Something Different

[Ridire]

We all know the list of things that everyone says improved the quality of their beer:

1. controlling ferm temp.
2. proper yeast pitch rates.
3. sanitation
4. patience with fermentation schedule

etc.

But what is something that is rarely talked about on here that has greatly improved your beers?

 

[Robbypv]

these aren't rarely talked about but:

Clarity factors - whether it be Irish moss or cold crashing
Hops choices - bitter / flavor and perfecting the timing


These are the issues I have come across lately. I also use tap water for my brews and I get shunned for it. I feel that some things are overrated while some things aren't brought up enough.

 

[Ridire]

these aren't rarely talked about but:

Clarity factors - whether it be Irish moss or cold crashing
Hops choices - bitter / flavor and perfecting the timing


These are the issues I have come across lately. I also use tap water for my brews and I get shunned for it. I feel that some things are overrated while some things aren't brought up enough.

Ingredients (hop choice) is always going to be a factor. I get crystal clear beers every time...have since my first try. I have just started playing with water. I am going to brew a blonde...or some other lighter beer...and see if I can really tell the difference.

I'm really looking for some gem of wisdom that isn't thrown out a lot. Basically, I'm trying to learn something new by posting this topic.

 

[jrgtr42]

Besides the factors in the OP, which are the biggest things that improved my beer,
the next one was boiling as large a quantity as possible.
Expanding the boil from 3 to 4 to 5 gallons was a big change in the beer.
Of course, that also makes it harder to cool to pitching temp - with a smaller than full boil I was able to put water in the fridge or freezer to add to the fermenter to cool it that much further. With a 4 gallon boil into the fermenter, I only needed to get it to about 80 degrees before adding my cold water that would get it down to the sweet spot for pitching.

 

[dstranger99]

Damned if I know, but I do know this....The guy at my LHBS produces homebrew out of his tap that is so good you would think it's commercial. I even get my sh*t from him, but I produce nothing like it...My beer is good (people have told me), but compared to his I look like a Mr Beer kit.........

 

[Ridire]

Damned if I know, but I do know this....The guy at my LHBS produces homebrew out of his tap that is so good you would think it's commercial. I even get my sh*t from him, but I produce nothing like it...My beer is good (people have told me), but compared to his I look like a Mr Beer kit.........

Yeah, I know guys like that, too. I want to know what else can be done to get there. I have read about all the factors mentioned in my first post ad nauseum (and I know I can still improve in those areas) but there has to be more to it than that.

I guess what I should really do is find one of these beer geniuses and become brew buddies with him for a while and watch what he does differently.

 

[Ridire]

Besides the factors in the OP, which are the biggest things that improved my beer,
the next one was boiling as large a quantity as possible.
Expanding the boil from 3 to 4 to 5 gallons was a big change in the beer.
Of course, that also makes it harder to cool to pitching temp - with a smaller than full boil I was able to put water in the fridge or freezer to add to the fermenter to cool it that much further. With a 4 gallon boil into the fermenter, I only needed to get it to about 80 degrees before adding my cold water that would get it down to the sweet spot for pitching.

I already do full volume boil All-Grain.

 

[Robbypv]

Yeah, I know guys like that, too. I want to know what else can be done to get there. I have read about all the factors mentioned in my first post ad nauseum (and I know I can still improve in those areas) but there has to be more to it than that.

I guess what I should really do is find one of these beer geniuses and become brew buddies with him for a while and watch what he does differently.

What kind of Equipment do you use? And not the normal stuff, but like wort chillers, trub dumps and such. Do you keg your beers? These "brew Geniuses" usually have the best equipment for the job.

 

[dstranger99]

Yeah, I know guys like that, too. I want to know what else can be done to get there. I have read about all the factors mentioned in my first post ad nauseum (and I know I can still improve in those areas) but there has to be more to it than that.

I guess what I should really do is find one of these beer geniuses and become brew buddies with him for a while and watch what he does differently.

Exactly, I have no clue what they are doing different, And I've done this for about 6 years. I've done Extract, BIAB, AG, Have used tap, spring, and RO water. I've used wort chillers, controlled mash temps within 1 degree or nailed it, I've hit the recipe's SG-FG. But "I still can't find what I'm looking for", like the U2 song......

