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bitcohen

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Glad to join your community.
My name is Paula, I'm 34 years old
I got the northern brewery essential kit and am going to take a crack at their malt extracted amber ale tomorrow. Any common beginner mistakes I should watch out for? The biggest thing I've read is to be very careful with sanitization.
Cheers!
 
Glad to join your community.
My name is Paula, I'm 34 years old
I got the northern brewery essential kit and am going to take a crack at their malt extracted amber ale tomorrow. Any common beginner mistakes I should watch out for? The biggest thing I've read is to be very careful with sanitization.
Cheers!
Welcome aboard! And yes, sanitation is paramount at all times. With cleaners like PBW and Sanitizers like Star-San, you can’t go wrong.

As far as mistakes go... you’ll make them. It’s best that you experience them and learn from them. That way there not mistakes, rather they are learning opportunities.

Brewing isn’t hard, it’s just intimidating the first time or two, but that’s the fun of it.

If you have any questions along the way, drop in and ask. We’re a friendly bunch and always willing to help a fellow brewer.

Welcome to your new obsession!
 
Welcome!

As odd as it sounds, I'd almost pay more attention to the tail end of brewing at first (fermenting) than the middle or beginning (boiling and mashing if you're all grain).
Since you're doing extract you're just worrying about the boil and fermenting, and it's really hard to screw the boil up
Heck, you have to basically actively try to not make beer to make something undrinkable. People were doing this hundreds and thousands of years ago with much less than what we have
 
An Amber Ale is a great beer to start with. If you get hooked think about joining a local homebrew club (if one is close by). Welcome to the forum and cheers. :)
 
As a beginner with an extract kit I would advise to be careful when adding the extracts. Whether they are dry or liquid, when you first get up to a boil after they go in there will be lots of foaming. Be sure to have adequate head space in the kettle and don't look away. Keep your stir paddle handy and the gas or heat control easily accessible. Malt boil overs are a sticky nasty and above all dangerous event. Once you achieve hot break, you can relax a little.
Welcome to the hobby!
 
Welcome to Brewers Friend!

Number one is Chlorine in your water, if you are using municipal water you need to deal with that. This is real simple, just add a campden tablet.

My first brew day is still fresh in my memory, an extract kit. It wasn't actually very good, but it WAS beer, and I did drink, and share it.

There is a beginner's tutorial in the begginer's forum, I highly recommend you go over it, and refer to it as you learn.

Good luck! Don't be shy, ask lots of questions, the more experienced people here have a wealth of knowledge, and are keen to share it!

Craigerrr
 
Welcome!
Keep the instructions for the kit at hand until the wort is in the fermenter and the yeast has been pitched. Consult it before each step so you don't leave anything out. After a couple of batches you'll begin to get comfortable with the process and need the instructions less and less.

I might also add to what Craigerrr said about Chlorine. It's actually best to use distilled or reverse osmosis water when brewing with extract. The extract manufacturer has mashed grains using a water profile that fits the type of extract. Your tap water may change that profile to one that produces a less than desirable result.
Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize and relax. It's only beer.
 
Follow the recipe and don't panic. Brewing beer is surprisingly forgiving. Being precise is about repeatability. Since this is your first time you have no point of reference, so you can't go wrong. As long as you adhere to sanitation mentioned above you will have beer.
 
Welcome hope you enjoy your new hobby.

Mistakes are inveitable I'm still making plenty all the time with brewing :p. Just enjoy and observe the process.
 
About mistakes, I've made a few, but I did it my way...
 
Welcome. My main advice would be to not stress to hard about anything and just add one additional complication each time you go. My first batches were literally me heating up a tin of LME and pouring a kilo of DME in with it into one of those big fermenting buckets. No water treatment, no boil, nothing and they all came out drinkable. Were they great beer? Nope, but they were super easy and let me get a handle on what I was getting myself into.
 

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