Things I've learned from HBT

I’ve been extract brewing for 1.5 years, and I’ve used the advice I’ve trolled from hbt for the last 5 batches. I’ve learned a lot of things from HBT, and I thought I would share the following list that has made my beer significantly better and easier to make. If you’re new and don’t believe the following, look it up

• A starter is necessary when using liquid yeast (e.g. smack packs), but not with dry yeast. You want to have your beer start fermenting as fast as possible, and I was able to decrease the initial fermentation from 48 hours to 8 hours using a starter.

• Leave your beer in the primary fermenter for 3-4 weeks and only rack to a secondary if you are dry hopping or adding flavors. Let the yeast take it’s time to clean up the beer, and if you’re impatient like me, go out and support your local micro-brew in the meantime.

• Reusing your yeast is as simple as washing your <insert favorite body part>. When your beer has finished fermenting, it has multiplied like God intended- 3+ times the original amount. Wash your yeast and reuse it in subsequent batches as it will improve the quality of your beer and save you money.

• Use a 1:1 ratio between gallons of water and pounds of extract and adjust for hops accordingly. Boil the hops, not the extract – no reason to boil too much of something that’s already been processed and effect your hop utilization.

• Starsan is the shizniggity nig nack of sanitizers, but most importantly don’t fear the foam. I used to wash the foam, and God killed a kitten every time…too many dead kittens…

• Order your hops online. I love to support my lhbs, but they were breaking my wallet when I brewed IPAs. I went from paying $2+ an oz for hops to $0.75 an oz at hops direct. Yakima, WA is close enough that it’s pretty much local, right?

• Support your lhbs and bring them homebrew. These people are passionate about beer, even if their prices are high. You might even be able to get a discount if your beer is good and you bring enough…

• Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. Brewing beer is an art and you have to enjoy your materials.

Now it's your turn - add the sage advice that you have learned.

FIGHT CLUB.

I also learned that when you make mistakes, you still end up with BEER!!!

Re Shuf: "I&#8217;ve learned a lot..."

You said a mouthfull, Shuf!
Outstanding post!!!!!

I learned that steeping a few specialty grains is not much more difficult than using just extract.

I learned that doing a mini-mash is not much more difficult than steeping a few grains.

Hmmm I'm trying to figure out where this is heading....

"Hmmm I'm trying to figure out where this is heading...."
***************

SIMPLICITY, ...hopefully,,,

I do not agree with premise #1. I've used Wyeast Activator packs exclusively without a starter and have NEVER had fermentation take 48 hours to start. I've also never had any of my beers stall or finish high.


On the other hand, if something works well for you, who am I to disagree? Pez.

Some of the general consistences here I've came to find by my own experience is not necessarily true. Welcome to the world of homebrew.

Some things I've learned in my short time on the board...

*Patience is a virtue to be HIGHLY cultivated by those who brew!

*Things that work well for one person may not necessarily work for others.

*Brewing is MUCH more than a hobby.

glenn514

shuf said:

• Use a 1:1 ratio between gallons of water and pounds of extract and adjust for hops accordingly. Boil the hops, not the extract – no reason to boil too much of something that’s already been processed and effect your hop utilization.

Click to expand...

I'm curious about this one. You boil your hops and then add all the extract at the end of the boil???

WHat have I learned on HBT?

Pretty much everything I know about homebrewing

&#8226; You can never have too many toys!

shuf said:

Boil the hops, not the extract &#8211; no reason to boil too much of something that&#8217;s already been processed and effect your hop utilization.

Click to expand...

Hops utilization is not affected by boil gravity. This is something that pretty much all homebrewing software gets wrong. Commercial brewers have known this for decades, and their literature is apparently littered with studies showing it--e.g. the American Society of Brewing Chemists in 1989:
http://www.asbcnet.org/journal/abstracts/backissues/47-14.htm says
"In the range 10.5-13.5° P, no relationship between hop utilization and original gravity was found. "

John Palmer's discussion of the science here, where he points out "What is an IBU, really?" from March 20, 2008:
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2008

Actual measurements of 3 beers, one with a boil gravity of 1.127, one with late extract addition for a boil grav of 1.077, and one with a full boil at 1.068--the same hopping schedule was used for all 3, and hop utilization is identical for all 3, March 4, 2010 - BYO-BBR Experiment III :
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

Brew science thread with related info:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/estimating-bitterness-algorithms-state-art-109681/


EDIT: Late extract addition does impact color and possibly caramelization flavor, so it's still a good idea.

