Lodo is slowly gaining homebrewers and I think most try to stay quiet about it because of the personalities on both side of the topic tend to be quite aggressive. It's better to not be a target, especially for a new brewer.
It's actually really inexpensive to do and doesn't add any extra time to my brew day. Having said that, I'm not sure everyone can taste the difference. I have friends that are almost completely blind to diacetyl and I had to have the bartender get me a different beer after one sip. My friend thought I was making it up and really enjoyed that octoberfest, I couldn't drink it at all. It might be the same with lodo?
More and more people are definitely talking about it, Colin Kaminski for instance has started adopting it. However, many big names in homebrewing that claimed it didn't do anything, will unfortunately probably die on that hill, even as more information about why professionals are doing it makes its way into the homebrew world.
this is one of those "debates" many people cringe at even seeing continued, i know. but i have a lot of issues with lodo. one that comes to mind from the flavour side is simply:
(keeping in mind i admit that technology and progress CAN and DO [sometimes] make things better) English beer styles are never mentioned when it comes to LODO, it is always basically pale contemporary styled craft ales and lagers (IPAs, pale ales etc) and lagers.
cask beer as a tradition is supposed to have turnarounds quick enough that LODO isnt a problem, and there is simply a ton of oxygen going in many traditional (by this i do mean 19th century brewing up to present day, not super old stuff) methods of brewing, yorkshire open squares, dropping the fermenting wort, minimal to no carbonation of cask beers, etc etc.
these are features built in to these styles that people love and have loved. frankly i dont care about LODO for the vast majority of styles i brew, it simply doesnt enter the equation beyond the most basic hotside steps.
I 100% agree with what you said and I don't brew pale ales, porters or stouts lodo. It isn't proper for the end result in the glass. There is a time and place for everything, but not English ales.
1. Traditional British breweries do not keep O2 out of the hot side using Pale Ale malts. The cold side either for Cask ales that have active yeast and are consumed in a handful of days.
2. The Germans did the research on HSA for the Helles and Pilsners they brew with almost all Pils malt. An enzyme called Lipoxygenase is responsible for a lot of HSA.
3. The MBAA podcast series with Joe Hetrich talking about malting, he states that lipoxygenase is denatured at 185⁰F . If you use malt with more color there will be less/no lipoxygenase.
4. Not everyone is sensitive to HSA. I've had beers that made me say yuck while my wife simultaneously says this is good. I find most evident in Helles, and beers with more hops like Pilsner it is harder to detect.
5. Larger modern German breweries will have equipment to remove O2 from the brewing water and still be Rheinheitsgebot compliant (Sierra Nevada too). Older small breweries don't, and HSA is often evident. Franconian Helles typically has more hop bitterness than Munich Helles, though often the HSA comes through.
6. A German brewer told me they learn about HSA in brewing school. He said some German breweries have a house flavor due to it. He has an older system and is known for the Dunkel, i.e. Munich malts. His rules were don't splash, fill from the bottom, gentle transfers.
How do I brew? LODO for German styles, and less concern for everything else. That's just me. I like the German lagers I brew.
Topic: Great Hot Side Aereation discussion (Read 11849 times)
