Stepping up your brewing game.

So I'm headed onto my fourth batch now, to date I have made a belgian, pumpkin porter (still aging), and I also have a Old Ale still sitting in the primary. So far my beer has turned out pretty good. I noticed a little inconsistency in the first batch but overall it was great.

My question is what really separates the good brewers from the bad and what good habits should you practice while brewing. I understand sanitation is important so I'm always sure to do a good job with that. What about things like wort temps, water types, etc?

Thanks in advance,

The first thing I focused on when I started was my yeasties. Mainly my pitching amounts, pitching temps, aeration, and fermentation temps. I think that is a good starting area.

bobcatbrewer said:

My question is what really separates the good brewers from the bad
Thanks in advance,

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repeatability

tally could you go a little more in depth? By pitching amounts are you talking about how much of a yeast starter you are making? Also what are preferable temps for your yeast starter. I have had mine going at room temp for 24 hrs prior to pitching it. Also could you talk more about aeration?

Thanks,

bobcatbrewer said:

tally could you go a little more in depth? By pitching amounts are you talking about how much of a yeast starter you are making? Also what are preferable temps for your yeast starter. I have had mine going at room temp for 24 hrs prior to pitching it. Also could you talk more about aeration?

Thanks,

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Well, for me at least each time I make sure I go to mrmalty.com and check my pitch rates to make sure I am pitching the most viable yeast. Also making sure you aerate your wort well. Using pure O2 or shaking. Also to ferment at the proper temps to prevent any off flavors that can result.

Keep a brewing journal so that you can look back at what you've done in the past.

I pay a lot of attention to my mash, the temps and how long so on and so on.

As for fermentation I try to keep it at a decent temp, I don't get too anal about it but I do write down what the temps were; unless it's a lager in which case I am critical about temperature.

Read some books on brewing if you haven't already.

The most important thing I can tell you is take other brewer's advice with a grain of sand. My beer got a lot better when I started thinking about what i was doing, and stopped being afraid of messing up, because at that point brewing got way more FUN!!

Im with amandabab, repeatability. I keep a detailed journal and focus on hitting my mash temps, volumes and gravity(s). That way you can make a beer as planned or make the same beer over and over once you find that magic recipe you need as a house staple

As stated above, keep a brew journal that records what the recipie said to do, what you actually did, and tasting impressions of the first beer, and at least weekly until the batch is exhausted. I have found, for instance, that head improves with time on some batches but not with others.If you don't know where you've been you can't figure out where to go next.

I too agree with repeatability and consistency as well as paying attention to the yeast. The yeast make the beer and the happier they are the better the beer will be. If you have not read the book "Yeast", I highly recommend it. It is the one book besides Palmer's that has really improved everything I do about making great beer!

I agree with keeping a good log with notes about each brew. Write down everything you did in the process. Take tasting notes.

The three main things that will go a long way towards making good beer.....

Sanitize very well.
Pitch the proper amount of healthy yeast.
Control fermentation temperature.

Do those things and your brews will improve. Ater that it is paying attention to the small details.

Beer is like BBQ, ha, excellent!

beergolf said:

I agree with keeping a good log with notes about each brew. Write down everything you did in the process. Take tasting notes.

The three main things that will go a long way towards making good beer.....

Sanitize very well.
Pitch the proper amount of healthy yeast.
Control fermentation temperature.

Do those things and your brews will improve. Ater that it is paying attention to the small details.

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+1 Very wise words

like beergolf said

unionrdr said:

^ Ha! Yeah,it's one of those basic truths that do seem to fit well together.

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Loved the BBQ reference. I've had butts ready for pulling in less than 6 hours and I've had others take 18+. It's done when it's done... Patience really is a virtue when it comes to BBQ. I'm sure brewing is the same way.

Come to think of it, there are lots of similarities between BBQ and brewing...

• Quality ingredients
• Patience
• Temperature control
• Variety of equipment
• Chemical reactions
• Etc., etc., etc...

Thanks for the replies everyone! So I have a fermentation chamber that I make sure stays at the appropriate temps and I have begun to keep a log of each one of my beers. When I printed out the sheets I just wasn't sure which information was really important. The only other thing I have some confusion about was about pitching the proper yeast amount. If I purchase it with a kit shouldn't that be the right amount? I have look at the calcs but I'm a little confused about it all.

The old saying practice makes perfect.

If you brew something new every time you will never know if you have improved your skills.

At the same time if you do not try different things you will never discover what you like.

Find a style that you love and practice brewing it a lot.

Good call stillbrewin i'm all over the place right now I should refine my craft on one then move on. I'm still very curious about the science behind the yeast though.

bobcatbrewer said:

Thanks for the replies everyone! So I have a fermentation chamber that I make sure stays at the appropriate temps and I have begun to keep a log of each one of my beers. When I printed out the sheets I just wasn't sure which information was really important. The only other thing I have some confusion about was about pitching the proper yeast amount. If I purchase it with a kit shouldn't that be the right amount? I have look at the calcs but I'm a little confused about it all.

