Author: Marshall Schott
There has been a lot of talk over the last few years about whether or not hot-side aeration (HSA) is something homebrewers should worry about, with many folks emphatically tossing it into the seemingly ever growing pile of brewing myths. And everybody seems to have something to say about it!
In what is arguably the most trusted and popular book on homebrewing, How To Brew, John Palmer cautions:
“You should not aerate when the wort is hot, or even warm. Aeration of hot wort will cause the oxygen to chemically bind to various wort compounds. Over time, these compounds will break down, freeing atomic oxygen back into the beer where it can oxidize the alcohols and hop compounds producing off-flavors and aromas like wet cardboard or sherry-like flavors.” (6.9.3)
He again brings up the perils of HSA in the Starting the Mash section, explaining, “Hot side aeration can occur anytime the wort is hotter than 80°F. Oxidation of wort compounds will not be affected by the subsequent boil, and will cause flavor stability problems later.” This seems to suggest that a gentle hand should be used at all steps in the brewing process that come prior to the wort being chilled.
Another brewing badass, Randy Mosher, in his fantastic book, Radical Brewing, makes the following observation:
“[HSA] has been a bit of a bogeyman of late, with some people going to extreme lengths to prevent it. The question is, will it cause problems in homebrewed beer, especially oxidized flavors as the beer ages? Breweries certainly take it seriously, but then they have a lot more to worry about in terms of product stability. The jury is still out as to whether HSA is injurious to your average batch of homebrew, but I think it’s safe to say it isn’t a huge problem, a view supported by the fact that the phenomenon was not even discovered by brewing science until fairly recently. But it also makes sense to try to avoid techniques that are likely to expose hot wort to an undue amount of air if alternative methods can be found.”
So, Pascal’s wager for homebrewers. Cool. A couple years ago, I decided to stop caring so much about HSA in my own brewing and didn’t really notice any degradation in the flavor or stability of my homemade beer. Then about a year ago, I watched a speech by John Kimmich of The Alchemist in which he said HSA is “just terrible, you can’t do that to wort” (34:55). This dude makes Heady Topper, one of the highest rated beers in the world, surely what he has to say should be taken seriously. It wasn’t but a few months later that I listened to an interview with Charlie Bamforth, professor of brewing science at UC Davis and purported King of Foam, in which he claimed, in essence, that HSA does impact the wort, just not to a significant enough degree to make a noticeable difference. He went on to say there are far more important factors brewers should focus on such as pitching healthy yeast and ensuring minimal oxygen exposure at packaging.
While I’ve been pleased with my own lack of care on this issue, the time finally came to put it to the test. Not only because I remain curious, but also because I’ve received more requests to perform this exBEERiment than any other… by a long shot. So, here you go!
| PURPOSE |
To evaluate the impact hot-side aeration has on all characteristics of a beer when compared to a non-aerated batch of the same recipe.
| METHOD
I originally planned on splitting a 10 gallon batch into 2 kettles following collection of sweet wort from the MLT, after which one would be beat to holy hell while the other would be treated like a newborn baby. However, in order to really test the extremes of HSA, I decided it would be best to produce 2 batches of the same beer using separate mashes, as this would allow me to treat both differently at all points throughout the process. I settled on my Hop Test Bitter for this exBEERiment, making some minor changes from the original recipe:
Grist
7.0 lbs Maris Otter (80 %)
1.0 lbs Crystal 10 (11.4 %)
8.0 oz Victory Malt (5.3 %)
4.0 oz Crystal 60 (3.2 %)
Hops
~8 IBU Falconer’s Flight – First Wort Hop (FWH)
15.00 g Willamette – Boil 20.0 min
15.00 g Falconer’s Flight – Boil 10.0 min
21.00 g Falconer’s Flight – Boil 5.0 min
21.00 g Falconer’s Flight – Flameout w/ 10 min steep
Yeast
1.0 pkg WLP002 – English Ale Yeast
This is a beer I prefer to use the No Sparge mashing method for, as it supposedly produces a more malty beer. For the no HSA batch, the hot liquor was treated very gently and transferred to the my MLT using a 1 gallon aluminum pitcher to reduce the chances of aeration. I then stirred with ease as the grain was added, which still produced some foaming.
