HOMEBREW Digest #1052 Mon 11 January 1993

Digest #1051 Digest #1053


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Botulinum in canned malt extract? (Nir Navot)
  kegging (Tom Leith MIR/ERL 362-6965)
  Diminishing Yields (Mike Tavis)
  152 year old Porter yeast (Tony Willoughby)
  COPS and the still ("Mark Rich-mpr8a at acadvm1.uottawa.ca")
  Cops don't know hops ("Bob Jones")
  Storage / shelf life of Crushed Malt (JOHN - GTE - (617) 466-3681)
  growing hops (kstiles)
  re: Mettalic notes in Belgium Ales (Jim Busch)
  All (Charlie Papazian/Boulder)
  Proper Sparging Technique (Tom Clark -- COMNET 435-5045)
  Leaky Kegs (Jack Schmidling)
  Lab Grade plastics (Lou Casagrande)
  Alsan sterilizer (connell)
  Ninkasi article (Rick Myers)
  KETTLE MASHING (Jack Schmidling)
  Homebrew Digest #1051 (January 08, 1993) (Ray Peck)
  Sediment in Carboy (Markham R. Elliott)
  Re: cold plate question (jay marshall 283-5903)
  Germany suggestions? (David Arnold)
  counter-pressure bottle fillers (Tom McCollough)
  re: COPS (Paul dArmond)
  Botulinum in malt extract (Nir Navot)
  Homebrewing supplies in Munich (Nir Navot)
  Cat's Meow (Jim Bayer)
  Our image as brewers (mark)
  Homemade yeast hulls? (chris campanelli)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 11:41:23 +0200 From: Nir Navot <LCNAVOT at WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL> Subject: Botulinum in canned malt extract? I just got a 1.5 kg can of a malt extract "with hopps added". It must have been sitting for a couple of years in this guys store. I took it to a friend who has some experience in homebrewing. As we opened the can the malt started oozing out and some air/gas came out. We figured it might be the result of some bacterial growth, but the malt looked and smeeled just normal. We autoclaved the malt for 20 minutes. We used it for making 25 lit. of what would hopefully become beer. Questions: Has anyone seen bacterial growth in canned malt extract? Can C. botulinum grow in the presence of hopps? If there was any botulinum toxin in the malt extract do you know if we have inactivated it by the 20 min autoclaving. In short, should we not take the risk, dump this batch and start all over with fresh malt extract (which will take me another month to get)??? Nir Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 07:56:06 -0600 From: trl at photos.wustl.edu (Tom Leith MIR/ERL 362-6965) Subject: kegging With respect to the pressure--carbonation level--temperature discussion: In Miller's new book _Brewing the World's Greatest Beers_, he gives a set of guidelines on carbonation level for various styles, and a table of temperature vs. pressure that yields a given level. And this past week, I borrowed a kegging system from my local homebrew supplier, IMO (Thanks, Roy), looked up IPA to get a carbonation level, and dialed-in 17 lbs on the pressure gague because of the cold temperature. Voila, perfectly carbonated beer. Gallons of it. So, the table is really what you need. The book has other things to reccommend it too -- I'd say its worth the price. And I want a kegging system now. Of course, I'll need a regerigerator too... t Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 09:05:53 est From: mtavis at gemini.hyperdesk.com (Mike Tavis) Subject: Diminishing Yields I have just bottled my third attempt at all-grain brewing. I've been very happy with the results so far, but I have noticed a disturbing trend -- my extract rates are plummeting with each batch. My first batch yielded 29 pts/lb/gal (a number I never expected to get the first time). My second batch dropped to 22 pts/lb/gal and my third batch was a miserable 18 pts/lb/gal. All three of these batches had different grains bills, but the technique was pretty consistent. In fact, I tried to do everything the same as the first batch in order to recreate the results. Everything seemed close to that first batch -- the crush was the same, the pH was the same, the temperatures and times were the same -- but my yields are still going in the wrong direction. After many different discussions, one of my brewing buddies asked, "Has the temperature of the wort coming out of the lauter tun been the same?" I said, "I never take that temperature. I just make sure that the sparge water is about 168-170." He said, "Well depending on the size of the grain bed, the sparge water will be lowered and if it gets too low it won't be effective at rinsing the sugars from the grain." I said. "That makes some sense because in each successive batch I have used more grain -- specifically, the first batch used 8 lbs, the second batch 10 lbs, and the third batch 12.5 lbs." So what do you guys think? Should my sparge water temperature depend on the size of my grain bed or do I need to go back to the drawing board? Thanks. - -- Mike o o| Michael Tavis, HyperDesk Corporation o o| Suite 300, 2000 West Park Dr., Westboro, MA 01581 ---+ E-mail: mike_t at hyperdesk.com (508) 