When and where were people put to death for heresy for not believing in a flat earth?
You may have caught me in a bad quote. Giordano Bruno was convicted of heresy in the Roman inqusition and burned at the stake for beleiving..get this... that the sun is actually just a star, one of many. Blasphemy!
A similar charge of heresy befell Gallileo Galilei.
You can question-troll me if you want, my simple point being the bandwagon always seems right until people reallize its wrong, generally through science. I guess its hard for a mob of people to beleive anything unless the science is shown to all, or a promminent brewer speaks his mind and people beleive him/her.
Woozy, you do also make a good point though, always question everything someone presents as fact, as you have shown me!
A very good response to the question of tannin extraction can be found on this page of Mr. Wizard, the second reply:
http://byo.com/stories/item/1264-preventing-beer-slime--reducing-tannins-but-not-flavor-mr-wizard
There is a scientific assay to measure tannins through a process with a spectrophotometer.. as per James F. Harbertson and Douglas O. Adams of UC DAVIS
http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/adams/tannin/feclass.pdf
And another nice paper expaining tannins from the Uni of Rome
http://www.aidic.it/icheap10/webpapers/410Capparucci.pdf
Finally, I would like to say this. I brewed a partial mash Hefeweizen a few months ago. I did a triple decoction, bringing the mash portion to a full boil. I also pressed the bag after removing it, tea-bagged it, and squeezed some more. Not a single hint of any astringency.. and that helps me to beleive that tannin extraction is more about PH in combination with high temps...as I had temps at 220F and no issues.