Crucial-BBQ
Well-Known Member
Prior to living in Boston, I resided in Maine for a few years. While there, I grew to love beers in which Alan Pugsley lent a hand in creating (Shipyard, Geary's, Gritty's, just to name a few). For those of you not familiar, Pugsley is a champion of Ringwood yeast here in the states, albeit primarily in/with Maine breweries.
So, being a fan of this "style", I looked into using Ringwood with my own homebrews and found that this yeast loves open fermentation. Going through many posts on various homebrew forums, one of the main comments to using Ringwood, outside of the diacetyl flavor, was that many, most, were not going to subject their beer to such treatment (said in Not in my backyard! tone). The thing is, many of our favorite beer styles either began with an open fermentation back in the day, or they are still used to this day. Many Belgian, Bavarian, and English brewers practice open fermentation to this day.
Now, while some breweries use methods to control contamination (air filters, temp control of fermentor, etc.), many still don't. While the brewmasters at these breweries would more than likely through a fit if they found contamination (word used lightly), the truth is they don't find any more contamination than breweries that practice a closed system of brewing.
Which got me thinking. As homebrewers, one of the very first things we learn is to sanitize, sanitize, and sanitize some more. The idea of keeping everything sanitized has been beat into our heads since day one. In the beginning, I made sure that anything and everything that touched, or even got close to, my wort, etc. was as clean as could possibly be, however, over the years, I have become lax in my sanitation. Not lazy, mind you, just not OCD about it.
I have touched things with my hands that came into direct contact with the wort prior to fermenting. I have "sanitized" items by simply rinsing them under hot tap water amongst other things that might make some of you cringe. Heck, probably the only thing I haven't done is use my mouth to siphon wort into a fermentor. Yet, over the ten years I've been homebrewing, I have only encountered contamination once, and I attribute that to a faulty seal around the spigot/valve on the fermentor (bacteria/yeast found the sweet food leaking out and crept into the bucket through the space in the leak).
Perhaps it is because I always brew indoors, in an inclosed area. And perhaps I have experienced contamination on other occasions and didn't realize it (only seen mold/growth on top once as mentioned above; never had any other specific signs--off flavors, odors, etc.). Or perhaps I have just been lucky?
Anyways, I am not suggesting that homebrewers give up any method of sanitization, I am just curious if as a whole, we are being overly paranoid?
So, being a fan of this "style", I looked into using Ringwood with my own homebrews and found that this yeast loves open fermentation. Going through many posts on various homebrew forums, one of the main comments to using Ringwood, outside of the diacetyl flavor, was that many, most, were not going to subject their beer to such treatment (said in Not in my backyard! tone). The thing is, many of our favorite beer styles either began with an open fermentation back in the day, or they are still used to this day. Many Belgian, Bavarian, and English brewers practice open fermentation to this day.
Now, while some breweries use methods to control contamination (air filters, temp control of fermentor, etc.), many still don't. While the brewmasters at these breweries would more than likely through a fit if they found contamination (word used lightly), the truth is they don't find any more contamination than breweries that practice a closed system of brewing.
Which got me thinking. As homebrewers, one of the very first things we learn is to sanitize, sanitize, and sanitize some more. The idea of keeping everything sanitized has been beat into our heads since day one. In the beginning, I made sure that anything and everything that touched, or even got close to, my wort, etc. was as clean as could possibly be, however, over the years, I have become lax in my sanitation. Not lazy, mind you, just not OCD about it.
I have touched things with my hands that came into direct contact with the wort prior to fermenting. I have "sanitized" items by simply rinsing them under hot tap water amongst other things that might make some of you cringe. Heck, probably the only thing I haven't done is use my mouth to siphon wort into a fermentor. Yet, over the ten years I've been homebrewing, I have only encountered contamination once, and I attribute that to a faulty seal around the spigot/valve on the fermentor (bacteria/yeast found the sweet food leaking out and crept into the bucket through the space in the leak).
Perhaps it is because I always brew indoors, in an inclosed area. And perhaps I have experienced contamination on other occasions and didn't realize it (only seen mold/growth on top once as mentioned above; never had any other specific signs--off flavors, odors, etc.). Or perhaps I have just been lucky?
Anyways, I am not suggesting that homebrewers give up any method of sanitization, I am just curious if as a whole, we are being overly paranoid?