I've been watching this channel for over a year now and I finally got around to brewing my first beer this past weekend! I went with a pseudo light lager. It definitely helped brewing something so simple for my first beer. The extra room for error gave me time to figure out all my equipment lol. Also, ill 100% be using kveik for my first few beers. its just too easy being able to pitch a pack of dry yeast, put my fermenter on the heating pad and then boom, its fully attenuated in 2 days.
Congratulations on the first brew!! With a beer like that you will easily be able to identify if anything is off and you'll know what to change for next time. Cheers!
Great tips, Steve ! It’s not just difficult styles, but most of those styles require extra equipment that most beginners don’t have access to that makes these beers difficult to brew. Cheers!
exactly, i more or less started brewing making neipas and have never made a bad batch because i did my homework and invested in a pressure fermenter and co2 before starting on them . Now i can brew and bottle oxygen free and its turned into kegging and a draft system so my extra investment paid off, only had to bottle carbonate a couple batches. tastes like comercial beer at a fraction of the price, i have been a homedistiller for years now so i am very familar with fermentation and can control ferm temps etc. I am now playing with slight pressures and yeast selection which will handle a bit of pressure.
Couldn't agee more. Hazy IPA's are catnip for new brewers but they are spectacularly fragile. Most of my first half dozen brews ended up with all or some being dumped as the quality of the next beer surpassed the last. I've been at this just over 2 years and recently won a Best Bitter (UK style) category at a small local competition. The moral is that you soon learn and can achieve great results in a relatively short period of time as long as you learn to walk first. 😊
first beer: pressure fermented Saflager 34/70, Pilsner... Yeah that was good for pouring on the plants in the growhouse.. Second beer: Lutra, smash beer in lager style - really drinkable, super easy, just had to keep it warm...
I love this channel! You speak the truth. Been brewing for 20 years. And have made all these mistakes. I’ve heard the old saying. Brewing is not rocket science. Unless you want it to be. Start easy and work your way up. Do yourself a favor.
Thank you for this video! It’s very challenging sometimes to explain to new brewers starting out with a basic kit and bottles, that their dream imperial marshmallow coconut mango black double dry hop hazy ipa is probably something for much later that will require serious skills and equipment. I usually recommend starting out with a simple amber with just bittering hops, or something similar, and most of the time I get a disappointing look. This video will help guide these discussions better.
I agree! Besides, I’ve been begging our local craft friends to brew Ambers and it looks like our requests have been heard. It’s such a solid beer to drink and perfect for food pairing
Yes finally someone advising against hazy/neipa when starting out. They are so popular but so difficult to keep fresh. So much more forgiving making a APA and something a little malty. Also cheaper!
Hazy IPA. I mean it probably can be done with beginner gear, but I could not do it. You will need pressure fermenter,hop dropper/bong, heating, cooling, temp controller, CO2 regulator, kegs... its a lot to take in at first... but then you have stuff to do a clean lager as well so its not just for one style. And it can be plastic stuff, not terribly expensive with the PET fermenters out there and an old refrigirator.
Thanks for the great video and you make some excellent points! However, I think people should not avoid making traditional lagers as their first homebrew, because lagers being a very delicate style helps to detect all the different offflavors easier. Granted, it would take patience to brew a couple of batches until the acceptable result, but I think it really helps develop the skill to brew cleaner beers in the long run. I think I brewed something like 10 batches before I got feedback that my beer tastes like water :D. It really depends what are your main goals as a brewer.
I just started brewing 2-3 months ago and this definitely confirms some apprehension I have about a lot of these styles. I'm not necessarily afraid to do them but it does seem like it'll be helpful to have a few successful basic brews done before I launch into something bigger.
Welcome to the hobby! I would look at them as eventual goals to be able to brew them, but you will have a far higher chance of absolutely crushing them if you put in the work of mastering the basics first. Walk, then run.
Thank you for mentioning Hazy IPAs. I brewed nothing but hazies for 9 months before I finally got everything right on the cold side. It is the most difficult beer to home brew IMO. Great info as always!
Good advice. I made a barley wine and it was terrible, of course I didn’t wait a year like your supposed too so I was able to give it to a guy who wanted it anyway. He liked it.
I have to be gluten free and that's why I started brewing beer. But I started with doing ciders and fruit wines first, then spoke with other home brewers and did TONS of research before trying my first beer. It was an 8% spiced Belgian winter ale 😂 it turned out good and now I'm all in.
Good info! I remember when I first started I tried going to far to fast. It seemed that the one beer I wanted to brew early on was just a good wheat beer. I was so bummed when it didn't turn out. All the books I read said it was the easiest beer to homebrew. Apparently not for me. I finally after years of brewing have got it down to where I like it. I always say you can't win them all. That's the fun when you can make a beer and say "next time I would or not do this". Just remember not to change to many variables cause then you don't know where it changed. Keep brewing everybody!
Sometimes depending on equipment American wheat can be tough, I am one of those people who recommends it as a starter beer. The most important things is to keep at it and never stop improving.
Was waiting for you to say hazy.... As i drink my 4th batch ever hazy... Drinkable but needs work. Probably gonna do a few 2 gallon smash beers next....
Thanks for the video, I wish I had that when I started out. I have a tiny remark on the bits on high ABV and trappist beers. I agree that beginners who start out and try to make an 11% Tripel or something will most likely produce fusely and underattenuated soup. But I think, if you have your first four or five batches brewed, learned the basics and want to dabble into higher ABV beers, a Tripel is a great point to start. I have made a great Tripel in 2021 with a very simple ingredient list, fermentation at 18°C ambient temperature, Lallemand Abbayé and a couple of months of maturation time. It took some research to get all parameters right but once I had that figured out, it was pretty easy to brew, the hardest part was patiently waiting for six months and I got a great beer at the first shot. I feel like making a good Imperial Stout is much more difficult. Probably because mine never really turned out that great :D
It's more forgiving than a Quad for sure. But I think once one has a good understanding of making high alcohol beers they can comfortably tackle strong Belgian styles
Good vid. For myself, whenever I start a new recipe style I do a small batch first. If it works, easy to scale up on the software, if not good, play around with grist etc and do again "properly".
