How accurate do i need to be

[jem.green]

I'm a 1 gallon (assuming us gallon) BIAB experimenter. I do have the ability to brew 35 litres of beer BUT cannot or should no consume it. Uk guidelines are 14 units so about 4 x 0.5 litres per week. Hence try out some recipies first.

So I have the inability to get any consistency, all very tasty and using the same recipe. Difficult to qualify but consistent sg and fg. But ranges from overly bitter, hoppy, not hoppy, not bitter, one hop flavour.

So how carefully do I need to measure. To the gram (grain), millimeter (water), gram (hops), second (time), temp (degree c).

I prepare other things, bread for example is quite specific to the age of the flour, really have to watch freshness.

What do I need to check and what is good enough.

 

[BOB357]

Inaccurate measurements, whether related to ingredients, temperatures, timing or volumes, can all cause inconsistency in the final product. From what you describe, it appears that your main problem is hop related. Hops require more than just measuring in grams. Alpha acid percentages, which translate to bitterness, can vary considerably from crop to crop and even from field to field. It's very important that you adjust the weight of earlier additions so the alpha acids match from batch to batch. Weight is much more important in later additions. They have a much greater influence on flavor and aroma than bittering. In either case, while a gram or two might go unnoticed in a larger batch, it can make quite a difference in a smaller one.

 

[Oginme]

Obviously the more accurate you can measure, the greater your chances at reproducing a recipe. By the gram for grain is pretty good, considering a basic 4L batch for 5% ABV will probably be running about 600 to 700 gram total grain weight. For hops, I measure down to a tenth of a gram for 10 liter batches and 4L batches, I tend to be watching the hundredths digit on my scale. There are a number of inexpensive, low capacity scales which can get you that type of accuracy.

I measure water into the system by weight as well. This way, I don't need to concern myself with the water temperature as my well water temperature changes during the year.

The biggest thing of concern is your repeatability where next thing to look at is your process. Are you getting a consistent boil off rate? Are your process losses the same from batch to batch? Is the timing of your hop additions reasonably consistent? (Long boil hops are pretty easy to be variable and get away with it. As you get shorter boil times with the hops, you need to watch the addition times a bit more closely.)

When I started getting serious about the hobby, I wanted to make sure I could repeat recipes so that when I made a change I knew what that change in the recipe or process did to the beer. Brewing a consistent recipe which I liked helped with getting my process repeatable and consistent. Since I will bring recipes from 4L to 10L and sometimes up to 20L batches, often using different equipment, being able to translate the recipe from one size batch to another and keep a similar flavor and aroma profile along with the same impression of bitterness and residual sweetness became important to nail down.

 

[jem.green]

Thanks for the advice. I improved temp control and timing on previous batches, gone to analogue as digital was a bit slow. So next is the hops, I'm measuring to the gram, but suspect it it isn't that accurate. It will be interesting to see how regorous I need to be (weighing the water, I was happy to the 50 ml).