Controversial Homebrewing Opinions

I definatly save money home brewing, and my set ups around 175 cash for eq. Run an gun, baby.

 

Absolutely! Aside from new transfer/keg tubing and a few cracked auto siphons, I've been using the exact same equipment for the past 6 years – bayou burner, 16-gal kettle, 10-gal kettle, Igloo cooler and wort chiller.

Having an arsenal of harvested yeast, and bulk purchase of hops is also a huge money saver.

Confession though: I still don't own a grain mill... I need to start buying my base grain in bulk. Buying that shit online for every batch is where it hurts the most on cost.

 

That will indeed save you money. I purchase my Pilsner Malt (Weyermann typically) in bulk. I do still purchase my other grains from online shops (e.g., MoreBeer).

But yes you will need to purchase a malt mill.

Cheers!

 

Also, check with local breweries on buying base malt, some times one can get base malt , by the sack, at a very good price.

Grain mill for sure.

 

I'm sooooo sick of IPA types, hop types, and anything IPA. I like IPA's, but there are so many interesting beer styles and brewing processes out there. I cant wait for the next fad so I dont hear about them. Especially NEIPA. Oh yeah.... a cloudy IPA. Same flavors, different name. Phew, thats a load off my chest.

 

One rule that always made me laugh was sterilizing the wort chiller the last 15 mins of the boil. That should be done in seconds.

 

Well, the main reason I browse those threads is get get ideas, so I kinda like to know the outcome.

 

Milk is pasteurized by either holding it for 30 seconds at 163 degrees F., or holding it at 145 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Ultra-pasteurized is something like 0.1 seconds at 212 degrees F.

 

Yep, I just dunk it in at FO and figure that does the trick.

 

Here's my thought on that. Unless the entire chiller is submerged, part of it isn't being boiled. So you're relying on heat xfer through (up) the metal tubing and steam to do the trick on the exposed part. Fast forward... Water can condense on the exposed metal during chilling, and run run down into the wort. Therefore, I don't rely on a few seconds of boiling.

 

I suppose it depends a lot on the material your immersion chiller is made from: copper vs. SS. Copper is a much better conductor of heat and has it's own anti-microbial properties, so I don't sweat it. If I had one of those stainless steel ones, I might worry a bit more.

Probably about 80% of my brews also involve some sort of hop steep/whirlpool things, so I figure the extended time will take care of it. As @Silver_Is_Money mentioned, above 140 for a bit will take care of it, and the condensation you'll get on the input part of the chiller is pretty much just going to happen well before you reach what we call the "Danger Zone" in foodservice (40-140*F)

Maybe y'all have more efficient chillers than my homemade one, though.

 

I'm gonna poke the bear, Extract is cheating. **shots fired**

 

Even for starters?

 

Not really, because you're giving up fine tuning to get ease of use/accessibility. No one is going to say that the way Ford makes a car on an assembly line is "cheating" versus the way way Ferrari hand makes every car. It's a different outcome, for sure, and one can argue about function and form, but cheating?

Another analogy may be IKEA furniture versus a custom made table utilizing rare wood. I'd much rather have the table made from a solid piece of mahogany, and have all the cabinets in the kitchen match, as well as other accents throughout the house, along with a marble countertop, but I need a place to eat dinner right now.

Extract has it's role, and first and foremost its to learn how to walk before you run. Second, I have a (somewhat) full life, and sometimes, it's nice to bang out a batch from measuring liquor to finishing cleaning in 4 hours versus taking the whole day.

 

Eh. I dunno. A couple (?) years ago, I analyzed all of the NHC winning recipes. There was only one that was extract (a Berliner Weiss). If it's (legal) cheating, competition brewers haven't caught on.

ETA: I just looked it up. It was 2013. More than a couple years ago.

 

One could say that competition brewers tend to be all grain brewers, and therefore, there are far fewer extract brewers entering beers in competitions, especially one as prestigious as NHC.

 

I think there are probably a lot of extract beers entered in round 1, just like any other competition. But which beers are advancing to round 2? And then winning?

ETA: Round 2 is where the prestige comes in. Anyone can enter round 1.

 

@VikeMan wow that sounds like my parties of old. if you pass judgement, yer always welcome back,,,, prestige,,,hahaahhahahaaha

 

On water, my controversial opinion is that sulphate and chloride levels make a much bigger difference than mash pH, but since I previously argued that a lot of what we think we know about brewing processes is probably hearsay, you should maybe take that with a pinch of (epsom) salt...

 

In my experience, brewers rarely pass judgement in person. Too polite. That said, I wouldn't mind tasting the belgian blueberry I've been reading about for years.