Wish I'd Tried That Earlier...

[3 Dawg Night]

What beer style, technique, ingredient, etc. were you intimidated by (or just didn't think you'd like) earlier in your brewing experience, but once you gave it a shot, you really regretted not doing it sooner. Maybe:

1) It was way easier than you thought it would be,
2) It made an larger-than-expected improvement in your beer, or
3) You never cared for commercial examples of the style, but you love your own version.

For example, I never really cared for IPA's until I started learning about the different varieties of hops and what each brings to the party. Now, I can't get enough!

I'm less than a year into this hobby, so I'm definitely still a novice. My biggest regret at this point is just not starting sooner! Here are a few things that I'm currently "intimidated" by:

- Lagering
- Sours
- Kegging (pretty sure a LOT of people will say they regret not kegging sooner)
- Imperial anything
- Smoked beers
- Spiced/fruit beers

I'd like to try most of those in the future; part of the joy of this hobby is trying new things. I'm just wondering what kind of stuff seems intimidating on the front end but isn't a big deal on the back end.

 

[shoreman]

Lagers.

 

[Knightshade]

Start your journey for kegging, it isn't scary at all. I've got less than a year's worth of experience but have never bottled. That was largely based on the fact that it looked really time consuming. That..and kegs take up less room.

Any recipe which calls for a yeast starter, I've stayed away from. I've read about and watched plenty of videos on how to make them. For me, just seems like another part of the brew I might screw up, added complexity when I'm still making workflow mistakes.

 

[thehaze]

Yeah... like Knightshade above, I was a bit afraid of kegging, but it actually was pretty easy.

Other things I tried and improved: getting a pH meter and trying out the english approach to water treatment, brewing my first lager, which turn out very good, brewing an Imperial Stout, brewing sours and pastry stouts. I'm actually planning on doing some fruited sours and pastry beers in the coming months, so that's that...

 

[Rob2010SS]

I get neurotic about new processes. I just get so nervous about them! I've hit a few of these bumps...

- Yeast starters: took me forever to get going on doing these. I was so nervous I'd screw it up but its such a piece of cake!
- Closed loop transfers to kegs: Always thought I'd screw this up. Granted, the thought of doing this from carboy to keg still makes me nervous, but stainless fermenter to keg, easy peazy!
- Kettle sours: was very nervous on the first couple, but now it's like 2nd nature.
- Checking/Monitoring mash pH: was super intimidated by this but again, once you do it, it's 2nd nature.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Counterflow chillers - I had always been afraid of contamination, but as I gained confidence in the cleaning and sanitation process I relaxed a little. Glad I did. Chilling is no longer the long part of the process.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Yeah... like Knightshade above, I was a bit afraid of kegging, but it actually was pretty easy.

Other things I tried and improved: getting a pH meter and trying out the english approach to water treatment, brewing my first lager, which turn out very good, brewing an Imperial Stout, brewing sours and pastry stouts. I'm actually planning on doing some fruited sours and pastry beers in the coming months, so that's that...

So, what is the "English approach" to water treatment?

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Counterflow chillers - I had always been afraid of contamination, but as I gained confidence in the cleaning and sanitation process I relaxed a little. Glad I did. Chilling is no longer the long part of the process.

This is another I could add to my list. Seems like it'd be a lot faster than my IC, but I'd worry about cleaning and infection.

 

[thehaze]

So, what is the "English approach" to water treatment?

Esentially, they mineralise brewing water to levels, which most brewers wont even consider trying. I used Bru'nWater and I still do once in a while - the profiles shown in it work well. I've brewed beers using more minerals, which were - for my taste - better, and not better just overall, but what the water treatment gave the beers, was a sort of a, probably minerally feel, though not in the same league with many english ales.

A recent mash water profile was: 10 ppm Mg, 20 ppm Na, 150 ppm Cl, 250 ppm SO4 and whatever Ca accumulated, usually around 190 ppm. That's higher than I would normally have used. In the past, I would have never used 150 ppm Cl or 250 ppm SO4 in any of the beers I brewed, but it worked. What I also noticed is when use more brewing salts, the need to acidify mash water decreased, which is rather normal, but to the extent that some beers, only needed a couple of ml of phosphoric acid in the sparge water.

 

[Rob2010SS]

This is another I could add to my list. Seems like it'd be a lot faster than my IC, but I'd worry about cleaning and infection.