For the HSA mash, I used my 24″ wire whisk to whip the living crap out of the hot liquor, transferred it to the MLT with vigor, then used the same whisk to integrate the grain with the liquor.
Per my usual routine, both mashes were stirred briefly twice during the 1 hour saccharification rest, the non-HSA batch being stirred lightly with a long plastic spoon while the HSA batch was whipped vigorously. When it came time to collect the wort, I attached a hose to my MLT, ran off directly into my 14.5 gallon kettle, then moved the kettle to the burner.
When it came time to collect the runnings for the HSA batch, I simply opened the valve on the MLT, let it drain haphazardly into an old 6 gallon fermentation bucket, then I poured the wort into the kettle with plenty of splashing.
As if that weren’t enough, I used a whisk to whip the wort multiple times throughout the boil (twice per every 10 minute increment, 12 times altogether).
Wanting to go beyond just the strength of my own wrist and forearm, I employed the use of a paint stirrer attached to a drill.
This sent wort flying everywhere, so I only did it a couple times during the boil. The pre-boil and post-boil OG readings for each batch were the same, this felt nice.
Both worts were chilled in no time using my trusty King Cobra IC.
While I usually engage in chilling practices that do aerate the wort while it is still hot, I was deliberately gentle with the no HSA batch and only began moving the IC around once the temp was below 80°F. The HSA batch got the regular treatment. Both worts were oxygenated using a plastic spray aerator while being transferred to 6 gallon plastic carboys, then they were placed in a cool fermentation chamber to finish chilling to my target pitch temp of 64°F, after which both were pitched with an equal sized starter of WLP002 English Ale Yeast.
I was curious if there’d be any differences in fermentation activity betwen the beers and had a sort of preconceived assumption the HSA batch might have less lag due to all the extra aeration. Things were definitely looking different just 2 hours post-pitch.
About 3 hours later, a mere 5 hours since pitching the yeast, the HSA beer had developed a layer of something (not sure if it was krausen or not) that nearly covered the top of the beer; the no HSA had zero signs of activity, which is more in line with what I usually see at this point.
By 16 hours post-pitch, both beers had fully developed krausens and they were starting to look a bit more similar.
A side-view after a full day since pitching yeast revealed a rather drastic difference in color.
I figured this was likely due to the fact the HSA beer started before the no HSA beer, as it took on a similar color a day later.
Using my ale fermentation profile in The Black Box controller, the temp began ramping up once active fermentation slowed down. The beers looked mostly similar at this point.
Just prior to cold crashing, I took samples of both beers to measure the FG. The HSA batch appeared to have dropped about .001 more point than the no HSA batch.
The beers were cold crashed for a couple days then I used the sterile siphon starter to keg them up per my usual method.
After sitting in kegs in my keezer for about a week, the beers were ready to be evaluated.
| RESULTS |
A panel of 12 tasters, all blind to the nature of the exBEERiment, were asked to complete a triangle test in a setting relatively free from distractions. Of the 3 samples the tasters received, 2 were the HSA beer and one was the no HSA beer, they were instructed to try to distinguish the one that was different from the others. Those tasters who correctly selected the beer that was different were then asked to proceed to a survey comparing the 2 different beers, knowing only that the beers they were evaluating were somehow different.
Given a sample size of 12 participants, 8 would have had to correctly identify the different beer to imply significance (p<.05). For this exBEERiment, only 4 people correctly identified the no HSA beer as being different from the others, which statistically speaking, is exactly what we might expect to occur purely by chance. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the 4 tasters who moved on to complete the comparison survey provided inconsistent responses with nothing even remotely in the way of meaningful interpretations. For example, after the nature of the exBEERiment was revealed in a question at the end of the second survey, the tasters were asked to select the one they thought was HSA- each of the 2 responses was selected by 2 tasters (50%).
