i have no idea. Im sure one could look it up. I would think an analysis is available somewhere.Forgive me, but what's in those "water crystals"?
It has to be a one-size-fits-all solution to a specific problem, i.e., water that is too soft. Would your beer be better if you had a more specific and precise addition to your water?
Forgive me, again, but if they aren't worth repeating....are they really any good? Or just past "drinkable?"
The first time I nailed a recipe my initial response was "I'm brewing that again!"
I dont know, just a guess on if the addition did anything.I note in your other response that you added the hardening powder and it seemed to help; how do you know? If you didn't brew the same recipe, with and without, how can you tell?
a little age always helps.In addition to many of the factors already stated, allowing beer to condition for a time will help most beers.
This is especially true of lagers, which benefit greatly from 4-6 weeks cold. I let mine sit still at 33F for at least 4 weeks before I tap, and they do get better if lagered longer.
In my opinion many ales improve also, but do some do not take as long to reach their prime.
Commercial brews may not age as much, but they have filtering and ''polished,'' as already mentioned. And most of them taste oxidized to me now, but that may be mainly due to handling after they left the brewery.
In my opinion cleaning/sanitation is pass or fail. There are no incremental gains to be achieved by cleaning better. Either you provided adequate sanitation or you got an infection. This is not a way to make you beer a little better by cleaning a little more.Cleaning/Sanitation & Temperature control. Try completely nailing those with a single yeast strain before getting into water.
With 5000+ breweries (or whatever the number is now), there's an awful lot of bad beer out there....
In my opinion cleaning/sanitation is pass or fail. There are no incremental gains to be achieved by cleaning better. Either you provided adequate sanitation or you got an infection. This is not a way to make you beer a little better by cleaning a little more.
How do you gauge pass/fail? Commercial brewers go to great lengths in this department, a good amount of homebrewers are super lax around this. I'm not saying cleaning more will help, but if you aren't employing a PBW clean followed up by a Star San sanitize on brew day and packaging, you are taking chances that Commercial brewers never take. That is why you start there, it is a big difference between homebrewing and commercial brewing. As a BJCP judge I've tasted more than my fair share of infected beer that no doubt was to poor sanitation and cleaning.
I've brewed with a guy who removed everything from his kitchen and sanitized all floors, countertops, walls, etc. prior to brewing. He certainly cleaned and sanitized much more thoroughly than I do. If he followed my cleaning and sanitizing process, his beer would taste the same as it does with his.
This. A boatload of mediocre beer...those places ultimately won't survive unless they also serve fantastic food or something.
Keep in mind this is probably a unpopular comment to most on this site but making VERY good commercial level beer at home required alot more effort than most are willing to put in. It's a combination of everything. One thing I can assure you is filtering your beer won't help as tempting as it is. Don't believe the brewers that claim they make top shelf stuff with the least effort possible and **always** do something better each brew and you will get there eventually. CheersEverytime I drink a beer from a brewery I can't help but notice my beers lack that crisp and clean flavor you get on a professional level. Not that my beers are cloudy or still green it's as if the homebrew has more body or something extra within. Is this a result of not filtering my beer? Its Iike I am missing some malt backbone at times.
Water Chemistry
pH (beyond just the mash)
Aeration
Pitch rate
Yeast health
Oxidation (hot and cold)
Carbonation
- most commercial beers are carbonated higher than the recommended 2.5.
If you feel like driving to Park City I can go through water chemistry and all sorts of other stuff with you if you’d like. Brewing 2-4 times a week these days.
i would love to help out with a brew day sometime soon. i am not brewing until i sort out my water and drink the 4 kegs i have. PM me and we can work something out. i would be willing to split a batch for the knowledge
Google tells me it is only 2,049 miles from my place to Park City. You just need to give me a little lead time on your brew day for me to meet up with you!
Personally I find it hard to get real feedback on my beers and even harder to get specific advice that is not recipe related. My friends and family say my beer is "great" as long as it does not have too many chunks floating in it. Some of my homebrew friends seem to have been so beaten down by American beers that if my IPAs do not have at least 1 lb of hops and my Stouts are less than 9% with less than 1 lb of Roasted Barley they are not intense enough. Sometimes I wonder if I should give advice based on my experience with home brewing, or hang on on the Beginner's forum asking for help.
Everytime I drink a beer from a brewery I can't help but notice my beers lack that crisp and clean flavor you get on a professional level. Not that my beers are cloudy or still green it's as if the homebrew has more body or something extra within. Is this a result of not filtering my beer? Its Iike I am missing some malt backbone at times.
Personally I find it hard to get real feedback on my beers and even harder to get specific advice that is not recipe related. My friends and family say my beer is "great" as long as it does not have too many chunks floating in it. Some of my homebrew friends seem to have been so beaten down by American beers that if my IPAs do not have at least 1 lb of hops and my Stouts are less than 9% with less than 1 lb of Roasted Barley they are not intense enough. Sometimes I wonder if I should give advice based on my experience with home brewing, or hang on on the Beginner's forum asking for help.
A quality homebrew club might help...other option is beer competitions...another option is to look into BJCP study courses yourself.
I am tempted to enter some competition just as a yardstick on my beers. The downside of competitions can be that beers have to fit into a style to score well, but consistent solid competition scores would at least be a signal that I am on track.
