What's been your biggest beer-improver?

[7roy]

Before I brewed my first mini mash last month, I would have said getting a fridge temp controller and steeping specialty grains, but adding a couple of kg of base malt has made a huge improvement in my beer.

Lurking on this site has also improved my brewing knowledge no end. Mind you, now I have started mini mashing I have a lot more to learn.

 

[Barry]

Many good points and hard to add much more. I use and like my KISS system. No pumps used (except for the cold water for the immersion cooler) only gravity feed. I try to minimise unnecessary forces to the mash, wort and beer. Vigorous stirring, high pressure pumping of the wort etc. does not improve the beer. I remember reading a long lost article re sheer forces and their impact on beer quality. Commercial breweries pump wort and beer but the surface area to volume is much lager for home brewers using pumps and small diameter tubing and pipes. So treat your mash, wort and beer as gently as possible.
However the main points are sanitation (don't even bother brewing unless this is number one on your list): temperature control: yeast health, quantity and strain: ingredients quality, freshness and appropriateness to beer style (e.g. Maris Otter for an ESB): time, don't rush mashing, boil, fermentation, ageing or any part of brewing process: get the chlorine and chloramines out of your water by use of Camden Tablets or a chloramine filter.
There is lots more but I've raved on too much already.
Cheers.
PS. We might be on the verge of a dry yeast revolution given the quality and variety of dry yeasts released this year.

 

[syl]

I am a lazy time poor brewer. So kegging came before the temp controller, but temperature controller for your fermentation is important.

Other than that it was just about doing brews and working on your methods. Take in as many different osurces of advice and adapt them to what works for you. Don't use the Dr K method of 'my way is right and you're all idiots' etc.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

It's probably been a combination of everything.

Just like one pillar wont hold up a the Colosseum , one improvement alone can't really be responsible for vast improvements in beer making.

If your temperature control is perfect, but your sanitation is poor, how good will your beer be?

If you can employ good practices across your entire brewing process, that will be what helps you make good beer.


Edit: Having said that, the one thing that has helped most of all was discovering this site with the wealth of information and knowledge on here.

 

[booargy]

oxygen

 

[MartinOC]

oxygen

Yes. Clearly, I need to learn to breathe more deeply when Ducatiboy stu is around.....

Thanks everyone for your input. From what's been written so far, I think I'm on the right track (to not spend too much money!). As Black Devil Dog said, it's not just ONE thing that contributes to overall improvements.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Dunno about that Stu.. Ive set mine up to CIP, all I do is change over 2 hoses and add Perc / Met to the HEX unit and it then merrily cleans itself. Step mashing is a doddle. Wort is crystal clear. Cost? pretty minimal, used a big w pot, pretty much had everything else laying about. Cheap and ghetto but most importantly, effective.

If I was into lagers and step msshing I would have gone HERMS but as I do ales and got my tun and false bottom set to give near 80% I saw no benefit. I know they work and have there place but for me it would not have been overly benifical.

Another reason was that back then food grade hot water pumps where out of my reach. Thank the brewing gods that you can easly purchase good pumps like march now.

Brewing has come a long way in 10 years, and that is a great thing

 

[MartinOC]

Brewing has come a long way in 10 years, and that is a great thing

Yep! That's precisely my current experience & why I posed the original question. I'm trying to avoid spending too much time/money for potentially minimal gains.

 

[rehab]

Using a STC-1000 and borrowing a mates Wort Chiller. Prior to that it was a bitter mess

 

[GalBrew]

Yep! That's precisely my current experience & why I posed the original question. I'm trying to avoid spending too much time/money for potentially minimal gains.

I have found that it is the synergistic addition of many small gains in process that has resulted in much better beer (for me anyway).

 

[verysupple]

As many have already said, temp control. However a big improvement to my beers was being able to cold condition. Obviously controlled fermentation was a good thing too.

 

[pcmfisher]

Going from kits and bits to unbittered extract.
For me a huge difference.
Bigger difference than unbittered extract to AG.

 

[sponge]

For me, it is brewing and looking to improve upon the finished product.

Only with the production of beer, and the sampling that commences upon completion, can the brewer improve.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I have found that it is the synergistic addition of many small gains in process that has resulted in much better beer (for me anyway).

Yes. Sure, lots of shiny things look great...but if you dont have the basics right then bling wont neccesarally help...as Obama said "you can put lipstick on a pig...but its still a pig"

It was the little things that made me brew better beer. Getting a decent mill, working out the correct gap for the best crush, wetting my grains,working out the best false bottom design, sparging methods, stirring the grain bed....so many little things. It would not have really mattered how much I spent or how shiny my gear is without all those little things me beer would not have improved. The prob is every one has a different system so what works for me may not work for the bloke next door.

