An elusive goal

[brick_haus]

I've been brewing for 2 1/2 years. I brew a 10 gallon all grain batch every four weeks on average and have since day one. Thats alot of beer.
My beers were pretty good in the beginning, or so I thought, then I started noticing undesireable characteristics. Too sweet, fruity esters, harsh lingering bitterness etc.
I actually stopped brewing for about 3-4 months almost giving up on making the perfect beer. Tried everything that I knew (or thought I knew) to brew these beers without the aforementioned characteristics. But my stubborn need to succeed prevailed. I started reading everything that I could find, this time with an open mind, to gain enough knowledge to overcome my inadequacies. I was reading stuff that I couldn't yet comprehend, but it's now all starting to come together for me.
I rarely give my beer to anyone because it does not completely meet my standards. I dont want people to not like it! Usually just drink it myself and with my wife, who loves it. Everyone that I have given some to, or shared it with at my home, have raved about it ( I attribute it to the novilty factor). When christmas comes, they would be dissappointed if I didnt bottle up a couple and present them with a gift basket with a couple of home brews. But in my mind, it's not worthy of being a "gift". I hear things like " you should open up your own brewery, blah blah blah... Novices...

My brewing skills are improving with my new found knowledge for pitching rates, pitching and fermentation temps,water chemistry etc. But I am still feeling like its not quite there.

After all of this (thanks for reading this far), I am wondering if any of you all have the same problem, thinking that your beer is not quite what you want it to be? Can you share it without worrying that it wont be liked? Is it good enough? Even for your own satisfaction?

Will it ever be good enough?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

We are our own worste critics. As our knowledge evolve so does our perception of nuanced flaws. The gifted have no preconception of what the beer was meant to be, and most were unaware that beer could be so varied.

 

[Zwerski]

I'm pretty shy about sharing my brews, after only 15 months' experience, although almost everyone with whom I've shared my (carefully selected) stuff with has returned positive reviews. My wife actually requested a special batch be made for a family-and-friends get together for her birthday, and she's brutally honest when it comes to my beer, which I appreciate.

I'm right there with you man.

 

[Magnus314]

Anytime I start doubting my beers' quality, I just drink one next to a similar commercial example...

... always makes me feel better about mine!

 

[b-boy]

Throw a party. Invite a bunch of people and offer them your homebrew as well as some regular stuff. Count the cans at the end of the night. I bet you have a lot of leftover BMC.

 

[sputnam]

so, you've brewed less than 30 batches after 2.5 years? My advice, drop down to 5 gallon batches and brew more often. I do 3 gallon and just finished my 44th batch in 15 months. The majority of my beers are great and the majority of the ones that aren't are due to the fact that I'm not a huge fan of that particular style.
Also, you haven't provided any info on your brewing technique....AG or extract? do you have good temp control? where do your recipes come from? how long do you wait from grain to glass? do you use enough yeast? how quickly can you cool your wort? at what temp do you pitch yeast? do you bottle or keg? tons of variables

 

[brick_haus]

Throw a party. Invite a bunch of people and offer them your homebrew as well as some regular stuff. Count the cans at the end of the night. I bet you have a lot of leftover BMC.

Done this a few times. Everyone usually brings a 12 pack or so for themselves...My wife and I usually drink the leftovers the following days, the kegs are usually kicked...

I tend to make excuses before they drink from the kegs, telling them what I think is wrong with the flavor. It seems that most people enjoy it.

 

[CJ-3]

I share every batch with my friends. The one thing I tell them is to be honest with me because it will help me to make better beer. It did take a while, but after the first one gave me a small criticism and the world didn't fall apart they are now open with comments.

Biggest comment so far is my kast few are lacking in head retention. Usung some carapils un my next batch to see if it helps.

 

[kh54s10]

I am not great at detecting or describing flavors (on or off). I have given a lot of my beers away and get rave reviews.

I buy commercial beers (research) and like them less than my own.

So, no I do not share the problem.
I have not done any water analysis or correction, just filtered tap water through a charcoal filter. Most of my beers are great.

