Like “fly sparging,” the term “flameout” appears to have entered the amateur brewing lexicon in the last ten years. Who coined the term? I still use the term “knockout.”
Another thing that has occurred in the amateur brewing community is the generalization of the term “dough-in” as a replacement for the commonly-accepted term “mash-in.” A dough-in is a specific type of mash-in. The term derives from the consistency of a mash that is made with a sub-quart per pound hot liquor to grist ratio. Unlike a typical mash-in where the grist is mixed into the hot liquor or mixed with the hot liquor on the way to the tun, a dough-in involves sprinkling the grist with water and kneading it until the grain can hold no more hot liquor.
I know that language evolves; however, I often feel like I am speaking a different language than those who have entered the hobby in the last ten years. I remember the first time that I encountered the term “fly sparging” while listening to someone discuss mashing at my LHBS after returning to the hobby. After looking term up, I said to myself, “Oh, he meant sparging.”
That’s interesting because the term does not appear in the original version of the book. The term is undoubtedly more than ten years old, but its general acceptance as a replacement for knockout and “time 0” in the amateur brewing community appears to correlate with the rise of Internet brewing forums. The oldest posting that I have found that contains the term flameout (actually “flame-out”) was made on rec.crafts.brewing in 2001 (Redirecting to Google Groups). I am going to see if I can find a pre-2001 Home Brew Digest (HBD) that contains the term. It will be interesting to discover who coined the term.
I bet it was someone who likes jets or rockets or flies jets or rockets or someone who saw a documentary about jets or rockets who coined the term as relating to homebrew.
Yes, “knockout” (knock-out) was synonymous with “time 0” when I first started brewing in the early nineties (as in knocking out the flame). At that point in time, the process of draining/pumping the wort out of one’s kettle was referred to as “casting out.” If you read John Palmer’s book (which was written in the nineties), you will see that he uses the term as a synonym for “time 0.”
When hops are added during the final minutes of the boil, less of the aromatic oils are lost to evaporation and more hop aroma is retained. One or more varieties of hop may be used, in amounts varying from 1/4 - 4 oz, depending on the character desired. A total of 1-2 oz. is typical. Finishing hop additions are typically 15 minutes or less before the end of the boil, or are added “at knockout” (when the heat is turned off) and allowed to steep ten minutes before the wort is cooled. In some setups, a “hopback” is used - the hot wort is run through a small chamber full of fresh hops before the wort enters a heat exchanger or chiller."
While the term “knockout” was borrowed from the professional brewing lexicon, the term “flameout” appears to be a 100% amateur brewing term. I have yet to see it printed in any professional brewing textbook.
I remember seeing ‘knockout’ in the early 90’s , but I remember seeing ‘flameout’ not long after. I’ll try to find an old reference in my brewing literature to post. I always took ‘flameout’ to be an obvious synonym - hops added ‘when the FLAME goes OUT’.
I have to wonder about using the term knock out for a term indicating the end of a boil. To me, knock out is when you knock the plug out of the tun and start the run off. Flame out is very descriptive, although I now need to use the term ‘power off’.
Okay, who was the first amateur brewer to generalize the term “dough-in?” Most amateur brewers today use the term without realizing that a dough-in is a specific type of mash-in. Mash-in still appears to be the term of choice in the professional brewing and distilled spirits worlds.
I rarely see homebrwers use dough-in. sometimes for sure. I certainly think of a very thick first step in a complicated step mash when I hear dough-in. Mash-In is the term I and most of the homebrewers I know use.