Berk, I have owed mally an email for about a week and he probably won't get a reply for another month as it will take me about four hours of thinking to reply to it. Your question is much easier
.
Berk wrote:As long as you anticipate the correct reduction in wort, does the evaporation rate matter? Is there any negative affect to product quality? Thanks.
Firstly, if you don't know what mally means by SMM than don't feel bad because neither do I. I could look it up I suppose but I'm not going to as I have just beaten mally in
Cheesetradamus and am feeling quite superior
.
Secondly, if you are a home brewer, especially if brewing outdoors, no matter what podcasts etc like to tell you, you will
not be able to predict your evaporation rate. This site will give you the best prediction rates around but this site will also tell you they can vary wildly.
Mally mentioned hop isomerisation above. Let's leave that for now as there are so many [MOD EDIT: misunderstandings] in that area I can't even begin to explain them. (Apologies to Moderators. I know swearing on this site is rarely acceptable but am unsure of how better to express this fact
. And I won Cheese this week so this proves I know more than mally anyway
).
...
Berk's question is a very good one. He is actually asking about a lot of things here that many of us
think we have the answer to but we don't. In essence, it all boils down to (excuse the pun) is a vigorous boil better than a simmer?
...
Berk, for home brewers, a good rolling boil is what you should aim for, especially now. And, when you have done a thousand side by side beers on a hundred different styles then maybe send me a letter saying that you have noticed a bee's dick difference in your outcomes.
...
Atm, there are bugger all proven truths in home brewing.
In fact we are still struggling with many of the very basics. For example, more recently we discovered here,on BIABrewer.info, that all-grain recipes require more hops than extract recipes. But, this is not addressed in one of the books that I recommend most
.
...
It is very easy in this whole home-brewer industry, especially on major forums, to come across people selling or sprouting unproven ideas. Berk, there are a billion unfortunate falsehoods or unproved 'truths' out there.
Simple equipment, accurate thermometers, cleanliness, honest ingredients*, patience and a good recipe are pretty much all you need to brew a great beer. You definitely don't need to worry about your boil if it is rolling.
PP
P.S. And, I don't usually ramble as badly as this so my apologies.
* Someone sold me Amarillo hops recently that weren't amarillo
.
If you have found
the above or anything else of value on BIABrewer.info, consider supporting us by
getting some BIPs!
. I could have easily misinterpreted what you were actually asking. If so, let me know 
). It does get a bit annoying though when you have to spend so much time correcting/explaining things that would be unnecessary if a few people had taken a little more care.
. I know you won't need the amount of detail I have written below but I'll write it for any of the newer brewers who might be reading.
).