Using a Hydrometer

Many people fight shy of the hydrometer, but in beer making it is virtually a necessity, for it can tell you, with certainty, exactly when it is safe to bottle, thus avoiding dangerous explosions later which may result if you bottle by guesswork. With heavy beers, using up to 2 lb. of malt and/or sugar to the gallon, you can bottle when the S.G. is below 1010, with light beers, using up to 1 lb. per gallon, when the S.G. is below 1005.
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Beer Basics

It’s much easier to find beers that you like if you understand the differences between beer styles.

Even though there will be minor variations on beer styles from brewery to brewery, this guide should help you identify the beers that you will like, and avoid the ones that you won’t.
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Sanitize Sanitize Sanitize

The whole purpose of brewing is to create the perfect food for micro-organisms. The only way to make good-tasting beer is to make sure that brewerâs yeast is the only organism that gets a significant chance to eat that food. (By the way, there are no known human pathogens that can survive in beer, so you donât have to worry about poisoning yourself or your friends.)
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