What single change most improved your beer?

[MrSnacks]

It seems like there are two obvious choices--temperature control or switching to all grain. Of the those two, temperature control seems like it's the most urgent. You can make mighty fine partial mash beers but if your temp control if off you can end up with something ugly.

Thoughts?

 

[cormano]

Finally buying a water filter was the easiest thing I've done to make a huge improvement in my beer.

 

[firerat]

Temperature control.

 

[Rockn_M]

Temperature control was the biggest change I made that improved my beer.

 

[jafo28]

Temp control.

 

[Wingnutt73]

Not racking to a secondary. I was exposing the beer to Oxegen and it created a nasty off flavor in all my brews.

 

[BigTuna]

Building a new herms setup with digital temp controls.

 

[firerat]

Not racking to a secondary. I was exposing the beer to Oxegen and it created a nasty off flavor in all my brews.

That helped a lot too.

 

[boydster]

A combination of dialing in my pitch rate and temperature control. My beer quality improved and became much more consistent when I decided to control those factors.

 

[monkeyman1000]

For me it was pH and water adjustments. I imagine temp control would have been up there too but I started out keeping temps under control bc of all the good info I read on here before I started.

 

[wobrien]

You asked for one, but I'll give you three because my beer was never very good until I dialed in all three. In no particular order:

1. Temp control
2. Pitching rate
3. Water chemistry

 

[lstrowge]

Same as most, temp control AND starters.

 

[progmac]

For me it isn't a single thing. It is the practice of doing things right and not cutting corners or taking unnecessary risks. It's learning what matters and what doesn't. Starters and temp control are part of that, but I think I can make a good beer without either of those (within reason) by controlling other factors - although you'd have to let me pick the style.

Although adding a fan to my chest freezer did make a big difference.

 

[Roundhouse]

Fermentation temperature control and water ph adjustments. That applies to extract beers too. It doesn't matter if you use buckets, carboys, conicals, infusion mash, decoction, fly sparge, batch, no sparge, brew in a bag, etc. You can make good beer with any of those methods but water and temperature control are critical.

 

[Rivenin]

For me it was pH and water adjustments. I imagine temp control would have been up there too but I started out keeping temps under control bc of all the good info I read on here before I started.

ditto

 

[Setesh]

Temperature control has made the most difference for me.

Using RO water and building the correct profile for the beer has also been very helpful, especially for PAs and IPAs. My filtered tap water is decent for stouts, but not good for anything else.
I moved to dry yeast years ago since I can't reliably plan brews day in advance (job), so pitch rate is never a problem.
Building an EHERMS improved my brewing enjoyment greatly, but didn't do much to improve my beer besides increasing consistency. I could make the same quality of beer with my cooler MT w/false bottom as my EHERMs.

 

[eddieb33]

For me it was going from just steeping grains to doing partial mashes. I still don't have the setup to do all grain (and probably won't until I buy a house or something). But I feel that doing an actual mash has helped me eliminate a lot of unfermentable starches, which makes for much cleaner, crisper beer. Still relying on extract does limit me in some ways, but much less so than using only steeping grains.

Temp control has never been much of an issue for me, but I'm fortunate to live in a place that generally has moderate ambient air

 

[NathPowe]

Temp control and water treatment are good ones. I'd also say that, for the beers I enjoy drinking, kegging was a big improvement. Definitely not trying to start the keg/bottle debate with that statement - I still bottle some beers. But for many styles I get a beer that (for my taste and on my system) is of better quality by packaging in a keg. Anyway, I think the single biggest thing that has helped improve my beers is really getting to know my system and nailing down my process. Helps so much with consistency and the elimination of variables. These two things allow me to better identify what I'd like to change and make small tweaks here and there as needed that translate into what, for me and my taste, is a better quality beer.

Cheers.

 

[Jaybird]

Ferment temps are the obvious choice for sure. But beyond that for me it was, brewing more! Nutten like practice practice practice. Because I was brewing more I got to understanding grain profile and flavor. That took me into mash quality, and I cant ferment poor quality wort at the perfect temp and get outstanding beer IMHO, and then you really don't want to under pitch the perfect wort so.....

So to answer your question. Aeration....

well you get the idea.

Cheers
Jay

 

[beernbourbon]

temp control

 

[JustLooking]

Not racking to a secondary. I was exposing the beer to Oxegen and it created a nasty off flavor in all my brews.

Learning how to competently transfer my beer so that it wasn’t exposed to oxygen or infection.

 

[seckert]

Temp control and correct pitching. I always just guessed at the amount of yeast. When you use a calculator and find out you are way off....boy did i feel stupid! Better to discover late than never though!

 

[Wingnutt73]

Learning how to competently transfer my beer so that it wasn’t exposed to oxygen or infection.

Lol that too!!!

 

[beergolf]

I'll chime in againwith temp control and pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast.

I bet charliehorse really hates this thread

 

[Snicklefritz]

Temperature control for sure. Before that all my beers had what I could only describe as a "homebrew" taste. All of my beers had it. I now know that those tastes I was getting weren't because the beer was homebrewed, it was just the esters produced by fermenting at higher temps. My beers taste so much "cleaner" now.

 

[bikesandbrews]

the 30 minutes hop stand/whirlpool.

 

[Genuine]

Recirculating the mash and keeping a consistent temp has helped so much


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[youngdh]

Chlorine removal from water followed by building up water profile from DI water.


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[estricklin]

Temp control + better sanitation.

 

[DSorenson]

Fermentation temperature control and paying close attention to water chemistry. My efficiency and flavors are better than ever.

 

[The10mmKid]

Patience

'da Kid

 

[philipCT]

Going to all-grain. My extract brews had gotten to the point where they all had a vague sameness. Suddenly, I was able to brew really clean, dry beers.

 

[MaxStout]

Maintaining fermentation temps. I've screwed up more beers due to runaway temps than from any other factor.

 

[luvinit]

so apparently ferment temp is the most important thing. Is their an ideal temp for all brew not lagering but for standard ale type fermenting I have a fridge with a honeywell temp controller I rigged what would be the perfect ferment temp?

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Fermentation temperature control and paying close attention to water chemistry. My efficiency and flavors are better than ever.

+1
Fermentation chamber with a temp controller. Calcium chloride and calcium sulfate, as outlined in the Water Chemistry Sticky.

 

[FuriousE]

so apparently ferment temp is the most important thing. Is their an ideal temp for all brew not lagering but for standard ale type fermenting I have a fridge with a honeywell temp controller I rigged what would be the perfect ferment temp?

Depends on the specific strain of yeast. The manufacturer will give you a range to use. I usually like to stay at the lower end of the range. For example, I like WY1056 at about 65 degrees.

 

[hunter_le five]

Temperature control for fermentation temps

 

[riderkb]

Switching from bleach to StarSan. All the rinsing to get the bleach of probably contaminated a lot of batches. I hope no one uses bleach any more.

 

[d3track]

I'm going to say post boil chilling. Getting the wort at the proper temp BEFORE pitching was a big learning point for me. I think it made ferment chamber and starters even more effective, IMHO.

 

[brewbama]

Going to all-grain. My extract brews had gotten to the point where they all had a vague sameness. Suddenly, I was able to brew really clean, dry beers.

+1. All Grain.


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