A Note Of Warning...
While I have been brewing for some time now and feel comfortable giving advice to others I am hardly a master brewer. That said, I'd like to think I can make a pretty good beer and before I could make good beer I made a lot of crappy extract brews so I've been there, done that. These are just some things that I wish I would have known when I started so I could have had less crappy beers and more good beers. Below is not a description of how to brew so figure that out on your own. These are mealy some tips that I needed and that based on reading internet forums many people need when they start. You will not find anything scientific below, just glossing over the surface of what you should do and if you want to learn more I would suggest buying a book.
Yeast Is Important So Treat It Nicely
It sounds ridiculous to be saying this now but yeast is an important part of you beer. The MOST important part of your beer you could argue. And I'm not just talking yeast selection, although that too is important, I'm talking yeast prep, and care.
Prep work:
This includes first off picking a yeast that will work with your beer. I like Wyeast and on their page you can find what strains work with what beers. Obviously feel free to experiment but these are tried and true. Secondly prep work includes making sure you have fresh yeast and enough yeast. One of my biggest issues early on was not enough yeast especially for bigger beers which can contribute to a ton of issues with your finished product so yes, it is worth it to buy the extra package of yeast or to make a starter. A good analogy is running a race. If you aren't prepared for a race you may finish but you'll probably feel awful afterwards or will not finish at all. If your yeast is not adequately prepared it might finish fermenting the beer but there may be off flavors and aromas or it may not finish at all leaving you with a sickly sweet and odd tasting "beer".
Yeast Care:
You should love your yeast like you love your mother (or like you should love your mother in the ideal world) which basically means you should not avoid them and in fact should take care of them so they will do nice things for you. First off, yeast do not like temperature swings so try to keep a constant environment for your fermenter. A swamp cooler at the least is a good way to do this. Secondly, you should pay attention to the temperature range for your yeast strain and try to hold the temp somewhere in that range. Yet another thing I used to suffer from is an extreme case of inpatients. While your beer can be done fermenting in a few days that doesn't mean that it won't benefit from a few weeks sitting on the yeastcake. When fermenting some undesirable flavors and smells can occur naturally and with a few weeks time the yeast will clean these up so wait, wait and then wait a little more for at least two to three weeks before you think about racking, bottling or kegging your beer. You will be rewarded in the end.
Check here to see which yeast are appropriate for which beers. You can also find temperature ranges when you click on a specific yeast strain: http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_styleguidelines.cfm
You can plug in your starting gravity here and determine how many yeasties you need to pitch: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
This should get you started on a swamp cooler if it's 105* in your fermenting chamber (aka: the closet): http://www.gurrback.com/archives/how-my-simple-swamp-cooler-makes-better-home-brewed-beer
Prep work:
This includes first off picking a yeast that will work with your beer. I like Wyeast and on their page you can find what strains work with what beers. Obviously feel free to experiment but these are tried and true. Secondly prep work includes making sure you have fresh yeast and enough yeast. One of my biggest issues early on was not enough yeast especially for bigger beers which can contribute to a ton of issues with your finished product so yes, it is worth it to buy the extra package of yeast or to make a starter. A good analogy is running a race. If you aren't prepared for a race you may finish but you'll probably feel awful afterwards or will not finish at all. If your yeast is not adequately prepared it might finish fermenting the beer but there may be off flavors and aromas or it may not finish at all leaving you with a sickly sweet and odd tasting "beer".
Yeast Care:
You should love your yeast like you love your mother (or like you should love your mother in the ideal world) which basically means you should not avoid them and in fact should take care of them so they will do nice things for you. First off, yeast do not like temperature swings so try to keep a constant environment for your fermenter. A swamp cooler at the least is a good way to do this. Secondly, you should pay attention to the temperature range for your yeast strain and try to hold the temp somewhere in that range. Yet another thing I used to suffer from is an extreme case of inpatients. While your beer can be done fermenting in a few days that doesn't mean that it won't benefit from a few weeks sitting on the yeastcake. When fermenting some undesirable flavors and smells can occur naturally and with a few weeks time the yeast will clean these up so wait, wait and then wait a little more for at least two to three weeks before you think about racking, bottling or kegging your beer. You will be rewarded in the end.
Check here to see which yeast are appropriate for which beers. You can also find temperature ranges when you click on a specific yeast strain: http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_styleguidelines.cfm
You can plug in your starting gravity here and determine how many yeasties you need to pitch: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
This should get you started on a swamp cooler if it's 105* in your fermenting chamber (aka: the closet): http://www.gurrback.com/archives/how-my-simple-swamp-cooler-makes-better-home-brewed-beer
Own And Use A Hydrometer
I didn't care. I made beer that was some percentage of alcohol and when I drank enough of them I got buzzed. That was good enough for me but if you want to make a good beer you should use your hydrometer! Not that you can't have a good beer without one but it tells you some important things. First off, it tells you if you hit your target starting gravity. If that is off considerably your hop balance will be off as well making a different beer than you were aiming for. IMPORTANT: for extract brewers, make sure you mix in the water by aerating (more on that below) your wort BEFORE taking a sample. When topping off with water it is possible that the water and wort do not really mix and your hydrometer sample is more water than wort. I've seen a ten point difference one time when a friend had a low reading without mixing the water in.
Secondly, it the hydrometer tells you when and if your beer is done fermenting. If there is no visible fermentation in your airlock that doesn't mean anything. Your beer could still be fermenting or it could have stalled out leaving you with an overly-sweet beer. Rule of thumb is use it three days in a row for a steady reading to know your finished.
