[theoman]

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.

This is excellent. Do what you enjoy or you won't do it at all.

"I ferment at whatever temp my basement is" is something I've done for years, but I would design my beers (and still do) with that temp in mind.

[pete b]

I'm another who ferments in by basement and brews the appropriate beer accordingly. I live in New England and have a deep cellar. I also built a root cellar that brings in cold air from outside. So during the winter I have spots in my house that are 45f (root cellar), upper 50's, low 60s and high sixties. The cellar is still around 60 in the spring and fall. I am too busy to brew much in the summer so I only do a saison or two. This situation has allowed me to put off temp control until I get a chance to build my dedicated brewery.

[erockrph]

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.

As a corollary to this, if you're already advanced enough as a brewer to be considering these things, then changes to your overall process will only get you small, incremental improvements (if anything).

[HoosierBrew]

I would have to disagree with the temp control part (at the very least) on that list.   . And having done a couple lodo batches, I disagree there as well. Not meant as trying to argue, to each his own. I agree that not every single 'X taking your beer to the next level' is the case in reality.

[kgs]

I'm another who ferments in by basement and brews the appropriate beer accordingly. I live in New England and have a deep cellar. I also built a root cellar that brings in cold air from outside. So during the winter I have spots in my house that are 45f (root cellar), upper 50's, low 60s and high sixties. The cellar is still around 60 in the spring and fall. I am too busy to brew much in the summer so I only do a saison or two. This situation has allowed me to put off temp control until I get a chance to build my dedicated brewery.

But if I'm reading this correctly that is temperature control, assuming the temps in those areas doesn't have wild swings. When I lived in a city that was cool but not cold almost all year round and I had access to a garage where temps barely fluctuated most of the year, my ales and stouts came out fine by my personal standards. 

[pete b]

I'm another who ferments in by basement and brews the appropriate beer accordingly. I live in New England and have a deep cellar. I also built a root cellar that brings in cold air from outside. So during the winter I have spots in my house that are 45f (root cellar), upper 50's, low 60s and high sixties. The cellar is still around 60 in the spring and fall. I am too busy to brew much in the summer so I only do a saison or two. This situation has allowed me to put off temp control until I get a chance to build my dedicated brewery.

But if I'm reading this correctly that is temperature control, assuming the temps in those areas doesn't have wild swings. When I lived in a city that was cool but not cold almost all year round and I had access to a garage where temps barely fluctuated most of the year, my ales and stouts came out fine by my personal standards.

I agree that it is temperature control.

[dilluh98]

I would have to disagree with the temp control part (at the very least) on that list.   . And having done a couple lodo batches, I disagree there as well. Not meant as trying to argue, to each his own. I agree that not every single 'X taking your beer to the next level' is the case in reality.

Temperature control for sure. Before any equipment upgrades beyond a basic starter kit, I'd tell a new home brewer to find a temperature control solution ASAP. For me, that made a world of difference for my beer when I was starting out. But this is also very situation dependent. If you live somewhere with a basement/concrete floor that remains at a stable cool-ish temp, to me that is temp control. I didn't have that as an option starting out and made some awful beer my first few batches because of wildly swinging temps.

[HoosierBrew]

I would have to disagree with the temp control part (at the very least) on that list.   . And having done a couple lodo batches, I disagree there as well. Not meant as trying to argue, to each his own. I agree that not every single 'X taking your beer to the next level' is the case in reality.

Temperature control for sure. Before any equipment upgrades beyond a basic starter kit, I'd tell a new home brewer to find a temperature control solution ASAP. For me, that made a world of difference for my beer when I was starting out. But this is also very situation dependent. If you live somewhere with a basement/concrete floor that remains at a stable cool-ish temp, to me that is temp control. I didn't have that as an option starting out and made some awful beer my first few batches because of wildly swinging temps.

Yeah, a cool basement with a steady temp is a definite improvement over a warm closet for sure. The only issue being it doesn't do anything to account for the heat generated by fermentation the way a fridge/controller would. But I started brewing in a basement with a carboy on a concrete floor and made pretty good beer. More importantly, I forgot about this thread being a 'no argue' thread. My bad.

