[quote=“The Professor”][quote=“deliusism1”]
[size=80]I’ve never heard of the “double drop” process you’re referring to, so I’d have to look into that one before saying anything about it. As far as there being no harm at all in transferring wort once it’s started fermenting, I’m not sure about that one. I guess if you’ve been doing it for a very long time, and you’ve had no problems as a result, I can’t say that it doesn’t work for you. But there is always a risk of oxygenating the wort from splashing, or exposing it to unwanted airborne bacteria, any time you remove it from a vessel and expose it to the air, so I think it’s untrue to say that there’s absolutely no harm at all in doing so, when there’s no question that there’s always a risk factor involved even if one is extremely careful in every aspect of wort handling. I’m curious, too, what are these brews that you wouldn’t ferment any other way, and why?[/size][/quote]
There’s several sources of information on the interwebs describing the traditional “double drop”…here’s one I hadn’t seen before that turned up near the top of the search tonight, and this is as good a description of it as I’ve seen anywhere:
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http://www.colchesterbrewery.com/double_drop_brewing.php
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There are other references to it as well, but the one above lays it out and explains it fairly clearly.
As far as my statement of “no risk” goes, I meant that, with the assumption that good sanitary practices are in place. That said, in the 35 years (and actually, probably longer than that) I’ve been doing selected brews that way, I’ve never lost a single batch due to oxidation, infection, or anything else. In truth, introducing some oxygenation at that stage is a big part of the purpose for doing the transfer. At that stage, it’s not a bad thing.
As to which brews I use the process on, it has been primarily for my long-aged beers…Barleywine/Burton ale, Strong Porter, IPA (traditional rather than “American”) and my annual “quasi-solera” Xmas Ale (which this year is up to year 22 of blending).
Modern brewing is more and more about “shortcutting”…but for some beers, the old time processes (combined with a measure of patience) can still delver a measurably superior result.[/quote]
Okay, yes, I’m familiar with the general idea outlayed in that page. I’ve heard of such practices, and I have nothing against them, but in the case of a professional brewery, the proccess is taking place under very carefully controlled circumstances, and is probably done at a very slow pace to avoid excessive aeration. This process is somewhat risky and tricky to replicate for many homebrewers, but not impossible. I guess I was a bit uncertain about what exactly you were doing with your beer because I assumed you must be relatively new at homebrewing due to your question about trub being left in your beer. We totally got away from the original question you posted, anyway. I still think that it is potentially harmful to leave excessive amounts of cold break in the fermenter, and if anything, I think that the page you linked me to proves that I’m not the only person around who thinks so.