From "OK" to "Wow"....how to get there

I've had a number of home brews (mine and others) over the years. The vast majority were "oh, that's a pretty decent beer". A few have been "Wow, that's amazing".

I went to a friend's house last weekend, he had a number of home brews, all full grain brewed, that were very drinkable, but nothing that made me want more. He's a chemist with a lot of knowledge, but he's not making "wow" beers. As I'm getting back into home brewing, it makes me wonder if I'll ever be able to brew "wow" beers.

What are the factors that determine the difference? Recipe? All grain vs extract? oxidation? Ingredient quality?

I've read a lot about brewing over the years, and it doesn't seem like rocket science to me. How come everyone can't brew their own amazing IPA's, big stouts, tasty saisons etc.? If I envision brewing Nelson IPA from Other Half, is it simply unlikely I'll ever get there?

 

Wow has a lot of factors but most of it is personal taste. Sometimes even that personal taste changes from minute to minute. I have had commercial brews that wow'd the first bottle but the next day didn't pack the same punch.

The things you mention are all processes that give a beer more potential to wow, but the wow is in the moment.

 

No, it isn't rocket science. But it is chemistry, microbiology, hydrodynamics, physics... and a little art as well.

 

One of the first things you can do to make sure you have a chance at WOW beer is fermentation temperature control. That will make all the difference. After that you can tweek one thing or another to increase the wow factor. But at the end of the day if you can't control the temperature you ferment your beer, nothing else really is going to make a difference.

 

Water chemistry is one stepping stone I see to help with the good to great transition. Maybe it's folly but these are the sort of tweaks that might be discriminators for your beers.

Todd

 

Lots of things can help take your beer to the Wow level. It's not hard to make decent beer. Going from there requires attention to:

Fermentation temp
Oxygen exposure post fermentation
Solid recipe
Water Chemistry
Cleanliness
Fresh Ingredients

Doing your best at each of these can add up to a wonderful beer. And of course it's got to fit with your particular taste and serving climate.

I've had Citra IPA from Oddside Ales from the bottle and liked it. Had it on tap the other week and it was like WOW! It tasted so fresh and hoppy I couldn't believe the difference! Jolly Pumpkin makes beers that I couldn't care less about, but lots of others really enjoy them. Sometimes a really good beer just doesn't do it for you.

 

Starts with a solid recipe. Then fresh ingredients & good sanitation.

Biggest improvement for me was fermentation temperature control.

I had a good handle on the first 3, but that last one definitely took MY beers from "good" to "wow!"

I haven't even started on water chemistry, and may not at all. May be my beers are "wow!" enough as they are

 

I haven't done all grain brewing yet, but it's on the near horizon so I've been reading extensively on it. I kind of figured water chemistry was a fundamental part of it. I also assumed (you know what that gets you) that my chemist friend would be highly attuned to that when brewing since it's right in his wheelhouse.

I know that water chemistry and mash temps will be an initial focus.

I'm curious to know more about fermentation temps and their impact since it's mentioned multiple times and I don't recall reading that precise control was a big deal. I typically ferment in my basement which runs about 62 year around.

 

Your basement may be 62°, but fermentation generates heat, so your beer may be several degrees warmer and fluctuating.

Control will mean the fermentation takes place at whatever YOU decide, not the yeast

 

+1 !

Especially active fermentation temp control and water chemistry, as you might have the others decently in hand if you're making OK beer..

 

Yes. Its simple, but not quick or easy. It wont happen your next brew, and the more often you do it the better/more consistent your practices will become. Two main factor groups are your processes and your controls. In this example processes are things that you do, controls are things your equipment does for you. It really all comes down to learning and practicing.