Well done sir. I've fallen into those pitfalls in the past. Lately I've been going back to things I've been able to control better and my brews have been just better! I will still try bigger beers in the future but I am happier with refining my technique. Cheers!
It's funny how many of the trendy or more intense beers are the ones beginners want to start on but are also some of the toughest to master. But brewing less exciting styles and working on the basics is always a smart idea. There will be plenty of time for those beers when the skillset is better!
Great thoughts! My list when I saw the video title was: 1. NEIPA 2. NEIPA 3. NEIPA 4. NEIPA 5. NEIPA 6. NEIPA 7. NEIPA 8. NEIPA 9. NEIPA 10. Imperial Stout
I agree about the alternative fermentables. I made my second beer was a Gluten free beer. My mother in law is gluten intolerant so I was just excited to make her a beer. Short version. She likes the beer but now that I have a few more brews under my belt I know I can make it so much better now.
Thanks for the advice! Naturally the first beer I tried on my own outside of a recipe kit was a hazy ipa. Needless to say It was a disaster. Mostly because I also tried to play with water chemistry lol. It was so discouraging. Thankfully I kept at it, and now can consistently pull them off but man that first batch was tough to pour down the drain. My best advice is to try one new step at a time!
THANKS! You just saved my brew hobby even before it starts! You make brewing look so easy I was getting a little "cocky" but this video sent me back to the beginning. Off to buy stuff for SMASH beers! Actually, I buy a lot of SMASH to learn flavors and tastes when I find them. I'm sure my wife will thank you too! :)
Smash beers are seriously one of the best ways to get better at brewing fast! Nothing to hide any mistakes and you get a really good understanding of ingredients. Cheers!
Totally agree. The specialty beers need a lot of expensive equipment or time. Home brewers make really good beers as long as they and their friends enjoy them.
When I started brewing I wanted to brew the booziest most complicated IPAs and stouts. Now after 10 years I make smash lagers and ales. And I enjoy the simple nuances of how that beers tasting.
My story - I started with brewing a Oud Bruin for my first beer. My favorite style and I figured if the first one was drinkable then I would be happy. It came out actually really good and went fast. It was rough, stuck mash, two stage fermenting, aged 30 days with whiskey oak cubes. But I enjoyed the process. I think it helps I also enjoy smoking brisket/ribs.
When I first started brewing I decided to tackle a barleywine as my 3rd brew. Not only that, I tried to do a parti-gyle as well. What could go wrong? The only good thing there is I was doing 1 gallon batches at the time. The logic was that if something was bad, it's easier to struggle through or pour out 1 gallon as opposed to 5 gallons. The barleywine was ok but not awesome. The "small beer" was borderline undrinkable.
Imperial stout and barley wine combine a lot of these reasonings to avoid in the beginning and I have found all together. It's also somewhat problematic to have 20 liters / 5 gallons of 10+ % ABV beer. I don't have the equipment to keep it at cellar temp for a year and definitely not the patience to not consume it before it has time to mature. 😅 Interesting techniques for mashing for the insanely thick wort but I prefer buying these sort of beers from craft breweries. Hoppy beers more nice to brew yourself instead of buying the pre-oxidized old neipas from store.
I agree with this list. I am 1 for 3 on IPAs on the whole haha, my latest NE had a lot of issues with initial gravity and perceived bitterness was much higher in the final result. I would also add that some of my best brews as a beginner/about 2 years of experience were English Blondes/golden ale, cream ale, amber ale, and hefewiezens/german style wheat beers. I had moderate success with belgian styles (belgian blonde and dubbel), and 1 lager that was so so. The lager did take forever and I sort of regretted the time it took since that carboy was out of commission for about 5 months. Hard to improve at something if you are only practicing a couple times a year (brewing lagers that is). While I enjoy the style, I find cream ales and english blondes a sufficient replacement in a fraction of the time.
Other ones which IMO are tough to get right: 1) Wheat beers, particularly as a new AG brewer. Anything with over 50% wheat malt by volume is going to probably take quite a lot of babying regardless of your AG method. 2) Hopfenweisse. An extension of 1), with the added difficulty of a higher ABV and trying to find aroma hops that play nice with isoamyl acetate. 3) West coast IPAs. Hazies are rightfully flagged as being a challenge but Westies also have their own set of challenges, especially with balancing bitterness and aroma as a new brewer. It's a lager subcategory, but bocks/doppelbocks are amongst the hardest beers to brew IME. In half a dozen attempts the best I've done is "alright".
This is so me. I've never made a single beer! I've been watching your channel and others and I even start to buy equipment and then I chicken out thinking I'm never going to have room or time for all this stuff. But by golly, my first beer will be an Imperial Stout! LOL
Lol the hazy ipa opinion did hurt my heart a bit. Still haven't pulled the trigger an jumped into brewing an that's one that was at the top of my list to start with. Really did seem like it may be too complicated to start with, but hearing it said plainly hurt my feelings a bit.
Certainly Hazy IPAs are the popular ones to stuff up right now. And with good reason. Far too many moving parts and if any of them stuff up you can ruin your beer. A lot of people are very blind to their own beers, too. This is great if they're brewing by themselves, for themselves, but they end up really disappointed if they give it out to friends or enter competitions. Personally, when a new brewer asks for a good beer for them to brew, I lean towards stouts/porters. They're so forgiving with flavours, hide oxidization well, age gracefully, simple mash and fermentation.