 

[Tim]

I used to spend a lot of time and $$ on the hot side and wort production, but have learnt slowly over the years that the hot side is the forgiving part of the process. Giving the yeast everything they need to do their job effectively;
- pitching rates
- temperature control
- adequate oxygen and nutrients
- time to do their thing
Helped the most.

I used to just dump a 5g pack of dry yeast or a smack pack into my wort and stick the fermentor in the corner then rack to secondary when bubbling slowed down.

The yeast make the beer. Now I ferment properly most people can't tell my K&K beers from my AG brews.

 

[QldKev]

GEAR: Does better gear make better beer, or are you just spending a lot of dosh unnecessarily, when
knowledge will get you through? Are all the electronic brains really worth it?

YEAST: I've realized that I was horrendously under-pitching in the past & my best beers were dumped onto the lees of a previous brew. Will a stir-plate REALLY make that much difference?

INGREDIENTS: Have they REALLY improved that much in the past 10 years to make that much of a difference?

WATER: I've always added calcium & tried to replicate the "traditional" profile of whatever style I was brewing, but are we getting anal about it?

FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE: Control - is it that important, or should we just be doing what our ancestors did & just brew to the seasons?

GEAR:
Electronic brains don't get side tracked monitoring your mash and fermenting temps. They don't necessarily improve a good process, they help reduce stuff ups.
Stainless is easier to clean and maintain over aluminum pots. eg, my Stainless mash tun looks newer today than when I started using it, whilst my alu kettle looks used.
HERMS will maintain your temperatures accurately, meaning repeatable mashes, meaning you can tweak.

YEAST:
Allowing correct pitch rates of healthy yeast not much needs to be improved. Maybe you can look at hydration etc, but an incorrectly hydrated yeast can have less viable cells than one pitched dry.

INGREDIENTS:
The range has increased dramatically, with some great malts and hops now easily available.

WATER:
Allowing you are in a reasonable water area, leave it alone until you get comfortable with brewing then have a play.

FERMENTING TEMP:
Critical. (within reason) But setup a fermenting fridge and it's set and forget.

QldKev

 

[Dave70]

The biggest improver for me was the same thing that basically got me started in the first place.
Trying to mimic the beer's I enjoyed drinking. After that got old, taking attributes of those beers I liked and applying to my own recipes. You win some, you loose some. Just take notes.

Personally I don't mind admitting yeast selection and using it right is by far and away the key to success. Lets face it, it's not that difficult to hit OG's, use a thermometer, control temps and keeps shit clean.
You may well have nailed the Westvleteren 12 recipe, but its White Labs or Wyeast doing the heavy lifting.

So making yeast my bitch.

 

[MartinOC]

GEAR:
Electronic brains don't get side tracked monitoring your mash and fermenting temps. They don't necessarily improve a good process, they help reduce stuff ups.
Stainless is easier to clean and maintain over aluminum pots. eg, my Stainless mash tun looks newer today than when I started using it, whilst my alu kettle looks used.
HERMS will maintain your temperatures accurately, meaning repeatable mashes, meaning you can tweak.

YEAST:
Allowing correct pitch rates of healthy yeast not much needs to be improved. Maybe you can look at hydration etc, but an incorrectly hydrated yeast can have less viable cells than one pitched dry.

INGREDIENTS:
The range has increased dramatically, with some great malts and hops now easily available.

WATER:
Allowing you are in a reasonable water area, leave it alone until you get comfortable with brewing then have a play.

FERMENTING TEMP:
Critical. (within reason) But setup a fermenting fridge and it's set and forget.

QldKev

Thanks, Kev. I think you've nailed it for me.

You've basically confirmed my own thoughts/rationale for where I should be directing my $'s & efforts: Control, consistency & repeatability.

Slainte!

PS - Keep 'em coming, guys, I'm listening!!

 

[KingKong]

4 biggest impacts from my early K&K to my current BIAB, no chillin.

1. Temp Controlled Fridge. (STC-1000)

2. Yeast Knowledge and Handling (Pitching Rates, Re-hydrating/Starters)

3. No rinse sanitiser. (Star-San)

4. Following excellent advice to build a KISS system until I had enough experience to know why I wanted to modify my pot to include extra gadgets that would mean extra holes in my pot, more cleaning processes and extra things that can fail on brew day.

 

[GalBrew]

Yes. Sure, lots of shiny things look great...but if you dont have the basics right then bling wont neccesarally help...as Obama said "you can put lipstick on a pig...but its still a pig"

It was the little things that made me brew better beer. Getting a decent mill, working out the correct gap for the best crush, wetting my grains,working out the best false bottom design, sparging methods, stirring the grain bed....so many little things. It would not have really mattered how much I spent or how shiny my gear is without all those little things me beer would not have improved. The prob is every one has a different system so what works for me may not work for the bloke next door.

How was what I said, not exactly what you said???? Lots of small gains = better beer.

I agree 100% with you Stu, it's alright, sometimes this WILL happen!! :icon_cheers: