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Author Topic: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions  (Read 74483 times)

Offline dilluh98

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #300 on: January 08, 2017, 07:59:36 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.

Man, that's hardcore! Good on ya!

Offline beersk

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #301 on: January 08, 2017, 08:04:01 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.




Unpopular brewing opinions and bad brewing practices aren't the same thing!
Jesse

Offline Philbrew

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #302 on: January 08, 2017, 08:07:37 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.
And you're having fun and THAT'S what counts!  And that should not count as an "unpopular" opinion.
Many of us would be on a strict liquid diet if it weren't for pretzels.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #303 on: January 08, 2017, 08:23:20 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.
I support your right to do that.

Offline beersk

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #304 on: January 08, 2017, 08:42:01 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.
And you're having fun and THAT'S what counts!  And that should not count as an "unpopular" opinion.
Yeah, I think having fun is very important. Otherwise, why take the time?
Jesse

Offline erockrph

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #305 on: January 08, 2017, 08:42:41 pm »
IPAs are the autotuned pop music of the brewing world.  Flashy.  Popular.  Uninspired and requiring very little talent to produce.

A big dose of hops can cover a multitude of sins. I still enjoy a balanced symphony of hop flavor. My brewing opinion is that any hop that has the potential for catty, garlic, onion...is not a good hop and should be eradicated from the hop fields.

Although some exceptions exist, but remembering the acceptable uses can be tricky.  For instance summit hops are great as a bittering hop, and when used this way they impart no onion/garlic flavor.
The thing about Summit is that the tangerine character is so great that the onion thing makes it like a giant tease. I just picked up some Summit hop shot in hopes that it will somehow not have that savory onion/asiago thing going on.
Eric B.

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

Offline erockrph

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #306 on: January 08, 2017, 08:55:12 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.
I always take an OG since it will tell me if something went wrong and allow me to fix it prior to fermentation. But I rarely take FG readings any more. It's mostly a troubleshooting steps for me. If there's no need for troubleshooting, there's no need for a gravity reading for me.

I don't make starters for most ales. I brew 2.5 gallon batches and a reasonably fresh pack of yeast is more than enough for a normal gravity brew.

I ferment ales at basement temp, too. But I have an IR thermometer, so I find the spot on the floor that is closest to my desired fermentation temp and put the fermenter there until it is time to ramp up.
Eric B.

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

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #307 on: January 08, 2017, 09:09:14 pm »
  Has anyone had a batch go bad in a fermentation bucket due to a scratch in that is somehow infected?  Is this a thing?  Evidence?

Yes, many times yes.  Even soaking in bleach water for like a month didn't kill the wild beasts.  This occurred multiple times in a row so I know it was the scratch in the plastic.  All it takes is one infection to ruin many subsequent batches.  I lived it.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline yso191

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #308 on: January 08, 2017, 09:15:30 pm »
I stopped taking gravity readings mid 2016 cause I realized I don't care.

I order only milled grain and it sits for many months before use.

I never make starters.

I ferment at whatever temp my basement is.



Unpopular brewing opinions and bad brewing practices aren't the same thing!

+1
Steve
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coastsidemike

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #309 on: January 08, 2017, 09:51:07 pm »
  Has anyone had a batch go bad in a fermentation bucket due to a scratch in that is somehow infected?  Is this a thing?  Evidence?

Yes, many times yes.  Even soaking in bleach water for like a month didn't kill the wild beasts.  This occurred multiple times in a row so I know it was the scratch in the plastic.  All it takes is one infection to ruin many subsequent batches.  I lived it.

By chance would you still have the bucket?  I'm curious about the plastic type and what the scratches are like.  The buckets I'm using have no visible scratches and I've had no oxidation issues (with rack/dry-hop x2), and so the switch-over from glass has been great.

Thank you Dave.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #310 on: January 08, 2017, 10:08:36 pm »
  Has anyone had a batch go bad in a fermentation bucket due to a scratch in that is somehow infected?  Is this a thing?  Evidence?

Yes, many times yes.  Even soaking in bleach water for like a month didn't kill the wild beasts.  This occurred multiple times in a row so I know it was the scratch in the plastic.  All it takes is one infection to ruin many subsequent batches.  I lived it.

By chance would you still have the bucket?  I'm curious about the plastic type and what the scratches are like.  The buckets I'm using have no visible scratches and I've had no oxidation issues (with rack/dry-hop x2), and so the switch-over from glass has been great.