 

[Braufessor]

Throw a party. Invite a bunch of people and offer them your homebrew as well as some regular stuff. Count the cans at the end of the night. I bet you have a lot of leftover BMC.

This^^^^

Overall, your story sounds similar to mine. I started brewing 18 years ago. Thought my beer was really good at first....... but it wasn't - ugly baby syndrome. Got busy, demoralized for a time and quit brewing. Reinvested myself in learning, reading, etc and got going again. Beer was better, but I was still pretty critical of it and I know it was not "great." Continued to learn and my beers got better and more consistent. Like you and others - pitching rates, temp. control, better sanitation, water adjustment all started to make a big difference. Entered comps to get unbiased feedback..... I feel like that feedback helped me go from "decent" to "good" to sometimes "great" beer. Still not perfect - but consistently really good. Some mediocre batches and failures from time to time. But, I also don't think I (or anyone) will arrive at "perfect."

Probably one of the best indicators of my improvement as a brewer as I reflect on it is, as bboy mentioned, having parties. I host a few a year of varying sizes. I always keep alternative beverages on had (BMC/pop/water/mixers, etc.) The more recent parties I have found that 10-20 gallons of homebrew is getting drank. I end up with coolers full of the BMC and other beverages I bought to have on hand, and people are leaving behind the 6 packs that they brought along. The upside - seems to indicate folks have enjoyed my beer. Downside - a fridge full of BMC, Blue Moon, Shock Top, etc

To your specific question - I can now share it pretty confidently with others. The biggest issue usually is the simple fact that most people don't like a "Style" of beer. You can have the best IPA in the world, but is someone hates "bitter" beers..... they are not going to "like" it. I am very happy with my beer and love to drink it. I think (and input from others) it is generally quite good. But, it is not perfect and I can't say that I am "satisfied." I am still trying to improve and brew something even better than the last time. And, to get to the point where all my beers are consistent from one batch to the next. I think you can be happy with your beer and still not be satisfied with where it is at - no matter how good it is.

 

[Legume]

Aside from my love of beer, what keeps me continuing to brew is my love of learning and process improvement.

I see many flaws in my beer, and I enjoy working to improve.
As my beer has improved I have gotten pickier, focusing on the ever smaller flaws; and looking to correct them.

Over time, this has led to much beter(although still flawed) beer and a much deeper understanding of beer.

I thouroughly enjoy learning and experimentation, If I ever thought my beer was "perfect", I would probably loose the motivation to continue brewing.

 

[madscientist451]

Its great to have goals but you have to define them so you have a target.
If you don't like the beer, you need to define what it is you don't like then you can figure what to do.
If you really want to find out if the beer is "good enough" join a local brewing club and/or enter your beer in competitions. The judging process in competitions is supposed to provide usable feedback for the brewer. It doesn't always work out that way, some judges are better than others, so don't get discouraged if you only enter one competition.
Maybe your beer is great and you are being too hard on your own beer.

 

[brick_haus]

so, you've brewed less than 30 batches after 2.5 years? My advice, drop down to 5 gallon batches and brew more often. I do 3 gallon and just finished my 44th batch in 15 months. The majority of my beers are great and the majority of the ones that aren't are due to the fact that I'm not a huge fan of that particular style.
Also, you haven't provided any info on your brewing technique....AG or extract? do you have good temp control? where do your recipes come from? how long do you wait from grain to glass? do you use enough yeast? how quickly can you cool your wort? at what temp do you pitch yeast? do you bottle or keg? tons of variables

