Brewbuilt X3 opinions/reviews or suggested upgrade?

[Art2019]

You've been brewing and drinking beer that you don't care for the taste of for 10+ years?

I would start from the beginning - buy a one gallon extract kit and brew it with distilled water. See if that has the same off flavor.

1) It gave me the results I was looking for the "big beer buzz" plus I didn't know the difference of flavor when I started. Just thought that's how homebrews tasted, until I tasted a Hefeweizen & Blue Moon clone & they didn't taste much more differnt than each other. Tried a Guiness clone, didn't come close to Guiness. It's not awful flavor, just not a great flavor as with the other brews I've made.

2) Won't buy a gallon extract kit. It's a waste of money so I'll just change my process.

 

[Art2019]

If you're brewing extract and you have RO then you should brew with RO.


Certainly not an issue topping off at the start, but adding more water during fermentation will dilute and oxidize your beer.

I fill conical to 5.5 gals before pitching. I'm just going to stop reusing the trub liquid (which requires opening lid).

 

[Bobby_M]

There's a lot here to digest and I've tried to read it all but I'll just start with some general feedback.

There are thousands of homebrewers, including myself and almost all my friends, that brew beer that is at least as good as commercial beer. We should be fighting hard to erase the concept of inferior "homebrew". Sticking with extract brewing, here are the ways I'd immediately improve your process:

1. Start with Distilled or RO water.
2. After the grain steeping process, add more water to reduce the boil concentration. If your kettle is too small to be able to do this, a larger pot will help you.
3. If you must keep the boil smaller/concentrated, add half of the malt extract in the last 5 minutes.
4. Double check the packaging/best by dates on liquid malt extract if you're buying kits. If you buy ingredients ala carte based on recipes, switch to 100% DRY extract. It has better shelf life.
5. Use yeast pitch calculators to ensure you're using enough yeast.
6. Keep your hands off the fermenter until bottling day. Dumping trub out of a fermenter without the ability to back feed it with CO2 is counter productive. That is, whatever damage may occur from leaving trub in contact with the beer for a few extra days pales in comparison to pulling oxygen into the fermenter.
7. Keep your ales fermenting in the upper 60's for the first few days at least.

Even if you do a few of those, you should see improvement.

 

[mac_1103]

Won't buy a gallon extract kit. It's a waste of money

Brewing five gallons of bad beer is a waste of even more money.

 

[Art2019]

There's a lot here to digest and I've tried to read it all but I'll just start with some general feedback.

There are thousands of homebrewers, including myself and almost all my friends, that brew beer that is at least as good as commercial beer. We should be fighting hard to erase the concept of inferior "homebrew". Sticking with extract brewing, here are the ways I'd immediately improve your process:

1. Start with Distilled or RO water.
2. After the grain steeping process, add more water to reduce the boil concentration. If your kettle is too small to be able to do this, a larger pot will help you.
3. If you must keep the boil smaller/concentrated, add half of the malt extract in the last 5 minutes.
4. Double check the packaging/best by dates on liquid malt extract if you're buying kits. If you buy ingredients ala carte based on recipes, switch to 100% DRY extract. It has better shelf life.
5. Use yeast pitch calculators to ensure you're using enough yeast.
6. Keep your hands off the fermenter until bottling day. Dumping trub out of a fermenter without the ability to back feed it with CO2 is counter productive. That is, whatever damage may occur from leaving trub in contact with the beer for a few extra days pales in comparison to pulling oxygen into the fermenter.
7. Keep your ales fermenting in the upper 60's for the first few days at least.

Even if you do a few of those, you should see improvement.

This helps greatly, thanks so much! I'm looking for a minifridge my conical will fit in at the moment. Like I've mentioned earlier, have been brewing extracts for about 10 yrs now & just thought the "off flavor" was the signature of homebrew & never pursued, until I started brewing clones that tasted nothing like the commercial brews. My brews are always cloudy, you think the main reason is not proper cooling during fermentation? This was one of the reasons for more than once I empty the trub ball. I'm thinking I'm also removing the other debris.

Do you all grain or extract, mostly? This was difficult to get a good process down.

 

[Bobby_M]

This helps greatly, thanks so much! I'm looking for a minifridge my conical will fit in at the moment. Like I've mentioned earlier, have been brewing extracts for about 10 yrs now & just thought the "off flavor" was the signature of homebrew & never pursued, until I started brewing clones that tasted nothing like the commercial brews. My brews are always cloudy, you think the main reason is not proper cooling during fermentation? This was one of the reasons for more than once I empty the trub ball. I'm thinking I'm also removing the other debris.

Do you all grain or extract, mostly? This was difficult to get a good process down.

I switched to all grain brewing about 17 years ago, but honestly the benefits of the changes in my list would improve the beer regardless of the wort production method.

1. Start with Distilled or RO water.
5. Use yeast pitch calculators to ensure you're using enough yeast.
6. Keep your hands off the fermenter until bottling day. Dumping trub out of a fermenter without the ability to back feed it with CO2 is counter productive. That is, whatever damage may occur from leaving trub in contact with the beer for a few extra days pales in comparison to pulling oxygen into the fermenter.
7. Keep your ales fermenting in the upper 60's for the first few days at least.

Another way to approach it is that simply switching to all grain brewing on the hot side would still leave some problems on the cold side.

 

[Art2019]

I switched to all grain brewing about 17 years ago, but honestly the benefits of the changes in my list would improve the beer regardless of the wort production method.



