Hello all! If there’s a definitive post for this, please forgive me and point me in the right direction, please! Otherwise…
I’d like some advice on some things to look for in my upcoming brews. Here’s where I stand now: I primarily brew 1 gallon, BIAB currently. I’ve used solely kits from Brooklyn Brew shop and Northern Brewer (when using extract type kits). Mostly I do pretty well with sanitation and cleanliness, temperatures (I have a keezer/fermenter that’s digitally controlled), following instructions, timing. I use our tap water (“If it tastes good, it should be good to brew with”), and the ingredients that come with the kits. Usually, they taste fine, some really good, some okay, but mostly just…fine. Also, I keg now, rather than bottle.
My dilemma is that the beer mostly just tastes okay, nothing outstanding (though there was a Mexican Hot Chocolate stout that was really good!). They consistently taste, well, a little “green”, with an “amateurish” feel to it. And once in a while, a bit weak and watery. All have been drinkable, and don’t go to waste, but I’m trying to figure out some things to look for to make the outcome more “professional” tasting, and really outstanding. Depending on the time of year and my preference at the time, I usually like the porters, stouts, IPA’s, fruity beers, and occasionally some ales.
I’m looking for that “oh man this is a really good beer” outcome. I think I find that waiting a bit longer after kegging (up to a month later) seems to make it taste a bit better. But, I would love some advice on some other things to try or look for: different water, different methodology, checking pH, adding more or less ingredients, etc. The good thing is, it seems to be consistently this way, and again, all from kits, so I feel like I do a fairly decent job on brew day, with fermenting, and with kegging. But, still, feel like I’m missing something.
Thanks in advance, and I know there are many, many variables, but trying to get a general sense of some things to explore.
Following.
The very first thing to look at is your fermentation. Since it is only 1 gallon I will assume you are pitching plenty of yeast. Are you controlling fermentation temperature? What temp are you fermenting your beer?
Next be sure you aren’t introducing excessive aeration post fermentation. Keep racking to a minimum if possible, consider avoiding secondary.
As far as "
watery" goes, are you hitting your hitting your OG or SG gravity numbers? BIAB is fine but your efficiency could be suffering. If not, a little DME may be all you need.
Water is important, but usually that’s the last thing brewers try to tackle. For 1 gallon batches building your own water would be pretty easy. If using tap water get your water report - it may even be available on line.
It’s important to know your water’s alkalinity and hardness and to check the pH for every batch.
I would add that if your tap water is treated with chlorine/chloramine then you need to either invest in some campden tablets or look to brew with RO water. Chlorine/chloramine will contribute a medicinal taste to finished beer. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the classic homebrewer off-flavor.
To brew better beer pay close attention to the details: ingredient quality, mash temps, mash pH, water chemistry, volumes, mash composition, boil off rate, pitch rate, fermentation temp, carbonation level, serving temp, cleanliness and sanitation especially on the cold side, etc.
Close enough is good enough within reason. (95% is close. 75% isn’t IMO). Do the same thing the same way every time to get repeatable results. Then you can make adjustments to improve.
…but if you’re guessing you can’t be consistent. Adjustments will be like trying to hit a moving target. Kentucky windage and Tennessee elevation is a guess.
Do you get these watery beers when you use all malt in your BIAB?
If so, it could be an attenuation issue. What mash temp are you using? Is your thermometer accurate? What pH was your mash? Is your pH meter calibrated? Maybe just mash at higher temp, a higher pH, or throw in some dextrins that leave some body will fix it.
If not, and this phenomenon is limited to your extract brews, the extract kit you may be using could contain sugar which once fermented gives kind of a ‘nothing’ taste to me — like water. Can you choose better ingredients?
I didn’t see that you pretreat your water for chlorine or chloramine. Maybe I missed it. If on municipal water supply, they most likely use one or the other. You should probably get rid of chlorine to make better beer.
As far as the other concerns try brewing a batch with RO or distilled water and see if you think brewing with soft water makes a difference. Depending on the style add just enough CaCl (for a malty beer) or gypsum (for a bitter beer) to get at least 50 ppm calcium in your BIAB mash. I use 1 tsp in a 5 gal mash, and I imagine you use 2 gal full volume in your 1 gal BIAB batches (?) so try 3/8 tsp of one or the other in your full volume BIAB batches added directly to the mash. If you use less/more mash water volume adjust accordingly. Use a leveled measuring spoon — don’t eyeball it. Other than that don’t futz with your RO or distilled water.
Use 152-154*F as a middle of the road BIAB mash temp. Measure temp in several places. Stir to even it out or use rice hulls to help even it out (Tasty’s trick). Then leave it to do it’s magic. Insulate the mash tun in an attempt to maintain a constant temp. Measure your temp loss after an hour.
Then focus on hitting 5.2 pH at 15-20 minutes into the mash (measured at room temp). If it needs adjustment it’s not the end of the world, let it ride this time but next brewday adjust your CaCl or gypsum measurement (using a leveled measuring spoon).
Give a bottle of your beer to another brewer. Ask for honest, you’re not going to hurt my feelings, feedback. Think about what they tell you and how you can address their comments.