Those are good recommendations. Sometimes roast character in basic stouts and porters can be tough to control as a new brewer but overall they aren't too difficult.
10:44 i brewed one of these. It was probably my 4th or 5th beer. I thought it was a flop was really harsh and bitter like strong black coffee, but after sitting in the keg for about two months it mellowed out and became very drinkable. It was a bit complicated using several extracts and specialty malts.
If you brew sours and you’re worried about cross contamination between brews, there is a something called potassium permanganate that makes it easy. You can get 100 grams of it for
I have yet to hear about this method for cleaning and sanitation but thank you for sharing. Usually I just go with a boiling water bath for components and a boiling CIP for the fermenters.
Steve, it's a great idea to warn a newbie. To insure him at the beginning of the journey from failures, so that after the first preparation he would not be disappointed in beer brewing)))
Hazy IPA? Once you understand water chemistry I say go for it. I brewed mine on like my 4th or 5th ever brew and it was amazing. Better than the ones I’ve had at breweries. My only problem was that it was tough to drink more than one because I’d get drunk so fast off them.
@@TheApartmentBrewer I think people convolute all that. Hop creep might be a thing if you’re dumb enough to let them sit on the beer too long but the most likely issue with NEIPA’s is using the wrong water profile. Same goes with oxidation. If you’re drinking it fast enough does it matter?
I really agree with this list! Still, first all grain beer I ever tried to make was a pumpkin ale in a coolbox mash tun. Hey it worked, but took about 25 hours as I had no clue what to do about a stuck sparge and didn't realise my wort chiller didn't fit my tap! Many years later, lots of equipment upgrades later and lots of learning, I make award winning homebrews. Traditional lagers are my absolute favourite to make now. But NEIPAs still scare me :-P
Pumpkin beers are crazy tough on the mash tun, I'm impressed you stuck with it! Fortunately this is a hobby where its hard to stop learning or improving!
I started brewing because I love super hoppy IPAs. I have only ever brewed IPAs and for the most part, have been happy with them. Really simple and delicious.
Maybe the "hardest" ones are lagers, the defects can´t be hiden on big flavors, they need understanding on water profile (wrong water can ruin the style) and need especial equipment as you mention on the video.
Some of these beers a bit more advanced, but normally the worst thing that will happen is turning out a bad product. The sour beers however are dangerous! One misstep and you're buying a whole new fermentor or brewing system. Great tip to avoid those beers when first starting out.
As I said at the beginning, these should be challenge beers for new brewers to work towards as they build on their successes. Yes the worst that could happen is a bad product but I want to discourage folks from getting out of the hobby because of a bad product.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Totally understand. Investing hours of time making the beer, then days/weeks waiting, just to get a bad product would be very discouraging for anyone first starting out.
I have a hazy in the keg & a mean imperial stout dued to November but I will not considere myself not a noob until I can throw a cap of lactic acid blind folded and nail my pH
I started brewing using extracts and bottles (like most people i guess) then after my third or fourth batch I’d had enough of washing bottles and waiting so i bought a kegerator. After about six or so brews with only one undrinkable batch i managed to pick up an all grain brewhouse cheap, and for some unknown reason my ratio has dropped to about 50%. For every good beer i brew i get a very average to undrinkable beer☹️ I brewed two beers with identical (as far as i know) ingredients, yeast, and temperature and got two very different beers. The only difference in technique between the two was a ten minute mashout and a two day cold crash in the second. The first beer (a black ale) came out malty and bitter almost too bitter for my liking. The second was very mild and tasted a bit odd, not sure how to describe it. At least that was on keg day i need to have another taste after it gasses up.
@@TheApartmentBrewer i have a fridge and an inkbird temp controller. The fridge is set on its coldest setting which is 5-7C and the temperature probe is taped to the side of the fermenter. The inkbird indicates the temperature is stable at 19C but apparently the fridge fluctuates a bit at its lowest end. I set the inkbird to -1 (cold crash) and the fridge seemed to bounce between 5 and 7 degrees it still dropped out a lot of material though. Which brings up a point i suppose. I forgot to clear the first brew and there was very little trub left in the bottom of the fermentor after transferring to the keg and the second left a lot of sludge in the fermentor. So maybe the bitterness comes from the yeast and stuff in the first and all the flavour of the second was left in the fermentor?
7:47 I’ve got one fermentor (a chubby), and a fridge to keep it cool. I couldn’t imagine making only one beer a year, also how upsetting would it be if it failed? Sounds like the stuff of nightmares.
belgian spiced beers can be difficult to brew as they require balance, and if any spice is overdone, it can make a bad beer............for example brewing a decent belgian wit can be challenging..........cheers Steve
I really don't understand the video pop-ups during a video I'm watching. Do you want me to tab out an watch that? How do I come back to it after the video? Why not just put recommended follow up videos in the description so we can find them after the one we are watching ends without having to go back an try to find the 2 second pop-up later.
As someone who is looking to get into homebrewing thanks to Belgium style beers, what is the best way to prepare to brew that style? Or is there similiar style I should try brewing before hopping into the world of Triple's. I Really appreciate your content, as it has given me a lot of insight into what I should expect from homebrewing. Now I just have to figure out what to brew first.
Glad you asked! I have a lot of Belgian style brew videos if you want to check those out. These beers are relatively easy to brew, but the fermentations can be challenging, especially for the higher alcohol styles. Biggest tip I have for you is just pitch more yeast than you think you need and be patient with allowing them to mature after fermentation. A good starter Belgian style would be a Belgian pale ale or a blonde.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you for the swift reply! Since posting this comment I have watched your videos on Patersbier and Triple making, and I am thinking of trying the Patersbier for my first brew. For fermentation I have done research on making a fermentation chamber out of a fridge I have laying around using an Inkbird. I have deduced that it should be enough to keep the higher temperatures in check. The only fear I have with this method is that the temperature might drop too low at some point, halting the fermentation, is that a realistic fear?
