Techniques That Have The Biggest Impact

[Eastside Brewer]

Just a quick note on starters;

There are 2 school of thought, pitch at high krausen or ferment it out and decant. I have done both and they both work great. Mr. Malty's pitch rate calculator is awesome. If you put a vile of yeast in a starter and only let it go 6 hours that yeast did not have time to replicate.

Keys to a starter:
1. Keep the OG to 1.030-1.040, you don't want stressed out yeast.
2. Oxygenate the wort or get a stir plate. Shaking works.
3. If pitched high krausen, do starter 2 days prior to brewday
4. If piched fermented and decanted, do starter 4 -5 days prior to brewday, 48 hours on stir plate, at least 2 days to cold crash in fridge.

I would say a close second to temp control is pitching the proper amount of happy, healthy yeast!

Eastside

 

[OneShoeBrew]

Temp control and pitching rates are the absolute number one thing when it comes to making great beer.

+1

Temp control was The Number One improvement in my brew. From what I've seen here, baby boogers in the wort don't necessarily spell disaster. But if you ferment at too high a temp for the yeast strain, they'll piss in your brew.

Also, if you're not able to do full boils, one option is the Late Extract Method. This approach will give you a boil gravity that will improve hop extraction. I learned a lot from John Palmer's "Gravity of the Boil": How to Brew - By John Palmer - Hop Bittering Calculations

 

[Surly]

What are the most important/critical things you can do to improve your beer consistency and quality, besides going AG?

Fermentation temperature?

Full boils versus partial boils?

Ask the right questions. Then try out what you have learned. Then ask more questions. Then help others.

I think we are seeing the beginnings of a great brewer.

 

[HoppyDaze]

First off: I can't image how much good beer has been made because of this website....Thanks everyone!

Second: thanks for asking the question eskimo; its nice to have everything that I have learned so far confirmed.

and Third: Prost to Homebrew Talk!

 

[Eskimo Spy]

Agreed, thanks to the people that run this place, and all the people who contribute, you make this site a fantastic resource for everyone!

I think I'll be buying a new 10 or 15 gallon pot soon, so the late addition of extract won't be a need for me in the near future, but I did find this on the Beersmith blog, if you use Beersmith, I think it makes it clear how to do this without stubbing your head on the math involved...

Better Beer with Late Malt Extract Additions | Home Brewing Beer Blog by BeerSmith

 

[Eskimo Spy]

Speaking of brew kettles, even when I move to AG, I won't be making more than 5 gallons at a time. I'm thinking about buying the following, is it worth the extra $40 to but the thermometer? I use an infrared thermometer right now, so I'm really wondering why I need the thermometer...

10 Gallon MegaPot. This pot has a capcity of 40 quarts, or 10 gallons. It is 13" tall and 17" in diameter. Wall thickness is 1.0 mm.

10 Gallon MegaPot w/ ball valve $184.99

NORTHERN BREWER: Brew Kettles

 

[Moonpile]

Buy a typical kitchen probe thermometer. This should be in the circa $15 range. If it does not have a waterproof looking tubing covering the wire of the thermometer, go over to the aquarium section (you know what store you're in) and get some tubing that lookes like it fits over the probe.

I used some olive oil to lubricate the probe and tube and then slid it through as far as I could (yes, I wrote it). It wasn't easy going, but I managed to work up more than enough tubing over the wire.

 

[Bruscar]

For temp contol, find a used chest freezer. Got mine for $60. Save the dough for an electronic temp contoller. My guess is you'll welcome it come time for those "charming" Texas summers!

 

[Eskimo Spy]

I'm going to pick up a chest freezer from Home Depot, and then grab a Johnson Controls A419, plug the freezer into the controller, set my temp and range, and off I go!

Also, a new kettle is in order, I'm thinking that 10 gallon kettle with the spigot I mentioned in the earlier post.

So, that takes care of two areas, full boil and fermentation temp. Hooray!

 

[944play]

I will probably continue to bottle, as I brew mainly to share beer, and a keg makes that difficult!

I beg to differ.

 

[Eskimo Spy]

That is certainly something to consider, cool, thanks for the info.

 

[Zguy]

This has been by FAR the most informational thread I have read. I'm very new to brewing and trying to pick up some basic and thanks to this thread I am already leaps and bounds from my previous mind set.

This thread's only downfall is acronyms. As a newbie to this scene I'm constantly trying to figure out what people are saying. I know that most people that have homebrewed for awhile know what:
OG
IC
RO
AG
DME
LME
but for a beginners forum these acronyms are a little vague. I'm still not sure what IC is and I can't google it to find out.

 

[mosyslack]

IC- Immersion Chiller

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

This has been by FAR the most informational thread I have read. I'm very new to brewing and trying to pick up some basic and thanks to this thread I am already leaps and bounds from my previous mind set.

