I’m going to brew another helles and though I’d give the LoDo thing a stab this weekend and have a few questions.
My Brewtan B and SMB arrived this week, so I’ll be incorporating that. My worry is my inability to rapidly chill my brewing water after I boil it. I have a BrewMagic system and my vessels are 1/2 barrel kegs. I’ve got an ancient copper immersion chiller, but I really don’t want to use it. I usually start with 15 gallons of water for a 10 gallon batch, so the hot liquor tank will have very little headspace with the lid on. Can I top this off with CO2 to keep it from taking up oxygen while it just cools over an hour or so? The same question applies to the mash tun… can I blow a layer of CO2 on top to reduce oxygen uptake?
Actually there is an easier way! http://www.lowoxygenbrewing.com/. We detail a yeast process for DO removal that does not require a preboil. Give that paper a read though and it should answer all your questions and address some concerns.
The home page is our full write up Jon. You’ll find it under the mashing section. I don’t believe we did a full write up on the yeast scavenging method.
We have links peppered throughout the write up and we will of course be adding more depth as we get a feel for what people are struggling with or need help on. It’s really geared towards giving people a dynamic FAQ of sorts.
Don’t miss out on the brewing references link. There is some choice stuff in there. Short of posting Kunze we have everything from our collective research library in there.
So I’ve decided to go all in with this beer this weekend. I’m going to split my usual 10 gallon helles batch into two 5 gallon ones and brew them sequentially. The first will be my usual method and second will be my attempt at LoDo w/ Brewtan B as well.
My wife is an analytical chemist. Her specialty is mass spectroscopy. So I’m going to pull samples from different stages of the brewing process for each beer and she’s going to run them on a mass spec and see what differences she finds and then identify what they are. Sounds cool, but I’m more interested in the taste. heh
Tested the gravity this evening of the beers and took the opportunity to do a little blind taste test. The beers probably aren’t perfectly comparable as my efficiency on the LoDo batch was better (OG of 1.059 versus 1.050) I could appreciate a difference and preferred the LoDo. Both are still way too young and have a lot of yeast still in suspension, so I’ll hold off on a final opinion. But for now, I am intrigued.
I have done three batches now using LO methods - 1 pre-boiling and 2 pre-yeasting, with one of the pre-yeasting also getting Brewtan B (just arrived last week from Australia). I can’t get over the remarkable lack of aroma in the mash, extra malty flavor in the wort, clarity of the wort and thickness of the trub/break in the boil kettle (I have a false bottom screen in my boil kettle and use stainless mesh canisters for pellet hops). I have some dialing in to do, but this approach has me very intrigued on German beers.
Hey pkrone. PM me - I am doing this on my Brew-Magic. There are few things to look at and tighten up. Not a lot of work, but it dramatically reduced my DO uptake.
Well, thank-YOU for the really cool website with tons of great info. The yeast scavenging method is super easy. I’m still working on a mash cap. Last batch I used one of those plastic grill mats and wound my recirculating hose beside and underneath it. Seemed to work ok albeit inelegant.