*Full boils make a huge difference in taste

*Full boils make no difference in taste

*Secondary makes a huge difference in the finished product

*Secondary makes no difference in the finished product

*If you haven't gone AG you're a rank newbie

*If you haven't gone AG you're an average homebrewer

*Boiling in an aluminum pot is a terrible idea

*Boiling in an aluminum pot makes no difference

*RDWHAHB

* you have to chill your wort as rapidly as possible to make good beer
* you can no-chill your wort and make good beer

* dry yeast is better
* liquid yeast is better

* better bottles are the best
* glass carboys are the best
* plain ol' Ale Pails are the best

* you need a SS pot
* aluminum pots are fine

* AG makes great beer
* PM makes great beer
* Extract with steeped grains make grain beer
* Extract makes great beer

* If you squeeze the steeped grain bag you'll end up with bitter beer
* If you squeeze the steeped grain bag, you'll make fine beer

* you need an air stone and oxygen to get your dissolved oxygen levels high enough
* you can pour the wort back and forth to get enough O2
* you can agitate your carboy to get enough O2

Did I miss any

haha... nice

SumnerH said:

Actual measurements of 3 beers, one with a boil gravity of 1.127, one with late extract addition for a boil grav of 1.077, and one with a full boil at 1.068--the same hopping schedule was used for all 3, and hop utilization is identical for all 3:
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

Click to expand...

Which show? That's just the index for 2010.

Ray

I have learned that I know nothing, but now I know that I know nothing!
Aside from that, I have learned everything I know about brewing from here.

shuf said:

• Leave your beer in the primary fermenter for 3-4 weeks and only rack to a secondary if you are dry hopping or adding flavors. Let the yeast take it’s time to clean up the beer, and if you’re impatient like me, go out and support your local micro-brew in the meantime.

Click to expand...

This guy says grain to glass in 7 days:

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=60
April 20, 2006 - Speed Brewing
From grain to glass in a week? Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your
Own magazine, says it can be done, and he steps us through how we
can get good beer in seven days from brew day.

I need about 10 days usually.

Ray

rayg said:

Which show? That's just the index for 2010.

Ray

Click to expand...

Sorry. March 4, 2010 - BYO-BBR Experiment III

SumnerH said:

Actual measurements of 3 beers, one with a boil gravity of 1.127, one with late extract addition for a boil grav of 1.077, and one with a full boil at 1.068--the same hopping schedule was used for all 3, and hop utilization is identical for all 3, March 4, 2010 - BYO-BBR Experiment III :
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

Click to expand...

Ok, I listened to it, at the end they talk about doing that experiment
but the results aren't there, I guess they are going to be in a later
broadcast.

Ray

No, it's near the beginning. Listen from 8:00 all the way to 15:30 to get the full scoop, but the synopsis is as above (identical utilization in the full boil at 1.068, the partial boil/late extract addition with boil grav of 1.077, and the partial boil at boil grav of 1.127)

well i learned that most people have different methods that work for them and finding your own groove that works for you is the most important method you can have...and that revvys law that all bottling threads will have someone say 'buy kegs' is foolproof

demonrichie said:

well i learned that most people have different methods that work for them and finding your own groove that works for you is the most important method you can have...and that revvys law that all bottling threads will have someone say 'buy kegs' is foolproof

Click to expand...

Yep, so far Revys first law of bottling dynamics is the only constant I know of in the brewing world. Pez.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated. This one seemed to raise a lot of good concern:

“Use a 1:1 ratio between gallons of water and pounds of extract and adjust for hops accordingly. Boil the hops, not the extract – no reason to boil too much of something that’s already been processed and effect your hop utilization.”
From what I’ve read the starting gravity does have an effect on hop utilization, but like some of the other hot topics there seems to be contradicting information . Here are some references that I read regarding this topic:

- The Complete Joy of Home Brewing – “Hop Utilization Chat Based on Density of Boiled Wort…” pg 258

-http://www.baderbrewing.com/store/product.php?productid=22691&cat=396&page=1

-Majority of posts on HBT regarding late extract editions.

Thanks for the link to the podcast, I’ll check that out.

Let's see, I've brewed Mr. Beer kits, six gallon Coopers kit, steeping and extract beers, partial mash beers and all grain beers. Hmm, yep, brewed them all, enjoyed them all, will continue to do so in the future. In the end, I get beer. They all differ in taste and quality, but I love every single minute of the process and every different variation of the process.

