Most overrated home-brew topics?

[MapleGroveAleworks]

This reminds me of a thread intended to start arguments. So you win in that regard.

I enjoy adjusting my water for the beer style I intend to brew and I don't think it's overrated at all. I don't really know what else to say, I'm not going to defend my opinion with paragraphs.

 

[h22lude]

I enjoy adjusting my water for the beer style I intend to brew and I don't think it's overrated at all. I don't really know what else to say, I'm not going to defend my opinion with paragraphs.

I agree 100%. I think it is part of brewing and enjoy doing it. I think for a lot of people they can use tap water and make decent beer but if they just looked into their water and added a few minerals they could be making great beer. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out Bru'n Water. Took another 10 minutes to read about the different types of additions and what they do. Before a brew day I spend 5 minutes looking up what minerals are good for the style I'm brewing and using Bru'n Water to get my water within range. 5 minutes to drastically increase the quality of my beer is time we'll spent. I don't think there is anything you can spent that little time on and get an improvement like this.

If someone gets a water report and figures out their water is perfect for the styles they brew, they won't need to spend the extra 5 minutes each brew day which is fine but at least they spent the time to figure out their water was good. That's what's important. If you go with the mentality that water adjustments are hard and pointless, you will never know how much of a better beer you can brew.

To each their own though. Doesn't matter how you do it as long as you are having fun and making beer you want to drink.

 

[TorMag]

I agree 100%. I think it is part of brewing and enjoy doing it. I think for a lot of people they can use tap water and make decent beer but if they just looked into their water and added a few minerals they could be making great beer. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out Bru'n Water. Took another 10 minutes to read about the different types of additions and what they do. Before a brew day I spend 5 minutes looking up what minerals are good for the style I'm brewing and using Bru'n Water to get my water within range. 5 minutes to drastically increase the quality of my beer is time we'll spent. I don't think there is anything you can spent that little time on and get an improvement like this.

If someone gets a water report and figures out their water is perfect for the styles they brew, they won't need to spend the extra 5 minutes each brew day which is fine but at least they spent the time to figure out their water was good. That's what's important. If you go with the mentality that water adjustments are hard and pointless, you will never know how much of a better beer you can brew.

To each their own though. Doesn't matter how you do it as long as you are having fun and making beer you want to drink.

Honest question, not trolling. Have you ever brewed two batches of the same beer side by side one with treated water and one without?

 

[h22lude]

Honest question, not trolling. Have you ever brewed two batches of the same beer side by side one with treated water and one without?

Yes, back to back. Huge difference. Since then, I haven't brewed without treating my water with something. I usually use some mix of calcium chloride and gypsum with some amount of lactic acid.

My batch fermenting right now was treated with calcium and acid. The last time I brewed this I wasn't treating my water. I remember exactly what this beer tasted like. Obviously not as good as my back to back batches but I'm confident that I will be able to tell if the water helped. This last batch had my typical off flavor that was from my water.

 

[TorMag]

Yes, back to back. Huge difference. Since then, I haven't brewed without treating my water with something. I usually use some mix of calcium chloride and gypsum with some amount of lactic acid.

My batch fermenting right now was treated with calcium and acid. The last time I brewed this I wasn't treating my water. I remember exactly what this beer tasted like. Obviously not as good as my back to back batches but I'm confident that I will be able to tell if the water helped. This last batch had my typical off flavor that was from my water.

Thanks. I have been wondering about this. Went into a very popular brew pub in my area this weekend, 2 miles from home same water source. I asked if they treated their water at all, said no, only filtered. They make really good beer.

 

[h22lude]

Thanks. I have been wondering about this. Went into a very popular brew pub in my area this weekend, 2 miles from home same water source. I asked if they treated their water at all, said no, only filtered. They make really good beer.

Carbon or reverse osmosis? If your water is good, a carbon filter may be all you need. My water has low calcium and it creates a high mash ph. Simple fix with some calcium and acid.

 

[TorMag]

Carbon, and yeah, our water is pretty decent. I just pulled the trigger two days ago on Amazon for a drinking hose and carbon filter myself.

 

[atom]

is this supposed to be "over-posted" topics, not overrated?

