Sloppy brewer

At 6 batches, I'm still pretty new at home brewing. So far, I haven't infected or dumped a batch and the only off flavor my brews have exhibited was the cidery taste caused by high fermentation temperatures. I'm learning to address this.

I exercise due diligence in observing proper sanitation correct temperatures and proper weight of ingredients. Still, I feel that I've just been lucky because my brewing process is still pretty sloppy.

For example, my mash temp. tends to be all over the place. I'm lucky if I get 60% efficiency or get within a few points of the target gravity. Often, when I'm placing the airlock/blow-off tube, excess sanitizer gets in the fermenter after I've pitched the yeast, which probably kills some of them. Air often gets sucked in the autosiphon. There are times when I leave wort just sitting because I'm waiting for something else to reach a certain temperature. Things like these bug me.

I know, RDWHAHB. After all, I've made some tasty beers and my friends think so too. I just don't want to develop bad brewing habits. How did you get a good handle on your technique? Any tricks?

Failure and the desire to do better?

Or maybe you're content with the end result. If you aren't content then you will improve. I think it's that simple, isn't it?

I skip some steps, and I trust that I will learn when and if those skipped steps come back to bite me. I also have a pretty discerning taste. Probably no where near a professional, but I've been through 90% of my beer store stock and I know what I like and what I want to mimic. Again this falls in to motivation

I think the biggest change I made that helped me to improve my beer were my notes. When I first started, I just followed instructions and went along my business. Problem is, if you nail a beer and don't know what temp your mash was or stuff like that, it will be difficult to duplicate that beer again.

Relax...take your time...plan...and take notes on everything you do. Best change I ever made.

I guess it's my fault for tackling advanced methods without first gaining some experience.

On my very first batch I made invert sugar instead of just adding table sugar as per instructions. I partial-mashed by my second batch and re- pitched the yeast from my first batch. On my fifth batch I jumped to all-grain. This was all within a year. Am I moving too fast?

have you passed the speed of light yet? If not, you're not moving too fast.

Read lots on this forum as there are many experienced brewers who have had things happen and learned from them and passed their knowledge onto the rest of us. It's a way to avoid learning by making mistakes, much faster and cheaper in my experience.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Same thing- practice, practice, practice.
Plus, Read everything you can get your hands on. And spend way too much time on these forums.
And I agree with Hopjunkie- be obsessive in your preplanning, and in your note taking. If you screw up a batch you can figure out why, or if you turn out something that is the best ever, you'll be able to reproduce it.
It's fun ain't it.

My first brew was about 14 months ago, I started AG, 10g batches.
First brew had a chiller failure, didn't study enough I reckon. Had to cool over night and then pitch the next day. Turned out okay, not great, but okay.

Been tweaking and improving as I go. Getting ready to start hydrating yeast before pitching. Then later I'll try making a starter, and then some day I'll start to re-use my yeast.

I'm 18 brews into it and always see other possibilities.

Just like others have said, keep notes and keep working at your pace. You'll get better. We all do.

And study, study, study. It's fun to study about something you are interested in.

pb

My first all-grain day took six hours, now I am down to four. I'm not as diligent about cleaning stuff that is going to get boiled for an hour. I clean my tun while the kettle is coming up to boil. I use a drill motor and wort chiller to help cool my wort, etc.

I have chopped two hours off my brewday by not waiting for one thing to happen before I do another. Have your water, grains, hops and equipment ready the day before.

My second batch ever was all grain, and my first was a mr. Beer kit. I read as much as I could in the forum, and bought a few books. I worked on my processes and over time everything came together. I have beersmith, and still maintain a notebook. Now I measure grains and water the day before, and before I go to bed I start pre positioning hoses and other items on the table so I can start in the morning. I crush my grains while the mash tun heats up, I remove my starter from the fridge to the counter, then start the mash.

Does equipment matter? I have feeling it does.

I don't have an immersion or plate chiller, so the wort has to sit in an ice water bath for up to an hour and a half at times. My one boil kettle is just a stainless steel stock pot with no spigot, so unless I have a buddy to help me pour it, I have to scoop some out into the fermenter until it is light enough for me. I don't have a Vinator, so I have to store sanitized bottles in the dishwasher where it could pick up head-killing rinse agent.

I mean, forget the inefficiency, I can deal with that. I'm just afraid that with all that work I could still end up with a bad batch of beer just 'cause I didn't spend extra dollars on equipment.

Don't think for a minute you need fancy expensive equipment, my only advice would be to try star San rather than the dishwasher.

If you are just using the dishwasher rack to temporally hold sanitized bottles...RDWHAHB.