HOMEBREW Digest #1216 Wed 01 September 1993

Digest #1215 Digest #1217


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


Contents:
  FZ on beer -- just for fun. ("Bret D. Wortman")
  mailing strains/flocculation/sporulation (drose)
  Currency, Aeration (Jack Schmidling)
  re: carbonating doppelbock (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  frabjous day (Sept. 1st) (Chris Pencis)
  Pico-Brewery (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Maintenance of Re: Cheap Corny Kegs  (Drew Lynch)
  lager yeasts, air, screens (Jim Busch)
  Wort Aeration wrote: (jdecarlo)
  doppelbock writes: (Michael Hohnbaum)
  Re: Tun size/Klages/Liberty/Fridge Conversion (korz)
  Salvaging Flat Beer/Brown Ale Recipes ("david p. atkins")
  Re: BrewCaps and the questions about... (Nate Clark)
  Micro's in Boulder/Ft.Collins? (Eric Soshea)
  Barley Wine Recipe Request (npyle)
  temperature control (John Isenhour)
  Beer Hunting in Phoenix (Tony McCauley)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1993 23:20:34 CDT From: "Bret D. Wortman" <wortman at centurylub.com> Subject: FZ on beer -- just for fun. The following taken from "The Real Frank Zappa Book", by Frank Zappa with Peter Occhiogrosso, Poseidon Press, 1989. Emphasis removed in may places due to the inability to reproduce italics, boldface, and all caps all at once. :-) The remainder is quoted from the book: I have a theory about beer: Consumption of it leads to psudo-military behavior. Think about it -- winos don't march. Whiskey guys don't march either (sometimes they write poetry, which is often more horrible, though). Beer drinkers are into things that are sort of like marching -- like football. Maybe there's a chemical in beer that stimulates the [male] brain to do violence while moving in the same direction as other guys who smell like them [marching]--"We, as a group of MEN, will drink this refreshing liquid, after which we will get together and beat the snot out of that guy over there." Beer seems to produce behavioral results which are psycho-chemically different from those produced by other alcoholic beverages. Alcohol (the part that 'gets you drunk') is only one ingredient. There are other things in beer, and those [herbal and/or biological] components could affect the [male] brain, creating this violent tendency. Go ahead and laugh. One day you're going to read about some scientist discovering that hops, in conjunction with certain strains of 'yeast creatures,' has a mysterious effect on some newly discovered region of the brain, making people want to kill--but only in groups. (With whiskey, you might want to murder your girlfriend--but beer makes you want to do it with your buddies watching. It's a buddy beverage--for buddy activities.) Think about it: "Who IS this 'Mr. Coors'? What does HE do for a 'good time'--and why does a man who owns a beer company need a 'top-secret security clearance'?" Did you see him during the Iran-contra hearings? He has a top-secret security clearance. Do they guys at Anheuser-Busch have the same clearance? And when you see a beer commercial, besides 'the buddy pitch,' don't they also throw in a little jingoistic, bunting-encrusted, flag-waving hoopla,--the all-American beer syndrome? Every major industrialized nation has A BEER (you can't be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline--it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need A BEER). I think the mutant behaviors exhibited by people 'under the influence' should be studied more closely. Gin drinkers, for example, are a breed apart. People choose an allegiance to a certain beverage. Like bourbon guys--they're bourbon guys and that's it. And scotch drinkers? Forget it. They don't want to know from 'pink gin.' In contrast to Mr. Beer Guy, picture a guy who is religiously devoted to Chateau Latour. Is he marching? He ain't marching. +------------------------+------------------------------------------------ | Bret D. Wortman | "Stomach hairballs are nature's little way of | wortman at centurylub.com | saying `Bad puddy cat! Stop licking yourself!'" | wortman at decus.org | --Berke Breathed, "Outland" +------------------------+------------------------------------------------ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1993 10:08:46 -0400 (EDT) From: drose at husc.harvard.edu Subject: mailing strains/flocculation/sporulation Hello: In response to a post regarding a simple method of preparing yeast strains for mailing, Todd Gierman noted that it might not be a good way of mailing multi-strain cultures, since one might be selecting against one of the strains. This is a good point, and I certainly wouldn't recommend shipping mixed cultures on paper. Using this method, the strain should be struck for singles on the recieving end, and this would reduce a multi-strain culture to only one of it's components, unless the colony morphology of the various strains is very distinct, in which case each could be picked for re-combination later. I would think that the best way of maintaining multi-strain cultures would be to isolate the individual component strains and store those, where this is possible. Any mixed culture is going to change in terms of the relative prevalence of individual strains during propogation, and if you don't have the individuals stored you run the risk of losing one or another component. By maintaining separate cultures and then mixing them before each use, one should get more reproducible results. Todd also asked whether I knew anything about flocculation. Not much. Basically, though, the flocculation characteristics of a strain are a function of the composition of the cell wall; some strains are "sticky", some aren't. "Stickiness" of a given strain can increase under certain circumstances, most notably when cells mate, since the ability of cells to stick to one another increases the probability that they will mate successfully. However, mating is just not something that happens with brewing strains under normal circumstances. Flocculence may also increase as cells run out of nutrients, but I don't have any information to support this idea. I always figured that cells were kept in suspension by C02 evolution, and that they settle out when C02 production ceased; in other words, the "stickiness" of the cells hasn't changed, but they settle because they aren't getting kicked around any more. But, again, I don't have any data to support this view. Todd also mentions sporulation. Yes, at least some brewing strains are capable of sporulating. However, sporulation requires nutritional conditions (starvation for nitrogen and the presence of acetate as a carbon source) that don't occur in wort. So, the frequency of sporulation in beer is around zero. Dave Rose. