What One Single Thing Improved Your Beer In 2006

[Linz]

sah,


I think hes pointing out that fermenters are NORMALLY made of PLASTIC so chlorine is fine.......

 

[sah]

sah,
I think hes pointing out that fermenters are NORMALLY made of PLASTIC so chlorine is fine.......

And that he thinks I'm wrong about extract brews for pale ales. I didn't read his posts very well. Sorry Screwtop.

regards
Scott

 

[Finite]

Going AG and quitting using secondary fermentation except with some lagers and high gravity beers

 

[jimmyjack]

1. 40 litre Urn that automatically turns on and hits strike temp by the time I wake up
2. Vigorous Boiling for 90 minutes seems to really clear the wort and bring the wort PH down before adding hops
3. Koppafloc clearing agent from Ross, this stuff is amazing and I dont have to filter to get crystal clear beer!
4. welded 1/2 socket onto boiling vessel. no more siphoning and its super easy to clean after every brew
5. False bottom in mash tun, I have improved my effeciency and never had a stuck sparge.
6. Underletting, so much easier
7. Carbonator cap, super easy to pour beer from keg to pet bottle and maintain carbonation without foaming


Cheers, JJ

 

[devo]

Going "all grain".

Second to that would be using live yeast starters but seeing as I did both in 2005 I'd have to say that re-desiging my AG set up in 2006 help stremline my brewday and helped in cutting back on the time it takes to brew.

 

[colinw]

No huge improvement for me this year, as my big leap to AG was a few years ago now. If I hadn't gone AG, I doubt I would still be brewing.

This years improvements were more subtle, incremental changes which made brew days easier. Probably the most noticeable improvement was a distinct improvement in my recipe formulation, particularly a greater willingness to ignore the self imposed and arbitrary boundaries of 'style' and just brew what I want to drink.

When I was first AGing, I used to meticulously tune all the parameters of my brew to fall within BJCP or AHA styles. That approach was needlessly stifling my creativity and imposing a mediocrity on my beers, based on the (probable) misunderstandings of a bunch of people on the other side of the world. The 'eye opener' for me about how pointless the style guides really are was spending 6 weeks working at our UK office, and travelling through the local area sampling a wide range of local Wiltshire & Gloucestershire beers which only vaguely relate to what you'll find under the BJCP bitter & pale ale classes. The BJCP seem to want every bitter to come out looking like Fullers, Bass or Youngs - admittedly OK beers but far from representative of what is REALLY going on in real ale breweries of the old country. As for Belgians, I'm not entirely sure how anyone can even attempt to sort them into a small number of classes.

End result of all this - I have entirely stopped giving a toss about style guides, competitions and all that jazz, and intend just focusing on the one thing which really matters - the flavour in the glass.

End of rant.

 

[Screwtop]

An

 

[Screwtop]

And that he thinks I'm wrong about extract brews for pale ales. I didn't read his posts very well. Sorry Screwtop.

regards
Scott

SSSORRRIGRT Scott.

 

[bindi]

. If I hadn't gone The 'eye opener' for me about how pointless the style guides really are was spending 6 weeks working at our UK office, and travelling through the local area sampling a wide range of local Wiltshire & Gloucestershire beers which only vaguely relate to what you'll find under the BJCP bitter & pale ale classes. The BJCP seem to want every bitter to come out looking like Fullers, Bass or Youngs - admittedly OK beers but far from representative of what is REALLY going on in real ale breweries of the old country. As for Belgians, I'm not entirely sure how anyone can even attempt to sort them into a small number of classes.

End result of all this - I have entirely stopped giving a toss about style guides, competitions and all that jazz, and intend just focusing on the one thing which really matters - the flavour in the glass.

End of rant.

Well said Colinw especially attempting to sort the Belgians.

Back on topic, I improved this year by not drinking untill the beer is in the no chill cube, it was first hop addition, before that it was start of the boil and before that at the start :unsure: some brewers I know can't brew with two hands! It can be done and make good beer.....True
You know who you are.

