Homebrew Beer Myths

[Drunkula]

there's another myth, that Brulosophy have "proved" anything.

They proved that the Co2 blanket is a myth!

And there was a parade and the president turned up (one of the good ones, not this stick of candyfloss with a Speak-And-Spell lodged in it) and all the people cheered and in the distance a man in a window sighed and said "Well, I guess they were right." and his wife put her hand on his shoulder said "Come on, Honey, you don't have to look any more. Let's play Boggle." And as they started to play just by chance the letters spelled:

D O N T
G I V E
U P M Y
L O V E

 

[fury_tea]

I'm surprised and impressed that there hasn't been a single Brulosophy mention in this thread so far.

Actually there's another myth, that Brulosophy have "proved" anything.

Off topic, but I just listened to the most recent Brulosophy podcast (ep 140) and they read out a comment I sent to them! It's at around 6 mins in Re: Short and Shoddy English Porter. I forgot I'd sent it in (was definitely pissed) and it was just to make them laugh by fitting as many over the top Britishisms into a few sentences as I could. Anyway does this mean I'm famous?

 

[An Ankoù]

"4% in homebrew is definitely stronger than 4% commercial beer".

Legendary. So it is! 4% of a batch or two of homebrew is much more than 4% of what you can afford to buy at the pub!

When I asked him how many he drinks in a night, he didn't know.

Must be great fun to drink with. Love to meet him.
My dad was equally daft in his day.

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm surprised and impressed that there hasn't been a single Brulosophy mention in this thread so far.

Actually there's another myth, that Brulosophy have "proved" anything.

I could never get my head around their motto: "They who drink beer will think beer". Is that correct English?

 

[kelper]

"They who drink beer will think beer". Is that correct English?

It is grammatical, but still gibberish and trite.

 

[user 23602]

Don't tell @Grizzly Notations to try this, he'll blow up half his neighbourhood!

Why me?

 

[Scottyburto]

My dad brews kit beers and believes the 'rocket fuel' myth. I've taken my hydrometer round to test the gravity for him and the beers he brews (the Simply pouches with some brew enhancer) are usually around 4% abv or lower. He won't accept that though. "It has to be more than that, I couldn't see straight last night after a few pints" or "4% in homebrew is definitely stronger than 4% commercial beer". When I asked him how many he drinks in a night, he didn't know.

I firmly believe this is the 70s/80s thinking!
I like to visualise Kes/Rita Bob and sue too/Gregorys girl (u can use your own) when reading this:
8xhomebrew bottles of beer/pints of unfinished peach wine cause they're available/more ish vs buying a 4 back of 3.4% tetleys from t'cornershop on way back from t'chippy!

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I firmly believe this is the 70s/80s thinking!
I like to visualise Kes/Rita Bob and sue too/Gregorys girl (u can use your own) when reading this:
8xhomebrew bottles of beer/pints of unfinished peach wine cause they're available/more ish vs buying a 4 back of 3.4% tetleys from t'cornershop on way back from t'chippy!

I'm from Bradford & some of the brews I saw back in the 70's I'm surprised the yeast managed to compete with the muck in there. (And that includes the Tetleys) I was at one lads house where he had his brewing bucket with no lid & a towel over the top to protect it next to the fire. He had an inquisitive, extremely hairy moulting dog who used to lick the bucket regularly. He often lifted the towel to check how it was going & you could see hairs (presumably from the dog) floating on top. He once offered me a pint & there was a long silence before I came up with a valid excuse to turn the offer down. My then girlfriend now wife thanked me for weeks for getting us off the hook. I think experiences like this put many off homebrew for life. I'm sure when my wife holds one of my pints up to the light she's looking for hairs.

 

[Cwrw666]

Legendary. So it is! 4% of a batch or two of homebrew is much more than 4% of what you can afford to buy at the pub!

Thing is, if you brew a beer and measure it's OG and FG you can reasonably accurately measure the ABV. Though most of us probably forget about the priming sugar. Commercial beers are allowed + or - a certain amount over or under the % stated on the label to allow for variations in production. I think my locals microbrewery said it was 3%. So in fact your pub 4% beer could in fact be 3.7%. Something to bear in mind if driving is also a 4.5% beer might actually be nearer 5%. Best not to have that second one.

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.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Home brewed beers don't give you hangovers - I've proved that one wrong

I am not sure about this one I remember getting pretty messy, in my early teens on some excellent home brew. The hangovers where emotional.

 

[chthon]

Using Fuggles & EKG for bittering is a good idea.

Genuinely interested in this one as myth.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Thing is, if you brew a beer and measure it's OG and FG you can reasonably accurately measure the ABV. Though most of us probably forget about the priming sugar. Commercial beers are allowed + or - a certain amount over or under the % stated on the label to allow for variations in production. I think my locals microbrewery said it was 3%. So in fact your pub 4% beer could in fact be 3.7%. Something to bear in mind if driving is also a 4.5% beer might actually be nearer 5%. Best not to have that second one.

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.

Watering down the beer? Is this a joke? This actually happens? Though this would account for the crap beer that is served at my local Wetherspoons.

 

[trueblue]

I am not sure about this one I remember getting pretty messy, in my early teens on some excellent home brew. The hangovers where emotional.

I was saying not getting a hangover IS a myth

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

I was saying not getting a hangover IS a myth

So you are, sorry. Obviously need another coffee

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Don't tell @Grizzly Notations to try this, he'll blow up half his neighbourhood!

And please don’t mention putting lit matches to things in this thread: Does your beer make you Fart?

 

[glennturner83]

Thing is, if you brew a beer and measure it's OG and FG you can reasonably accurately measure the ABV. Though most of us probably forget about the priming sugar. Commercial beers are allowed + or - a certain amount over or under the % stated on the label to allow for variations in production. I think my locals microbrewery said it was 3%. So in fact your pub 4% beer could in fact be 3.7%. Something to bear in mind if driving is also a 4.5% beer might actually be nearer 5%. Best not to have that second one.

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.

Not sure it's possible to water down Guinness. Cask beers yes, but don't see how you could tamper with Guinness without some elaborate modification of the lines, which begs the question 'why?' for the sake of a few quid.

 

[Edison]

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.

 

[PhilBrew]

Using Fuggles & EKG for bittering is a good idea.

Genuinely interested in this one as myth.

... presumably @Brewed_Force doesn't like the flavours imparted by using Fuggles & EKG when used for bittering

I quite like that combination, as it happens ... and for me this highlights the much greater myth that any hop boiled for more than 30 minutes or so won't impact the flavours of your beer ... and the "any bittering hop will do" corollary

Cheers, PhilB

 

[GerritT]

... presumably @Brewed_Force doesn't like the flavours imparted by using Fuggles & EKG when used for bittering

I quite like that combination, as it happens ... and for me this highlights the much greater myth that any hop boiled for more than 30 minutes or so won't impact the flavours of your beer ... and the "any bittering hop will do" corollary

Cheers, PhilB

My limited experience is that bittering with harsher hops (Chinook, Citra, Polaris, other heavy duty bitterers) can leave a resinous taste, that can be avoided by boiling bitterhops for max 45 minutes. Yes, larger amounts of hops are needed to reach the same IBU, but imho the taste improves.

 

[Edison]

My limited experience is that bittering with harsher hops (Chinook, Citra, Polaris, other heavy duty bitterers) can leave a resinous taste, that can be avoided by boiling bitterhops for max 45 minutes.

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.