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 09:21 CDT From: arf at genesis.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) Subject: Currency, Aeration As no one else seems to want to, I will take it upon myself to speak out on net protocol. The yeast FAQ is a noble effort but I think some self-restraint is in order regarding eating up big chunks of the Digest. I am not about to criticize anyone for what they post or how often but one must keep in mind the fact that what makes the Digest most useful is its near real-time currency. Getting an answer to a question the very next day is a powerful reason for participating. When the Digest is flooded with very long articles that could be just as easily serialized, the currency is lost. Breaking long articles up into small pieces but sending them all out the same day only guarantees a bottleneck and deprives readers of the answers they are looking for. I would like to suggest that users voluntarily limit articles to 200 lines in any given day. That is after all about 20% of a typical Digest and would still allow significant participation by others. That thousand liner the other day was just a bit much and I suspect more are on the way. It is also obvious that much of the cleaning up of the FAQ could be done by email now that the experts have been identified. >From: jdecarlo at homebrew.mitre.org >Subject: Wort Aeration I hate to nit pick over your otherwise rational look at the discussion but I think your advice on shaking a fermenting carboy of barleywine every few days to aerate it is wishful thinking. As there would be nothing but CO2 in the head space, no oxygenation could take place. >From: korz at iepubj.att.com >Subject: Re: Tun size/Klages/Liberty/Fridge Conversion >There have been a few questions regarding tun size and also a mention or two about grain depth. I've read (forget which book) that the ideal grain depth is 12 to 18 inches. Now, before everyone starts redesigning their laeuter tuns, I'm willing to bet that the ideal grain bed depth is highly dependent on the type of false bottom or slotted-pipe or easymasher pipe that you have in the bottom.... Just to open the discussion, I get the same yields in my half liter pilot system as I do in my 10 gallon easymasher. I recently made a 1 gallon version of the easymasher for slightly larger pilot batches and still get the same yield. Grain depth varies from 1 inch to about 10 inches in the three systems and I can achieve yields in the 30's with all three. My guess is that there is an optimum grain depth for a given geometry of mash tuns of commercial sizes but in the small homebrew size, other factors become far more important. js Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 10:26:35 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: re: carbonating doppelbock > Question about carbonating a doppelbock with 1.085 OG. Your yeast may or may not poop out. However, the best thing to do is to krauesen by making up a half-gallon of new starter (1.040), getting a vigorous fermentation going in it, and then pitching the whole thing. Of course, since this is a significant fraction of your total wort volume, you want it to be a high quality wort, similar to your original wort. =S Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 9:56:09 CDT From: chips at coleslaw.me.utexas.edu (Chris Pencis) Subject: frabjous day (Sept. 1st) kaloo kalay o frabjous day he chortled in his joy!!! Sept 1st 1993 - Brew Pubs legal in Texas....Here in Austin, according to the SouthWest Brewing News, there are plans for up to 8 to open between now and December. (Please correct or give me an update Joe!) I plan to do some in depth examinations of the local fare...any other Austinites interested in forays into the unknown? The field will hopefully thin out sometime soon and we will be left with some quality brew pubs (or they could all be great from the start - the eternal optimist!). Happy brewing Texas! Chris |Chris Pencis chips at coleslaw.me.utexas.edu | |University of Texas at Austin Robotics Research Group | Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 10:57:13 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Pico-Brewery Ok, ok. My mailbox is overflowing! Before you flame, keep one thing in mind: this is NOT an advertisement. I'm just responding to your requests. For more info on the Pico-brewing setup(s), call 1-313-482-8565, and they will happily send you a brochure. The most common question was "what is the price?" The answer is "it depends". If you buy a fully loaded 3-kettle system WITH a pump, it will set you back a cool $900. There are less expensive options. Another common question: what's it made of? The kettles are constructed from legally obtained 15.5 gallon stainless steel kegs that are no longer suitable as pressure vessels. A fair amount of machining, welding, etc. goes into making them suitable as a brewery. How big is it? Imagine three 15-gal kegs sitting side-by-side, about a foot apart. That's how much space you need. It needs to be in a place where you can run the 200KBTU propane burners, too (or 100KBTU with natural gas). =S Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 09:28:30 -0700 From: Drew Lynch <drew at chronologic.com> Subject: Maintenance of Re: Cheap Corny Kegs I recently started kegging my beer in pin lock kegs. I learned a couple of useful things. 