The purpose of this thread is to create a standard test that fellow homebrewers can perform at home and post the results. Please keep any responses to your test results or ideas to improve the testing only. Opinions and arguements on this topic are already underway on another thread.
I'm expecting to record results from this testing until December 2013, at which point I'll publish the results here at HBT. However, if we have enough results coming in, I'll post it Quarterly.
The purpose of the test:
Quantify the impact to fermentation Olive Oil (OO) has on Final Gravity (FG) and taste, as compared to other known aeration techniques: No oxygen, splashing, aeration from aquarium pumps (AFP), and aeration from an O2 tank (AT). This is the homebrew version of Hull's analysis title "Olive Oil Addtion to Yeast as an Alternative to Wort Aeration". The main point of Hull's testing was to analyze the impact to longevity of the beer, an important factor for commercial breweries. Because I drink beer to quickly, longevity will not be tested.
Required equipment:
To perform this test, you must be able to create a starter. Equally split the starter into two measureable amounts (2 measuring cups), fermentors to split one batch equally to smaller batches, OO, and common sense. Optional equipment - aeration aquarium pump/stone & aeration from an O2 tank.
Process:
Create a proper starter for the beer you'd like to brew. 5 hours before you'll need to pitch the starter (generally before you fire up your HLT) split the starter into two batches. Or more if you are going to test more than 1 aeration technique. The starter can be chilled and decanted first, or the full volume. This does not matter, as long as ultimately all of the yeast is fully shaken up back into the solution/starter, and that this starter is now spread evenly per batch.
One starter should be given a miniscule drop of OO - again, 5 hours before it'll be required. This is difficult to measure, so I'd propose everyone do it this way: Put a bit of OO on a spoon. Over your sink, pour out that OO. Then put the spoon over your starter you wish to add this to, and hang it over until you get one drop to drip in. (If anyone is able to measure how much OO this is, please do). Also - sanitize your spoon first!
After you've brewed and chilled, split the wort into equal batches. There are 4 possible results to record: Using OO, Splashing to aerate, using aquarium pump, using O2 tank, and no aeration. You must at least perform 2 of these techniques with the same split batch and same split starter. If you have the ability to do more than 2 at the time, please do. Be sure to label your batches.
The length of time you ferment, temperatures, and other variables should be the same for all batches. How you control this does not matter (ferment at 80 degrees for all I care), just be sure all the versions from one batch test are under the same conditions.
Record the results in the following format:
Batch: 1-A
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1012
Method Used: OO, Splashing, AFP, AT, No O2
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): If you can measure this..I can't. Doubt any of us can.
Taste Results: 1,2,1,1,2
Did anyone taste OO?: Yes/No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind, Double Blind, Blind Triangle
For Taste Results, #1 is best. If you did 3 tests out of the same batch, people would blind taste test 1 through 3. If 5 people sample it, record all of their results for each batch. These will eventually be weighed for the final taste results across the HBT testing.
Each test should then at least have two sets of results, like so:
Batch: 1-A
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1012
Method Used: OO
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): N/A
Taste Results: 1,2,1,1,3
Did anyone taste OO: No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind
Batch: 1-B
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1013
Method Used: Splashing
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): N/A
Taste Results: 2,1,2,3,2
Did anyone taste OO: No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind
Batch: 1-C
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1014
Method Used: No O2
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): N/A
Taste Results: 3,3,3,2,1
Did anyone taste OO: No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind
I'm expecting to record results from this testing until December 2013, at which point I'll publish the results here at HBT. However, if we have enough results coming in, I'll post it Quarterly.
The purpose of the test:
Quantify the impact to fermentation Olive Oil (OO) has on Final Gravity (FG) and taste, as compared to other known aeration techniques: No oxygen, splashing, aeration from aquarium pumps (AFP), and aeration from an O2 tank (AT). This is the homebrew version of Hull's analysis title "Olive Oil Addtion to Yeast as an Alternative to Wort Aeration". The main point of Hull's testing was to analyze the impact to longevity of the beer, an important factor for commercial breweries. Because I drink beer to quickly, longevity will not be tested.
Required equipment:
To perform this test, you must be able to create a starter. Equally split the starter into two measureable amounts (2 measuring cups), fermentors to split one batch equally to smaller batches, OO, and common sense. Optional equipment - aeration aquarium pump/stone & aeration from an O2 tank.
Process:
Create a proper starter for the beer you'd like to brew. 5 hours before you'll need to pitch the starter (generally before you fire up your HLT) split the starter into two batches. Or more if you are going to test more than 1 aeration technique. The starter can be chilled and decanted first, or the full volume. This does not matter, as long as ultimately all of the yeast is fully shaken up back into the solution/starter, and that this starter is now spread evenly per batch.
One starter should be given a miniscule drop of OO - again, 5 hours before it'll be required. This is difficult to measure, so I'd propose everyone do it this way: Put a bit of OO on a spoon. Over your sink, pour out that OO. Then put the spoon over your starter you wish to add this to, and hang it over until you get one drop to drip in. (If anyone is able to measure how much OO this is, please do). Also - sanitize your spoon first!
After you've brewed and chilled, split the wort into equal batches. There are 4 possible results to record: Using OO, Splashing to aerate, using aquarium pump, using O2 tank, and no aeration. You must at least perform 2 of these techniques with the same split batch and same split starter. If you have the ability to do more than 2 at the time, please do. Be sure to label your batches.
The length of time you ferment, temperatures, and other variables should be the same for all batches. How you control this does not matter (ferment at 80 degrees for all I care), just be sure all the versions from one batch test are under the same conditions.
Record the results in the following format:
Batch: 1-A
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1012
Method Used: OO, Splashing, AFP, AT, No O2
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): If you can measure this..I can't. Doubt any of us can.
Taste Results: 1,2,1,1,2
Did anyone taste OO?: Yes/No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind, Double Blind, Blind Triangle
For Taste Results, #1 is best. If you did 3 tests out of the same batch, people would blind taste test 1 through 3. If 5 people sample it, record all of their results for each batch. These will eventually be weighed for the final taste results across the HBT testing.
Each test should then at least have two sets of results, like so:
Batch: 1-A
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1012
Method Used: OO
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): N/A
Taste Results: 1,2,1,1,3
Did anyone taste OO: No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind
Batch: 1-B
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1013
Method Used: Splashing
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): N/A
Taste Results: 2,1,2,3,2
Did anyone taste OO: No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind
Batch: 1-C
Beer Type: Hefeweizen
OG: 1050
FG: 1014
Method Used: No O2
Oxygen parts per million (PPM): N/A
Taste Results: 3,3,3,2,1
Did anyone taste OO: No
Taste Test Method: Single Blind