366-5050 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 9:08:37 EST From: twilloug at brynmawr.webo.dg.com (Tony Willoughby) Subject: 152 year old Porter yeast I'm posting this for a friend of mine, John Reed. His e-mail address is: johnr at ci.com ================ I read an excerpt from the December 17 issue of "Nature" which describes ancient microbes. The article mentions a *152 year old Porter yeast* which was discovered in a shipwreck from 1825. The divers recovered a bottle of porter which still contained yeast. The yeast was cultured and now is supposedly used in a commercial porter! I would love to try that Porter! Does anyone have a clue what porter uses this 152 year old yeast? Thanks! ================ - -- Tony Willoughby | He that buys land buys many stones. twilloug at brynmawr.webo.dg.com | He that buys flesh buys many bones. | He that buys eggs buys many shells, | But he that buys good beer buys nothing else. | - An Old English Saw Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 09:43:52 EST From: "Mark Rich-mpr8a at acadvm1.uottawa.ca" <MPR8A at acadvm1.uottawa.ca> Subject: COPS and the still At the risk of supporting gung-ho policemen... For those of you unfamiliar with marijuana culture, yes; dope and a still go hand in hand. If you take high percentage grain alcohol and soak marijuana in it; the oils from the plant dissolve into the liquid. If you then evaporate the alcohol you are left with a very sellable product- pot oil. (I have a frien d who does this). I do not defend the cops in their actions on that particular bust (they did seem pretty ignorant of what they stumbled onto), but if this guy was growing large quantities of grass and had brewing equipment around,the odds are pretty good he was distilling for oil producing purposes. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 07:13:40 PST From: "Bob Jones" <bjones at novax.llnl.gov> Subject: Cops don't know hops Maybe those plants growing in the guys closet were HOPS! Don't they look the same when very young plants? Lets give this poor innocent brewer every break possible. Bob Jones Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 10:01:53 -0500 From: rogers%scsd.dnet at gte.com (JOHN - GTE - (617) 466-3681) Subject: Storage / shelf life of Crushed Malt I would like to start mashing. I also would like to save some money and buy the grain in bulk (55 pound sack). Since I do not own a grinder I would be interested in information on storing crushed grain. Should I Freeze or refrigerate it or ??? ? Zip lock bags or a plastic bucket or ??? ? What is the shelf life of crushed malt? (i.e what age / storage conditions will affect mash results, flavor or any other important characteristics? How does the storage / shelf life of crushed malt compare with uncrushed malt? Does the benefit of crushing your own grain outweigh the possible negative affect of pulverizing (rather than grinding) the grain by using a "non-optimized" home crusher? Thanks in advance for any info !!! John Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 10:22:20 EST From: kstiles at alux1.att.com Subject: growing hops jfunk at MAIL.CASI.NASA.GOV asks about growing hops: Jim, It's not too early to start thinking about starting hops in the Mid-Atlantic region. Last year was my first hop harvest, so naturally I feel free to consider myself an authority on hop growing. I'm in SE Pennsylvania, not so different from N Maryland. I got my hop rhizomes in March from Freshops in Philo, Oregon. I planted them immediately in 1-gallon plastic pots and set them in a sunny window until after the last heavy frost. This was late April, and the hop shoots were about 1-2' high. I gave them a dowel-string contraption to climb. Hops like rich, well drained soil, so if you have brick-like clay like I do, you're best off making mounds of soil-compost mixture to plant the shoots in. Choose a sunny spot if possible. Once they start growing, hops are like a weed, and don't really need much fertilizer. The real work is to give them something to climb. I made 7' trellises from a frame made of furring strips and a random network of string. This was OK for the first season, but will clearly not be adequate for established hops. Harvest is in August and September, varying with hop variety. Figuring out when to pick the hops is the trickiest part, but once you have the knack, it's easy. They turn from hard to springy, get a "papery" look to them, and display orange globules at the base of the petals. If the petals turn brown, you waited too long, but you have a fair amount of leeway, so don't worry. The hops do not all ripen at once, so the harvest is spread out over several weeks. After the frosts kill the vine in the fall, I covered the mounds with copious amounts of compost. Limited probing under the mounds has shown an amazing network of rhizomes. I'm offering cuttings to interested parties within driving distance of Allentown (Varieties: