What are your contrarian/"unpopular" beer opinions?

[NoIguanaForZ]

Oh, wait, I've got one.

When I was chilling my beer earlier, a couple stray drops of water from things I was moving fell into the pot, one from near the sink while it was still well above 200, and one from the outer vessel I was using as a supplemental water bath when it was down around 130.

Should I be worried about the small splashes from those drops introducing enough oxygen to cause Hot Side Aeration and ruin my beer?

 

[Mainer]

And all of them spoiled.

*All* fermentation is controlled spoilage.

 

[CGVT]

*All* fermentation is controlled spoilage.

Could be, but not all fermentation caused beer to taste like ass

 

[soccerdad]

How do so many of you know what ass tastes like?

 

[jrgtr42]

Oh, wait, I've got one.

When I was chilling my beer earlier, a couple stray drops of water from things I was moving fell into the pot, one from near the sink while it was still well above 200, and one from the outer vessel I was using as a supplemental water bath when it was down around 130.

Should I be worried about the small splashes from those drops introducing enough oxygen to cause Hot Side Aeration and ruin my beer?

I'd be more worried about contamination. I think you need to dump the whole batch because of those couple drops, or finish it up and send to me for disposal.

 

[Mainer]

Could be, but not all fermentation caused beer to taste like ass

There's nothing better on cold rainy day than a rich, finely aged Flanders Red. It's a deliberately cultivated style that's older than IPAs, Baltic Porters, or California Commons.

My unpopular opinion is that you're allowed to be a dick about other people's preferences if you want, but it doesn't make you right.

 

[IPAndy]

You can make a sour out of anything. Seriously, I think it's still a largely untapped flavor profile that can truly explode the number of potential types of beers out there. Not all beers should be sours, but they can be.

 

[Mainer]

You can make a sour out of anything. Seriously, I think it's still a largely untapped flavor profile that can truly explode the number of potential types of beers out there. Not all beers should be sours, but they can be.

Yeah. I tend to like it with a Belgian or German profile. I even experimented with a sour lager last winter. It was... interesting.
I'm less convinced on sour stouts. I've had a few stellar ones, and a lot of lousy ones.

 

[CGVT]

There's nothing better on cold rainy day than a rich, finely aged Flanders Red. It's a deliberately cultivated style that's older than IPAs, Baltic Porters, or California Commons.

My unpopular opinion is that you're allowed to be a dick about other people's preferences if you want, but it doesn't make you right.

Looks as if my contrarian opinion struck a nerve

 

[CGVT]

How do so many of you know what ass tastes like?

I hear it's an acquired taste...

 

[Mainer]

Looks as if my contrarian opinion struck a nerve

Yeah, probably an overreaction. I'm brewing all sours this summer. Did a Flanders Red in June, just put up a sour Belgian blonde, and have a Berliner slated for next month.

I do enjoy drinking sours, but they take so much time and equipment maintenance I probably wouldn't bother, except that the missus is a big fan.

¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[roadkizzle]

You can make a sour out of anything. Seriously, I think it's still a largely untapped flavor profile that can truly explode the number of potential types of beers out there. Not all beers should be sours, but they can be.

Blue Owl Brewing in Austin, TX has this philosophy.

Their entire lineup is soured versions of regular beer styles.

 

[Bilsch]

Could be, but not all fermentation caused beer to taste like ass

Oh that's easy to fix.. just toss in an extra pound of hops or a little peanut butter and coffee etc. Voilà craft !

 

[brinson44]

Whatever happened to dank IPA's? Too much juice these days.

 

[Steveruch]

It is impossible to clone a commercial beer. Clone implies an exact copy which is not going to happen at home or even on a commercial level at a different brewery,
Something similar can be brewed, but you just aren't going to match a beer brewed in 10 barrel batches at home on a five gallon setup.
When I attempt to get close to a commercial beer I prefer to call it a ballpark beer.

 

[Mainer]

Whatever happened to dank IPA's? Too much juice these days.

I always wonder why New England makes all the juicy, tropical IPAs. Look at the damn weather here. We should be making Imperial Stouts and Barleywines.

