11 replies to this topic

[SWAGMAN]

GREEN EYED MONSTERFirst I’m not an English major and I have been kicking this ideal around for a long time in my head. Just might not get it correct to paper. So if my wording offends anybody I apologize now. I was thinking back when my two Great uncles brewed beer, the equipment used and the outcome of their efforts. This was in the mid fifties and there equipment was just a canning pot to boil and the kitchen sink was to wash items and rise out bottle’s they had collected from everywhere. No liquid soap, no hydrometer, no disinfecting of any kind. Open top crocks with maybe a cloth towel across the top as I was told the bottles where worth more than the beer since they were hard to come by. Was there beer good, I never was allowed any but everybody said it was or it was just free beer? They used Past’s Blue Ribbon extract and bakers dry or cake yeast and that was it. But I never heard that the beer went bad. A few broken bottles because over primed or bottled too soon and the wort was still working. In other words no Green eyed Monster jumped out of the back room and ruined their beer. They just used common sense to their brewing. Clean everything with soap and water and go on with the business at hand Brew Beer.Now I with a shed full of equipment and I go a few extra steps than my great uncles did but I never had a batch of beer where the Green eyed Monster spoiled the batch. I believe in the CS approach on cleaning and do at time get a little to lay back. Infections can happen and a few blame that when they have a poor process or just forgot to use CS.Remember don’t carry common sense too far because than it’s not CS but infatuations trying to eliminate a problem that’s not there to start with. I remember a while back of a brewer told me what he did to clean and sanitize his bottles. After bottles soaked in bleach and water mix they where rinsed with hot water. Placed into a container with one step placed on rack to dry and then stacked into the oven and heated I don’t have a clue at what temp. Cooled down and back to one step just before bottling. Common Sense was tied to a stake and shot.Just use common sense and enjoy the beer and not make it a chain gang of labor.It’s just BeerGreen eyed Monsters aka InfectionsNothing is jumping out of the closet I have posted this on some other board but its my thoughts on infectionsDominus VobiscumSwagman

Edited by SWAGMAN, 28 March 2009 - 06:50 PM.

[Lagerdemain]

Hahaha. I think you're exactly right - there is a tendency among a lot of brewers to take things way too far - and not just in sanitation but in every aspect of the hobby. That's probably just a reflection of their personalities, but you do see a lot of overthinking, overengineering, overworrying, overeverything!To me, a hobby is something I do for relaxation and enjoyment. Sometimes it's a lot of work, but at the end of the day if the work exceeds the enjoyment, it's not a hobby any longer - it's just work. And I refuse to get consumed by the overly technical aspects of our hobby/craft. It's easy to do so, but beyond a certain point it's just a waste of time (in my opinion, of course). One thing I observe in some brewers is that many are trying not to be homebrewers, but commercial brewers on a micro-micro scale - ie, they are trying to duplicate, to as great a degree as possible, every process, procedure and method used by commercial breweries.

[djinkc]

Marty, I think you're right. But a lot of homebrewers take to many shortcuts with this aspect of homebrewing and get burnt. It'll happen eventually if you get to lax. Nothing's been ruined from that around my place but I think a few had a few extra bugs working. Nothing terrible that was even considered dumpable though.I remember Blktre ended up with a system wide problem a couple years ago and he's no slouch in any aspect of the process.

[JoshLikesBeer]

One batch of beer of mine, a Belgian strong dark ale, somehow ended up with a little bit of funky sourness, but it's subtle and I actually find that I like it.

[HarvInSTL]

Should we fear the foam?

[JoshLikesBeer]

Should we fear the foam?

It doesn't gush unless it's warm. If I serve it under about 55 degrees or so it isn't a problem.I've never had any other infection problems, not even the time I siphoned by mouth into my bottling bucket when my auto-siphon broke.

[rockon]

Yeah, I don't go too overboard with cleaning/sanitization either. I make sure everything is pretty clean, and that everything after the boil gets some sanitizer, but I don't obsess about everything. I only break down my kegs and the valves on the fermentors every few batches. I've only had one batch that had any issues. It was one I re-pitched some yeast slurry that had been in my fridge way too long and hadn't been rinsed or anything. Since then, I've been hesitant to re-use yeast.

[strangebrewer]

I have a bucket full of lambic and a 2 year old roselare in a carboy sitting next to 20 gallons of wine. That alone is enough to make some wine makers faint. However I have never had any issues with contamination. I do keep a separate plastic tubing for the funky beers for no real good reason other than it seemed smart and tubing is cheap. The only paranoia thing I do from time to time is switch from Starsan to One Step for sanitizers. Figure in the event a bug has some resilience to one sanitizer the other should get it. This practice is not based in any fact but more in the idea of common sense and that I happen to have a lot of both varieties around the brewery!

[denny]

Look, let's face it, everyone has different styles of brewing and reasons for brewing. To say that someone goes too far because they enjoy a structured, scientific approach, or nor far enough because they like to keep it loose and make up a recipe on the fly makes a value judgment based on your own preferences and biases. Neither way is right and neither way is wrong.

[Hines]

I had some mold on the top of my wort one time. I just siphoned from the bottom into the keg & carbonated. Beer wasn't trashed.Brewing is theraputic to me as well. If I get all anal about it then it wouldn't be enjoyable. However, some people like (being) anal. To each his own!Happy brewing all,

[japh]

Look, let's face it, everyone has different styles of brewing and reasons for brewing. To say that someone goes too far because they enjoy a structured, scientific approach, or nor far enough because they like to keep it loose and make up a recipe on the fly makes a value judgment based on your own preferences and biases. Neither way is right and neither way is wrong.

I'll drink to that!

[brewhead]

Look, let's face it, everyone has different styles of brewing and reasons for brewing. To say that someone goes too far because they enjoy a structured, scientific approach, or nor far enough because they like to keep it loose and make up a recipe on the fly makes a value judgment based on your own preferences and biases. Neither way is right and neither way is wrong.

word.i tend towards the "just do it"had a sack of mixed grains didn't know what it was..had forgot. i knew it was 2 row..and some medium dark specialties - 40 lbs in all. threw in some cascade, goldings, and some more cascade, have it on tap as beer #73 and tho i can't really define it in a style - it's pretty damn good.