5 mistakes a beginner makes

Just like golf, Home-brewing is a hobby that takes a lot of time refining some of the small elements of the process to do a great job. Now, we’ve reflected on our own experiences and we’ve generated a list of mistakes that you should try and stay away from. 

Not Cleaning & Sanitising

I’ve said it many times over the last couple years but cleaning is a very important part of brewing. Making sure that everything that’s going to touch the beer is clean is vital. So, get your hands on a good sanitiser and make sure everything is sanitised before breaking. Another suggestion is to periodically break everything down and give everything a good clean using something like PBW. 

Not Waiting Long Enough

I get it, you’ve worked hard brewing up a beer and you just want to try it but there will be many moments throughout your brew day and beyond. Fermentation and carbonation can’t be rushed. It’s tough knowing when the beer’s fermented and you can’t rely on the air lock to tell if the beer is ready. This is where it’ll be really helpful to draw off a couple samples throughout the fermentation to test the gravity of the beer. As a minimum, don’t touch your beer until it’s fermented which is normally about 2 weeks and then you’re looking at another two weeks if you’re priming your beer in bottles. 

Storing Your Beer At The Wrong Temperatures

Im sure you’re very aware of the importance of good temperature control throughout the fermentation, bottling and even when you keg a beer. You need to ensure that the yeast is happy, so that means keep the FV temperature very consistent so if you’re lucky and you have the equipment I would strongly suggest using a fermentation chamber which will keep the temperature exactly where you need it to be. If you don’t have the equipment, don’t worry, you can find somewhere in your house that has a consistent temperature and then just ensure you’re checking the temperature on a regular basis. 

Oxidising Your Beer

You want to make sure your wort has plenty of oxygen when you pitch your yeast. If you’ve got a nice oxygenated wort then your yeast will have a filed day. However, that’s really the only time you’d like to add any extra oxygen to your beer. So, when bottling or kegging your beer, make sure your using some sort of pipes or tubing which will help limit the amount of oxygen getting into your beer.  

Not Keeping Records

This one’s an obvious one, but keeping a log of the ingredients and recording some vital numbers will ensure you’ll be able to replicate a beer that everyone loved or even improve a beer you previously brewed.

Whatever you do, keep enjoying yourself and if you make a mistake, it’s ok, use it as a learning experience and you’ll soon be creating some amazing beers on a regular basis. 

Keep brewing!