Lessons Learned

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
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orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Lessons Learned

Post by orlando » Mon Apr 12, 2021 5:16 pm

Luckily the brewing gear was in the removal van.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

ElthamBrewer
Tippler
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Lessons Learned

Post by ElthamBrewer » Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:01 pm

Thanks all, there's lots to think about here. With fortuitous coincidence, London Amateur Brewers are having an online meet on zoom this evening, so that's a start to the club scene. Hopefully when the pandemic ends and events can be in-person it might also answer the question of "how do I improve this".

On the question of where you go next once you've got the basics right. I've tended to change my process based on if I perceive it improving the beer, or if I'm obviously doing it badly such as uncontrolled fermentation. As an example, no-chill vs yes-chill doesn't seem to have made a difference that I can taste, although I don't do lagers. I'm also conscious that there's a lot of myth, fancy toys to buy, and other solutions in search of a problem, so I'm pleased the focus above is on ensuring the key steps are right. The first things I'm going to dive into are to really look into recipes, yeast health and starters/repitching process, and then making sure I'm minimising oxygen post-ferment, and then not letting the beer sit on the yeast for too long.

Carnot
Piss Artist
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:32 pm

Re: Lessons Learned

Post by Carnot » Sun Apr 18, 2021 1:11 pm

Very useful post and it makes logical reading. My only comment for what it is worth is do make too many changes at one time as you will not know which one made the difference. Evolution not revolution is the way forward.

Personally I have found that the one pot Braumiester approach ( I use a Brewdevil) as apposed to the 3 pot system suits me better. It is much easier to control the mash temp. My old kettle had two elements and maintaining a rolling boil was never easy. One element was just quite not enough and both elements made it very vigourous with high evaporation losses. What it needs is a PID on one element which one day I will get around to.

On the subject of water treatment I have reverted back to old methods and titrate a 25 ml water sample with 0.02 N acid made from CRS, with methyl orange indicator. Very repeatable and easy to do. I got all the glassware required very cheaply off eBay along with the methyl orange. I have done the same for Total hardness but that is a little trickier, as that requires Eriochrome Black T, ammonia buffer and EDTA for titrating.

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