 

[Ridire]

What kind of Equipment do you use? And not the normal stuff, but like wort chillers, trub dumps and such. Do you keg your beers? These "brew Geniuses" usually have the best equipment for the job.

Trub is something I've always thought of dealing with differently. Whenever I have tried to filter the gunk from the boil kettle to the fermenter, I've had a tough time. So, I now just dump it all in there and leave it behind when I rack to the bottle bucket.

I do BIAB now but am going to move to a mash tun soon. I do not know what that will do to my beers but I guess I should wait to make major adjustments until then so that I can begin narrowing the variables to see how each is affecting the beer.

 

[dstranger99]

What kind of Equipment do you use? And not the normal stuff, but like wort chillers, trub dumps and such. Do you keg your beers? These "brew Geniuses" usually have the best equipment for the job.

I have a small chiller, was only around $70.00, but I can cool 208 degrees to below 70 in 20 minutes. (timed it on 12-15 with my Boston Red)

No kegging, just use the bottle tree, sanitise with Star San, and I have a bench capper.

Basic Bottling/fermentation bucket, a Carboy, Hydrometer, auto siphon, scales, thermometer's (digital & manual).

Also have Campden tabs, Irish moss, Gelatin, etc on hand.


Edit: Sorry, I thought you were asking me, but you were asking the OP............

 

[Robbypv]

Edit: Sorry, I thought you were asking me, but you were asking the OP............

haha! I like all sort of input. nice to see what everyone uses.

 

[Zamial]

I am basing things on my knowledge and skill set. When someone tells me brewer X makes great beer all the time and mine are not as good it is a flavor thing and can be REALLY subjective. Many people will say some of these things do not matter but it may simply be they have gotten used to their off flavors or simply can not taste the fault. The main thing that gets neglected to be talked about is the importance of water.

Trub is something I've always thought of dealing with differently. Whenever I have tried to filter the gunk from the boil kettle to the fermenter, I've had a tough time. So, I now just dump it all in there and leave it behind when I rack to the bottle bucket.

Trub will effect yeast negatively and that effects flavor. Look into whirlpooling.

Water profile. Know it and make adjustments that will help the beer you are making.

Pay close attention to the ph. This is a huge deal with all grain and seldom talked about. Get a good ph meter the test strips suck.

 

[Ridire]

I already do water profiles (but accept Bru'n Water's Ph estimate without checking it). I guess I should get a ph meter to make sure I'm actually hitting my numbers.

I just had another thought about something I do that could negatively impact taste (so many variables it makes the head hurt). When I am chilling my wort, I tend to stir it to get the temp exchange going. Am I oxidizing the wort at > 80 degrees when I do this? I have read that this is bad. Should I not stir the cooling wort?

My cooling method, by the way is to put the boil kettle in a tub full of cold water, with a garden hose running into the tub to create a constant overflow. This gets the wort to pitching temp in 30-40 minutes.

EDIT: and nearly everything I hear about whirlpooling is that it doesn't work well and isn't worth the effort. I dump from boil kettle to fermenter. Maybe I should start to use my auto siphon and then use a whisk to aerate after I siphon?

 

[dstranger99]

I already do water profiles (but accept Bru'n Water's Ph estimate without checking it). I guess I should get a ph meter to make sure I'm actually hitting my numbers.

I just had another thought about something I do that could negatively impact taste (so many variables it makes the head hurt). When I am chilling my wort, I tend to stir it to get the temp exchange going. Am I oxidizing the wort at > 80 degrees when I do this? I have read that this is bad. Should I not stir the cooling wort?

My cooling method, by the way is to put the boil kettle in a tub full of cold water, with a garden hose running into the tub to create a constant overflow. This gets the wort to pitching temp in 30-40 minutes.

EDIT: and nearly everything I hear about whirlpooling is that it doesn't work well and isn't worth the effort. I dump from boil kettle to fermenter. Maybe I should start to use my auto siphon and then use a whisk to aerate after I siphon?

Get a wort chiller, I think you will see a difference just by doing that. I did the cold water thing too, (frozen bottles into the wort, etc)....Just go out and blow $70 and find a cheap one........

