Brewer With Frustration seeking Superior Brew Master.
Is anyone interested in offering their beer expertise to be a "brewing coach" at some point?
I am continually frustrated with my brewing procedure since it seems like I'm doing the same @#^#@^%#@% thing as everyone else, evne people brewing right along side me, and yet I always have two problems: (1) the most important and frustration is never hit my numbers, always low; and (2) it takes me a good 6-7 hours to brew (people have started after me and left before me). I'd be perfectly okay with #2 if I could fix #1. But I hear people talk about how they get awesome efficiency and even come in HIGH! Discouraging and frustrating to say the least.
I've explained what I do, in short, to people and no one can offer any concrete suggestions. I suppose I could write a novel in here going to every, absolute, last detail. But, I was thinking it may prove more beneficial for someone with more brewing expertise actually to watch over my shoulder as I brew and point out all the places I might be going wrong.
I would most definitely buy lunch and bring beer if someone would be so kind as to do this. Let me know and I will try to find some time to brew along side (if you want to multi-task and brew while you watch me do my thing) and/or find a date which works for you (if you do just want to sit there and watch).
Maybe some others are in the same boat and they can get in on this, too.
Do you use beersmith?
jim, you may just need to set your own efficiency for yourself and plan your recipes accordingly instead of expecting to get what other people do. Different systems do different things. You should brew a batch and track your numbers. If you want help with this let me know. Do you know anything about what your efficiency is or how to compute it roughly?
I think it can be difficult to get things dialed in totally consistently when one is not using the exact same equipment each time. Are you always using the same mash tun? I assume you're always using your pot, so that won't change. If you're not using beersmith, I would highly recommend it, as it will give you a benchmark against which to track your numbers. And, as Daniel said, you can set your own efficiency and calculate your recipes based on your brewing process, rather than what efficiency you think you should be getting.
-Adam
and remember, you don't need beersmith if you're using the same process and equipment each time and you know how to do the simple calculations (and they are fairly simple). I'd be happy to brew with you and show you what I do when I care about my numbers (which isn't very often).
I'm new at this too and have had some successes and some not-so-successes. I started with an all grain kit and have stayed with all grain. I am having different issues than you are, but have ended up with some very nice brews.
I started out with some slightly complicated brews and then moved to a few SMaSH (single malt and single hop) variations. That seems to have worked well to reduce some of the variables of my brewing. I too have some efficiency issues, but tend to create too-heavy worth rather than too-thin beer. I just brewed several batches with Maris Otter (went through a 55 pound bag), so I will probably choose a bag of 2 grain or Vienna Malt as my next base grain.
I also brew at home, so my methodology is pretty consistent. However, my cheif problem is acheiving the proper temperature in my mash tun, which was only complicated by the fact that my three thermometers were not in sync with each other and I'm only 80% sure which one is actually right at various temps. I typically spend alot of time cooling or decocting my mash to get where I want to be, which I'm sure impacts the mash results greatly.
What kind of beer are you brewing? How are they turning out?
Using the same equipment, watching your volumes, taking detailed notes, and being consistent with process is what has made my brew days alot more predictable. I also follow professional recipies so I know what I should expect when it comes to numbers. If your building your own recipes....I would advise against it ....you won't know what to expect.......and you dont know if the beer was supose to be good anyway
Thanks for all the replies; I'll try to cover them all succinctly here.
Yes, I use Beersmith. There are a fuck ton of different fields and drop down menus to futz with. Maybe I just don't have all the right numbers in there. Because I wasn't getting the numbers BeerSmith suggested, I started using Green Bay Rackers strike temp calculator.
I certainly haven't used the same tun (sometimes my janky ones; a lot of the time Lucas'). I have, however, used the same pot (mine).
As far as notes, I take notes. I think they're detailed. What is all the info people include? I feel that on a couple brews the only thing I left out was what I was wearing and they didn't help me in any meaningful way for my next brew.
I've done a combo of concocting my own recipes and recipes I've found online or out of that one "50 Standard Beer Recipes" or whatever it's called.
I can't really complain about the beers I brew in their final product. A couple beers have actually been surprisingly good; I get decently positive feedback from others (James Lewis called one of my Pale Ales "nice" which I consider a coup); a couple were mediocre; I had my preferences along the way but all were at least alcoholic, not vile, and potable so I consider that a success.
I would try as much as possible to use the same tun every time. That is clearly the biggest equipment variable involved.
As far as notes/numbers/fields, the most important things to keep track of for efficiency's sake (other than pre-boil gravity and post-boil gravity) are your volumes. I run off into a bucket that has gallons marked so that I can get a good estimate of how much wort I collect from 1st runnings and from each sparge (I sparge in two batches, typically). The biggest changes I made to get my efficiency up into the 70s were: (1) to make sure I ran off my first runnings long enough to leave very little behind before starting my sparge; and (2) to make sure I was collecting at least the total pre-boil volume as calculated by beersmith. I estimate that your 10 gallon pot on one of the blichman burners boils off about a gallon per hour, give or take. So be sure to adjust your equipment profile to account for that.
When using Lucas's tun, I use a modified one of the cooler mashtun equipment profiles that comes built in to beersmith. By sufficiently pre-heating the tun and using a rough estimate for the grain temperature (right now it's probably in the 30s for grain stored in the BH), I hit my temps to within a degree most times.
Are you referring to Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil and Jim Palmer? That's a great source of recipes, and a lot of my best beers have come from that book or been based on its recipes.
-Adam
Thanks for the advice, Adam. I'm going to make sure my next brew is meticulously documented and prepped (e.g., BeerSmith all setup correctly). It was indeed "Brewing Classic Styles" I was trying to think of.
If that doesn't work, I may indeed have to take Daniel up on his gracious offer to "coach."
It sounds like your notes are working. If you are always under and you can average how much you are under than increase the amount of base grain in all your recipes to make up for it.
Also getting higher efficiencies does not translate into better beer. Usually it means worse beer with more astringency. The quality of wort you are getting in the efficiencies better than 70% is not great. I would not shoot for anything better than 70%. Better to put a few more bucks of base malt in than get sub optimal beer.