Mt. Hood, Chinook, Cascade, Willamette and Nugget). Here's a harvest summary that I sent to another Digest member by email: First year Freshops rhizomes, planted in April in eastern Pennsylvania Variety Dried weight (oz) Comments ======== ======== ======== Cascade 12 Yow! Mt. Hood 5/8 Meager Nugget 3/8 Maybe next year Willamette 3/8 Ditto Chinook 10 1/2 Mutant giant cones All the vines were vigorous, but the Mt. Hood didn't grow very high despite the fact that it took a dramatic early lead over the other varieties. I suspect that I should have taken seriously the advice to thin the shoots to 2 or 3. Picking Cascades and Chinooks is a sensory experience to say the least. I had no pests to speak of. A few leaves with holes, and a (very) few cones that something bored through, and a couple of Japanese Beetles that were really much more interested in other things in my yard. My theory is that hop-loving pests may give a 1-year grace period before they gather in number to devastate your hop yard. For any hop flavor profile experts who have read this far: how would you describe Chinook flavor/aroma? What other hop varieties are similar? I find it a bit odd (though not unpleasant). Kevin Stiles Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 10:53:01 EST From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: re: Mettalic notes in Belgium Ales I have been following the discussion between Dr. Fix and Martin Lodahl concerning Herbstoffe and general flavor profiles found in Belgium Ales/Lambics with interest. The question that I have relates to my experiances of detecting distinct metallic notes in Belgium ales during my travels to Belgium. This metallic flavor seemed especially pronounced in many of the Tripples that I sampled. The metallic notes would usually diminish as the beer became warmer. Martin and/or George: Do you feel this is a product of HSA techniques that seem so prevelent in Belgium brewing or do you suspect another cause in particular with respect to Tripples? Jim Busch PS: There are spiders on the ceiling above my "open fermenter" but I keep the lid on so they cant crawl in! Return to table of contents
Date: 08 Jan 93 11:26:38 EST From: Charlie Papazian/Boulder <72210.2754 at compuserve.com> Subject: All We've been having a lively discussion on compuserve regarding COPS (the television program ). I understand you have as well. If you don't have this information already, here it is: The address of the producers of COPS: Malcom Barbour COPS/ Barbour/Langley Productions 13900 Tahiti Way Suite 124 Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 Telephone: 310 827-2116 FAX: 310 821-4166 fermently, Charlie P. p.s. I had written them in response to their airing of this program in late November. I got a response from the producers and am awaiting a response from the police department that exercised the search warrant. still waiting. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 12:13 CDT From: Tom Clark -- COMNET 435-5045 <TCLAR at HOBBES.CCA.CR.ROCKWELL.COM> Subject: Proper Sparging Technique Hello to all, The college where my wife works is currently between semesters and is offering a class on homebrewing during their "interim" schedule. It is being taught by a team of two instructors, one a philosophy professor/20 year homebrewer and the other a chemistry/microbiology professor. In general the class is pretty good with nightly tastings of the various beer styles, and three MANDATORY brewery tours, (like I wouldn't go!) Anyway, a question came up in class last night that I volunteered to pose to the net for "the real answer". The chemistry professor asked why the homebrew professor didn't totaly drain the mash tun before adding any sparge water. She said that we would get the best possible extraction rate if we followed this "two-part' sparge. There was no definitave answer presented so I made my offer to post to this group. Thanks for your help in advance, Tom Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 09:10 CST From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) Subject: Leaky Kegs >From: SMITH at EPVAX.MSFC.NASA.GOV (The Ice-9-man Cometh) >Subject: Gas leaks in keg systems > If you turn off the gas at the tank and let the system sit for a while, and you have (the inevitable) leaks, won't the beer go flat? Or do soda kegs have check valves built in? The disconnect is a check valve but only if disconnected from the line and they too can leak. One of the most common leaks is around the large gasket of the opening and the check valve doesn't help any. In the unlikely event that one would leave a keg sit around so long that it goes flat, one only has to repressurize the keg to drink it. On the other hand, an empty CO2 tank is real depressing, especially if it is on the first keg. js Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 13:34:22 EST From: casagran at gdstech.grumman.com (Lou Casagrande) Subject: Lab Grade plastics Regarding the question