Fast Lager Method

[darthkotor]

Narcout, I have been doing some research on DO meters recently and the ones linked really do seem like the best bang for the buck. The Milwaukee has mixed, at best, reviews. Some saying it craps out after a month and needs near constant re calibration.

I am going to assume that these meters are like every other industrial, digital tool out there (I have managed restaurants and do own a woodworking business, so there is some similar tools I am familiar with).

It seems that with these kinds of things a cheap one will do, but an nicer one will maintain its calibration longer, be physically tougher, easier to read, maintain, and replace broken parts.

I've put the DO meter on the wishlist and I guess we will just have to wait it out. Until then, I am reading as much as possible so I can put that meter to good use.

[Bryan R]

The Milwaukee needs a full calibration everytime it is turned off. Which takes about 15 minutes, it's quite the PITA. The extech has been much more reliable, and seems to have better resolution. I use it quite frequently, and calibration takes about 10 seconds.

[wobdee]

I keep eyeing these DO meters but haven't been able to pull the trigger as of yet but I do see it as an essential brewing tool

[pietro]

I love great beer, but there is no way I'm springing for one of these

Since I started the thread, however, I can further perpetuate the threadjack:

Do those that have these use them for finished beer QC? Ie see how much oxygen ingress is present in your process? I would think that would be almost a more valuable diagnostic than knowing the exact DO percentage in your wort (glycogen synthesis is really the goal right?)

There's a tale that a QC analyst that was evaluating The Alchemist's beer, Heady Topper, thought his DO meter was faulty, as it was reading so low in the finished beer. John Kimmich is a fanatic about preventing oxygen ingress, everything post-boil is pushed with gas or gravity, no pumps anywhere. Not traditional German beer obviously, but I think that brewery sets itself apart with some/many/all of the practices discussed on this forum, that are contrary to a lot of brewing dogma..

[Bryan R]

[Weizenberg]

You need one. Ignore at your own peril.

[Techbrau]

Hard to argue with the alchemist.

[Owenbräu]

Not in brewing dogma, but homebrewing dogma. That's a critical distinction. The "I don't need to worry about what commercial brewers worry about" argument falls flat. Scale, sure. Physics, thermodynamics, chemistry - all still follow the same laws. Read what the brewers read, not what someone thinks is a good summary for homebrewers.

[narcout]

[Bryan R]

Ok so, I now have some beers that I have cold fermented as baselines to my normal fermentation procedures. There is no comparison... Seriously. I will never warm ferment again. That is all.