Homebrewing myths that need to die

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BreezyBrew said:
Myth: Extract twang is real.
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Yeah - not in most cases. Nuther one here - All grain brews have no twang. The same goes for it - not in most cases.

Hypthesis - twang is from too much body. An imbalance of malt versus hop. ?
 
cluckk said:
Brewing-your-own costs more when all economic expenditures are figured in (not just exchange of dollars). However, it is worth it to have good beer that is your own to drink or share.
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Well said
 
Myth: if your beer looks funny while fermenting, it's infected and you should dump it immediately without tasting it.

Myth: infected beer will kill you if you drink it
 
weirdboy said:
Your 5 gallon batches must be bigger than everyone else's. There are 640 oz in 5 gallons. If you use 12oz bottles then the absolute most bottles you will need is 54, and that's leaving the last bottle 1/3 full. In my experience I usually end up with right around 2 cases when I bottle a batch. Bottles cost me nothing because I either save them from when I drink commercial beer and/or have my friends save me their bottles. It doesn't take much saving before you have way more bottles than you can reasonably keep around. If you want a free lifetime supply of bottles, go volunteer to steward or judge in a homebrew competition. They always end up with hundreds of empty bottles at the end of the competition and are usually more than happy to give them away.
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A gallon is bigger in Canada. An imperial (non-US) Gallon is used by the rest of the world, a 5 Gallon batch will come out to about 66 beer...likely closer 60ish once bottled.
 
DenisLemieux said:
A gallon is bigger in Canada. An imperial (non-US) Gallon is used by the rest of the world, a 5 Gallon batch will come out to about 66 beer...likely closer 60ish once bottled.
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Is Canadian brewing equipment all scaled up to imperial gallons as well? How about the recipes? I ask because I don't think any of the brew kettles, for example, are imperial-based, and I'd have to imagine they use the same buckets and carboys in Canada that we do here in the US. And I haven't seen a lot of threads about scaling recipes to Canadian gallons.
 
weirdboy said:
Is Canadian brewing equipment all scaled up to imperial gallons as well? How about the recipes? I ask because I don't think any of the brew kettles, for example, are imperial-based, and I'd have to imagine they use the same buckets and carboys in Canada that we do here in the US. And I haven't seen a lot of threads about scaling recipes to Canadian gallons.
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I am just starting out, so this has been a difficult process for me distinguishing between American and Canadian recipes and equipment. The Fermenting buckets I have seen are all listed in Liters (23L being 5 Gallons, as opposed to 18.9L being 5 US Gallons). Recipe kits from OntarioBeerKegs.com are in Imperial gallons but I am not sure about other recipes, I think most people just scale on their own...or make a 5 Gallon US batch.
 
homebrewdad said:
I'm thinking of writing an article about homebrewing myths and boogeymen that need to go away. Please feel free to add to this list!

Subjects I have in mind:

Yeast autolysis (get your beer off the yeast cake ASAP)

Hot side aeration

Avoid table sugar or drink cidery beer

Filter every spec of hop material from your kettle or you'll have grassbeer


Give me more!
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Hot Side Aeration is not a myth unfortunately.....
 
Totes said:
Myth: Your wife supports this hobby of yours


(Don't be fooled by the 2L erlenmeyer for X-mas or the gift certificate to LHBS for your last birthday. It's a front, she's the anti-ninkasi.)
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I've found out that my wife has turned my "but brewing my own beer saves us money" argument against me. Now she says she needs to buy nicer clothes because they will "last longer" and save us money.
 
