Key factors to making great beer at home

I feel like there is quite a funny reaction when you mention that you home brew beer. The words “Home Brew” seem to be automatically associated with some nasty tasting alcoholic substance that people tried years ago. Most likely brewed by some cheap student looking to get blitzed for as little money as possible. The stuff was usually pretty horrible and only drinkable after alcohol had already bludgeoned the taste buds into submission. I almost feel as if these experiences of home brew prejudice people into thinking that the home brewer is simply a closet alcoholic looking for a more affordable way to continue their habit. I feel as if this bad reputation of home brew keeps many people from ever trying their own hand at it. The reality is that with a little care and attention to detail you can produce great beers that will rival the craft beers you are able to buy.

Some of my current brews are getting great comments from friends and family who have tried them so I thought I would share a few tips on what I see as the key factors to getting a good tasting brew.

1. Temperature control. Being able to maintain a consistent brewing temperature seems to make a huge difference to the flavour of the beer. For the ales I mostly brew I set my fermentation cabinet to about 18 – 20 degrees C and leave it be. Too cold and the yeast are likely to not ferment properly. Too warm and the yeast will make strange flavours. It is simple to make a fermentation cabinet using an old fridge or freezer and a thermostat like I mention over here
2. Good sanitation. You need a good cleaner and a good sanitiser to be able to insure that the equipment you use is not going to harbour bacteria which could infect your beer. The fermentor and any equipment to do with yeast needs to be sanitised. The bottles or kegs that you put your beer in also need to be sanitised. Brew pots and mash equipment need to be cleaned, but as boiling the wort will kill most bugs these items do not have to be sterilised. If there is anywhere in your process  post boil that you are adding bacteria into your beer you are likely to get nasty tasting brew. To get rid of any dirt/buildup on your equipment you need something that will clean really well and remove anything from the surface. Bacteria are able to hide in these deposits and so it is important to clean them off. Once your equipment is clean, it then needs to be sanitised. If you sanitise when your equipment is not clean then the bacteria in deposits are likely to infect your beer. If you just clean your equipment without sanitising then there are bacteria which will still be on the surfaces of your equipment which will infect your beer. I use the home brand nappy soak (unscented) from the supermarkets for my cleaner. These products contain Sodium Percarbonate which is an excellent cleaner and dissolves organic deposits well. Many powder brewery wash formulations will have sodium percarbonate in them. I use Starsan as my steriliser, but there are plenty of other sanitisers out there like Iodaphor etc.
3. Using good yeast. Finding a yeast strain that gives you the flavours you are looking for is important, but more important is getting yeast that is in good condition. Yeast is alive and if you store it for a long time much of it will die. You should either use fresh yeast that has been kept in refrigeration to ensure the yeast is viable, or you should use a starter culture to ensure that you have sufficient yeast to pitch into your wort. If there are too few viable yeast when you pitch into the wort, then the yeast will take a long time to grow and take over the fermentation. This means there is a long lag time where other bacteria and yeasts could start growing and it means the yeast is very busy reproducing, which creates a number of flavour compounds, many of which may be undesirable.

I think the first three points are the most important in getting a nice beer out the other end of your brewing process. The 3 points are relevant whether you are using a pre-hopped liquid malt extract in a can  to brew or if you are using malt extract and steeping of specialty grains or if you brew from scratch using malted grains.

Other factors that I believe will improve your brew.

1. Keeping good records of exactly what you did in each brew. A couple of weeks in the fermentor and a few weeks in the bottle and I have trouble remember exactly what it was I did to get this brew tasting like it is. Having good notes lets you work out exactly what it was in your process that gave you those characteristics in your beer. The records need to be detailed enough that you can work out what it was you did.
2. Making the same beer more than once. I keep wanting to try out new recipes, but I have one or two recipes that I keep rebrewing and tweaking. It is only by rebrewing that you work out what your little changes are doing to the character of the beer.
3. Use fresh ingredients. Yeast I have mentioned, but every ingredient tastes better fresh. If you can get hold of hops straight from harvest you will get fresher flavours than using hop pellets that have been dried and are a year old. Malted grains and malt extracts taste much better fresh.
4. Use brewing software. This gives you somewhere to work out your gravities and bitterness. With brewing software you can quickly learn to create your own beer recipes and how to easily adjust gravity and bitterness and colour. If you go all grain it also is invaluable for working out mash schedules etc.
5. Forums have a wealth of information about what works for other people who are home brewing. The people on the forums are generally very helpful, and if you ask questions you will usually get some good answers to work with. I find the RealBeer forums great help especially for local New Zealand information.

If you are at all keen to try you hand at it, you should give it a go! It is not too complicated and the feeling of being able to sit back and enjoy a beer that you crafted yourself is fantastic!