What's your best tip for making brewing easier and better?

[The Green Man]

Nothing wrong with being anal if you want to be. I’ve heard people give me the “You can brew even better beer” lectures before. There’s nothing I do, brewing or otherwise, that I couldn’t do better. I could have a better marriage, take better care of my house, do my job better, take better care of my car. That list is infinite. I sincerely applaud your quest for a better beer. That’s what you should do if it’s your desire. I’m very happy with “good enough.” The point I’m trying to make is that you don’t have to be anal to brew good beer. It doesn’t have to be a difficult process. If I listened to all of the people who made brewing sound as difficult building a nuclear bomb, I wouldn’t have started. My homebrewing neighbor showed me how easy it can be, way back in the day when I started. And he passed that judge’s test or class or whatever you have to do to be a BJCP judge . I did value his opinion in the beginning, but I learned that most people who know or pretend to know brewing will always find something to criticize, so I stopped asking others for their opinions, and started working solely to please my number one customer. That’s why I never joined my local club. It’s full of people who tell me that the guy I was just talking to is wrong, and what I really need to do is... then the next person told me the same thing, negating the last guy’s advice. I told one guy there (who I didn’t know) that I recently brewed a coffee porter. With no more information than that, he told me what I could’ve done to make it better. Ridiculous. I am not claiming to be an expert homebrewer. But I make a beer I like, and that’s what matters to me. We’re all in this hobby at the level we want to be, or headed to where we want to be. And there’s good beer at every level. I just cringe every time I hear people tell beginners a whole laundry things of what they must do to make their first batch of beer. It’s not that difficult or involved. It can be involved if you want it to be, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It doesn’t have to be difficult.

Nice post fella. I think you're right, just enjoy it. If your beer isn't making you happy then ask for advice on here. People are great on this site, and I sincerely mean that. My brewing has come on a lot and I have avoided a few big screw-ups because I asked for some advice.
As for single catch word to help complete newbies, for me it has to be temperature. Mashing, pitching and fermenting. That is a big deal I reckon. He says as a comparative newbie himself...

 

[chub1]

Patience
not something that i am endowed with

 

[BoomerBrian]

Things that have made it easier and better for me

Ferm temp control
Skip the secondary
Keg Keg Keg
Package after 7-10 days in fermenter. I can't wait.

 

[ACBEV]

Ok. This time I'll give my real bestess tip. Insulate your mash tun properly. Mine is a cool box with 100mm insulation board, top bottom and sides, in a wooden frame, Also I have a wedge at opposite end to the tap, this reduces dead space.

 

[Mase]

Ok. This time I'll give my real bestess tip. Insulate your mash tun properly. Mine is a cool box with 100mm insulation board, top bottom and sides, in a wooden frame, Also I have a wedge at opposite end to the tap, this reduces dead space.

We use a round cooler for a mash tun that works great... but we wrap it with 2 large comforters while its mashing. We generally lose less than 1 degree (F) over an hour

 

[quercus67]

Fermentation control.
Keg, keg, keg! It saves so much time.
Go to all grain once extract method is perfected.
Aerate accordingly with pure oxygen.
Clean and sanitize, repeat. Reduce chance of infection. It sucks to dump an infected beer.
Use liquid yeast.
Get water tested. Add minerals, acid, etc. to improve water chemistry.
Have fun. Drink good beer and blast hard rock on brew day!

 

[bret america]

I know you said "one thing" but I cannot help myself.

The one thing - sanitation - easily the most important in brewing drinkable beer and reducing headaches. I know it is "rudimentary" knowledge but still worth repeating in my opinion.

The other 5
1. SS conical fermentor with valve. Makes samples and transfer so much easier and cleaner.
2. experiment with your own recipes. I did my first couple brews from our brew shop recipe and then went off into my own creative world. Made some good, great, and ugly beers but learned something every time.
3, just go all in with all grain. I started extract (10 beers) and finally got courage to go AG. It is so much more enjoyable with customization, brewing better beers, and feeling more a part of crafting the beer. I have done about 15 AGs and learned once you get the process down it is not much longer (maybe 2 hours). Nothing to be afraid of and that is coming from a guy with a wife and kids in a 700 s.f. apartment.
4. standardize the process, prepare, and multitask - not only take notes but have a standard brewing agenda template you can modify for each brew. It should list each step and approximate time frame. I use Google Docs to track all my brew / bottle days. This will also allow you to multitask by starting to heat water while you are cleaning, etc. Preparing and standardizing will save you time and help you grow by learning the process and what works / does not work.
5. have fun and relax. I have learned that as long as you use extremely solid sanitation techniques, do not go overboard on your recipe complexity, or have extreme fermentation temperatures - then your beer will probably turn out tasty and enjoyed by most. Fermentation control, water tweaking, high tech equipment can take your beer next level but people were brewing drinkable beers with wooden paddles and magic in the air long before we have.

 

[markintopton]

Siphon your strike water onto the grain bed.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

education.
you don't need a super fancy system to make good beer , it is easier with the correct tools and quality can improve but I managed to make some great beers on the stove top before building up my current rig

 

[Nosybear]

^^^^^ what he said. Getting your brewing procedures down, starting with sanitation, is the number one cause of great beer.

 

[soccerdad]

READ !

By all means read How to Brew and other Palmer books or articles, but read Miller and Papazian as well. Find a forum or two that you like (I mostly use HBT and BF) and discern there who the helpful people are versus who the knuckleheads are. Example .. Yooper is very helpful, That Soccerdad guy is a knucklehead.