Myth: Almost everything ever written about water chemistry. ie. Guinness is dark because Dublin water hard. Pilsners are pale because Pilsen water is soft.
Myth: Almost everything every written about beer history: ie. Strong Scotch Ale is an historic style of beer
 
gbx said:
Myth: Almost everything ever written about water chemistry. ie. Guinness is dark because Dublin water hard. Pilsners are pale because Pilsen water is soft.
Myth: Almost everything every written about beer history: ie. Strong Scotch Ale is an historic style of beer
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I remember trying to write on my first post. Lol JK
 
gbx said:
Myth: That I shouldn't bother proof reading my posts before clicking "submit"
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Lol I am literally laughing out loud right now haha haha I love home brewer since of humor haha
 
Why wouldn't someone sanitize bottle caps? It takes 10 seconds to put a small amount of sanitize in a bowl and keep your caps in their while you fill the bottles. That's almost less effort than farting.
 
BigJack said:
Why wouldn't someone sanitize bottle caps? It takes 10 seconds to put a small amount of sanitize in a bowl and keep your caps in their while you fill the bottles. That's almost less effort than farting.
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Yeah, I couldn't understand this one, either.
 
homebrewdad said:
Tow-may-tow, tow-mah-tow. For homebrewing, I count these as myths; the risk level is neglible for the typical home brewer. They certainly should not be the boogeyman that get thrown around.

But hey, every article I write has an opinion slant to it - I don't pretend otherwise. Feel free to write me off as a crackpot. ;)
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OK!, thanks........
 
BigJack said:
Why wouldn't someone sanitize bottle caps? It takes 10 seconds to put a small amount of sanitize in a bowl and keep your caps in their while you fill the bottles. That's almost less effort than farting.
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Literally laughed...out loud...just can't bring myself to put LOL into a conversation with intelligent folks, even via the interwebs! Thanks for the chuckle, I needed that! And I agree wholeheartedly.
 
Walking_Target said:
True Belgian candi syrup is a product of beet sugar being caramelized and depending on who you talk to, inverted; though inversion is a key part of the process and does not need to be done separately.

Now, you can't make "Belgian" candi sugar at home, unless your home happens to be in Belgium.

The two big points, it needs to be beet sugar in the eyes of most purists, and it needs to be cooked in one go, no inverting, then storing, then cooking it to consistency.

For all that, i'd rather buy the stuff at $6 a pound from OBK.
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So what are the chances the stuff we can buy at lhbs or NB or whatever is actually true Belgian candi sugar in that case?
 
unionrdr said:
Not that many out of all those that can afford kegging equipment. Most buy kegs,etc so they don't have to bulk prime & wait. And if you prime in a keg with sugar solution,as I said before,it's no better than bulk priming in those plastic barrel things common in the UK. As the beer empties out,co2 comes out of the beer to equalize the pressure in the empty head space. Leaving increasing flatter beer due to the increasing empty head space.
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Yea I get all that.
I didn't say how many I just said people do it.
Right now I am doing it because I have two kegs on gas in my fridge, and I can't fit another.
You can prime with sugar and the push with CO2 and the beer will be fine.
 
hunter_la5 said:
On YouTube, every conversation inevitably devolves into some sort of racial diatribe involving Hitler.

On HomeBrewTalk, every conversation inevitably devolves into a surprisingly tedious and increasingly irrelevant economics debate. :p
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Excuse me while I find my monacle.
 
ThaBrewFather06 said:
You can defiantly save money. I can make 5 gallons of IPA for 50-60$ and it costs 100$ if I buy it in the grocery store. I make extract batches so far but you save even more if you do all grain. The equipment is the only other thing that costs money but its a one time expense. What am I missing here?
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yeah must agree with this wholeheartedly. canada has crazy beer prices set by the government, i was getting quality beer for 1/4th to 1/6th the price of the store depending on the style. i keep my setup simple and make great beer at a good price.
 
fredthecat said:
yeah must agree with this wholeheartedly. canada has crazy beer prices set by the government, i was getting quality beer for 1/4th to 1/6th the price of the store depending on the style. i keep my setup simple and make great beer at a good price.
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I'm going to die from cirrhosis of the liver by the time I "save" enough money drinking homebrew to pay for all my equipment. Or maybe I can just live to be 236? But then I wouldn't be able to lift my carboys...
 

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