Great! Yeah, the patersbier is another great intro style. As long as you're not keeping the fermenter colder than 65F or crashing the temperature on it too fast that shouldn't happen
@@TheApartmentBrewer Okay! I will bother you with one more question, which is whether I should have the Inkbird's probe measuring the temperature of the fermentation vessel or the ambient temperature of the fridge?
First beer I've ever brewed was a NEPIA. When I told people they asked why I would choose that style as my first beer. It actually turned out really well and got killer reviews from those that tried it. I've made worse (and better) batches since. I did a lot of research before brewing but I wouldn't tell anyone not to try it as their first beer IF they do their due diligence first.
Avoid beers your friends don't like :D If you end up with 5 gallons of great IPA but your drinking buddys don't like IPAs you have to drink it on your own. Best thing is somebody else enjoying your beer, so make some for the others ;)
LMAO #10 - My very first beer I made was a 7.5% NEIPA and it was an award winner. Granted, I did some serious homework on the style, and my starting equipment was probably light years more advanced than what most new brewers start out with - but it's doable!
Question. How many thousands of dollars have you sunk into this hobby on equipment? You probably will chase it down the rabbit hole thinking one day my dream is to go pro owning my own brewery. There's no money in commercial brewing.
@Steve Benson Good on you! I agree with everything mentioned in the video, but I think a lot of us who watch this channel are pretty analytical and like doing the research to get something right. There are always exceptions and if you have the equipment and done the homework it can be done. Sounds like you knew what you were doing and brewed something great!
Congrats on the award, that is awesome! I think most of us have slightly different experiences when starting out but you may have had a leg up, and you HAVE to do the homework on that style to do it right.
i actually brewed an oktoberfest with lager yeast for my second ever beer- actually came out great. My first beer was a dunkelweizen that the mash went horrifically and I had terrible extraction, however tasted good. I very much agree with imp stouts and hazy ipa- i've been brewing for about 5 years and I still struggle with them
I have to disagree with traditional sours being bad for beginners because they're the easiest beers to do. Just get a separate cheap fermenter like a "bottling bucket" with a spigot. They form pellicles in the presence of oxygen and already contain most of what would infect them. They can be done without hops or boiling and the microbes provide most of the flavor.
Many good recommendations here, bit i kinda disagree towards the end with the imperial stout, tho. One of the first beers i made was an imperial stout. I knew i needed a ton of yeast, so i pitched four packs into 20L of beer. Worked a charm and the final beer ended up pretty damn good at the end. Agree on the Hazy IPA tho. Been brewing for over 10 years, and i still get kinda paranoid when brewing hazies.
...but forcing yourself to drink bad beer you've brewed is part of the journey😅
Helps you prepare for being in a homebrew club, too 😂
Agree. I learned so much from my mistakes.
😂😂
So true!
Gotta do it
100% correct on the hazy ipa. Very technical beer
Glad you agree!
im starting with it idc i dont like any other beer
My 2nd batch was a hazy IPA, turned out horrible, I got discouraged and quit brewing, just now getting back into it and taking my time
I'm glad you came back around!
I've been watching this channel for over a year now and I finally got around to brewing my first beer this past weekend! I went with a pseudo light lager. It definitely helped brewing something so simple for my first beer. The extra room for error gave me time to figure out all my equipment lol. Also, ill 100% be using kveik for my first few beers. its just too easy being able to pitch a pack of dry yeast, put my fermenter on the heating pad and then boom, its fully attenuated in 2 days.
Congratulations on the first brew!! With a beer like that you will easily be able to identify if anything is off and you'll know what to change for next time. Cheers!
Great tips, Steve ! It’s not just difficult styles, but most of those styles require extra equipment that most beginners don’t have access to that makes these beers difficult to brew. Cheers!
Good point. There are a few of these types I want to brew but honestly I can wait and stick to easier ones that I enjoy like Pale ale, IPA and lagers.
exactly, i more or less started brewing making neipas and have never made a bad batch because i did my homework and invested in a pressure fermenter and co2 before starting on them . Now i can brew and bottle oxygen free and its turned into kegging and a draft system so my extra investment paid off, only had to bottle carbonate a couple batches. tastes like comercial beer at a fraction of the price, i have been a homedistiller for years now so i am very familar with fermentation and can control ferm temps etc. I am now playing with slight pressures and yeast selection which will handle a bit of pressure.
I wouldn't say they necessarily require extra equipment, but having that equipment certainly makes them far easier to brew successfully.
Couldn't agee more. Hazy IPA's are catnip for new brewers but they are spectacularly fragile. Most of my first half dozen brews ended up with all or some being dumped as the quality of the next beer surpassed the last. I've been at this just over 2 years and recently won a Best Bitter (UK style) category at a small local competition. The moral is that you soon learn and can achieve great results in a relatively short period of time as long as you learn to walk first. 😊
Congrats on the win! Practice makes perfect, never stop improving!
My first “step mash” attempt was in a cooler mash tun. I learned coolers are best for single infusion mashes. Good video.
I had a terrible time step mashing in a cooler- it was the last time I used it lol
Yeah they're not quite the best for it. Cheers!
Water chemistry has been the biggest game changer in my brewing. I wish I knew how important it was when I first started.
It makes a massive difference!
first beer: pressure fermented Saflager 34/70, Pilsner... Yeah that was good for pouring on the plants in the growhouse..
Second beer: Lutra, smash beer in lager style - really drinkable, super easy, just had to keep it warm...
