Most critical steps to produce the best tasting all grain beer?

[BigEasy43]

I know that all steps are important, but would like to know what are the most critical steps in the process to produce the best tasting beer? Name your top 3 to 5!!

 

[aspiffymofo]

Mash temp for sure, then pitching rate. But most of all... RDWHAHB.
I've messed up so many of my early beers by messing with them too much.. Adding hot/cold water to the mash because I was off a few degrees, and racking too many times. Now I don't worry about it.

Beersmith gets me close to the amount of water and temp I want to mash in at, I pour my grain into a cooler full of hot water, stir it, and verify the temperature is pretty even, then throw the lid on and go to the store, when I get back it's time to boil.

 

[mongoose33]

You're going to hear from far more experienced homebrewers than I, but here's what I've focused on as my all-grain brews have gotten better:

Mash Ph and Temperature

As little oxygen as possible after fermentation (I fill a keg w/ Star San, push it out with CO2, dump the minor amount of Star-san left, then run a line from the spout of the fermenter into a ball-lock disconnect connected to the "out" post--no exposure to oxygen except what minor amount remains in the keg, and the small amount coming into the fermenter as it drains).

I also double-crush.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Maintaining proper fermentation temp.

 

[brewmeister13]

Fermentation temperature, pitching sufficient/viable yeast, mash ph (hit that and most the rest of your ph will fall into line).

 

[d3track]

Clean

Sanitize

 

[enkamania]

Clean/sanitize
Fermentation temp control
water chemistry

 

[kh54s10]

For me it is Mash temperature, Proper sanitation, proper yeast pitching rate, Fermentation temperature control and careful handling of the beer post fermentation.

I have not paid any attention to pH and only just started looking at water chemistry... I must have really good water because it has never seemed an issue.

 

[MaryB]

Don't make more than 1 change to a recipe! Otherwise you have no clue what made the difference!

 

[bobo31]

water chemistry/ph

 

[YeastFeast]

1.) fermentation temp control
2.) sanitation
3.) yeast pitch rate
4.) mash temp
5.) grain crush

 

[Izzie1701]

Sanitation, sanitation, mash ph, mash Chem(started using RO water and salts and it made a huge difference) sanitation. Without sanitation any infected beer will be terrible. You can mess up other steps and still have drinkable beer. Mess up sanitation and it could be garbage.

 

[kombat]

Sanitation.
Pitching rate.
Fermentation temperature control.

 

[brewcat]

I'll add one I haven't seen yet:

Recipe formulation. It all starts with the recipe. Having a strong base recipe is key. It seems some get caught up in trying everything on one recipe which just muddles the flavor (whether grains, hops or both). Less is more.

 

[Natdavis777]

Water Chemistry (which leads to mash pH)
Fermentation temps
Correct pitch rates

 

[m00ps]

decoctions
anti-sweetness
zero boiling

 

[wobdee]

Low O2 throughout the whole process beginning to end

 

[alphaomega]

Sanitation.
Pitching rate.
Fermentation temperature control.

This is the exact thing I would say also.
Possible fourth would be quality ingredients.

 

[Yooper]

1. Proper mash conditions management (that is, proper mash pH and temperature)
2. Yeast health (proper pitching rate and fermenting at proper temperature)
3. Sanitation.

Those are the only three I can think of, but they are the most crucial.

 

[jcav]

I can say for me and what it took to get my beers to the level of "Wow you made this beer, this is something you would definitely get at a pub" is:

*R/O water (cause I have a well) and using the proper amount of salts.

*Mash Ph and I add lactic acid if necessary to get it there.

*Maintaining correct mash temp for the entire mash time.

*Making a yeast starter and pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast. We make the wort, the yeast make the beer.

*Maintaining correct fermentation temp for the yeast chosen.

John

 

[Casedeville]

1. Sanitation
2. Fermentation temperature control
3. Yeast starters or proper pitching rates
4. Recipe formulation (including fresh ingredient selection)
5. Minimizing oxygen after fermentation

 

[PeteNMA]

1) Keep your yeast happy - this means a regulated temperature environment (absolute temperature matters less than keeping it under control), a decent level of minerals (plenty of calcium, some yeast energizer if you are feeling flush) and a reasonable pitching rate

2) Mash mineralization and pH control - want a snappy pale ale or a nice smooth stout? Gotta get those water conditions in line and put your mash pH in a good place. Even the crappiest $10 pH meter from Amazon is a big step above no pH meter provided you calibrate it before you use it.

If you are using water with chlorine/chloramine make sure you are filtering it out.

3) Fresh ingredients. Either buy your own mill and crush your grains at time of use, or buy them crushed close to your brew day. Buy your hops in bulk at harvest times and keep them frozen and vacuum packed, invest in a vacuum sealer to keep them fresh after the first opening.