My impressions: From the FG samples I took over a month prior to writing this article to the comparison I did 3 days ago, I’ve never perceived a lick of difference between the no HSA and HSA beers, everything about them is exactly the same to me. They are equal in terms of appearance, flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel. Even the slightly higher ABV of the HSA beer didn’t seem to have an impact on perceived differences. Now, as far as the minor changes I made to the Hop Test Bitter recipe, well, let’s just say I’ll be sticking with the original grain bill henceforth.
| DISCUSSION |
The results of this exBEERiment corroborate the findings from other experiments on the same topic. I exerted more effort aerating the mash and wort than I’ve ever exerted trying to limit hot-side aeration, and even so, there seemed to be absolutely no detriment to the quality of the finished beer. While I’ve touted the whole “HSA is myth” thing in the past, I’ll admit I was likely engaging in confirmation bias, simply seeking evidence to support my practices. However, the growing amount of evidence supports the notion that HSA, while perhaps not necessarily mythical, does not have a noticeable negative impact on homebrewed beer and hence can be appropriately relegated to the annals of homebrew history.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to voice them in the comments section below. Cheers!
*It is not at all my point to throw stones, I’ve learned a shit ton from John Palmer via his books, interviews, and as a host of Brew Strong. He is a legend in my mind. This exBEERiment was intended to test a contextually controversial subject, not lambaste an awesome dude who has done far more for this hobby than I can ever imagine. What John has written about HSA does seem to run counter to the growing argument that it is something not worth worrying about.
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83 thoughts on “exBEERiment | Hot-Side Aeration: High vs. Low Aeration In A Best Bitter”
Very interesting! I’m most interested that the aeration of the HSA beer seems to have carried over after chilling to some degree, possibly leading to a quicker start of fermentation.
I would think it is just the luck of the draw that they ended up different. Could be a slight difference in aeration or pitching rate.
Thank you. Relatively new brewer here and I transferred my hot wort yesterday without thinking. I cooled immediately after. Sat up last night thinking I ruined my beer. Hope it turns out good.
Awesome write up! I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. This is a subject I think about every time I’m stirring my hot wort with my IC. It’s reassuring to see another set of results to show that this isn’t a big worry.
If possible, I’d like to see another comparison between the two in a month or two month’s time, since a lot of the worries seem to say that it has an impact on the long-term life of the beer.
Hrm… not possible… HSA keg just kicked 😉
Ah well. “Next time” then. 🙂
I think that’s the issue. Unless I’m wrong, HSA supposedly leads to degirdation over time. I’d be interested to see how this would effect a hoppy barleywine over a year’s time.
Given the professional opinions (Bamforth) and mounting evidence, I’m doubtful HSA has much of an impact on aged beers either. Arguably, the majority of beer people are making at home isn’t going to be aged for very long, and yet many still worry about HSA- this primarily addressed those folks. Also, from a practical perspective, I won’t make 10 gallons of a big beer and age it for 6+ months just to test this waning theory… I’ve got too many other exBEERiments to get to!
Aww. I just KNEW that was going to happen. The long term storage properties could be impossible to evaluate without having a protocol to remove it from your realm of influence for several months. Next time you do this experiment you should perhaps send a few bottles to me and I’ll return them to you several months later (maybe 🙂 ).
This is a really great article; thanks for sharing it! I’ve often discussed this amongst friends, and I’ve personally never noticed a difference. Admittedly, I most often introduce a bit of HSA since I usually pour from one vessel to the next. I really appreciate hearing of your results!
Wow what a fantastic study!! This answers a question I’ve had burning in my mind for a while now. I read a similar article and was being paranoid, carefully transferring wort on every brew day. This has definitely put my mind at ease, thanks!
If anything, it seems like HSA is a positive thing – you had a much more rapid onset to fermentation, and a (slightly) lower final gravity. I’d be interested in seeing if that replicates…
Thanks for that exBEERiment!!! Again, making brewday less stressful and complicated!