of whether lab grade plastics are of equal or better quality than food grade: when I was a grad student (I'm a chemist), we used a jug that sounds just like the one described to hold our supply of deionized water. As Mark surmised, we had to keep our water free of impurities. However, we were careful not to keep it around for too long. One of the reasons has to do with acidification by absorbing carbon dioxide, obviously _not_ a concern here. We may have been concerned about leaching of "plasticizers" into the water, too. Although I'm not a plastics chemist, my understanding is that all plastics are made with them, although some might contain less than others. My point is that your food grade fermenter was made similarly, so it's probably worth trying the lab grade jug for one batch. Just don't keep the wort in it for too long (i.e. no lagering). Also, be sure to attach a tube to the spigot in order to drain it so as not to aerate your brew. On your second question, DO NOT use the jug for a keg or for anything that becomes pressurized. I'm sure you would come home some day to find five gallons of your latest all over your floor, besides which you would have to store the brew in it for too long, giving what plasticizers there are a chance to leech into it. Hope this helps. Lou Casagrande Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 12:34:12 EST From: connell at vax.cord.edu Subject: Alsan sterilizer I recently received a bottle of Alsan sterilizer from the James Page Brewery (which also sells homebrewing supplies). Their catalog identified Alsan as the sanitizer they use in the brewery so I thought I'd give it a try. But when it came, I was a bit intimidated by the label. It warns of permanent eye damage etc and recommends gloves and goggles. I called the brewery, but the guy I spoke with couldn't tell me what sort of stuff this is. It doesn't smell like a chlorine and it suds a bit. Can anyone out there tell me what this stuff is and whether it is a good thing for homebrewers to use? A second information request: I recently acquired a kegging setup (5 gal soda keg) but I'm having trouble with carbonation. I've seen several thank yous for good info on kegs appear on HBD recently so I ask for help too. I put 3 gals of hefewiezen under 20psi at 45F. What I get is tons of foam but absolutely no carbonation. When I tried aggitation at these pressures, I just got more foam but still no carbonation. Any advice will be received gratefully. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 11:56:30 MST From: Rick Myers <rcm at col.hp.com> Subject: Ninkasi article I have had moderate interest in the Ninkasi article GIF's - great! There have been several requests for ftp access, but I cannot offer that because I am on a closed subnet. There have also been suggestions to put them on the archive machine at Stanford, which I also will not do because of copyright issues - thus, the email offer, for private use only. If somebody does happen to put them on the archive, make sure I am not associated with them in any way (put YOUR name there, not mine)! Brew on, Rick - -- Rick Myers rcm at col.hp.com Information Technology Specialist Hewlett-Packard Network Test Division Colorado Springs, CO Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 09:20 CST From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) Subject: KETTLE MASHING KETTLE MASHING, Part 3 BOILING THE WORT When the wort is collected, dump the spent grain on the compost pile and rinse out the kettle. I always save a few pounds in freezer containers for beer bread. The seven gallons of wort will barely fit into the kettle for the boil so it is best to bring a smaller portion to a boil initially to avoid boilover. After evaporating some and getting the boil under contro, the rest can be added. A minimal one hour boil will evaporate about a gallon so you can play with the volumes in various ways. You can increase the gravity by more boiling or boil less and have more beer. Add half of your hops as soon as boiling begins. Save one forth for the end and the remainder at regular intervals during the boil. If you need a suggestion, try 1.5 oz of Chinook for your first batch. CHILLING AND FERMENTING After the boil, the wort is cooled, either overnight or with a wort chiller if you have one. I draw it off, after chilling, a gallon at a time so that I can shake it vigorously and "glug" it into the primary to oxygenate it prior to pitching yeast. If you hold the chilled wort in a carboy or gallon jugs, you can clean out the kettle and use it again as the primary fermenter if the lid fits well. Just boil a cup of water in it with the lid on for about 5 minutes to sterilize it. The kettle seems to be universally available for about $35 and the rest of the stuff can be had for under $20, making it a pretty inexpensive system. So, that's what kettle mashing is all about. Try it, you may like it. js Addenda............. Here is the list of parts required: 1. Brass "air cock", 1/8" male pipe thread at one end, bibb spout at the other and lever on top. 2. Brass "female connector", 1/8" female pipe thread at one end, 3/8" copper tubing compression fitting at other end. 3. 