Better beer

[dave1984]

So I've been brewing for a few years now, currently I batch sparge, using a 50 qt cooler, brew pot is 10 gallon st ock pot no modifications.with a bayou burner. As for fermentation I have a ferm chamber I built out of a mini fridge and r board but lacks temp control,i just check on it frequently and it keeps things from getting too warm.

My question is what does everyone think would be the best place to start as far as gaining consistency in the whole overall process. Limited funds playing into the equation.
Would 3 vessel provide more control, an improved ferm. chamber with temp control. Would moving into electric add more precise temp control of mash while gaining the ability to brew indoors.

Overall what would be the best place to start upgrading?

 

[ianw58]

Temperature control.

Build a control with an STC-1000. It's cheap and there are plenty of threads to walk you through it.

It will kick your beers up at least an order of magnitude immediately.

It did mine!

 

[conneryis007]

temp control for that fermentation chamber. Get a dual controller that does heat and cold, to control the fridge and a small heat source inside of it to maintain exact temps. This is pretty cheap, and not hard to wire up.
Also the ability to make a starter for your yeast. Build a stir plate for cheap or buy a cheap aquarium air pump.

 

[Denny]

I've brewed 452 batches batch sparged in a cooler. If I thought that changing that would improve my beers, I would have switched years and hundreds of batches ago. Fermentation temp control is the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your beer.

 

[IL1kebeer]

Don't fiddle with anything until you have your fermentation locked in. A healthy fermentation makes the biggest difference in the final outcome of your beer... Unless you get an infection.

 

[ktblunden]

Yep, precise, accurate temperature control is the single greatest improvement you can make to the brewing process.

 

[The542]

Jumping in to echo everything above. Ferm temp control, stir plate, aeration.

All can be inexpensively done, all make all the difference in the world. If I still had to only pick one...ferm temp control.

Cheers

 

[Gameface]

The BIG 3

-- Pitch adequate quantities of healthy yeast

-- Aerate, preferably to 12ppm O2 (requires pure O2)

-- Control fermentation temps

If you do that you'll get consistently good results.

 

[dave1984]

Thanks for the replies. I ordered the project box and the controller last night, and will go from there!

 

[msa8967]

Do you know any thing about the chemistry and quality of the water you are using for brewing. I have very poor tap water and use reverse osmosis for brewing. I have recently started adding some brewing minerals to the water which has had big improvements on my end product. Check out Bru'n water for a spreadsheet if you are interested.

 

[dave1984]

I know very little about water chemistry,I purchased the ph strips for testing and the 5.2 buffer but that's about it. Only used once as kinda unsure as to what I was doing.

 

[masonsjax]

You can throw away the 5.2 stuff. For most situations, it does not work as advertised. Follow the water primer sticky in the brew science forum for simple, nearly fool proof water. Test strips are pretty unreliable for brewing for the most part too.

Here's the link: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

 

[Denny]

I know very little about water chemistry,I purchased the ph strips for testing and the 5.2 buffer but that's about it. Only used once as kinda unsure as to what I was doing.

Get your water tested, then get Bru'nwater to figure out what to do.

 

[ndsgr]

For me it was pure O2. I started doing temp control early on, so I can't independently say whether it helped by itself. I'm sure it did, just don't have data.

Oh, the other thing that helped a lot was to stop worrying about water. I used 5.2 (worst beers I've made), then started doing adjustments and had it down. It was a hassle though: Go out, buy distilled water, add measured amounts of a bunch of different chemicals, balance everything on the spreadsheet thinking about the style, stress about it, etc.

Now I get water from the carbon filter in the fridge (post water softener ) and maybe throw in some gypsum if it's going to be a hoppy beer. I've noticed zero change in mash efficiency and slightly better flavor, reinforced by better feedback and scores. I enjoy brew days a lot more and don't have to run to the store to buy a shopping cart full of water. So, based on my statistically insignificant data set, poor assumption of independence and anecdotal evidence, I say water chemistry is bunk.

*Disclaimer: My water tastes great even before the filter and the water report just says it's a bit on the hard side. Also, I've noticed no difference in head retention or any of the other "details" of the beer reported as side effects of a water softener.

 

[danbrewtan]

I will also repeat others: ferm temp! Even before going all grain. When refining a recipe, it's pointless to spend time/effort on all grain until you dial in your fermentation.


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