What have you quit doing ------ because it doesn't seem to be adding anything

[Calder]

I'd like to find out what people have quit doing while brewing beer because it seems a waste of time, or has no real benefit to the brewing process. Maybe it can help someone else.

OK, lets get rid of the obvious; Secondary, which is an emotional and oft debated subject. Lets leave that one alone.

A few I can think of that I have done:

- Use table sugar in place of corn sugar for both kettle additions and priming.

- I used to boil all my top-up water (partial boil), but found I could just use water straight out of the tap (carbon filtered).

- I used to add extract 15 minutes from end of boil, and wait for it to get back to the boil before adding finishing hops. I now add it at flame out; wort is plenty hot and eliminates any risk of scorching.

- I used to add my IC to wort 15 minutes from end of boil and wait for it to get back to boiling. I now add it at flame out; wort is plenty hot.

- When using a high percentage of base grains, I only mash for 30 minutes. Used to wait 60 before sparging. Doesn't appear to make a difference.

- Never use yeast nutrient. Malt has plenty of nutrients for yeast. It is not necessary for most beers (maybe some really big beers could benefit from it).

 

[Zekk]

I have stopped doing something that has helped me stop making dumb mistakes: drinking heavily. Now if I am drinking while brewing it is usually just 1-2 for the whole process. This has helped me stop forgetting additions and doing other stupid things.

I've also stopped using kits and now use recipes from books or online. Better instructions, different ingredients and I can go pick everything up from my LHBS.

 

[atoughram]

- Post brew brewery clean & pre-brew clean - now just rinse everything off to get the spiders out and brew.
- Iodine test on the mash - I rarely wait 60 minutes for a mash either - when it's done, its done.
- Yeast starters on liquid yeasts only - It seems like two packages of dry, re-hydrated yeast, work fine in a ten gallon batch.
- I also switched to table sugar - it works well doesnt it?
- Used to soak my plastic fermentation buckets in sanitizer prior to use - now I used a spray bottle of Star-San and spray my conical fermenter inside - soaking everything.

 

[unionrdr]

I've used a few different sugars for priming. Since sugars like demerara don't add any flavor at priming amounts, I now just use dextrose.
I use honey malt in the mash rather than honey for that flavor. Except when it's part of the flavor complexity, as in kottbusser.
I swish a gallon of Starsan around my fermenter after pouring it over the lid & seal to sanitize right before filling. I used to soak it for awhile.
I stopped using hop sacks in the boil, as adding hops loosely seems to give them a bit more edge.
I stopped adding dry yeast as is & now rehydrate to get more viable cells from the packet & cut lag time.
I started using a bottle tree & avinator a few years ago to cut sanitizing time & area needed when sanitizing my bottles on bottling day.
I've found that Arizona Ice Tea gallon jugs are the strongest plastic jugs to use for storing Starsan & PBW solutions. Milk jugs leak the soonest, followed by the old-style SunnyD jugs.
Instead of storing dry brewing ingredients in the pantry, I now have a chromed wire shelf with dunnage containers for grains, DME, dextrose & the like right in the brewery.

 

[riderkb]

I quit using recipes and thinking about style guidelines. Mixing and matching malt and hop varieties has kept me interested for a long time. Most of my beers are SMaSHs or maybe two malts and two hops.

 

[stevedasleeve]

- I don't worry about a little or even a lot of troub in the fermenter
- I no longer make starters, I use dry yeast for every brew, so much easier and quicker
- I no longer make any attempt to save on starsan. I make up 5 gallons with distilled water and use it liberally and on practically everything!
- I no longer use any crystal in IPAs or IIPAs
- I no longer try to restrain my beer drinking, I just make sure I run 50 miles per week to offset the belly!

Steve da Sleeve

 

[max384]

I quit fly sparging. Batch sparging is so much faster, and the difference in efficiency is so slight, that I can't see a good reason to go back to fly sparging.

