How to Improve

Hi everyone I am looking for some advice on what to concentrate on in order to improve my brewing.

Right now I always brew in a bag, on my stove, trying to really hit my mash temps as best I can then I add about 4 lbs LME depending on the recipe. I usually have a boil volume of 4 gallons and top it to 5.5 as I am cooling my wort in the bucket. I also run my hot wort through a rough mesh strainer to filter out all the hop gunk. Idk why I started this I just do. I always use hop pellets and I always use liquid yeast WITHOUT a starter. I have used 100% filtered or distilled water in the past but lately I have been experimenting with 1-2 gallons of unfiltered tap and haven't noticed much of a difference in my beers. I always rack to secondary after 1 or 2 weeks and then bottle my beers.

Options to improve:
I have a Turkey friar and a large 8 gallon? aluminum pot I could brew in to get a full boil but I have not made the jump yet because I am unfamiliar with brewing this way and I didn't think a full boil of an extra gallon would really improve my beers. I could also use this to move to more of an all grain style but I would still try to brew in a bag as I don't have the equipment to do a true all grain brew.

Filtering hot wort - The strainer allows everything but the hop gunk through. Could this negatively impact my beer?

Yeast starter - doesn't seem hard at all, how important is it?

Water - Do not use any unfiltered tap water? Matters?

Hops - Will moving away from pellets help?

Racking to secondary - I have never had an issue with infection racking to secondary and have always waited an to at least 8 or 9 days to rack. Is this a needless step?

I am happy with how my beers have been turning out as they have been improving but I would really like to continue to improve. Anyone who has more experience that could evaluate my process and provide some insight would be very much appreciated.

In my experience, the main factors in improving your beer are (1) fermentation temperature control, (2) good recipe, and (3) good soft chlorine-free water. Other factors are secondary.

jimbrew_jr said:

Filtering hot wort - The strainer allows everything but the hop gunk through. Could this negatively impact my beer?

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The BIAB guys don't think the cloudy wort hurts, but that's a departure from commercial brewing practices, so some folks aren't too keen on it.

jimbrew_jr said:

Yeast starter - doesn't seem hard at all, how important is it?

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Depends on the beer. For a lager, you'd be massively underpitching without a starter, so you can expect slow fermentation and possibly worse beer. For medium-gravity ales you're fine. See mrmalty or yeastcalc.

jimbrew_jr said:

Water - Do not use any unfiltered tap water? Matters?.

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Depending on your local water, using unfiltered can ruin the beer. This is hugely important. But even if filtered, your water will work well for some styles but not so well for others. See the brewing water primer in Brew Science sticky.

jimbrew_jr said:

Hops - Will moving away from pellets help?.

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No. Pellet hops are fine.

jimbrew_jr said:

Racking to secondary - I have never had an issue with infection racking to secondary and have always waited an to at least 8 or 9 days to rack. Is this a needless step?.

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Most folks will agree it's a needless step, unless you're planning on leaving it in the fermenter for months.

My suggestion would be to start making some yeast starters as a first step to improvement. If you check out a yeast calculator, it'll say to use one if you're doing 5 gallons of anything above 1.040, which I'm assuming you are doing. Proper pitching rates and good aeration improved my beer by a lot!

You didn't mention anything about temperature control... so I'll ask. Do you do anything to keep your beer's temperatures in check while they ferment? That might be the first thing I'd look into if you don't do anything at the moment.

Filtering hot wort - The strainer allows everything but the hop gunk through. Could this negatively impact my beer? Yes it will effect the beer but not in a negative way. Look up trub vs no trub experiments

Yeast starter - doesn't seem hard at all, how important is it? Depends. Use a yeast calculator to figure out how much is needed for the beer you are making.

Water - Do not use any unfiltered tap water? Matters? Yes, it matters a lot. Do not use any unfiltered tap water.

Hops - Will moving away from pellets help? IMO pellet hops are preferred.

Racking to secondary - I have never had an issue with infection racking to secondary and have always waited an to at least 8 or 9 days to rack. Is this a needless step? Needless unless your going to let it sit in the fermentor for months. or add fruit or wood to the beer.


BTW get a fermentation chamber to control the fermentation temps and your beers will improve.

j1n said:

Filtering hot wort - The strainer allows everything but the hop gunk through. Could this negatively impact my beer? Yes it will effect the beer but not in a negative way. Look up trub vs no trub experiments
...

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I see the trub vs. no trub as somewhat a different issue. The two issues are (1) does boiling that milled flour in the brew kettle impact the beer, and then (2) do you allow that flour to eventually get into the fermenter, and how does that impact flavor? I don't know the flavor impact of these two actions, but I understand that commercial brewers avoid both of them, so we can infer there's some basis.

SpeedYellow said:

I see the trub vs. no trub as somewhat a different issue. The two issues are (1) does boiling that milled flour in the brew kettle impact the beer, and then (2) do you allow that flour to eventually get into the fermenter, and how does that impact flavor? I don't know the flavor impact of these two actions, but I understand that commercial brewers avoid both of them, so we can infer there's some basis.

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I guess this is a BIAB issue that not aware of. I don't BIAB so i guess i wouldn't know.

