I should emphasize again that I'm _not_ disputing the effects of cold side aeration--I'm just wondering about how quickly they manifest at homebrew scales under homebrew handling conditions in a way that the typical taster can perceive them.
I completely agree. Numbers are one thing, taste is another.
THIS! Definitely.
Except that what we post is not only backed by our own sensory perceptions, but those is professional sensory panels across the world. Remember that what we know about sensory analysis comes out of the professional brewing world. These companies have spent millions of dollars on determining what the oxidation thresholds are so that we don’t have to. That’s not really the point either though. The blog post wasn’t meant to address every single persons delta between objective and subjective in beer flavor.
We were noticing that many people getting in touch with us were describing a series of common flavor degradations that fall squarely in the “Stage B” category: diminished hop aroma, flavor, and bitterness in the keg as well as cloying sweetness which typically represent oxidized notes from cara malts. We were hip to these because of the methods we are using and we know them to mark the transition between brewery fresh, “Stage A” flavors and the characteristic “Stage B” flavors. We wrote the post to get this on people’s radar, not to debate the indisputable science and sensory analysis behind it.
I think another major hurdle to a conversation on this topic is that people get offended when you term something oxidized. That’s because we’ve indoctrinated people to think that oxidized flavors only consist of the classic, “Stage C” flavors: cardboard, sherry, vinegar, etc. In reality, many people exist in the “Stage B” zone and could do very simple things to prevent that.