If you knew then what you know now

Over the course of your brewing experience what things have you learned that really made a noticeable "aha!" difference in the quality of your beer. I'm hoping that some of the less experienced among us can pick up a few tips.

1.buy a VERY good thermometer/fermometer. Temp is everything at every step.

2. All grain is not scary. It is more fun and cheaper

3. Join a brew club. ( for a million reasons)

Sanitation and temperature control. If you can nail those, your beer can bounce back from most other things and still be good.

There are a zillion tips but ChshreCat nailed two of the big three. I will add PATIENCE to the list.

+10 on the patience. I didn't get that untill I had more beer than I could drink around.

I put anything important I've learned lately in my sig so hopefully other people can get some good info.

The number one thing I can think of is to be wary of misinformation. It's everywhere. A lot of homebrewing knowledge that gets passed around is pure myth or is a relic of a time when ingredients were lower in quality. New techniques are being developed, probably as we speak, that go against the established body of knowledge. Podcasts are very good at getting to the bottom of these misconceptions (although they tend to be a little long-winded).

Yeast is your friend. Do anything you can to make the yeast happy. Starters and oxygen are the two biggest.
tom

For me, it was finding HBT

DO NOT add a pinch of this a little more of that.

My first few batches I was guilty of "tweaking" recipes despite having no idea what I was doing.

Sanitation (Cleaning before sanitizing is crucial)
Fermentation Temp Control (Why did it take so long for me to understand this?)
RDWHAHBO2
Full Boils
Late Extract Additions
Patience (Disclaimer: You'll still want to sample your beer too early!)

+1 on finding HBT.

I'd also say to get a brew buddy. Someone that'll tell you your beer stinks, but can then help you nail down where you went wrong...and vice versa.

All grain is really all that.
Throw away any kit directions.
One week in the primary is never enough.
He who dies with the most brewing toys wins.

rexbanner said:

I put anything important I've learned lately in my sig so hopefully other people can get some good info.

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So how do you build a temp-controlled 9 carboy fermentation chamber for $30?

caphector said:

So how do you build a temp-controlled 9 carboy fermentation chamber for $30?

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It's extremely simple. I will say that the cost does not include two things: a temperature controller and window AC unit.

You just need three 8x4 pieces of foam insulation board, a trash bag, and a roll of duct tape.

As soon as I get my digital camera back, I'll make a thread. Do a search for "cheap fermentation chamber" in a week and you'll find my thread.

Yeast starters and temp controled fermentations.

Bull

This:

ChshreCat said:

Sanitation and temperature control. If you can nail those, your beer can bounce back from most other things and still be good.

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And this:

Nurmey said:

There are a zillion tips but ChshreCat nailed two of the big three. I will add PATIENCE to the list.

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Seriouslly, it took me a while to understand these points but these two guys hit the nail on the head.

You CAN do it and when you hit a wall, HBT is here to help. :rockin: These gals / guys were here for me (and still are) and will be for you.

DON"T PANIC!!!

Seriously, when you think you screwed up, don't panic. Stand back and think about it.

Great title for the thread by the way. I hope this thread takes off. It could prove helpful.

For me it was to stop using water from the water softener. Even my crappy sulfur infested hard water makes better beer than the softened equivalent. The soft water seemed to impart a bitterness to my beer. Actually, it really seems to accentuate the hop intensity, but not in a good way.

Of course, as was mentioned many times, calibrating my brew thermometer and just controlling the fermentation temp were both key. I use a big rubber maid tub full of water and add ice occasionally to keep it down. Search for swamp coolers and you'll have it.

Preparation. Have all your adds set aside on the counter in the sequence in which you need to add them. Make sure you know where all your tools are (hydro, thermometer, spoon, starsan, etc. ), and that your gear is clean before you even begin. Add to the list extra paper towels and/or cleanup towels.

If you're using bottled water or filtered water, make (or buy) more than what you think you'll need.

If you don't have a lot of space, partial mash ("brew in a bag") is easier than it seems.

Oh yeah.. pick up some sandwiches, grillables, snacks, (and more beer) because if you will be less patient and careful if you're hungry.

+1 on the hungry

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Great title for the thread by the way. I hope this thread takes off. It could prove helpful.

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I agree, but we need a companion thread. "If you knew now what you knew then." about all the things we're forgotten as we've killed off brain cells with homebrew.

also i use to think that it was neccessary to age my avg. strength beers(5-7% alcohol) for 2 or 3 months and now i know that it only takes about a month. i am mostly speaking about ipas and stouts. so that cut a lot of time off and i was able to free up my primaries.

rexbanner said:

It's extremely simple. I will say that the cost does not include two things: a temperature controller and window AC unit.