6" length of 3/8" copper tubing flared at one end and bent so the end rests on bottom. 4. 4 X 6 inch screen (window, brass, copper or ss) rolled into tube and clamped to flared end of copper tube. (flare prevents it from falling off at inconvenient times) All it takes is a 3/8" hole in your kettle, near the bottom. If you run a 1/8" pipe tap into the hole, you can screw on the air cock and it will not leak. However, as most kettles are too thin to provide enough threads for a safe and permanent fit, I modify the fittings by rethreading the aircock and connector with STRAIGHT pipe threads. This allows the connector to be screwed on to the aircock in such a way that you achieve a snug fit by compression instead of relying on the tapered pipe threads. Aside from the brass screen, you can find this stuff at a good hardware store. I used window screen for months and see nothing wrong with it. js Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 10:50:19 -0800 From: rpeck at pure.com (Ray Peck) Subject: Homebrew Digest #1051 (January 08, 1993) >Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 17:52:08 EST >From: strasser at raj2.tn.cornell.edu (Tom Strasser) >Subject: Stand up to COPs! > > I am writing in hopes of convincing a large number of you to >voice your opinion in defense of homebrewed beer, a subject near and >dear to most of our hearts. Below is a letter I am sending to the COPs people. Does anyone have the address for FOX? COPS c/o STF Productions P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213 Hello. I am writing regarding your recent program which concerned a man getting arrested for growing marijuana. In that program, several pieces of homebrewing equipment were depicted as distilling equipment. As I'm sure you are aware, home beer brewing is very much legal, and is a quickly growing hobby (just as microbrewed beers are the quickest growing segment of the beverage industry). Distillation, on the other hand, is a Federal crime. I'm sure you are also aware of the current civil forfeiture laws. Under these laws, anyone possessing any equipment similar to distillation equipment can have all of their property seized, without being charged for a crime: the police simply need to show "just cause" (i.e., an "informant"). By blurring the line between perfectly legal home beer making and home distillation, you have done a *great* disservice to home brewers. You have greatly increased the possibility of "midnight raids" and civil forfeiture against law-abiding people. As you may guess, I am a homebrewer. In my experience (I communicate with hundreds of other homebrewers), homebrewers are beer connoisseurs and professional people. They are not beer-guzzling yokels. By connecting homebrewers with bootleggers, you have insulted and endangered a large number of your viewers and others. I belong to a computer mailing list on the worldwide Internet computer network. This mailing list consists of hundreds of professional people (mostly computer engineers). There has been a lot of fear expressed on the list since your show aired. People worry about a disgruntled neighbor telling the police that they are distilling, and then having their house raided by armed men at night. This is not a pleasant prospect, to say the least. Many have expressed the opinion that they should now keep their brewing secret, to avoid this possibility. I strongly urge you to air a segment on an upcoming show to clear up this issue. You should make it clear that home beer making is perfectly legal. You should also make it clear that the equipment that was shown being seized on your program was not, in fact, distillation equipment, but homebrewing equipment, and that while much homebrewing equipment can be used for distilling, that it is the *use* of distilling equipment that is illegal, and not the possession of something that *looks* like distilling equipment. If you do not air such a segment, you are further endangering a large and growing population of law-abiding people. Ray Peck 498 Bush Mountain View, CA 94041 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 20:30:36 GMT From: u4imdmre at cpc41.cpc.usace.army.mil (Markham R. Elliott) Subject: Sediment in Carboy First, thanks to all of you who responded to my inquiry of mail order sources of brewing supplies. I've got ten names on the list in just a few days. Every supplier that I have contacted so far has said they would send a catalog. You home brewers seem to be an OK crew. If anyone is interested in getting the compiled list, drop me a line. Not having purchased any reference books yet, I have a couple of questions which are probably easily answered . . . I eagerly await my first batch to stop