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Record everything you can, and as you gain experience you'll decide what you really want to track. It's always better to have too much information recorded than too little!

What kind of kits are you buying? Boxed off-the-shelf kits will often come with highly suspect dry yeast in undersized packets. Kits from reputable online brew suppliers will come with enough fresh dry yeast, or liquid yeast that you'll want to make a starter for in most cases.

Here's a handy website for calculating pitch rate; http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Sticking with dry yeast for your first few batches wouldn't be the worst idea if the yeast starter issue seems imposing; lots of good beer is made with dry yeast, and you can cover most styles adequately with what's available.

Enter one of your beers into a competition, or find experienced brewers in your area and ask them to critique your beer. I can tell you from experience that you can read all of these threads and think you are getting it, and then discover that you glossed over something really important after reading suggestions on a score sheet. I missed the whole "remove the chlorine and chloramine from your brewing water" step until a beer judge docked me for band-aid flavor in the first beer I entered into a competition. Be ready to take a little ego hit (I was down in the dumps for a day or two), but if you listen and focus on improving, the comments will help you make better beer. People who have not tasted your beer can tell you to focus on x, y, and z, and it will be good advice, but the best advice you can get is from someone who has tasted your beer and can diagnose specific issues.

pernox said:

Record everything you can, and as you gain experience you'll decide what you really want to track. It's always better to have too much information recorded than too little!

What kind of kits are you buying? Boxed off-the-shelf kits will often come with highly suspect dry yeast in undersized packets. Kits from reputable online brew suppliers will come with enough fresh dry yeast, or liquid yeast that you'll want to make a starter for in most cases.

Here's a handy website for calculating pitch rate; http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Sticking with dry yeast for your first few batches wouldn't be the worst idea if the yeast starter issue seems imposing; lots of good beer is made with dry yeast, and you can cover most styles adequately with what's available.

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Austin Homebrew is my local shop, I'm doing extract recipes. Two of the beers I made I used liquid yeast and poured it right in after I put the cooled wort in the primary and then sealed it.

The last beer I did with my buddy I had a smack pack and I made a starter over two days with some of the DME I had. After looking at Mr. Malty it looks like I need to add a little more science into what i'm doing.

What is really the benefit of doing a starter as opposed to not?

bobcatbrewer said:

What is really the benefit of doing a starter as opposed to not?

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http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php
pretty much covers the basics of why

http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php
covers the basics of how

chickypad said:

http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php
pretty much covers the basics of why

http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php
covers the basics of how

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Awesome! This is perfect. As a side note any opinions on if I should dump my beer if the tip of my therm broke? I really don't want to ditch my old ale, I'm kind of thinking about filtering it. Is that even possible?

Thanks for all the replies

Yeastcalc.com is another good site for starters, it is especially useful for step-ups. I find it's graphic nature easy to use and seems a bit more straight forward than mrmalty. It also tells you your actual pitch rate (cells per ml), both required and final.

EDIT: For Production date: As listed on Wyeast smakpac....4 months prior to "Use by" date on White Labs.

bobcatbrewer said:

Austin Homebrew is my local shop, I'm doing extract recipes. Two of the beers I made I used liquid yeast and poured it right in after I put the cooled wort in the primary and then sealed it.

The last beer I did with my buddy I had a smack pack and I made a starter over two days with some of the DME I had. After looking at Mr. Malty it looks like I need to add a little more science into what i'm doing.

What is really the benefit of doing a starter as opposed to not?

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Fermentation is the most important part of beer making. That, and being 21.

Your yeast control the fermentation. As far as benefits of doing a starter vs not, that's like asking what are the benefits of being alive vs not. There is no non benefit of making a starter. It's one of the most important things.

Unless you use dry yeast, most people don't use starters for dry. Just pitch enough packets.

Also, enter some contests. Feedback is so huge.

Read a lot. Yeast, brewing classic styles, designing great recipies, etc. Learn to taste.

Etc, etc, etc.

tgmartin000 said:

Fermentation is the most important part of beer making. That, and being 21.

Your yeast control the fermentation. As far as benefits of doing a starter vs not, that's like asking what are the benefits of being alive vs not. There is no non benefit of making a starter. It's one of the most important things.

Unless you use dry yeast, most people don't use starters for dry. Just pitch enough packets.

Also, enter some contests. Feedback is so huge.

Read a lot. Yeast, brewing classic styles, designing great recipies, etc. Learn to taste.

Etc, etc, etc.

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Entering contests seems to be a recurring theme, I think I'm going to do my best to perfect this old ale that I'm brewing and try to find a way to put my own spin on it then enter my beer during the springs sometime.

Any good recommendations on how to design recipes or is it just something that you figure out after awhile?

Also if anyone has any comments on the old ale I have fermenting that has a small amount of glass in it i would be all ears. I'm thinking of tranferring to the secondary tonight. I would really love to keep it :/

What do you use to transfer? If you transfer via siphon, you will likely not even be able to pick the glass up.

Especially if you have a racking cane like mine (are they all the same?). It has a cap on the bottom so the liquid is pulled from above. I think it would be almost impossible to pick up glass with it.

