While watching my hot break form last weekend, my mind drifted toward the great skimming war that happened on HBD back in the olden days. For a lark, I decided to skim my hot break. Nothing noteworthy occurred as a result of this daring undertaking.
In turn, this got me thinking about a few of the old bugaboos that rustled some serious jimmies back in the early internet days of homebrewing. HSA was a perilous boogie man, to be avoided at all cost. Star San foam was a known killer, greatly to be avoided. Beer was a fragile, wilting lady, quickly to be spirited away from the corrupting influence of yeast and safely ensconced in the security of a secondary fermenter. Tertiary was a common word. Batch sparging was taken as a suggestion that we ditch millions of years of evolution and return to the trees. A pH meter was the hallmark of a brewer that was dead serious about his water chemistry. Above all else, Dan Listermann was the cause of it.
Any old bugaboos you’d like to drag up? Any thoughts about today’s sacred cows that will be nostalgic bugaboos twenty years from now? Personally, I think we’ll giggle a bit at the current vogue for yeast coddling.
By skimming, you mean flicking the foamy stuff off the top of your kettle while waiting for a proper boil? There was once concern about that? Wow, I now feel like digging into some forum archives…
Some of these are old-school, and some are a little newer:
Protein rests, step mashes, and/or decoctions are required for certain beer styles. No longer true with well modified malts.
You need to mash for at least 60 minutes if not 90. Not true. 40 is good. It will apparently take a lot more time for this one to sink in.
Mash thickness affects attenuation and mouthfeel. I have my doubts.
Liquid yeast is way better than dry. Totally false.
Use of simple sugars in the wort will give you a “cidery” flavor. Ha!
Spring water is good for brewing. Not for most styles. Most spring waters are very hard, which might not be suitable for the style you are brewing. Plus, you probably don’t have a water analysis for that water so you don’t even know what’s in it.
First wort hopping gives a “smoother” bitterness. Jury’s still way out on this one, as some experiments have shown the opposite.
Anchor Liberty Ale is an IPA. Now this one I actually think should be true, but Americans have morphed everything into IPA such that it won’t be / isn’t anymore. Grumble.
Pitch warm and then cool the fermenter down to desired temp to give your yeast a head start. I don’t know if this debate will ever be solved. I myself pitch so many different ways and never take notes on this aspect that I need to start keeping track to see if it makes a difference. As a human being, even the Pope is somewhat fallible and might not always be right.
I still think diacetyl rests are silly. 25 years of brewing lagers and I’ve never done one. Never had any issues with diacetyl ever, even in my bohemian pilsners, when I would like some. The few times I have underpitched and got a little diacetyl in my bo-pils, it only lasted a couple of weeks and it was gone.
Pitch a big healthy amount of lager yeast and wait until it is done fermenting, and you will never need to conduct a diacetyl rest. Ever.
[quote=“chumley”]I still think diacetyl rests are silly. 25 years of brewing lagers and I’ve never done one. Never had any issues with diacetyl ever, even in my bohemian pilsners, when I would like some. The few times I have underpitched and got a little diacetyl in my bo-pils, it only lasted a couple of weeks and it was gone.
Pitch a big healthy amount of lager yeast and wait until it is done fermenting, and you will never need to conduct a diacetyl rest. Ever.[/quote]
That’s interesting. I’ve never had an issue with diacetyl but have admittedly only made a few lagers. As a rule of thumb for all my beers, ales or lagers, i raise the temp 5-10 degrees near the end of fermentation to help the attenuation anyway so while I am doing a diacetyl rest in name, I do it for a different reason. Whether raising the temp at the end actually helps attenuation or not, I don’t know since I’ve never tried with and without on the same batch so this could be another “myth”.
I do this as well. Start cool and allow to warm over the course of the fermentation. Whether it really matters, I’m not sure either.[/quote]
Me also. But I started doing that to push my beers to finish dryer, which it did. So I’m pretty sure there is a benefit, but perhaps not for reducing diacetyl. Never had a problem with diactetyl, either before or after I started raising the temperature at the end.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]Some of these are old-school, and some are a little newer:
You need to mash for at least 60 minutes if not 90. Not true. 40 is good. It will apparently take a lot more time for this one to sink in.
