Is Hot Side Aeration Bullshit?
Will I get off flavours in my beer?
I never have given hot side aeration a lick of thought in the past, until someone mentioned to me that I'm probably getting off flavours from the way I aerate my wort during the whirlpool process of my Unibräu/Unitank Pro systems. Naturally I was worried. Off flavours in my beer? Of course I doubted myself, and tried the last east coast IPA that I brewed, worried I'd screwed things up. It's sometimes hard when you brew, you always 'think' that you taste something, and rarely am I completely satisfied with one of my creations. Immediately I jumped on my computer and typed 'hot side aeration', and came up with this article related to whirl pooling and hot side aeration from the Homebrewers Association:
Whirlpooling makes a world of difference
I read it and became more concerned. The thing is, I KNOW that to aerate any liquid, it gets progressively more challenging to actually aerate the warmer it gets as cold water can hold much more oxygen than warm water. However, I needed to get some answers about this, and I typed 'is hot side aeration while whirl pooling bullshit?' and came across this article from Brulosophy:
Hot Side Aeration - PT1: High Vs. Low Aeration / Exbeeriment Results!
For those who don't know what Brulosophy does, they conduct side by side experiments and I've found the articles and views on brewing unconventional and refreshing. I also appreciate that they actually take the time to separate convention from fact, and I've learned lot's about brewing along the way.
I felt quite relieved after reading the article, as it confirmed what I'd thought about hot side aeration, and I'm not going to change a thing about the way I whirlpool in the future! I suppose the mind can play tricks on you from time to time...
And, for the record: I've never experienced any off flavours whirl pooling in this manner. In fact, I recommend it!
Here's a quick video showing how I whirlpool using using any one of our systems:
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