I would think the HSA batch started earlier because you provided extra oxygen for the yeast. That’s what I never understood about HSA; you’re supposed to aerate the wort before pitching yeast, no?
Haha, “?” deleted. Most of the O2 for yeast nutrition comes form what you do post-boil, after chilling. I actually trust the science shared by Palmer, I just don’t think it has all that big of an impact on the finished beer.
Makes sense, oxygen is more soluble at colder temps anyway. If anything I bet most of the O2 on the hot side comes right back out as O2 gas, and that’s why the effect is small.
I thought the HSA would happen during transfer from Kettle to Carboy at high temp. Sometimes I can’t get the temp down when chilling, and I was hoping to see if there is a difference. Although I have heard of folks doing “No Chill.” . I would assume that the mash and boil would involve lots of splashing anyway; so I wasn’t thinking this was part of HSA.
Great read, been waiting anxiously for the results of this experiment. Since one of the supposed issues with HSA is poor flavor stability, will you be taking samples over a matter of weeks & months to track this possible effect?
No, I already finished the HSA keg, the no HSA is close to empty. It was a sub-5% ABV beer that wouldn’t age well regardless. For what it’s worth, I’ve aged beers that received really rough treatment on the hot side, no issues. I know it’s anecdotal, but…
Really interesting… and exactly what I expected you’d find.
My theory – the HSA batch took off quicker due to better aeration. That excess O2 was metabolized, resulting in no final differences.
I wonder if you would have seen anything at all had you injected both beers with pure O2 prior to pitching?
“Hot side aeration can occur anytime the wort is hotter than 80°F.” I’ve seen in your blogs in the past that you chill to 80F then drop the temp from there using your ferm chamber. Was it because you were worried about HSA that you didn’t chill to maybe 90 or 100F?
I chill to as cold as I can get the wort in a short amount of time, which is usually 4-6°F above groundwater temps… my groundwater temp during the summer ranges between 74°F and 78°F. During the cooler months, when my groundwater is closer to 60°F, I chill all the way to my target pitching temp (for ale) of 64°F. Nah, I haven’t been worried about HSA for quite awhile, based mostly on personal (undocumented) experiments.
One thing I would be interested in…using pure oxygen on wort that has not been cooled below say 70%. I accidentally oxygenated one at about 92 degrees. That batch ended up nasty. Coincidence?
I’m inclined to believe it wasn’t the O2, but I’m no expert.
Very old thread, but here I am looking for answers. Brewed a Belgian Golden Strong with a friend a while ago, he had an O2 injection stone, I said hey, that’s a nice toy, I should get one. BGS came out great, and correct color – we cooled to 72ºF before oxygenation.
After acquiring my own O2 stone, I brewed a stout, cooled to 72ºF before oxygenation, all good. Just did a Saison, which I wanted to ferment warm, 87ºF, so I figured why chill it down then re-warm it later, just chill to 87ºF, which I did, and used the O2 stone. It’s hecka darker in the primary than it should be. Fermenting nicely now, but the krausen is darker than expected too.
I think injecting pure O2 under pressure through a 2 µm stone has a lot more potential to oxidize things than splashing/stirring in air. Wish I’d read Palmer first, but nothing to do now but wait and taste. I’ll report back here later.
I don’t recall exactly which show on the Brewing Network it was, but one day Bamforth, Zainasheff, and Palmer (so presumably an old episode of Brew Strong) were all discussing HSA. They basically all came to the conclusion that you shouldn’t go out of your way to encourage HSA, but it would likely not effect your beer so long as you have a strong and clean fermentation to clean everything back up again.
– Dennis, Life Fermented Blog
I think this may be the show you’re referring to, it was a good one!
Great, great read. One less thing to worry about. Please consider doing an exbeeriment on gentle boil vs a vigorous boil. I often boil away too much wort because I boil in two pots on my stove top, all grain. Obviuously, longer and more vigorous boils result in less wort. I’m wondering if doing if a gentle boil can result in more wort and not produce DMS or any other undesirables. This would be a great exbeeriment for those home brewers who like to do full volume in two separate pots on stove stops.
