong with crystal malts?

 

[RM-MN]

Whats wrong with crystal malts?

There is nothing wrong with crystal malts when used in the right amounts. When you add too much they can make your beer too sweet since they contain mostly unfermentable sugars. General rule is less than 10% of your grains or extract by weight.

 

[davekippen]

That hooking up a $20 eBay temp controller to an unused fridge in the garage would be the most important piece of equipment I have.

This is word for word what I was going to say! I can brew any beer at any ferm temp at any time of year now :rockin:

 

[BobbiLynn]

I kind of wish I knew nothing about brewing. The more you know, the more complicated it becomes. I made really good beer when I knew almost nothing about it. Follow directions, except for fermenting times, double what it says. Beer is good! But, now got spoiled and want great beer. Good beer just doesn't seem good enough. Dumping a lot lately because not happy with it.

I wish I would have known that information overload isn't good either.

 

[ktblunden]

And, Fermentation temperature control means controlling the temperature of the beer, not the temperature of the beers environment.

Yeah, that's a good one too. I tape my probe to the side of the bucket in my ferm chamber. If it was feasible I would have a probe in the wort.

 

[unionrdr]

You can. Midwest sells a plug with an aluminum or SS tube closed at one end to put your temp probe in to get readings from the center of the fermenter. Another spoke of this silicone stuff you fill the tube with to get accurate readings in it.

 

[Butchv12]

A fridge with a temp controller is the most important tool I have --- In Texas we seldom have a garage that is too cold, and we do not have basements here.

The second most important thing is my brewing platform that elevates the hot water on brew day so I only have to lift the 2 carboys ( brewhauler ) to the fridge.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

1. I wish I had known how hard it is to actually infect a batch of beer. Don't get me wrong, you definitely want to be clean and sanitary, but when I first started, my procedures were more akin to a clean room at the CDC. I'm a lot more relaxed about it now, especially since I now know that nothing that can kill you or make you sick can grow in beer.

2. I wish I had known how easy kegging was vs. bottling. I would have gladly forked oved an extra $300 to keg from the start and skip the whole botting adventure.

 

[liquiditynerd]

On the same idea of temp control... I wish I knew that certain styles were brewed as seasonal because of the temp. Temp controlled fridge is awesome now but I could've done better back then brewing the right style for the season.

Now I know when to lager, ale, wheat, sour, etc.... My precious stuff stays in the fridge but everything outside of it is seasonal,