In my opinion investing in cold side makes great beer and hot side makes things convenient.

This is hands down the best brewing channel on youtube. It is dense with science, real information, but clearly and well presented so it never gets too much. I tried homebrewing a few years ago, mostly winging it because info was hard to come by, and the results weren't so great. I'm gearing up to give it another try, and this channel has helped me prep a lot of the things I want to do better, and catch many of the mistakes I made before. Thanks for bringing the hobby to us!

You really hit the nail on the head when you talk about brewing 1-4 beers consistently. I haven't started homebrewing yet, but i always felt that would be my approach. Also, couldn't agree more about the smash advice. Keep things simple for the first year or two, then expand.

As long as you use Brewfather “as intended” it will do more than fine as a brewing journal, arguably even better. All information in one place, digitized and available everywhere is a pretty powerful tool.

Oh! The book is the thing that helped me, going back and tweaking

I am new to the hobby, I just brewed my 4th beer ( northern brewer extract kits) on my 3rd beer I was not thinking and was rushing and pitched my yeast while the wort was in the high 80s. I am making myself drink through it but it is not good. I really enjoy the channel and I have a learned a lot

I've fallen off the wagon lately and stopped brewing because of some shit beers Thanks for giving me a push to carry on

I'm still relatively new to brewing, but so far my favorite cold side investment has been a keg and spunding valve. Fermenting under pressure has been an absolute game changer for me, and for relatively cheap (especially compared to some temp control options). I do small batches (about 2.5 gallons), so I just picked up a 3 gallon keg from Amazon for 120 bucks and a blowtie spunding valve for another 20. For beers that don't do well under pressure, I just set the spunding valve to sub 5 psi and have had decent results. Now that I'm a little more comfortable with brewing, I've been having fun with taking SMaSH beers up a notch by taking .5-1 pound of my base malt and toasting it in the oven at 325 for 15 minutes at a time to get different levels of toastiness and see how that effects my beer. And your videos have definitely taught me so much! I probably wouldn't be making beer without them. Cheers

Honestly, you have been a great resource for me. I am gathering my gear to start brewing, and your videos really help me decide on what and how I want to approach the hobby. So a big Thanks for the knowledge. You're not bad for a soldier. LOL!! Semper Fi brother!

Congrats on the baby!

Outside of cold side improvements, I think tending to your yeast is what’s made the biggest impact on my beer. Proper pitch rates, and making starters has changed the game in the quality of my beers. After all, yeast makes beer, we make wort.

Loving the lazy susan shots!

Well said, and truly great guidance. Importantly congratulations on the upcoming addition to your family. We are thrilled for you and send good wishes!!! :)

A kid on the way??? Wow! Congratulations Steve!

Water was a big one for me. Learning what doesn't what and trying out some extreme additions rally helped me.

I've been brewing for years but I still appreciate these video's, you never know what you'll learn and I can (and do) recommend these to friends just starting up. I agree with everything you said but can also add yeast as my big step, once I started collecting/washing/storing and making starters with yeast I learnt a lot about them and made a huge difference to brewing in general. I would also point out, it's obvious to people that consistently brew but possibly not to newcomers, There's very few pleasures in life that are better than enjoying a beer you have made while making another beer, just try not to enjoy too much till you're finished making the new one haha

Great advice

Great advice Steve! I was nervous to move from extract to all-grain brewing and was intimated by recipes or building my own recipes. One thing that helped me was to use all-grain kits when I first converted. This helped understand how all the different ingredients work together and how to build a recipe. Well done brother! 🍻

The shirt got me lol. Had to look twice

Pretty good stuff, congrats on the kid on the way!

Not new but still there's always something to learn + I like your videos haha cheers

Nice video! I took the idea of keeping a journal (the one you shared is nice) and to invest on the cold side IF possible. Thanks!

My top 3 are fermentation temperature control, limiting oxidation, then water additions and mash pH. Each step will make your beer go from good to better to great

Totally agree about keeping good notes. Your log book looks excellent - much better than mine!

Kveik is not a substitute for temp control. I tried. Go cold side!!

To add to the SMaSH beer suggestion- not sure if you brought it up on the channel or where I heard it but a great way to test hops is to dry hop bud light (or any other light beer). I think I did like 2 g per bottle (twist off works best) and let them sit at RT for 3 or so days. Pop them in the fridge for 3 days to drop the hops out and try them out. You can even mix them if you’re feeling adventurous and want to try hop combos

DIY a Keggle, Plastic Bucket, BIAB, propane heating element, Craigslist Chest Freezer & some plastic tubing to transfer. It ain't no rocket science. DIY a Keezer. Homebrew can be 10x better than anything you can buy in the store or PUB.

found you through thebrusho last years 12 christmas tips. awesome videos. trying to figure where from the northeast you are! definitely not NYC. im from up here too. im a new brewer. this video really helped. i got free plastic fermenters from the 80s and ended up getting a couple of kegs. i wanted to to get through with my first couple of brews before i upgrade my fermenters. thank you for everything. i found you earlier today and been watching your videos sense i found your channel. im still on beer kits obviously only have done 2 ciders and just started my first beer.

