brewing better beer

I've brewed 2 batches now, Brewer's Best red ale and English pale ale kits.

They turned out good but not great.

I'm not looking to make fancier or more exotic beer, just better quality basic beer.

What's the best thing to focus on, or what helped you start making notably better beer? Filter water, temperature control, fermentation time, or anything else?

everything, what did you maybe not do right? fix that next time.
my first 2 mistakes were boiling with the lid on (more critical with AG or partial mash rather than extract)
and pitching temp could have been lower. I ferment at 65 to 67 deg. (beer temp not room temp) so that has not been an issue.

Fresh hops, grains/extract, yeast... fresh ingredients overall

I've been making my own recipes since my first. Take a look at the recipe database. Those recipes you can build/modify if you want. I heard Midwest, northern, and Austin make good kits.

1. Fermentation temperature control.
2. Fermentation temperature control.
3. Fermentation temperature control.
4. Switching from extract to BIAB.

Temperature control and pitching enough yeast and choice of yeast makes a world of difference!!!

Boil with lid on ha and i thought i was the only one that did that

I hate to complicate your question further, but what do you consider better? I would say the best thing would be to identify what exactly you are looking for in a beer. Would you prefer your beer to be more or less hoppy, drier, sweeter, darker,or lighter?

Another vote for temp controll and pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast.

jprice said:

I hate to complicate your question further, but what do you consider better? I would say the best thing would be to identify what exactly you are looking for in a beer. Would you prefer your beer to be more or less hoppy, drier, sweeter, darker,or lighter?

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I would infer from the question that the O.P. would like to minimize things like off flavors or undesired flavors. That was always a challenge for me at the beginning.

My three suggestions for things that could make a big impact:

- Figure out a way to control fermentation temperature for the first few days. (Along with this, be sure not to pitch yeast when the wort is too warm.)

- If using liquid yeasts, prepare a starter. Or just use good dry yeasts, rehydrated. Strains like Safale's S-04 and US-05 are fantastic for many recipes and have enough cells where you shouldn't risk underpitching on most recipes.

- Give the beer enough time to ferment. It will depend on the recipe, conditions, etc., but a good general rule is 3 weeks in primary before bottling. Not always appropriate but it's not a bad frame of mind to start from at the beginning.

oclairbrew said:

another vote for temp controll and pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast.

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+1

For me, the best thing was letting the beer condition more before drinking it all. 2 weeks minimum in primary and at least a month in the bottle.

Kit freshness is important. I don't know if they have dates on them, but I would avoid the ones appearing to have sat around for a while.

Kit choice. Instead of randomly picking a kit based on name. Get advice based on some commercial beers that you enjoy.

Controlling the temp of fermentation is most important IMO.

The first thing to brew better beer is to use better ingredients. The Brewer's Best kits are "ok". But if you get a better quality kit, with fresh ingredients, that will go a long way to make a better beer.

I really like the kits from austinhomebrew.com, and they have hundreds and hundreds to choose from. They make them up fresh when you order, so there are no canned extracts with precrushed grains in their kits. I'd definitely go that route!

Also, fermentation temperature is huge. Keep the fermenting beer at 65 degrees, and the beer will be much better as well.

Fermentation temp control
Sanitation sanitation sanitation
Patience
Proper pitching rate and good aeration of wort.
Sanitation

Did anyone mention fermentation temp conrol yet?

I would also like to say fermentation temperature control. I failed to realize just how important this is. The first batch I brewed in my homemade ferm chamber was noticeably superior to my previous brews. All the undesirable flavors that I didn't even know were undesirable disappeared and the beer was great in a whole new way.

1) Fermentation Temps
2) Pitching sufficient, healthy yeast (at the proper temperature)
3) Wort Chiller
4) Patience

fermentation control is where my beers got better

I see fermentation temps as the most often mentioned so thanks, that is the kind of info I was looking for.

First time the temps got a little high.
Fermented 2 weeks
Carbed at 12 psi 1 week

Second time I kept the temps in line, but added too much water.
Fermented 8 days
Carbed higher psi for 2 days

Given that I did a crappier job all around w/ the 2nd brew, it didn't strike me as notably worse.

I hope to start this next brew asap, get it as close to perfect as possible, and give it 2 weeks to ferment. Hopefully it'll be really impressive and if not maybe I'll try assembling my own ingredients.

FWIW I get Brewer's Best mainly cuz I'm on a budget and it's what the place I can ride my bike to sells.

Do a full boil, much better utilization of all ingredients and hops specifically.

Fermentation, as stated prior, controlling temps well. Just because the pack/vial/packet states up to whatever temp, the lower end produces better results, except for Belgian strains, they seem to be the excpetion to the rule.

Yeast, pitch healthy and the right amount, use starters.

These 3 things will help you out greatly.

beerloaf

Leave it in primary 3 weeks too, that will help