 

[Jimbodaman]

Ok, Fine. you think water chemistry is easy - tell me 5 other things that are part of home-brewing requires more technical expertise and scientific knowledge, and bring a lot less "bang for the buck" and yet we talk about it constantly. that's the topic of this thread - it's not that it's useless, it's that it's too much work for relatively little benefit.

To me water chemistry clearly one of the most, if not THE MOST advanced and complicated topic of home brewing. I can easily list 20 other things that any beginner or intermediate brewer should do before they even think about chasing Edinburgh or Pilsen water profile, assuming that's the ideal and necessary composition to make a decent Scotch Ale or Pilsner.

Calculating water profiles and plugging in the bicarbonate/sulfate/chloride numbers into a spreadsheet combines the fun of filing taxes and having a root canal, without all the fun of tax refund or anesthesia.

Having routinely done all three (yes, I do actually use Bru'n Water and Beersmith water tool quite a bit - and I vorlauf too, but I still think its overrated), I wouldn't recommend it to a friend who is into brewing as in "Hey, this water chemistry stuff is so much fun, very intuitive and super-easy to understand too - you should totally do this!".

I agree water chemistry is not easy by any means to understand. TBH I have no idea why or what any of the chemical reactions mean, I just plug numbers into a calculator and do what it tells me. I'm a huge advocate of "water adjustments", in order of easiest and usually most beneficial:

1) remove chlorine/chloramine if on municipal water, 1/2 campden tablet

2) find or get water report adjust mash pH accordingly (I use brewersfriend for calculations and acid malt for adjustments)
These two things are a minimum that will greatly improve your beer.

3) Build your own water using salts/calculators. I always just shoot for a balanced profile no matter the beer (if I choose to adjust at all).. Once you know what salts to add it's no harder than weighing out hops.

4) You could take it to the next level and build a water profile specifically for each beer, just like not all your beers have the same hop additions.

The point is adding water salts is no harder than adding hops.

I also agree I wouldn't advocate matching certain water profiles "burton on trent" what's the point? Get used to building a basic balanced profile and eventually tweak your water profile recipe for malty/hoppyness to your liking.

 

[h22lude]

Carbon, and yeah, our water is pretty decent. I just pulled the trigger two days ago on Amazon for a drinking hose and carbon filter myself.

That's is what I figured. Carbon filters basically remove just the chlorine and bad taste some water has but leaves the minerals. So you must have good mineral make up in your water. That's great. I'd still suggest getting a test so you can estimate mash ph.

 

[TorMag]

That's is what I figured. Carbon filters basically remove just the chlorine and bad taste some water has but leaves the minerals. So you must have good mineral make up in your water. That's great. I'd still suggest getting a test so you can estimate mash ph.

I used someone else's ) water profile on HBT that lives a miles or two away. Yeah, we have good minerals.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Clone clone clone... Getting ready to clone a clone and then I might do a clone of someone else's clone before I clone more clones. I love clones. Does anyone have some good clones of clones?

 

[Beerthoven]

Everything is overrated. This forum has 540,850 threads and 7,414,670 posts. If that isn't overkill then I don't know what is.

 

[ruger988]

Skimmed the thread, so sorry if it's already been said (well, not really) Temp control. Knockout and pitch at a reasonable temperature and you'll be fine. The volumes we're brewing we're not seeing crazy amounts of heat build up from fermentation.

Don't get me wrong, it's important, but no where near as much as some people would lead you to believe. Give me a room with a good stable temp in the upper 60's-lower 70's, and I'll be just fine.

 

[55x11]

Skimmed the thread, so sorry if it's already been said (well, not really) Temp control. Knockout and pitch at a reasonable temperature and you'll be fine. The volumes we're brewing we're not seeing crazy amounts of heat build up from fermentation.

Don't get me wrong, it's important, but no where near as much as some people would lead you to believe. Give me a room with a good stable temp in the upper 60's-lower 70's, and I'll be just fine.

I would agree if you can naturally stabilize temperature between 60 and 70 year around. In my garage it's pretty close but could get 70-73 in the summer during the day and that's a bit too warm for my taste. But I often ferment without t control, especially Belgians, saisons etc. or after 2 days or so of fermentation I can take it out of fermentation chamber and let it go naturally.

Having said all that, just like with water - people need to have a concept of how good or bad their temperature range is. Fermenting their beers in 75F closets won't work for many styles. And even at 5-10G volumes internal temperature of fermented wort could easily be 3-5F above ambient.