That is true. I've entered one that is being judged this weekend, and I know my blonde--which is a damn delicious beer--is going to get knocked down significantly because it's 40 IBU with a decent hop aroma on it. Definitely not to style. I'm entering 4 beers and I'm already expecting that one to get the worst score.
Still, if you're looking for process-related improvements, or identifying off flavors, the comments might still be helpful.
I’m curious why enter it as a blonde. No more appropriate style? Maybe APA? It really comes down to matching what your beer drinks like to the style guide and entering it as that beer. What you called it when you designed the recipe is kind of irrelevant.
Things i still need to work out but shouldn't be that big of an issue right now is fermenting temp control. my basement temps are very stable at 58. main level of the house is at 65. so keeping the beer close to the same temp within a ale yeast tolerance should be easy.
As a home brewer who turned pro, I second pretty much everything said in this thread so far. Attention to detail is paramount, and if you're not Type-A while you're brewing, it's going to be harder for you to reach your goals regarding the quality of your beers.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet: The "forgiveness" of batch size. This is perhaps the most important thing I didn't know before I turned pro. When I went from my 1/2 BBL home-brew system to my 5BBL pub system, I found that there was some "leeway" that I didn't have with the smaller scale. It was easier to control a big batch as opposed to a smaller batch and easier to dial in a final recipe once I had the basic one done. In fact, I never do pilot brews on my home-brew system anymore because I know what's going to happen when I brew on my 5BBL system.
Terrific post.
Why do you think larger batch sizes are more forgiving? This intrigues me. I can guess at some reasons but they're only guesses: missing hops by an ounce in a 5-barrel batch isn't noticeable, but in a 5-gallon batch, probably. Errors in measurement are imperceptible at the larger level, whereas at the homebrew level, they're magnified.
Something like that, or something else?
i made a brown ale with a 70% tap 30% distilled ratio of water then did basic basic brew salt editions. my efficiency jumped from 70 to 81%. the mash looked better and the wort malt flavor was the best i have experienced with my set up so far. very excited to see how this turns out, i just bought a decent Ph meter.
As a home brewer who turned pro, I second pretty much everything said in this thread so far. Attention to detail is paramount, and if you're not Type-A while you're brewing, it's going to be harder for you to reach your goals regarding the quality of your beers.
It's basically that. I see home brewers (and myself when I was home brewing) measuring down to the gram for this and that, which is not really as important doing a larger batch. Yes, there are still slight batch-to-batch variations when doing larger batches due to the grain, hops, etc., but since it's being "spread out" over a larger volume they are far less perceptible.
Here's a story. My family is from Belgium and I have a lot of relatives there. During one of my visits, I went to a small brewery run by a brewer who works during the day as a master brewer for Duvel. He told me brewing for Duvel was "basically going in, putting my ID card into the master computer, and hitting 'start.'" He started his own small brewery because he wanted to feel as though he was actually brewing and not just monitoring. At one point in our conversation, he said, "A brewery this size (roughly 7BBL) is a 'cameleon' brewery." When I asked why, he replied, "There will always be slight variations when brewing on a smaller system unless you have a complete lab at your disposal. I welcome the slight variations. It makes the beer and brewing more interesting." Now, I took that to heart because he obviously is a "master."
Once I started brewing on the 5BBL at the pub, I remembered that conversation and it led me to lighten up a bit and let the beer be what it wants to be. Of course, I still want it to be in the style I'm shooting for, but pretty much all the time the only way anyone would notice any batch-to-batch variations, and they are always there on my scale, would be to have two batches of the same beer and taste them side to side. Even then, though, I doubt the subtle variations would be discernible to any but the most delicate and refined palate. The interesting byproduct of this comes from my customers, who have never mentioned "this" batch being different from "that" batch. Here's what I've found out from customers: If the beer is cleanly brewed and within the style boundaries (if that's what I'm shooting for), it becomes a matter of whether or not that style appeals to a person's palate or not. It's not a "good" or a "bad" beer; it's one that either "tastes" good to someone or not. It's all pretty subjective in the end.
In some ways, I think brewing on a larger system is easier than doing 5-gallon batches, and it's definitely more forgiving based on my experience.
Cheers,
--
Don
Yeah, I thought you might see some improvement via water. If you find that you want to continue with the water, I would recommend going to 100% distilled or RO and then adding the minerals you desire. That way you will always have 100% repeatable results, as you'll know that you're starting from scratch.
Glad to hear it's promising, and hope to hear good news once you complete fermentation and get a taste!
but pretty much all the time the only way anyone would notice any batch-to-batch variations, and they are always there on my scale, would be to have two batches of the same beer and taste them side to side. Even then, though, I doubt the subtle variations would be discernible to any but the most delicate and refined palate.
I notice differences in batches at my local brewery but I am there frequently and mainly drink only a couple of their 10-11 beers so I've gotten to know them. Mostly these differences have to do with age of the beer. They do move a lot of beer and keep things fresh especially in the summer but we are a summer town and in the winter sometimes beers will start to show a little age. Not bad but especially in the IPAs the hop aromas will be different between a batch that has been pouring for the last 2 months and a fresh batch coming on. I feel these differences are part of the experience and agree with your Duval brewer...they make the beer interesting.
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