First things first. Then the Rabbit hole.

For a new comer to home brewing, the first thing to learn is sanitation.

There isn't a much more important process than to make a product that is safe and enjoyable to drink. Nothing that can really hurt you can live in beer. Its low ph will see to that and then the poisonous ethanol, and the poisonous co2 will kill off anything that survives the acid environment. , not to mention the antiseptic effect of hops. Salmonella has been detected in beer, but it was very low alcohol beer.

Before sanitation was understood, beer was one the safest things to drink and given to children because it didn't spoil and was safer than water, but bacteria, and infection from wild yeasts can make our homebrewed beer yuk.

The interaction of yeast and sugars is an incredible gift to mankind. Before we fully understood yeast and the results of pairing it with sugars, which was only in the mid 1800's, some thought alcohol was a gift from God that we deserved as a reward for some good doings. But even bad folk can brew beer.

Fermentation happens in nature and early humans who were adventurous enough to drink from sweet smelling bubbling puddles and got a bit wobbly are to thank for beer.

Today, if we want a reliable brew we must prevent bacteria and wild yeasts infecting our buckets and let the good yeasties do their work. A bottle of Stellar san is the first thing to stock the shelf in the brew room.

My suggestion for first time brewers would be to start by making Ales. Ales are easier to make, more forgiving if mistakes are made, and their fermentation temperatures suit an Aussie environment a bit better.

Whether you are brewing an Ale or a Lager, just depends on the yeast and the individual yeasts require an environment that suits them. You can use the same grains and hops to brew either, but the yeast determines the final product.

The Abv of your beer is important to know especially when feeding it to guests, They will always ask. The word "homebrew" conjures up some wild ideas and expectations in some minds. By this time you'll already have a Hydrometer and know how to use it, and a little glass cylinder as well, so your brew space will soon look like a science lab. Get some beakers and an Erlenmeyer flask or two.

The next thing that will improve your beer is temperature control of fermentations. Buy an old fridge off Marketplace, and a temperature controller such as an Inkbird or STC 1000. These work like magic. You can get a heat belt too while you're at it and you will have total temp control. Your yeast will love you and perform better with no stress and the resulting brew will be as the recipe predicted. Lagers are now in your future.

Next thing, pressure fermenting or at least the ability to have zero oxygen conditions when you want them during fermentation and keg transfer. Not kegging ? Then bottle purging with C02 should be investigated. But really, its time to start that home bar, so get a Kegerator and some kegs.

The new plastic kegs are cheap, all different sizes and they work. I run 7 stainless Cornies for a 3 tap Kegerator and its plenty. yes I do sometimes wish I had 6 taps.

I also have a few 4L plastic ones with a mini tap for bbq's and weekends away. Oh, you'll need a gas bottle or two too for C02.

When you have all the above sorted, start thinking about yeast quantities.

Pitching the correct amount of yeast is an important step in improving that beer a little more. Under pitched yeast is stressed yeast. Stressed yeasts give off funny flavours that were not expected in your brew. Start to experiment with yeasts other than US05 or whatever the brew shop wants to give you. If you're still doing syrup can brews be careful of the age and the stored conditions of the yeast taped to the lid.

A bit of research goes a long way here. US05 is a great Ale yeast but there are many other options out there that suit many beer styles. Actually its time to ditch the tin and go Fresh wort kits or better still all grain.

With an All grain recipe you can produce any beer on the planet or any beer not yet on the planet. Before long you will have your own favorite style, label and reputation and brewery name.

Water chemistry is next. Some brewers would put this first, but you really can brew good beer with plain tap water. When you ARE brewing good beer, a little water chemistry can still make that beer better. There is so much good info on the net about salt additions and most water authorities have water analysis available online. Better still invest in a reverse osmosis filter and make your own water profile from scratch.

About the same time you start to play around with water additions, get yourself a decent pH meter and a bottle of lactic acid and some sodium bicarb. You wont use much. An eye dropper, some jewelers scales and a few small medicine cups will now add to your sciency lab look brew space.

Most home brewers know the term " rabbit hole" you are now entering that space and your brew space is getting bigger and weekends are now getting busy.

Timing, mash times and temps, hopping time and temps, fermenting time and temps are now to be understood to get the next step up in your quality and consistency of brew.

Record everything you can on your brew days, record everything you do and keep it for reference. If something goes really good or bad in your latest brew you want to know how to replicate it , or not. pH values during mash, and boil, record it. Hydrometer readings, (or better still get a refractometer) quantities, temps, times, everything that can affect the brew day. To be able to replicate a cracker of a beer is a wonderful thing. One tip....don't drink while brewing, wait till cleanup when mistakes don't matter that much.

By now you will have moved on from bucket fermenters or at least investigated plastic conicals or stainless fermenters jacketed for glycol.

A nice single vessel brewhouse system maybe, and a wheely trolley to push it around, there are pumps and transfer hoses, hop spiders and spunding valves, another fridge to cold crash in and another to store full kegs in, Powdered brewery wash and a beer line washing system, Campden tablets, whirlfloc, at least 4 different jars of salts with names like Mg S04 and Ca Cl2.

Shits getting real. Time to upgrade the power supply to a bigger 15 amp circuit, as you'll keep blowing the circuit breaker when you use both the HLT and brewhouse elements at the same time . You'll learn about extension leads and their limited ability when they draw a big current. They melt.

You are now down that rabbit hole. "That new Stainless Fermenter looks good, 100 litres, I need to brew larger quantities and buy and store more ingredients, maybe a freezer dedicated to hops and, and a canning machine and .............. Hang on I need to open a brewery ".....

Luv this sport

Brew Love.