Another way to approach it is that simply switching to all grain brewing on the hot side would still leave some problems on the cold side.

What do you use for clarifying? I used irish moss & it helped a little, not much.
Also, I found a temp controller when I get the fridge - inkbird digital controller-itc-308. Have you ever heard of it?

 

[mac_1103]

inkbird digital controller-itc-308. Have you ever heard of it?

Heard of it? He'll sell you one.

The ITC-308 is a very popular controller.

 

[Bobby_M]

What do you use for clarifying? I used irish moss & it helped a little, not much.
Also, I found a temp controller when I get the fridge - inkbird digital controller-itc-308. Have you ever heard of it?

I use a whirlfloc tablet which is slightly more effective than just irish moss by itself. A lot of clarity issues can be cleared up by refrigerating the bottles as long as you can after you verify carbonation.

 

[Art2019]

I use a whirlfloc tablet which is slightly more effective than just irish moss by itself. A lot of clarity issues can be cleared up by refrigerating the bottles as long as you can after you verify carbonation.

I keg but got your point. I used to bottle when I first started but it's seems easier to keg.

 

[Bobby_M]

Leave the beer cold in the keg as long as you can stand not to drink it.
You can add finings to the keg such as gelatin or commercial products like Biofine.
Floating diptube in the keg, dispenses from just under the surface where the beer is clearest, not at the bottom where all the sediment collects.

 

[Art2019]

Leave the beer cold in the keg as long as you can stand not to drink it.
You can add finings to the keg such as gelatin or commercial products like Biofine.
Floating diptube in the keg, dispenses from just under the surface where the beer is clearest, not at the bottom where all the sediment collects.

MLeave the beer cold in the keg as long as you can stand not to drink it.
You can add finings to the keg such as gelatin or commercial products like Biofine.
Floating diptube in the keg, dispenses from just under the surface where the beer is clearest, not at the bottom where all the sediment collects.

That's the 1st time I've heard about a floating diptube for a keg? I'll look,into it. Thanks!

 

[Art2019]

That's the 1st time I've heard about a floating diptube for a keg? I'll look,into it. Thanks!

was thinking of using my 5 gallon carboy that fits in my chest freezer for brewing (havent used since getting conical that is too large). Are you aware of a bung that fits a airlock AND thermowell for temp control? Havent seen anything & unsure if there's enough room for something like this.

 

[Deadalus]

was thinking of using my 5 gallon carboy that fits in my chest freezer for brewing (havent used since getting conical that is too large). Are you aware of a bung that fits a airlock AND thermowell for temp control? Havent seen anything & unsure if there's enough room for something like this.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/tw15-stopper.htm

Or you could make your own.

 

[Art2019]

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/tw15-stopper.htm

Or you could make your own.

That's true. All it takes is a drill, right? Wasn't sure if the bung would be compromised or not

 

[Whisky River]

You might think about just getting a fermenting bucket. It’s about as compact a fermenter as you can get and it’s cheap, easy and readily available.

 

[Bobby_M]

was thinking of using my 5 gallon carboy that fits in my chest freezer for brewing (havent used since getting conical that is too large). Are you aware of a bung that fits a airlock AND thermowell for temp control? Havent seen anything & unsure if there's enough room for something like this.

Just tape the probe to the side of the carboy and cover with some bubble wrap.

 

[Art2019]

Just tape the probe to the side of the carboy and cover with some bubble wrap.

Could do that but thought it needed to be inside center of carboy (brew) for accurate temp, no? I've been doing this wrong for 10 yrs so wanted to get fresh start on right path this time.

 

[Art2019]

You might think about just getting a fermenting bucket. It’s about as compact a fermenter as you can get and it’s cheap, easy and readily available.

I already have the 2 buckets I started with but want to see how the carboy works out.

 

[Whisky River]

I already have the 2 buckets I started with but want to see how the carboy works out.

Then, good luck.

 

[Deadalus]

That's true. All it takes is a drill, right? Wasn't sure if the bung would be compromised or not

You need to take a short piece of SS tubing and sharpen one end on a bench grinder or maybe use a Dremel even. That'll go in the drill. Won't work with regular bits AFAIK. The stopper needs to be clamped down. And you need a thermowell. I made a couple myself so I bought a set of a few. I think the sharpened SS tubing diameter should be the same size or perhaps slightly less than the diameter of the thermowell. Or just buy one with both pieces. I prefer the thermowell because it's easiest. I don't like fussing with keeping it on the outside.

 

[Art2019]

You need to take a short piece of SS tubing and sharpen one end on a bench grinder or maybe use a Dremel even. That'll go in the drill. Won't work with regular bits AFAIK. The stopper needs to be clamped down. And you need a thermowell. I made a couple myself so I bought a set of a few. I think the sharpened SS tubing diameter should be the same size or perhaps slightly less than the diameter of the thermowell. Or just buy one with both pieces. I prefer the thermowell because it's easiest. I don't like fussing with keeping it on the outside.

Alot of what I read, they say use a thermowell tube for the probe, put it in a silicone tube to sealwrap probe, or just use plumbers putty for probe, which I don't think I'll do.
The stopper I have already doesn't have much room for anything except the airlock.

I'm just glad I'm getting some good input here to finally do this right. I was brewing constantly until I moved north of where I'm at now & did nothing. Now I'm starting to really wonder why mine doesn't seem right. Now I found out my process has been screwed up.