Is Aerating hot wort actually bad for your beer?

I was reading a review of Charlie Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing" a few days ago and the guy was criticizing him for not cautioning against, "Aerating hot wort." Supposedly it allows O2 to chemically bond with the maltose and can contribute to oxidized flavors.

I have done quite a few batches of partial mash and my procedure is always as follows: After steeping, I boil 3 gallons of water with the DME and hops. At flameout I pour 1 gallon of ice cold water into the wort, which usually gets it to about 160F. (I do this b/c I'd rather not pour boiling wort for safety reasons and b/c I'd rather pour 3-4 gallons out of the kettle and then another two later as opposed to having to wield 5-6 gallons of wort. That's heavy!) I then pour the wort through a strainer in the the carboy. Next, I top off with 2 more gallons of ice cold water and it usually equalizes right at pitching temp. Tons and tons of aeration going on here at high temps and I have never noticed any oxidized flavors. Is this something, like DMS, that really only affects all grain brewers? Is the whole thing just a bunch of BS, like yeast autolysis?

I know this has been talked about before but there seem to be many differing viewpoints on this. I was hoping somebody share some info/provide some clarity on this topic.

Thanks!

Even the pros can't agree on whether or not HSA actually exists. For most homebrewers, HSA is most likely a miniscule problem compared to things like fermentation temperature, consistent mashing, underpitching, etc.

Not something I would really worry about. When you are adding your cold water to top off just try not to splash too much.

Interesting Brew Strong podcast here that discusses HSA - http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/475

The included interview with Dr Bamforth is pretty convincing in pointing out that there are far more important sources of oxidation that homebrewers should be concerned with than HSA.

I do full 5 gallon boils and I stir the hell out of my wort to cool it down in it's ice bath and have for the last 30+ batches and my beers always turn out good.

To add to this I pour my rehydrated yeast into the fermenting bucket and dump the wort on top of it and I'm far from being easy with pouring it.

I'm raising the BS flag at this time regarding it oxidizing beer.

angrysparrow said:

Interesting Brew Strong podcast here that discusses HSA - http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/475

The included interview with Dr Bamforth is pretty convincing in pointing out that there are far more important sources of oxidation that homebrewers should be concerned with than HSA.

Click to expand...

All very true. We should not be so quick though to rule out worrying about HSA - in some instances. If one is planning a big brew that will be aging for a long time, actually any beer that will be aged or around for a while, then it might be worth trying to minimizing HSA. Most of the beer we brew is consumed well before oxidized flavors from HSA become apparent.

angrysparrow said:

Interesting Brew Strong podcast here that discusses HSA - http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/475

The included interview with Dr Bamforth is pretty convincing in pointing out that there are far more important sources of oxidation that homebrewers should be concerned with than HSA.

Click to expand...

I've been through this discussion over and over with friends, fellow homebrewers, and professional brewers as well, and I have to agree with Bamforth.

And FWIW, I've done a heck of a lot of what some would call HSA in the past I've never once had a batch that came out in such a way that I said to myself, "Man, I really should've watched that HSA, this tastes like cardboard!" I just strongly don't feel like it's a major contributing factor to oxidation in beer. But hey, that's me. Everyone seems to have a personal stand on HSA I've found.

angrysparrow said:

Interesting Brew Strong podcast here that discusses HSA - http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/475

The included interview with Dr Bamforth is pretty convincing in pointing out that there are far more important sources of oxidation that homebrewers should be concerned with than HSA.

Click to expand...

Bamforth essentially says that any oxygen picked up on the hot side will be cleaned up by the yeast and any oxidation on the cold side has more of an effect on staling of the beer. He said try your best to not have any HSA but don't worry about it if you do. That being said, the less oxygen you have in your beer throughout your whole brewing process (minus aeration for yeast growth of course), the longer your beer will stay fresh tasting.

pjj2ba said:

All very true. We should not be so quick though to rule out worrying about HSA - in some instances. If one is planning a big brew that will be aging for a long time, actually any beer that will be aged or around for a while, then it might be worth trying to minimizing HSA. Most of the beer we brew is consumed well before oxidized flavors from HSA become apparent.

Click to expand...

Yes, I should probably have clarified my last response a little further. As homebrewers we certainly don't want to ignore the possibility of HSA and should do everything we can to minimize it. But, ultimately, there are a multitude of other sources of oxidation that can ruin a beer even more quickly than HSA. Until we eliminate or minimize those in our processes first, HSA is probably a lesser concern.

DaveHunter5 said:

Bamforth essentially says that any oxygen picked up on the hot side will be cleaned up by the yeast and any oxidation on the cold side has more of an effect on staling of the beer. He said try your best to not have any HSA but don't worry about it if you do. That being said, the less oxygen you have in your beer throughout your whole brewing process (minus aeration for yeast growth of course), the longer your beer will stay fresh tasting.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's an an accurate summation of the interview. Thanks.

I always wondered if it contributed to haze in beer. I used to get a lot of air in the wort with my early crude method of mashing and transferring hot wort. I took steps to reduce aeration, and my beers have gotten clearer. Probably just co-incidence, since I have changed a lot of things for the better over time. However, I will continue to take care to minimize aerating hot wort when it is practical.

Yeast autolysis is not a concern for Home Brewers. It's a real thing and an every day concern for a large volume (pro) brewer.

Likewise Hot Side aeration. Oxidized flavor is a concern and these oxidized notes are amplified by Pasteurization.

These are concerns of large commercial breweries and, since these breweries are solely responsible for any technical information there is in brewing, there winds up being a lot of people who worry about things that don't really apply to their process believing that the information is universal. There is only very recently an interest in academia to see how these things effect the smaller brewer ( due to the popularity in "small" craft brewing) but there will likely be no good technical information specifically for the home-brewer because home brewers don't give Grants to people like Bamforth to research it.
We repurpose this information in much the same way we use ice chests an water coolers to suit our own needs. Buyer beware.