Survey: Lessons Learned (2018)

[HerbMeowing]

What lessons did you learn about brewing better beer at home in 2018?

Process change?
New equipment?
Ingredient tweak?

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Here's what I learned in my brew closet last year:

Process: batch sparging
Used to rest both sparges for 10' to give grain bed enough time to settle
Learned the grain bed settles within minutes.
Shaved ~15' off brew day by not waiting 10' after each sparge

Technique: speise carbonation
Learned enough wort can be recovered by chilling trub to carbonate beer at packaging.
For 2.5G batch size ... speise volume ranges between .5L and .75L (depends on OG - FG - temperature @ packaging)
Not only Reinheitsgebot FTW! but 1/2L extra production.

Ingredients: BRY-97 - WC IPA yeast
L-o-n-g lag time (60 - 72 hours) ==> very low quality beer
Learned pitching an equal amount US-05 reduces lag time to ~18 hours ==> much more better quality beer

[mashani]

Ingredients: BRY-97 - WC IPA yeast
L-o-n-g lag time (60 - 72 hours) ==> very low quality beer

Yeah, that was my experience, although the beer turned out OK. But it would be easy for something else to get a foothold with that kind of lag, so I have never used it again.

Process: After a long hiatus, I learned that I still love AG brewing because of the Mash & Boil.

Technique: I learned that you can make damn good beer without even boiling it, so this will become a thing I do more in the future for specific beers where I think it will work well.

Ingredients: I discovered that Imperial B56 Rustic yeast is now my favorite Saison yeast, and that all of the Omega Kviek strains and I also agree with each other very much.

[BlackDuck]

Technique: I learned that pilsner malt does not need a 90 minute boil. Many say 90 minutes are needed to drive off DMS. I did a 60 minute boil and it was perfectly fine.

[Hayzer]

I learned that I can brew beer at home. Been at these kits a year and I am slowly ramping up to larger volumes of brewing, getting the process down right, then hopefully moving to small batch AG recipes. Once I perfect small batches of AG I would like to step up to larger volumes. It's a process that I am not spending as much time on as I would like, but I am learning with each brew.

I enjoy reading all the posts and gleaning as much info as I can.

[mashani]

Technique: I learned that pilsner malt does not need a 90 minute boil. Many say 90 minutes are needed to drive off DMS. I did a 60 minute boil and it was perfectly fine.

FWIW, due to the no boil beers, I learned that if you don't heat it much above 150, then you don't get DMS either. What little might be there is easily driven off during fermentation. It's heating it up past 160 or so and bringing it to the boil/the initial boil that really ramps up the reaction that creates all the DMS in the first place. That reaction grows exponentially with temperature increase.

I have a much better understanding of how the traditional no-boil Berliner Weiss biers actually don't turn out like crap now because of this. I think people who fail at that technique on the intrawebs simply aren't holding it at a 150ish temperature long enough to pasteurize it, IE they are chilling it too quickly to "pitching temps" after pulling the grain and/or infecting it during chilling since they aren't boiling their chiller and it's not been sanitized well enough.

[dbrowning]

I will absolutely, positively NEVER soak anything in Vodka that is going in my beer again

[berryman]

I will absolutely, positively NEVER soak anything in Vodka that is going in my beer again

LOL, do tell what happened.....

[berryman]

What lessons did you learn about brewing better beer at home in 2018?

Process change?
New equipment?
Ingredient tweak?

Process Change: tried a couple full volume mashes in my M&B. first one was iffy and under the numbers, second one was very close and found it can be a quick and easy way to make a smaller batch, both taste good.
New equipment: none last year. but maybe this year could have some to report on.
Ingredient Change: Tried some Red X grain and still in the fermenter so don't know how that will come out.

[Kealia]

Great idea for a thread. Maybe some of what others have learned can be used by the rest of the people here.

Hmmm, let me think.....

Process: I went back to a few quick 15-minute all DME batches with nothing but late additions (obviously) and made some tasty pale ales. It's good to have that option for a quick brew day. I also learned how to 'kettle sour' using Lacto yeast from Omega and/or Goodbelly from Whole Foods.

Technique: Other than the above-mentioned kettle souring, not much changed from my techniques previously. This year however I will be trying sparing with room temp water once I get a few batches using the Mash and Boil under my belt. It will make the entire process SO much easier. I'll also be using some pre-made starter cans from MoreBeer to make making starters quicker and easier (not that they were difficult, mind you).

Ingredients: Omega Lacto strain and Imperial liquid yeasts. Both have become a staple with great results.

Someday I may try speise carbonation - just because.

[bpgreen]

Equipment (I'm putting this first because it drove most of the others):
Mash & Boil

Process:
I've done several overnight mashes, including one with the mass and boil
First 5 gallon all grain batches (I'd previously done partial mashes and a few small batch all grain batches)
A no boil batch

Ingredients
All grain

[John Sand]

I continued to upgrade my gear with a Hydra chiller and a Millar's mill. I refined my BIAB method, improving efficiency with a sparge. I still ruined some beer with mistakes.