Although slightly off topic, I will be happy to share my technique.
All grain.
I crush my own grain, and it's always fresh.
I use tap water after it has been run through my carbon filter to remove chlorine/chloramines. I also pre boil all water to precipitate the bicarbonates out of solution.
Water has a good chemical profile to start with (for style) but I usually bump up the chloride/sulfate ratio to 5:1 for IPA and 3:1 for PA. These are my usual styles until I get better at brewing, then I will expand my "menu".
My mast tun is a 15 gallon kettle on top of a Blichmann burner. I usually heat as needed to maintain mash temp and circulate constantly with the discharge slowly whirlpooling the mash without splashing etc.
Mash pH is one issue. Sometimes it is a bit low (4.8) but I'm working this out with flavorable results! I was adding calcium chloride and gypsum, now only gypsum. Less lingering bitterness now! Only that beautiful alpha acid bitterness that I so love...
My tap water is usually a little to warm, so, after the boil, I cool my wort by running it through a plate chiller then through a copper immersion coil submerged in ice water. Wort is 62*F when I pitch the starter, which is 1-2* cooler than the wort. This wort goes directly into the conical and into the fermentation chamber, where the temp is maintained at 64*F. The thermocouple is in a thermowell submerged in the wort.
Then, when fermentation is complete, usually (IPA) 1.072 OG to 1.014-1.018 FG, I pull the yeast from the conical and dry hop for a week or so.
Transferring to the kegs is next. I use nitrogen pressure in the conical to push it into nitrogen purged kegs. I then force carb after chilling.

I would like to obtain a lower FG if possible and I am now working on calculating the required pitching rates. I suspect that I am under pitching by a slight margin.
I would also like to get the IPA a bit dryer. I've been slowly lowering the mash temp (was 154 or so) to achieve this. Last two batches were 152 and 150 respectively. Both are still in the chamber. I am also considering adding corn sugar to the boil to achieve this, but I want to get my pitching rates calculation methods correct before I try this.
I brew only solid, proven recipes obtained from this site (thanks for sharing!).
I have finally got my process to the point that I can now begin noticing the effects that different grains, hops and temps impart on the finished product.

I want it to be perfect before I start handing out bottles! This may take awhile...

 

[b-boy]

The more recent parties I have found that 10-20 gallons of homebrew is getting drank. I end up with coolers full of the BMC and other beverages I bought to have on hand, and people are leaving behind the 6 packs that they brought along. The upside - seems to indicate folks have enjoyed my beer. Downside - a fridge full of BMC, Blue Moon, Shock Top, etc

You need a brother-in-law.

That's where all my BMC beer goes. Except for regular BUD. I keep that for myself. He'll take as much as I can give him.

 

[Braufessor]

I also pre boil all water to precipitate the bicarbonates out of solution.

Do you know what your starting Bicarbonate is? Boiling will not remove all of it and if it is really high, you could still be ending up with it a bit high which is not great in a hoppy beer. Mine is high, and I have found 90% RO water and Gypsum/CaCl additions to make a big difference for me.

Water has a good chemical profile to start with (for style) but I usually bump up the chloride/sulfate ratio to 5:1 for IPA and 3:1 for PA.

I assume the gypsum is the "5" in the ratio? What is the total sulfate? The total amt is critical.... the ratio is meaningless if the totals are not about right. I (personally) have found 275(ish) sulfate and 40-50 chloride to be good (talking IPA/DIPA here). Although I am going to do some experimenting to push the chloride up and also leave the sulfate where it is.

Mash pH is one issue. Sometimes it is a bit low (4.8)

4.8 is actually really low. 5.4 or so is the sweet spot for hoppy beers from my research and experience and opinions of quite a few.

This wort goes directly into the conical and into the fermentation chamber, where the temp is maintained at 64*F. ........Then, when fermentation is complete, usually (IPA) 1.072 OG to 1.014-1.018 FG, ......I would like to obtain a lower FG if possible

I have found that starting low on temp (60-62) and letting it rise to 64-66 for main ferment and then getting it to 68-70 right toward the end and for the last several days after active fermentation is done gets me a beer that will finish more in that 1.01-1.012 range. That temp bump at the end seems to keep the yeast going, but it is still low enough that you don't get any extra off flavors, etc.

I would also like to get the IPA a bit dryer. I've been slowly lowering the mash temp (was 154 or so) to achieve this. Last two batches were 152 and 150 respectively. Both are still in the chamber. I am also considering adding corn sugar to the boil to achieve this, but I want to get my pitching rates calculation methods correct before I try this.

In addition to the temp. suggestion above - I have found all of these to help as well, including .5-1lb of corn sugar in the boil. Repitching yeast, healthy yeast, active good sized starters are critical too.