Best brew yet

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

I bottled my clone of Anchor's Our Special Ale last night and tasted some. I think I just made my best brew of my career. This is only my 5th. It's the first one that doesn't have that off taste that all of my beer have had. I can't put my finger on it, but I finally brewed a beer without it. It was like a bitter taste but not a hoppy bitter taste.

I feel like it's a milestone because its the first beer that tastes like something you'd buy off the shelf. My last two have been good and I've had no problem drinking them but they just hadn't reached that level yet.

Sorry to have to brag on myself, but I'm pumped.

I'm not sure why the flavor was better because I did several things. I think it was from using a secondary. I also used liquid yeast, used a recipe instead of a kit, and steeped and sparged my specialty grains instead of just floating them in a cheesecloth bag.

 

[david_42]

You did four things that make for better beer and can't figure out which one made the difference? So, go back and make four batches and only change one thing at a time.

Actually, they all helped, so a pat on the back is in order.

 

[Shambolic]

Yay! I've had this experience too. My 6th brew was the first that really tasted like a genuinely good beer. Unfortunately I kind of stuffed up the priming, so it's a little under-carbonated.

However, I recently bottled my 7th, and it's the best thing I've ever tasted! Just waiting for it to bottle-condition now; hopefully my priming was all good this time.


So well done billybrew, and I know the feeling!!

 

[The Happy Mug]

House flavors are something that's hard to break away from. Once you figure out how to break the house flavors that you don't like, you're on your way. As a first batch without that flavor, think back to anything different. You did something different to break the chain.

Did you change anything in cleaning or sanitation? Do you sanitize the air when brewing, racking and bottling (using Oust air sanitiser or equivelant?)

Is there anything you changed from your previous batches, recipe-wise? Did you change anything, such as dry malt vs syrup or whole hops vs pellets, or dry yeast vs liquid cultures?

You've got to pin it down.

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

In my case, I feel pretty strongly that it was the secondary. I'll find out if it was the yeast on my next batch. I'm using dry this time.

 

[jaymack]

Kudos!

I know what you mean, brother. My first truly successful brew I was really happy with was a Brown Ale and what a difference! The trick now, I will attempt, is to re-create the exact brew.

 

[rhinostylee]

Yay! I've had this experience too. My 6th brew was the first that really tasted like a genuinely good beer. Unfortunately I kind of stuffed up the priming, so it's a little under-carbonated.

However, I recently bottled my 7th, and it's the best thing I've ever tasted! Just waiting for it to bottle-condition now; hopefully my priming was all good this time.


So well done billybrew, and I know the feeling!!

What made the difference? Maybe I can spare myself a few lost batches!

 

[Shambolic]

What made the difference? Maybe I can spare myself a few lost batches!

Well, I really revolutionised my brewing, so I think it was a combination of:
- Using specialty grain (crystal malt)
- Using more hops
- Having a secondary fermentation stage

BTW, my Lobrau Amber Ale (that 7th brew of mine) is now nicely carbonated in the bottles, and it's magnificent! Tastes exactly how I wanted it to - substantial but not-too-sweet malt taste balanced by lots of lovely hop flavour. Very happy...

 

[Gloworm]

I,ve found in the past that too high a strike temp for mashing & maybe as well, a too high temp for sparging gave a phenolic harsh flavour. I keep the mash strike temp to about 73c & this is OK.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Congrats...now, don't you wish you took better notes?

When I take notes I usually write down things I did as well as things I am thinking about doing.