poll : best technique to improve your brew?

I was wondering today what the single best thing that you started doing that improved the quality of your brew? And I'm talking beyond going all-grain.... was it pitching a yeast starter / controlled temp fermenting / etc... :rockin:

Yeast starters and more controlled ferment temps.

The best thing I've done so far.

Definitely controlling fermentation temps.

Starter/hydrating yeast, Fermentation temps. And kegging!

Temp control

Temp Control

Good cold/hot breaks, temp control (throughout the entire process), and sanitation.

Bottle conditioning for me. Long and proper bottle conditioning which includes several weeks at 60-70f followed by several weeks of cold conditioning has produced some of my finest beers.

awesome input! I have gone on a brewing hiatus so I can sink money into my equipment. So, I'm trying to get a feel as where to put my money. Yeast starters I can do with no $$, but controlled temps... I'll have to figure out which route I want to take. I'm leaning more towards a fridge... any other tips?

cold / hot breaks... I need to learn more about what exactly that is...

I agree:
control of your yeast = control of your beer flavor profile.
So
1)pitch exactly the amount you need (ie lagers must have lots but a belgian or saison needs less so that the yeast are stressed)
2)control temp to control byproducts that the yeast produce: eg Lager = clean ferment with sulfide production, Saison = lots of esters and phenolics etc.

Where is the actual "poll"?

HalfPint said:

Good cold/hot breaks, temp control (throughout the entire process), and sanitation.

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Halfpint can you explain what effect getting a good hot/cold break had on you beers?

giligson said:

I agree:
control of your yeast = control of your beer flavor profile.
So
1)pitch exactly the amount you need (ie lagers must have lots but a belgian or saison needs less so that the yeast are stressed)
2)control temp to control byproducts that the yeast produce: eg Lager = clean ferment with sulfide production, Saison = lots of esters and phenolics etc.

Click to expand...

There is a great point in this. Some of us, including me, are talking about temp control and yeast pitch as if they are somehow unrelated. I said temp control initially. That's great and everything, but if you're going to severly underpitch you may still have problems. The combination of the two is key!

longer primaries and skipping secondaries, temp control, longer bottle conditioning, milling my own grain

JOHN51277 said:

Where is the actual "poll"?

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sorry, misleading?

Proper treatment of yeast made the greatest improvement in my beer. By that I mean pitching the correct amount of yeast (most homebrewers underpitch liquid yeast) and fermenting at the correct temperature for the specific yeast strain.

YooperBrew said:

Proper treatment of yeast made the greatest improvement in my beer. By that I mean pitching the correct amount of yeast (most homebrewers underpitch liquid yeast) and fermenting at the correct temperature for the specific yeast strain.

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Proper amount of yeast? Is there a guide somewhere that I can consult for different styles? I just did my first yeast starter for a British Dark and made up half of a growler for the starter... does that sound about right?

Here ya go- for that yeast pitching calculator!

Controlling fermentation temperatures.

Controlling fermentation (yeast health, cell count, temperature, cell type [eg sanitation]) is about 90% of the battle.

If you can make clean beers, everything else is easy to figure out. This is far more important than all-grain. Most good brewers happen to do all-grain but a good brewer can make good extract beer if he wants. There are extract beers winning every year at NHC and I know of at least one prolifically successful competition brewer who brews nearly exclusively extract (some partial mash, never all-grain).

be patient and relax dont lose your mind over little things cause 99% of minor mistakes and problems still result in good beer

Nowuries said:

but controlled temps... I'll have to figure out which route I want to take. I'm leaning more towards a fridge... any other tips?

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There's lots you can do for controlled temps. Obviously if you want it to be cooler a basement's a great place to ferment. If you need it cooler than what your basement can provide, setting the carboy in large bin / bucket of water helps bring the temp down a few more degrees. You can then each day toss in some freezer packs if you need it even cooler. To warm it up in the winter, you can put in a cheap pond / aquarium heater. No need for a fridge for me yet - although I'm not lagering, etc.

YooperBrew said:

Proper treatment of yeast made the greatest improvement in my beer. By that I mean pitching the correct amount of yeast (most homebrewers underpitch liquid yeast) and fermenting at the correct temperature for the specific yeast strain.

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+1 to infinity. It's amazing how much this helped improve my beer.

It really turned my beer from alright to good; sometime really good. Still working on making it great, though.

Besides doing a good job sanitizing,


TEMP CONTROL!!

I think you'd have to seriously underpitch in order to even come close to causing the kinds of problems that fermenting too warm will cause. And it's not like pitching the correct amount of yeast is difficult or costly at all.

Not dangling my penis in the boiling wort. (thanks invisible laughing gnome)

VAST improvement!

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but Temp Control did wonders for me... ;-)

For me Yeast starters and Temp control.

Nowuries said:

I was wondering today what the single best thing that you started doing that improved the quality of your brew? And I'm talking beyond going all-grain.... was it pitching a yeast starter / controlled temp fermenting / etc... :rockin:

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Adding more hops?

Having a good recipe?



Oh yeah - and the temp/yeast thingy.

azscoob said:

Here ya go- for that yeast pitching calculator!

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Thank you! Sometimes it's not exactly about what you know, but if if you know where to find the information!

For me, it was dealing with my water supply.

I think crushing my own grain and buying in bulk helped the most. Having a more divers selection on hand to tinker with has made all my recipes better.

Fermenting at cooler temperatures and realizing that ambient temperature does not equal fermentation temperature. Also doing a full boil and learning to make a starter.

The best thing I have done to advance the quality of my beers was................








to brew again, and again, and again, and..............

pH checking and control - my tap water has high pH 8.05+
Besides Calcium - lactic in the sparge water and 5.2 in the mash.
Gained an extra 7 points efficiency.

GilaMinumBeer said:

The best thing I have done to advance the quality of my beers was................








to brew again, and again, and again, and..............

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I like this one! Practice makes perfect... or dang near!

pee as a sanitizer. wait, what?

+362 on temp control.

I'd say...

Waiting longer before drinking it! Let it age.

1. Water quality
2. Temperature control
3. Yeast starters

In that order......

This has been a great post. I've been on the high side on my ferment temps here in Florida and my beers haven't been turning out as well as I had hoped.

Time to get a fridge!