As a Soldier, that shirt is amazing 😂

I’ve been brewing for about 5 years or more, I just lost an ipa like you said we brew or lose a batch.

I love your Brewer Tab shirt! Also, I don't really agree with you about where to spend your money first. It's really hard, in my experience, to hit temperatures with a stovetop or propane and the waste from ruined batches can add up to even a high end electrical system really quick, especially if you're like me and you like supporting craft maltsters and the like, which tend to have higher prices to go along with their higher quality. On the other hand, it's not terribly difficult to have proper temperature control on the cold side so long as your account for where you are putting a fermenter.

I'm digging that shirt. Can we get a badge for brew master similar to jump master?

Couldn't agree more with cold side investment. For years I was intimidated by kegging. Bottling sucks. If you have the means find a decent kegerator (or make your own), get a used keg and do it. It made the hobby so much more enjoyable to me. Congrats on the little one. Cheers!

Great advice, Steve.

With the bit about having a kid coming along; I actually went back to extract brewing just to save time. It was a way I could still brew but limit my brew days till in the evenings. With the knowledge I had acquired over the years I was rather shocked and also very pleased that with simple cleaning and sanitation practices, temp control, kegging instead of bottling and an adherence to using fresher ingredients it was hard to tell it wasn't all grain beer. Those first few years of a baby's life it's hard to dedicate a full day to brewing when you have to stop every 5 minutes to take care of a child or multiple children

I appreciate what you say about investing in the cold side but if you are on a tight budget and have restricted space, this can be an issue. In this situation, carefully choosing your brewing season, beer style, type of yeast and perhaps even investing in a low budget pressure fermentation vessel would allow you a fair degree of control. Perhaps this could be the subject of a future video?

Great advice I just finished my first brew and it has oxidized so pretty disappointed but it's encouraging watching your videos so let's hope my next one is a bit better!

Great tips for all levels here, cheers 🍻

Great information as always. Ive been brewing for almost a year now and have been making really good beers, but have been trying to decide on what upgrades would be best. Ill be working on upgrading my cold side. What you said makes the most sense.

Love it. Always great content. Thanks buddy

Just an idea... can you do a video about best things to buy on the "cold" side. Great video!!

Great advice. I made the mistake of initially investing close to $2500.00 on the hot side. Then found myself in big trouble trying to convince my wife that needed another rather substantial sum to control my fermentation, provide Co2, kegs and a Keezer for better packaging and serving. I should have started with fermentation temp control and packaging. Bottling get's boring, very quick. Even though I love my bottled Belgians. Thanks for the channel Steve. Yours are my primary go to brewing videos.

One vet to another. Where can I get the Brewer tab tshirt?

Hi enjoy your videos. Just started all grain and trying to follow basic recipes before i try and make my own. Do you shared your recipes? Thanks

My advice is don't over compliment things in the beginning. I remember my first 5 gallon batch and it was chaotic and so many mistakes were made. The more I learned my system and just didn't worry as much the more fun I had, which for me was the goal. Don't take it too seriously at first just have fun with it and remember you're new to the hobby.

New brewers need to brew more smash beers. Those have helped me get better more than anything.

My first beer was actually really good. It sucks I didnt document because I have no idea what I used.

Hey have an idea for a video. I know you can brew at higher temperatures under pressure but what about low pressure at lower temperatures? Is there a temp vs pressure chart?? Same wort different pressures and different temps. .

My only humble comment is that you can make some really good beer with some pretty poor equipment but it's going to take patience and some pain.... mostly back pain.

Im looking to start homebrewing here soon and I was wondering what advice you have for someone that does not have any means of temperature control during fermentation?

Great tips

My question is about the scale of brewing. When I see you and others making five gallons of beer, or even ten gallons, I can’t help but wonder how you can drink that much or whether you end up dumping what you don’t want. I usually make 2.5 gallons, and even this is a lot to consume. I’m getting to the point where I only want to make a gallon or so. This way I can remember from one session to the next how to make it and what were my lessons from the last batch. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.

Great video! For beginners, using an all electric 35L system, what size of brews would you recommend? I was thinking of brewing smaller than the standard 5 gallon batch, to get more practice. But I understand that recipes get tough around 2/3 gallons?

Any recommendations for a good brewing journal? Looks like you’ve use the number of them…

I’m wondering: of your long list of recipes on this channel, what one would you say is best suited for a new homebrewer to try their hand at, and just plain good? (Could be a smash brew or something else)

Are you from MT? I saw you wearing a mt shirt in a video. I’m a young guy just starting out with a few brews under my belt in montane if you are thatd be cool.

I've seen you have been using the Apera PH60 for your PH reading, how do you find it? Working alright?

For me just dont go to hard on yourself and keep things simple...i cant say all of my beers are good, but so far all have been drinkable...and for me its just keep things simple, dont get to hard on myself when im not perfect with my process, to keep going and see what happens and rely on the fact that im not trying too hard to be perfect, just drinkable (and i know im due for a complete failure, i have been awefully lucky a few times)

If you have 5 or 10 liter kettle and you invest to keezer or something like is just plain stupid.

Hi you have great content but you speak way too fast

First. Oh... are we still doing that? Haha

Congrats on the baby!