30 replies to this topic

[denny]

httpss://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-25-brewtan-your-questions-away

Second half of the Q&A episode is now ready for your listening and "learning" pleasure!

But first, before we dive into your questions, we're back with your feedback from the first Q&A episode and some Barley Crop Reports that we've cribbed from our friend Teri Fahrendorf and Denny reports on his eggs, because they're expensive!

Then we grabbed a chance to talk with multiple (no, really, multiple) award-winning homebrewer Joe Formanek. Normally we'd subject Joe to the whole twenty questions routine because seriously the man's impressive, but you can go read his profile in Homebrew All-Stars until we get back to that. Why the wait? Because Joe has an interesting new brewing product that he's helping spread the word on - Brewtan B. What is Brewtan B? Well, listen to the episode and find out.

Speaking of finding out - we're happy to announce our next experiment - this one is completely focused on figuring out if Brewtan B does what it says on the tin. (And in that spirit we're giving our IGORs some time to have some fun as well)

Then we get into your questions. For convenience's sake we've divided the questions into general topic categories. This episode we tackle Packaging and Philosophy Questions.  We even have more "live" callers!

Episode Links:

    BrewTan B - https://www.natural-.../Brewtan B -%2...
    Patreon Remember even a buck is good for charity: https://www.patreon....rimentalbrewing
    Experimental Brew Store - httpss://www.experimentalbrew.com/store

Episode Contents:

00:00:00 Our Sponsors

00:04:34 Feedback

00:14:50  Library

00:21:17 Lounge - Joe Formanek and BrewTan B

00:46:37 The Lab - BrewTan B Experiment

00:50:39 Q&A Part Deux - Packaging Questions

01:32:30 Philosophy Questions

02:21:29 Recap

[Big Nake]

Sweet. So glad Joe was able to shed some light on that. I also didn't realize that he worked for Ajinamoto... I thought he was a brewer and had heard of Brewtan and decided to use it. The fact that he works for them tells me that he believes in the product. Thanks for posting this and thanks for asking Joe my question. I have to say... I was drinking one of my "gold lagers" last night and was amazed at how polished it looked. It was absolutely crystal clear with little bubbles rising in the glass and I think that brewtan is responsible for at least some of that...

[denny]

Geez, Ken, I thought I had posted multiple times that Joe works for the company.  One of us is spacing out! 

 

Remember, Joe will be back after the first of the year to help us analyze the experiment results.  Plus, I just posted Joe's email addy on the EB website so you can ask him questions directly!

Edited by denny, 12 October 2016 - 12:55 PM.

[HVB]

 Plus, I just posted Joe's email addy on the EB website so you can ask him questions directly!

 

Oh man, I hope he is ready for what may come!

 

 

[denny]

Oh man, I hope he is ready for what may come!

 

He said he was....we'll see if he knew what he was getting into!

[Big Nake]

I don't remember you mentioning it but you may have and I just thought he was a homebrewer who had found a great product to use. It's not an issue now that I'm using brewtan. The fact that we have Joe's email is both GREAT and dangerous. I feel like I would want to shoot him an email with a "thank you" but also with some other things that are bouncing around in my head about brewtan. Denny, I heard you say (on the podcast) that your German Pils (one with brewtan, one without) was very different and you thought that a triangle was not even necessary. Have you concluded that brewtan is doing something positive to the beer? How many batches have you made with brewtan? Cheers and thanks again.

[denny]

I don't remember you mentioning it but you may have and I just thought he was a homebrewer who had found a great product to use. It's not an issue now that I'm using brewtan. The fact that we have Joe's email is both GREAT and dangerous. I feel like I would want to shoot him an email with a "thank you" but also with some other things that are bouncing around in my head about brewtan. Denny, I heard you say (on the podcast) that your German Pils (one with brewtan, one without) was very different and you thought that a triangle was not even necessary. Have you concluded that brewtan is doing something positive to the beer? How many batches have you made with brewtan? Cheers and thanks again.

 

Well, Joe said he wants to answer questions, so let him have it!  The pils was the only split test I've done.  I've used it in many other beers and subjectively feel it did great things.  I am SO anxious to see how the experiment turns out!  BTW, if anybody here other than drez wants to get in on it, we have one slot open.

[Steve Urquell]

I'm about ready to compare another 2 batches of the same recipe. One with BT, the other without. Both SMASH pils batches.Letting the BT batch lager a bit.

[Big Nake]

I'm about ready to compare another 2 batches of the same recipe. One with BT, the other without. Both SMASH pils batches.Letting the BT batch lager a bit.

Keep us posted and let us know your conclusions once you've sampled. You and I make a lot of the same styles and we both brew with relatively simple equipment so I'll be interested in your findings. Cheers.

[denny]

The GBF guys have returned to the AHA forum to claim Brewtan can't possibly work.