Processes:
Hitting expected mash temp
Hitting expected water mineral profile and PH
Ingredient preparation/storing
Wort handling
Transferring practices
Yeast handling
Sanitization/cleaning practices
Recipe Creation/ingredient selection
Kegging/bottling practices

Control:
Fresh ingredients
Mash insulation
Measurement
Heat distribution in boil kettle
Whirlpool equip
Chilling equip
Yeast health control pre/post pitch
Temperature control on fermentation is crucial unless you learn how to brew styles to season well

These are a few things that will put you well on your way to wow beer. Don't believe its so difficult to make amazing beer at home because one friend brews stuff that doesn't wow you, maybe it's just not suited to your taste. Many home-brewers would probably agree that they can make batches at home that taste/smell better than most commercial examples. I'm not saying that home-brewers are better or more knowledgeable than commercial brewers. I'm just saying home-brew can seriously kick ass just like top tier commercial brews.

 

I actually think most homebrewers can and do brew 'WOW' beers......the problem is they just can't help themselves and then go dry hop it with weird crap or add something bizarre to the boil or just decide they don't feel like sanitizing their bottling bucket that particular day.

 

Let’s face it, it doesn’t take long for most of us to get the fundamentals down—cleaning, proper yeast pitching, fermentation temp control, water—to the point where we can churn out a quality brew no problem at all. And by quality, I mean in the sense that it tastes clean and free of glaring process-related flaws and off-flavors. Let’s call this the “plateau of promising mediocrity.”

One thing I’ve noticed in this hobby, though, is a lot of homebrewers seem obsessed with trying to improve their beer beyond the above-mentioned plateau by means of small process tweaks, new gadgets, and things that frankly don’t matter all that much.

Those new heights are going to remain elusive if your strategy for improvement consists of buying a pH meter (even though you already start with RO water and Bru N Water calculations) or buying an oxygenation stone, or trying multi-step mashes, or trying gelatin finings, or countless other pedantic and esoteric things we so love to discuss on these forums.

If your core process is sound, none of these things are going to get you measurably closer to the “wow” factor, especially if you’re churning out brew after brew that is completely different from anything you’ve done prior, without ever settling in on a few recipes that you really like and gradually tweaking them bit by bit until you zero in on your version of perfection—a little more of this, a little less of that, maybe pale malt from this maltster instead of the other, different hops, etc.

It took me a long time to really realize this, but now I’m a huge believer: the best process and best gear in the world are not going to magically take a ho-hum recipe and turn it into a beer that blows your hair back. In other words, going from good to great comes from finely tuned recipes, executed with quality ingredients--period.

 

@SoggyWood Man I just had an amazing IPA and decided that the flavor from more than substantial dry hops thus far had faded a bit, revealing a bit more ibus than I prefer. Solution: add more dry hops. Well apparently it doesn't always work like that haha, still tasty, lots of pineapple and grapefruit from the citra/cascade/amarillo, juicy, but damn if dry hops can't add IBUs. Its a turbid oil slick of hops now haha. Sometimes you just need to know when to stop yourself. My burps taste amazing though:rockin:.

 

I agree with you here, but its obvious you need equipment to accomplish any process in brewing. Equipment alone cant make your beers amazing... it can make them acceptably mediocre, unless you happened to draft an amazing recipe right off the bat and already had enough experience to use your equipment properly. Then it becomes "do I have enough experience to replicate this or improve on it."

I believe experience will trump equipment every time, but I also believe equipment will help to improve control over your product and result in consistently better beers.

That being said, some equipment is backwards, wasteful, or truly just unnecessary to make great beer. Just as each brewer has control over their recipe and process, a part of their personal success will be reflected in how they select their gear and the perceivable value they got from their decisions.

 

Adding another vote to this for the WOW factor..One other key when building an award winning recipe(s): KEEP IT SIMPLE when starting out with recipes!
Don't try to brew an award winning raspberry chocolate coffee chili whatchamacallit and then get upset when its turns out like **** even though you have never brewed a basic beer recipe before.

The best beers in the world took time and alot of trial and error to become what they are today. I see way too many homebrewers jump in and start getting nuts with recipes and ingredients when they have never bothered with mastering a basic base beer recipe to build on.

I liken it to tossing **** on the wall to see what sticks..the only thing that happens when you do this is that you make a stinking mess.

