The one thing to improve your brewday and quality of beer....

[good4whatAlesU]

Time.

Don't be impatient.

Allow brews to ferment out and age properly.

 

[JDW81]

No, bluegrass.

I don't agree. There's nothing like listening to bluegrass while brewing to honour the memory of our moonshinin' forefathers.

Oh, and you need a blue milk crate. Grey is OK, blue is better.

 

[LorriSanga]

Keep the yeast happy - all important processes that lead to that goal. Pitching rates, aeration, temp control, enough fermentation time.
Get that right and you will taste the recipe for what it is.

 

[Adr_0]

Third, oxygen is the enemy. Try and get your DO as little as possible. Take care transferring and purging.

To further clarify this, you want oxygen away from your wort/beer at all times except for the couple of hours around yeast pitching/lag phases.

Oxygen before this will stale the wort, dulling the fresh/bright flavours.

Oxygen after the yeast has taken off will have the same staling effect in addition to a some extra off flavours, including acetaldehyde.

Oxygen around pitching will improve yeast vitality, producing a cleaner beer (less off flavours) and generally finishing stronger. But that's the only time oxygen is a good thing for beer.

 

[mstrelan]

I don't agree. There's nothing like listening to bluegrass while brewing to honour the memory of our moonshinin' forefathers.

I think the comma after "no" was him changing his mind, i.e. "no, not metal, bluegrass is what you want".

 

[Adr_0]

Another one: getting copper out of equipment in contact with wort/beer and replacing with stainless.

Understanding mash pH vs base water and grain makeup (pale, crystal, roast), and chloride:sulphate ratio.

 

[Gigantorus]

No1 Rule....clean and sanitise EVERYTHING that comes in contact with your brew.

 

[manticle]

I think the comma after "no" was him changing his mind, i.e. "no, not metal, bluegrass is what you want".

Um......death industrial, thanks guys.
And sludge

 

[evoo4u]

Another one: getting copper out of equipment in contact with wort/beer and replacing with stainless.

Food for thought , this one.

My heat exchanger consists of 9 metres of copper tube, and my transfer "wand" over the lip of the kettle and reaching down to the bottom (to avoid splashing and aeration) is also about 700mm of copper tube.

So could you discern a difference in taste if I were to make identical brews, one with the existing setup, and another If I replaced the copper with S/S?

 

[malt junkie]

Copper prevents the use of harsh chemical in place cleaning.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Copper prevents the use of harsh chemical in place cleaning.

I use a copper immersion chiller. I usually leave it sit in my kettle as I'm recirculating a napisan solution through the kettle, lines and pumps. I then give it a rinse and that's about it.

Are you more talking about wort in contact with the inside of copper pipes?

 

[pcqypcqy]

I'd add a few.

1. Don't try to do too much. Some have suggested double brew days, but don't try it until you're confident in doing one. I'd rather brew twice on separate days then try that again any time soon. Got flustered, didn't have ingredients prepared, lost track of what I was doing a lot. Beers still turned out OK but the brew day wasn't enjoyable.

2. Don't drink. I start early in the morning so I'm on coffee until I'm done.

 

[Adr_0]

Food for thought , this one.

My heat exchanger consists of 9 metres of copper tube, and my transfer "wand" over the lip of the kettle and reaching down to the bottom (to avoid splashing and aeration) is also about 700mm of copper tube.

So could you discern a difference in taste if I were to make identical brews, one with the existing setup, and another If I replaced the copper with S/S?

I think if you're going to have any copper, the chiller coil would have the least impact: vs a copper manifold or hard-plumbed copper tubing. The rationale for this is:
-at wort pH and temperature the CuO (oxide) layer will dissolve and dissociate into Cu and O
-the continued contact in a manifold or piping basically oxidises the wort, staling the fresh, punchy flavours
-at 60-70°C the wort can potentially hold ~4ppm dissolved oxygen, vs 0ppm when boiling, so potentially less impact when boiling.

To answer your question, possibly - being more confident if you leave it in for a while and swirl your beer.

I had hard-plumbed copper, manifold, and chiller with continuous circulation. I compared this to my old 50L keg/drum setups and the malt was always very subdued compared to my old beers - which were typically chilled with copper coils, sometimes not. Since moving to fully stainless there has been a significant improvement in the malt punchiness. Incidentally that wheat doppelbock in the winter case swap was on the copper system - but needed a good chunk of Cara-munich II and a double decoction to have any sort of malt left over.

So I think if you had a manifold and chiller and changed to stainless, yes I could pick it. A chiller only I could pick if you left it in for a while and swirled your wort.

And yes... Stainless can be cleaned easier and has less potential for surface nasties.

 

[malt junkie]

I use a copper immersion chiller. I usually leave it sit in my kettle as I'm recirculating a napisan solution through the kettle, lines and pumps. I then give it a rinse and that's about it.

