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Author Topic: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths  (Read 30733 times)

Offline majorvices

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narvin

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #121 on: February 10, 2013, 10:19:54 am »
Dinner doesn't take me 8!hours of constant monitoring followed by several week of babysitting. Items at the grocery store are also competitively priced and not marked up at a hobby shop scale.

In fact, I can make dinner at home in less than the amount of time it takes me to drive to a restaurant , get seated, and drive home!

Sorry, don't buy it.  Don't you have delivery down in the bayou?  That takes no time at all.

8 hours is for 10 gallons, not one dinner.  Beer ingredients don't go bad in a week, either.  On the other hand, going to the grocery store or farmers market bi-weekly to keep fresh food around takes time.  And the prices for bulk grain and hops are comparable to Costco food prices.

 I don't even have cell phone service or cable let alone delivery. Dont live in the bayou, live on the Cumberland plateau.

I sure hope you are coming to NHC this year. We need to arm wrestle!

I'll be there. 
I call FTW now!

Offline majorvices

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The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #122 on: February 10, 2013, 10:34:00 am »
Well, guess I need to start doing some push ups! :)

Offline bluesman

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #123 on: February 10, 2013, 09:09:17 pm »
Well, guess I need to start doing some push ups! :)

...and don't forget the YH when you come up for NHC. I'll ref the arm wrestling match for a YH.  ;)
Ron Price

Offline brewsumore

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #124 on: February 18, 2013, 09:05:53 pm »
I added a couple thoughts as a comment to Michael's article:

Good points Michael!  I thought of a few other myths, or at least untenable assumptions:

Brewhouse efficiency via fly sparging cannot be matched via batch sparging. (with good mash pH management and other BMPs, batch sparging can yield excellent efficiency)

No break material should be carried over from kettle to fermenter. (a little break material actually helps the fermentation)

pH strips are not accurate enough for beer making. (some are accurate enough, i.e. plastic ones, especially ColorpHast +.3 to test pH of the mash, sparge, pre-boil, etc.)

High alpha hops are not good candidates for dry hopping. (nonsense, as seen with amarillo, columbus, citra, etc.)

The best beers utilize water adjustment profiles based on famous brewing city water profiles. (not true, since those profiles were often manipulated by the breweries there and so should not always be seen as the starting point for building your water profile)

Offline dogugotw

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #125 on: March 23, 2013, 06:47:33 pm »
I was on a aircraft carrier a couple of years back (fun, not working) and noticed that they had squeeze bottles of mayo that never left the mess tables.  The bottles also had on 'refrigerate after opening' warning.
I contacted the manufacturer and it turns out that mayo, clean mayo, won't spoil; the pH is too low.  You get into problems if you add anything to the mayo, then the pH goes up and things will grow.

The 'refrigerate after opening' message really has to do with the taste and texture of the product rather than spoilage.

Who knew?

I still find myself buying mayonnaise. My mustard doesn't go bad but am scared to make and keep mayonnaise for fear of it going off. But, there doesn't seem to be any preservatives in my Duke's mayo and it keeps as good as my mustard.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #126 on: March 23, 2013, 06:59:46 pm »
I add hotdogs to my beer but no mayo or mustard. Call me a minimalist. ..

Biggest myth discovered so far is that you can "save" anything by spending money on a hobby. They don't deposit that money into your bank and the time doesn't get added to your lifespan.  However,  it's a proven fact that I think draft tastes better than bottles

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Offline kgs

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #127 on: March 23, 2013, 08:42:39 pm »
How about the big one? Home brewing saves money.

This needs moderated before our wives/girlfriends see it!  :)

As a lady homebrewer, I can attest homebrewing saves money. Not on making beer... but I am not even that interested in clothing and somehow a trip to the mall results in several blouses for work, new socks, etc. The time invested in researching recipes, shopping for ingredients, brewing, and bottling coopts shopping time, and means that I wear my work duds until I am totally sick of them.  So there you go!
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Offline euge

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #128 on: March 24, 2013, 03:36:47 pm »
I'm far down the slope of amortization for my equipment purchases. However, I'm not that disciplined of a brewer to keep up a schedule- which is where the savings come in IMO.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

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Offline Jimmy K

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #129 on: March 25, 2013, 07:32:28 am »
I was on a aircraft carrier a couple of years back (fun, not working) and noticed that they had squeeze bottles of mayo that never left the mess tables.  The bottles also had on 'refrigerate after opening' warning.
I contacted the manufacturer and it turns out that mayo, clean mayo, won't spoil; the pH is too low.  You get into problems if you add anything to the mayo, then the pH goes up and things will grow.

The 'refrigerate after opening' message really has to do with the taste and texture of the product rather than spoilage.

Who knew?

I still find myself buying mayonnaise. My mustard doesn't go bad but am scared to make and keep mayonnaise for fear of it going off. But, there doesn't seem to be any preservatives in my Duke's mayo and it keeps as good as my mustard.
A few years back Alton Brown made mayo on Good Eats. He said after blending that it was important to let it sit at room temp for several hours. Reason? -- The low pH will kill any bacterial infections, but those metabolic pathways are slowed at low temp, so a low temperature will actually preserve the bacteria from being killed by the low pH.
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Offline euge

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Re: The Mad Fermentationist's Top 10 Myths
« Reply #130 on: March 25, 2013, 03:22:45 pm »
Thanks man! Once the Duke's runs out a go at keeping mayo in the fridge for more than a week will be underway.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis