Prepping for the brew day

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There is always room for improvement. As a seasoned homebrewer, I know there are things that I can improve upon. Once I think I know it all, that will be the beginning of a humbling experience.

Even the pros need to keep upping their game in some aspect of life whether it be growing a business, perfecting the golf swing or creating a new thing.

All of this being said, I just completed a 10-gallon batch of a Hazy IPA, which is now fermenting. I was very surprised how well I had the process down after not brewing for a couple of months.

On the flip side, I realized I could have prepared better. Regardless, I have made many things a habit that lead to this easy-ish / successful brew day.

In this article, I will lay out a few things that I do to prepare for a brew day. If you are new to brewing or thinking about brewing for the first time, this may be a little out of your league.

This article is moderately advanced and mostly for those with a few batches under their belt looking to improve from my experience.

Deciding on the style of beer to make

This is almost a no brainer, but believe it or not with the amount of ingredients I have, it is easy to assume I can make many styles of beer.

Before I decided on making another Hazy IPA (due to my excessive consumption of the last batch), I was torn between making a Kolsh/Lawnmower Ale, a Belgian wheat beer or another Hazy IPA.

If you are new to brewing, it may be a simple feat to decide what to make. Currently, I have 8 gallons of an aging Belgian Quad, 6 gallons of Peanut Butter stout, 4 gallons of a Kettle Sour IPA and remnants of a Belgian golden ale in my kegerator.

I haven’t made a wheat beer in a while, but also love my Hazy IPA’s (first world / homebrewer problems).

After half assed thinking, I decided to make a Hazy IPA, since I enjoy them the most. This leads me to my next point.

Using software

I use beer smith as my go to software. This allows me to input what ingredients I want in my beer, adjust the color and other things like determining what gravity to hit or how much yeast I need.

Prepping a yeast starter

You have to know what beer you want to make in order to choose your yeast…unless you are going to the experimental route. Using the wrong yeast for a beer style can result in a different beer style.

For example, using a standard clean yeast such as Safeale-05 for a Belgian Quad will not make a Belgian quad. It will lack certain characteristics of the beer flavor profile.

I cannot even make a good Hazy IPA with a Safeale-05…albeit I can use more white wheat male, oatmeal and lactose to manipulate this a bit.

My point is, unless you are experimenting, consider picking the right yeast for the beer style you are going for.

Then you can make a yeast starter for not only multiplying your yeast population, but also to increase the yeast health and for better fermentation results.

You will need to do this around two days before brew day (give or take a day) and only after you decide on what beer you want to make for the most part.

Getting your ingredients ready

You can crush your grains on brew day, but I like to get them crushed a day or more in advance. It also allows me to know if I have the right grains, adjuncts and additives to avoid quick trips to the brew store if I forgot something on brew day.

I almost have a mental rolling inventory of what I have and don’t have. Organizing my stuff frequently also helps me to keep a good eye on what I have.

I know I am running low on 2 row pale ale grain, but also have a shit load of miscellaneous ingredients that I will need to use soon. For example,