I was totally the same way when I started. The first beer I brewed was terrible. But that didn’t stop me cause I wanted to know why it was terrible. I wanted to know everything about making the best beer possible. Lots of time spent online and reading books in the first couple weeks after trying that first beer. It was all very overwhelming and lots of contradictions.
The best thing you can do is focus on making improvements with each new beer you brew. And don’t get discouraged when you make something that isn’t great. As long as you are improving your process gradually you will learn what works good for you and your system.
Things to focus on to get the best return on investment (meaning effort vs. level of improvement) are:
-
Fermentation temp control: This is the most important. Knowing the
best temps for the yeast you are using and the style you are
producing. A good rule of thumb though is low to mid 60’s F for ales. If you don’t want to go all out with a fermentation chamber, a bucket with water and a wet towel with a fan works wonders. Cheap and effective. -
Pitching enough healthy yeast : Using a pitch rate calculator like
the one on brewersfriend.com is very helpful. If you underpitch,
yeast stress can cause a whole slew of off-flavors -
Moving to all-grain : Some may argue you can make just as good
extract beer as you can all-grain. This may be true but I have my
doubts. When I switched to all-grain I saw a big improvement in beer
quality. Plus you have more control over the malt flavor. It’s a big
investment in equipment and a decent learning curve so this one is
better left till you’ve got a bunch of extract batches under your
belt.
Those were the 3 big steps that helped me make better beer. I still have a lot of room for improvement and just as many questions as I had when I started (maybe more) but I have the tools to hopefully answer those questions myself through experimentation.
Blessings and happy brewing!