First wort hopping gives a “smoother” bitterness. Jury’s still way out on this one, as some experiments have shown the opposite.[/quote]
Dave, I agree with you on most of your list, but not the two above. Mash time is a variable that can affect the fermentability of the wort, not just the gross starch conversion. All the starch is typically converted in 40 minutes, but the beta amylase needs time to chew some of those longer sugars into shorter ones, so leaving it longer will result in a more fermentable wort.
And I just did a FWH test this year that CLEARLY showed it is different and tastes less harsh than hops added after the start of the boil.
I’ll add a new myth that people will laugh about in the future:
Microbes can hide in the shallow scratches that happen when you clean your plastic primary bucket, survive a sanitation rinse and cause an infection in your beer.
I’ll add a new myth that people will laugh about in the future:
Microbes can hide in the shallow scratches that happen when you clean your plastic primary bucket, survive a sanitation rinse and cause an infection in your beer. [/quote]
[quote=“chumley”]I still think diacetyl rests are silly. 25 years of brewing lagers and I’ve never done one. Never had any issues with diacetyl ever, even in my bohemian pilsners, when I would like some. The few times I have underpitched and got a little diacetyl in my bo-pils, it only lasted a couple of weeks and it was gone.
Pitch a big healthy amount of lager yeast and wait until it is done fermenting, and you will never need to conduct a diacetyl rest. Ever.[/quote]
This is why you’ll always be the internet brewer nearest and dearest to my heart, Chumley. You convinced me that huge (well, huge at the time) pitches were the key… years before Jamil made it fashionable.
It’s been fifteen years since I’ve taken your advice, and only one batch has gone wrong (due to an over-pitch).
Tell me more about this… and I’m not talking about taking advice from Chumley. [/quote]
Yes, I’m interested too. I’ve never heard of a homebrewer having problems due to an overpitch. Details man.
Tell me more about this… and I’m not talking about taking advice from Chumley. [/quote] Yes, I’m interested too. I’ve never heard of a homebrewer having problems due to an overpitch. Details man.[/quote]
Here’s mine - you must cool the wort as quickly as possible otherwise the homebrew gods will steal your first born child.
After reading an article in BYO magazine on no wort chilling I have made 15+ 10 gallon batches of various styles of beer and all have turned out fantastic. Most are transferred into the fermentor the next day but a few have waited 4 or 5 days. No ill effects. The only adjustment I have made is to delay the hop schedule by 20 minutes.
Saves me an hour plus on brew day and a ton of water (I am in drought stricken California).
[quote=“ianjwebster”]Here’s mine - you must cool the wort as quickly as possible otherwise the homebrew gods will steal your first born child.
After reading an article in BYO magazine on no wort chilling I have made 15+ 10 gallon batches of various styles of beer and all have turned out fantastic. Most are transferred into the fermentor the next day but a few have waited 4 or 5 days. No ill effects. The only adjustment I have made is to delay the hop schedule by 20 minutes.
Saves me an hour plus on brew day and a ton of water (I am in drought stricken California).[/quote]
Welcome to the forum Ian!
To me, this one fits into the category of second order effects. Do you need rapid cooling to make good beer? No. But does it help make better beer? In some respects, I’m convinced it does. I noticed an immediate improvement in the clarity of my beers when I stopped cooling my kettle in a water bath and instead started using a plate chiller. But I don’t think there was any effect on flavor, and there is no doubt that it can save time and water. So it depends what you find important.
And I’ve met people who would be THRILLED if the homebrew gods would take their first born child (perhaps in exchange for a six-pack), but I digress…
I’m just getting back in to brewing and I have hot FL hose water for cooling my beer. I am kinda forced to do this so I hope it’s true! What is considered “pitching warm”?