 

[BigEd]

decoctions
anti-sweetness
zero boiling

Huh?

 

[GnenieGone]

Fermentation temperature, pitching sufficient/viable yeast, mash ph (hit that and most the rest of your ph will fall into line).

Ditto! +1 for sanitation..4.

 

[BigEd]

I know that all steps are important, but would like to know what are the most critical steps in the process to produce the best tasting beer? Name your top 3 to 5!!

This is way too nebulous of a question. What are you making? Some beers are hop centered, some beers are malt centered. Which beer yours falls into has a lot to do with what is critical.

In general I'd say that the ingredients are important. You aren't going to change the flavors of the base ingredients much so make sure what you start with is fresh and tastes good, or at least like it's supposed to.

Pay attention to the instructions/details. The little things matter. Choose the appropriate ingredients for the style, have a good recipe, have the proper mash profile. Once this is done make sure you follow the instructions, hit the correct mash temperatures/times, and pay attention to the details.

Provide the correct environment for fermentation for the beer being brewed. Temperature is critical. The yeast is making your beer, you are only making yeast food. Make sure the proper environment is created for the yeast to do their job properly. \

Proper sanitation should always be in fashion. The best recipe in the world is going to make a **** beer if you haven't sanitized properly or have not provided the right environment for fermentation.

Fermentation is very important too. Make sure the temperature is appropriate for the style and the yeast strain. Your are using the right yeast for the beer? You have done a yeast starter? Don't screw up a lot of hard work by not doing the correct thing here.

 

[Horseshoot]

Sanitation
Good water
Fermentation temp control
Mash temp
KISS recipes.

These do it for me.

Mike

 

[OkanaganMike]

As little oxygen as possible after fermentation (I fill a keg w/ Star San, push it out with CO2, dump the minor amount of Star-san left, then run a line from the spout of the fermenter into a ball-lock disconnect connected to the "out" post--no exposure to oxygen except what minor amount remains in the keg, and the small amount coming into the fermenter as it drains).

Saw a guy do this on Youtube I think except he also purged his tank with CO2 before adding the beer through the liquid out line. He had to purge a few times as he was doing it I seem to remember too. I'm new to kegging and thought this was a little too labour intensive for my liking so I rack directly into the empty keg through the lid then fill and burp the oxygen out at the end. Seems to work fine for me.

 

[beskone]

water chemistry/ph

This is by far the single most important thing.

I went from using water out the tap to RO water with brewing salts additions using Bru'n Water and my beer quality went from "sometimes it's great, sometimes its meh and my IPA's never really showcase the hops" to "OMG BEST BEER I'VE EVER MADE" literally from the first batch where I paid attention to water chemistry.

Right behind that for me would be:

Fermentation Temp
Mash Temp
Sanitation
Kegging
Cleaning

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Pitch rate, and temps.

 

[Gameface]

Not specific to all grain, but

1) Fermentation temperature, generally keeping temps at the very low end of the yeast's recommended temp range.

2) Upper end of recommended pitch rate. Since you're gonna be fermenting on the cold side this is especially important.

3) Good aeration, preferably with pure O2. Again, important since you're going to be fermenting on the cool side of the yeast's recommended temp range.

Mash temp, meh, get it between the goalposts and you're gonna be fine.

Mash pH is an issue if it's an issue. If you're having problems with efficiency or there are pH related flavor issues then worry about mash pH. If not, which will be the case most of the time, then it's not an issue.

Water chemistry is a great way to fine tune the flavors of your beer. If your IPAs don't pop or your lagers aren't as clean as you'd like, water chemistry might be the key. But if your IPAs do pop, well then you probably have good water chemistry for that type of beer and don't need to mess with it.

For something very specific to all grain brewing, the crush, it has a major impact on your efficiency. The finer the crush the higher the efficiency...right up until it's too fine and you get a stuck sparge.

 

[Gameface]

Sanitation doesn't make beer taste better.

Sanitation is a pass or fail issue. If your beer is infected then it's not just not as good as it could be, it's pretty much garbage.

Sanitation goes without saying. To mention it in regard to making the BEST tasting beer is silly. If you're making pretty good beer there's nothing about sanitation that's gonna make your beer the "best."

 

[Horseshoot]

Sanitation doesn't make beer taste better.

Sanitation is a pass of fail issue. If your beer is infected then it's not just not as good as it could be, it's pretty much garbage.

Sanitation goes without saying. To mention it in regard to making the BEST tasting beer is silly. If you're making pretty good beer there's nothing about sanitation that's gonna make your beer the "best."