I love this channel! You speak the truth. Been brewing for 20 years. And have made all these mistakes. I’ve heard the old saying. Brewing is not rocket science. Unless you want it to be. Start easy and work your way up. Do yourself a favor.
I appreciate that! But yes, it's best to master the basics first and then improve from there!
Thank you for this video! It’s very challenging sometimes to explain to new brewers starting out with a basic kit and bottles, that their dream imperial marshmallow coconut mango black double dry hop hazy ipa is probably something for much later that will require serious skills and equipment. I usually recommend starting out with a simple amber with just bittering hops, or something similar, and most of the time I get a disappointing look. This video will help guide these discussions better.
The joy of brewing a solid amber ale is mu h better than the disappointment of brewing a nasty overcomplicated beer
I agree! Besides, I’ve been begging our local craft friends to brew Ambers and it looks like our requests have been heard. It’s such a solid beer to drink and perfect for food pairing
Yes finally someone advising against hazy/neipa when starting out. They are so popular but so difficult to keep fresh. So much more forgiving making a APA and something a little malty. Also cheaper!
Hazy IPA. I mean it probably can be done with beginner gear, but I could not do it. You will need pressure fermenter,hop dropper/bong, heating, cooling, temp controller, CO2 regulator, kegs... its a lot to take in at first... but then you have stuff to do a clean lager as well so its not just for one style. And it can be plastic stuff, not terribly expensive with the PET fermenters out there and an old refrigirator.
Thanks for the great video and you make some excellent points! However, I think people should not avoid making traditional lagers as their first homebrew, because lagers being a very delicate style helps to detect all the different offflavors easier. Granted, it would take patience to brew a couple of batches until the acceptable result, but I think it really helps develop the skill to brew cleaner beers in the long run. I think I brewed something like 10 batches before I got feedback that my beer tastes like water :D. It really depends what are your main goals as a brewer.
I just started brewing 2-3 months ago and this definitely confirms some apprehension I have about a lot of these styles. I'm not necessarily afraid to do them but it does seem like it'll be helpful to have a few successful basic brews done before I launch into something bigger.
Welcome to the hobby! I would look at them as eventual goals to be able to brew them, but you will have a far higher chance of absolutely crushing them if you put in the work of mastering the basics first. Walk, then run.
Could not agree more. I’ve been brewing for over 16 years now. I’ve given up on hazy IPA or NEIPAs.
They are very tough beers to get right!
Made my first good NEIPA recently. I'm 6 years into brewing. My earlier tries were oxidized hop stingy gypsum messes.
Thank you for mentioning Hazy IPAs. I brewed nothing but hazies for 9 months before I finally got everything right on the cold side. It is the most difficult beer to home brew IMO. Great info as always!
Good advice. I made a barley wine and it was terrible, of course I didn’t wait a year like your supposed too so I was able to give it to a guy who wanted it anyway. He liked it.
It's always helpful to know people that will take care of stuff like that haha
I have to be gluten free and that's why I started brewing beer. But I started with doing ciders and fruit wines first, then spoke with other home brewers and did TONS of research before trying my first beer. It was an 8% spiced Belgian winter ale 😂 it turned out good and now I'm all in.
Good info! I remember when I first started I tried going to far to fast. It seemed that the one beer I wanted to brew early on was just a good wheat beer. I was so bummed when it didn't turn out. All the books I read said it was the easiest beer to homebrew. Apparently not for me. I finally after years of brewing have got it down to where I like it. I always say you can't win them all. That's the fun when you can make a beer and say "next time I would or not do this". Just remember not to change to many variables cause then you don't know where it changed. Keep brewing everybody!
Sometimes depending on equipment American wheat can be tough, I am one of those people who recommends it as a starter beer. The most important things is to keep at it and never stop improving.
Was waiting for you to say hazy.... As i drink my 4th batch ever hazy... Drinkable but needs work. Probably gonna do a few 2 gallon smash beers next....
Thanks for the video, I wish I had that when I started out.
I have a tiny remark on the bits on high ABV and trappist beers. I agree that beginners who start out and try to make an 11% Tripel or something will most likely produce fusely and underattenuated soup. But I think, if you have your first four or five batches brewed, learned the basics and want to dabble into higher ABV beers, a Tripel is a great point to start. I have made a great Tripel in 2021 with a very simple ingredient list, fermentation at 18°C ambient temperature, Lallemand Abbayé and a couple of months of maturation time. It took some research to get all parameters right but once I had that figured out, it was pretty easy to brew, the hardest part was patiently waiting for six months and I got a great beer at the first shot. I feel like making a good Imperial Stout is much more difficult. Probably because mine never really turned out that great :D
It's more forgiving than a Quad for sure. But I think once one has a good understanding of making high alcohol beers they can comfortably tackle strong Belgian styles
Good vid. For myself, whenever I start a new recipe style I do a small batch first. If it works, easy to scale up on the software, if not good, play around with grist etc and do again "properly".
You're essentially doing a homebrew sized pilot batch and its a great idea!
Good insights. Definitely one to brew when you know your process, system and ingredients.
Well done sir. I've fallen into those pitfalls in the past. Lately I've been going back to things I've been able to control better and my brews have been just better! I will still try bigger beers in the future but I am happier with refining my technique. Cheers!
Practice makes perfect!
It's funny how many of the trendy or more intense beers are the ones beginners want to start on but are also some of the toughest to master. But brewing less exciting styles and working on the basics is always a smart idea. There will be plenty of time for those beers when the skillset is better!
Its a tough thing, since these are usually the ones that people taste and wonder how its made and that gets the ball rolling.
My first all grain batch was a hazy ipa, and my second was an imperial stout. I don't know what I'm going to do for my third one yet.