Just some thoughts. Hope this helps.
I highly recommend (if you haven’t already) getting “How to Brew” (printed book or the older-on-line version). Lots of great information for the beginner in there. Forums are terrific and point you to ideas, but unlike books aren’t edited and useful for the beginner.
I had worked on my beer for years. It was always just OK. I addressed my process, cleanliness, malt, hops, yeast… what made my beer Pop was understanding water and pH.
One thing that you did not mention is if you are on a municipal water supply. I am assuming that you are on the East Coast, which means that your tap water should be soft or close to it coming out of the tap. One thing is that is critical on a municipal water supply is a chlorine filter.
Not if the municipality uses chlorine as the disinfectant. The chlorine will rapidly gas off upon heating to strike/sparge temp, and even to quite a bit less than this. Of course, any water used on the cold side definitely needs to be chlorine-free.
That has not been my experience. Martin do you care to chime in?
There area lot of brewers who tout this. I worked at a brewery that had low chlorine level in the water and they didn;t own a filter when I got there. And their beer sucked. And I woudn’t brew until they installed one. And my beer was great. just sayin’.
Of course they had a lot more problems than just chlorine
I realize my comment bucks conventional wisdom and so might be met with hesitation. But it’s not opinion or belief, it’s chemistry. All dissolved gasses volatilize more when heated. I’m sure you accept that boiling drives off oxygen, yes? Heat (far less heat than boiling) also drives off chlorine gas. You don’t have to take my word for it–it’s easy to test for yourself. Get yourself some high-quality chlorine test strips (they’re not expensive) and test your water pre- and post-heating to, say, 160. Also taste it (but obviously that by itself isn’t reliable enough). Then brew a batch and see if you taste any chlorophenol. You won’t, I guarantee. Or just keep filtering your water, if that’s your vibe.
It’s important to state that all of this only applies to disinfection with chlorine gas.
I know guys in my club that merely collect their brewing water in advance and let it sit a day or so. It off gasses and loses the chlorine (not chloramine I am told). I have well water that I put through RO filters, but I recommend a campden tablet to those with treated municipal water, if they are unsure of the use of chloramine by the local municipality.
In my testing, letting 4 gal of muni tap water in a 5-gal kettle sit for 12 hrs reduced the chlorine by 50%, from 0.2 ppm to 0.1. Passive gassing-off works, but not quickly. An overnight stand might not be good enough. If I were going to just let it sit, I’d give it a few days. Or just apply a little heat! Problem solved.
I have seen this with Iodophors. The iodine turns back to gas faster when heated which is why the mfr suggests mixing it with cold water. It also passively dissipates over several days if left open at room temp.
I will preface this by saying that I have not brewed a 1 gallon batch in a long time. So there may be other people with more specific recommendations.
But, the problems I had seemed to be regular brewing issues exacerbated by small scale. Too much heat transfer in the wrong pot. Too much oxidation due to the reality of how volume/surface area scales. Too much or too little yeast due to not measuring correctly. Too much sediment because of issues transfering off of a small jug.
So, my suggestion is to take the things that matter in a larger batch and be sure to focus on them. Purge your vessel with CO2 before transfer. Check mash pH to make sure it isn’t too high because you may boil harder than you intended. Don’t do a secondary in a separate vessel to avoid introducing more oxygen, and crash cool before transferring to try to maximize clear beer without adding trub.
I found this to be true by accident.
After a case of empty 22 oz bottles are collected, the bottles are soaked with oxygen brewery wash using hot water.
The bottles are then rinsed with hot water. A qt of iodophor is mixed (cold water) in a clear glass qt measuring cup. The bottles
are then rinsed/shaken with iodophor and returned to glass container. The iodophor was crystal clear when returning
to glass container, instead of being light root beer colored. Bottles were too warm/hot. When bottles are now rinsed with cold
water before using iodophor, the iodophor is returned to glass container the same color as when started.
For the sake of septic system, a day or two is waited until the used iodophor is crystal clear before dumping.
To the original poster, at such a small scale I would just use spring water.
Chlorine may not be an issue but many if not most municipalities use chlroramine because chlorine is so volatile. If you don’t know your water report you won’t know which disinfectant they use. So it’s best to filter your water regardless. But yeah, there is nothing on the internet that says different than RC - it should be gone in 15 minutes of boiling unless it binds to the malt during dough in some how. Martin would know for sure, I’ll PM him
I think the recommendation to use RO or distilled is because its a known low/no mineral constant that you can build from. It’s just another point of control.
Municipal water can be inconsistent season to season, year to year.
Bottled water can be purified water, which is water from local sources (a.k.a. tap water) that has been filtered, and there’s natural spring water, which is sourced from springs across the United States.
So the bottled water that costs you several dollars may be sourced from the earth in Florida or it’s just from the local water supply in New York. It probably contains minerals that need to be identified which can fluctuate.
I just switched to building from RO so I could eliminate changing tap water as a variable. Helps me focus on dialing in and being consistent with my process & equipment.
Before the tap water was always a confounding variable.