Yep.
I have seen, verbatim, by long time posters on this forum: "it is very difficult to oxidize your beer".
When we know that the opposite is true. Because the vast majority of homebrew- I dare say apart from a very small niche of seriously studied brewers (ie those who started LODO on the homebrew scale), prior to the NEIPA craze it was ALL homebrew- is oxidized already.
However, if it's not the worst case scenario of chewing on paper or sherry, people assumed it was normal and thus it took either a long time or a lot of abuse to reach the worst case they assume as "oxidized".
Basically if your beer is already oxidized, without major abuse it's hard to notice that you're oxidizing it more. To understand what oxidation does you need to know what it's like unoxidized.
When you have to open the lid to take a sample, it's basically impossible to avoid. But bad habits like cold crashing with an airlock at atmospheric pressure don't help.
Liked yours and other previous posts, by the way. Just offering a different perspective on limited home brewing process and experience.
I try my best to reduce oxygen intake in my biab / plastic pail (pale?) / bottle process. Its simply impossible without appropriate equipment. Simply lifting the pale - at bottling time - causes some pressure difference. Its enough to either blow through or draw air in through an S-lock. So i usually remove the air lock before moving fermentor, so air jjust gets in then.
I have two fermentors active right now. One is done. Im thinking on collecting co2 from the active one and ballooning the finished fermentor. So i could cold crash. Was also hoping to use gelatin to clear out beer. This means letting it cool down, opening the airlock balloon space to administer gelatin solution. You cant win.
Is clear beer worth it? Will i really taste the difference that bit of o2 ingress would make? How am i to know without investment in a closed system? Brulosophy? Lol
Hundreds of millions of people drink miller, bud and coors every single day. The argument that whatever beer homebrewers make, with 02 ingress, is inferior, simply doesnt hold true. While i am unable to do anything near LODO fermenting, many of my beers are far better than those already mentioned, and indeed, i find many bar proprietors, and also craft breweries, pay little heed to the condition of their pipes and delivery systems, and its entirely possible to have the same draft beer taste different from one place to the next, never mind my own beer tastes completely fresher than anything i buy in a bar.
Similarly, just because a brewery has invested tens of thousands and more in brewing equipment, and maintains stricter lodo process, doesnt guarantee good tasting ale. A local craft brewery close to me makes about 40 different beers. Among the standard fayre, they have also introduced a bunch of (what to me) sound more like beer cocktails, than actual beer, because they add fruits, and other spices, as if to be "cutting edge".
Having drank beer for over 40 years now, i cant help feeling the current trend towards "flavoured beer" to be the purview of those who simply dont really like ...... well, the taste of beer.
So, to hear anyone talk about how beer tastes, in todays world, whether BMC, LODO, craft brewed or home brewed, is all rather eye brow raising to me. My opinion is that there are a lot of shitty beers being sold, made with state of the art gear and process. With my limited home brewing hobby, i can make a pretty good version of the styles i like, and it tastes much better than most commercially available beers. Not always, but quite often. Even with my very limited home brewing procees.
As with beauty, taste is in the eye (mouth) of the beholder. I submit my beer might be better with better procss and controls, but my litmus test are those multitudes of beers in store coolers ad, at present, i am happier with my own beer, as our many of my drinking pals
