I'm done sweating the small stuff.

[greywolf]

Like most these ideas involving brewing , we obsess over the details. Its not that big of a deal. I like the simpicity of serving out of the same keg. A floating dip tube helps with that. Lots of ways work. Catching some of the co2 in the keg is just a bonus. Brewing was done 5000 years ago and thats probably 4500 years before anyone thought yeast existed. In stone fermenters. I'm done sweating over the small stuff. All I have to do is stay out of the way, and drink the rewards.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

If brewing was done 5000 years ago, that'd be about 4850 years before anyone thought yeast existed! (sorry, I'm being pedantic).

That's the beauty of homebrewing - decide which details to obsess over, and which ones not to, to make beer that you enjoy drinking. Like you, I enjoy beer straight out of the spunded keg it's fermented in - which is simple to do. Others might find that an obsessive detail (fermenting in a keg with a spunding valve). If we want to make things simple, we could go to the methods of 5000 years ago - mix up some bread dough, bake it for 10 minutes or so (half baked), mix it with water, leave it for a few weeks then sit around with straws drinking the liquid.....simple! I bet it'd taste awful.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Curious, why is consuming the beer right from the spunded keg better than fermenting in a conical, using CO2 to push the beer to the keg, and then consuming from there?

Or are you saying you just prefer to do it this way, not that it's better?

 

[greywolf]

It may not be better, just the way I'm doing it right now. I like the results. Do it how you like it. I was just bemused by the excessive worry brewers do when obsessing over the smallest details.

 

[LittleRiver]

...Brewing was done 5000 years ago....

Tests performed on large limestone vessels found at Gobekli Tepe indicate they were used for fermenting grain, about 11,000 years ago.

 

[BobBailey]

I think many people use the details to try and lay the blame for their $hit beer somewhere other than on themselves.

 

[TheMadKing]

I think many people use the details to try and lay the blame for their $hit beer somewhere other than on themselves.

Some people also feel that they've mastered the basics and make great beer but are still seeking to improve. The devil is in the details, and just like anything it takes a week to learn and lifetime to master.

It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You can make decent daily drinker beer but you will not make consistent world class beers if you ignore the details. Period.

 

[GnenieGone]

I'm a bit of believer that if you love what your doing why change? The beer process can be WAY overthought. Decent recipe, decent chemistey, good yeast count, fermentation temp control, and good sanitary procedures should make for a nice drinkable beer. I agree sir!

 

[BobBailey]

Some people also feel that they've mastered the basics and make great beer but are still seeking to improve. The devil is in the details, and just like anything it takes a week to learn and lifetime to master.

It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You can make decent daily drinker beer but you will not make consistent world class beers if you ignore the details. Period.

I agree with you 100%, but that doesn't detract from the validity of my statement.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I agree with you 100%, but that doesn't detract from the validity of my statement.

I disagree with you, respectfully of course. If people use shi**y processes when brewing, they're going to have shi**y beer. We know there are things like oxygen that cause a beer to go bad. If someone transfers from the fermenter to the keg WITHOUT closed transfer or transfer tube in the bottom of the keg and lets it splash in the keg from 4ft above the keg, they're going to have shi**y oxidized beer. Oxidation caused that beer to go bad. It's not just an excuse.

Unless im missing the point of your comment...

And yes, people may have made beer 5000 years ago. But, I'd be willing to bet that given the state of mankind at that point in time and what they knew about beer then, I'd bet that beer tasted pretty awful and beer was just a way to get drunk lol.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I think many people use the details to try and lay the blame for their $hit beer somewhere other than on themselves.

Actually i think i might get your comment now. Using my example from above "Oh man, my beer got oxidized. Not sure how that happened." vs "My process sucks and i oxidized my beer, now it's a dumper." That kind of what you mean?

 

[BobBailey]

Actually i think i might get your comment now. Using my example from above "Oh man, my beer got oxidized. Not sure how that happened." vs "My process sucks and i oxidized my beer, now it's a dumper." That kind of what you mean?

Yep. You got the point!

 

[Still Brewn]

And yes, people may have made beer 5000 years ago. But, I'd be willing to bet that given the state of mankind at that point in time and what they knew about beer then, I'd bet that beer tasted pretty awful and beer was just a way to get drunk lol.

5000 years ago beer was already a highly developed process and by your/our standards it may not have been that good. The problem with your statement is that by this time the Egyptians already had a number of gods dedicated to beer and the production of such. In addition to this the pharaohs of the time had their own brew masters and beer was part of the daily pay for government projects. Not only was beer served to everyone it was a necessity because at the time it was safer to drink than the water. The key point I'm trying to make with this is that you don't serve awful tasting beer to a living god as the pharaohs were thought to be. Beer of the time was of low alcohol content and there would have been a higher alcohol content in the wine being produced at the time if the object was to get drunk. I'm not saying they didn't drink beer to get drunk but beer was used like bottled water is today, to keep hydrated.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I'm not saying they didn't drink beer to get drunk but beer was used like bottled water is today, to keep hydrated.

Ah, but did they waste money on bottled beer when there was perfectly good beer coming out of their faucets for free?