Someone once asked me why I keep buying all these great beers if I'm brewing my own. Why do you go to the bottle shop and spend all this money? Quite simply, because I love beer, I love every thing about it. I love the well crafted beer that comes from a great brewer as much as I love the one that came from my own efforts...and I love this site and the great brewers I've met here. I raise a virtual toast to the whole, damned lot of you!

shuf said:

Thanks for the input, much appreciated. This one seemed to raise a lot of good concern:

&#8220;Use a 1:1 ratio between gallons of water and pounds of extract and adjust for hops accordingly. Boil the hops, not the extract &#8211; no reason to boil too much of something that&#8217;s already been processed and effect your hop utilization.&#8221;
From what I&#8217;ve read the starting gravity does have an effect on hop utilization, but like some of the other hot topics there seems to be contradicting information . Here are some references that I read regarding this topic:

- The Complete Joy of Home Brewing &#8211; &#8220;Hop Utilization Chat Based on Density of Boiled Wort&#8230;&#8221; pg 258

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's only as of 2008 that home brewers started realizing they had this wrong. Almost every book and piece of brewing software is based on the old, outdated info.

Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd edition is from 2003, so well out of date for addressing this kind of thing.

If you listen to John Palmer's What is an IBU podcast linked earlier in the thread, he apologizes and says that even the most recent edition of his "How to Brew" (published in 2006) messed up not only the hop utilization question, but also even the basic definition of what an IBU is.

Those are the 2 best and most popular books for home brewing, and even if you buy the most recent editions of them you'll get misinformation. It's going to be 10 years or more before new editions come out and enough people are learning from them that the new information really gets universally acceptance.

Thankfully we live in a world where that timeframe is realistic though--it's only the fact that Palmer can reach us through podcasts, that BBR can organize tests by home brewers across the country and confirm that info, etc that have made the information spread quickly enough to be accessible now. Without those, we'd still be waiting on How to Brew 4th Edition or something like that to be the first source breaking the news to us!

Pezman1 said:

Yep, so far Revys first law of bottling dynamics is the only constant I know of in the brewing world. Pez.

Click to expand...

death taxes and revvys first law of bottling dynamics. definites of the world

SumnerH said:

Yeah, it's only as of 2008 that home brewers started realizing they had this wrong. Almost every book and piece of brewing software is based on the old, outdated info.

Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd edition is from 2003, so well out of date for addressing this kind of thing.

If you listen to John Palmer's What is an IBU podcast linked earlier in the thread, he apologizes and says that even the most recent edition of his "How to Brew" (published in 2006) messed up not only the hop utilization question, but also even the basic definition of what an IBU is.

Those are the 2 best and most popular books for home brewing, and even if you buy the most recent editions of them you'll get misinformation. It's going to be 10 years or more before new editions come out and enough people are learning from them that the new information really gets universally acceptance.

Thankfully we live in a world where that timeframe is realistic though--it's only the fact that Palmer can reach us through podcasts, that BBR can organize tests by home brewers across the country and confirm that info, etc that have made the information spread quickly enough to be accessible now. Without those, we'd still be waiting on How to Brew 4th Edition or something like that to be the first source breaking the news to us!

Click to expand...

*********************

YEAH!

SumnerH said:

Yeah, it's only as of 2008 that home brewers started realizing they had this wrong. Almost every book and piece of brewing software is based on the old, outdated info.

Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd edition is from 2003, so well out of date for addressing this kind of thing.

If you listen to John Palmer's What is an IBU podcast linked earlier in the thread, he apologizes and says that even the most recent edition of his "How to Brew" (published in 2006) messed up not only the hop utilization question, but also even the basic definition of what an IBU is.

Those are the 2 best and most popular books for home brewing, and even if you buy the most recent editions of them you'll get misinformation. It's going to be 10 years or more before new editions come out and enough people are learning from them that the new information really gets universally acceptance.

Thankfully we live in a world where that timeframe is realistic though--it's only the fact that Palmer can reach us through podcasts, that BBR can organize tests by home brewers across the country and confirm that info, etc that have made the information spread quickly enough to be accessible now. Without those, we'd still be waiting on How to Brew 4th Edition or something like that to be the first source breaking the news to us!

Click to expand...

Great info, thanks. I'll check out "What is an IBU podcast" when I get a chance.