[bayareabrewer]

The guy that created the dual scale Brix/SG refractometer should be kicked in the nuts.

Since I use one of those, I'm wondering what's the problem with them?

I know your question wasn't directed at me, but I have tried two refractometers that were all over the place when compared to a hydrometer. Even with correction spreadsheets and what not, they just weren't reliably accurate for me.

[bayareabrewer]

My assertions are based on 50+ empirically verified brew sessions.

I can't say it any better than DeLange: "There's part of the problem right there. If you knew what you were talking about (sorry, I just can't think of a more polite way to say it) you would never accept 50 pH readings within ±0.01 of a calculated value without launching a major investigation as to how that could happen. To give you the benefit of the doubt there is something you do not understand. To be more cynical I am afraid I have to conclude that you are pulling our legs here in which case shame on you for doing it and shame on me for being taken in."


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dude, I've taken the lead from many of the others here, when I just ignore these guys. There's no reasoning with them, and they are steadfast in their agenda. The emperor has no clothes. Just ignore them and move on.

[denny]

I think no-sparge makes better beer than any other mashing process, for all beer types. I'll duck and cover now.

I don't think anyone ever said it didn't. I think most people don't do it is because you get lower efficiency and mashtun space is an issue.

I used to say the same about batch sparging, but being subjective it's pretty hard tp prove so I don't really claim that any more.  But I found that I thought batch sparging made better beer and didn't have the downside f reduced efficiency.

[dmtaylor]

The guy that created the dual scale Brix/SG refractometer should be kicked in the nuts.

Since I use one of those, I'm wondering what's the problem with them?

I know your question wasn't directed at me, but I have tried two refractometers that were all over the place when compared to a hydrometer. Even with correction spreadsheets and what not, they just weren't reliably accurate for me.

I'm still mapping out the magical correction factor for my refractometer.  Terrill says his factor is 1.04.  Mine, so far I am calculating 0.94-0.98, but I still have a lot more data to gather to know for sure.  The fact of the matter is, only a hydrometer knows for sure.  The refractometer is quite swaggy and only gives ballpark figures.

And as far as a dual scale?!  Ha!  Virtually guaranteed to be pretty far off.

Of course, for those of us only interested in getting numbers within plus/minus 0.005 or so, a refractometer might be considered "good enough".  Many times, I am one of those people.  Other times, I'd prefer to be a little more accurate, so then I have to pull out the trusty hydrometer.

[denny]

  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.

Dunno why you'd have such problems, Dave.  After hundreds of batches in the same six buckets, I've nevr had that happen.  And how do you know it was due to a scratch rather than somethng else?

[dmtaylor]

Dunno why you'd have such problems, Dave.  After hundreds of batches in the same six buckets, I've nevr had that happen.  And how do you know it was due to a scratch rather than somethng else?

This was several years ago now.  I'm fairly certain I had contaminated buckets, based on the random but recurring contamination issues.  It might also have been hoses, which I also replaced.  Or both.  Probably all of the above.  One thing I can tell you is that when I got new equipment, the problem went away.  You can draw your own conclusions, call me a slob or sloppy sanitizer, I don't care.  The problems are gone now.

[denny]

Dunno why you'd have such problems, Dave.  After hundreds of batches in the same six buckets, I've nevr had that happen.  And how do you know it was due to a scratch rather than somethng else?

This was several years ago now.  I'm fairly certain I had contaminated buckets, based on the random but recurring contamination issues.  It might also have been hoses, which I also replaced.  Or both.  Probably all of the above.  One thing I can tell you is that when I got new equipment, the problem went away.  You can draw your own conclusions, call me a slob or sloppy sanitizer, I don't care.  The problems are gone now.

In the last podcast I talked about a way of tracking your fermenters to help figure out the cause of something like that.  Glad you got past your problem, but you didn't solve it so much as avoid it.