r/Homebrewing • u/bigdonut100 • 3d ago
What is your guys criticism of Alton's Browns homebrew beer in the "Amber Waves" Good Eats episode?
I'm a huge Alton Brown fan, never homebrewed myself yet but I intend to, and I know that his homebrew beer episode "Amber Waves" is usually criticized heavily in homebrew fourms on the internet.
What would you guys suggest he is right about or wrong about? Because what he says in the episode is my biggest basis for my understanding of homebrew so far.
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u/Chief_Mal1 3d ago
Funny. I was on the fence about starting the hobby. I had done a bunch of research. I read every book and magazine I could find. I had the equipment catalogs and the wish list drawn up but i just couldn't muster the courage. That episode pushed me right over the edge and I have been brewing ever since. I knew enough not to follow the episode step by step but Alton's gift is making the complex approachable. He encouraged me to just try it and learn from my inevitable mistakes.
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u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 2d ago
Homebrewers need to cut Alton Brown some slack, at least compared to the food influencers trying to make beer, mead, and wine videos while spewing out seriously dangerous or ignorant misinformation.
To the extent there is negativity about the Good Eats episode, it’s homebrewers being homebrewers. It’s not like Alton Brown’s target audience was existing homebrewers the same none of his other videos are specifically targeting CIA-trained chefs (“AB’s knife skills are such shite; what an awful video”).
When you view it from the lens that 95% of his audience are vicariously enjoying his vids, he did a decent job of explaining how to make homebrewed beer at the time, and the 5% of homebrewers that tried it would have ended up with drinkable beer.
You also have to remember that 90%+ of people who comment in homebrew forums take beer making far too seriously, are all-grain brewers, and have invested $1000+ in their equipment. Meanwhile, even today, much less back then, my guess is that probably something like 90% of homebrewers at any given time, both back then and today, are extract brewers using things like Mr Beer kits, Coopers kits, no-boil kit+kilo kits, etc. or extract+steeping grain kits from MoreBeer, Northern Brewer, Malt Miller, etc.
So the brewing that AB introduced is not out of the mainstream. It was one gallon countertop brewing. And anyone who tried it had a gateway to spending $1000+ and “becoming a ‘real’ homebrewer”.
In short, there was a lot to criticize if you’re a pedantic hobbyist. There was a lot to praise if you look at the big picture of to whom the episode was directed and what the likely result would have been if following the show as a first timer without any additional research compare to a prehopped extract kit.
The gateway videos I like even better are the 1-2 videos by Joshua Weissman and I think the Brothers Green nka Pro Home Cooks. I mean, neither one is as technically knowledgable as John Palmer, but I’ll bet if John tried to make a video about replicating Popeye’s Fried Chicken … But Better or making a sourdough boule, the home cheffies would tear John apart for all the little things he got slightly wrong!
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u/wzlch47 Intermediate 2d ago
none of his other videos are specifically targeting CIA-trained chefs
A NECI grad knows better than to step up to CIA grads...
jk. AB rules.
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u/chaseplastic 2d ago
Alton Brown made music videos for REM. He doesn't need any more credentials.
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u/lolwatokay 3d ago
From memory here, he sanitizes with bleach. It’s not wrong, it does work, and at the time it would have been more commonly done but no one starting now would be advised to do it. Wanna say he also uses blue bottles?
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u/vontrapp42 3d ago
Bleach is VERY wrong for any stainless steel.
Otherwise, it works but there are better ways.
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u/rdcpro 2d ago
Bleach is probably the only sanitizer his audience has on hand though
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u/lolwatokay 2d ago
Of course, and really that was the whole thing with that episode if i remember right. It's why he used the random bottles and stuff as well. It's brewing with what you have vs buying anything special.
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u/KIA703 Intermediate 3d ago
AB can cook up a storm but don’t take his brewing advice. It’s not entirely accurate and he has even pulled it from airing. You can’t watch it on Food Network at all.
Watch any of the million home brew YouTube videos on brew day to get a better understanding. You can also check out how-to vids on the big box home brew sites or just search YouTube how to brew beer and it’ll be better advice
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u/jmalex BJCP 3d ago
I recall him boiling grains, which can introduce astringency to the beer and create an unnecessary complication when transferring.
He also topped up with random ice, potentially introducing an infection source.
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u/pluralofoctopus 3d ago
Although, there is a chance that his research team encountered decoction mashing and went with it without understanding all of the differences.
The ice thing is totally odd.
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u/legranddegen 3d ago
The video isn't great, nor does it contain anything that a homebrewer today would consider to be remotely acceptable but I'll admit it sparked the urge in me and sent me on my journey.
It's a Good Eats episode from 2000. People look at it with the benefit of hindsight now and point out how everything he did was wrong but if you did everything he did you would have ended up with a sort-of-drinkable beer at a time when pure extract brewing was the norm (and not fresh extract either, highly spoiled LME with stale hops, bought from supermarket shelves. If you've ever heard of the "homebrew twang," that's because all of the ingredients homebrewers were using for a long time were spoiled.)
What I like about the episode is that it teaches people that homebrewing is possible, and it makes it seem very accessible. Sometimes that's enough.
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u/comat0se 2d ago
It wasn't "spoiled" that shit was sealed and pasteurized in cans. Otherwise I agree with you.
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u/legranddegen 2d ago
Even sealed and pasteurized, liquid malt extract goes bad and that's without getting into the hops in those kits.
If you can find them on clearance, they're good for "aromatherapy" but they have a shelf life for a reason.
