To Skim Or Not To Skim?

[manticle]

Manticle, maybe you should try jocks on for first hop, lower 'em round the knees for flavour, and then pants down for aroma!

Have been 'jocks on' for bittering consistently since I started AG but aroma addition normally involves half on and scratching underneath. I'm happy with the resulting beers but I might try your method just for a laugh.

There is a good braukaiser article about the effects of undergarment wearing on the final product here: www.braukaiser/ijustmadethislinkupitsrubbish.com

or here: www.homebrewtalk/boxersandbeer/dontbelieveawordthisguysays.com


Plenty of info about the effect of sexy lingerie on beer flavour and stability at www.howtobrew/lace_teddy/Ijustturned18/couldyoumakemea_shandy_please.com

 

[jakub76]

Here's a poll on skimming (and subsequent discussion)

AHB Skimming Poll

Thanks for the link. I assume the previous thread is why manticle is wearing dick-togs.

 

[bjay]

I was told by a experienced brewer ,
Dont put anything in your beer that tasted like crap,,
And thats why he skimmed of the crud,
,And thats why i do it cause it tastes a bit shitty
But everybody is different :blink:

bjay

Edit; I skim before i put the hops in the boil

 

[Pumpy]

I used to skim all of the foam off the top of the wort while boiling in the kettle, I read somewhere that it was protiens that should be removed just like the hot break etc. However listening back to the Brew Strong episode on Head Retention they suggested not to skim it as that protien could go back into the beer and help aid head retention. I'm sure I read somewhere that froth will only form once so I'm not really sure which way to go.

Last brew I did change my process to not skim, I'm interested to see if it does effect my head retention. It did seem to effect the vigour of the boil, keeping heat in and making for a more intense boil.

Do you skim?

If you have a fine enough mesh under your false bottom in your mash tun ,you will not need to skim its only solids getting through to the kettle that causes material on the top of the boil that cause boilover .

It will make your brew day so much better than standing over the kettle scum skimming .

If you do one change to your brew process , do this you will never look back .

Pumpy

 

[Muggus]

I try not to skim. Unfortunately, like others, i'm not blessed with a giant kettle/pot/boiling vessel, so I really have to push it to the limits to hit volumes and avoid boil overs.
In an ideal world, i'd rather not have to mess around with it...i'm losing sugars and proteins from my beers!

HOWEVER, I have noticed that the wort tends to reduce/evaporate more readily if I have skimmed the foam off the top.
Not sure if there's a reason behind that or not...?

 

[unrealeous]

I'm a non-skimmer. I haven't seen any decent argument that skimming improves your beer, and perhaps the counter argument that skimming can reduce head retention. Plus I'm lazy. Bone Lazy.

Having said that - I can't imagine skimming is any different to losing a bunch of beer through your blow-off tube.

Can't find any reference to it in the Kunz brewing bible - Technology Brewing and Malting, nor on other sites such as braukaiser

So it would appear those Germans don't do it.

 

[argon]

Plus I'm lazy. Bone Lazy.

This just about sums up every decision I make in regards to whether to do something or not

 

[pcmfisher]

Dont put anything in your beer that tasted like crap,,

Ever tried chomping on a hop pellet?

 

[bjay]

Ever tried chomping on a hop pellet?

Thats because they are concentrated they dont taste,smell to bad fresh in small amounts

bjay