What process / technique / piece of equipment has improved your beer the most?!

[SleepyCreekBrews]

Easy. Temp control during fermentation.
It's the last thing that touches your beer before you package it, and can make, or break the beer.

 

[brucebeernut]

BIAB is my method...
1) Kegging / Keezer
2) Fermentation control STC1000 (Black Box version), thermowell for temp probe
3) Beersmith software

 

[daveMN]

A notepad. I take a page of notes from each brew on what worked and what didn't and how the beer turned out.
After that, going all grain was a big improvement on quality, and biab has been a big improvement on the process.

 

[brewerdoc]

My list from changes that have had the largest to smallest impact on the quality of my beer.

1. temperature control (if I was going to pick just one thing this would be it)
2. the lighter the beer I brew the more relevant this is but pH and water chemistry
3. buying fresh, healthy grains
4. Kegging
5. yeasts management, maintaining healthy cultures, learning about pitch rates

 

[sd_brewbie]

Temperature control
Moving to all grain
Blending tap and ro water with mineral and acid additions made a big difference as well.

I never bottled... Kegged from the first batch.

 

[Xhul]

I agree with most people on here that temp control is probably about the most important. But beyond that buying a CO2 tank and using that to purge everything and push my beer around when racking has really improved my beer. I bottle and like hoppy beers. No matter what I did my old auto-syphon and bottling bucket always seemed to get too much oxygen exposure. Using a stainless racking cane and CO2 in a closed system has totally eliminated this problem.

 

[GHBWNY]

HomeBrewTalk

 

[mousehunter]

I am starting over in my homebrew adventure. I brewed a few hundred gallons when I brewed before. I can not think of anything that I changed that effected the quality of my beer. I never had a contamination caused by sanitation issues. With beer, I only had 2 unsatisfactory batches. One was due to recipe, the other was thin walled bottles. I can only assume that I was blessed with good water and good fermentation temperatures.

Kegging did make bottling much easier, sanitation much easier, and consumption much easier.

 

[PlexVector]

Fermentation temp control and quality ingredients.

 

[unionrdr]

Well, I'd have to say it in this order;
1) Spring water
2) My own grain mill
3) Partial boil, partial mash brew in a bag (turned into mostly mash)
4) Beersmith
5) Winning an STC 1000 temp controller

 

[beersk]

For me, hands down, the internet and homebrewtalk as experimentation.

Being the anal engineer I am, I did about 40 hours of research, all on the internet, before I bought anything. Then I dove right in, head first, with all-grain and kegging. I immediately had good beer. Then, constantly reading more and more on the internet, I have continued to improve my beer my varying processes and experimenting with what works best for me (with lots of internet inspiration). With experimentation, I have learned much about the ingredients and hops schedule.

Most recently, I have started adjusting water and pH, thanks again to the internet and homebrewtalk. I will be able to taste the results in two weeks.

You're an anal engineer? What degree did you get for that job?

 

[hezagenius]

Homebrewtalk has been invaluable

From a process standpoint, having a large enough kettle to do full boils (and full BIAB mashes) has probably made the biggest impact

Other things that I've found very helpful
Kegging
Pump
Upgrading to stainless steel equipment where possible so I don't have to worry about breaking plastic equipment
Anything that helps me avoid using a siphon to transfer wort/beer (valve on the kettle, stainless racking cane for transferring with CO2)
Temp control
Using yeast starters

 

[frodus17]

Things that took me to the next level:
Conical Fermenter

 

[jmitchell3]

It was really a progression...here's the improvements I've made since I started brewing in late 2013, in order of adoption:

1. All grain with full wort boils
2. Fermentation temp control
3. Liquid yeast and starters
4. Oxygenation with O2 wand
5. Yeast nutrient in starters and boil
6. Kegging (just made life easier)
7. pH and water chemistry, building from RO water exclusively

 

[TorMag]

I have to add one more. Just moved my corona mill into a bucket and hooked up with the drill. Have to say damn.... What took me 45 minutes to do by hand last time just took me two minutes. Might not improve my beer, but sure made the process easier.

 

[Relampago]

Adding a temperature controller to my freezer for fermentation and using starters again.

 

[chudsonvt]

You're an anal engineer? What degree did you get for that job?

Biomedical! JK.

I'm an Electrical Engineer with an Electrical/Computer Engineering degree. But I do design medical electronics. I DID help design a lightsource and videoscope that COULD be used for anal investigation! How is your colon? Want to see it? Haha.

 

[beersk]

Biomedical! JK.

I'm an Electrical Engineer with an Electrical/Computer Engineering degree. But I do design medical electronics. I DID help design a lightsource and videoscope that COULD be used for anal investigation! How is your colon? Want to see it? Haha.

Haha, I always think impure thoughts when someone says "Oh I'm super anal..." and that kind of stuff. I'd prefer is people said anal retentive just to not confuse things, ya know?