What one thing transformed your brewing?

[Dave S]

It is still the case that there is a greater variety of liquid yeasts, particularly when you include the "seasonal" examples. But dried yeast varieties are increasing in their variety and as you point out they are a little easier to use, storage in particular is a lot easier. However, this ease of handling can be a bit of an Achilles heal, in that they are assumed to be pretty bomb proof. They still need storing properly, brought up to room temp before rehydrating and that in itself has a very specific method to it. This last point has courted some controversy on here, because a number of manufacturers instructions say just sprinkle it dry onto the top of the wort, even though there is a lot of evidence against doing this to maximise the viability of the yeast.

These instructions from Danstar make the main points about best practice.

I use dried yeast and liquid yeast in more or less equal measure. With dried I always re-hydrate. If nothing else it gives confidence that the yeast is working OK, (or not). I tend to use liquid mainly for regional styles, Burton, Yorkshire etc.

[mysterio]

For me it would be Graham Wheelers book and this site.

A lot of people have said liquid yeast - I'm curious if this is due to the variety available so you can replicate whatever beer you chose or just that it's better period? I prefer dried as it's easier to work with and have had problems with liquid and slopes.

Rick

I just get better results from liquid. Comparing US-05 to WLP001 for instance, I pick up more solventy aromas in the dried version. It may be just me but I just prefer the results from the liquid version and it's worth the extra cash for something you spend the best part of a day putting together.

When you're making an English style of beer, there is just no comparison between dried and liquid yeast. Same for lager, Belgians, etc.

[Dennis King]

When you're making an English style of beer, there is just no comparison between dried and liquid yeast. Same for lager, Belgians, etc.

100% agree, to me it's like the difference between steak and a burger.

[Kev888]

Curious... that seems to be completely at odds with my experience; really intriguing.

Its perhaps not appropriate for me to break into this thread with a debate on it, so I started a new thread here - I've seen completely differing views on this before too; I'd be genuinely keen to understand why there's so much contrast in opinion.

Cheers
Kev

[Invalid Stout]

Learning that splashing beer about when bottling was making my beer oxidise.

[50quidsoundboy]

for me: repetition, brewing regularly.

also, learning some basic formulae for calculating and predicting gravities when a recipe calls for sugars, or for when i need to liquor back.

[worldsbestbrewer]

Well, incremental changes in quality came about at different times due to 'upgrades'.
First massive improvement was through unscrewing my 'homebrew' head and thinking 'commercial' brewing and adapting equipment and practices to suit.
Second (in with the above) was sourcing high quality ingredients (sounds obvious, but with 'homebrew' head on 25+ yrs ago the local chemist was the ingredient source )
Third (in with the above) was to create a brewery that allowed me to concentrate on the process and take control rather than balancing buckets everywhere.
Fourth - learning the critical areas of brewing - constant mash temp, fermentation temp, post brewing beer storage, sanitisation, sanitisatation, sanitisation.

[Underthethumb]

Biggest advance for me was using GW's water treatment calculator instead of just dls and crs per brupaks website.

[Matt12398]

For me along the way the transformations have happened at different stages but the single biggest difference has been from water treatment. The research I have done in this area has shown me why my dark beers have fallen short and why my pales have often lacked something. The use of Martin Brungard's Bru'n Water has changed everything.

I always thought that commercial quality home brew was a myth developed by home brewers blinded by the fact that it was beer they had created and led to a skewed perception of the quality but I now know that it is possible. I now have home brew that tastes better than I ever dreamed and I'm getting to a point where I'm starting to think that my favourite beers are my beers.

[koomber]

For me, the biggest change came when I decided to stop trying to get every last drop of wort/beer out at the various stages and live with the losses. They wern't massive losses admitadly, but trying to get them in seemed to introduce problems down the line such as staleness, cloudiness and other issues.