With the release of the paper and podcast, I was mobbed with emails, pm’s and requests related to Low Oxygen brewing methods. The common thread with the curiosities was how it translates, if at all, to other beer styles. After the 100th request I set out to try and put this all together and try and get our singular point across: This is an overarching technique with applications in all styles of beer. I took an absence from forum activity, but I never stopped trying and testing. I was left with a bunch of data, not really specific to any particular style (although obviously I brew many lagers), but rather the brewing process in general. Ultimately we created this site, defined step by step processes in an easily digestible format, and most importantly tried to help the masses understand this very advanced topic. I entered the lions den (AHA) to try and set the record straight, and educate folks on what it is and how to do it. While completely dismissed by some, some really took to it and are really loving the benefits.
I have been consulting with a few smaller breweries around the US, helping them tackle some issues, and they are seeing some really nice results. So those things coupled with the animosity talking about these techniques on public boards prompted us to go the route of a separate forum. There is some definite bias towards the process and rather than try and understand and absorb the information, some resorted to trolling and purposefully derailing otherwise useful threads. This was making members basically resort to talking though pm’s (which is fine but doesn’t get the ideas out there to potentially help others) and me having to type the same responses 25 times a day (no joke). In the end we felt something had to be done.
With some boards having sole focus on certain styles, and no public board wanting to really go along with the flow, we decided to model our forum on, and dedicate it to Low Oxygen brewing. This is the anchor and foundation of the content and our hope is that through open dialogue we can show everyone that these methods can produce any style of beer. We hope it will be a place where brewers can learn the techniques regardless of their skill level, background or beer style preference, and can come together and hash it all out. With so many things that need to be validated, and even still discovered, it only made sense to do it this way.
After some initial beta testing we think the forum is ready to go live, its going to be a simple format with content that hopefully all can learn from. You can get there from the new link on the top, or directly by clicking here. We still plan to remain active across all the other forums, but now we have our own little slice of the web.
Cheers and happy browsing!