Here's a link to check your ABV% as well as your attenuation: http://pint.com.au/calculators/alcohol/ For newcomers attenuation is basically the percentage of sugars converted to alcohol and each yeast strain has a different attenuation range that can be found on the website. If you have a significantly lower attenuation than your yeast range you may have a stuck fermentation.
Secondly, it the hydrometer tells you when and if your beer is done fermenting. If there is no visible fermentation in your airlock that doesn't mean anything. Your beer could still be fermenting or it could have stalled out leaving you with an overly-sweet beer. Rule of thumb is use it three days in a row for a steady reading to know your finished.
Here's a link to check your ABV% as well as your attenuation: http://pint.com.au/calculators/alcohol/ For newcomers attenuation is basically the percentage of sugars converted to alcohol and each yeast strain has a different attenuation range that can be found on the website. If you have a significantly lower attenuation than your yeast range you may have a stuck fermentation.
You Don't Really Need A Secondary Fermenter
Many a homebrewer will make this argument although many a local homebrew shop will include secondary fermentation in their directions for their kit beers. Here's the deal. It used to be thought that any extended period of time on a yeastcake would cause the yeast to eat itself which would cause a bunch of off-flavors. This is called autolysis and is a concern for commercial brewers because the yeast is under immense pressure from the weight of all that beer on top of them but five gallons doesn't have the same effect. So in short, you probably don't need to use a secondary fermenter. I would still use one when dry-hopping, adding fruit or oak or for an extended aging period for something like a Barleywine or Russian Imperial Stout.
The Easiest Way To Mess Up Your Beer Is Through Poor Sanitation
Just do it! Spend the $15 and get yourself a nice big bottle of Star San.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/star-san.html
The most important thing to know is the difference between cleaning and sanitizing because you can clean something but not sanitize it. Cleaning will remove any junk on the surface and they have specialized clean products for homebrew or you can use the old dish soap and sponge method if you wish. However, stopping there is not good enough. Using a sanitizer will eliminate the micro-organisms to a negligible level so they don't ruin your beer. Everything that touches the wort after boiling needs to be sanitized and then touch nothing else. If you sanitize it and then set it down; sanitize again. If you sanitize it and hand it to your friends dirty hands to hold; sanitize it again. If it is no rinse sanitizer, DO NOT RINSE! This renders you right back where you were to begin with.
The most important thing to know is the difference between cleaning and sanitizing because you can clean something but not sanitize it. Cleaning will remove any junk on the surface and they have specialized clean products for homebrew or you can use the old dish soap and sponge method if you wish. However, stopping there is not good enough. Using a sanitizer will eliminate the micro-organisms to a negligible level so they don't ruin your beer. Everything that touches the wort after boiling needs to be sanitized and then touch nothing else. If you sanitize it and then set it down; sanitize again. If you sanitize it and hand it to your friends dirty hands to hold; sanitize it again. If it is no rinse sanitizer, DO NOT RINSE! This renders you right back where you were to begin with.
Aerate Your Wort
This could easily fall under the yeast care section but I decided to keep it separate because that section was getting really long and I already finished it. Either way, this is important. Basically, yeast need oxygen to work right. I'm not going to go into the scientific mumbo-jumbo so just trust me on this one. They need oxygen and when you boil your wort for an hour you are boiling off all the oxygen. if you leave it without your fermentation will suffer. So how do you get it back:
You can shake your carboy back and forth for a couple minutes.
You can pour it through a strainer into a funnel and into a carboy.
You can get a nifty drill attachment called a mix-stir that is really used for degassing wine but works for aerating wort as well. This is what I do because I try to include power tools in as many things as possible.
Or you can spend some money on a aeration system whether that be just plain old air or pure oxygen.
Check out this link from the yeast experts if you don't trust me or if you want to know more: http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_oxygenation.cfm
You can shake your carboy back and forth for a couple minutes.
You can pour it through a strainer into a funnel and into a carboy.
You can get a nifty drill attachment called a mix-stir that is really used for degassing wine but works for aerating wort as well. This is what I do because I try to include power tools in as many things as possible.
Or you can spend some money on a aeration system whether that be just plain old air or pure oxygen.
Check out this link from the yeast experts if you don't trust me or if you want to know more: http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_oxygenation.cfm
Measure Stuff Out Correctly
If your doing extract kits you should always get to right about their suggested Starting Gravity. I did not always achieve this because I did not always have a proper five gallons of wort. Either I added too much water to start or didn't top off with enough or boiled off a bit too much. Get a gallon jug and mark your carboys at each gallon and know that most kits are designed for five gallons. It doesn't matter how much you boil honestly, just get it to that five gallon mark and you should be good.
This leads me to think of something else. If you are topping off plain old tap water is fine provided you drink it everyday and like the way it tastes. Unless your water sucks you don't need to buy special water or boil it to make sure it is clean.
This leads me to think of something else. If you are topping off plain old tap water is fine provided you drink it everyday and like the way it tastes. Unless your water sucks you don't need to buy special water or boil it to make sure it is clean.
Keep A Journal
Alright so it doesn't have to be a cool old school paper thing but just take some notes if you want to get better. Write down and track everything if you can. How the brewing process went. What you expected out of that beer and what you got. Fermentation temp (yes, buy those stick on thermometer strips!). Anything that went wrong. Anything that went right. The ingredients you used and what flavors they should give you and whether or not you think you like them. This is how you will learn more about beer and brewing beer, where your process is good and where it needs to improve and what ingredients you like and what ones you don't.
Empty Beer Bottles Are Sad Beer Bottles...
...so buy that next carboy and your next kit and get started NOW! You won't regret it and you'll do it eventually so just do it now when you get that big bottle of Star San. Welcome to the obsession.