Homebrewing myths that need to die

[StMarcos]

High-end champagnes often have a very pronounced autolysis character, as do some (usually French) still chardonnay wines. I use these examples when I'm probing for autolysis in beer. It doesn't seem soy-sauce-ish at all to me, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if it did if the autolysis was over-the-top. I've definitely gotten soy-sauce character in microbrews that are experimenting with pushing the abv limits... for whatever reason.

 

[keggert]

HSA is not a myth. Happened to a batch i made. Mind you when I tasted it in the beer I knew exactly what went wrong. Don't aggressively stir your wort while it is still above 80 degrees when you are trying to cool it in the ice bath.

 

[MalFet]

It doesn't seem soy-sauce-ish at all to me, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if it did if the autolysis was over-the-top. I've definitely gotten soy-sauce character in microbrews that are experimenting with pushing the abv limits... for whatever reason.

I suspect what I'm tasting are glutamates, which have a salty-savory taste and a distinctive mouth feel. I had a Tripel once that got really hot while being stored improperly, and my wife swore it tasted like ox-tail soup. Certainly wine critics will complain about champagnes being "brothy" if the autolysis on lees goes too far.

 

[CityOChampBrew]

+1 on the brewing your own beer is cheaper, The LHBS has a sign up that says brew your own and save money, I chuckle every time I walk in.

This would be true if:

A.) brewers didn't become "gadget whores"
B.) brewing beer leads to drinking more beer
C.) brewing leads to experimentation which leads to expensive batches

 

[midfielder5]

I agree. One thing I've noticed is that unless you have a an extremely tuned/trained palate, or have your beer torn apart (errrr....critiqued) by a national ranked judged, I really despise the typical "[insert HSA, tannins, phenols, autolysis, oxidation, etc.] is a myth because I don't taste it and my friends love my beer" posts.

It's had tannins, autolysis, oxidation, HSA, etc. noted by judges during various competitions.

+1
I have definitely tasted autolysis in my beer, when it sat on yeast for 6 or 8 weeks. It was nasty. I got busy and forgot about it.
I will agree it should generally not occur the minute after FG is achieved- and the crappy kit instructions that say otherwise are faulty and tell newbies to rush a beer off yeast.

 

[jeffjm]

I've seen my own beers stale way too quickly, and the only reason I can think of is HSA. It was batch where I partigyled and blended the runnings to make an ESB and a special bitter, like Fuller's. There was quite a bit of splashing when I did the blending. The ESB made the NHC finals...and tasted like cardboard a few weeks later.

 

[mattd2]

All homebrewers agree on the best practices to follow when brewing your own.

If you ask 10 homebrewers how to do something, you will get 11 answers!

.Repeating "new wisdom" over and over without a scientific basis doesn't make it fact.

It makes it "old wisdom"

...Of course, many will answer that they brew on their off time when they wouldn't be making anything anyways. This does not mean the time brewing is not an expense. It simply means that on non-brewing days off you spend the time (=money) on recreation or other activities.

What you are missing is that most people on here would consider homebrewing is a recreation activity

 

[nukebrewer]

What you are missing is that most people on here would consider homebrewing is a recreation activity

I don't think that's the point being made. In economics there is a term called "opportunity cost" and it refers to what you give up doing in order to do something else. For example let's say you have the choice between brewing and going to the beach. If you decide to brew the opportunity cost is going to the beach.

 

[Leadgolem]

If you ask 10 homebrewers how to do something, you will get 11 answers!...

Exactly.

 

[mattd2]

I don't think that's the point being made. In economics there is a term called "opportunity cost" and it refers to what you give up doing in order to do something else. For example let's say you have the choice between brewing and going to the beach. If you decide to brew the opportunity cost is going to the beach.

Correct. But when people say that you should take into account your hourly wage when determining the cost of your homebrew it implies that the opportunity cost of homebrewing is paid work. I would assume most people brew in their time off and do not take annual leave to brew so the opportunity cost of brewing is not paid work (at least for me - if there is no extra work to do then my employer won't pay me for any hours more than 40 a week) and therefore you should not factor your time into the cost of your beer.

 

[nukebrewer]

Correct. But when people say that you should take into account your hourly wage when determining the cost of your homebrew it implies that the opportunity cost of homebrewing is paid work. I would assume most people brew in their time off and do not take annual leave to brew so the opportunity cost of brewing is not paid work (at least for me - if there is no extra work to do then my employer won't pay me for any hours more than 40 a week) and therefore you should not factor your time into the cost of your beer.

I'll agree with that to an extent. In some jobs, not mine (though I do work with some folks who have a job like this), you can opt to work over time if it's available. So if over time is available and you opt to brew then you do need to factor in your wage. It all depends on your particular economic situation.

 

[woknblues]

Myth: Non brewing related threads don't inevitably turn into pi$$ing matches. Every time.

 

[MalFet]

I'll agree with that to an extent. In some jobs, not mine (though I do work with some folks who have a job like this), you can opt to work over time if it's available. So if over time is available and you opt to brew then you do need to factor in your wage. It all depends on your particular economic situation.

Properly speaking, you'd then have to quantify in dollar terms and factor in the pleasure value of brewing and the displeasure costs of working, too.

...but who the #@$! wants to live like that?