Read up on beer base grains/crystals/specialty malts so you know what you are putting into your beer..too many folks have no idea what grains they are adding into their recipe when building a recipe..its a "Toss it in until you hit the style profile" with no regard to how that specialty malt will impact the flavor profile or if you are adding too much crystal to the beer, etc.

Master a base beer recipe for the style you like, then introduce small changes to see how the beer changes..you will be surprised at how little changes like mash temp/swapping out one of the grains or hop schedules can alter a beer from batch to batch...this is where you master your craft with dialing in your beer that becomes that "WOW!" beer when others drink it.

Bottom line, keep it simple, education yourself on all aspects of beer making/ingredients and keep everything CLEAN and brew, brew, brew, brew again (taking good brew logs so you can replicate/duplicate that batch you had that everyone loved).

That award winning WOW beer awaits.

:fro:

 

you are doing it wrong. the proper solution to your problem is to drink your beer faster, and brew a newer fresher one, so you get to it before the hops start to fade.

 

For me I have noticed my tastes have changed since getting into homebrewing. Starting out the vast majority of commercial craft beers were "wow" to me and my homebrew was "pretty good".

Now the vast majority of commercial craft beers get a "pretty good" score from me. Even some of the same beers that I originally though were fantastic are now frequently just pretty good on a retry. And quite a few commercial craft beers I've tried have noticeable flaws. I doubt the overall quality of craft beer has gotten worse over last five years. I suspect instead I have changed and become more critical.

I do like the majority of my homebrew better than the majority of commercial beer I try now.

 

i personally find a lot of my beers make me (and my wife and beer-nerd friends) say WOW, but I brew pretty simple stuff. I start with a basic proven recipe. I may tweak it slightly after the first time for my preferences, but I don't feel any need to reinvent the wheel every single time. I pretty much want my bavarian hefeweizen to taste like an authentic one (only fresher) every single time I make it, so I only make it one way.... and I love it that way.

Homercidal's list is imho the right answer. A few things, all of which you can control. do those. enjoy the results.

 

Tweaking my water chemistry was what did it for me. From the very beginning I had solid all-grain recipes, ferm temp control, always made starters, and proper sanitation, but I wouldn't say my beers were wow-worthy most of the time. It was only after I began adding minerals to my water and managing pH that my brews went from good enough to consistently very good.

 

same here. and while I haven't tried tons of other people's homebrew, the majority that I have tried from serious homebrewers (members of a club, for example) have been every bit as good as mine, and as good as good commercial versions.

 

Temperature control is one of the essential components of making good beer. Now, if your basement is really a steady 62F yearround, how much do you want for it? Just put your fermentor in a cheap rope tub and fill it with water. The added thermal mass and conductivity will keep your fermenting temperatures a lot more steady. It isn't true temperature control, but it costs next to nothing and will have a noticeable impact.

 

Everything everyone has mentioned but the MAJOR over looked thing people forget is practicing your art! Its so obvious but you have to mess up to learn and you have to learn to get better.

 

I 100% agree. The more you brew, the more you read, the better you will get every time. This is coming from someone who doesn't have a lot of experience, but the benefits are magnified even more due to that. Take what you've learned and make it like muscle memory. That being said, sometimes you might have to unlearn stuff; we can't really know anything until we know everything so were always evolving.

 

practice. making beer

that just keeps getting more awesome the more I think about it.


I didn't mention equipment before, because I don't think it has much to do with brewing WOW beer. the top 2 brewers in our brew club each have radically different equipment; the top one brewing in a DIY converted cooler mashtun (stained from years of use & yes, he cleans it) the 2nd brewing on a PicoBrew

my first WOW beer was extract with steeping grains, but it was also my first temperature controlled batch.

the fact you can make WOW beer from extract is excellent proof equipment is nearly irrelevant

 

Mash PH is probably more important than exact mash temperature as long as you are in the ballpark for temperature.

As far as fermentation temp goes there is more to do with it than just being in the ballpark. Raising the temperature after peak fermentation is important for the yeast to clean things up. Typically basement temps will vary a little throughout the day which can be problematic for yeast. You really don't want to have the temperature go down during active fermentation as this will slow down or even worse shock the yeast which can result in them not cleaning up as much.

