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Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.
Anytime brass is heated enough, like red heat, you lose zinc and have changed the chemical composition of the brass your working with. This doesn't make the brass better.
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Interestingly enough, brass has a surprising amount of lead in it. Now it is required that brass for plumbing fixtures be certified to be lead free ( I actually played some small role in causing that to happen).
But as you point out if you get it bright red or even dull red for too long you have messed it up the wrong way and it will be too soft. The machines that anneal, do so at low temperatures for longer periods of time. It does not matter which way it is done as long as you do not over do it.