Can I make good beer?

[Mrin]

Ok folks. I don't contribute much to this site but today I cracked open the last of my first batch of beer made over a year ago. Damn was it amazing.

Whenever I tell anyone I brew beer in my garage they always ask, "it is any good?" I always tell them that is better than good, it is great. They never believe me until the try some...

I've lost count of the batches I've made. Maybe 1.5 per month so far. With the exception of my first batch (a LBH extract porter kit), 90% of my batches are from HBT.

My set up is pretty simple. BIAB with 6 gallon carboys.

Seriously, every single brew i've done is as good if not better than what I'd buy in a store. So can you make good beer? Yes. You can make great beer.

I've been thinking about what the is the secret to my success. I think it is probably two things:

1. Following directions

2. Temperature control. I have a spot in my house that is a rock solid 68 degrees. It is one of those closets under the stairs. I put a remote thermometer in there and it just sits, rock steady at 68 degrees (unless I change the zone temp in my house). I think that's really the secret.

So, if you're not happy with your beer or just getting into the hobby, just go buy one of those weather stations with a remote thermometer and move it around you house day after day until you find a spot where 1) the temp is between 60 and 70 and 2) it never moves. Like flatline for days. That's where you need to ferment your beer.

Ok, that's my two cents!

Mrin

 

[Sadu]

I do agree with the sentiment, although while some of my brews have been stellar I wouldn't say every batch of mine has been better than store-bought. Well done if you are smashing out good batch after good batch :rockin:

Just to offer a different opinion though, the thing about following directions is that you need to know when to deviate from them. It's a bit like watching Jamie Oliver of TV making anything, and he pours $50 a bottle olive oil over everything then tells you how you should only use good quality olive oil. Do you crack out the good stuff or do you use that cheap all-purpose cooking oil that you have in the cupboard, knowing it's not going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things?

I pretty much use recipes and directions as a starting point now and adjust every recipe to suit local ingredients and what I have on hand. No way I'm dropping a $10 freight charge to get a special IPA yeast when I have perfectly good us-05 slurry in the fridge. Gotta say I have made plenty of mistakes by doing this but I record everything, learn something new every time and become a better brewer for it.

 

[popgunandy]

I love my beer, too. Is it as good as store bought? Yeah, I think so, but that's never the point with me...it's fun to make and it tastes good - I've been at it for nearly 30 years. But finding a great beer at the store or at a pub or restaurant is also fun.

And contrarian that I am, I think temperature control is overrated depending on the yeast you use and your expectations. Someday I will pay more attention to temperature but for now I just go at it and enjoy the process.

 

[skraeling]

When I bring my bottles or sometimes even my kegs to a party I preface any questions with..
"It might be good, but it's ... beer, free, and cold"

Temp control is underrated. If temp control didn't matter for microbiological growth of any nature... no one would do it. It removes a variable that Can affect your beer. It's my current favorite change that I've done lately. I wish I had done it sooner especially being in the Midwest where we can get rather cold and summers over a hundred. That puts even ales out of a good temp range even in my basement and then throw on an active respiration.

 

[davisc1513]

I agree with the good beer making. It's at least good enough for me! Haha. To me its a fun process more then anything. While I am very new to this, I am hooked and don't plan to quit.

 

[Sadu]

Temp control is so cheap and easy there is no reason not to do it. $10 aquarium heater (with built in thermostat) and a plastic bin, add frozen bottles twice a day while actively fermenting. I definitely rate this as important.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I really like making beer. I've made 9 batches. My beer has always been better than commercial to me, but 4 out of 5 of my last 5 batches are the first to be better than commercial if it is judged objectively. Temp control was the issue with the one that didn't turn out great. I was using S-04 which ferments hot and fast and it got up to 80 for about 2 hours. I kept one in the fridge for about 3 months and that one tasted really good. Thing is, I wouldn't want to drink more than a couple due to the fusals. Other errors I've made are using "one step" cleanser and sanitizer, watering down my beer to get more bottles and using ez-cap bottles without changing the gaskets every batch. I have my first all grain beer in the fermentor right now. It is a Christmas ale and I have high hopes it will turn out great. So much fun. I hope to crack my first one on Christmas eve.

 

[PADave]

So, if you're not happy with your beer or just getting into the hobby, just go buy one of those weather stations with a remote thermometer and move it around you house day after day until you find a spot where 1) the temp is between 60 and 70 and 2) it never moves. Like flatline for days. That's where you need to ferment your beer.

Or just set up a fermentation chamber and ferment in an area that's convenient and can be controlled. Most houses don't have a place that's going to be the same temp night and day, everyday. But I'll agree, temp. control makes a huge difference.