To make a wow beer requires mastering every step of the process, and really setting the stage for the yeast to have their best environment for fermentation. I view the yeast as an army. I don't want a bunch of old weak geezers on my front line. I need young healthy guys ready to kick ass. This is where yeast starters and oxygenation of wort come into play.

Oxygen exposure after fermentation is complete is a huge factor for retaining hop aroma and flavor. I've brewed so many beers that are popping with hop aroma/flavor the first few days or week and lose that wow factor fairly quickly. I recently brewed a Pliny the younger clone and am quite disappointed in it. The recipe called for 4 separate dry hop additions, and I think opening the fermenter and removing/adding new dry hop bags let in too much oxygen. I'll stick with my normal single dry hop addition going forward.

There has also been a lot of talk about LODO brewing, which suggests that beers won't be a wow beer unless you minimize oxygen exposure during the entire process.

Over the years I have made changes to my process. The things that had the most impact have been:
1. Fermentation temperature control.
2. Yeast starters and oxygenating wort.
3. Water chemistry. Certain styles just won't pop if you don't manipulate your water chemistry.

As others have mentioned, this is a very subjective thing. I've had beers that wow upon first try and never have that same affect later. I remember the first time I had a marzen and was blown away by how wonderfully malty it was. I have never had a beer like that since. Tried brewing some before I started messing with water chemistry and they were all harsh and astringent. Need to try it again now that I use RO water and build up my water profiles. I also find that so many of the breweries here in San Diego put out mediocre beer. So few have beer that wows me, and several breweries can't brew consistently good beer batch to batch.

 

If we're listing the little things that can have big impact, let me add pH control. It made a world of difference in my beer.

 

Wow beers come from brewers who know what their ingredients contribute to the beer. Process, sanitation, etc. have to be there first but adding temp control to your fermentation does not make up for choosing the wrong materials to make the beer that you want.

Everybody pretty much goes through the noobie blues - things like adding sugar to jack up alcohol, trying grains because you like the name (special B anybody?), trying to make the most extreme imperial IPA everrrr!!

I have been brewing beer for over 20 years and I'm still learning. One of the things that I did way back was to make the same style beer over and over. I liked Belgians so I made tripels one after the other. That let me indulge in the noobie fascination with high alcohol, and that style is well suited to extracts. At the same time I tried every Belgian beer that I could to try so as to understand what was best and worst about each brand.

After a couple of years I learned that for me that the simpler the grain bill, the better the beer. I moved on to all grain and now tend to make simple beers - Czech style pilsners, Irish stouts, Octoberfest/Marzens - these are my favorite beers to drink so I know the most about how they should taste.

I will say this over and over - the best way to up your brewing game is to join a brewclub and taste other people's beer and have them taste yours.

Trying to learn to brew on your own is like learning sex without a partner - and there's a name for that!

 

"Wow" is a pretty subjective blurt, I dont find many commercial beers are "wow"

 

Lots of great information above. It can be overwhelming at one level, but let me suggest something.

Try, every time you brew, to do something better. Every time. I've been following a mantra of "continuous quality improvement" as I've brewed, and it's made a big difference, IMO. I've controlled ferm temperature better (really very well, actually), my process is getting better and better. I do everything I can to avoid exposure to oxygen post-fermentation while packaging, and I'm almost nuts about sanitation.

Continuous quality improvement. Every time. Do that and focus on where you want to be a year from now--and you'll get there.

 

I'm not anywhere near "wow" yet, and not sure I'll get there because I'm not disciplined enough to do what needs to be done:

• Pick a style of beer appropriate for the water and the temperature you have available. (make sure it's a style that you like
• Brew that same beer over over until you perfect it. Either adjust the process or adjust the recipe a little each time, but don't adjust both at the same time.

You might have to do a seasonal rotation of several beers, depending on the temperature of your basement. That's a time-honored practice (centuries)

I do pay attention to temperature and water, but I'm still brewing something totally different every time while also adjusting my process.