fermenting so I can bottle and try it. Lately in the HBD there has been talk of culturing one's own yeast. Not that I as a rank amateur want to attempt anything as exotic as that, but the subject brought a couple of questions to mind regarding the sediment in my carboy. First question: Is this sediment (trube, correct?) the source of the yeast culture base, or is the sediment which will settle in the bottles after secondary fermentation the source? Why use one and not the other? As I anticipate being able to bottle the batch somewhere between Monday and Thursday, should I save this precipitate for anything? I recall when one of my older sisters returned from school in Britain many years ago, she introduced the rest of the family to a product called VEGEMITE. The container stated that it was a by-product of the brewing process, but I forget if it was a grain or a yeast based product. At any rate, it was like a pate or paste which you spread on toast or crackers. Malty & salty, and you couldn't eat too much in a single sitting/snack. A few years ago I was stationed in Huntsville, Al, and there was a real-life Australian restaurant in town called The Down Under. As well as Australian brews and wines, kangaroo steaks and other exotics, they sold at the cash register a similar product called MARMITE. Again the container stated it was a by-product of the brewing process (grain ? yeast ? I can't remember). My sister (now working at Univ. GA) has always told me to keep an "eye out" for it, and my wife likes the stuff too, but we never see it in any stores. Just as a matter of curiosity, does anyone out there know exactly what these products are made from and how? Would it be possible/viable to make one's own "HOMEBREWMITE" ? How? PROST!! M R Elliott Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 15:24:14 CST From: jay marshall 283-5903 <marshall at sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov> Subject: Re: cold plate question Mike McNally writes: >Many HBD's ago, Jack S. described a wonderful-sounding contraption called a "cold plate", I think. I have the impression that the thing is some sort of in-line rapid-chilling device that chills beer from a room-temperature pressurized keg on the way to the glass. Is that correct? If so, can these things be bought for not much money (i.e., less than the cost of a spare fridge to keep the kegs in)? Superior Products at (800)328 9800 carries the cold plates. A single product plate costs $37. I can not yet comment on how they work since mine hasn't arrived yet, but I'll be able to do so in a week or two. I've already got the spare fridge, but I can't ferment ales and keep kegs at drinking temp at the same time so I decided to go ahead and get the plate for use when the fridge is being used for fermenting. Incidentally, it was Jack who turned me on to Superior Products. Thanks arf! Jay Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 17:27:12 -0500 From: David Arnold <davida at syrinx.umd.edu> Subject: Germany suggestions? Hello all, I've found out I'll be travelling to Germany shortly, and was wondering if you might be willing to offer suggestions on places to go & beers to try? I'll be over there from 1/18 until 1/25, and will be flying into Munich, then going north, staying about 1/2 way between Bamburg and Regensburg. (A little town named Vilseck (sp?).) We'll be staying with a friend, and will have a rental car, so I'm interested in suggestions around Bamburg, Nurenburg, Regensburg and Munich. I'd read in M.J.'s book about a monestary near Munich (Andechs monastery?); is it as alluring as he makes it sound? We'll also be (hopefully) taking a day trip to Pilzen & Prague, so suggestions for there are also helpful. I'd posted about a year ago for my friend who was in Germany then; some of the suggestions I got then were: Rauchbier - This is availble in the spring Any beer ending in -ator. Kulminator, Pirminator are two If you're into the ales, try an Alt beir. Eisbock. Kick-butt thick like molasses heavy duty beer. Mondo alcohol, Pilsners, especially Czech BudVar Hefe-weizen dunkeles & helles I'm not terribly thrilled with wheat beers, especially in the winter. I lean more towards ales generally. I've had one alt beer (Schlosser Alt) and loved it; should I have any problem finding it, or am I in the wrong area? Lastly, I see the literature mentions limit of 2 l. per person. Is that a hard limit, or do I just have to declare it if I bring more than that back? I've gotten conflicting answers from people on this one. Any/all suggestions welcome. PLEASE email them to me (also) if you decide to post back here, I don't want to miss a scrap of info! :-) Thanks in advance, David Arnold Inet: davida at syrinx.umd.edu Bitnet: davida%syrinx.umd.edu at cunyvm UUCP: uunet!syrinx.umd.edu!davida NeXTmail: davida at anagram.umd.