Author: Marshall Schott

I spend quite a lot of time these days responding to questions and comments from readers about a wide range of things. I try to be as thorough as possible, but it can be difficult given how busy I stay with other stuff. That’s where this idea came from, an article addressing some of the most common concerns, questions, and comments that come up, presented in interview form. My goal is to be as unabashedly honest as possible and respond in a sort of stream-of-consciousness way. While everything in this article was taken from real life, I’ve no intention to call anyone out but rather provide more detailed responses, hence no identifying links or names will be shared. Alright, let’s get to it!

Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think

what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees.

~ Erwin Schrödinger ~

What is your homebrewing background?

I bought a standard starter kit in January of 2003, brewed an Irish Red Ale extract with steeping grains batch with my roommate, liked it, then made another 8 or so batches before I got married in July of 2004. I moved to California for graduate school, brewed a few batches with friends during those 5 years, then jumped back into the hobby like a maniac as soon as I bought a house. I’ve since brewed over 400 batches of beer and cider, most of which have had some experimental component.

How did you get interested in experimenting with brewing and beer?

I’ve always questioned things, curiosity is a part of my nature, and I’ve a particular interest in the human tendency to accept things as fact in the absence of evidence. In every aspect of my life, for better or worse, I dig until I can’t stop digging, refusing to believe something based on someone else’s often anecdotal experience. In homebrewing, many claims exist that I had difficulty finding evidence beyond someone’s self-report to support, and so for fun, I started testing it out. Since the beginning, my aim has purely been to experience for myself the differences caused by certain process variables, ingredients, and even equipment. The fact so many things I staunchly believed to be important haven’t had the expected impact has surprised me as much as anyone else, as well as inspire me to continue experimenting, because to me there can never be enough evidence, science doesn’t give up, and I certainly don’t plan to either.

So, what’s the point?

To have fun while learning about brewing and beer! Plus, I find immense value in feeling productive, and Brülosophy has definitely increased my feeling of productivity.

What do you hope others get out of it?

Whatever it is they want to get out of it, I guess. For some, that might be simple brewing infotainment while others might look to our results to inform their own practices. We’ve made it a point to caution people against accepting xBmt findings as the final answer, as it’s always possible something else is at play, hence the importance of replication. But also, I’m pretty adamant about Brülosophy not being viewed as an authority on brewing, the place people go looking for answers, which often times aren’t static. Because this is just beer, I don’t get too caught up in shit I have no control over including people occasionally misusing our data.The way I see it, the types of folks willing to try the less conventional methods we test out are probably okay with the risk and may even enjoy the more experimental aspect. Also, they are adults who can think and make decisions for themselves.

Are you okay with the fact Brülosophy is ruining the hobby of homebrewing?

If by “ruining” you mean influencing some people to actually think about the methods they use, make decisions based on evidence and experience rather than an appeal to authority or tradition, and perhaps step outside of the box to potentially move the hobby in a novel and fun direction, than yeah, I suppose I’m fine with it. But I call that growth, which is a great thing in my eyes, far better than the alternative of stagnancy.

How valid are your results?

How valid are the many individual anecdotal reports most of us have based our brewing methods on? We may not have sterile labs, but we approach each xBmt in about as neurotically as possible for “real world” researchers, trying our hardest to limit the impact of extraneous variables at all points in the process. The triangle test is the industry standard when it comes to sensory analysis and the statistical equation has been shown to be powerful enough for our typical samples sizes. So, sure, I think our findings carry at least a moderate degree of validity, which isn’t to say I think they ought to be accepted as truth. And honestly, my goal isn’t to convince anyone of anything, so it doesn’t hurt my feelings if others choose to disregard our findings. So it goes.

How do you deal with people who are vocal in their negative view of Brülosophy?

I don’t really have an issue with them. While it’s easy enough to ignore and move on, I fear missed opportunities and tend to engage even the haters. I may get a little snarky at times, but I generally try to keep things as respectful as possible. If I’m being totally honest, I actually find some of the arguments against what we’re doing kind of entertaining. I’ve probably typed this out over a thousand times now, but my favorite thing about homebrewing is the community and, like any community, this one includes people with vastly different perspectives and opinions. We’re going to disagree because we’re different, and I don’t see anything wrong or bad about that.

What have you changed as a direct result of the xBmts?