Great idea! Added to the list.
Thinking back when I was a total newbie, and on my first brew, I used the splash method with the wort chiller, thinking it will cool the wort faster, which it did. I guess for the small amount of time that home brew lasts on the shelf HSA probably doesn’t apply? Beer came out ok. I now choose to not aerate as much as possible above 80 degrees.
I’m doubtful it even matters for long-term shelf stability, I couldn’t find any empirical evidence supporting that notion, just opinions… err… theories 😉
I’m not sold on John Palmer being a brewing expert. While he may in fact be highly educated and well respected in the area of metallurgy and inorganic chemistry, I just don’t think his advice on many brewing matters is more useful than that of anyone else.
Awesome experiment! Thanks for putting in the effort to document all this.
Tell me, you say “I usually engage in chilling practices that do aerate the wort while it is still hot” and that in the non-hsa batch you were careful not to move the IC around while the wort was above 80F. Can you describe what your usual process is? Is it that you jiggle the IC or are you whirlpooling? And constantly or occasionally?
I use the chilling practices laid out by JaDeD Brewing (source water on full blast + constant stirring and/or moving of the IC), which has reduced my chilling times from 45+ minutes to less than 10 minutes.
So, should this outcome have any impact on chilling practices? I thought rapid cooling was only done to minimise the time the wort spends hot-side-aeratable, as it were. If it that’s not really a factor, what’s rapid cooling for?
Rapid cooling gets you a better cold break, but even more importantly, in my opinion, it speeds up the brew day a bit!
And rapid cooling
* limits time from 140F ish IIRC.
Very good. Really enjoy your articles.
Hi, mate. Thanks for sharing this amazing article. Just one doubt. I didnt understand if the aeration of the hsa sample was made at high temp.
Thanks! I aerated the hell out of the wort at ever point in the process: hot liquor, mash, boil (many times), and during chilling.
Awesome write up but is 1 week a long enough time to determine if HSA will affect a homebrewers beer? It would be interesting to see a comparison 2-3 months after it was brewed.
People keep beer around for 2-3 months?! 😉
Great exbeeriment!
Have you considered bottle conditioning and tasting HSA and non-HSA beers over time that have been stored at ~70*f for, say, 6, 12, and 24 weeks?
At NHC in Grand Rapids, there was a presentation about HSA that took room temp aging into account. But, their problem was that they bottled off the keg, and even using a beer gun, likely introduced some O2 at that time so the results of the experiment (HSA or not during brewing process) was a bit skewed. Of note, all their samples (HSA or not) showed signs of staling at the end of their experiment, but again, that could’ve been from bottling off the keg.
Good stuff, as always!
I haven’t, but it’s definitely something I can add to the list!
This one hit home for me. I boil hops loose in kettles with no drain. End of boil, I then pour through a colander covered with a paint strainer to another kettle with a drain. I was concerned this HSA could be an issue…I guess not. Cheers!
Nice! I’m not sure the straining is all that worth it given the trub xBmt results, but I truat the HSA is causing no problems.
Just saw this. This is great. A couple of other things that might be worth investigating would be whether some difference shows up with a higher OG or with a ton more dark malt. Considering how much stirring and splashing took place in this experiment, I’m guessing the answer is no effect, but it would be interesting to nail that down.
I’m wondering if the issue for commercial brewers has something to do with the size of their fermenters — if the issue that Palmer identified is that bound-up oxygen gets released later, it’s possible that it gets released too early to do any harm in the typical home setup, but in a huge commercial fermenter those compounds stick around a lot longer due to pressure or something.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a fair amount of coincidental issues with HSA — someone who splashes a lot may be setting themselves up for contamination due to general sloppiness, which they then attribute to aeration.
Anyway, great experiment and I hope it gets passed around a lot.
Thanks Fred! We definitely have plans to redo this xBmt with different styles.
