Fermentation (psuedo) Friday!

Here is my belated fermentation friday post. I'll get right to it,

Question: What advice would I give to a beginner foraying into homebrewing?

Answer: Get organized, sanitize, watch fermentation tempuratures, and have fun!

Does that count as one thing? Oh' well. When beginning to brew organization is very important. Writing/printing out a brew schedule can help with staying on schedule and not becoming disorganized, which can be easily done. Without proper sanitization one could screw up an entire brewday wasting money and time. Always, start out your brew day with sanitization and have that bucket around for the entire day, so you can sanitize anything on demand as you need. And finally, watch your fermentation temperatures! Your yeast package should have directions on the temperature your yeast play well at. This can be important as my first brew fermented at 85F, needless to say it did not come out well and as a result I did not brew again for awhile. Also, brewing at different temperatures will ensure that your beer will be inconsistant and may not be drinkable.

In the end making beer whether it is extract, partial-mash or all-grain can be relatively easy. You just need to be organized, sanitized and watch your fermentation temperatures (damn it, does'nt rhyme). It's really not that hard and all you need to do is well...decide what to brew!