My experience is actually backwards from this. My JaDeD Hydra IC was MUCH quicker than the counterflow chiller I have now. Although, admittedly, it's the standard chiller that comes with the spike systems. One day I want to upgrade to the bigger exchillerator and that should solve my problem.

Sorry, off topic...

 

[Joshua Hughes]

I didn’t try to make a lager for a while due to worrying about keeping a low temp. Had no trouble when I finally tried.

I am afraid to dry hop still..

 

[Ogilthorpe2]

Spunding

 

[Brooothru]

Lagers.

^^^this^^^

With one caveat: have a means of temperature control, not just a "cool place" to lager. Or start out brewing a California Common.


kegging

^^^double thumbs up^^^

 

[Brooothru]

After reading all the responses I'd like to modify my list just slightly:

Spunding

Yeah, this one is so easy that everybody should be doing it. But you gotta' be keggin' first, so..... baby steps.


Yeast

Different take on this. O.K., I'm a yeast snob and always make starters from liquid or harvested/banked yeasts.

Don't do this until you've been brewing for a while.

It's not that it's some huge 'advanced' technique or anything. It's just that it has a level of complexity and variability that you really don't need to be messing with until you really feel the need. There's just too many very good dried yeast strains out there that don't require special handling. Virtually all of them are dried isolates of the most popular strains you'd likely be buying in liquid form anyway. Safale 05 (aka, "Chico", Wyeast 1056, WLP-001) will get you anywhere you want to be in ales, or Danstar Nottingham if you want something with a more 'Continental' flair. Save the liquid experimentation until you're really comfortable and consistent in your brew day processes. No need to have too many balls in the air at this point.

Happy brewing. It's a journey as much as it is a destination.

 

[monkeymath]

Yeast

Different take on this. O.K., I'm a yeast snob and always make starters from liquid or harvested/banked yeasts.

Don't do this until you've been brewing for a while.

It's not that it's some huge 'advanced' technique or anything. It's just that it has a level of complexity and variability that you really don't need to be messing with until you really feel the need. There's just too many very good dried yeast strains out there that don't require special handling. Virtually all of them are dried isolates of the most popular strains you'd likely be buying in liquid form anyway. Safale 05 (aka, "Chico", Wyeast 1056, WLP-001) will get you anywhere you want to be in ales, or Danstar Nottingham if you want something with a more 'Continental' flair. Save the liquid experimentation until you're really comfortable and consistent in your brew day processes. No need to have too many balls in the air at this point.

I don't find that to be the case. With online estimators, an Erlenmeyer flask and a bag of DME, there's hardly anything more simple than making a yeast starter. And it opens up the world of the endless and ever increasing number of yeast strains.

 

[Vale71]

For me kegging is definitely N.1 on the list. A lot less work, especially cleaning (who doesn't hate washing bottles?) and the beer is much fresher with the reduced handling and the reduced O2 exposure. Also you're not constrained by bottle size and can draw as much beer as you like.

One thing I don't regret is not buying one of those first generation non-pressure-capable conicals. Homebrew-sized unitanks came along not long after and that's definitely the best money I ever spent in homebrewing.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

For me kegging is definitely N.1 on the list. A lot less work, especially cleaning (who doesn't hate washing bottles?) and the beer is much fresher with the reduced handling and the reduced O2 exposure. Also you're not constrained by bottle size and can draw as much beer as you like.

One thing I don't regret is not buying one of those first generation non-pressure-capable conicals. Homebrew-sized unitanks came along not long after and that's definitely the best money I ever spent in homebrewing.

I assume you're talking about something like this. So, talk me into it. What does a conical/unitank bring to the table over my 7-gal Fermonster?

 

[Vale71]

That's not a true unitank as it has no dumping capability.

A true unitank allows you to:

- dump yeast, trub and dry-hops (if present) as soon as they collect in the cone minimizing contact time
- spund
- perform oxygen-free dry hopping even under pressure
- perform oxygen-free closed transfers to kegs
- use external chilling (glycol) which is really a plus for the larger sizes where lifting in and out of a fridge is really not an option
- if not pressed to brew the next batch right away you can even serve the beer directly from the tank with zero oxygen contact

 

[3 Dawg Night]

That's not a true unitank as it has no dumping capability.

