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Author Topic: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise  (Read 3846 times)

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #15 on: October 15, 2015, 05:58:37 am »
Then there is the widespread misinformation that Bud is full of acetaldehyde.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline Stevie

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #16 on: October 15, 2015, 06:49:24 am »
I taste that apple ester. Never had until people kept taking about it. Now I can't ignore it.

Offline hopshead

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #17 on: October 15, 2015, 07:19:08 am »
What is interesting is that the most popular lager yeast culture in the United States during that period was Carlsberg Unterhefe No. 1 (a.k.a. Carlsberg Bottom Yeast No. 1).  J.C. Jacobson (owner of Carlsberg) was generous with Emil Christian Hansen's discovery and the design of the Carlsberg pure culture propagator.   The strain is available today from CBS-KNAW as CBS 1513.  A descendant of the strain is available as Wyeast 2042 Danish Lager.  This strain came from the old American brewer formerly known as the Miller Brewing Company.  I am willing to bet that AB's strain is a descendant of Carlsberg Bottom Yeast No. 1, as are a large number of production strains that are currently in use.

It's information like this that I love reading.  I don't know how much time it takes to research yeast origins, but I am sure it is a lot.  Thanks for contributing information like this, fascinating....

S. cerevisiae

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #18 on: October 15, 2015, 07:26:25 am »
Budweiser themselves tell you this on the AB tour in St. Louis.

Do they explain why they continue to use the chip cask approach to clarification?  It seems like an expensive way to remove yeast.

Offline erockrph

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #19 on: October 15, 2015, 11:25:15 am »
I taste that apple ester. Never had until people kept taking about it. Now I can't ignore it.
I don't know if I quite pick it up as apple, but it is certainly distinct. I definitely pick up the same character when using WY2007 as well.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline dilluh98

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #20 on: October 15, 2015, 11:27:28 am »
Because "beechwood aged" is an iconic part of their advertising campaign.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #21 on: October 15, 2015, 11:46:18 am »
I don't know if I quite pick it up as apple, but it is certainly distinct. I definitely pick up the same character when using WY2007 as well.

I pick up roses.

Offline jeffy

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #22 on: October 15, 2015, 04:39:04 pm »
Because "beechwood aged" is an iconic part of their advertising campaign.

Yeah, I think it's all about marketing at this point.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline narcout

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Re: Misinformation spreads like wildfire, the truth gets buried in the noise
« Reply #23 on: February 12, 2016, 12:01:18 pm »
I was reading an old AMA on Reddit with Peter Wolfe, a brewing scientist at Anheuser-Busch Technical Center, and I came across his response to a question about beechwood aging:

"In the olden days (mid to late 1800's), people didn't fully understand how yeast worked, they just knew they needed it. They also weren't really good at making consistent batches of malt. The combination of these two things meant that lager beers would often stall out before they finished fermenting because the yeast would prematurely flocculate.

To help offset this, the brewers of the day would line the bottom of the tanks with beechwood (which look like this). The wood acts as a matrix for the yeast to adhere to and prevents it from forming a solid sediment layer on the bottom of the tank. This encouraged the yeast to "finish" the beer and bring the sugar levels all the way down and the alcohol levels up. The wood itself provides no flavor (in fact it is vigorously boiled to remove any trace of flavor before it's used), it's merely acting as a cellulose matrix to emulate a bioreactor. I should mention that Anheuser-Busch wasn't the only brewery doing this back in the day; almost all the breweries in St. Louis and many others around the country were.

At some point (I couldn't pinpoint when, likely in the '60s), brewing science had advanced enough that they didn't technically require beechwood anymore to attain the same degree of fermentation. However, it provided a backup against the possibility of premature flocculation if something went wrong, and it was a venerated tradition, so they kept doing it. It's still done today. It does speed up secondary fermentation slightly, but we could make beer without it. We continue doing it for the same reasons they did in the 60's - it still does help and it's a venerated tradition.

TL;DR - prevents premature flocculation...so the yeast can last longer."
Sometimes you just can't get enough - JAMC