 

[PADave]

And contrarian that I am, I think temperature control is overrated depending on the yeast you use and your expectations. Someday I will pay more attention to temperature but for now I just go at it and enjoy the process.

Probably the single biggest and easiest way to increase the quality of your brews. Fermenting at the desired temp. and keeping the temp. consistent during fermentation eliminates so many variables. I didn't believe it either till I started doing it.

 

[Mrin]

The way I look at it is thusly - Imagine how a cake would turn out of your oven fluctuated between 300 - 450 degrees? Some people will disagree with that range but let's look at WLP-001. It has an optimum temperature range of 6 degrees (68-73 F) http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast-bank/wlp001-california-ale-yeast.

If you're bouncing around from 65 - 80 or just sitting static a good 5 degrees away from the min/max that's the equivalent of baking a cake at a drastically wrong temperature. Sure, you'll still get cake or beer, but it won't be the cake or beer that it could have been.

Even take a yeast with a big range like US-05. If you're bouncing around in that range the yeast will produce varied and not always welcome results.

I did a test with a buddy of mine. He had made a Mr. Beer kit and it turned out awful. He was still interested in the hobby so I invited him over for a brew day. We made a Maris Otter/Centennial SMASH with US-05. I filled up 2 one gallon carboys for him to take home and ferment himself. Mine turned out exactly was you would have expected. His batch turned out very different. Drinkable but definitely had an "off" flavor. The only difference between the two was the fermentation temp. Mine was at my rock steady 68 degrees. His was an interior closet where the temperature range bounced around.

Again, the oven matters.

Anyhow, as much as I'd like to take credit for making great beer. I've really come to the conclusion that it is my fermentation chamber/area that is the real hero.

That's my two cents. I understand that everyone might not be on board with how important temperature control is. That's cool. But for those of you aren't satisfied with your batches or aspire for more, the first thing you should do is make sure you have your temperature control dialed in.

Mrin

 

[laredo7mm]

...I have a spot in my house that is a rock solid 68 degrees. It is one of those closets under the stairs. I put a remote thermometer in there and it just sits, rock steady at 68 degrees (unless I change the zone temp in my house). I think that's really the secret...

But that rock steady air temp of 68° doesn't mean that your beer temp is staying at 68°. The beer temp is fluctuating since you are not doing anything to directly monitor it or control it.

Yes, its better than fermenting at 75° ambient air, but it still isn't really temperature control. Your example of the WLP001 temp range is perfect. If your ambient air temp is 68° during peak fermentation, your beer temp is probably over the 73° upper range that you mentioned.

 

[Mrin]

But that rock steady air temp of 68° doesn't mean that your beer temp is staying at 68°. The beer temp is fluctuating since you are not doing anything to directly monitor it or control it.

Yes, its better than fermenting at 75° ambient air, but it still isn't really temperature control. Your example of the WLP001 temp range is perfect. If your ambient air temp is 68° during peak fermentation, your beer temp is probably over the 73° upper range that you mentioned.

Oooh I hadn't thought that far through. So a fermentation chamber that adjusts the ambient to keep the beer constant... I don't know how I missed that before. There is even more to do.

 

[skraeling]

Oooh I hadn't thought that far through. So a fermentation chamber that adjusts the ambient to keep the beer constant... I don't know how I missed that before. There is even more to do.

You never want to base it on ambient temps. Those swing way way too quickly in my personal opinion.

You want the temp of the vessel itself as accurately as you can get it. Im not taking the temp of this setup from the room. You dont see the other 6 im helping run btw. These are 15L pierre guerrin fementors (sadly not for beer).

 

[casualbrewer]

It's the temperature of the beer that matters not the air. I use an old fridge with a temp controller to ferment in but I sick the probe on the side of my bucket and insulate it so it can read the beer temp better. As I make mainly lagers , this is imperative.

 

[Sailingeric]

It's the temperature of the beer that matters not the air. I use an old fridge with a temp controller to ferment in but I sick the probe on the side of my bucket and insulate it so it can read the beer temp better. As I make mainly lagers , this is imperative.

I do what you do, but I put my probe in the beer, it turns on the chest freezer/ ferm chamber in the summer and my heat belt in the winter- never a problem in almost two years of doing it that way.

 

[kh54s10]

I also work hard to control fermentation temperature. I have 2 chambers, one for lagers and one for ales. I usually look up the ideal temperature and keep the wort at just below the mid point. So 68 degrees ambient is too high for most of my beers. Control the wort temperature and your better than commercial beers will be even better!!