I’ve dropped my dose down to no more that 50ppm for any and all situations. I don’t care if I do end up with a less quality wort, I’ve had a few sulfur bombs and it sucks. So too little SMB is better than too much SMB in my opinion.
Yeah, I feel the same. But it seems the trifecta mixture is the way to go anyway - it would keep the SMB at a smaller %. I used it in the dunkel I just brewed. Can’t wait to tap.
I’ve been wondering how to use that for the mash and sparge. The ratio is 45/45/10 for SMB, AA, BtB, yes? I wonder how that would work for the sparge water since I don’t have the ability to do full volume mash for my 5 gallon batches.
Yeah, that’s the ratio I used. I don’t see why you couldn’t use the it in the (preboiled) sparge water at the given dose/volume water.
Dosage of Trifecta is~.37g/gal in mash, and ~.1g/gal in sparge. It would be easier to mix up a bigger batch say 10g( which makes it easy with the ratios), then dose out of that. Keep the mixture in a UV blocking container as AA can be denatured by it.
Cool, good to know.
Thanks, Bryan, good to know about the AA.
Transferred a pale ale to spund tonight and picked up no sulfur from the samples. This was using the same Wyeast 1968 yeast as the sulfur bomb from before (2nd repitch) but I knocked down the SMB dosing rate from 75ppm to 35ppm. I also picked up some AA today for the next go around.
In somewhat other results, I took a bottle of the helles I did to my LHBS to see what I would get as feedback from another taster or two (I don’t prompt them at all, I just give them a bottle and tell them about it after I get some feedback). They took a swig and said “wow, that tastes like grains, maybe plain cheerios”. I took that as a reasonably good outcome, though I’m not sure about the cheerios thing in that I haven’t had cheerios in many decades.
When I taste my grains before mashing often visualize pouring milk on them and having breakfast. I actually did one time and it was awesome. The fresh grain taste is what my favorite German lagers have. I’d take the Cheerios comment as a compliment. Nice job.
Yeah I get Honeynut Cheerios flavor in my Helles depending on how much Carahell I put in there.
While brewing today I was browsing though Fix’s book "Principals of Brewing Science"again, and found this comment that stood out to me…
Bolded for ease…
"Oxidation. The deleterious effects of oxygen uptake at any point
in the brewing cycle is well documented. The only exception to this
is the oxygen introduced at the start of the fermentation. It is true
that there is a considerable variation among beer drinkers both with
respect to their ability to detect oxidized flavors, and with respect to
their acceptance of these notes. Yet the track record is clear in both
amateur and commercial brewing: Consistently successful brewers
are invariably the ones who operate low oxygen systems."
So, to reiterate, I think its safe to say its not for everyone.
Seek out that which confirms your own beliefs, and you can never be wrong.
If I could brew LODO I would. I would have to think better beers are brewed with lower oxygen.
Why can’t you? I bet you can! We love to help people figure out a way with their current system.
Same. With my limited space and early morning brewing windows, I have many hurdles. I already incorporate some practices, and will likely start underletting.
Low Oxygen Conclusions?
It makes good beer and it’s not difficult. My system isn’t all stainless- I still have brass valves and a copper CFC. But the dry stout I made has a rich malt flavor that I’d never gotten before. And with the LODO techniques I think I’m one step step closer to that sparkly pink unicorn of a helles I’ve been chasing for 10 yrs. I’m in, but I’m still willing to learn.
“Wherever you find excellence, you find continuous learning. Wherever you find that continuous learning is missing, you find mediocrity.”
It’s true, it should be stated that one doesn’t HAVE to be all stainless to brew with this method. Even if you have Brewtan B, that will help those who aren’t all stainless. I have a friend who still uses a copper chiller with BtB and his beers have markedly improved using the low oxygen method.
Mine improved big time using BTB with the copper chiller too, before getting the SS. It’s not an all or nothing process at all. Incremental improvement is there for the taking.
I have removed the off-topic aside. Please be civil and keep the thread about beer.
Thank you