As you repeat brew days, your process will fall in line and your reading will emphasize your good habits and explain your screw ups.

Read and then read some more.

 

[jeffpn]

The only must in brewing is sanitation. But even there, people disagree with others on the proper way to do it. Be careful of anyone who says you MUST do something in a particular way.

 

[jmcnamara]

The only must in brewing is sanitation. But even there, people disagree with others on the proper way to do it. Be careful of anyone who says you MUST do something in a particular way.

"Beware a zealot" is good advice regardless of what you're talking about

 

[Hawkbox]

What I have found is that better most of the time isn't easier and easier is almost never better.

1. If you do extract, use 100% RO water to keep the pH right from the original mash.
2. If you don't use pure O2 to aerate, then stick with re-hydrated dry yeast, it doesn't need as much O2 as liquid yeast.
3. Get your pitches right and understand why you use the amount of yeast you pitch.
4. Pitch and ferment at lower temps, it keeps from having bad beer and off flavors.
5. Avoid taking advice from people that you haven't tasted their beer (I guess that nullifies my advice).
6. Know the fermentation process like the the back of your hand and nail your extract beers every time BEFORE going all grain.
7. Keep detailed notes on every beer, it may turn out awesome and you will have no idea why and you won't be able to repeat it.
8. Aerate, aerate, aerate. You can never underestimate the importance of aeration at the time of pitch. It can make up for a low yeast pitch.
9. Enjoy your hobby, don't get to worked up if it doesn't turn out perfect. Next time you will make a better beer.

I didn't do any of those things (well except 7 & 9) and still don't. My municiple water is fine, I aerate by transferring the wort to the fementer, I keep the fermenters around 20C for the whole process.

I'm yet to make a beer that turned out bad.

It's surprisingly hard to screw up beer.

 

[Pinfold]

I didn't do any of those things (well except 7 & 9) and still don't. My municiple water is fine, I aerate by transferring the wort to the fementer, I keep the fermenters around 20C for the whole process.

I'm yet to make a beer that turned out bad.

It's surprisingly hard to screw up beer.

Have to agree with this.
Also, I don't get the great virtue of starting out with extract brewing, like it's some kind of rite of passage. It's not like extract brewing was the original or traditional method, in fact it only really took off as a means of 'sly grog' brewing during the prohibition era. I understand that its still a convenient and cheaper entry point, but I don't see anything wrong with going straight to all grain and learning from first principles if you're up for it, especially with all the new equipment available today.
As for fermenter temps, my take on this is that it's a good idea to brew the kind of beer that a.) you like drinking, and b.) is suited to the limitations of your set-up. I'm an ale guy who doesn't mind esters and some fruitiness so around 20C is good enough for me. If I did get a hankering for German styles, I would need to invest in some proper temp control.

 

[jeffpn]

Have to agree with this.
Also, I don't get the great virtue of starting out with extract brewing, like it's some kind of rite of passage. It's not like extract brewing was the original or traditional method, in fact it only really took off as a means of 'sly grog' brewing during the prohibition era. I understand that its still a convenient and cheaper entry point, but I don't see anything wrong with going straight to all grain and learning from first principles if you're up for it, especially with all the new equipment available today.

I didn’t know where you were going with that. You had me wondering with “right of passage.” I don’t see anything wrong with people who only want to brew extract. Many people think there’s a progression to brewing. If someone is happy with extract brewing, great. They’re getting what they want out of the hobby. No reason they should brew all grain if they don’t want to.

 

[Mase]

Our first brew was an extract kit, the second was a partial mash and the third was all grain, and all grain ever since. Starting out with extract helped us into home brewing just to get our feet wet with minimal investment and to see if you can make it better than you can buy it. Gaining confidence in brewing our own, and confirming that home brew can taste better than commercial beer, and wanting a greater challenge with no additional equipment, the partial mash gave us the exposure and confidence to take the next step and that was into all grain. So for me and my wife, we chose to start with extract and work our way up and into the larger investment into all grain. I'm fortunate that my wife likes to be involved in all steps from brew day to beer tap and we have a great time together on brew day. But that's what worked for us in our progression into this great hobby. That's the beauty of home brewing, it can service all needs from progression, such as in our case, to jump right in to all grain. Regardless... it all makes great beer. BIAB is intriguing and looks to simplify the brewing process, and we will likely end up giving that a try. If for no other reason, than to try an alternative method to home brew. It's fun!

 

[Pinfold]

I didn’t know where you were going with that. You had me wondering with “right of passage.” I don’t see anything wrong with people who only want to brew extract. Many people think there’s a progression to brewing. If someone is happy with extract brewing, great. They’re getting what they want out of the hobby. No reason they should brew all grain if they don’t want to.

Yeah. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with extract brewing either. Just saying, it's OK to start out on all grain if that's what you want to do.

 

[Nosybear]

Extract takes some of the variables out of brewing, hence the recommendation for new brewers to use it. My one recommendation to either set is make sure your water doesn't have chlorine in it. Either dechlorinate with Campden tablets, use RO water from the machines at stores, buy distilled water or, if you're using well water, don't worry about it (for a while). That's my only must-do when it comes to water.

 

[jeffpn]

My neighbor (who was a Mr. Beer homebrewer) has been over enough on brew day that he would have no problems being a BIAB brewer, if he chose to go that way. It’s no tougher than extract brewing. Instead of a steep, it’s a mash, but the process, except for time, is nearly identical, I still don’t see a progression. I just see different ways of brewing beer. Mr. Beer appealed to my neighbor. If he ever actually brews again, I don’t know which way he’ll go.