Great thoughts! My list when I saw the video title was:
1. NEIPA
2. NEIPA
3. NEIPA
4. NEIPA
5. NEIPA
6. NEIPA
7. NEIPA
8. NEIPA
9. NEIPA
10. Imperial Stout
Hahaha
Don't fear a simple step mash!!!! Beta glucan rests are great for wheat beers.
I agree about the alternative fermentables. I made my second beer was a Gluten free beer. My mother in law is gluten intolerant so I was just excited to make her a beer. Short version. She likes the beer but now that I have a few more brews under my belt I know I can make it so much better now.
That is a tough one for a brand new brewer! Practice makes perfect and I'm glad to hear you figured it out!
Thanks for the advice! Naturally the first beer I tried on my own outside of a recipe kit was a hazy ipa. Needless to say It was a disaster. Mostly because I also tried to play with water chemistry lol. It was so discouraging. Thankfully I kept at it, and now can consistently pull them off but man that first batch was tough to pour down the drain.
My best advice is to try one new step at a time!
THANKS! You just saved my brew hobby even before it starts! You make brewing look so easy I was getting a little "cocky" but this video sent me back to the beginning. Off to buy stuff for SMASH beers! Actually, I buy a lot of SMASH to learn flavors and tastes when I find them. I'm sure my wife will thank you too! :)
Smash beers are seriously one of the best ways to get better at brewing fast! Nothing to hide any mistakes and you get a really good understanding of ingredients. Cheers!
Loved these top 10 best/worst you've done Steve. How about the best beers to brew if you don't have temp control for a next one?
I like that idea!
Totally agree. The specialty beers need a lot of expensive equipment or time. Home brewers make really good beers as long as they and their friends enjoy them.
Gotta master the basics first!
When I started brewing I wanted to brew the booziest most complicated IPAs and stouts. Now after 10 years I make smash lagers and ales. And I enjoy the simple nuances of how that beers tasting.
Tastes change, and mine went the same way!
My story - I started with brewing a Oud Bruin for my first beer. My favorite style and I figured if the first one was drinkable then I would be happy. It came out actually really good and went fast. It was rough, stuck mash, two stage fermenting, aged 30 days with whiskey oak cubes. But I enjoyed the process. I think it helps I also enjoy smoking brisket/ribs.
Wow, thats complicated! I'm glad it worked out in the end though.
In my opinion, you can't spell "brew day", without "brew disaster" 🙃
When I first started brewing I decided to tackle a barleywine as my 3rd brew. Not only that, I tried to do a parti-gyle as well. What could go wrong? The only good thing there is I was doing 1 gallon batches at the time. The logic was that if something was bad, it's easier to struggle through or pour out 1 gallon as opposed to 5 gallons.
The barleywine was ok but not awesome. The "small beer" was borderline undrinkable.
We all live and learn!
Imperial stout and barley wine combine a lot of these reasonings to avoid in the beginning and I have found all together. It's also somewhat problematic to have 20 liters / 5 gallons of 10+ % ABV beer. I don't have the equipment to keep it at cellar temp for a year and definitely not the patience to not consume it before it has time to mature. 😅 Interesting techniques for mashing for the insanely thick wort but I prefer buying these sort of beers from craft breweries. Hoppy beers more nice to brew yourself instead of buying the pre-oxidized old neipas from store.
This is true, some of these certainly lend themselves better as a once in a while bottle purchase than having 5 gallons on tap for months.
Low gravity beers can be challenging. Easy to get the bitterness out of balance.
This can be true, especially with very low ABV beers.
Muito bom.
. Obrigado Portugal Aveiro
I agree with this list. I am 1 for 3 on IPAs on the whole haha, my latest NE had a lot of issues with initial gravity and perceived bitterness was much higher in the final result. I would also add that some of my best brews as a beginner/about 2 years of experience were English Blondes/golden ale, cream ale, amber ale, and hefewiezens/german style wheat beers. I had moderate success with belgian styles (belgian blonde and dubbel), and 1 lager that was so so. The lager did take forever and I sort of regretted the time it took since that carboy was out of commission for about 5 months. Hard to improve at something if you are only practicing a couple times a year (brewing lagers that is). While I enjoy the style, I find cream ales and english blondes a sufficient replacement in a fraction of the time.
NEIPA can certainly be tough and tricky but no matter the style, once you put in enough reps you will get the hang of them.
Also Novalager yeast, I have brewed three beers with it (Helles, Oktoberfest and Cold IPA) at various temps between 10-20oC with good results.
I am very excited to try it out, there are a bunch of new dry yeasts out there that are worth exploring in more detail.
More cycles. Less wacky stuff. Good
advice sir!
Practice makes perfect!
Other ones which IMO are tough to get right:
1) Wheat beers, particularly as a new AG brewer. Anything with over 50% wheat malt by volume is going to probably take quite a lot of babying regardless of your AG method.
2) Hopfenweisse. An extension of 1), with the added difficulty of a higher ABV and trying to find aroma hops that play nice with isoamyl acetate.
3) West coast IPAs. Hazies are rightfully flagged as being a challenge but Westies also have their own set of challenges, especially with balancing bitterness and aroma as a new brewer.
It's a lager subcategory, but bocks/doppelbocks are amongst the hardest beers to brew IME. In half a dozen attempts the best I've done is "alright".
I agree, especially on doppelbock. That is probably among the top three toughest beers to make!
This is so me. I've never made a single beer! I've been watching your channel and others and I even start to buy equipment and then I chicken out thinking I'm never going to have room or time for all this stuff. But by golly, my first beer will be an Imperial Stout! LOL
Lol the hazy ipa opinion did hurt my heart a bit. Still haven't pulled the trigger an jumped into brewing an that's one that was at the top of my list to start with. Really did seem like it may be too complicated to start with, but hearing it said plainly hurt my feelings a bit.