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 15:52:05 -0700 From: lager!wtm at hellgate.utah.edu (Tom McCollough) Subject: counter-pressure bottle fillers I am in the market for a counter-pressure bottle filler. Before constructing my own, as it seems many HBDers have done, I would like to find out about commercially available fillers. All I could find in the 1992 archives were just a few comments about commercially available fillers, mostly negative, and not enough to guide someone in a purchase. If you are an owner of a commercially available filler, could you please post a review? Thanks, Tom Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 16:53:37 -0800 (PST) From: Paul dArmond <paulf at henson.cc.wwu.edu> Subject: re: COPS Things are actually a little bit worse than Micah puts them. <shudder> Property siezures place the burden of proof on the owner to PROVE that the seized items were not used in the commission of a crime. Since possession of some things is itself a criminal offense, a vehicle can be contributing to the possession of anything found inside of it. As a former distiller, I would point out that the essential element of a still is the vaportight still-head, not the condensor. A copper tubing coil is not sufficient evidence of a still, without some other supporting parts, such as a head, slobber-box etc. So if all that poor guy in Tacoma had was a wort chiller, he should get that charge dropped. What's the AHA doing about this travesty? I would think that Charlie P. has an interest in defending his good name, never mind helping out all of us dues-paying members. Paul. Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 93 22:25:00 +0200 From: Nir Navot <LCNAVOT at WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL> Subject: Botulinum in malt extract Sorry folks, I already got the answer for the question I've posted above (took me a day). I was a bit worried so I started reading my microbiology books. Well the answer as to the potential danger of the botulinum toxin is that although it might be present in this malt extract which I've used, the 20 min in autoclave are supposed to completely inactivate the toxin. Actually, even 10 minutes of 100 C will do the job. Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 93 22:35:39 +0200 From: Nir Navot <LCNAVOT at WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL> Subject: Homebrewing supplies in Munich A friend of mine will be in Munich a couple of weeks from now. Can someone recomend a place to which I could send him to, where he'll be able to find home-brewing supplies. I'm going to be using whatever he brings back to make my second batch ever (first one just started foaming) should I ask for anything special but hops, yeast (which one?) and some malt extract (Light or Dark / Wet Dry)?? Thanks in advance Nir Return to table of contents
Date: 09 Jan 93 17:49:15 EST From: Jim Bayer <72416.1044 at compuserve.com> Subject: Cat's Meow I've been poking around on the Internet for the first time. What is this "Cat's Meow" section that I see? Is it recipes? Jim ****** * I gott'a get me a snappy ending!!! ****** Distribution: homebrew >internet:homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 08:59:44 -0800 From: mark at verdix.com Subject: Our image as brewers Folks, I am concerned about the image that we project to new readers of r.c.b and the Digest. As devotees of this noble passion, we naturally want to inspire those who are new to brewing, and to imbue them with our enthusiasm for this most salutary of crafts. Unfortunately, I am afraid we may fall short of this aim. Yes, I'm talking about the fact that two of the regular posters to these forums have the usernames "gak" and "arf". Are these the words that we want others to associate with homebrewing and homebrewed beer? I am sure you will agree that they aren't very appealing. "Hey, would you like to try some of my homebrew?..." "Gak!! Arf!" Who knows how many times a reader might be exposed to these words in just a single issue of the HBD? All the worse if they don't actually read the 'From:' header fields, because then these unwholesome sounds are transmitted *subliminally*. And who knows how many other crude and obnoxious usernames have escaped my notice? Just something to think about. Happy brewing! - --mark Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 12:15 CST From: akcs.chrisc at vpnet.chi.il.us (chris campanelli) Subject: Homemade yeast hulls? I traveled to my favorite homebrew supply outlet in search of some yeast nutrient in the form of yeast hulls. The store was currently out but assured me that they would get some in by mid- week. All well and good but it meant that I had to postpone my mead-making plans until next weekend. During the drive home it hit me [boink!]. Here I am buying yeast hulls while at the same time dumping large quantities of yeast slurry down the drain. Is there an easy way for the homebrewer to make yeast hulls from yeast slurry ? chris campanelli Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1052, 01/11/93