This month's tips are lifted from a recent Podcast on Basic Brewing Radio.  In their podcast, they chatted with David Houseman (BJCP judge and competition director) and got some tips from him.

David identified the following concepts on the most practical tips for beginner's homebrewing:

- Use a full boil

- Pay attention to sanitation

- Use dechlorinated water (can be done through filtering or boiling and racking)

- Oxygenation your wort thoroughly

He believes that tools can be very simple but focusing on the process is more important.  He also feels that talking with people in the community (clubs, events, online) is the best learning you can do.  People should not be discouraged by bad batches as we all have bad batches now and then, no matter how experienced we are. 

Other tips:

- Sanitized turkey basters make good "thieves."

- Aluminum foil is usually sterile off the roll.

- Gelatin is a great fining agent, especially for lagers.

- Zinc vitamins make great yeast nutrients.

- It is possible to make "cold steeped grain tea" to add to your brews (stouts and porters in particular).

You can listen to the whole podcast here (more at http://www.basicbrewing.com/).