Point of statistical clarification (and I know this is being nitpicky): technically your numbers for the statistical analyses in the experiments you do are inflated. This is because you are pseudoreplicating your samples (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoreplication). Basically, your sample size should be one for each treatment group because there is only one beer per each type (HSA vs no HSA in this case). Like I said, very nitpicky since this is basically a hobby. Your general results are still quite cool.
I totally get that doing a bunch of these same beers would be ridiculous. I very much appreciate these mini-experiments! Please keep rocking these!
I appreciate nitpicky!
Interesting stuff. My understanding of oxidation was that it occurs only when transferring from kettle to fermenter (above 80F), because boiling remove all previous oxidation, such as transferring from mash to kettle.
Even if that were the case, I beat the shit out of the HSA batch all throughout, it was begging me to stop toward the end 😉
Boiling may remove dissolved oxygen but not necessarily any effects O2 may have had on the wort.
Yes, the terms to get straight there, Seky, are oxygenation, which is the amount of oxygen dissolved in the wort, and oxidation, the chemical reactions that oxygen can cause. If you’ve got too much oxygenation at the wrong time you’ll get oxidation, is the theory.
Yeah thats my understanding. Boiling the wort removes the oxygen from it, hence the need to aerate before pitching yeast. As mentioned earlier a main reason for fast cooling is to release the cold break proteins for a crystal clear beer (no chill haze in glass)
Im interested in seeing the result if you do add back heaps of oxygen after flameout. O2 and aeration stone would be most scientific
Still, I must say if you overkilled it with HSA and you did not notice a difference, then I should not worry, because I transfer it from mash to kettle from high up and it foams like crazy, but never had off flavor even after 6 moths. Maybe later it will pronounce some wet cardboard taste, if that happens then I will know where is my error made.
Excellent work dude. I just wrote a quick post citing some of your work.
I think I would try to do the same experiment but with a barley wine aged two years.
I just listened to a Basic Brewing episode from Nov 2, 2006. They had a segment from John Palmer that suggested that the HSA might be a result of lipoxygenase that is only active at dough in and early step mash temps (~100-130F, I think). Have you heard anything about that?
I have heard of that, it’s part of the reason I went bonkers aerating at every step in the process, from water collection to chilling the wort.
I let my wort pour from my cooler into the kettle from 3ft and I have never experienced any off flavors. I even have a 9.3% IPA that I have been aging for over a year. Just opened a bottle the other night and it was still fantastic…no off flavors what so ever. I am a firm believer that hot side aeration does not affect us homebrewers making smaller volumes of beer. Maybe it has an affect on larger breweries though…who knows?
Just a thought here, but couldn’t it be that ‘hot side aeration’ contributes to the fastness of aging in beer (more oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids). But by drinking the beer so young you have only proven that although the curve might have been steeper, at day one a beer that ages faster is still as young as a beer that ages more slowly…..
Could be, sure, I may have to break my regular drinking schedule to test this one out 🙂
Some guys called Noël S. & Collin S. found in 1995 strong evidence that (E)-2-nonenal (that oxidized fatty acids blamed for the famous cardboard flavor) in wort forms Schiff’s bases (imines) with amino acids or proteins which pass into beer. During storage, (E)-2-nonenal is then released………
I say, you have redo this experiment.
I would second the suggestion of another experiment with a split batch, but then a few bottles of each batch bottled (with O2-absorbing crowns) and tasted/evaluated 6 months and one year later.
One of the primary concerns of HSA is shelf-life stability. O2 degrades all beers overtime, minute amounts chemically bound up during mash may have little noticeable effect in comparision to the Non-HSA beer, but will in all likeihood, however insignificantly cause deteriation at a faster rate. How were the two samples stored? Bottles in the distribution chain don’t all recieve the luxry of cold/ dark storage.
Cold in kegs. As a homebrewer, shelf life isn’t something I’m concerned about, though perhaps another xBmt is in order.
You shouldn’t bother caulking the windows when doors are being left open.