 

[guitarguy6]

- No longer use a secondary, my beer comes out just as clear as when I did use one
- Stopped using a hydrometer and instead use a refractometer pre fermentation, it's nice to accurately be able to check your gravity at anytime
- I used to always put in 60min, 15min and 5min hop additions. I mostly brew ales and usually just add a 60min addition, 5min and add 2-3OZ when wort gets to 170f.
- I used to make small batches of starsan, now I make 5 gallons and keep reusing it until it goes bad

 

[Terek]

-used to keep and re use starsan. It's so cheep, ill just make up a batch and toss it when done.
-stopped using ph stablizer. Never made any difference.
- used to be real careful when cleaning buckets to keep from having "micro scratches" now I just grab any old rag and scrub clean. Never had a problem.
- used to be hard core about sanitization, but its not such a big deal. I have never had an infection

 

[ThreeSheetz]

I've stopped using a particular Hop for bittering.

I buy the highest Alpha Acid hop my local brew shop has and use only enough to hit the target IBU in a particular recipe.
The tool in the link shown below really helps to hit your mark if you change the volume, gravity and Alpha Acid to the acual values you're using:

http://www.brew365.com/ibu_calculator.php

 

[Laszlo]

I stopped running the pump and recirculate for 60 min during the mash.

 

[captianoats]

I stopped sanitizing. All the little buggies turn it into alcohol so who cares.

I stopped adding hops, all my friends like bud light.

 

[riderkb]

I stopped sanitizing. All the little buggies turn it into alcohol so who cares.

I stopped adding hops, all my friends like bud light.

Belgian sour bud light. You are a genius. Bring the current craft brew fads to the BMC swilling masses. Don't forget the hibiscus.

 

[1977Brewer]

I've stopped using a particular Hop for bittering.



I buy the highest Alpha Acid hop my local brew shop has and use only enough to hit the target IBU in a particular recipe.

The tool in the link shown below really helps to hit your mark if you change the volume, gravity and Alpha Acid to the acual values you're using:



http://www.brew365.com/ibu_calculator.php

This. I'm pretty much only bittering with Magnum for are a long time now. Essentially $10/lb with my order from farmhouse. Insanely cheap. Might even throw down a smash do I know what it actually tastes like.

 

[madscientist451]

I'd like to find out what people have quit doing while brewing beer because it seems a waste of time, or has no real benefit to the brewing process.

Talking to my ex wife; no real benefit

 

[schematix]

-I stopped using DI water in starters. I just use hot tap water now. Much faster to make, bring to a boil and cheaper.

-I also stopped making a 5G bucket of star san on brew day. Now i keep a quart in a spray bottle handy from last kegging day (when i make 2G). I use DI water for this though since my normal tap water turns cloudy in a few minutes.

-I also stopped boiling my plate chiller before every brew. Now i run hot wort through it for about 15 minutes at the end of the boil. I then flush the heck out of it when i'm done.

In the end though I've add more than I've taken away. But I've learned when to realize that a step that I did just because that's the way i did it in the past doesn't necessarily mean it's necessary. I think more about each step now. It makes me laugh now when people on here say they soak there ICs in sanitizer before they put it in the BK at KO.

 

[brewbama]

I quit messing with dough balls by mashing in at temps below the gelatinization point.

I also quit buying gallons of Spring Water. It just creates a plastic mountain. I use tap.

 

[NewJersey]

Great thread.
I have nothing to add. (as others have mentioned many things ive left behind already)
Just wanted to say that i have never understood why people are so crazy about saving and storing starsan. I have a 2 bin ss sink in my brew area and theyre large. I make 10 gallons in the left side, use it while brewing, and then dump it. I probably average 1.5 brews a month and only use two of the larger bottles a YEAR.

 

[brewbush]

I have stopped making 4 gallons of starsan on bottling day and submerging the bottles to sanitize. I now use the bottle squirter that sits on top of the bottle tree and don't worry about it.

 

[razyrsharpe]

i have stopped de-labeling bottles. lots of work to give samples to friend who don't return the bottles. i have de-labeled bottles to keep here, and old labeled ones to give as gifts.

 

[Remmy]

-I no longer bottle beer.

To the kegs they all go.

 

[Kent88]

If I had a larger lager fridge, lived in a bigger place, and hadn't invested in so many 1-gallon fermenters, I'd switch over to 3-gallon entirely. Trying to mash and sparge with less than 3lbs of grain in a 2-gallon kettle is getting a bit ridiculous. Trying to maintain a certain temperature, worrying about oversparging.

