Since you started, which techniques/equipment/knowledge yielded biggest improvement

Since you started brewing, which techniques/equipment/knowledge have yielded the biggest improvement in your beer? Since this is the beginners forum, can we keep it to improvements you made in the 1st 20 batches? Thanks, everyone!

Aside from going to all grain I think the best piece of equipment for me was my fermentation chiller. It made my ferment temps very consistent and removed the off-flavours from too high a temp (fusel alcohols, excessive fruity esters, etc.).

Leaving in primary for longer, two to four weeks.

and

Repeating the same core recipes.

Leaving it in primary and secondary longer made large differences for me, but the single biggest improvement for me came when I switched to using only extra light DME and specialty grains. I use the grains to get all my flavor and color characteristics.

Going All Grain, Ferment temp control, patience. The last was prolly the single largest improvement.

1) Fermentation temperature control
2) Going all grain

For learning about both of these things, I give credit to HBT. I'm definately a better brewer because of HBT.

1) This site.
2) Tie- Control over Wort cooling
2) Tie- Control over Fermentation temperatures.
4) Letting stuff age

#2 was difficult here in the desert.

I found that the most dramatic improvement I have seen came when I started doing full boils with an immersion chiller. Even extract brews with steeping grains turn out better that way.

Edit: McCSB beat me

1.) Full Boils. I guess with full boils come wort chiller, but you CAN do an ice bath with a full boil. Made a world of difference.

1) Fermentation Temperature Control
2) Partial Mashes
3) Definitely Patience

Special thanks goes to HBT for all the help

:rockin:

-HBT
-Going AG/full boils
-wort chiller
-washing yeast

unlike everyone else I can't really say much about fermentation temps. I have a basement that's 64-68 all year, so it's perfect for the brews that I do.

- Temp control of ferment
- going AG

Without a doubt, full boils made the biggest difference in the taste of my beers. The 2nd biggest was moving to AG over extract

For the OP's benefit:
Those of you that said full boils, it implies that you have a handle on cooling off that much wort.

In other words, don't go full boil unless you can cool wort quickly.

This is great stuff guys. It's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of information on home brewing, so this really helps narrow down where to spend my time/$/energy.

As an additional question, is is possible to describe how an improvement changed the final product? Ex: how does controlling fermentation temp affect the flavor/body/color/etc?

Thanks everyone

-Fermentation temp control.

American Wheat - nasty.

Rye IPA - Can't believe I actually made that!

BlendieOfIndie said:

As an additional question, is is possible to describe how an improvement changed the final product? Ex: how does controlling fermentation temp affect the flavor/body/color/etc?

Thanks everyone

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My American Wheat fermented at 74 degrees F. It's final taste (bottle 6 weeks now?) is still really high in phenolic character (bananas, a hint of bubblegum). It also has this oily mouthfeel which is difficult to describe (and I'm not even sure that's because of the ferm. temp).

I made sure my Rye IPA was kept lower, primary fermentation at 65 degrees. No off flavours, clean, malty, hoppy, and yeasty character. This brew will already be a staple in my repertoire.

ok

1) fermenting at high temps can give it fusel alcohols...a sharp, hot bite...so keeping your beer cool is key.

also, for an example, hefeweizens fermented at high temperatures will taste like a wet banana...at lower temperatures the banana is subtle and the cloves and spices come out.

2) partial mashes help get rid of some of the extract twang and give a richer flavor than steeping. it also allows you to use certain adjuncts and grains you couldn't otherwise have

3) patience - letting the beer condition makes all the difference, whether it's in the fermentation vessel, the bottle, or the keg. let it take its time to finish

As a beginner, your first order of business is eliminating the risk of off flavors or incomplete fermentation. Here are the common beer flaws:

http://byo.com/referenceguide/troubleshooting/

Control over temperature from steep to bottling covers almost all of these.
The rest is sanitation.

#1 thing period.....HBT!!!!

after that, things like getting more toys, thinking about how to move to AG. I think that is helping me understand how beer in general works, so fascinating

plus saving/washing yeast...starters...other than that, I've just been getting to AG tonight

I think my biggest improvements have been the same as most peoples'.

1.) Fermentation temperature control. First batch fermented about 7 degrees F too warm. This recent batch stayed about 67-68 constantly.

2.) Wort cooling. First batch this was also a problem. Now I'm using the ice in the sink method.