 

Easy...I'm already there!....I left a good beer on the counter last night and WOW! is it crappy today.

 

Every time I have approached a new brewing topic like fermentation temp control or water chemistry, my beer has gotten better. The changes that made the biggest difference were, in order:

Ferm temp control
Moving to AG
Mash pH control
Water mineral content control
Low-oxygen kegging practices

Honorable mention goes to better mash temp control. (I'm electric now, so it's a button push, which I love.)

The jury is still out on starters, honestly, though I usually do them anyway. Same with wort oxygenation. I oxygenate with o2 every time now, 'cuz I got the gear now ... but I can't be sure it helps the flavor. I expect this is more important for high gravity beer, which I have not yet tried.

My advice would be to pick something interesting off that list and learn the ropes, then go on to the next thing.

I may be in the minority but now that I've learned the basics of these "advanced" brewing methods, I won't brew without them... well, except starters sometimes!

I'm not saving any time, but I am making better beer.

 

OK, so there's a lot of talk about fermentation temperature control. It seems like the number one process related factor. OK, I'm becoming convinced I need to work on that since I just set my fermentor in a cool dark spot of my basement and let it go. This naturally drives some follow up questions:

What are the cost effective ways to control ferm temp?
Assuming you attain a high level of control, for what temp(s) are you striving and why?

Having control does you no good if you don't know what to do with it. I find this fascinating since the reading I've done is always along the lines of ferment between x and y with the range typically being around 10 degrees.

 

The most cost effective is to just brew beers that work with the temperature you have -- for example, saisons and wheat beers in the summer, lagers in the winter.

The next-cheapest is to use an insulated tub or box and bottles of ice to keep your beer cool for the first few days of fermentation, then you can let it rise after that.

You can buy a new small chest freezer for a little over $100. That and an Inkbird controller and you can accurately control temperature for things like lagering.

I'm using the first method. (no control, just pay attention to the temperature)

 

I'm using BrewPi (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=466106) with a donated fridge

parts cost me <$70, with the added bonus of web access and data logging

I LOVE IT.

 

chest freezers with a temp controller work great, especially the inkbirds that have cooling and heating temperature control. place a light bulb in a paint can or similar and set inside the freezer. you can maintain a cool fermentation temp and easily raise the temp at the end for a diacetyl rest. or easily cold crash. or hold a super high temp for a saison or belgian beer. you can even use it as a lagering chamber for weeks on end.

 

I have a 16 cu ft upright freezer with a thermostat for my beer fridge. I used to use it for everything, but that meant when I was fermenting a lager at 50F, everything in my fridge was at 50, which is really not bad, because really any decent beer should be good to drink at that temp anyway, but then I ran into problems with what do I do when I want to ferment one lager at 50 and lager another at 32? Conundrum.

So until I pick up a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber (I haven't yet mainly because of space considerations), I use the Brewjacket Immersion. It's hardly the most cost-effective answer, because it isn't cheap, but it works like a charm and doesn't take up much space. Also, the new version (Pro) can both heat and cool, which helps when your basement is cold but you need warmer fermentation. They recently added a corny keg lid to their compatible lids, so I've got one of those on order now.

 

For okay to wow:
I'm there about 50% of the time, and the times I don't get "wow" are usually due to experimentation.
That has come about with the following changes over the last few years:

• going all-grain. There's no way around this. Sure, you can make a decent dark beer or IPA with extract and grains because you are masking the extract with dark malts or hops
• fermentation temperature control - it's been mentioned over and over, but its importance cannot be overstated
• focusing on classic lagers with simple grain bills. They force discipline and attention to detail, because there is nothing to hide behind. They make you bring your A-game.

I think mash pH and water treatment are details that collectively with other details can incrementally improve your brew, but for most people they are not nearly as important as the other fundamentals. I know this is going to get a bunch of comments saying I'm wrong, but there are far more important things to focus on first unless you are using bad water to begin with (yes, I am lucky in that my tap water is actually very good for brewing, but you can buy 5 gallon bottles of spring water if your water sucks and you don't want to deal with RO).