Homebrew Beer Myths

[Pod 7]

the BLANKET OF Co2. Urghhhh.

Ive read this a few times to do with wine making -my naive impression was that during primary fermentation, lots of Co2 builds up and protects the must from oxygen and nasties -is this not true?

 

[Drunkula]

Ive read this a few times to do with wine making -my naive impression was that during primary fermentation, lots of Co2 builds up and protects the must from oxygen and nasties -is this not true?

It's true as long as the container remains sealed. If you open it for a bit you'll get a little bit of air in there, if you're doing things like dropping a hydrometer in, flicking it 20 times to get the damn thing to put the gravity side towards you instead of the side that shows the new moons and how long until the Stargate opens - well that causes surface turbulence and so you'll get a lot more air in.

If you left the lid open if there isn't any fermentation causing co2 to be generated it'll eventually mingle with air completely - that's why I say it's a "myth" because some people talk about it like your kids could run in and instead of bouncing on the bed go bouncing on the blanket of co2 instead.

Rehydrating yeast being best, of course, is completely true no matter what those imbeciles at Fermentis have recently half-hinted at.

Rehydrating your blankets, which is something that my homebrewing causes, is to be completely avoided**.

**The situation can be mitigated if you can move someone who was equally as drunk over to your side of the bed before they wake up.

 

[terrym]

* The health hazards from a few ppb of plasticiser that might have been leached from a PET bottle into the beer within it are more serious than the percentage alcohol of the beer itself.
* In the UK mains tap water is not safe to use as brewing water

 

[prog99]

My mam used to clean the lines on a Sunday and put all the pints drawn before it got icky onto the bar for free. You'd get a crowd of old *******s who came in, drink it and then piss off. Then when they came back in the week they'd complain about the prices.

That was the perk of whoever was cleaning the lines in the pub I worked in. The public didn't get a look in.

 

[kelper]

Didn't some pubs have a suck back arrangement where the hand pump would also suck from the drip tray? And we've all seen graffiti in the toilets saying, "you don't buy the beer here, you just rent it"

 

[Martin Goodrich]

This is a brilliant thread!

Surprised no one mentioned “liquid yeast makes better beer”.

You can definitely make worse beer with liquid yeast if you don’t know what you’re doing (e.g. low cell count due to poor storage, batch age, insufficient starter for OG, infection due to poor sanitation etc. etc...). I’m sure there’s many commercial and craft breweries using dried yeast and producing great beer. You do have more choices with liquid yeast though, want to make a lager with Pilsner Urquell yeast, why not. Want a Belgian blonde with Achouffe, go for it.

The ”homebrew is cheap” annoys me. The amount of times I’ve mentioned/given away homebrew to someone and one of the first things they ask is “so how much does it cost a pint?”

I try and work out my supply orders so I can minimise waste and use up the different ingredients in my planned brews as soon as possible, but other than that, ingredient costs don’t really factor into my plans for what I want to brew and it would take some investigation to work out the costs, without even factoring in electricity (and equipment)! I brew because I enjoy the process and the result, and I get to decide exactly what result I want rather than drinking only what’s available in the shops/pubs.

Absolutely true. It is the first thing someone says to you when you offer a drink to someone.

I've never bothered to calculate how much per pint it costs me to brew. My gut feel is that it is probably just a bit less costly than a pub bought pint but even so when you take in to account the price of malt, adjuncts, yeast and the power used during the brewing process it isn't as cheap as it is made out to be.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Oh, and that is assuming the landlord isn't watering the beer. I know one pub where if you go in and look at the guiness pump the barman, who I know, will quietly shake his head if it's been doctored.

I think he's pulling your leg. Wouldn't it be extremely difficult to doctor keg beer? If you have concerns, you should report them to Trading Standards and HMRC to not do so is doing no favours to fellow drinkers or the tax payer. Or Diageo (regardless of how you feel about them).

 

[kelper]

If I suspected my beer was doctored, I would test it with a hydrometer. Subtly at first then less so!

 

[MickDundee]

If I suspected my beer was doctored, I would test it with a hydrometer. Subtly at first then less so!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually take my hydrometer with me to the pub!

 

[dad_of_jon]

This brilliantly illustrates that we’re all different and have different tastes and preferences. I for one enjoy the occasional strong, resinous, dank IPA (Sixpoint Resin/Green Flash West Coast IPA anyone?) whereas others will be quick to point out it tastes like a pine cone!

It would be interesting to see what difference FWH makes to it, opinion seems to be this smooths out the bitterness a bit. I’ve certainly enjoyed the last few brews I’ve bittered this way, but as I rarely make identical beers I’ve not made any definite comparisons.

Ah Sixpoint Resin (Bengali tiger) - It was a sad day when spoons stopped selling those. I can an approximate fix now from Brewdogs Mr President and Magic Rock's Cannonball

 

[dad_of_jon]

So why do so many here think homebrew is more expensive than bought beer? A Wilko kit is £12. A kilo of sugar is 28p. Brew in a bucket and bottle in reused plastic bottles and you get forty pints for £12.28. 30.7p a pint........

If you're buying 4 can of cheap pizz and brewing stuff with 400g of hops it is

 

[trueblue]

Another myth, liquid yeast is more expensive then dried yeast. With good sanitation and a small amount of brewing management liquid yeast can work out cheaper.

 

[Scottyburto]

Forgive my naivety but isn't all yeast liquid when re hydrated?

 

[gb0wers]

<SNIP>
That no bubbling in the airlock means a beer/wine is not fermenting
<SNIP>

Just testing my understanding here. If fermentation is happening and there are no airlock bubbles, then the CO2 is escaping through a leak?? Or am I missing something please?

 

[kelper]

unless fermentation is near its end when bubbles are very infrequent.

 

[kelper]

I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually take my hydrometer with me to the pub!

It's not beyond the wit of man to make a second visit!

 

[GerritT]

https://beerandbrewing.com/amp/homebrewing-dogma-try-then-trust/
"Josh Weikert dispels myths of brewing dogma because “the way it’s always been done” doesn’t always work for you."

 

[Hagrid]

I’m frequently asked if it’ll make me blind (and no, I don’t distill.)

 

[Drunkula]

I’m frequently asked if it’ll make me blind (and no, I don’t distill.)

Distilling making you go blind is also a myth. You have to purposely be stupid to make it happen. It would practially have to be deliberate.

And ffs - people saying freeze 'distilling' doing the same thing - urghhhhhh!

 

[GerritT]

Distilling making you go blind is also a myth. You have to purposely be stupid to make it happen. It would practially have to be deliberate.

And ffs - people saying freeze 'distilling' doing the same thing - urghhhhhh!

And ethanol is the antidote for methanol, so drink more!