Solid list brother.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Certainly Hazy IPAs are the popular ones to stuff up right now. And with good reason. Far too many moving parts and if any of them stuff up you can ruin your beer.
A lot of people are very blind to their own beers, too. This is great if they're brewing by themselves, for themselves, but they end up really disappointed if they give it out to friends or enter competitions.
Personally, when a new brewer asks for a good beer for them to brew, I lean towards stouts/porters. They're so forgiving with flavours, hide oxidization well, age gracefully, simple mash and fermentation.
Those are good recommendations. Sometimes roast character in basic stouts and porters can be tough to control as a new brewer but overall they aren't too difficult.
100% agree!
10:44 i brewed one of these. It was probably my 4th or 5th beer. I thought it was a flop was really harsh and bitter like strong black coffee, but after sitting in the keg for about two months it mellowed out and became very drinkable. It was a bit complicated using several extracts and specialty malts.
They are tough, but age does them well.
If you brew sours and you’re worried about cross contamination between brews, there is a something called potassium permanganate that makes it easy. You can get 100 grams of it for
I have yet to hear about this method for cleaning and sanitation but thank you for sharing. Usually I just go with a boiling water bath for components and a boiling CIP for the fermenters.
Steve, it's a great idea to warn a newbie. To insure him at the beginning of the journey from failures, so that after the first preparation he would not be disappointed in beer brewing)))
Just hoping to help prevent people from getting discouraged and quitting!
Really great, thanks. I have planned my barleywine for Christmas, but it is not brewed yet. 12 months? Seriously?
Hazy IPA? Once you understand water chemistry I say go for it. I brewed mine on like my 4th or 5th ever brew and it was amazing. Better than the ones I’ve had at breweries. My only problem was that it was tough to drink more than one because I’d get drunk so fast off them.
Once you understand water chemistry, cold side oxidation, ROS, hop creep, dry hopping rates..
@@TheApartmentBrewer I think people convolute all that. Hop creep might be a thing if you’re dumb enough to let them sit on the beer too long but the most likely issue with NEIPA’s is using the wrong water profile. Same goes with oxidation. If you’re drinking it fast enough does it matter?
I really agree with this list! Still, first all grain beer I ever tried to make was a pumpkin ale in a coolbox mash tun. Hey it worked, but took about 25 hours as I had no clue what to do about a stuck sparge and didn't realise my wort chiller didn't fit my tap! Many years later, lots of equipment upgrades later and lots of learning, I make award winning homebrews. Traditional lagers are my absolute favourite to make now. But NEIPAs still scare me :-P
Pumpkin beers are crazy tough on the mash tun, I'm impressed you stuck with it! Fortunately this is a hobby where its hard to stop learning or improving!
Some solid advice for us aspiring brewers. :)
Glad to help!
I started brewing because I love super hoppy IPAs. I have only ever brewed IPAs and for the most part, have been happy with them. Really simple and delicious.
Thats a good thing when you can nail down your favorite style!
My experience with hazys is be prepared to drink them within a month
Maybe the "hardest" ones are lagers, the defects can´t be hiden on big flavors, they need understanding on water profile (wrong water can ruin the style) and need especial equipment as you mention on the video.
Lagers definitely have more nuance than others but they're getting much easier with modern methods.
Some of these beers a bit more advanced, but normally the worst thing that will happen is turning out a bad product. The sour beers however are dangerous! One misstep and you're buying a whole new fermentor or brewing system. Great tip to avoid those beers when first starting out.
As I said at the beginning, these should be challenge beers for new brewers to work towards as they build on their successes. Yes the worst that could happen is a bad product but I want to discourage folks from getting out of the hobby because of a bad product.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Totally understand. Investing hours of time making the beer, then days/weeks waiting, just to get a bad product would be very discouraging for anyone first starting out.
Either that or just start with making smaller batches.
I have a hazy in the keg & a mean imperial stout dued to November but I will not considere myself not a noob until I can throw a cap of lactic acid blind folded and nail my pH
This is good advice!
I started brewing using extracts and bottles (like most people i guess) then after my third or fourth batch I’d had enough of washing bottles and waiting so i bought a kegerator. After about six or so brews with only one undrinkable batch i managed to pick up an all grain brewhouse cheap, and for some unknown reason my ratio has dropped to about 50%. For every good beer i brew i get a very average to undrinkable beer☹️
I brewed two beers with identical (as far as i know) ingredients, yeast, and temperature and got two very different beers. The only difference in technique between the two was a ten minute mashout and a two day cold crash in the second.
The first beer (a black ale) came out malty and bitter almost too bitter for my liking. The second was very mild and tasted a bit odd, not sure how to describe it. At least that was on keg day i need to have another taste after it gasses up.
Carbonation changes the beer a lot. I would look into your cold side regimen carefully and see if there are any inconsistencies there.
@@TheApartmentBrewer i have a fridge and an inkbird temp controller. The fridge is set on its coldest setting which is 5-7C and the temperature probe is taped to the side of the fermenter. The inkbird indicates the temperature is stable at 19C but apparently the fridge fluctuates a bit at its lowest end. I set the inkbird to -1 (cold crash) and the fridge seemed to bounce between 5 and 7 degrees it still dropped out a lot of material though.
Which brings up a point i suppose. I forgot to clear the first brew and there was very little trub left in the bottom of the fermentor after transferring to the keg and the second left a lot of sludge in the fermentor. So maybe the bitterness comes from the yeast and stuff in the first and all the flavour of the second was left in the fermentor?
It may be that your keg is drawing up trub etc from the bottom for that one batch
Thanks!
Woah, thank you very much!!
