Jbrew
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2017
- Messages
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Hi all, so this post may get long winded, i do apologize.
Im still kind of a beginner, ive been brewing a little over 2 years, and have about 40 batches under my belt. My very first brew was a partial mash with full boil and then immediately went to BIAB all grain after that. I do extracts every now and then to make things easier at times, but the bulk of my brewing is all grain.
Ive made some good beer, like a carton boat clone, and i got kinda close to getting a sierra nevada hazy little thing ipa clone, not quite the same, but made a nice hazy ipa.
But ive had a fair amount of batches that were not so good. For the past year, my beers have been hit or miss and have a tang to them that I attribute to being a homebrew taste. I dont think ive had any infected batches, just poor practices with my process. Im trying to refine my process, but im not sure where to start. I have so many things that i think need to be changed, but Im not quite sure where to start, so im looking for advice on what should i be doing differently.
pH:
Ive never checked my mash pH before. Im going to start at least checking it, and planning to get a water report.
Aeration or oxygenation:
Looking into using an aquarium pump with a stone or going with a bernzomatic oxygen tank with stone. My current practice is to just shake it for a minute or so.
Carboys:
I have 1 6 gallon better bottle, 2 6 gallon vintage shop PET carboys, and a 7 gallon fermonster. I mainly use the fermonster for primary and the carboys for secondary. They all get cleaned by soaking with hot water and oxiclean, then rinsed. Sanitized with starsan before use. These are at least 2 to 3 year old carboys. Theyve never been scrubbed with wash cloths or carboy brushes. Always just left to soak. Im wondering if I should consider starting to replace them, just to eliminate risk of contamination.
Fermentation temps:
My temps aren't controlled at all. Im thinking this a big one that i should be trying to fix. I do have a spare mini fridge, just havent converted to a temp controller yet. This is pretty high up on my list though soon as it shouldnt take to much to do.
Yeast:
I mainly use dry yeast for ease of use and i dont have equipment to make a starter yet. The few times that i have used liquid, i pitched right into the fermenter. All my beers that have gotten liquid yeast were about 1.040 OG.
Cleaning:
Everything gets cleaned in oxiclean, then rinsed several times. The kettle is the only thing that gets scrubbed, everything else, which is pretty much all plastic just gets cleaned through a long hot soak, no scrubbing.
Should i be cleaning differently?
Sanitation:
I make a 5 fallon bucket of starsan and store it in the bucket. I change it maybe every 6 brews. Ive never checked the pH of the solution either, i just chuck after so much use. Is leaving starsan in a bucket for months to use and reuse again an ok practice? I know checking the pH is the only real way to check its effectiveness, but how long does this stuff generally last? Either way i will start checking the pH of my starsan.
I appreciate any advice. Thank you all
Im still kind of a beginner, ive been brewing a little over 2 years, and have about 40 batches under my belt. My very first brew was a partial mash with full boil and then immediately went to BIAB all grain after that. I do extracts every now and then to make things easier at times, but the bulk of my brewing is all grain.
Ive made some good beer, like a carton boat clone, and i got kinda close to getting a sierra nevada hazy little thing ipa clone, not quite the same, but made a nice hazy ipa.
But ive had a fair amount of batches that were not so good. For the past year, my beers have been hit or miss and have a tang to them that I attribute to being a homebrew taste. I dont think ive had any infected batches, just poor practices with my process. Im trying to refine my process, but im not sure where to start. I have so many things that i think need to be changed, but Im not quite sure where to start, so im looking for advice on what should i be doing differently.
pH:
Ive never checked my mash pH before. Im going to start at least checking it, and planning to get a water report.
Aeration or oxygenation:
Looking into using an aquarium pump with a stone or going with a bernzomatic oxygen tank with stone. My current practice is to just shake it for a minute or so.
Carboys:
I have 1 6 gallon better bottle, 2 6 gallon vintage shop PET carboys, and a 7 gallon fermonster. I mainly use the fermonster for primary and the carboys for secondary. They all get cleaned by soaking with hot water and oxiclean, then rinsed. Sanitized with starsan before use. These are at least 2 to 3 year old carboys. Theyve never been scrubbed with wash cloths or carboy brushes. Always just left to soak. Im wondering if I should consider starting to replace them, just to eliminate risk of contamination.
Fermentation temps:
My temps aren't controlled at all. Im thinking this a big one that i should be trying to fix. I do have a spare mini fridge, just havent converted to a temp controller yet. This is pretty high up on my list though soon as it shouldnt take to much to do.
Yeast:
I mainly use dry yeast for ease of use and i dont have equipment to make a starter yet. The few times that i have used liquid, i pitched right into the fermenter. All my beers that have gotten liquid yeast were about 1.040 OG.
Cleaning:
Everything gets cleaned in oxiclean, then rinsed several times. The kettle is the only thing that gets scrubbed, everything else, which is pretty much all plastic just gets cleaned through a long hot soak, no scrubbing.
Should i be cleaning differently?
Sanitation:
I make a 5 fallon bucket of starsan and store it in the bucket. I change it maybe every 6 brews. Ive never checked the pH of the solution either, i just chuck after so much use. Is leaving starsan in a bucket for months to use and reuse again an ok practice? I know checking the pH is the only real way to check its effectiveness, but how long does this stuff generally last? Either way i will start checking the pH of my starsan.
I appreciate any advice. Thank you all