The internet, certainly. It has brought an encyclopedia of hundreds of years of brewing history into our offices, and our living rooms, and our garage-breweries.
It has also brought to light many of the traditional practices that have now been shown to be not required.
Was it not Charlie Bamforth who stated that for home brewers, of the top 10 problems we face, oxygen is number 23?
It would be out of character.
When asked, Bamforth always states that he has never homebrewed.
If you find this top 10 list, please share.
It was in a podcast some time ago, where he addressed issues about brewing, and stated that temp control and a few other tings were much more important than worrying about oxygen.
Of course, I am paraphrasing his comments, not quoting.
As for Bamforth's experience, the former head brewer at Bass Ale, and current Quality Control Manager for Sierra Nevada, I do not question his advice.
Thanks so much for the clarification!
Bamforth has been taken out of context on this topic quite often.
He does know exposure to oxygen is much higher in homebrewing because of square-cube.
He does say that the cold side is, in his view, more important than the hot side (not that the hot side is unimportant).
I have more than 50 papers from him, and when he talks, I listen respectfully.
Same goes for Narziss, the highest authority in brewing in the past 50 years. He did write the book in Brewing and published many papers.
Narziss is mostly a lager brewer; his thinking cannot be detached from this.
Bamforth is mostly an ale brewer, although he did brew a mass-market non-German lager.
The more we read from either one, the better brewers we will be.
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