 

[Jazzafish]

For ease of brewing:
A timer to heat my strike water while sleeping

For Better Beer:
Barley crusher

For good times/advice other than here:
Joining the Hills Brewers Guild

Bring on 07

 

[Mr Bond]

End result of all this - I have entirely stopped giving a toss about style guides, competitions and all that jazz, and intend just focusing on the one thing which really matters - the flavour in the glass.

End of rant.

You know ,I reckon I'm right about there now meself.
Well said

 

[Darren]

You know ,I reckon I'm right about there now meself.
Well said

Its a zen thing!

You have to brew outside the "guidelines" to really understand them.

cheers

Darren

 

[Voosher]

No huge improvement for me this year, as my big leap to AG was a few years ago now. If I hadn't gone AG, I doubt I would still be brewing.

This years improvements were more subtle, incremental changes which made brew days easier. Probably the most noticeable improvement was a distinct improvement in my recipe formulation, particularly a greater willingness to ignore the self imposed and arbitrary boundaries of 'style' and just brew what I want to drink.

When I was first AGing, I used to meticulously tune all the parameters of my brew to fall within BJCP or AHA styles. That approach was needlessly stifling my creativity and imposing a mediocrity on my beers, based on the (probable) misunderstandings of a bunch of people on the other side of the world. The 'eye opener' for me about how pointless the style guides really are was spending 6 weeks working at our UK office, and travelling through the local area sampling a wide range of local Wiltshire & Gloucestershire beers which only vaguely relate to what you'll find under the BJCP bitter & pale ale classes. The BJCP seem to want every bitter to come out looking like Fullers, Bass or Youngs - admittedly OK beers but far from representative of what is REALLY going on in real ale breweries of the old country. As for Belgians, I'm not entirely sure how anyone can even attempt to sort them into a small number of classes.

End result of all this - I have entirely stopped giving a toss about style guides, competitions and all that jazz, and intend just focusing on the one thing which really matters - the flavour in the glass.

End of rant.

No rant.
Hear hear.
You brew for yourself first and foremost.
:beer:

 

[tangent]

I have entirely stopped giving a toss about style guides, competitions and all that jazz, and intend just focusing on the one thing which really matters - the flavour in the glass.

awesome :beer:

 

[onescooter]

For me, It was definately figuring out which sanitation method best suited my needs. It was always a bit hit and miss to see whether or not the brew would get infected. Fingers crossed, I seemed to have sorted it out with the thorough bleaching of everything, and no chill method.
Ross's help and products come a close second.
Cheers
Scott.

 

[Bazza]

The single biggest improvement for me was using specialty grain, along with getting a semi decent range of hops to add more to the kits I've been using.
Bazza.

 

[goatherder]

For me, starting to brew was the most obvious one. One K&K then straight onto the AG roller coaster.

As far as time savings go, getting a keg setup is the biggest improvement.

In terms of beer quality, understanding the importance of a good fermentation has been the most useful for me. - things like proper aeration, pitching rates, temperature control and length of fermentation.

 

[Paleman]

You know ,I reckon I'm right about there now meself.
Well said

Brauy loves his Boobys. He's led me astray more than once. Bloody Boobys. :beerbang: :beer:

 

[PostModern]

This year brought me to the end of my partial days. I handed on the 10 litre mini-tun to it's third owner, an extract brewer, and have begun full wort boils and all grain mashes (well maybe the odd one with 10% sugar ). From the first batch in my kettle (an extract US Wheat) to the brown and ESBs in my kegs right now, the improvement is amazing. I hope my mate with the mini-tun finds the same difference between his extract brews and partial mashes.

Second improvement was the mashmaster temp controller on my 345L chest freezer. Always at least one beer fermenting in there, but there's room for 3 and a couple of starters! Woo Hoo! Lager time!

 

[Weizguy]

One thing: the BJCP course, with a good bunch of blokes.

I tasted and learned and discussed and evaluated, and gave and received feedback.

Well worth the effort, even if you don't sit the exam. Improve your beer knowledge, and make sure that you taste/evaluate/judge other homebrewers product, as well as commercial product.

Beerz
Seth

P.S. I could nominate a second thing, but that would be off-topic