Homebrew Tips
Avoid the common pitfalls when homebrewing beer
|
- Excellent sanitation
is paramount to making good homebrew beer. Sanitizer can be found at
your homebrew retailer, and includes products such as One-Step,
Star-San or Iodophor. Sanitize everything that comes into contact with
your wort after it has cooled down, including racking tubing and cane
and vessels, fermentation vessels, airlocks, bottles, lids, and the
instrument you use to pull samples for gravity readings. Bad sanitation
can make a great batch of homebrew turn into vinegar! I can't stress
proper sanitation enough!
- Do not use chlorinated water
(commonly referred to as "city water"). Your finished beer can have
high levels of chlorophenols which are an off-flavor/flaw and are
rather nasty.
- Make sure to remove your brewpot from the heat source
when adding malt extract, otherwise you may burn/scorch it and it will
stick to the bottom. Make sure to stir when mixing in your extract as
well and do not let it hit the bottom of a hot brewpot.
Make sure your malt, hops, yeast and malt extract are fresh
- Fresh ingredients
are key to a great tasting homebrew. Make sure your yeast is not
outdated, that your hops were stored refrigerated, and use dried malt
extract (DME) as it is more shelf-stable than liquid malt extract. Make
sure your malt crunches if bitten into, and doesn't have any "stale"
characteristics.
- Leave some room in your brewpot when boiling
or else you risk a messy boil-over! Also, make sure to always keep your
eye on your brewpot when boiling wort, if it seems it is going to boil
over, remove it from the heat quickly and safely. Try to use a minimum
pot size of 20 quarts (5 gallon) for a five gallon batch if doing a
partial boil of 2-3 gallons. Purchase a brewpot at of least 30 quarts
if you plan on doing full-wort boils for a five gallon batch.
- Try not to splash when racking or bottling your beer,
siphon as gently as possible. Otherwise, your beer will oxidize or
stale from the introduction of oxygen. On the contrary, make sure to
aerate your wort by using a whisk or aeration stone before pitching
yeast to ensure a healthy fermentation. Oxygen just prior to pitching yeast=good. Oxygen after beer is fermented=bad.
- Try to perform full wort boils when making homebrew.
Excellent beer can be made doing partial boils, and some brewers have
no choice. If brewing with a full wort boil, you'll need to brew
outside using a burner and tank. However you will get better hop
utilization and less caramelization (resulting in a lighter color and
less caramel flavor). Very light, straw colored beers can be tough to
do with extracts and a partial boil, however it can be done by
shortening the boil time to 45 minutes, upping the hopping rate to
compensate, and using Extra Light dried malt extract.
- Use dried malt extract in your recipes (DME).
It has a better shelf life than liquid malt extract (LME), and it can
result in a lighter beer that is more appropriate to the style if
that's what your shooting for (such as a Wit or Blond Ale).
- Buy some type of auto-siphon , they are inexpensive, easy to use, and makes siphoning/racking a snap.
- Using hops bags will be faster and easier , but your hop utilization may suffer up to 10%, so there is a trade-off.
- Purchase and use a brewing software
such as Promash to formulate recipes. It is cheap and very helpful and
will cut down the time spent figuring out gravities, alcohol % etc.
-If you plan on having 5 gallons of finished homebrew at the end,
formulate your recipes for 5.25 gallons, as some will be lost to trub,
racking/spilling etc.
-If steeping grains, be sure to not let the temperature get over 170F, or undesirable tannins can be leached from the grain husks. Try to steep at 150F for a half-hour or so.
- Keep a record of all homebrew recipes, including detailed ingredient information and detailed processes used. They will come in handy for referencing later.
- Use the proper yeast for the proper style of beer you are brewing. Wyeast and White Labs have detailed charts on their websites suggesting beer style by yeast.
- Be sure to ferment at appropriate and reasonable temperatures,
check out the Wyeast and White Labs pages for suggested fermentation
temperatures pertaining to yeast strain. Lagers are usually best
fermented at 45-55 degrees Fahrenheit, and ales are generally fermented
from 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Do not use distilled water as the full water base
for your batch of homebrew. Use spring water or well water, but not
city (chlorinated) water or distilled water. Distilled water lacks
minerals and nutrients for proper yeast fermentation to take place.
- Cool your wort as quickly as possible
to avoid off-flavors or infection. Try to get your homebrew cooled
within 15-20 minutes with either a wort chiller or an ice water bath.
You may have to change the ice after 5-10 minutes. Do not add ice
directly to the wort however!
- Always make a yeast starter when using liquid yeast, regardless of whether it is labeled "pitchable" or not. Making a yeast starter
will ensure that a healthy and happy amount of yeast is pitched. When
using dry yeast, always rehydrate the yeast before you pitch!
|
|
|
|