 

[Still Brewn]

Unfortunately their beer is probably safer than the water coming from many of the faucets in American citys. Hell, the polluted river water of the Nile river 4000+ years ago may have been better than municipal water in many places. You look at the crisis in Flint Michigan and unfortunately that town, of roughly 102,000, is only the tip of the iceburg. You hear conversations every once in a while about America's crumbling infrastructure, 150-300 year old lead pipes in a modern 21st century city is the very definition of crumbling. We are too busy giving law makers (breakers) raises and perks instead of taking care of the population that actually keeps this country running. Something to ponder..... https://www.scientificamerican.com/...-afflicted-with-lead-poisoning-beyond-flints/

And finally you can test your own water for well under the $50 it use to cost.
https://www.fastcompany.com/4043949...d-a-cheap-test-kit-for-lead-in-drinking-water

I'm not sure if the test is on the market yet but someone at 3m was suppose to be working on the final product with the girl.
And if you think this is only a Flint problem you are very mistaken.... 70+ cities in Michigan alone and almost 4000 cities nationwide. That means that they are adding other chemicals to keep the lead from leaching into your water supply....

 

[GnenieGone]

 

[BobBailey]

Lead? My generation, as toddlers, played with wooden blocks made in several Asian countries. The paint on most was lead based. We also chewed on them as we did on most of our toys, likely colored with lead based paint as well. At 70, I'm not dead from lead poisoning yet and all of the soft metals in my blood draws test at the lower end of normal levels.

In our pre-teens, myself and many of my friends also collected jars full of what we called quicksilver, an amalgam heavily laden with mercury. None that I know of have expired due to that exposure either.

While I do believe in the validity of health hazard warnings, I strongly disagree with levels they cite as being truly detrimental to our health. Like many others, scientists choose to err on the side of safety, but 2, 3, 4 hundred, and quite often much higher percentages of truly hazardous levels are ridiculous.

Hopefully, some of the fatal effects will kick in before life becomes unbearable for my generation and all that follow.

 

[Moose_MI]

IT’S........JUST..........BEER

As long as you’re using liquid yeast it will be fine....

 

[BobBailey]

Really? Can you elaborate on that?

 

[Moose_MI]

Really? Can you elaborate on that?

Absolutely...

“E-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-E”
............................
......... .........
...... .....
......... “THAT” .......

There..I elaborated on “that”

Happy St. Patty’s day

 

[BobBailey]

My beers have greatly improves since I went back to using dry yeasts. Not sure that will help me live longer, but I do like the results

Top O' the evenin' to ya as well!

 

[day_trippr]

Wait - who gets blood tests about "soft metals"?

 

[FunkedOut]

Don’t sweat the petty stuff.
And don’t pet the sweaty stuff.

 

[Still Brewn]

At 70, I'm not dead

Hopefully, some of the fatal effects will kick in before life becomes unbearable for my generation and all that follow.

Lead doesn't kill you unless it is in extremely high amount or someone drops a lead brick on your head.... It makes ya stupid. And we really could use a smaller dose of stupid in this country.
You have a better chance of dying from alcohol poisoning than dying from something you stuck in your mouth 65 years ago.

 

[InspectorJon]

Lead doesn't kill you .... It makes ya stupid.

That could explain some of the posts I have seen on this board.

I have also learned a ton of good stuff.

 

[Home_alone1]

I agree to some extent but I don’t sacrifice my process.

My last beer, a Gose turned turns out is a berlinerwiess because I forgot the salt and coriander! No big deal.

I lucked into my perfect corn to pils ratio for my cream ale because I bought too much corn one time , no big deal !

Little mistakes I can live with , but the only time I accidentally aerated my beer and ruined a whole batch , that I will never do again!

I say mind the basics and get good at them , everything else will fall into place one way or another.

 

[BobBailey]

Wait - who gets blood tests about "soft metals"?

When you live in an area that mines soft metals and a neurologist orders them. Went in for a blood draw and they drew 16 tubes.

 

[kevin58]

If brewing was done 5000 years ago, that'd be about 4850 years before anyone thought yeast existed! (sorry, I'm being pedantic).

Pedantic and wrong. Brewers have known that yeast was necessary for fermentation for many centuries. They may not have known it was a living organism but they were acutely aware of it's importance and how to manipulate it to create their desired outcome.

 

[mscroggi]

Like most these ideas involving brewing , we obsess over the details. Its not that big of a deal. I like the simpicity of serving out of the same keg. A floating dip tube helps with that. Lots of ways work. Catching some of the co2 in the keg is just a bonus. Brewing was done 5000 years ago and thats probably 4500 years before anyone thought yeast existed. In stone fermenters. I'm done sweating over the small stuff. All I have to do is stay out of the way, and drink the rewards.

hahaa I get what you are saying.. I decided it is just too easy to over-think it. I have cut out a lot of steps in my brewing that I determined to be overkill. I built out a rapid co2 infusion gadget, it worked fine.. but soon I realized my beer needs to age in the keg to be really good anyway, so why am I forcing it to carbonate quickly? The beer is carbonated, but too young to be good. hahaa I don't use the gadget any more.. Over time I have determined what is important to making the beer I like, and have simplified my processes to match.. Of course.. it could be that I have a lousy palette and tend to like the beer whether it has been maticulously brewed, or thrown together with reckless abandon..

 

[NewJersey]

I'm goin opposite sorta. I've been out of brewing for a couple years (kids) and upon returning I have decided there is real value to taking better care of the beer during and post fermentation. spunding and closed transfers are two things that will be new to me and I feel will have the biggest impact.
I have upgraded from 3 vessel to single vessel full volume mashes in an eBIAB setup. Very excited to return and sweat ALL the stuff small and large!

 

[bobeer]

The good thing about this hobby is there's many ways to get good beer. I have found if you follow all the general best practices (sanitation, fermentation temp control, healthy sizable yeast pitch, oxidation control, etc) you should get a good beer. It's just up to what you as the brewer care about and what your taste buds dig and can even detect.

 

[GnenieGone]

^^^ +1 ^^^ Keep it simple