Not much, really. I no longer worry about kettle trub making it into my fermentor, though I don’t transfer a bunch of it on purpose, just whatever hasn’t settled out once I’m done chilling. I pay way more attention to my brewing water and make adjustments based on the style of beer I’m making. If I’m in a rush, I don’t have any issues reducing my mash or boil lengths, though I usually stick with 60 minutes to keep the brew day a little less hectic. What seems to surprise people is the fact I ferment most of my lagers these days with Saflager W-34/70 at 66°F/19°C using my standard ale fermentation schedule. While I still consider it exBEERimental in nature, I must say I’ve been beyond pleased with the results so far!

Do you still use the quick lager method?

Not so much. I have no problems changing my mind or methods in light of new evidence, to me it’s what makes being a human so fun. Because of this, I rarely use the quick lager method anymore, I don’t see a point if the beers I turnaround in 10 days fermenting warm are indistinguishable from those that take over a week longer when fermented cool.

And what of using WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch yeast for mock lagers?

I think it’s a great yeast that may even produce a unique character, but I’ve not used it in quite awhile, as my whole reason for selecting it was because of how clean the beers it was used to ferment came out. Since my experience is that W-34/70 is equally as clean, even when fermentated at warmer temperatures, I’ve been sticking with it.

Have you any respect for tradition?!

Of course I do! If it weren’t for the brewers of yore, we wouldn’t be where we’re at today. What’s striking to me is the fact the very people known for developing many of the methods we use today were the ones questioning the tradition of their time! Would anybody today argue that their efforts didn’t move brewing in a newer and better direction? I doubt it, so why stop now? What if the brewers we look up to today hadn’t experimented with what were conventional methods back then? We know so much about beer and brewing because of the hard work of those who came before us, they laid a path I refuse to believe has reached its endpoint. In fact, I feel we owe it to them to keep up with what they started!

Are there any xBmt results you’ve seriously questioned or think may have been wrong?

I’d say I’ve seriously questioned the results of more xBmts than I haven’t, but that’s only because most have gone against a belief I held. Considering all 100+ xBmts we’ve completed, the ones I have the most difficult time accepting, based on a combination of dogma and my own personal experience tasting the beers, are those suggesting different types of fermentation vessels produce a perceptual difference in beer. It just seems so inconsequential to me, yet two xBmts on the variable have produced significant results. Of course, this only makes me want to repeat these xBmts multiple times to see if the results can be replicated.

Do you have a particularly favorite xBmt?

I think they’re all pretty interesting, though if I had to choose one that caused me to rethink my brewing dogma most, it’d have to be the first water chemistry xBmt. I was admittedly doubtful the relatively small amounts of minerals and acid brewers adjust their water with made much of a difference in the final product, to the point I’d even stopped worrying about it in my own brewing. Imagine my surprise when, first, I was easily able to identify a difference between the water chemistry xBmt beers, and second, my experience was confirmed by the results. These days, I adjust the water for every batch, tending to stick with only gypsum, calcium chloride, and lactic acid, occasionally using a touch of slaked lime to add alkalinity.

What are your thoughts on the commercial craft beer scene?

As a lover of beer, I think it’s great that more breweries are popping up and more people are drinking beer! Unfortunately, I’ve tasted quite a few beers from new breweries that don’t seem to be as quality-minded as others, which sucks… for them and us.

Do you have any favorite professional breweries?

I can be found at least once a week at my local watering hole, House Of Pendragon Brewing, sipping on my buddy Tommy’s delicious concoctions. I’m also a huge fan of everything I’ve ever had from Chuckanut Brewing in Bellingham, WA, which sadly I can’t get in my area. If I had to choose beer from a well known commercial brewery to take to a deserted island with me, it’d definitely be from Firestone-Walker Brewing, they’ve honestly never made a beer I didn’t like.

If you could only drink one beer for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That’d suck. Given my penchant for lager, I’d go with something like Chuckanut’s Helles Lager. It is such a delicious, thirst quenching, and easy drinking beer. If it had to be something I brewed, probably my latest simplified Vienna Lager made with 97% Vienna Malt and 3% Pale Chocolate. Endlessly crushable.

What are your favorite podcasts that aren’t brewing related?

As a huge fan of the first season of Serial (season 2 was okay), I’ve been completely hooked on the new Accused podcast about an unsolved murder of woman some 30 years ago. I’m also all caught up on Reply All, Radiolab, This American Life, Surprisingly Awesome, and Criminal.

Final question: what are the last 5 songs you listened to?

I get asked about my music preferences way more than I expected. Without shame, the last 5 songs I listened to were (song | artist | record)…

Hopefully this cleared some things up for those who wondered. Feel free to ask more questions or give me shit in the comments section below!

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