 

[Ridire]

Get a wort chiller, I think you will see a difference just by doing that. I did the cold water thing too, (frozen bottles into the wort, etc)....Just go out and blow $70 and find a cheap one........

Honestly, will a wort chiller get 5 gallons to pitching temp faster than 30 minutes? And I do not currently put anything into the wort (ice bottles). My hose water is in the low 40's in the middle of August and I just keep it overflowing to move the heat away from the kettle. With the speed at which I am cooling this way, I am thinking the chiller is a waste of money, no?

 

[dstranger99]

Honestly, will a wort chiller get 5 gallons to pitching temp faster than 30 minutes? And I do not currently put anything into the wort (ice bottles). My hose water is in the low 40's in the middle of August and I just keep it overflowing to move the heat away from the kettle. With the speed at which I am cooling this way, I am thinking the chiller is a waste of money, no?

Many homebrewer's use them, you tube it and watch a few vids. But as far as cooling goes, that copper get's damn cold when it's in use! And I have one of the cheaper ones........

 

[Ridire]

Many homebrewer's use them, you tube it and watch a few vids. But as far as cooling goes, that copper get's damn cold when it's in use! And I have one of the cheaper ones........

I probably should get one anyway, as my technique only works outside and right now, you will not get water coming out the other end of the hose if you turn it on. I don't remember the last day the temps got above freezing around here.

 

[MindenMan]

I have a 22qt SS pot w/o a valve. I have a Zapap tun, and for me it does a really good job to lauter and sparge my wort. A while back, I accidentally "over cooled" my wort before before it went into the fermenter, and it was the clearest pre fermenter wort I had ever seen. I am always in a hurry to get the wort into the fermenter, so I can go do something else, and now I don't hurry. I always use a "U" shaped strainer with paint bucket filters, and a lot of the big stuff gets caught. The really fine stuff gets through, but the hot/cold break doesn't. Instead of my primary starting with an inch plus or so of trub, it may be a quarter inch or less now. I can't tell you if my beer tastes better by filtering out the majority of the trub, but I can tell you buy catching the big stuff first, I lose a lot less beer when bottling now.

 

[Ridire]

I have a 22qt SS pot w/o a valve. I have a Zapap tun, and for me it does a really good job to lauter and sparge my wort. A while back, I accidentally "over cooled" my wort before before it went into the fermenter, and it was the clearest pre fermenter wort I had ever seen. I am always in a hurry to get the wort into the fermenter, so I can go do something else, and now I don't hurry. I always use a "U" shaped strainer with paint bucket filters, and a lot of the big stuff gets caught. The really fine stuff gets through, but the hot/cold break doesn't. Instead of my primary starting with an inch plus or so of trub, it may be a quarter inch or less now. I can't tell you if my beer tastes better by filtering out the majority of the trub, but I can tell you buy catching the big stuff first, I lose a lot less beer when bottling now.

I tried straining an IPA through a paint strainer once and less than half of my wort made it through the strainer. Disaster!

 

[atom]

I tried straining an IPA through a paint strainer once and less than half of my wort made it through the strainer. Disaster!

if you fement in a bucket you can try one of these...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003EDZONI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Ridire]

if you fement in a bucket you can try one of these...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003EDZONI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Sweet.

 

[atom]

Sweet.

I use one and don't lose much wort at all. it takes a few pours and some patience, but even ipas with 8-10 oz of hops in the boil I may only lose .25 to maybe .5 gal.

 

[ArcLight]

We all know the list of things that everyone says improved the quality of their beer:

1. controlling ferm temp.
2. proper yeast pitch rates.
3. sanitation
4. patience with fermentation schedule

etc.

But what is something that is rarely talked about on here that has greatly improved your beers?

Aerating your wort, which will help reach full attenuation.


get a Ward Labs water report and learn what is in your brewing water. Is there Chlorine or Chloramine? Is it very hard? Soft?

 

[Ridire]

Aerating your wort, which will help reach full attenuation.


get a Ward Labs water report and learn what is in your brewing water. Is there Chlorine or Chloramine? Is it very hard? Soft?

I start with RO water and build the profile based on Bru'nwater.