This thread's only downfall is acronyms. As a newbie to this scene I'm constantly trying to figure out what people are saying. I know that most people that have homebrewed for awhile know what:
OG
IC
RO
AG
DME
LME
but for a beginners forum these acronyms are a little vague. I'm still not sure what IC is and I can't google it to find out.

Tip for the day: Never, EVER start a thread asking what SWMBO means.

 

[mmb]

This has been by FAR the most informational thread I have read. I'm very new to brewing and trying to pick up some basic and thanks to this thread I am already leaps and bounds from my previous mind set.

This thread's only downfall is acronyms. As a newbie to this scene I'm constantly trying to figure out what people are saying. I know that most people that have homebrewed for awhile know what:

but for a beginners forum these acronyms are a little vague. I'm still not sure what IC is and I can't google it to find out.

OG - Original Gravity - gravity before fermentation begins
IC - Immersion Chiller
RO - Reverse Osmosis - A way of filtering water
AG - All Grain - Brewing without extracts
DME - Dry Malt Extract You can have some fun with this one ie. XLDME (extra Light DME)
LME - Liquid Malt Extract

 

[PtotheL]

Also, a new kettle is in order, I'm thinking that 10 gallon kettle with the spigot I mentioned in the earlier post.

Do you have a propane burner ?

I hope so, because it takes about an hour for me to bring 3.5 gallon in a 5 gallon pot to a boil.

I still do Full Boils though... by boiling 3 gallons in each of my two 5 gallons pots. :rockin:

 

[Eskimo Spy]

I've got a double burner, but it is pretty high off the ground. That said, I might go for a single, "low to the ground" burner to avoid spilling 5 gallons of wort on my beagles. I figure I need at least 150,000 BTU burner to get a good rolling boil.

So, we have four items that can dramatically increase the quality of your brew. Are we missing anything?

 

[Grinder12000]

I think there are so many good things here the MAIN point is that ALL things are important.

Making beer is like playing good poker. You can get that first 90% of knowledge and make good beer and play good poker. But the last 10% is what makes outstanding beer and exceptional poker.

Temps, yeast, cold breaks, mashing temps all are important but not ONE thing is THE KEY. It's a combination of all of them.

Seriously - the most important thing is knowing that ALL are important for making outstanding beer. Doing 3 things right and one thing sloppy will give you an average beer.

It sounds like you are on the right path and asking the right questions. You are not a guy that says I've never made a beer and want to make an outstanding Triple IPA.

Instead you want to make great beer! BIG difference.

If I had to give some sage advice (which I am not qualified as I only have 19 batches under my belt . . . literally LOL) I would say continue to learn WHY things are important and just keep reading and absorbing knowledge.

 

[Eskimo Spy]

Here's a question for the peanut gallery; why do people start making 10 gallon batches when they move to AG? Is it just because it's just as easy at that point to make 10 gallons as it is 5, or is their some other reason why you would?

 

[Bobby_M]

That's basically it. I think 5 gallons takes me 5 hours and 10 gallons would take me 5.5 hours.

 

[Eskimo Spy]

Once I move up to doing full boils of 5 gallon batches, is my IC (it's about 12" tall, I bent it using a cornie keg, so that big around) going to be enough? Or do I need to seriously consider moving up to a plate chiller or a counterflow?

 

[remilard]

Once I move up to doing full boils of 5 gallon batches, is my IC (it's about 12" tall, I bent it using a cornie keg, so that big around) going to be enough? Or do I need to seriously consider moving up to a plate chiller or a counterflow?

I cool 5 gallons with 25' of 3/8. If you (either with a whirpool setup or a spoon) continually stir the worth in the opposite direction of the water flow you will be within a couple degrees of the temperature of the cooling water within 10 minutes. Within reason, it doesn't get much faster.

The more surface area the better for chilling but I think your chiller is going to be great for 5 gal, any taller and it won't fit in 5 gal in most pots. Obviously chilling the air does little good.

FWIW, I wouldn't dismiss sanitation (and cleaning since sanitation is limited by cleaning) as a thing most brewers could endeavor to improve.

Lots of homebrewers struggle with diacetyl, sulfur compounds etc. Honestly, it should be stupidly easy to avoid those in an ale if there are no infections. For this reason, I suspect infections as a frequent source for these and other flaws but people will blame anything other than an infection if they can.

George Fix said that it is hard to get a major infection in beer but that a lot of beer is plagued by minor infections. Not every beer infection is going to produce lots of acetic or lactic acid.

JMO

 

[Eskimo Spy]

I think I've got a good handle on my next purchases and how to improve my brewing techniques.Thanks to everyone for their input, it is very much appreciated.