by Mike Retzlaff
When you ask someone ‘why?’, too often you get an answer like this: “Why son, it’s been done like that since the days of iron men and wooden ships – we’ve always done it that way.” It isn’t exactly clear why we do a lot of the things we do. Some of those things seem to dance in and out of myth. Other things are simply “monkey-see, monkey-do” without any comprehension of how or why. The next “expert” beer writer simply reinforces a concept of an earlier writer and passes it on as gospel.
a. Always rack your beer from the primary as soon as the krausen falls.
This seems to spring from the early writings of Charlie Papazian among others. In the early days of modern homebrewing (late 1970’s & early 1980’s), about all that was available to the homebrewer was dry yeast and it wasn’t nearly of the quality available today. Racking early was done as a defense measure against a bacterial infection and the off flavors and aromas they can generate.
b. Malted wheat is weak in diastatic power and must be mashed with a high enzyme malt.
This is another of the oft time repeated “facts.” I have no idea where this concept comes from but it is completely wrong. Malted wheat has as much or even more diastatic power as many of the barley malts we commonly use. With the right precautions for lautering, malted wheat can easily comprise 100% of the grist.
c. Roasted grains and malts must be mashed.
Roasted grains have no convertible starch and therefore produce no fermentable extract. They also have little to no enzymes. They can go into the mash but can be steeped.
d. Crystal malts and Caramel malts are the same thing.
Yes and No. True crystal malts are completely converted before roasting for color. They have a crisper and cleaner flavor but are more difficult and expensive to produce. True crystal malts are processed in sealed roasting drums. The range of flavors and aromas for both, even within a particular color designation, can be significant, dependent upon the maltster and process.
e. White wheat malt from Briess Malting is “cattle feed” as it has too much protein.
This may have been true forty years ago, but it isn’t true today. American white wheat, Briess included, has virtually no more protein than that of European wheat malts. Both run about 12% max.
There are lots of other examples, but these illustrate my point. Most of us tend to brew the way we were taught whether that was from a book, from a mentor, or a combination of those and/or other factors. Each of us tend to become set in our ways but that is simply human nature. Some are frightened by change. We must choose to maintain the comfort of status quo or suffer the horror of “anything bad can happen!”
There is a cost to any change. The cost of going from a rectangular plastic ice chest mash tun to a cylindrical plastic water cooler isn’t expensive like buying a new car but it isn’t free. Besides the cost of the water cooler, you have to buy either a false bottom, tubular manifold, or a bazooka screen to complete the change. That coupled with the uncertainty of any real gain in one’s brewing can cause a brewer to maintain the status quo. One brief note here; if you can’t seem to make good beer in a plastic bucket, don’t indulge yourself by purchasing a stainless steel cylindroconical fermenter in hopes that it will make a difference; it won’t. Most equipment upgrades don’t make better beer but can certainly make brewing a bit easier.
Don’t fear change. Without it, we’d still be in the era of “iron men and wooden ships.”
Crescent City Brew Talk 