Not true. Poor sanitation can cause off flavors, without making a beer undrinkable. And sanitation and cleaning involves beer lines as well. I have had beer in bars that do not pay much attention to their beer lines. The beer was off. Not nasty. But certainly off. And these were beers that I had had in other bars, that were previously very nice. Sanitation is important. Never silly.

Mike

 

[Gameface]

Not true. Poor sanitation can cause off flavors, without making a beer undrinkable. And sanitation and cleaning involves beer lines as well. I have had beer in bars that do not pay much attention to their beer lines. The beer was off. Not nasty. But certainly off. And these were beers that I had had in other bars, that were previously very nice. Sanitation is important. Never silly.

Mike

I honestly probably should have just left it alone. I just think it's strange that cleanliness and sanitation are stressed as though it's some odd thing to clean and sanitize the stuff that comes into contact with something you're going to consume.

It's like if someone was asking what they can do to make the best beef stew and everyone tells them the most important thing is to make sure your pot is clean. As if that's advice for making the best beef stew. That's what separates so-so beef stew from really really good beef stew. Because so many people who endeavor to make the "best" beef stew are making the mistake of cooking their stew in a pot they made chile in a week and a half ago and never even rinsed it out.

If there's a brewer out there that isn't aware that you need to clean and sanitize your brewing gear, well I'm going to guess they aren't on homebrewtalk asking how to make the very best beer possible.

 

[Horseshoot]

But you have to keep in mind that not everybody knows the difference between the words clean, sanitized and sterile. It is such an important part of the home brew process. Many years ago, things were probably only clean. And, I bet it made the beer taste different than good beer does, today.

Mike

 

[Dcpcooks]

Fermentor temp control
Water
Yeast health and pitch
Mash temp control
Sanitation

 

[brewmeister13]

Saw a guy do this on Youtube I think except he also purged his tank with CO2 before adding the beer through the liquid out line. He had to purge a few times as he was doing it I seem to remember too. I'm new to kegging and thought this was a little too labour intensive for my liking so I rack directly into the empty keg through the lid then fill and burp the oxygen out at the end. Seems to work fine for me.

It's actually not that hard. In fact, I think this is easier than regular gravity transfer. I just grab my trusty cap with a racking cane in the center and a CO2 inlet, pop it on and turn the CO2 as low as it goes. No lifting the carboy out of the chest freezer and stirring up the sediment, especially nice when dry hopping, and no O2 exposure. I do purge my keg 1st and run starsan out, but you should sanitize the keg anyway, so I don't see this as an extra step.

 

[eric19312]

I'm in the
Sanitation
Fermentation Termperature Control
Yeast health
Being 1-3. What is interesting is these are same 1-3 for making the best tasting extract beer. If you get good at these brewing extract before switching to AG then you can spend most of your time worrying about getting mash temp and water chemistry just right.

 

[Gameface]

The real most critical steps are:

Recipe (no one wants to say it, but yeah)

Fermentation temp control, usually aim for the ultra low end of the yeast's temp range, or below, and support yeast growth and fermentation at that ultra low temp through pure O2 oxygenation, more than the recommended number of yeast cells to start, and ramping the temp as yeast activity slows.

For the actual all grain part, get a mill and mill your grains just before mashing. Use good water. Know your pH. Adjust your pH if it is not in the range you want it, you can use acidulated malt or lactic acid, or use RO water and build your water profile to fit your needs.

Efficiency is good, but it's not part of the best tasting all grain beer discussion. Consistency is more important so that you can make predictable adjustments from one batch to the next. This is where having your own mill is pretty important.

And if you do all that and your beer gets infected...look into your sanitation practices. And in case you, a person looking to make "the best tasting all grain beer" don't already know, you need to follow basic sanitation practices on the cold side of brewing because you have a substance that will be stored for a considerable amount of time and can develop bacterial infections if you're not careful. Not really the difference between mediocre all grain and the very best all grain at all. Mostly the difference between drinkable beer and undrinkable beer, so since drinkable beer falls into the "best tasting" beer category, yes, you do need to be sanitary.

 

[ChelisHubby]

THings must be clean and sanitary is a small improvement. next the Fermentation tempature Check out what others have said about the yeast you are thinking about using.. Now the amount of yeast does matter but this iss not a huge deal breaker for good beer. Also I am sure if you live where you water is poor quality then you need to deal with water chemistry. Last but not least a simple recipe is usually easier to make taste well than a coconut oaked vanilla coffee barley wine. If you want a beer with more than 8 % alc use a kit or a tried and true recipe the first time. The KISS principle works when you are new at brewing. PS I am a new brewer only brewing for 18 months so I know just enough to really mess it up.

 

[Gameface]

Acting like you can make incremental improvements to your beer through increased sanitation is like saying you can get a little more or a little less pregnant depending on how much birth control you use.