[HoosierBrew]

I am in the middle too and anxiously awaiting the KISSLODO method  .

My approach, too. 

[Village Taphouse]

Guys:  No impact on head formation and stability that I can see.  None. 

To expand on what I have done a little:  I did pick up an SS chiller because there was some talk about copper and its oxidative characters (use that information how you wish).  I also slightly increased my mash volume and slightly lowered my batch sparge volume (by ½ gallon) to make the sparge smaller.  I am still carefully dialing in my mash and sparge pH and watching the kettle pH.  I also started to condition my malt.  I use distilled water in a fine spray bottle and use about an ounce or so of water for 9-10 pounds of malt.  The water hitting that fresh grain makes me want to eat it with a spoon.  I mix it, let it sit and then mill it a few minutes later.  It's supposed to leave husks more intact, cut down on tannin pickup and probably cut down on oxidation... can't remember all of the proposed benefits.  I also used some Weyermann Barke pilsner in some of these helles and pilsner batches.  Wow, what a great character if you just pop a few kernels in your mouth.  All of that said, I think the brewtan has made the most difference.  I'm using ¼ tsp in the mash water and then ½ tsp mixed with some bottled water and then that liquid is added to the boil with 10-15 minutes left.  The beer is softer, smoother, cleaner, clearer (clearer-tasting... not necessarily visually although these brewtan beers ARE clear too).  The finish is smoother and more refreshing.  Malt and hop flavors pop and are more identifiable.  Again, not sure what the brewtan is doing and whether I'm seeing a bigger impact because my pre-brewtan beers were oxidized, something is up in my water that brewtan addresses or what.  Not sure but I'm digging it, no question.  Cheers gang.

EDIT:  Someone on another board (a chemist) mentioned that brewtan could help take copper and iron out of the way when brewing (acts as a chelating agent... I'm in deep water here) which I know nothing about.  I went to my Ward Labs analysis and saw that I have less then .3ppm of iron and less then 1ppm of copper.  I'm not sure how much is too much for brewing but my numbers seem low.

[narcout]

I also started to condition my malt.

Did you notice any drop in efficiency from the conditioning? 

EDIT:  Someone on another board (a chemist) mentioned that brewtan could help take copper and iron out of the way when brewing (acts as a chelating agent... I'm in deep water here) which I know nothing about.

The product spec sheet posted at the beginning of this thread gives a quick overview on this.  I also posted links to some more in depth articles in reply #563 of the below thread if you are interested.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=24675.555

[beersk]

Might be part of it, but it's a matter of keeping the precious malt flavors in the mash and wort and not letting them escape via mashing in with vigorous stirring, boiling too hard, etc. But hey, I'm still the guy in the middle of all this, seeing both sides equally clear. Rather difficult position to be in as it's created a sort of internal struggle as to how to move my brewing forward.

This would also explain how some obvious non LODO breweries are achieving IT.  That's my hunch at least.  Fortunately, I am mainly a hop head and polyclar is rocking for me.   

I've not tasted that flavor in any American breweries...

For now, I'm messing with at least preboiling with some SMB, but not spunding...apparently it's all worthless if you don't do that. So that's kind of where I'm struggling with all this. I just wonder how the German breweries do it, how they bottle/can and keg...they don't spund those. They spund in the fermenters, but to keep the O2 out of the packaging process, I've no idea. So that's kind of where my internal struggle comes from...how and why does it have to be ALL OR NOTHING?


I condition all my malt and have found it's helped my efficiency because I can crush finer while keeping the husks in tact.

I'm also curious to try Brewtan B with the LowDO process. I'd have to think that any little bit counts though. I have to think there's a difference between keeping the O2 out as much as possible versus dumping 170F strike water into mashtun, etc. But I don't know...want to keep trying it out to see how I like it. Only adds about 30 minutes to my brew session to preboil everything. So no big deal.

[zwiller]

Fresh malt? Augustiner has their own Malting's, that is fresh! Good luck getting some of that malt.

