New to the Board

[theobrew]

Hi, I'm new to the boards here in the brewing network.
I recently started listening a month ago and I've been working through the archives. I started homebrewing about 9 months ago and am still extract brewing. I'm in theology school in Atlanta, GA so I don't have much money to upgrade my system so I'll be extract brewing for some time. But I'd love any advice to making great beer that doesn't cost much or any money at all!

brew on!

[spiderwrangler]

Welcome!

[snowcapt]

Welcome!

[anday6]

Welcome!

[Ironman]

Sanitation is the #1 concern.
Use quality ingredients.
Ferment in the right temperature range.
Give it enough time to ferment and give the yeast time to clean up their byproducts.

[mordantly]

welcome! you can spend as much or little as you can afford... and still make great beer! it's all about ingredience and process.

[theobrew]

My number one concern living in Atlanta is temperature control. Fortunately Atlanta has some good places to get quality ingredients so that is not an issue. If anyone has any low cost temperature control solutions let me know. I think I might try placing the fermenter in a tub of water to increase the specific gravity so that the temperature does not swing as much from the day to night. my beers lately have had some of the apply esters that I've learned can come from temp or oxygen. I'm pretty careful with my beer in moving it to not get oxygen into it so I'm thinking it's temperature control. I'm trying a couple of my current batches in an enclosed space in the basement and I'll see if these do better.

Thanks for the advice!

[spiderwrangler]

tub of water to increase the specific gravity

You might be thinking of specific heat here... not so much increasing it as getting a larger thermal mass (SH won't change for water).

The appley flavors may be acetaldehyde which may be an indication of a fermentation that was not allowed to complete properly for one reason or another.