What 3 things have you done since you started brewing, to make better beer?

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planetscott

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Thinking back on my first beers, I kind of chuckle at the quality. I look back over the years and think, what 3 things have I done since I first started brewing to now that has improved the quality of my beer.

1) Join a home brew club. You spend time with like minded people who are honest and can provide feedback. The first best thing someone told me about my beer was the truth and that there was something wrong. My non brewing friends could never do that. Further, someone in the club is always brewing and more than happy to have you over to watch and help.

2) Enter competitions. This is the best way to get true honest feedback. The judges are not concerned about hurting your feelings as they have no idea who's beer they are judging. Most will give positive feedback, even if it is a less than good beer. Not all judging is equal, nor all judges good at it. I have found for the most part, they are are consistent. If you score low on a beer that you feel is good, enter it in another competition.

3) All grain. Doing all grain batches allows me to fine tune recipes and brew unique styles. Everyone brews an IPA or an APA. Try brewing an American Rye , or a Flanders with extract. It's an equipment commitment, but for me, it is worth it. I could have not moved to all grain as easy had I not the done the above. Join a club and enter beers.

The above three things really made a difference. I'm certain over time, experience would have improved my beers, but not to the extent they are now.

What are your 3 things that improved your beer?
 
#1) Ferm temp control

#2) Stopped trying to make big beers out of styles not suited for high ABV.

#3) RDWHAHBing more than fixing imagined problems.
 
Temperature control - critical to avoiding off flavors
Star San - started out using bleach to sterilize, would often lead to chloramines and off flavors
Better wort oxygenation - less esters from stressed yeast because colony size is large
 
Temperature control - critical to avoiding off flavors
Star San - started out using bleach to sterilize, would often lead to chloramines and off flavors
Better wort oxygenation - less esters from stressed yeast because colony size is large

These are things I learned from being in a home brew club.
 
Thinking back on my first beers, I kind of chuckle at the quality. I look back over the years and think, what 3 things have I done since I first started brewing to now that has improved the quality of my beer.

1) Join a home brew club. You spend time with like minded people who are honest and can provide feedback. The first best thing someone told me about my beer was the truth and that there was something wrong. My non brewing friends could never do that. Further, someone in the club is always brewing and more than happy to have you over to watch and help.

2) Enter competitions. This is the best way to get true honest feedback. The judges are not concerned about hurting your feelings as they have no idea who's beer they are judging. Most will give positive feedback, even if it is a less than good beer. Not all judging is equal, nor all judges good at it. I have found for the most part, they are are consistent. If you score low on a beer that you feel is good, enter it in another competition.

3) All grain. Doing all grain batches allows me to fine tune recipes and brew unique styles. Everyone brews an IPA or an APA. Try brewing an American Rye , or a Flanders with extract. It's an equipment commitment, but for me, it is worth it. I could have not moved to all grain as easy had I not the done the above. Join a club and enter beers.

The above three things really made a difference. I'm certain over time, experience would have improved my beers, but not to the extent they are now.

What are your 3 things that improved your beer?


If I had a fourth, it would be joining internet forums like this.
 
1.) Brewing more often - When I was only brewing once every six months or something like that I didnt know my system so I would run into problems. Now that I brew at least once a month, I know how my numbers are going to come out and what to expect. And I keep all my equipment/salts/PH tester up to date and ready to use.

2.) Yeast starters and oxygen tank - This helps me not worry that I didnt do enough for the yeast so they fully ferment out my beer. I was a real drag worrying all the time that you haven't done enough for a certain part of the process to make the best beer you can.

3.) Getting more equipment - I have such a better time during my brew day now that I have a mash tun that I can direct fire if I need to ( I still have the cooler too) and an additional burner to get my sparge water heating while doing infusion mashing so I can fly sparge/batch sparge and not have to move pots around and wait.

There are more, but the main thing for me was to just brew more often and get used to my system and make upgrades when I can afford them.