#1 Fermentation temperature control.

#2 This site for all the other info I never knew (and I have been brewing for years)

#3 Going back to my immersion chiller from my Therminator. Now I have really clear pre-fermented wort and post-primary beer even faster and I don't have to clean the never ending hop residue out of the plates on my chiller.

#4 For right now, completely pressurized and closed system fermentation. The only hard part is the cleaning of my primary sanke, but I really like everything else that has been made easier (in "my" brewing setup that is).

Sorry to put the site at second, but temp control is definitely Numero Uno for better beer in my book.

- Wort Chiller (Can't live without this guy)
- All-Grain/Full boil (More importantly Temp control during the mash)
- And last but not least proper yeast temp and control

olllllo said:

1) This site.
2) Tie- Control over Wort cooling
2) Tie- Control over Fermentation temperatures.
4) Letting stuff age

#2 was difficult here in the desert.

Click to expand...

I would add full boils

This site first and foremost.
Going all grain.

This site and the RDWHAHB attitude. I've found out that stressing over a batch doesn't help it any, and while sanitation is important, I don't have to be excessively anal to produce good beer.

By order in my opinion:

1. Not re-using yeast since apparently I suck at that and spoiled 4-5 batches. I'd rather use a $1.50 packet of dry than try and save yeast.
2. AG
3. Ferm Temp control
4. Starter (when not using dry)

The most difficult lesson on earth. (imho)

Patience

McCall St. Brewer said:

I found that the most dramatic improvement I have seen came when I started doing full boils with an immersion chiller. Even extract brews with steeping grains turn out better that way.

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+1 Full boils tasted much betterm hoppier too if you use all that came with the kit

orfy said:

Leaving in primary for longer, two to four weeks.

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So (as another newbie after advice) would you recommend changing the 1-2-3 guideline to 2-2-3?

1) Learning/Going All Grain
2) Making yeast starters for liquid yeast
3) Washing my yeast/buying bulk grain (money wise)

Danek said:

So (as another newbie after advice) would you recommend changing the 1-2-3 guideline to 2-2-3?

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lately i've been doing 3-6 except when i need a free carboy.

Stopped using kit and kilo - really popular here in NZ.

In general just reading how to brew - so much to be learnt from that book.

DeathBrewer said:

lately i've been doing 3-6 except when i need a free carboy.

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Wow - that's some impressive self-control! :cross:

Patience - it took me almost a year to find this out. Leaving longer in the bottle will lead to better tasting brews (most beer least 4 weeks. Big beers, strong tasting beers longer).

DME - much better attenuation than with LME

Partial Mash - learned from this site. Really opened up all the malt flavors to me and my beer.

I have found it is easier to be patient when you really have a lot of beer! I read HBT every day. My most recent improvement is adding irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil. My beer has always tasted good, but now it looks good.

1 Full boil and of course the wort chiller that is required to do this.
2 Star san, I was using bleach or idophore, but star san is a much better sanitizer, and you can let it sit for up to two months, now I let my stuff sit in the sanitizer and wait for brew day, it lets me brew beer more quickly, everything is sanitized and clean when I take it out.
3 Brewing more beer and a few variations on some of my favorite recipes. By brewing and rebrewing similar beers you get to understand the differences little changes makes. By brewing more beer you let the beer sit longer in the secondary or in the keg or in the bottle, allowing it to change in charachteristics over time.

1. Keeping the temperature stable (yay giant plastic bucket that I can fill with water and float my fermenters in!)
2. Patience.
3. Avoiding LME. I've got consistently fewer strange/off flavors with DME than with LME. If you can't do AG (I can't my stove isn't up to it and I'm a cheap bastard) use only the lightest DME you can find and steep/do mini-mashes for flavor.

1.) Joining a homebrew club
2.) Fermentation Temp Control
3.) Purchasing/borrowing as many books & magazines (Brewing Techniques, BYO, Zmurgy) as I could, in addition to researching any questions I had on places like HBT, the Green Board,etc
4.) Notes! Take as many notes as you can before, during and after the brew session.

HBT is what improved my beer! I learned more in two weeks on here than I could ever imagine. But the main things I learned were patience and temperature control. Made a huge difference in my beer.

I can't believe that 2 years ago I was intimidated by beer making. Now, I'm AG with many batches under my belt. It's because of the encouragement I got all along here at HBT.