Home Brew Tips and Tricks

If you are just starting out in brewing or you have been doing it for years, you can always learn more about it. Years of brewing beer, you get your techniques down and know just about everything there is to know about how You brew your beer. But, learning how others do it gives us a hint how we can get better.

So, I've put together a list of tips and tricks about home brewing beer. The next time you start to brew a delicious batch, try some of them. You just might find the value of in some of these.

First of all, put whiskey on your airlocks. Actually, vodka is best. This kills all those little bacteria and other living things that try to get into your beer. If you let any contamination into your brew, you'll get a terrible batch. It will either taste awful or it will be completely undrinkable.

Next, make sure you take notes of everything. Write down your recipes, your timing, dates and times for different stages of brewing. Get used to doing this in case you ever want to try several different brews at once. Also you can start with a batch and at secondary fermentation, split the batch so that you can flavor each batch differently. That's when you are really going to need to take good notes.

When you are putting hops into your boil, put them in pantyhose. That way, when the boil is over, you simply remove the pantyhose and throw them away. It's easy for cleaning and keeps your brew from getting contaminated.

Build yourself a coil with copper pipe that you can attach a length of hose at each end. Attach one hose to the sink and the other runs out to the drain. When you need to cool before fermentation, drop the coil and rush cold water through it. It will get your temperature down quickly.

Treat it like an art and have fun with it. But, be exact like an artist painting on canvas. If you take notes and study the results, you should be able to start specializing in certain flavors as well as alcohol content and gravity. There is software that you can purchase that will help you keep track of results and help you improve your beers.

If you already know what you're doing in the home brewing category, then these tips will come in handy. If not, there are plenty of resources to get you started. Don't be afraid. Get your hands dirty. The only way to learn is to brew a batch. No matter what the result, you'll have something to remember as experience.