I guess it's the same reason New England eats so much more ice cream per capita than the rest of the country. When your summers are this short, you have to do whatever you can to stretch them out.

 

[SpeedYellow]

My unpopular opinion: IPAs can never exceed mediocrity. The fact that AHA's recent 50 Best Beer survey is almost entirely IPAs makes me lose respect for AHA members.

I'll go back to my cave now.

 

[bleme]

I always wonder why New England makes all the juicy, tropical IPAs. Look at the damn weather here. We should be making Imperial Stouts and Barleywines.

I guess it's the same reason New England eats so much more ice cream per capita than the rest of the country. When your summers are this short, you have to do whatever you can to stretch them out.

I've wondered that also. While I enjoy dank, citrusy and/or tropical notes in an IPA, everything else about the NEIPA seems so contrived. It's like they combined a bunch of Brulosophy-type experiments to see how much they could change and still end up with beer.

Alaska eats more ice cream per capita than any other state. You need those extra calories to stay warm. When I lived in Fairbanks, I was burning through about 8000 calories a day but I didn't need a jacket to stay warm at -25F.

 

[triethylborane]

Pumpkin beer is disgusting.

 

[CGVT]

Pumpkin beer is disgusting.

Absolutely!

 

[Scturo]

Not sure how Unpopular Opinion: Bottle conditioning is bad for beer. Since moving to kegging I've seen a huge improvement in my beers. I always wondered why all my beers would taste and look good going into the bottle, and taste and look different in the glass. It may be my process was flawed, but I was just following the instructions that I found in books and online.

Eventually I started trying to brew NEIPAs, and the the changes after bottle conditioning became even more obvious. I received advice in the NEIPA thread and was told that kegging would be the answer.

After kegging my next four batches I am more convinced than ever that bottle conditioning is bad for beers, some more than others.

 

[Trail]

Pumpkin beer is disgusting.

The worst.

 

[Mainer]

Not sure how Unpopular Opinion: Bottle conditioning is bad for beer. Since moving to kegging I've seen a huge improvement in my beers. I always wondered why all my beers would taste and look good going into the bottle, and taste and look different in the glass. It may be my process was flawed, but I was just following the instructions that I found in books and online.

Eventually I started trying to brew NEIPAs, and the the changes after bottle conditioning became even more obvious. I received advice in the NEIPA thread and was told that kegging would be the answer.

After kegging my next four batches I am more convinced than ever that bottle conditioning is bad for beers, some more than others.

Depends what you're making. Lagers, porters, high abv, sours... I've had really good luck bottling those. IPAs... I've only done a couple, and they're far less good out of the bottle.

 

[schematix]

Not sure how Unpopular Opinion: Bottle conditioning is bad for beer.

I am more convinced than ever that bottle conditioning is bad for beers, some more than others.

Bottle conditioning itself is one of the best ways to package beer because the active yeast naturally reduce the oxygen. However, this process executed on a homebrew level is an oxygen inducing disaster.... bottling buckets, racking canes, unpurged bottles. It's no good.

On the commercial level bottles are vacuum purged multiple times, beer and actively fermenting yeast are filled from the bottom up, a thin stream of hot deoxygenated water is shot into the bottle, causing it to foam, and then a cap is placed onto the foam. This all happens within a few seconds.

Kegging alone reduces the atmospheric exposure time significantly, even better if its from a carboy with a cap and CO2 is used to push. Keg priming is also a fantastic technique. I've 100% converted all my styles to natural carbonation in the keg and i will never go back to force carbing.

 

[Trail]

After kegging my next four batches I am more convinced than ever that bottle conditioning is bad for beers, some more than others.

True for IPAs, probably. I find bottle conditioning to be markedly preferable for many of English beers... small bitters, porters, and so on.

 

[Scturo]

Bottle conditioning itself is one of the best ways to package beer because the active yeast naturally reduce the oxygen. However, this process executed on a homebrew level is an oxygen inducing disaster.... bottling buckets, racking canes, unpurged bottles. It's no good.

On the commercial level bottles are vacuum purged multiple times, beer and actively fermenting yeast are filled from the bottom up, a thin stream of hot deoxygenated water is shot into the bottle, causing it to foam, and then a cap is placed onto the foam. This all happens within a few seconds.

