[denny]

Over the last year and a half I started dabbling with low oxygen brewing and did not really need to change my system at all.  I was a BIAB brewer and just used a smaller kettle lid as a "mash cap",  pre-treated water instead of using the boil quickly and chill, then underlet the grain method.  So the lid was only real equipment change.   Rest was just processes, water additions with sodium metabisulfate and BrewTan B,  no splashing, pitching at a larger pitch rate, fermenting lagers cold and naturally carbing kegs with spunding valve.

Will say, for my lagers, LoDO is great.  Wort is crystal clear post chilling thanks to BrewTan B & whirlfloc, so beer in keg is usually crystal clear.  As for comps, low O2 beers are hit or miss with judges.   I have made beers using normal and LoDo methods and submitted to my club for comparison and majority, including a National BJCP judge, always seem to prefer the regular version.   Whether they are thrown off by the fresh malt flavors you get with low oxygen brewing or what, it's just weird.

Anyway, now I am brewing on an Anvil Foundry with recirculating mash. So not really great for LoDo, especially when you pull the basket and the splashing that occurs. But I gave it a try recently with a Festbier, and while it probably was not really low oxygen with the splashing, the beer came out fantastic.  I still use some LoDo methods on regular beers, adding BrewTan B and SMB, higher pitch rates, etc.

I have heard comments like yours about the competitions before... quite a few times.  Is it possible that people are so used to oxidized beer that a true-LO beer tastes really foreign to them?

Well, that's certainly one possibility.  But it's not the only one.

[majorvices]

Anyway, now I am brewing on an Anvil Foundry with recirculating mash. So not really great for LoDo, especially when you pull the basket and the splashing that occurs. But I gave it a try recently with a Festbier, and while it probably was not really low oxygen with the splashing, the beer came out fantastic.  I still use some LoDo methods on regular beers, adding BrewTan B and SMB, higher pitch rates, etc.

I've run off into a separate boil kettle using the pump and not pulling out the mash basket. I'm not a LODO brewer but I have always tried to minimize o2 pickup in my wort. It works like a champ, super clear vorlauf and run off.

[Village Taphouse]

On another board we discussed this and there was a sample Anvil Foundry video posted that ran about 18-20 minutes.  Quite a few things DID NOT look low-oxygen.  I was considering a Foundry system but there would have to be some workarounds. 

I know this is an LO thread and not a Foundry thread but here's the vid:

https://youtu.be/MiuZz0TbzwA

[Bilsch]

i was interested in LODO brewing, and i think its generally a cool concept, but simply it doesnt fit my brewing philosophy. i could afford it, but i'd just feel really dumb drinking beers that in actuality cost 50 dollars each for the first year or so.

There are things going on over there that are well beyond just reducing oxidation and most brewers would be simply amazed.

[Silver_Is_Money]

One way to potentially get into low oxygen "like" brewing without changing things (other than your base malt) might be to give the new Viking "Pilsner Zero Malt" a try.  This malt has been specially modified to have zero LOX (lipoxygenase) enzymes.  The various LOX types of enzymes are well known to negatively impact beers flavor, stability, and head retention.  The oxidation of the intermediate products generated via lipoxygenase enzyme activity during the mash lead to off-flavors, browning, and reduced head retention.  The theory behind this malt is that if you get rid of the LOX enzymes which create the very products that oxygen subsequently negatively impacts, you will get rid of many of the negative effects caused by oxygen. 

Disclaimer:  I am not associated with Viking, and I have no idea as to whether or not they have solved the problem of the negative effects of oxygen via this approach.

https://www.maroma.sk/docs/VIKING-PILSNER-ZERO-MALT.pdf

[Sanatorium]

Pilsner malt is the only malt that contains LOX anyways. All the rest of the malts LOX is gotten rid of in Kilning. So, no not really.

[Village Taphouse]

i was interested in LODO brewing, and i think its generally a cool concept, but simply it doesnt fit my brewing philosophy. i could afford it, but i'd just feel really dumb drinking beers that in actuality cost 50 dollars each for the first year or so.

There are things going on over there that are well beyond just reducing oxidation and most brewers would be simply amazed.

I tend to agree.  Once the LO part was addressed, a lot of other topics were looked at with new eyes.  There were a lot of homebrewing boogeymen and those pieces of information probably grew out of the early days of homebrewing.  Many people started brewing and did not have much of a scientific background so they followed what others said... which was not always good.  For anyone looking to attack O2 in their brewing or just look for ways to improve your beer, you owe it to yourself to at least take a look. 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Pilsner malt is the only malt that contains LOX anyways. All the rest of the malts LOX is gotten rid of in Kilning. So, no not really.

I've been combing peer reviewed brewing literature with regard to LOX on and off for about two months now and I've never come across this inference that it is the exclusive domain of Pilsner malt.  Do you have a peer reviewed source?  What is known is that the degree of kilning impacts the activity of LOX, which decreases as kilning time and temperature increase.  If LOX activity is decreasing it is logical to presume that the presence of the enzyme is diminished.  But it seems to be an undesirable component that is present within all nominal "base malts" at least through Vienna to my knowledge.

[denny]

Anyway, now I am brewing on an Anvil Foundry with recirculating mash. So not really great for LoDo, especially when you pull the basket and the splashing that occurs. But I gave it a try recently with a Festbier, and while it probably was not really low oxygen with the splashing, the beer came out fantastic.  I still use some LoDo methods on regular beers, adding BrewTan B and SMB, higher pitch rates, etc.

I've run off into a separate boil kettle using the pump and not pulling out the mash basket. I'm not a LODO brewer but I have always tried to minimize o2 pickup in my wort. It works like a champ, super clear vorlauf and run off.

Same here