Minimizing O2 during transfers and then storing cold will make for a very shelf stable beer. I consistently have very old beers due well in competitions – blind to the brewer and beers age. I store my kegs at ~35F
Good read of ur exbeeriment. But I’d have to agree with the other dude that picked up on the hsa being a concern over longevity of the kept beer. Sounds like u did all the work properly and then screwed the ultimate goal of said exbeeriment. Would have been good to see if there were any changes over even 2 months (seeing as that seems to be the max my kegs last. Cheers
The goal of said experiment was to see if HSA had an impact in a typical homebrewer context. Like you, my kegs rarely last longer than a few weeks. Still, we will repeat with erroneous aging 🙂
A bit off topic, but you mention that you will most definitely stick with the original Hop Test Bitter grain bill, but I don’t see any difference between the bill for this xBMT and the recipe you linked. What changed here and what makes you want to go with the original recipe? Thanks as always for your awesome work!
That was so long ago, I’m not even sure what I did differently. The recipe on the xBmt page is the original recipe, meaning the slight changes may have been different than the recipe I posted… in fact, I think what happened is I used to not share the recipes in xBmt posts, people asked if I would, so I went back and added a few. Anyway, the only real change I ever recall making is using 2-row in place of MO, which I’m not even sure would be noticeable at this point.
I would be interested in seeing this method and recipe tested: http://www.germanbrewing.net/docs/Brewing-Bavarian-Helles.pdf
It seems that both these worts were oxidized, in that the water was not treated, and the copper chiller might have had an impact. It would be good to see a test where a DO meter is used. This seems to have compared oxidized and very oxidized.
I’ve been chatting with the guys who wrote that tutorial and would like to see some of their evidence before forging ahead on my own. At this point, their “lodo” brewing method is based purely on conjecture and anecdote. That’s not me discounting it, just being skeptical.
I agree that it would be good to see the data from the tests, but in general I would argue that the burden of proof is on those who differ from brewing litterature and best practices in advanced breweries. The data from this test was also lacking, since DO levels in the non-aereated wort were not measured. Maybe some producer would like to sponsor the test?
My own experience is that I got no malt aroma from my dobbelbock, and the aromas from Korbinian and Kloster were bursting. So I will definitely try it out.
Hmm… I would say the burden of proof is in those making claims without evidence to back it up.
the point of avoiding the aeration is for long term storage and avoid off flavours during bottle conditioning. How did the product age? surely the most important reason for the experiment!
Confirmed my suspicions as well. HSA is one of those effects, while real, appears to have a minimal effect on brewing -especially at the home brew level.
Thanks for lowering my stress level on brew days!
And greater (time & back-muscle) efficiency with pouring hot buckets of collected wort into a larger brew kettle-
I noticed a cardboard flavor in my Lagers recently that I ahve put down to HSA . I find that hoppy beers tend to hide the flaw.
It would be interesting to repeat the experiment using a less hopped beer.
I have had a Grainfather for a year, then last autumn I bought the aeration paddle and use it to create a whirlpool. I have definitely noticed less hop aroma and faster ageing of the beer since using the paddle. I plan to stop using it now and see if things get back to normal.
I should have said I bottle condition my beers.
Late to the party here, but one possible issue with this experiment is the use of Maris Otter as a base malt.
I would like to see this experiment carried out with extremely pale malts that have significant amounts of PPO and LOX in them.
Tal vez tengas las dos oxidadas…. Usas aluminio en las dos y un enfriador de cobre…. El trasvase según las fotos lo haces en abierto….yo me preocuparía más del lado frío en tu caso….pero ya te digo creo que las dos estaban oxidadas. Un saludo
I suspect that even your highly aerated procedure protected the beer from oxidation better than some procedures. That’s because of your high efficiency wort chiller.
Air and heat can cause lots of chemical reactions. The rate increases very much with temperature, so close to boiling is where most reaction should occur. Boiling itself does a good job of removing oxygen from water, so I wouldn’t worry about that. The worst time for air exposure is when the temperature close to boiling but not, generally while heating to a boil or just after. Making those times as quick as possible should diminish problems even if oxygen is present, and those are the times to try not to aerate the wort much. Since stirring helps the cooler work faster, that may compensate.