Low Oxygen Brewing Is It Really A Thing?

[ScrewyBrewer]

Lately there seems to be a push to reduce or eliminate oxygen from all phases of home brewing. I have struggled to get an answer from the LoDo proponents on the exact benefits though. It seems none of the homebrewers I know have plans to include LoDo brewing into their current brewing process.

The concept is fairly easy to understand, if you eliminate oxygen from your stored grain, during the mash and when packaging your beer and your beer will taste better. The problem is just how much better will the beer taste than beer brewed in the conventional way. If a beer produced with LoDo processes tastes 100% better than one brewed without, then I'm sure anyone could tell the difference and be willing to adopt the process too. If however the beer was only marginally better tasting would it be worth the bother.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on low oxygen brewing. Is it your opinion that it would be something worth trying?

[John Sand]

It is a question. The LoDo advocates claim significant improvement. But I think that may be confirmation bias. After spending time and money on a process, it damn well better work. I have a Belgian Strong in the bottles four years now, it is oxidized. But I just used a bottling wand. I do notice a fade in hop freshness over time in both kegged and bottled beer. Brulosophy did an experiment in which they intentionally oxygenated an IPA, and used LoDo methods for the same recipe. The difference was significant. But that difference should be less with careful ordinary practices, maybe indiscernible.
I am not changing my practices any time soon, but I'm paying attention.

[MadBrewer]

I will start by saying "low oxygen" brewing is mostly just incorporating good solid brewing practices and improving on what you can, and should be. It's taking a look at your process and finding where the holes are and areas you can tighten things up for a better finished product. The benefits are fresher tasting beer that retains that fresh malt and hop flavor longer. Beer that has less color pick up and lacks many flavors or character that we have come to know in our beer but is actually oxidation and staling.

It incorporates many things throughout the process and is a bit of trial and error and a learning curve and will be different for everyone. I have made some changes to my brewing, very much for the better. And like everything in brewing you can be as anal or as easy going about it as you want. I'll put it like this, everyone has experienced an IPA or Pale Ale that was great at kegging time or for the first 2-3 weeks and then fades and falls flat or transitions into some lack luster off flavored, muddled beer that lacks any fresh malt and hop character/aroma...that's oxidation, that's staling. And that can be improved on, low oxygen practices are split almost even between caring for the hot side of things and post fermentation/cold side/packaging.

[mashani]

I'll just mention that some strong and not hoppy old world styles of beer, especially some sours that develop sherry like character like say a Flanders Red or Brown actually benefit from slight oxidation. Granted this is not very many styles, but if you employed crazy levels low oxygen brewing techniques to making such a beer then you would just be increasing aging requirements to get the right flavor profile.

[RickBeer]

Hops aroma and flavor will fade over time in a bottle. There is nothing that can be done to stop that from happening. Zippo. It's simple chemistry. Haven't read up on this, but it defies logic. Until the yeast gets into the anaerobic stage during fermentation, oxygen is desired in the brewing process. Then, from that point on, you don't want it.

As homebrewers, most people don't purge their bottles with CO2, but then again if you're using sugar for carbonation the yeast is consuming any oxygen in the headspace. A commercial brewery will do a purge, sometimes 2, and then cap on foam, which is usually done with a shot of sterile water into the bottle after filling to cause it to foam out the top. A homebrewer cannot do that because the beer is not carbonated, so a shot of water simply adds water to the bottle.

I may do some reading into this to see if it's more than hokum.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I never splash boiling wort, always purge my kegs with Co2 before filling and burst Co2 into bottles before filling and capping. Those are about the closest things I do in regard to LoDo brewing concepts. Unless I or someone else thinks my beers are tasting like cardboard, there are still too many other brewing ideas I'd like to pursue. But I find it interesting, and sometimes amusing the things true LoDo advocates are doing in the pursuit of zero oxygen brewing.

[John Sand]

I agree. I'm careful, but not meticulous. Which is how I do everything.

[RickBeer]

I agree. I'm careful, but not meticulous. Which is how I do everything.

Facts don't lie:

"I broke a pyrex bowl by heating it in boiling water to melt something. My wife wasn't happy, but I pointed out that we have spares."

"So, I got a great new rigging knife for Christmas. Super sharp, it cuts lines with a single stroke. I was working with it on the boat today. I slipped and cut my pinky. It hurt, I yelled. The blood flow let me know I would need stitches. I quickly went below ..."

"But I sprained my ankle and foot this week, and thought I would just relax and make five gallons. I have not tried this recipe before, but it has good feedback online. ..."

[MadBrewer]

That's really what it's all about. The low oxygen guys are just trying to protect the wort as much as possible to produce the freshest and best tasting beer they can. Being mindful and careful of your process is really all they are doing with a few extra tricks. (And some really cool tricks I might add). They have shared some very cool ideas. The ones that take it seriously have a lot of data, experimentation and testing to back it up.

I have made a few changes myself. I have become much more aware of oxidation in my finished beer. It is a real thing, not just the "wet cardboard" or caramel and sherry flavors anyone ever speaks of. Oxidation does a lot in different ways to ruin a good beer. I know we have all made great beer, that's what we do. Maybe sometimes we have just gotten luckier than other times and those beers come out better...and sometimes there is a lot more behind it.

[MadBrewer]

I agree. I'm careful, but not meticulous. Which is how I do everything.

Facts don't lie:

"I broke a pyrex bowl by heating it in boiling water to melt something. My wife wasn't happy, but I pointed out that we have spares."

"So, I got a great new rigging knife for Christmas. Super sharp, it cuts lines with a single stroke. I was working with it on the boat today. I slipped and cut my pinky. It hurt, I yelled. The blood flow let me know I would need stitches. I quickly went below ..."

"But I sprained my ankle and foot this week, and thought I would just relax and make five gallons. I have not tried this recipe before, but it has good feedback online. ..."

I feel I have heard all this before.

[Inkleg]

My latest NEIPA seems to have cardboard flavor I can't pinpoint.

IMG_0062.JPG (95.04 KiB) Viewed 523 times

Kinky

[Beer-lord]

Have you found out what might be causing it. At least you don't have a metallic flavor.

[Dawg LB Steve]

My latest NEIPA seems to have cardboard flavor I can't pinpoint.

IMG_0062.JPG

Kinky

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Have you found out what might be causing it. At least you don't have a metallic flavor.

Sent from my XT830C using Tapatalk

[BlackDuck]

It looks like it is a dry cardboard taste as opposed to a wet cardboard taste. is there a difference?

[MadBrewer]

It must be the lighting skunking the beer.