Einstein's Theory of Relativity as Applied to Homebrewing

[hiphops]

I was reading about Einstein's theory of relativity and, during the process, I started thinking about homebrewing. More specifically, I started thinking about why I can get so obsessed with trying to get a beer with a real high OG in an attempt to get as much alcohol in the beer. So far (I'm still new to the process), I've noticed that, when I start off with a high OG, the FG is not as low as when I start off with a lower OG. As a result, in the end, I generally get the same alcohol content in the beer. For instance, a beer with an OG of 1.060 and a FG of 1.020 is the same as a beer with an OG of 1.050 and a FG of 1.010 (both are 5.25%). Does this seem right? Yeah, I do need to RDWHAHB!!!

 

[Chenslee]

I thought this was going to be about pipeline. Light emitted from the sun doesn't get to Earth for 8 minutes, but since nothing travels faster than light it might as well be happening now. It's all dependent on your relative time frame.

The beer I brewed doesn't reach my mouth for 4 weeks, but since all beer has to ferment it might as well just appear in my kegerator. If I stop brewing, my mouth won't know for 4 weeks.

 

[hiphops]

Yeah, I didn't really understand that whole theory of relativity thing. Hence, my mind wandering off into something more relevant in my life (i.e., brewing and relative gravity levels)

 

[BigB]

It is a factor of the fermentability of the sugars in the wort, the attenuative ability of the yeast, the viability of the yeast, temperature, and a few other things I know I am forgetting. Now you can get a beer to attenuate further by mashing at lower temps, or using a more attenuative yeast (like some Belgian strains), adding simple sugars like dextrose a couple days into primary, or even how you manipulate the ferementation temp throughout the primary fermentation.

 

[BigB]

Or since you are an attorney, I will put it this way... It is similar to sentencing guidlines. If your defendant commits a 1 year misdemeanor and is a first time offender, he will likely get 30 days in jail. Now your other defendant committed a 93 day misdemeanor and has 2 priors, he will also likely get 30 days- change one of the factors like the severity of the offense, number of priors, etc, you will get different results.

 

[hiphops]

That's a great way of putting it, BigB. I guess with all newbies in anything, you want answers that are simple. Although I am still new, maybe not a newbie, I am starting to get more and more the nuances and complexities involved in homebrewing. Which all brings me to how a guy I was prosecuting got life for possessing a loaded gun. He had three prior violent felonies, was on lifetime parole while he was caught with a loaded gun and was only out a few months after serving 18 years on a gunpoint robbery.

 

[BigB]

Although I do a lot of criminal defense work, that guy sounds exactly like the type of idiot that should be locked up... He is obviously a violent person and has no business having a weapon because his only purpose in having one is to either defend himself from all the people he pisses off on a daily basis, or two, to commit another violent act.