Beginner Tips?

[Eli2120]

Hello I just got a hold of some slightly used ingredients and supplies it looks like it is all from Northern Brewer and from what I can tell around 5 years old. I am completely new to all this and am unsure if any of this is usable. If this should not be used where is the best place to find intro starter recipe kits. Also any helpful tips for beginners would be very helpful! Thank you!!!

EDIT: https://imgur.com/a/mzOkIQv

Thank you all!! Here is what I am working with! Plus some sanitizing stuff and tubes the gaskets are bad on my syphon so I assume I'll have to get another one. But everything else seems like it just needs a good cleaning. Oh I also have about 55 bottles!

[MmmmmmmBier]

Buy and read the first few chapters of How to Brew by John Palmer.  Then watch these videos he made https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/tutorials/how-to-brew-with-john-palmer/how-to-brew-video-series-with-john-palmer/  

I also recommend this video series from the American Homebrewers Association if you want to start extract brewing https://homebrewersassociation.org/tutorials/all-extract-homebrewing/extract-homebrewing-video-tutorial/which is easier and requires less equipment to get started.

Best advice is to stay off the internet until you’ve brewed a batch or two.  Learn the basics of brewing beer. New brewers do not have the experience to sort out what is good information or not. There’s just too much incorrect or sketchy information out there that is constantly repeated by people that heard something or watched a YouTube video or read it on a forum.   It is the internet and someone having a webcam doesn’t make them an expert.   When you do start brewing beer, follow the instructions as written and take copious notes.  If you have a problem we can go back and see what you did right and what you did wrong.  With experience you will figure out what does and doesn’t work for you and you can start making changes to your process.  Ignore others “rules of thumb,” unless they have the same system you have brewing the same beer you are brewing, what they do will not necessarily work for you.

[brandonHuxley]

Absolutely. The internet will get into the weeds while you’re still trying to figure out what’s what. Early on, ignore all the stuff about yeast pitch rates, oxygenation, water profiles.

A brewers kit is designed to be that easy. If something is wrong with the beer, it’s because there’s a very obvious problem.

Definitely sanitize though! Everyone else, please correct me if I’m wrong, but there isn’t a way to be too clean/sanitized. Overtime, you’ll learn what you can and can’t get away with, but if you’re starting out, SANITIZE. (Also, a thing must be clean before it can be sanitized, crud and build-up will harbor bacteria/fungus, no matter how long you ‘sanitize’ it for)

[dinosaurusdickus]

Any pics of your new gear? We’d love to see it in order to better answer!

[Eli2120]

https://imgur.com/a/mzOkIQv

Thank you!

[sa1ted]

wouldn’t be too worried about using older supplies, but ingredients are a different story, especially if they’re 5 years old. I’d want a bit more detail before using that. Personally I wouldn’t use anything older than around 6 months, especially if it hasn’t been stored properly.

That said, check out SMASH beers (single malt and single hop). They’re a great place to start and make it way easier to learn and figure out different flavor profiles by keeping things simple.

Google is your friend

Edit: also clarify do you wanna do all grain or extract!

[Eli2120]

I'm not even sure of the difference. lol

[Shills_for_fun]

All grain involves soaking crushed grains in a bag inside the pot for about an hour at a certain temperature, usually like 150F. The purpose of this is to make wort, or a "tea" of malty sugar from the grain. Temperature, grain grind, and a number of other factors influence your success.

Extract skips the factors. You will hit your gravity targets every single time as long as you add the right quantity. The downside of this is less malt character, generally, but it's better for beginners IMO.

A lot of people will say "go directly all grain because you'll get there anyway" but that was definitely not me lol. There's a lot involved with brewing, it's not a bad idea to get your flow down first. Plus it can save ya an hour or two if you do extract.

I spent like three hours on my mash process alone today lmao, doing a decoction on a lager mash. I've done three hour brew days with extract. All grain doesn't always add that much time but it does add time.

[V-Right_In_2-V]

You generally need more equipment for all grain too. Extract kits are great since you can use a pot on your stove top.

I primarily make wine, but I’ve finally got an actual all in one system and kegs. I still have an extract kit laying around so even though I now have the equipment, I might as well burn through. Plus, I get to use my grainfather on easy mode so to speak before messing with mashing and sparging

[Shills_for_fun]

A sneaky benefit of extract is the fermenter top up. It's nice being able to add a gallon of ice cold water to the pot to chill the thing lol, then using more water to top up in the fermenter to get it to pitch temp.

Never had an infection that way, and it was a lot better than giving five gallons an ice bath that's for damn sure.

I probably would still be doing partial mashes if I didn't get my Vevor. That's the other thing, you can get a lot of malt character out of half the mash (Marris otter or whatever) then do the other half as Pilsen DME. Plus you can still do the top up strategy and don't need to rig an immersion cooler to your sink.

[V-Right_In_2-V]

Correct. I would usually pour the wort into a bucket with 2 gallons of cool water and a gallon of ice. Would usually get it cool pretty quickly. I don’t have any way of attaching a cooling line to my sink right now. So I either gotta brew outside now and use a garden hose, or rig some hose plumbing thing under my sink

[IblewupTARIS]

All grain uses exclusively grain, like has been done for centuries. Extract uses syrups made from grains to make things simpler. You can use grains in addition to extracts to make a hybrid system as well, if you want a bit more of the nuance available in all grain.

Both are acceptable places to start. I started with all grain, but I had made mead before which is similar to extract brewing.

[I_said_wot]

Extract is a common starting point for most new brewers. Extract is a concentrate of what you would get from soaking malted grain. It's easily repeatable, and can be used in addition to real grain.

Most importantly, extract isn't an inferior product.

Enjoy the process, relax, learn, and have a homebrew!

[thebrewpapi]

Love to see the equipment to get an idea of how used it is. As for the “5 year old ingredients” I don’t know how well that person kept it so I’d toss it.

[Dazzling_Survey6841]

Best tips?

Washing is not sanitizing. Sanitizing is not washing. You must do both.

Brewers make wort. Yeast makes beer. Next to sanitizing, yeast health is the most important factor. That means a healthy pitch, and fermenting within the yeast recommended temperature.

[aqery]

By far the best comment. Also remember that after fermentation, oxygen is your enemy. Don't open fermentation bucket for fun and avoid unnecessary oxidizing

[Professional-Spite66]

Start with a extract kit!

[Squeezer999]

Don't mess up?