I'm gonna say that yeast starters and appropriate pitch rates should be number one, temp control second. Your description of the equipment available looks a lot like my old setup. In your situation, I would use the pot you have been using for your mash, but go to a traditional mash volume, 1.2-2 quarts per pound. Rinse it once, and batch sparge to volume. Buckets work great. That would get you to full boils with processes you're already familiar with, and gear you already have.

Fermentation temp control and pitching the proper amount of healty yeast are the two things you can do to greatly improve your beers. Pick up a stir plate and learn how to make a proper sized starter. Temp control can be as simple as a swamp cooler or more complex like a fridge/ freezerwith temp control.

If your water tastes good, then I wouldn't change it.

BIAB - I do not filter and my beers are clear, and yes, I do 10 gallon batches.

Yeast starters - will help your fermentation start quicker and the taste will be better.

My biggest improvement has been kegging my beer. Time saved from bottling is golden and worth the investment!

Best way to improve is to challenge yourself with new ideas.

I only secondary if I am oaking, hopping, fruiting or aging my beer. Most are primary only.

beergolf said:

Fermentation temp control and pitching the proper amount of healty yeast are the two things you can do to greatly improve your beers. Pick up a stir plate and learn how to make a proper sized starter. Temp control can be as simple as a swamp cooler or more complex like a fridge/ freezerwith temp control.

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Yep, that's about it.

Pitching the proper amount of yeast (yes, a starter in most cases), at the proper temperature, and fermented at the proper temperature will make the best beer.

Everything else would be a distant second/third/fourth, unless the water was not great for brewing.

If the water is bad, fixing that would jump to number 1.

I just heard from a guy who brews locally and went to the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp that he leaves his beer on the yeast for 6 weeks to let them clean up. Do that instead of secondary.

Do yeast starters. Even shaking the bottle is better than nothing.

Brewing software such as Brewers assistant to keep notes of everything.

I always use tap water. Good enough to drink. Maybe send a sample to Ward Labs.

KepowOb said:

You didn't mention anything about temperature control... so I'll ask. Do you do anything to keep your beer's temperatures in check while they ferment? That might be the first thing I'd look into if you don't do anything at the moment.

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I have a small apartment. I kept the AC down to 71 for the last Saison I brewed for the first week of fermentation. After that to save my electric bill I moved it up to 76-78. I am going to look into a swamp cooler

Riot said:

I would use the pot you have been using for your mash, but go to a traditional mash volume, 1.2-2 quarts per pound. Rinse it once, and batch sparge to volume. Buckets work great. That would get you to full boils with processes you're already familiar with, and gear you already have.

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I have been roughly mashing at 1.2-2 quarts. I have never used that large 8 gallon aluminum pot I mentioned. I am thinking I will now mash in that and use the smaller 5 gallon stainless steel to do a real good rinse sparge up to volume as you suggest. I then could go into the boil at 6 or 6.5 gallons to account for my losses during the boil. I should end up somewhere around 5.5 wort to be cooled which would be that full boil I desire. If my stove can handle it.....

Thanks everyone for the help. I am going to stick with my filtered water and start making starters, and make the changes to my mash/boil process. Plan on picking up a larger pot (10 gallon?) with a valve also

DurtyChemist said:

I just heard from a guy who brews locally and went to the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp that he leaves his beer on the yeast for 6 weeks to let them clean up. Do that instead of secondary.

Do yeast starters. Even shaking the bottle is better than nothing.

Brewing software such as Brewers assistant to keep notes of everything.

I always use tap water. Good enough to drink. Maybe send a sample to Ward Labs.

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What? 6 weeks? That's over kill. Most my beers i have finished in 2 weeks and that's with dry hopping. I normally let it go for 10 days if no dry hop addition. Never had an issue where i felt the beer needed more time on the yeast to clean up.

Tap to me is not good enough to drink unless you filter it with active charcoal to remove the chlorine. and if they use chloramine then you need campden tablets to remove that from the tap. RO water + additions to me is the best way to go since most peoples local tap water constantly changes throughout the year. Depending on the water profile and the beer style, i would adjust the water even if tap.

#1 fermentation temp control
#2 proper yeast pitching rates
#3 removing chlorine from water source.

jimbrew_jr said:

I have a small apartment. I kept the AC down to 71 for the last Saison I brewed for the first week of fermentation. After that to save my electric bill I moved it up to 76-78. I am going to look into a swamp cooler

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Temp. Control is your absolute #1 issue. fermenting beer can easily go 5-7 degrees above the temperature of the room it is in. A Saison might be fine in a 71 degree room..... but most beers are not. Ideally, you want to be able to keep the temperature of most ales in the mid 60's - that is the beer temperature - not the room temperature.

My basement is about 60 degrees and I actually had a big bourbon porter get away from me a few weeks ago and reach 74 degrees - just from the heat generated by the fermentation. Generally, my beers will only get to about 66 degrees in the basement.

If you ferment a beer in a 76 degree room, and it is an active ferment - the beer temperature could be pushing 85 degrees. WAY, way too warm.

The other thing that I really saw no mention of is sanitation. Make sure you have a good process down for that. Cleaning with PBW (rinse) and sanitizing with Star San (don't rinse) is what I recommend.

All the above.

I don't care about cloudy wort. Only clear good tasting beer.
Pellet hops are great.
Big pitch.
Proper temps.
Give it three weeks in the fermenter if you can. Don't be in such a hurry to get it off the yeast.

Also, relax and let the yeast do its job.