And DEFINITELY joining a site like homebrewtalk.com... Even though I'm still not a Premium Member yet :(
 
Not necessarily in this order:

1. Switched to AG
2. Started using yeast starters
3. Started using brewing software on my computer and Android phone (Beersmith & Brewzor Pro)

There's more of course, but you asked for 3 and I think those are the main things. Of course my very first time I used bleach to sanitize but switched right over to StarSan which is a godsend. Being a member on this forum is also a tremendous indispensable learning tool!


Rev.
 
I need to add water quality and adjustment to my list too! I've started using RO water and adding CaCl to my water to get the calcium just over 50ppm and the Chloride helps with enhancing the malt profile. And the PH levels have been adjusted with adding a percentage of acid malt to the grain bill and adding the dark grains at vorlauf.
 
Watching mash ph.Changing water( I think R/0 with brewing salts may be my best option anymore than unidentified water reports from store spring water-plus I cant seem to find a great tasting spring water). Using recipes.
Brewing small batches almost every weekend really helped me get farther faster.Learning from each brew by logging differences/similarities.
Also I may try pure o2 to oxygenate instead of my paint mixer and maybe get a stirplate so I can harvest yeast with a better pitch rate.The one time I made a starter for my washed yeast series for one of my batches was significantly better than the others. Cant say 100% if I can narrow that out exactly but it is a coincidence-that Im willing to test on with future brews. If these are going to make even better beer,Ill be all about it.
Possibly get a 2.5 gal keg/3 gallon carboy instead of my 2 gallon vessels and see how I like that. Make bigger batches and brew a little less often. Although I dont like to drink the same beer in bulk. May also get a burner for lager batches/mashpot. This is all if I have a good organized designated brew room/area also hopefully in the future.
 
#1 Fermentation temperature control

#2 Buying a stir plate and pitching correct amount of yeast

#3 Buying two stage water filter
 
I started AG with temp control on my ferm chamber and was kegging from the start so my 3 are additions I've just added

Pump
Single tier stand
Therminator

But this forum, competitions, lhbs and being OCD have helped me tremendously!
 
1. Temperature control during fermentation
2. Pitching proper yeast rate for desired yeast character
3. Dry hopping
 
Switched to all grain for sure.
Started attending a Home Brew Club meeting to try different styles.
Started getting more playful with the recipes and adjusting to *my* taste.
 
1) Figured out what equipment upgrades I needed and got them.
2) Going all grain
3) Research. Kind of a cheat to call that one but between the internet and reading I've learned so much. Yeast, better understanding of hop use, temp control... It just goes on and on. All small steps that add up to better brewing.
 
1. Started using campden tablets. This made a huge difference on it's own.

2. Going all grain.

3. Joining HBT.
 
My 3

1. Joined Homebrew Club: After a horrible attempt at a bock, I joined a homebrew club. I got good feedback and help from excellent homebrewers and the pro brewers involved with the club.

2. Switched to Allgrain: This allowed me to gain a greater understanding malt profiles and use of different grains. I was inspired by the club to make this switch as I saw the guys brewing all grain and realized I couldn't make the same type of beer with extracts.

3. Brewing more often: I started brewing about every 3 weeks. This was another direct result of the homebrew club. I just get together with club members and brew often.

I have seen such an improvement of my beers. It just keeps getting more and more enjoyable.
 
1. Fermentation temp control
2. The art of yeast pitching: Temperature, oxygen and amount
3. Relax: Quit worrying about OG, FG, Efficiency, a couple of degrees of mash temp.
 
1. Lots of research and questions asked/answered.
2. Avoid distractions.
3. Quit worrying about numbers a long time ago and enjoy experimenting!

If it tasted good; Drink it!
 
1. Fermentation Temp Control
2. Yeast Control. Starters, Proper Amounts, Oxygenated Wort.
3. Kegging. Probably doesn't affect quality, but it is so much easier and convenient than bottling.
 
