What single change most improved your beer?

[The10mmKid]

Patience

'da Kid

 

[philipCT]

Going to all-grain. My extract brews had gotten to the point where they all had a vague sameness. Suddenly, I was able to brew really clean, dry beers.

 

[MaxStout]

Maintaining fermentation temps. I've screwed up more beers due to runaway temps than from any other factor.

 

[luvinit]

so apparently ferment temp is the most important thing. Is their an ideal temp for all brew not lagering but for standard ale type fermenting I have a fridge with a honeywell temp controller I rigged what would be the perfect ferment temp?

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Fermentation temperature control and paying close attention to water chemistry. My efficiency and flavors are better than ever.

+1
Fermentation chamber with a temp controller. Calcium chloride and calcium sulfate, as outlined in the Water Chemistry Sticky.

 

[FuriousE]

so apparently ferment temp is the most important thing. Is their an ideal temp for all brew not lagering but for standard ale type fermenting I have a fridge with a honeywell temp controller I rigged what would be the perfect ferment temp?

Depends on the specific strain of yeast. The manufacturer will give you a range to use. I usually like to stay at the lower end of the range. For example, I like WY1056 at about 65 degrees.

 

[hunter_le five]

Temperature control for fermentation temps

 

[riderkb]

Switching from bleach to StarSan. All the rinsing to get the bleach of probably contaminated a lot of batches. I hope no one uses bleach any more.

 

[d3track]

I'm going to say post boil chilling. Getting the wort at the proper temp BEFORE pitching was a big learning point for me. I think it made ferment chamber and starters even more effective, IMHO.

 

[brewbama]

Going to all-grain. My extract brews had gotten to the point where they all had a vague sameness. Suddenly, I was able to brew really clean, dry beers.

+1. All Grain.


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[EtchyLives]

Using a yeast starter to get proper pitching amounts and adding O2 to the wort.

 

[govner1]

Patience



'da Kid

++++ 1 on the patience! You'll avoid more mistakes, too.


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[dkevinb]

Paying attention to the water. Tastes fine out of the tap, contains chloramines.

Here in coastal SoCal temp control isn't quite as big an issue as some places, though I'm paying close attention to it during this hot spell. My "fermentation chamber" (the tub in the spare bathroom) generally stays in the mid- to high-60's most of the year. Not this week.

 

[The_Bishop]

Temperature control followed closely by using RO water and building water to suit.

 

[Zuljin]

Temperature control. You can do without, but you can do better with. I use an old fridge in a back room. No add on controls or other mods. I just took out the shelves to make room for fermentors.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Perhaps this thread should go in a different direction what 5 things made the most difference and what is the order of importance!

 

[sybesbrew]

Temperature control.

 

[fosaisu]

Temp control.

 

[brewmeister13]

Definitely temp control.

I got tired of hearing you can't make great beer with extract, so I brewed an all extract DIPA and entered it into a competition. There were 132 entries and it took gold in IPA category (scored a 45) and was an honorable mention for best of show.

 

[Peyope]

1+ to temperature control. It's not even as expensive as other upgrades; I purchased a chest freezer new for $180 and it holds two carboys. When the beer is done i simply cold crash and keg.

 

[paperairplane]

Experience / patience

 

[homebrewdude76]

Brewing with other people....

Can't say the batch to batch consistency got better, but brewing with new brewers is always fun for me.

 

[Komocabo]

1) Stopped drinking while brewing (ok, maybe one while chilling)
2) Practice with my system
3) temp control
4) mill my own grain
5) yeast starters
6) patience (had to establish a pipeline first!)
7) kegging my beer (not to debate bottle vs. begging either)

Not in that order, but those were the biggies for me. I

 

[Komocabo]

Brewing with other people....

Can't see the batch to batch consistency got better, but brewing with new brewers is always fun for me.

I do the same. I have to keep my mouth shut so I don't take over their brew day... I'm just there to watch and make sure they don't forget to sanitize. Hehe. It's nice to see where you have been, and where you are now in your skillz

 

[EtchyLives]

Practice. This applied to everything else. After that it was...
Patience and letting the beer set the time (instead of the 1 week primary, 2 week secondary, 3 weeks after bottling formula)
Yeast starters/Right amount of yeast
Full volume boils instead of 3 gallon + top-up water
Proper Oxygenation. With an Oxygen stone.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Stopped drinking??? Really... I make a point to drink the style we are brewing. If we brew at 8am we drink at 8am...

 

[titansvol]

Pitching the correct number of yeast cells.


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[dobes]

The biggest impact on my beer has been the temp control. Thanks to you guys I figured that out early on in my brewing stages. The second thing was cleaning and sanitizing, again learned that early on.
So besides those two, I think my biggest improvements have been pitching the proper amount of yeast and getting my mash temps right. For some reason I struggled with the mash temps for a while.
I will put water chemistry next not because I think it is less important but because I think it is the next step in fine tuning my beers.
The one thing I hope for is that I never think I make the perfect beer. I love brewing and experimenting and as long as there is room for improvement, i'm gonna try!

 

[Komocabo]

Stopped drinking??? Really... I make a point to drink the style we are brewing. If we brew at 8am we drink at 8am...

I hear ya, but with a 6-7 hour brew day, I can put down way too much beer... I hate stumbling around boiling wort. Also, I typically brew by myself. So I end up talking to the wall for a while. Some people think that's crazy I guess (hehe)...

One more thing (back on topic): Lots of hops!!

 

[Komocabo]

Ditto to above! I struggled with mash temps for a while... Now (thank you practice!) I pretty much know exactly where I need my strike water to be to get right where I want the mash to be, and control the temp swings.