Also, just because I know people are going to ask - why are you using a secondary?

freisste said:

What do you use to transfer? If you transfer via siphon, you will likely not even be able to pick the glass up.

Especially if you have a racking cane like mine (are they all the same?). It has a cap on the bottom so the liquid is pulled from above. I think it would be almost impossible to pick up glass with it.

Also, just because I know people are going to ask - why are you using a secondary?

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Some were recommending it if you had a broken therm. I have read that transferring to the secondary isn't really necessarily in general so I was planning just to leave it on the yeast cake for 4 weeks.

So you think I'm good to go? I would of course siphon a few inches off the trub just to be safe.

I think you're fine. Glass doesn't float, so if you're careful not to get copious amounts of trub, you will certainly get no glass.

bobcatbrewer said:

Austin Homebrew is my local shop, I'm doing extract recipes. Two of the beers I made I used liquid yeast and poured it right in after I put the cooled wort in the primary and then sealed it.

The last beer I did with my buddy I had a smack pack and I made a starter over two days with some of the DME I had. After looking at Mr. Malty it looks like I need to add a little more science into what i'm doing.

What is really the benefit of doing a starter as opposed to not?

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Making a starter increases the cell count of healthy, active yeast that will ferment your wort. As needed, making a starter will result in more consistent flavor profile, properly attenuated beer, and fewer risks of unintended tastes. In your starter wort the yeast will grow strong, replicate to produce healthy cells, and become active - they will also acclimate to the climate you're going to ask them to live in.

Under-pitching is like sending a team of ten guys to do trash collection in the whole city of Boston. Sure - they'll get it done eventually... But the work is going to be shoddy, and there's some nasty stuff going on while those poor bastards try to catch up.

There are some issues associated with over pitching too, but they tend to have minor if any impact on a homebrew scale.

Not to beat a dead horse, but as with several posters above, I found "Yeast" to be a very interesting and informative read that comes highly recommended.

I would say what separates the great brewers from everyone else is knowledge and experience. Anyone can brew beer, the Mr Beer kits sold every year for Christmas prove that. But not everyone brews great beer. As you learn more about the whole process, you'll go from blindly following instructions to not even needing them. Reading about the science of brewing helps, as does reading forums such as this.

Keeping a log is a must. Also try different things and observe the changes-your log will help here. Try a 90 minute mash and compare with a 60. Ditto for boils. Mash high, mash low. Play with hop schedules to see the effect hop additions at different times have. Calculate your efficiency. Try to improve it. Harvest your yeast and reuse it. Compare the results of different fermentation temps. You will find that after doing all these things you will understand a *lot* about how and why brewing works. The better you understand how things work, the more control you have over making the beer come out exactly the way you want it.

I'm keeping a log it has just been pretty basic thus far. The templates that I have found are much more intricate than what I have so I will be sure to keep better records going forward. If i'm looking to perfect certain types of beer how far out should I space the times that I brew them.

By that i mean that I should have about 2-3 beers that i'm working on perfecting correct? So shouldn't I make 1 of the three every 1-2 weeks until I get it how I would like it? Or is that the incorrect frequency?

bobcatbrewer said:

I'm keeping a log it has just been pretty basic thus far. The templates that I have found are much more intricate than what I have so I will be sure to keep better records going forward. If i'm looking to perfect certain types of beer how far out should I space the times that I brew them.

By that i mean that I should have about 2-3 beers that i'm working on perfecting correct? So shouldn't I make 1 of the three every 1-2 weeks until I get it how I would like it? Or is that the incorrect frequency?

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Well depends on what you are making and how quick the turnaround is. I personally have never made a second batch of any beer I have made before. For me its using the same process and just making the little adjustments between the different batches. I would say if you were to turn around the same beer I would try and shoot for one every 6 weeks.

G'day all, I've read through this thread and found it very interesting reading. I've been brewing on and off now for about 10 years using malt extracts and am yet to try a mash. However, through the discussion, I've seen water pop up from time to time and thought I'd put my two bobs worth in. I've found that water quality varies from town to town, state to state depending on what councils put in their water supplies. In my opinion, tank (rain) water is far superior than any tap or shop bought water. If you have or know someone with water tanks, grab some you won't be disappointed.

Treners74 said:

G'day all, I've read through this thread and found it very interesting reading. I've been brewing on and off now for about 10 years using malt extracts and am yet to try a mash. However, through the discussion, I've seen water pop up from time to time and thought I'd put my two bobs worth in. I've found that water quality varies from town to town, state to state depending on what councils put in their water supplies. In my opinion, tank (rain) water is far superior than any tap or shop bought water. If you have or know someone with water tanks, grab some you won't be disappointed.

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unionrdr said:

When we lived in cinci,we had a sistern under the back patio that the rain gutters drained into. Wish I had that now. But it would be wise to check the PH. It could be too acidic.

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Yes, good point with the PH, although I've never really had a problem whether I'm using tank water from the Queensland rainforest to the Victorian coast (Australia).