1. Paid more attention to healthy yeast pitch

2. Started listening to all the brewing network shows I can!
2
3. Scouring through web pages about brewing!
4. Temp control
All good stuff
 
1) Doing one month primary instead of the 1-2 weeks per the directions.
2) Reactivating and feeding the yeast prior to pitching
3) Joining a local home brew club plus joining HBT
 
1) Built a Stainless steel RIMS brewery.
2) Making yeast starters on a stirplate (to achieve proper pitch rates)
3) Fermentation temperature control.
 
1. Learned to not use soft water
2. Switched to all-grain
3. Started using gravity readings to monitor fermentation

Off-topic, but many people are mentioning fermentation temp. control. How do you manage that? All I can do is stick it in the basement where the temperature stays constant about 65-70 degrees.
 
1. Fermentation control
2. Injecting pure oxygen into wort prior to pitch
3. Pitching correct amount of yeast at the proper temperature

And 4. Making sure water is good to brew with by using campden tablets and filter.
 
1) All Grain (This didn't make better beer, but made me pay more attention to the process and that made better beer)
2) Beersmith (Being able to modify the recipe to fit my equipment ment hitting targets better)
3) Relaxing (Once I stopped worrying about my beer and instead had fun with it, I started to make better beer)
and a 4) Kegging (kegging got me to get more friends to drink my beer which ment more beer needed brewing, clearer beer, and allowed me to play with carb levels)
 
1. Drink different beers
2. Brew a lot
3. Slow down the process when I need to, and speed it up where I can.
 
1. Fermentation Temp Control
2. Yeast health- proper pitch rate, oxygenation
3. Education- HBT, The Brewing Network pod casts, joined a homebrew Club, and of course Palmers How to Brew.
 
Off-topic, but many people are mentioning fermentation temp. control. How do you manage that? All I can do is stick it in the basement where the temperature stays constant about 65-70 degrees.

I live in Texas, where I work to keep the fermentation temperature cooler instead of warmer. I use a compact fridge together with a Johnson Temperature Controller. I plug the fridge to the temp controller, duct tape the temperature probe to the side of the fermenting bucket, and set the temperature control dial 4 degrees F cooler than the fermentation temperature I want to keep. This does the trick for me. I took temperature readings of the actual wort/beer throughout the first few batches I did this way. That's how I figured to keep the controller set 4 degrees cooler. There are other ways to control temperature. This is just the way I do it because of space limitations. My fermenting fridge can hold one 7.9 gallon bucket at a time.
 
Proper attention to:
Fermentation-temp control, yeast health, pitching rate
Sanitation-a meticulous review of all post boil processes
Education-HBT, BN, studying for the BJCP
 
granpooba19 said:
1. Learned to not use soft water
2. Switched to all-grain
3. Started using gravity readings to monitor fermentation

Off-topic, but many people are mentioning fermentation temp. control. How do you manage that? All I can do is stick it in the basement where the temperature stays constant about 65-70 degrees.

You need a fridge or freezer connected to a temp controller I use an stc1000 along with a heat source I use a budget hair dryer. Then you can set the temp controller to a set point with a small +- range allowing you to set and keep a fermentation temp.
 
the same three you'll see many others posted:

-Temperature control
-Pitching the correct amount of healthy yeast
-Using good quality water (starting with R/O, and adding back minerals)
 
Being mindful of fermentation temperatures, selecting fast fermenting/high flocculation yeast strains and brewing mostly modest gravity beers have allowed me to turn around great tasting beers very fast even when bottle conditioning. Most of my beers I am drinking three weeks from brew day now, if not sooner.
 
1) fine tune my brewing process.

2) keep consistent temps while fermenting.

3) don't sweat the small stuff. After the yeast are pitched, let the yeast do their thing. Either way ill get beer, and if it's less than awesome, there's always next time.
 
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