Still, for someone who didn't try a variety of beers before I started brewing, the 1-gallon test batches are a decent size.

 

[McGarnigle]

-I also stopped making a 5G bucket of star san on brew day. Now i keep a quart in a spray bottle handy from last kegging day (when i make 2G).

I did the 5-gallons-of-sanitizer-for-a-5g-batch thing once or twice before I realized I didn't need to sanitize the air inside the bucket.

I stopped using Irish Moss at some point.

 

[Yoseff]

I've stopped using my immersion chiller... Letting the wort cool overnight has worked out just fine.

 

[BreezyBrew]

If I mash at 150 or above, I only mash for 45 minutes. All the conversion is done by then. Just a waste of time for me to mash longer. YMMV.

 

[Ilan34]

For about 15 brews, I put in an 1/8 of a teaspoon of cinnamon with the mash because I read that Charlie Parpazian does that for every brew in order to prevent oxidation. I stopped because I felt like I could taste it in my lighter bodied beers, although that could have been my imagination.

 

[JKoravos]

Putting on pants.

 

[brew_ny]

I stopped taking thorazine on brew day as it did not help

 

[watermelon83]

I stopped sanitizing. All the little buggies turn it into alcohol so who cares.

I stopped adding hops, all my friends like bud light.

Thx for taking Indiana down a notch! Kentucky here we come!!!

 

[Cyclman]

I stopped using anything but longnecks, makes bottling faster when you don't have to adjust the bench capper. I also bottle in champagne bottles whenever I have them.

 

[njviking]

I stopped caring what my friends and family would drink. My ball my yard; go make your own beer.

 

[RichFellows]

I have stopped doing something that has helped me stop making dumb mistakes: drinking heavily. Now if I am drinking while brewing it is usually just 1-2 for the whole process. This has helped me stop forgetting additions and doing other stupid things.

Oh how I wish I didn't know what you are talking about. It's entirely too easy while you are sitting outside on a nice day waiting for mashing, waiting for the boil to start, waiting to add hops, etc and drink a bunch of beers. I remember recently doing 2 batches back to back and after brewing/drinking for most of the daylight hours I barely can recall the final stages of the second brew. So far everything tastes okay so I'm sure I did fine but I wish I had a better memory of what I did.

 

[RichFellows]

Talking to my ex wife; no real benefit

I quit talking to her as well. I couldn't find a benefit.

 

[kcbeersnob]

I stopped:
- Skimming the foam at the start of the boil.
- Sending water samples for analysis and diluting with distilled. I just use distilled and build my water using Bru'nWater.
- Disassembling kegs every time I kill one off.
- Using sodium chloride conservatively in dark beers.

 

[Subdivisions]

-I no longer bottle beer.

To the kegs they all go.

This is by far the greatest time saver. There's also something about a batch of beer that gets aged in one big mass. It's like how draft and bottled beer seem different

 

[Jaybird]

I stopped taking thorazine on brew day as it did not help

Ohh man I still have to take this on brew day! Keeps me from seeing (and talking to) the bugs trying to get in and kill my beer..LOL

I quit talking to her as well. I couldn't find a benefit.

You know his EX-Wife? HUH....

Cheers
Jay

 

[bionut]

Because of him she's the ex, haha.

 

[Hello]

I stopped worrying about volumes so much. It actually helped and now I hit my volume pretty much every time.

 

[lhommedieu]

I've stopped worrying about volume and use the last runnings pH as an indicator of when I should stop sparging. I get what I get.

I've cut back using StarSan and have switched to isodophor for most of my sanitation. I still use StarSan for small parts that I get to with a spray bottle, but I rinse it off with boiling water.

I'm using less liquid yeast with starters and more dry yeast (no starter). Despite all my best intentions, I've never used yeast nutrient in the fermenter and don't aerate my wort; I've never had a problem with lag time.

I've stopped using a gravity system and now use pumps to move liquids around. This has made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the brewing process.

Despite the aforementioned things that I've quit, my brew day is actually longer because I'm learning the tri-decoction method. It's actually nice to shut out the outside world for a day at time.

 

[brew_ny]

Ohh man I still have to take this on brew day! Keeps me from seeing (and talking to) the bugs trying to get in and kill my beer..LOL


Cheers
Jay

maybe I should try adding Abilify