There are quite a few threads on here that discuss HSA and whether or not it is an issue on the home-brew scale. I just wanted to put this out there for all of those who are worried about post-boil HSA.
I take great care to not splash my wort too much pre-boil so I can't speak about pre-boil HSA because I've never introduced much air into my wort pre-boil. I can say this, however: I think post-boil HSA is B.S. and if you are worried about it you are wasting your time.
When I made my last brew, a Northern English Brown Ale, I had somewhere important to be on brew day and, because of an airlock that I accidentally smashed in the morning as well as a couple of other unforeseen events, I got behind by about an hour and half. I was only able to cool my wort down to about 95 degrees before starting the aeration process.
I considered not aerating at all due to the temperature being above the suggested 80 degree threshold, but I decided to gamble and do it anyways. I aerate my wort by siphoning it, one half gallon at a time, into a sanitized milk jug and then shaking the living daylights out of it for 10 seconds or so, and then pouring it through a funnel into my carboy. Each half-gallon portion ends up with a thick, foamy head due to the vigorous shaking. By the time I had aerated all 5 gallons, the wort was down to about 76 degrees, at which point I pitched the yeast, popped in my airlock, taped my temperature probe to the side, stuck it in my fermentation freezer and left for my appointment.
Long story short, I just cracked open the first bottle and, after two weeks in the bottle, it is an excellent English Brown Ale that I don't mind saying, arrogantly, beats the living sh%# out of Newcastle and has no off-flavors whatsoever.
Maybe after a couple of months some off-flavors will show up but I doubt it (I'll keep you updated). I listened to a couple of Basic Brewing podcasts where some home brewers in Austin tried to oxidize their beer and the final result of the taste test was that there was no significant difference in flavor from the beer that had been hot-side aerated post-boil to the beer that had not been hot-side aerated at all. They did mention that the beer that had been hot-side aerated post-boil had a bit more of a fruity character but they actually preferred it to the control that had not been hot-side aerated at all.
I should mention that they did notice very undesirable off-flavors from the beer that had been hot-side aerated pre-boil and post-boil but this thread is about post-boil HSA which, based on my experience and the experience of the home brewers in Austin, is nothing more than an unnecessary source of worry and stress for home brewers.
Of course, I will always cool my wort to pitching temperature before aerating whenever I can. I am not advocating post-boil HSA because it is possible that I just got lucky. The purpose of this thread is to help any home brewers who are worried about post-boil HSA to sleep better at night!
For those interested in the topic of HSA, this interview with Dr. Charles Bamforth is a MUST. If you don't feel like sitting for an hour and a half to listen to it, I'll sum it up for you.
Dr. Bamforth basically says that, while HSA can and will cause your beer to go stale faster, there are much easier and better solutions to the problem. He agrees that you should use common sense when brewing and not intentionally introduce oxygen to the wort until right before you pitch, but any extreme measures to avoid it don't make much sense. The best thing you can do to prevent staling and degradation of the flavor of your beer is to KEEP IT COLD! He states that, for every 10 degree (Celsius) rise in temperature, your beer will go stale 2 - 3 times faster. A beer stored at 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) that maintains it's flavor profile (doesn't go stale) for 3 months would go stale in just 1 month at 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). On the other hand, if you were to store that beer at 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) it would maintain it's flavor profile for 6 months. Keep it at 0 degrees Celsius and it will last for 1 year.
Basically, you can take all the care in the world to prevent HSA but if you don't store your beer cold, it's going to go stale relatively quickly anyways. What I took away from the interview with Dr. Bamforth is this: if you're really concerned about the effects of HSA on one of your brews, just wait until it's bottled and carbed and then stick it in the fridge. It will stay fresher that way for a much longer period of time than your beer that wasn't hot-side aerated and stored at room temperature.
I take great care to not splash my wort too much pre-boil so I can't speak about pre-boil HSA because I've never introduced much air into my wort pre-boil. I can say this, however: I think post-boil HSA is B.S. and if you are worried about it you are wasting your time.
When I made my last brew, a Northern English Brown Ale, I had somewhere important to be on brew day and, because of an airlock that I accidentally smashed in the morning as well as a couple of other unforeseen events, I got behind by about an hour and half. I was only able to cool my wort down to about 95 degrees before starting the aeration process.
I considered not aerating at all due to the temperature being above the suggested 80 degree threshold, but I decided to gamble and do it anyways. I aerate my wort by siphoning it, one half gallon at a time, into a sanitized milk jug and then shaking the living daylights out of it for 10 seconds or so, and then pouring it through a funnel into my carboy. Each half-gallon portion ends up with a thick, foamy head due to the vigorous shaking. By the time I had aerated all 5 gallons, the wort was down to about 76 degrees, at which point I pitched the yeast, popped in my airlock, taped my temperature probe to the side, stuck it in my fermentation freezer and left for my appointment.
Long story short, I just cracked open the first bottle and, after two weeks in the bottle, it is an excellent English Brown Ale that I don't mind saying, arrogantly, beats the living sh%# out of Newcastle and has no off-flavors whatsoever.
Maybe after a couple of months some off-flavors will show up but I doubt it (I'll keep you updated). I listened to a couple of Basic Brewing podcasts where some home brewers in Austin tried to oxidize their beer and the final result of the taste test was that there was no significant difference in flavor from the beer that had been hot-side aerated post-boil to the beer that had not been hot-side aerated at all. They did mention that the beer that had been hot-side aerated post-boil had a bit more of a fruity character but they actually preferred it to the control that had not been hot-side aerated at all.
I should mention that they did notice very undesirable off-flavors from the beer that had been hot-side aerated pre-boil and post-boil but this thread is about post-boil HSA which, based on my experience and the experience of the home brewers in Austin, is nothing more than an unnecessary source of worry and stress for home brewers.
Of course, I will always cool my wort to pitching temperature before aerating whenever I can. I am not advocating post-boil HSA because it is possible that I just got lucky. The purpose of this thread is to help any home brewers who are worried about post-boil HSA to sleep better at night!
For those interested in the topic of HSA, this interview with Dr. Charles Bamforth is a MUST. If you don't feel like sitting for an hour and a half to listen to it, I'll sum it up for you.
Dr. Bamforth basically says that, while HSA can and will cause your beer to go stale faster, there are much easier and better solutions to the problem. He agrees that you should use common sense when brewing and not intentionally introduce oxygen to the wort until right before you pitch, but any extreme measures to avoid it don't make much sense. The best thing you can do to prevent staling and degradation of the flavor of your beer is to KEEP IT COLD! He states that, for every 10 degree (Celsius) rise in temperature, your beer will go stale 2 - 3 times faster. A beer stored at 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) that maintains it's flavor profile (doesn't go stale) for 3 months would go stale in just 1 month at 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). On the other hand, if you were to store that beer at 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) it would maintain it's flavor profile for 6 months. Keep it at 0 degrees Celsius and it will last for 1 year.
Basically, you can take all the care in the world to prevent HSA but if you don't store your beer cold, it's going to go stale relatively quickly anyways. What I took away from the interview with Dr. Bamforth is this: if you're really concerned about the effects of HSA on one of your brews, just wait until it's bottled and carbed and then stick it in the fridge. It will stay fresher that way for a much longer period of time than your beer that wasn't hot-side aerated and stored at room temperature.
My BK nozzle and CFC clogged immediately. I knew I'd need to filter out the hops to get it to work, so after I moved it to the HLT (with a lot of splashing), I backflushed the CFC and chilled as normal.
