Brewing your own beer (BYOB) successfully is a rewarding experience. You source the many ingredients, follow the processes, scrutinize the methods and voila, your masterpiece is produced!

However, more often than not, the process of brewing beer and failing can take a toll on your time and resources, a mistake can lead to spoiling the whole brew, which is incredibly frustrating.

Here are the top 5 mistakes why your latest home brew has not met your expectations.

1. Inadequate Cleaning and Sanitizing

• Mistake: Improper way of cleaning and sanitizing your equipment leads to bacterial contamination.
• Impact: Off-flavors or spoiled beer.
• Solution: Use appropriate cleaners and ensure that every surface that touches your beer is sanitized.

2. Poor Temperature Control

• Mistake: Brewing or fermenting at the wrong temperature for your yeast strain. Normally, the process involves 2 subprocess – brewing in higher-than-room-temperature and fermenting in
  lower-than-room-temperature settings
• Impact: Yeast stress can create unwanted flavors like fusel alcohols or esters.
• Solution: Monitor and maintain the proper temperature for fermentation. Use a temperature-controlled environment or a fermentation chamber.

3. Under-Pitching Yeast

Mistake: Using too little yeast for the size or gravity of the batch.

Impact: Slow or incomplete fermentation, off-flavors, or stuck fermentation.

Solution: Use a yeast calculator to determine the proper amount of yeast, and consider making a starter for higher-gravity beers.

4. Inaccurate Measurements

• Mistake: Misjudging water-to-grain ratio, misreading hydrometer/refractometer, or improper hop measurements.

• Impact: Inconsistent beer quality, incorrect ABV, or unbalanced flavor.

• Solution: Double-check all measurements, use calibrated tools, and follow recipes precisely.

5. Rushing the Process

• Mistake: Extracting too early or skipping fermentation checks.

• Impact: Over-carbonation, bottle bombs, or incomplete flavors.

• Solution: Wait for the complete fermentation (use a hydrometer to confirm consistent gravity readings over a few days) and give the beer time to condition.

Looking forward to see you in our next homebrewing workshop!