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Properly speaking, you'd then have to quantify in dollar terms and factor in the pleasure value of brewing and the displeasure costs of working, too.

...but who the #@$! wants to live like that?

Prost!

 

[TANSTAAFB]

I brew because I enjoy it. Damn we are an opinionated and somewhat pissy bunch! What other myths can we come up with? And should we redefine myths as " bogeymen (or bogey women) and things that get too much negative hype in the homebrew world?"

Current autolysis experiment... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/what-conditions-cause-autolysis-yeast-death-rupture-398024/

 

[Brewsader1]

I use to do BIAB all grain batches and I would squeeze the bag like it owed me money and never had a tannin problem.

Ah gotcha, glad I am AG now and don't have to worry about figuring out what was wrong! Haha

 

[homebrewdad]

I brew because I enjoy it. Damn we are an opinionated and somewhat pissy bunch! What other myths can we come up with? And should we redefine myths as " bogeymen (or bogey women) and things that get too much negative hype in the homebrew world?"

You're hitting exactly what I'm getting at. I'm not looking for legalistic definitions of "myths", but of the boogeymen that get people worried for no real reason.

 

[amandabab]

I don't think that's the point being made. In economics there is a term called "opportunity cost" and it refers to what you give up doing in order to do something else. For example let's say you have the choice between brewing and going to the beach. If you decide to brew the opportunity cost is going to the beach.

No it means I decided to stay home and have fun instead if sitting on a gritty coastal area fighting a seagull for my sandwich and wondering why the hell there is ice and food in the unfinished mash tun.

 

[Dynachrome]

No it means I decided to stay home and have fun instead if sitting on a gritty coastal area fighting a seagull for my sandwich and wondering why the hell there is ice and food in the unfinished mash tun.

Such insight!

 

[homebrewdad]

... and wondering why the hell there is ice and food in the unfinished mash tun.

Okay. I was going to roll my eyes at "yet another economics post", but this line got me. Bravo.

 

[nukebrewer]

Properly speaking, you'd then have to quantify in dollar terms and factor in the pleasure value of brewing and the displeasure costs of working, too.

...but who the #@$! wants to live like that?

As long as you're willing to, at a minimum, work enough to make enough to continue to brew then the displeasure and pleasure cancel each other out in the long term. Any work done beyond the minimum needed to continue brewing irrelevant to the opportunity cost of brewing and shouldn't be factored in.

I do agree, though, that no one really wants to live like that. I personally have never really given it any conscious thought, but once something like that gets in my head I overanalyze the crap out of it, whether I want to or not.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

As long as you're willing to, at a minimum, work enough to make enough to continue to brew then the displeasure and pleasure cancel each other out in the long term. Any work done beyond the minimum needed to continue brewing irrelevant to the opportunity cost of brewing and shouldn't be factored in.

I do agree, though, that no one really wants to live like that. I personally have never really given it any conscious thought, but once something like that gets in my head I overanalyze the crap out of it, whether I want to or not.

I'm currently pissed that I'm now trying to calculated my displeasure cost of reading these economic debate posts...can I send you lot a bill for my time???

 

[nukebrewer]

I'm currently pissed that I'm now trying to calculated my displeasure cost of reading these economic debate posts...can I send you lot a bill for my time???

Sure, send me a bill for 10,000 units of pleasure. If you don't want to read it don't read it. I know we got off topic and for that I apologize, but no one forced you to read the posts to which you are referring.

P.S. Don't try an trick me. I checked and the exchange for 1 unit of pleasure is $0.000000000001 USD

 

[Brewcrew02]

To the money saving "myth"... This cannot be proved true or false 100% in every case. Everyone has different amounts of money they will or will not spend.

What it all comes down to for me?

When brewing my own beer, I become infinitely richer than the man who cannot do so and has to buy his own. I don't save money, but I have so much more to show for it than money is worth.

 

[Brewcrew02]

And lastly, almost all of these are not myths. They can be proved to have happened somewhere, sometime. A myth has to be 100% disproved. We can all argue back and forth but prove nothing. If it can be argued to the extent that we all do on here, I feel it cannot be proven 100% true or false.

But I do believe the "squeezing your grains=tannins" IS a myth, but cannot be proven 100% false, so officially just a misconception.

 

[amandabab]

I think tannin extraction from squeezing is more common with small bags of grain steeped in large amounts (of sometimes to hot) high PH water than it is with large grainbags mashed in controlled ph conditions.

 

[KVANTAN]

i just hit the threshold of not saving money anymore by home brewing. it was a nice thought starting out, but equipment upgrades always seem to happen. i've spent thousands on equipment and i don't even have a herms or rims. yet.

If you capitalize those costs and depreciate them you will be profitableipe:

 

[TastyWheat]

Had a guy at work find out I was a homebrewer and he legitimately believed that you need to brew it in a bathtub.

I can just imagine what the mental image of that was like...

 

[ricksam]

Myth: Making beer consists of only the glory of drinking and making beer. Truth: Which it would be if it were not for the damn cleanup afterwards.

 

[progmac]

myth - only white men brew beer
myth - it is impossible to reuse screw top bottles
myth - ordinary table sugar lends a cidery taste when used to prime
myth - a hard stare will shatter a glass carboy