Are you more talking about wort in contact with the inside of copper pipes?

more around CIP. obviously your copper bits are removed as routine. I caustic the lot every few months, but everything is SS.

 

[laxation]

The first step to quality beer is to realise that human beings don't make beer.

Your job is to make a really nice wort and then tend to your billions of pets called yeast and give them the happiest environment in which to live.

Then you will get nice beer

This is a real nice Bob Ross sort of thing. I like it

Creating happy little yeasts...

 

[klangers]

No one yet has mentioned something where many an effort is often squandered - packaging your beer.

The best beer can be undone by poor packaging (bottling or kegging). Oxygen ingress or an unclean bottle can wreak havoc.

Invest in a decent bottle filling apparatus so you get good results without spending half your day doing so. If you're moving into kegging ensure you understand the ins and outs of your kegs, especially the CO2 system.

 

[mtb]

klangers has a point, if you consider sodium percarbonate a suitable no-rinse sanitiser for your keg, you're gonna have a bad time.
I'm inclined to install a headstone where 57L of ruined beer was laid to rest

 

[Leyther]

klangers has a point, if you consider sodium percarbonate a suitable no-rinse sanitiser for your keg, you're gonna have a bad time.
I'm inclined to install a headstone where 57L of ruined beer was laid to rest

I used sodium perc on my kegs, leave them overnight then I use star san before kegging. Whats the issue with Sodium Perc? or you just suggesting you should also santise afterwards? I find Sodium Perc is a ripper cleaner.

 

[mtb]

Oh it's great as a cleaner Leyther. Just rinse it out afterwards (as you do with starsan)

 

[Matplat]

My most recent step change in beer quality was due to caustic soda.

I now clean all fermenters and taps in 60 degree caustic after every brew, before that I was using sodium perc and would probably loose 1 in 5 brews to infection. Perhaps it was the way I was using the perc, but since changing to hot caustic, nil problems.

On an equal level with cleaning and sanitation, temperature control; second hand fridges are cheap as chips (even free!), seriously minimal investment for a big change in beer quality.

Sorry, nothing revolutionary coming from this corner!

 

[Leyther]

On an equal level with cleaning and sanitation, temperature control; second hand fridges are cheap as chips (even free!), seriously minimal investment for a big change in beer quality.

I was chatting to someone looking to get into brewing on the weekend, I'm only on about brew no 8 myself so no expert but I reckon that's the biggest thing I've found, I've tipped one which fermented too high and drank another through gritted teeth but since I went temp control they've all come out well.

 

[laxation]

Oxygen ingress
....

Invest in a decent bottle filling apparatus so you get good results without spending half your day doing so. If you're moving into kegging ensure you understand the ins and outs of your kegs, especially the CO2 system.

Could of things... What is oxygen ingress?
How do you best learn the ins & outs of your kegs for a first time filling a keg?

klangers has a point, if you consider sodium percarbonate a suitable no-rinse sanitiser for your keg, you're gonna have a bad time.
I'm inclined to install a headstone where 57L of ruined beer was laid to rest

Whats wrong with sodium percarbonate? Keg king suggested it for cleaning and i've been using it to sanitise my fermenter forever...

 

[mtb]

Whats wrong with sodium percarbonate? Keg king suggested it for cleaning and i've been using it to sanitise my fermenter forever...

Perc breaks down into - among other things - oxygen. It's fine to sanitise your fermenter with it, because the oxygen is useful, but in a keg it's a real easy way to stale beer quick.

 

[laxation]

Perc breaks down into - among other things - oxygen. It's fine to sanitise your fermenter with it, because the oxygen is useful, but in a keg it's a real easy way to stale beer quick.

what do you use instead?

 

[mtb]

perc, heavy rinse, then starsan

 

[eungaibitter1]

I found having a set procedure that I do every time so I can almost do it in my sleep.

Pretty much this and take notes.

 

[labels]

Perc breaks down into - among other things - oxygen. It's fine to sanitise your fermenter with it, because the oxygen is useful, but in a keg it's a real easy way to stale beer quick.

I was always of the understanding that sodium percarbonate breaks down into carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. It's a great cleaner, classified as non toxic and is mildly alkaline.
I think the issue here is separating cleaning and sanitation into two distinct processes. Clean first and sanitise afterwards and Star San is the most widely used sanitiser in home brewing.
With reference to using caustic soda, it might do a great job but being so very alkaline it is also a heavy oxidation agent. Dissolves aluminium and can make even the best stainless steel go rusty - something which I would avoid. It is also toxic.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I think that once you get your beer good enough to drink at 10 to 12 degrees C without an overload of hops then you have cracked it.

 

[Grott]

Oh it's great as a cleaner Leyther. Just rinse it out afterwards (as you do with starsan)

Why are you rinsing out your starsan? In the right mix it's non- rinse. I believe if you rinse a sanitiser then the sanitation is only as good as what you rinse it with.

 

[mtb]

Sorry, poor wording on my part. Rinse out the perc afterwards, ie with starsan