I’ve been brewing for a little over a year now. Small batches on my gas stove. Extract, full grain, BIAB, infusion mash, you name it. About 15 batches in total. Although I have to admit that my beer is gradually getting better, I seem to be in the long tail of gradual improvements.
Is there one thing that you have done in the past that pushed your beer to a much higher level, or am I stuck in this dreaded tail for ever and ever?
Fermentation temp control was my most major improvement, proper yeast handling second, and improving my understanding of ingredients which led to much simpler grain bills was third.
A couple months ago I went from brewing about once a month to once a week no matter what. That and having my water tested and making appropriate amendments has made a huge difference in the quality and consistency of my beer. I can’t say enough about stove top biab in small batches because now I can make a batch after work.
1/ Temp control
2/ Tie - Proper yeast quantities/health
pH control, water profiles for AG brewing
Lots of things helped, but these things were huge, in terms of improving beer quality and consistency.
^^^This
+2 biggest improvements came from this. guess it also depends on what you think you are lacking- any descriptors?
I’d add that sanitation practices are paramount as well. But temp control would be number 1 and good aeration/yeast management for number 2. Good beer can be made with slightly less than ideal water.
But, I’d say, you should look at brewing like playing an instrument or learning a skilled craft: you’re never going to perfect it and there’s always, always, always, going to be room for improvement.
I have a fridge with thermostat, heating and cooling (though needs to changed manually), so that’s the long tail 
Proper yeast handling: largest batches are 12 liter, and I make liquid yeast starters (though not with stir plate), so that’s the long tail
understanding of ingredients: I blindly follow other people’s recipes, but try to stick to the simple stuff, so that’s the long tail
So that’s the long tail
Well, speaking of sanitation: is there a “hidden” quality degradation impact? Meaning, you clean ok, so you don’t get obviously infected beer, but if you would become more anal in you cleaning habits you would somehow get “better” (“cleaner”?) beer?
Sticking to simple is good. Because I cook and am comfortable with flavors I experimented with adjuncts, spices, fruits etc. right out of the gate. The result was decent enough beer but I was learning too slowly what different malts, ferm temps, yeasts, hops etc. were contributing. Now I build a lot of simple recipes sticking close to style guidelines and really try to learn from each batch. Now I’m just as happy to learn something when I am not totally happy with a beer but can pinpoint the cause and know how to fix it next time as I am when I nail it. (well, almost)
I know 300% more than I did a year ago, and about 1% of what I’ll know ten years from now. I’m at the point where every beer I make is far superior to anything I made my first year, but that doesn’t mean I’m always impressed with them. The more you learn the more you learn there’s more to learn.
So that’s the long tail
^^^^^^^^ Yep.
I agree to a point. Water profiles for flavor balance are something to tinker with after you’re making good beer, but getting my mash pH right was a pretty noticeable improvement to me. I used to get pretty ‘in your face’ astringency on some styles not suited to my water.
yep- i had so much bicarb in my well water that my PH was really high and caused many a problem beer. switching to RO made all the difference and allowed me to nail my brew water profiles.
If you have a recipe you really like, but it’s not perfect, then keep rebrewing it making one change (recipe OR process related) each time until you feel like you really have it dialed in. That’s really the best way to learn what does what in the brewhouse. Once you get a feel for that, it’s pretty simple to dial most recipes in, or to get a feel for what went wrong if a beer misses the mark.
FWIW, my tap water is pretty good:
Sodium, Na 33
Calcium, Ca 63
Magnesium, Mg 7.1
Sulfate, SO4 52
Chloride, Cl 46
Bicarbonate, HCO3 181
pH 8
Everything within acceptable ranges, so, again, the long tail, right?
As others have said, fermentation temp control and water profiles really made my beers go from decent to great.
Even if your tap water is pretty good that doesn’t mean it’s pretty good or perfect for all styles. No water source is perfect for everything. Your water supply might be ok for some of the beers you are brewing but producing less than stellar flavor profiles on others.
If you feel like your water is solid and your processes are solid then the only thing missing in quality improvement would be the recipes you are using. I’m not sure from the handful of posts here that I know enough about your processes or water or recipes to point in any particular direction though.
You mean like I have been doing with my oat bran ‘n’ egg pancake for the last year or so? I’m still optimizing that sucker.