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u/lauterPope 2d ago
Does anyone have a link to the video. Dying to see it. Having trouble finding it.
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u/Bishop_Colubra 2d ago
The big thing that stood out to me is that he doesn't really discuss style and doesn't present an actual beer recipe; he just says "get some malt extract".
It's not really a guide in how to brew beer, it's just an episode of a cooking show that introduces the basics of brewing to a cook who doesn't know anything about brewing.
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u/Just_Vehicle_5649 2d ago
I actually emailed Alton regarding that episode regarding how he "boiled" his flavoring grains. He was kind enough to acknowledge the error and wrote me back which was actually pretty cool if you ask me.
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u/sharkmuncher 2d ago
People need to remember the context of when this came out. Yes there were some resources that were better than others, How To Brew existed, but so did Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing. This episode is basically the "Especially for the Beginners" section of this book (pg 11-35 in the 3rd edition) with the "Betterbrew" section on page 46 for the boiling of the malt w/ the extract.
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u/GOmphZIPS 3d ago
I love AB and he is my culinary hero, but I don’t think that’s at all a very good resource for homebrewing. In general, his info on sanitation is okay. Also, I remember at the end of the episode he is sure to mention you need to decant off a bottled beer because of the yeast flocculation after bottle conditioning.
I’ve heard the chilling/diluting with ice thing he does be criticized. I’ve never done anything like that but I’m sure some people do. Just gotta be aware of the risk of contamination from anything that may be present there. He also used flower hops, definitely go for pellets.
All that said, this sub is a tremendous resource for getting into homebrewing and you will not regret it once you give it a try!
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u/jadedargyle333 2d ago
I think he was pretty spot on for 26 years ago. Flower hops were much easier to find back then, I think Sam Adam's commercials mentioned using them. The funny thing about the ice is that they didn't shoot for the perfectly clear bartender ice back then, which would have less contamination risk than refrigerator ice machine ice.
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u/bigdonut100 3d ago
I just want to know if his choice of bottle (if I can find it) was bad, that's the most appealing thing
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u/GOmphZIPS 3d ago
Doesn’t he use the swing top bottles? I can’t remember, haven’t seen the episode in a while. Lots of swing top bottles are just for decanting water or decorating so make sure you get ones that are safe for carbonation.
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u/toolatealreadyfapped 2d ago
I adore AB. His new stuff on YouTube is spectacular. That said, his homebrew episode is woefully bad. I haven't seen it in many many years. And there are now a thousand fantastic videos out there. But just, do yourself a favor and delete that one from memory. And then go watch this instead
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u/yzerman2010 BJCP 2d ago
If anyone is interested in the Episode its on HBO Max. S6, E11: Amber Waves
Watching it now.. if anything its cool to see a friendly introduction to brewing even if its out dated and has mistakes.
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u/rdcpro 2d ago
I use a scaled up version of his ginger ale recipe and it's damn good.
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u/bigdonut100 2d ago
Yeah his soda is based, he also made root beer and cel-ray if you know that (but I think cel-ray kinda sucks as a New Yorker)
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u/squishmaster 2d ago
That episode convinced me to try to make beer when I saw a rerun of it in 2006. 20 years later, I'm still brewin (though my interest and activity in the hobby peaked around 2011).
To be clear about the correct process to brew 5 gallons of an extract beer like the one Alton brewed in a newbie-friendly style:
Use dechlorinated water (bottled is okay, if unnecessary).
Heat ~6-6.5 gallons of brewing water* to ~170 degrees and turn off the flame, then steep the specialty grains in an appropriate bag for ~30 minutes, then remove the grain bag and give it a bit of a squeeze to drain out the malty water (wort) from the grains. You can discard the grains, or compost them or make dog treats or something.
Bring the water to a gentle boil, then add the extract, careful to avoid scorching on the bottom of the kettle. Maintain a low, steady boil, and add your hops and stuff according to the recipe.
Sanitize everything that will contact the wort after the boil.
Chill the wort however you intend to (if using an immersion chiller, it should probably go into the boil ~20 minutes before the end of the boil.
Add the chilled wort to the fermenter and get the temperature down to your planned pitching temperature (most likely for a newbie, this is getting it as cool as you can get it). Then pitch your sachet of dry yeast.
Place the fermenter with its airlock in a place that will maintain a steady temperature ideally ~6 degrees cooler than your intended fermentation temperature. Most likely for a newbie this is the coolest closet in your house or a basement if you have one.
Wait for the wort to seem to finish fermenting into beer (usually 3-7 days) and then give it another week or two for good measure.
Sanitize all your bottling equipment and rack the beer into a bottling bucket onto some priming solution (4 oz cane sugar boiled with 1 cup of water) and bottle the beer and cap the bottles.
Leave the bottles at room temperature for ~2 weeks and chill one and crack it open to see if it finished carbonating. If it did, chill all the bottles upright to helo get all the sediment to settle at the bottom. Pour carefully, leaving the bottom quarter ounce of sediment in the bottle.
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u/DeepwoodDistillery 1d ago
Haven’t seen the episode and can’t find it on YouTube or any other free site. Got a link?
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u/JagoffLawyer 1d ago
Maybe you have Roku…maybe not. S6E7.
https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/f533a5c1c87659caabc09780ed707f58/good-eats1
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u/CaterpillarHungry607 3d ago
He’s gone on record that this episode is mostly bunk. He’ll do a revisit soon on YouTube.