[HVB]

The GBF guys have returned to the AHA forum to claim Brewtan can't possibly work.

  Funny, for some reason I was bored at lunch yesterday and headed to their forum and read the brewtan thread...lol .. #lodoforlife

[Big Nake]

The GBF guys have returned to the AHA forum to claim Brewtan can't possibly work.

I just caught a little bit of that. I'll tell you what... the experience I have had so far WRT brewtan is great. My beers are better and I can tell that. My conclusion is that the process I'm currently using to make beer is very satisfactory to me. I consider my standards for beer to be high. I make a lot of finesse styles and consider the beers I make to be excellent. Maybe the German IT character is not really what I'm after in the long run. Brewtan has made my beers softer, smoother and silkier and those were missing (in many cases) in the past. So I don't really care what the science tells us or whether someone thinks that brewtan doesn't work... it does do something for my beers, no question. I am also very tired of Bryan's attitude towards this subject (and most subjects, really) and other brewers. I don't know how he is IRL but he comes across as very rough around the edges and ungraceful online. He can keep his opinions and his snarky attitude.

[positiveContact]

I just caught a little bit of that. I'll tell you what... the experience I have had so far WRT brewtan is great. My beers are better and I can tell that. My conclusion is that the process I'm currently using to make beer is very satisfactory to me. I consider my standards for beer to be high. I make a lot of finesse styles and consider the beers I make to be excellent. Maybe the German IT character is not really what I'm after in the long run. Brewtan has made my beers softer, smoother and silkier and those were missing (in many cases) in the past. So I don't really care what the science tells us or whether someone thinks that brewtan doesn't work... it does do something for my beers, no question. I am also very tired of Bryan's attitude towards this subject (and most subjects, really) and other brewers. I don't know how he is IRL but he comes across as very rough around the edges and ungraceful online. He can keep his opinions and his snarky attitude.

 

it does seem like it might make the beers smoother and softer.  I feel like on the IPA I recently made that I should have put more bittering hops in.

[HVB]

I just caught a little bit of that. I'll tell you what... the experience I have had so far WRT brewtan is great. My beers are better and I can tell that. My conclusion is that the process I'm currently using to make beer is very satisfactory to me. I consider my standards for beer to be high. I make a lot of finesse styles and consider the beers I make to be excellent. Maybe the German IT character is not really what I'm after in the long run. Brewtan has made my beers softer, smoother and silkier and those were missing (in many cases) in the past. So I don't really care what the science tells us or whether someone thinks that brewtan doesn't work... it does do something for my beers, no question. I am also very tired of Bryan's attitude towards this subject (and most subjects, really) and other brewers. I don't know how he is IRL but he comes across as very rough around the edges and ungraceful online. He can keep his opinions and his snarky attitude.

 

KDSITN

[Big Nake]

He has also live-streamed his brew sessions and his home brewery appears to be very advanced and it contains all kinds of sophisticated equipment. But I'm not impressed with gear as much as I'm impressed by beer. If someone said that this piece of high-end equipment (or that process) would result in far better beer, I would listen and be open-minded. That's why I paid attention to the low-O2 brewing in the first place... I thought it could be beneficial to my beer. It turned out that brewtan and its very easy use improved my beer in the exact way that I was looking for. So I'm very happy and very proud to make, drink and serve my beer because I think it's as good as it's ever been.

Also... for someone who said, "I'm not trying to convince anyone! Try it for yourself!", he sure seems to be trying to convince people. Why would he bother going back and making a long post on page 42 of the brewtan thread?

[denny]

it does seem like it might make the beers smoother and softer.  I feel like on the IPA I recently made that I should have put more bittering hops in.

 

That makes sense considering what Joe said about the effect on hops.

[Big Nake]

That makes sense considering what Joe said about the effect on hops.

On some of these beers I also felt like I could go higher on the hops or possibly the sulfate or both. But that's not a bad thing because some beers in the past were a little on the coarse side which made me feel like I should use more distilled water, less hops, less sulfate or all of those things and I was pushed up against a wall. Now that the brewtan seems to make the beers softer and smoother, I'm in a spot where I can either leave it or control it with more hops or sulfate.

[positiveContact]

I'm thinking for malty and more delicate beers (not IPAs) it's going to be a big benefit for me.  also porters/stouts never quite seem as smooth as I'd like at my house.  maybe this will do the trick!

[denny]

I'm thinking for malty and more delicate beers (not IPAs) it's going to be a big benefit for me.  also porters/stouts never quite seem as smooth as I'd like at my house.  maybe this will do the trick!

 

I've made mainly APA/AIPA with it. 

[positiveContact]

I've made mainly APA/AIPA with it. 

 

the problem there is that I already really liked those beers I was making so not as much room for improvement.