BETA TIPS: Brewing Potions...EXTENDED

*SPOILER ALERT! This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to STOP READING THIS.

Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^

I've already made my first batch of tips on brewing potions, but I realized that I also have a few tips on how to do the steps specifically. So here are some of my extended tips:

8. One tricky part I found was in POURING the ingredients into the mortar or cauldron, which is the case for the following:

Most of the time, my mistake is that I pour in too much of the ingredients. And so, after much trial and error (I've hit the BACK button so many times), I've found it helpful to wait for the ingredient count to register before continuing to pour in some more. So wait for the count at the side of the mortar or cauldron before continuing to put in some more ingredients.

And again, if you put in TOO MUCH, just hit the BACK button. 

9. Another problem I had the first time I brewed a difficult potion, was the step to HEAT the potion GENTLY. The first mistake I made was to heat it TOO MUCH. Once I made this mistake, I couldn't do anything anymore since you CAN'T COOL DOWN the cauldron once it has OVERHEATED. Another mistake I made was to HEAT IT TO GREEN then leave the heat on until it OVERHEATS again. 

Now after trial and error AGAIN, I realized that the BEST WAY to heat the cauldron gently, is by ALTERNATING between the MEDIUM HEAT and NO HEAT AT ALL. So once your potion turns GREEN, you can alternate between the two so that the potion STAYS GREEN and within the marker of the cauldron's temperature. 

So, that's all for now. Hope I was helpful to you! ^_^

Beta Tips: Brewing Potions

*SPOILER ALERT! This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to STOP READING THIS.

Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^

It's officially been a week since I got my OWL from Pottermore. Since then, I've been working hard to help my House (Go Slytherin!) earn House points by brewing potions as that is the only way to earn points for now. After a week, I've come by a few things that might be helpful to those who will be brewing potions for the first time.


So here are my BREWING TIPS:


1. The FIRST and MOST OBVIOUS thing to do would be to PRACTICE potions. Pottermore only allows us to practice using the Cure for Boils. It may be one of the easiest potions to brew, but it allows you to practice how to place ingredients into the mortar or cauldron, crush ingredients, heat the cauldron, stir, and wave your wand. It also makes you aware that there is a time limit to completing all the steps before it brews and allows you to go on to the second half. So before you attempt to brew a potion, practice all you can!


2. After practicing, you can now brew your first potion, and that potion should be the CURE FOR BOILS since you were able to already practice with it already. 


3. In brewing potions, several things can go wrong. A few things that could go wrong, which happened to me, is that YOU RUN OUT OF TIME, PUT IN THE WRONG NUMBER OF INGREDIENTS, OVERHEAT YOUR CAULDRON, OR DON'T FOLLOW THE STEPS IN ORDER. If any of these things happen just HIT THE "BACK" BUTTON. This will allow you to go back to POTIONS and start brewing the SAME POTION from scratch. So far, I am not sure if this step still decreases the ingredients in your trunk, but I think it doesn't. This way, you don't get deduction for your points and you don't waste your ingredients. 


4. But let's say you don't mind FAILING in brewing a potion, you can still gain at ONE POINT for trying to brew a hard potion but failing. Just make sure you DO NOT MELT YOUR CAULDRON because this will cause you to LOSE FIVE POINTS. Your cauldron will melt if YOU OVERHEAT YOUR CAULDRON. If you find that it has already been overheated, DO NOT WAVE YOUR WAND and JUSt HIT THE "BACK" BUTTON.


5. The BEST WAY to avoid any mishap from happening is to carefully READ THE STEPS FIRST before starting. The time does not start during the first time you read the steps, so try to go through each step and VISUALIZE yourself doing the steps. 


6. While reading the steps and visualizing them, it would also be very helpful if you FAMILIARIZE yourself with WHAT THE INGREDIENTS LOOK LIKE. This way you will know what ingredients you'll need to pick up first. Also, try to know which of the ingredients are just PICKED UP and which ones are POURED INTO the mortar or cauldron. I find it harder to POUR IN ingredients since it's a bit tricky to control how much of it goes in.


7. If you want to try to brew every potion in the potions book, try to do THE SAME POTION OVER AND OVER before you go on to the next potion. Doing a potion several times consecutively makes it easier to remember the steps. I have found that after doing a potion for the fourth time, I only read the steps once and can complete them without looking at the instructions again. Also, your time improves since you know how to do each step already. When you've done one several times, try another potion since not all the ingredients are used in the easy potions.


So, those are my BASIC TIPS FOR BREWING POTIONS. I hope you find them helpful. If you know of other helpful things for potions, just leave a comment. ^_^