Yes.  I suppose you wanted me to send pictures.  I could but don't know how well they'd turn out.  Suffice it to say that these are white buckets (yes more than one) from the homebrew shop that actually say "brew bucket" or whatever the heck on the outside so they were made for this, and yes, the scratches are visible to the naked eye -- I must have impacted the sides with a spoon or whatever.  Contamination sources could have been several -- I have soured beers on purpose before, and I don't think that ever came out completely.  Also I have experienced wild fermentations, probably when a fruit fly or something climbed in through the tiny gap in the lid.  All of the above.  I found that even after a lot of cleaning and sanitizing, sometimes I would get a good batch, sometimes not.  Odds were about 50/50.  After this happened for the 5th or 6th time, I said enough, and switched to glass, and haven't looked back since.  Oh yeah...... and I did get an infection from dry hops once.  Now I soak my dry hops in vodka before adding -- not sure if that helps but I don't think it hurts.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2017, 10:10:56 pm by dmtaylor »
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline brewsumore

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #311 on: January 08, 2017, 10:09:36 pm »
IPAs are the autotuned pop music of the brewing world.  Flashy.  Popular.  Uninspired and requiring very little talent to produce.

A big dose of hops can cover a multitude of sins. I still enjoy a balanced symphony of hop flavor. My brewing opinion is that any hop that has the potential for catty, garlic, onion...is not a good hop and should be eradicated from the hop fields.

Although some exceptions exist, but remembering the acceptable uses can be tricky.  For instance summit hops are great as a bittering hop, and when used this way they impart no onion/garlic flavor.
The thing about Summit is that the tangerine character is so great that the onion thing makes it like a giant tease. I just picked up some Summit hop shot in hopes that it will somehow not have that savory onion/asiago thing going on.

True that. 

IIRC, the general consensus, and from my own experience, when using actual hops (vs hopshot) don't use the summits less than 45 minutes in the boil, unless maybe at 1 or 0 minutes, and you might also be ok using them as a dry hop, and that if the onion/garlic appears from the late/dry additions that it should fade after 2 - 4 weeks in the keg.  Do I have that right?

I'm intrigued by the summit hopshot.  I'd love to hear what you learn, however you decide to use it.

Offline brulosopher

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What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #312 on: January 08, 2017, 10:29:43 pm »
My unpopular opinion is that too many people reach a comfort level in brewing, stop learning, and think polite praise is a sign of quality. A lot of homebrew sucks. (Not that I go around saying that).

And I don't like Amarillo and Mosaic.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seriously! Just because I don't overtly say your beer is s*** and I'm polite doesn't mean you should start a brewery.

And I may just be moving your direction on Mosaic... been struggling with that hop lately.

My clearly unpopular opinion is that how well your grain is milled makes little difference. I shop at several different shops that and also have a mill of my own. There is an obvious difference in the crush depending which mill I use, but my preboil gravity is always close enough for homebrew. Never get a stuck sparge.

You might appreciate the xBmt that gets published tomorrow

New England, Hazy or Juicy IPA's are a fad that need to stay in 2016.  Happy Brew Year.

Agreed.  I expect them tp go the way of the Black IPA.

I don't care either way, but I'm not so sure the hazy IPA will be going away. Rather, what I can see happening is the whole regional naming schemes fading off-- IPA is IPA, some are different than others (including in appearance), but they're still technically IPA.

Offline Stevie

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #313 on: January 08, 2017, 11:56:49 pm »
  Has anyone had a batch go bad in a fermentation bucket due to a scratch in that is somehow infected?  Is this a thing?  Evidence?

Yes, many times yes.  Even soaking in bleach water for like a month didn't kill the wild beasts.  This occurred multiple times in a row so I know it was the scratch in the plastic.  All it takes is one infection to ruin many subsequent batches.  I lived it.

By chance would you still have the bucket?  I'm curious about the plastic type and what the scratches are like.  The buckets I'm using have no visible scratches and I've had no oxidation issues (with rack/dry-hop x2), and so the switch-over from glass has been great.

Yes.  I suppose you wanted me to send pictures.  I could but don't know how well they'd turn out.  Suffice it to say that these are white buckets (yes more than one) from the homebrew shop that actually say "brew bucket" or whatever the heck on the outside so they were made for this, and yes, the scratches are visible to the naked eye -- I must have impacted the sides with a spoon or whatever.  Contamination sources could have been several -- I have soured beers on purpose before, and I don't think that ever came out completely.  Also I have experienced wild fermentations, probably when a fruit fly or something climbed in through the tiny gap in the lid.  All of the above.  I found that even after a lot of cleaning and sanitizing, sometimes I would get a good batch, sometimes not.  Odds were about 50/50.  After this happened for the 5th or 6th time, I said enough, and switched to glass, and haven't looked back since.  Oh yeah...... and I did get an infection from dry hops once.  Now I soak my dry hops in vodka before adding -- not sure if that helps but I don't think it hurts.
I'm paranoid about using buckets over the fear of scratching them while nesting.

Offline charles1968

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Re: What are your "unpopular" brewing opinions
« Reply #314 on: January 09, 2017, 01:33:34 am »
The claim that X will take your beer to the next level is usually untrue.

Common examples of X: temperature control, first-wort hopping, using only the freshest malt, no-sparge brewing, Brewtan, LODO, obsessive sanitation, liquid yeast, huge starters, pitching rate calculators, yada yada.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2017, 01:35:12 am by charles1968 »