Kegging alone reduces the atmospheric exposure time significantly, even better if its from a carboy with a cap and CO2 is used to push. Keg priming is also a fantastic technique. I've 100% converted all my styles to natural carbonation in the keg and i will never go back to force carbing.

This definitely makes sense. I might try it with my current batch.

 

[ProblemChild]

Sorachi Ace should NEVER be used as the primary hop in anything over 15 IBU. It works as an accent, but completely sucks as a solo hop in an IPA.

 

[jmark]

Sorachi Ace should NEVER be used as the primary hop in anything over 15 IBU. It works as an accent, but completely sucks as a solo hop in an IPA.

Didn't work for me as an accent either... bought a pound of the stuff and about 14 oz of it is just going to sit there now... smells and tastes completely of dill... no lemon accent at all

 

[bleme]

Sorachi Ace should NEVER be used as the primary hop in anything over 15 IBU. It works as an accent, but completely sucks as a solo hop in an IPA.

I saw it used in a Gose at a beerfest. Everyone who tried it said it taste like dill pickle juice.

 

[triethylborane]

cheese flavored beer?

 

[ProblemChild]

cheese flavored beer?

Like oyster jelly

 

[bleme]

cheese flavored beer?

I did try both cheese beers. You had to really stretch to imagine any Gouda in the Porter but the Blue Cheese IPA was surprisingly good. It was a bit of an epiphany to realize that I've tasted that Blue Cheese musk in IPA's before and just never connected the dots.

It's probably not contrarian but I'll never understand hibiscus in beer. I've tried 2 of them and that is 2 too many.

 

[CasB]

Using Irish moss and gelatin is stupid. Just wait for a couple days more and the beer will be clear.
What's the rush anyway? Beer tastes better after a few weeks anyway.

Kegging is 'cheating'. Get carbonation from priming sugar (or whatever method) seems more logical to me. You can't have more CO2 than there is readily available by creating fermentables.

Breweries should brew what _they_ like, not what's in fashion. I'd rather brew a quad that a few people like than a IPA that everybody thinks is 'drinkable'.

As a brewery, don't brew beer with all sorts of strange ingredients like shown above. Just make 3 or 4 excellent 'simple' beers (blond, ipa, tripel, amber, whatever) and just a couple with weird ingredients. Cheese in beer? No thank you...

 

[archthered]

You can't do better than Red Dog when it comes to cheap mass produced fizzy yellow water

It's easy to make an IPA

Hop Juice is cheating

 

[Bilsch]

I saw it used in a Gose at a beerfest. Everyone who tried it said it taste like dill pickle juice.

Oh my... if those were my choices, I'd have the water.
Just sayin.

 

[Bilsch]

cheese flavored beer?

I'm from Wisconsin and that even makes me shudder.

BTW.. I like your name. Triethylborane is fun to play with and makes a really beautiful emerald flame mixed with a bit of CH2Cl2.

 

[ericbw]

Depends what you're making. Lagers, porters, high abv, sours... I've had really good luck bottling those. IPAs... I've only done a couple, and they're far less good out of the bottle.

Because IPAs are... less good.

 

[triethylborane]

I'm from Wisconsin and that even makes me shudder.

BTY.. I like your name. Triethylborane is fun to play with and makes a really beautiful emerald flame mixed with a bit of CH2Cl2.

Thanks, cool you know what it is. Ive never had the chance to really do much with it, but it has some interesting properties.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

We should be making Imperial Stouts and Barleywines.

Well, yes, but you say that as though there's anyone who shouldn't.

I guess it's the same reason New England eats so much more ice cream per capita than the rest of the country. When your summers are this short, you have to do whatever you can to stretch them out.

And high ABV beers are the way to make a short time seem *longer*?

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

i did try both cheese beers. You had to really stretch to imagine any gouda in the porter but the blue cheese ipa was surprisingly good. It was a bit of an epiphany to realize that i've tasted that blue cheese musk in ipa's before and just never connected the dots..

OMFG LINK????

[EDIT]....DErP[/EDIT]