Exactly;  Might be blasphemy to some but I would wager using a healthy percentage of freshly made malt at home would kick things up a notch.  I also suspect warming up store bought grains in the oven at 170F for an hour or 2 would work.  Kinda sorta like nuking a day old doughnut back to life   

[narcout]

I just finished brewing a batch in which I used Brewtan B at a rate of .1 gram per gallon in the mash and the same at the end of the boil.  I didn't really notice anything different in terms of break formation.

It did turn the strike water a bit milky.

[klickitat jim]

I just finished brewing a batch in which I used Brewtan B at a rate of .1 gram per gallon in the mash and the same at the end of the boil.  I didn't really notice anything different in terms of break formation.

It did turn the strike water a bit milky.

I tried it out on my recent brews, but .25g per gallon at mashin and at boil 5min. We shall see...

[denny]

Where did you guys get the amount recommendations?  Why not follow Joe's recommendations?

[narcout]

The product spec sheet lists the recommended dosage as 2-4 grams/hectolitre in the mash and 2-5 grams/hectolitre in the boil.

That's approximately .075-.151 grams/gallon in the mash and .075-.189 grams/gallon in the boil.  I shot for the middle of the range with .1 grams/gallon in both mash and boil.

[denny]

The product spec sheet lists the recommended dosage as 2-4 grams/hectolitre in the mash and 2-5 grams/hectolitre in the boil.

That's approximately .075-.151 grams/gallon in the mash and .075-.189 grams/gallon in the boil.  I shot for the middle of the range with .1 grams/gallon in both mash and boil.

Try what Joe recommends...1/4 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in strike water and 1/2 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in a slurry at 15 min. to flameout. 

[narcout]

Try what Joe recommends...1/4 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in strike water and 1/2 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in a slurry at 15 min. to flameout.

Ok, I'll try that on my next batch.

By the way, has anyone noticed an effect on mash pH?  Mine came in a bit low yesterday (5.2 vs. Bru'n water projection of 5.36). 

[wobdee]

The product spec sheet lists the recommended dosage as 2-4 grams/hectolitre in the mash and 2-5 grams/hectolitre in the boil.

That's approximately .075-.151 grams/gallon in the mash and .075-.189 grams/gallon in the boil.  I shot for the middle of the range with .1 grams/gallon in both mash and boil.

Try what Joe recommends...1/4 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in strike water and 1/2 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in a slurry at 15 min. to flameout.

This may be confusing to some people. The manufactures dosage specs and i believe Joe's recommendation is per volume of final beer not amount of mash or strike water? I make 3 gal batches full volume no sparge and my strike water is 5 gal. My first Brewtan batch I overdosed thinking strike water instead of final volume, probably why my Helles wort looked like orange juice.

[charles1968]

You would get an oxygen scavenging effect if, rather than say Spunding in the keg, you bottled off the fermentor at a calculated gravity and allowed the beer to naturally carbonate in the bottle by reaching terminal gravity. You would have active fermentation at that point.

Priming sugar is an easier solution as you don't need to guesstimate when to rack. I'm wondering if anyone has compared primed, naturally carbonated kegs to force carbed kegs to see if one stales faster than the other.

[brewinhard]

You would get an oxygen scavenging effect if, rather than say Spunding in the keg, you bottled off the fermentor at a calculated gravity and allowed the beer to naturally carbonate in the bottle by reaching terminal gravity. You would have active fermentation at that point.

Priming sugar is an easier solution as you don't need to guesstimate when to rack. I'm wondering if anyone has compared primed, naturally carbonated kegs to force carbed kegs to see if one stales faster than the other.

Interesting idea. Would probably also vary based on kegging methods. ie - closed transfers from primary vs open keg lid racking.

[denny]

Try what Joe recommends...1/4 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in strike water and 1/2 tsp. (per 5 gal.) in a slurry at 15 min. to flameout.

Ok, I'll try that on my next batch.

By the way, has anyone noticed an effect on mash pH?  Mine came in a bit low yesterday (5.2 vs. Bru'n water projection of 5.36).

This has been discussed extensively on Brews-Bros. and no one has seen it have an effect on pH.