RAGE! flipping the table over at beer # 10 !!! j/k, sound reasoning and recommendations, I think.
7:47 I’ve got one fermentor (a chubby), and a fridge to keep it cool. I couldn’t imagine making only one beer a year, also how upsetting would it be if it failed? Sounds like the stuff of nightmares.
belgian spiced beers can be difficult to brew as they require balance, and if any spice is overdone, it can make a bad beer............for example brewing a decent belgian wit can be challenging..........cheers Steve
great video
Practice,practice, that’s how you learn, I like it because I can get repeatability now
Exactly!
Do you work in the capacity as a Head/Assistant Brewer at a commercial brewery?
Nope, just a long-time homebrewer
I really don't understand the video pop-ups during a video I'm watching. Do you want me to tab out an watch that? How do I come back to it after the video? Why not just put recommended follow up videos in the description so we can find them after the one we are watching ends without having to go back an try to find the 2 second pop-up later.
As someone who is looking to get into homebrewing thanks to Belgium style beers, what is the best way to prepare to brew that style? Or is there similiar style I should try brewing before hopping into the world of Triple's.
I Really appreciate your content, as it has given me a lot of insight into what I should expect from homebrewing. Now I just have to figure out what to brew first.
Glad you asked! I have a lot of Belgian style brew videos if you want to check those out. These beers are relatively easy to brew, but the fermentations can be challenging, especially for the higher alcohol styles. Biggest tip I have for you is just pitch more yeast than you think you need and be patient with allowing them to mature after fermentation. A good starter Belgian style would be a Belgian pale ale or a blonde.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you for the swift reply! Since posting this comment I have watched your videos on Patersbier and Triple making, and I am thinking of trying the Patersbier for my first brew. For fermentation I have done research on making a fermentation chamber out of a fridge I have laying around using an Inkbird. I have deduced that it should be enough to keep the higher temperatures in check. The only fear I have with this method is that the temperature might drop too low at some point, halting the fermentation, is that a realistic fear?
Great! Yeah, the patersbier is another great intro style. As long as you're not keeping the fermenter colder than 65F or crashing the temperature on it too fast that shouldn't happen
@@TheApartmentBrewer Okay! I will bother you with one more question, which is whether I should have the Inkbird's probe measuring the temperature of the fermentation vessel or the ambient temperature of the fridge?
No problem, usually I tape the temperature probe to the side of the fermenter and that works great
You forgot PBR clone. Let's make that number 11
😂😂😂
First beer I've ever brewed was a NEPIA. When I told people they asked why I would choose that style as my first beer. It actually turned out really well and got killer reviews from those that tried it. I've made worse (and better) batches since. I did a lot of research before brewing but I wouldn't tell anyone not to try it as their first beer IF they do their due diligence first.
Glad that it turned out so well for you! It is critically important to get that research done beforehand though, especially with those beers.
brewing a decent belgian tripple is quite difficult...................
That's your "Zen in the way of beer brewing"
Avoid beers your friends don't like :D If you end up with 5 gallons of great IPA but your drinking buddys don't like IPAs you have to drink it on your own. Best thing is somebody else enjoying your beer, so make some for the others ;)
Wise advice haha
Nice video, wondering if you are interested in our adhesive labels😊
LMAO, I am watching this with my first all grain beer in the fermenter and it is a belgian strong.... Whoops
LMAO #10 - My very first beer I made was a 7.5% NEIPA and it was an award winner. Granted, I did some serious homework on the style, and my starting equipment was probably light years more advanced than what most new brewers start out with - but it's doable!
Question. How many thousands of dollars have you sunk into this hobby on equipment? You probably will chase it down the rabbit hole thinking one day my dream is to go pro owning my own brewery. There's no money in commercial brewing.
@@egruber50 about $2500 at this point, and ZERO desire to go pro. Just a desire to make the best beer possible.
@Steve Benson Good on you! I agree with everything mentioned in the video, but I think a lot of us who watch this channel are pretty analytical and like doing the research to get something right. There are always exceptions and if you have the equipment and done the homework it can be done. Sounds like you knew what you were doing and brewed something great!
Congrats on the award, that is awesome! I think most of us have slightly different experiences when starting out but you may have had a leg up, and you HAVE to do the homework on that style to do it right.
Want a shirt. Do you ship to Canada??
Thanks for the interest! Yes, the store that handles my merch will ship globally.
i actually brewed an oktoberfest with lager yeast for my second ever beer- actually came out great. My first beer was a dunkelweizen that the mash went horrifically and I had terrible extraction, however tasted good. I very much agree with imp stouts and hazy ipa- i've been brewing for about 5 years and I still struggle with them
Different experiences for different people for sure!
Adding foreign objects to fermentation, you risk CONTAMINATION 👍
I expected the #10 to be #1 hahaha
Probably should have been haha
I have to disagree with traditional sours being bad for beginners because they're the easiest beers to do. Just get a separate cheap fermenter like a "bottling bucket" with a spigot. They form pellicles in the presence of oxygen and already contain most of what would infect them. They can be done without hops or boiling and the microbes provide most of the flavor.
Many good recommendations here, bit i kinda disagree towards the end with the imperial stout, tho. One of the first beers i made was an imperial stout. I knew i needed a ton of yeast, so i pitched four packs into 20L of beer. Worked a charm and the final beer ended up pretty damn good at the end.
Agree on the Hazy IPA tho. Been brewing for over 10 years, and i still get kinda paranoid when brewing hazies.
Different experiences for different people, but for the vast majority of people that is a very difficult beer.
...and stick to the recipe (which you got from a reliable source).
Uggh....why would anyone want a "hazy" anything?
is this satire?
And you should avoid doing what you did at 8:12 😂😂😂 it's a mistake that only beginners make.
Using dry yeast??