A true unitank allows you to:

- dump yeast, trub and dry-hops (if present) as soon as they collect in the cone minimizing contact time
- spund
- perform oxygen-free dry hopping even under pressure
- perform oxygen-free closed transfers to kegs
- use external chilling (glycol) which is really a plus for the larger sizes where lifting in and out of a fridge is really not an option
- if not pressed to brew the next batch right away you can even serve the beer directly from the tank with zero oxygen contact

Oh, I was putting the Flex under the "non-pressure conical" category. I guess this is more what you're talking about.

 

[Vale71]

Yep...

 

[eric19312]

another vote for kegging. I did more than 50 batches before I started kegging, many of those were 10 gallon. Ouch.

Curious about @Vale71 list defining a unitank. How does the tank provide for oxygen free dry hop additions? Also I don't believe external cooling is required for a vessel to be considered a unitank. It is a common feature but I think there are still single walled unitanks that can handle pressure but require temperature controlled room (or fridge). I think a unitank is really just a cylindroconical tank that can be used for both fermentation and serving. So yes temp control from fermentation to serving temps must be possible, it has to handle at least some pressure, and needs to provide a sanitary way to dump yeast/trub/hops.

 

[Vale71]

The industry defintion is "a tank where both fermentation and maturation can be performed without intermediate transfers until packaging". To achieve that it must at the very least be capable of spunding to the target pressure and be able to dump yeast and trub as needed. Temperature control can still be performed with a cooled chamber/room so you are correct that glycol chilling is not an inherent feature of a unitank but with homebrew sized tanks that's usually the case.
Being able to dry-hop under pressure and without O2 ingress is a side effect of being pressure-capable and having ports that can support removable pressure-capable attachments.

 

[Brooothru]

I don't find that to be the case. With online estimators, an Erlenmeyer flask and a bag of DME, there's hardly anything more simple than making a yeast starter. And it opens up the world of the endless and ever increasing number of yeast strains.

No argument here. Making a starter isn't really difficult and it does indeed offer nearly endless ways to experiment and improve upon your beer.

But it does add a layer of variables and additional steps that can be bypassed while still making excellent beer, especially when you are just starting out. Thirty years ago many of us were still using bread yeast. (Ugh!). Liquid yeasts for homebrewers is something that wasn't available when Jimmy Carter lifted the ban on beer-at-home brewing in '78.

Trivia Q: Who remembers "Billy Beer"?

Maybe we should call our homebrews "Jimmy Beer."

Brooo Brother

 

[Sammy86]

Here are my top 2:

1.Recipe experimentation: My first 10 batches I brewed the same 4 beers, APA, American Wheat, IPA and Kolsch...i was almost afraid to switch something/change the recipe. I first changed hops, then yeast and now im starting to mix up my grains and get a little more experimental with my recipes.

2. Lagers: Once I was able to control fermentation temps and plan my brews more precisely I love brewing lagers. My palate was pretty smashed after drinking heavily hopped APAS and IPAS so it was a nice change of pace.

 

[JRG]

Switching to an electric heating element. The thought of electrocution really scared me (still does). Hired an electrician to install dedicated GFCI. Heating times are half what they were with propane. There is less heat in the surrounding environment making brew day more enjoyable during the summer. No noise from the burner and no fumes/carbon monoxide to worry about, just steam. Also no more trips to exchange tanks.

As for techniques, using a submersible pump to recirculate ice water through my wort chiller once I approach ~15 degrees of ground water temps. This has saved a lot of chilling time and water. This also allowed me to get to lager pitching temps quickly which was one of my biggest concerns about brewing a lager.

 

[seatazzz]

Absolute Number One: fermentation temperature control. My first year brewing I used a swamp cooler and about 40% of my beers came out horrible. Since I started using a ferment fridge, with a heat lamp and bayite temperature controller, the only "bad" beers I've made have been due to other mistakes, usually yeast-related. Three years ago the husband got us a new house fridge, and instead of having the old one (Samsung french door that's about 15 years old) hauled away I begged to have it in the garage. Excepting two times it's had to do double duty (once as the kegerator when the old one died, and as the house fridge when the "new" one's compressor start capacitor futzed) it's seen constant use since then. It's also where I show off my sticker collection. I also probably have one of the few ferment fridges around that have taps (too lazy to remove them, also it makes it look like I have two kegerators).