DangerRoss

Recipes 

They probably fell asleep during chemistry class when the teacher was explaining the ideal gas law and missed out on the whole pressure, temperature, volume relationship.

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Revvy

Recipes 

Yeah.

I think some folks are so freaked out still about brewing that they come up with all these fear rationalizations for not wanting to do something that we have shown on this thread and others that folks do all the time, both on the homebrewer scale, AND commercially.

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wailingguitar

Recipes 

this ^^^

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PseudoChef

Recipes 

Fruit flies have legs, though

Summer's about the only time that I snap down my lids on buckets and use airlocks on my carboys instead of foil. I used to be rather nonchalant about it, but discovered this summer that with enough resilience, they can apparently get to where they really want to go. Not saying anyone should become paranoid - just relating my own experience.

pericles

Recipes 

When the air inside the fermenter cools it will contract, creating lower pressure and causing air from the outside to be pulled in. I'm not sure what you don't get about that. . .

That's only true if both the lid and the the rim of the bucket were perfectly flat. If you've brewed more than once, or if you've flexed your lid to fit it into another bucket to sanitize it, then they almost certainly aren't.

I've seen a lot of open fermenters commercially, and they (sometimes) get great results. Anchor does that, I think. I also have brewed a couple of beers in open fermenters, and I've gotten good results from them too.

Neither the commercial brewers nor I, however, are asking questions in a "Beginner's Beer Brewing Forum," where novice brewers are still discovering how their fermenters behave in various rooms of their house, garage, basement, or closets. As PseudoChef points out, insects are a problem to consider if you're going to leave the lid of your fermenter off. So is the effect the decreased osmotic pressure will have on your yeast character, and yes, sanitation.

The fact that a technique will work and even produce good results doesn't automatically mean that it is always preferred or desirable, and telling beginning brewers that "anything goes" is not something that I, when I was just getting started out, would have found helpful.

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maffewl

Recipes 

This is my favorite Revvy quote... I say this to myself everytime I start to worry about a contamination.

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MisterOJ

Recipes 

I sorta blame Palmer for a lot of this fear of contamination. After reading his book, I was really paranoid about it.

Since reading a lot of this board (and applying my own common sense) I realize that there is not much to worry about. That doesn't mean I'm not careful about sanitizing (because I am) but I realize as long as I take certain simple, common-sense steps to avoid contamination, it probably ain't gonna happen.

GilaMinumBeer

Recipes 

I either ferment with the lid loose or I just leave it off completely.

However, I also ferment inside a dedicated chamber that is fully sanitiozed prior to service.

Revvy

Recipes 

I've complained about that for years as well. He seemed to focus on all the "worst case scenarios," and freaked out an entire generation of brewers- He went I think into too much detail about all the boogeymen, HSA, Autolysis, yadda yadda yadda, without actually getting into how rare it really is. And folks just tended to glom onto the fear.

And every day we have to pick up the pieces hundreds of times a day of freaked out new brewers. Or the "vs" people who can't get their head around the idea that there are multiple ways of doing things that one thing, be it, plastic or glass, batch or fly sparging, or anything else that can be asked as a -vs-, is no better or worse than another thing, it's just a different and equally valid way of doing things...just like this, folks bristle at the idea that folks may not snap the lid down, or use plexiglass or tinfoil, or whatever.

It's funny, you have Papazian in the 60's and 70's with the very hippie, rdwhahb ethic, just lay back, let the process happen and everything will be fine. Then you have the next generation, Generation Palmer, that totally focuses on and worries about the negative, and seems to delve into absolutes.

And I think the kind of brewer you are has a lot to do with which book you read first. I read Papazian and was told repeatedly to relax....So that's the attitude I took from day 1, and you know it hasn't proven me wrong yet...nor has it a lot of brewers.

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Like my snazzy new avatar? Get Sons of Zymurgy swag, here, and brew with the best.

Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman

I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac! - YooperBrew

eastoak

Recipes 

just busting your balls a little bit.