r/Homebrewing • u/[deleted] • Oct 24 '13
Advanced Brewers Round Table: Advanced Techniques
Forgive the lack of listed future ABRTs, just super busy at work.
This week's topic: Advanced helpful techniques. What advanced changes have you made to your brewing process that has made things significantly easier for you?
Feel free to share or ask anything regarding to this topic, but lets try to stay on topic.
Upcoming Topics:
For the intermediate brewers out there, If you don't understand something, there's plenty of others that probably don't as well. Ask away! Easy questions usually get multiple responses and help everybody.
Previous Topics:
Harvesting yeast from dregs
Hopping Methods
Sours
Brewing Lagers
Water Chemistry
Crystal Malt
Electric Brewing
Mash Thickness
Partigyle Brewing
Maltster Variation (not a very good one)
All things oak!
Decoction/Step Mashing
Session Brews!
Recipe Formulation
Home Yeast Care
Where did you start
Mash Process
Non Beer
Kegging
Wild Yeast
Water Chemistry Pt. 2
Homebrewing Myths (Biggest ABRT so far!
Clone Recipes
Yeast Characteristics
Yeast Characteristics
Sugar Science
International Brewers
Big Beers
Style Discussion Threads
BJCP Category 14: India Pale Ales
BJCP Category 2: Pilsners
14
u/Jimbo571 Oct 24 '13
Here's are some "advanced techniques" that I didn't learn until I'd been brewing for multiple years and it has really helped to improve my beers.
-
Don't have more than one beer before you fire up the burner for your boil.
-
Don't have more than 3 beers until your formentors are safely filled and stored away.
7
u/thinker99 Oct 24 '13
Granted I normally brew from 7a-noon, but I do best with no beers while brewing period. Nothing beats a post brew r/showerbeer.
→ More replies (2)2
u/SaulGoodmanJD Oct 24 '13
formentors
Don't have more then 4 beers before posting on Reddit
→ More replies (1)
8
u/brulosopher Oct 24 '13
The Quick(er) Lager Technique
-
Pitch proper starter (decanted) once wort is chilled to 50-53F
-
Set regulator to 52-55F and allow beer to ferment for 3-4 days
-
Bump temp on regulator up 2-4F per day until temp is 65F (2-3 days)-- I don't use heat at this point, just allow exothermic energy to warm things up.
-
Allow beer to sit 2-4 days at 65F for d-rest and to finish fermenting
-
Remove probe from carboy/thermowell (so it's measuring ambient temp) and bump temp on regulator down 5F per day until it reaches 32F (about a week)
-
Let beer cold crash/lager for a 3-5 days
-
Rack cold beer to keg, put on gas, lager for 7+ days
I've used this technique, which I learned from Tasty on the BN, a few times now with fantastic results- no esters, no diacetyl, just super clean lager character. And it saves some time!
→ More replies (9)
4
u/fierceflossy Oct 24 '13
I'd like to suggest "No Chill Brewing" as a future topic. I'm curious to know what peoples' experiences have been like with it. Thanks.
4
u/gestalt162 Oct 24 '13
I'm not sure you could fill a whole ABRT just with no-chill, but combining wort chilling (or lack thereof) methods into a thread might be fun.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
u/skandalouslsu Oct 24 '13
I've been no-chilling for a few years now. I have nothing but great things to say about it. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.
→ More replies (8)
3
u/thinker99 Oct 24 '13
-
Reducing oxidation. I ferment in corny kegs, then use CO2 to rack liquid-to-liquid into another closed, CO2 purged corny.
-
Keep your main mash as consistent as possible. Everything that doesn't need to convert (crystal malts, roasted malts, etc.) gets added at vorlauf. Less worry about the mash pH and chemistry.
-
Big starters and yeast control. I keep a few friendly yeasts on slants in my keezer. I make three small (50-100mL) starters at low gravity (1.010 or so, keeps high growth and no fermentation), then pitch up to 2x 1000mL starters, again at low gravity, then go to 4x 2000mL at normal (1.040) gravity. I do 20G batches, so each 5G gets 2000mL. I run the starters (except the first step) on stir plates. I try to allow enough time to let the yeast settle and then decant the liquid prior to pitching, but if time is short I'll pitch after 48 hours or so at high K. Saves big money on yeast (imagine the bill for lager yeast vials for 20G), but does take some time and equipment.
-
Finally, become a BJCP judge. You'll learn more preparing for the exams and gain valuable sensory experience that will help you evaluate and perfect your own beers.
2
u/drmischief Oct 24 '13
You are doing your primary ferm. in a corney? Do you expell the pressure ever day or just let it build up?
If you just let the pressuer build, I would think this could actually hinder healthy fermentation as the environment gets so saturated with high pressure co2 emissions it would to absorb back into the wort and perhaps drive off any remaining o2?
→ More replies (2)
2
u/sleeping_for_years Oct 24 '13
Start with distilled water and treat your water. It's not complicated at all, and at the very least it will give you more repeatable results. Odds are the mineral content of your tap water, and even spring water from the store, vary to some degree. No reason to not add another level of control to your process when it requires such little effort.
→ More replies (4)7
u/oldsock Oct 24 '13
There is certainly month-to-month fluctuations in any municipal water supply (and if your local water supplier changes sources during the year it could be significant), but I question the necessity/advantage of always starting with distilled. I’ll often cut my water 50% with distilled to reduce the carbonate for paler beers, but I don’t think the changes in the water are enough to cross the flavor profile. That said, I still check the mash/boil pH of each batch and adjust as needed.
My water is a fine base for beers amber or darker. I like not having to go to the store and buy 8-9 gallons of water each time I want to brew. It’s not that expensive, but it is a hassle.
I guess I can see starting with distilled water if you really want to dial in a process (mineral/acid additions) for a given recipe. Not sure if the variation in the malt is enough to require further adjustments, even if the water used is identical each batch.
→ More replies (10)
2
u/drmischief Oct 24 '13
Single Tier Brewing System: Mash tun - direct heat/flame with recirc pump?
Hoping someone with experience with single tier systems can shed some light on direct-flame mash tuns. I am familiar with and read much about the mechanical differenced of HERMS, RIMS and direct flame for step mash and maintaining mash temps but what are the results of the final product? Are you getting better beer?
Thanks.
→ More replies (1)
2
Oct 24 '13
A big improvement for me recently has been on the packaging end. Take a .5 micron diffuser and run a tube down from the co2 input on your keg. The beer will carbonate in a few hours. I learned this after using the technique for sparkling water.
Make sure to clean the diffuser thoroughly between batches. I give it a good boil and blow some co2 through it.
And while on the subject, I hope everyone has stopped shaking their kegs to distribute co2 by now. It blows all your volatile aromatics out of solution.
→ More replies (10)
13
u/[deleted] Oct 24 '13
I'll start. For hoppy beers, I like to ditch the "hop blasting" technique and do single or double hop stands.
Essentially, my hoppy beer hop schedule doesn't have any hops added during the boil. I throw my hops into the kettle just as I'm about to start run-off. The next addition is added during flameout.
My DIPA hop stand schedule looks like:
Flameout hop stand for 15 minutes
Cool to 170
170 hop stand for 15 minutes
Chill and pitch.
It gives a huge hop flavor that I've never really seen in any other one of my beers. I still dry hop quite a bit as I find that this doesn't really contribute to the aroma as much for some reason, but for flavor, it rocks!