Hello, my name is Kent I'm doing my first brew this Sunday 12/23/12 of an extract Irish stout or oatmeal stout if anyone could lend me some tips and tricks. I've read many publications on home brewing but nothing is as good as some help from fellow brewers who have been in the same boat as me thank you for your time and happy holidays
Welcome to the site! We hope your first brew goes well. Use the brew feature to generate the steps for the brew, tailored to your recipe. That will help you avoid first time mistakes. This article has lots more details of what can go wrong: http://www.brewersfriend.com/2012/05/22 ... adventure/ If you are planning to top off with water, which you probably will be for an extract batch, make sure that water gets cooled down the night before. You can go with tap water, but that might impart a chlorine flavor (not sure where you are or what your water profile is like). You can always buy a couple gallons of spring water and throw those in the fridge the day before. This will help get the temp down from 80-90F to below 70F where it is safe to pitch yeast. This will help make your first beer turn out WAY better than most.
^^That's great advice from Larry, I never thought of that Welcome Kelliot! A couple of things that I can tell you that are critical in brewing are temperature control and sanitation. Make sure you get your wort up to a good vigorous boil (watch out for hot break boilover), follow the directions on your kit for hop and or spice timing additions and then cool your Wort down to under 100° if doing a concentrated boil. Now if you mix the warm Wort with the cold spring water from the fridge, you'll yield a temperature around 65°. For most ales, that will be perfect for pitching your yeast. Keep your fermentor in a cool place and make sure the Wort/Beer temperature doesn't rise above 70° for the first week or so (research swamp cooler). Now the hard part...... leave your beer alone for 2-3 weeks. Trust me on this one. Sanitation is another key factor in brewing. I recommend using Star San. Others will work, I've just had great success with it and it's super easy to use. Sanitize everything that your beer will touch post boil! Everything! Fermentor, Hydrometer,Siphon, Tubing, Thermometer, Bottles and caps, etc. A good start for reading is John Palmer How To Brew. Read at least chapter 1 online before you start. Then buy the book, it's a great resource. Good luck and have fun Brian
To give credit where credit is due, it is the Brew Mentor who taught me the idea of cooling down the top off water the night before. Great tip!
