1. Join your local amateur brewers society. Talking to fellow enthusiasts is so helpful, you can discuss potential recipes and diagnose any problems you're having. Be sure to get as many people as possible to try your beers too, as it's very hard to be subjective with your own brews, trust me!

2. Clean, clean, clean. Then clean again! Infections can ruin a lot of hard work and are the bane of brewers. If you're diligent with your cleaning and don't expose your beer to any harmful bacteria everything should be fine.

3. Write everything you do down. From the initial recipe all the way through to the FG (final gravity), if you make notes of everything it's easier to spot any mistakes and better still repeat successful recipes.

4. Age brews. Don't give up on a beer early, speaking from experience some of our best tipples have come into there own 6 months down the line. You can always spot a decent beer, but it can become great given an extended hibernation in a bottle. 

5. Go mad!! If you come up with something you're unsure of, do it. That's how the best new beers are created. You never know it just might work!

If you have any questions I'd be happy to help at tom@signaturebrew.co.uk.