Whoo-hoo! I’m glad to see Al is giving brewing another go. I know it is extra money and lots of extra time.

I had great luck involving my kids with brewing. They love to crack the grains, stir the mash and learn about testing for the presence of starch/sugar with iodine. They even tried all the ingredients raw. (though I warned them, they even tried the hops… they won’t try that again).

Home brewing is an adventure in the sense that you don’t know how good it will turn out. All of mine have been drinkable, but there were some that I didn’t mind throwing out the bottom of the keg. Let’s see if I have some quick tips for anyone who hasn’t brewed in awhile…. (I’ll just look some up in my journal here…)

• Buy new stoppers and small items that come in contact with the wort post boil, don’t try to clean them. (yeah, it’s more money)
• If you siphon, use a stiff (thicker) hose so it can’t kink.
• Avoid splashing when bottling.
• Yeasts and yeast packaging has come a long way over the last 15 years. (Not a tip really, just good news)
• If mashing, or even doing a partial mash, don’t over sparge! (I always do this trying to get every bit of malt out… always a bad move)
• Remember, adding malt to a boil will make it boil over.
• Like Charlie says, relax, and have a homebrew.

So, I’m looking forward to Al’s next post to see what he’s brewing and how it goes.