You just need three 8x4 pieces of foam insulation board, a trash bag, and a roll of duct tape.

As soon as I get my digital camera back, I'll make a thread. Do a search for "cheap fermentation chamber" in a week and you'll find my thread.

Click to expand...

I'll be waiting anxiously for this one. I need a chamber real soon.

Make it a brew day.

I used to wake up and start by 6am and rush around to try finish by 11am or so, now I relax more, start in the early afternoon and make a whole day of it. Since I have to bring all the equipment out I now make 2 batches and usually invite some friends over. We listen to music, eat food, drink some beers and of course keep an eye on the brew.

rexbanner said:

It's extremely simple. I will say that the cost does not include two things: a temperature controller and window AC unit.

You just need three 8x4 pieces of foam insulation board, a trash bag, and a roll of duct tape.

As soon as I get my digital camera back, I'll make a thread. Do a search for "cheap fermentation chamber" in a week and you'll find my thread.

Click to expand...

How can you not include these items in the cost? The unit can not work with out them.
If you don't include them I can build one for free...with less work - Chest freezer from Craigslist. Large ones are especially easy to find.

My biggest tip: If you're going to make more than two or three batches, get a wort chiller. That was the biggest jump in ease-of-brewing.

If you buy ingredients with the intention to brew, brew. Don't get lazy and put it off.

Fresh ingredients are infinitely much better than old ingredients.

Unless you are adding something to your beer after fermentation such as dry hop, fruit, oak,etc. or lagering. do not transfer beer to another vessel(secondary). You are wasting your time, and can invite more problems into your beer, such as oxigenation or the yeast not finishing up and eating up any fermentation off flavors.

1. Keep it simple. I have a lot of bad tasting clones that were too complicated in the beginning with multiple grains, multiple hops, even multiple yeast strains (???). Now I keep the brews between 2-3 grains, 2 hops, 1 yeast.
2. Embrace flavor over volume and alcohol content. High gravity brews are fun, neat, and impressive, but there is a lot to be said for a nice flavorful beverage that you made.
3. Before dumping the grain, soak with water and save the runnings and ask SWMBO to make some nice fresh bread....

I wish I would have known:
buy it BEFORE you get married!

1) Temp Control during fermentation. Swamp coolers work great if you can't afford a fridge.

2) Don't make up your own recipes until you've made 20+ batches. No, that Hibiscus Mild Wheat Braggot is NOT going to work (not kidding, I actually made that abomination as my 10th batch or so)

3) All grain is really not that hard. Read up on Brew In A Bag and the No Chill technique. Together, they make all grain a snap.

Patience and controlling the fermentation temperatures. Sanitation and cleanliness is also up there on the list.

1) All grain isn't all that complicated
2) fermentation temps are just so important
3) keep grain bills simple. Simple recipes usually end up as my best beer.
4) Sanitation. Infections suck! because beer should go through you before it goes to the toilet.

I avoided a lot of mistakes because of this forum. Went to full boils my third batch, all grain not too long after. Started kegging after bottling 2 batches. It took about 5 batches before I started paying close attention to fermentation temps, that was a huge boost as well.

jrickert said:

Over the course of your brewing experience what things have you learned that really made a noticeable "aha!" difference in the quality of your beer. I'm hoping that some of the less experienced among us can pick up a few tips.

Click to expand...

A 10 gallon round cooler is a homebrewer's Swiss army knife.

rexbanner said:

It's extremely simple. I will say that the cost does not include two things: a temperature controller and window AC unit.

You just need three 8x4 pieces of foam insulation board, a trash bag, and a roll of duct tape.

As soon as I get my digital camera back, I'll make a thread. Do a search for "cheap fermentation chamber" in a week and you'll find my thread.

Click to expand...

im still waiting for this thread

1) Sanitation is key
2) Like laughing gnome said, don't panic!
3) Remember, its a hobby. Its supposed to be fun!

Two pieces of equipment I wish I had bought many, many years ago:

a plate chiller and pumps!

joe1996 said:

im still waiting for this thread

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Seems pretty simple. Build an enclosure of foam insulation board and duct tape it together, and use a trash bag to funnel the air into the enclosure from the AC unit.

Fermentation temperature control was far and away my biggest improvement. I used to think "hey, my place is like 70* with the AC on - I'll be fine." Not so. Fermentation is an exothermic reaction and the inside of the fermenter will likely rise about 10 degrees over ambient. Must cool it down.

Sanitation seems like a no brainer - hopefully everyone had that covered from day one.

Pitch the proper amount of yeast - that's very important.

Make your yeast very happy.