1) Dissasemble the keg a) remove the pin connectors (a 13/16" socket with notches filed in the appropriate places makes a nifty pin lock maintenance tool) b) Press out the poppets with a nail punch or philips screwdriver. c) lift out the long and short downtubes (The short one may be stuck in the pin lock fitting) 2) Inspect all parts for cracks, scum, etc. 3) SCRUB out the kegs with TSP solution. I use about a cup in 5 gallons of warm water. 4) Rinse everything with clear water 5) Replace the large o-ring, and the two small o-rings. 6) Reassemble the keg 7) Sanitize with iodophor solution 8) Fill with beer :-) 9) Empty :-))) Drew Lynch Chronologic Simulation, Los Altos, Ca. (415)965-3312 x18 drew at chronologic.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1993 12:55:49 -0500 (EDT) From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: lager yeasts, air, screens IN the last digest: From: jdecarlo at homebrew.mitre.org Subject: Wort Aeration wrote: <But there are so many variables involved. For instance, if you are making a barley wine using an ale yeast and want to ensure sufficient oxygen available to the yeast you might just shake up the fermenter every day for a week or so. Or you might find it easier to have some sort of pump do the work for you. If you do this, you will *rouse* the yeast which can help to keep the fermentation going, but will in no way *add* oxygen to the fermentation. It is a CO2 environment anyway. Pumps will add oxygen but this inevitably force the yeast to throw Diacetyl which I do not care for. BTW, this is how the Peter Austin Breweries (Wild Goose, Red Feather, Ringwood) actually *promote* Diacetyl production in thier beers. From: hbaum at uts.amdahl.com (Michael Hohnbaum) Subject: doppelbock writes: <Fermentating way in the "lagering chamber" is an OG 1085 doppelbock (baumerator?) Yeastlab Bavarian Lager is being used at 50 degrees F. I am assuming this yeast is going to poop out with a reasonable amount of sugars remaining due to the alcohol level. Healthy lager yeasts *should* be able to ferment to at least 8% ABV. If you dont have luck, add krausen yeast (1 litre wort, plus yeast plus 12 hours or so). Even if you get adequate attenuation, krausen yeast will aid in bottle conditioning since the primary yeast may well be dead by then. From: korz at iepubj.att.com Subject: Re: Tun size/Klages/Liberty/Fridge Conversion <There have been a few questions regarding tun size and also a mention or two about grain depth. I've read (forget which book) that the ideal grain depth is 12 to 18 inches. I have had great success with this design , a shallow lauter tun. It is 2 feet wide by two feet high, and is never more than half full even with 65 lbs of malt. I have mashed/lautered 90 lbs in it. <In professional systems, there are debates raging about whether round holes or slots are better and the cross-sectional shape of the holes is debated also. Not really debates, more a cost benefit issue. V wire slotted bottom is undoubtely the *best*, and most expensive. It is an inverted V, big end down. I have found perforated sheet to be more than adequate, even with weizens of 70% wheat malt (and decoction mashing). Good brewing, Jim Busch DE HOPPEDUIVEL DRINKT MET ZWIER 'T GEZONDE BLOND HOPPEBIER! Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 12:53:39 CST From: "david p. atkins" <atkins at vms2.macc.wisc.edu> Subject: Salvaging Flat Beer/Brown Ale Recipes Hello all, I have two cases of tasty yet discouragingly flat pale ale. My second batch--extract with 1/2 lb. specialty grains, WYeast English Ale Yeast, OG 1.046, FG 1.006 and primed with 1 1/4 c. dried malt extract. I fear that the yeast was pooped out when bottled--had to keep the batch in the secondary carboy for several days longer than anticipated (the joys of breaking "inexpensive" cappers). After 3 weeks, I have a touch of fiz but nothing to get excited about. Any tips on resurrecting this batch? Also if anyone would proffer some extract brewing recipes/experiences concerning brewing brown ales in general, with molasses for an Old Peculiar-esque ale in particular Thanks, David Atkins atkins at macc.wisc.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1993 16:30:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Nate Clark <NC6967 at conrad.appstate.edu> Subject: Re: BrewCaps and the questions about... Attn: John Mare and John Janowiak I am currently making my second batch of ale using a Brewcap, and I find it makes priming and bottling a whole lot easier. To answer John Mare's questions: As John Janowiak wrote, the trub can be drained off the bottom, after allowing it to settle in a collection tube. If you wait about 12-24 hours between drainings, the collection tube is packed with yeast and no beer escapes. I have noticed an increased yeild of about 2-4 bottles per batch. Not much? Read on... The cap is held on by a re-closable plastic tie. I have had no trouble with it popping off. The cap fits snuggly around my carboy without the tie. As for making things easier, the Brewcap eliminated my least favorite part of brewing- the racking and siphoning. To prime, you place the boiled sugar (or whatever you use to prime) on top of the inverted carboy and open the valve. The priming sugar is sucked into the carboy. My bottle filler fits nicely onto the end of the collection tube and I don't (generally) spill any brew. Cleaning is fairly simple. I recommend the brewcap, even to new brewers. It is an inexpensive way to do, shall we call it "two-stage brewing?" (1 glass carboy and one Brewcap.) The stand I made from two old pool chlorine buckets. But do take into consideration John Janowiak's comments on lagers and hop cones in the brewcap. I use hop pellets and have had no trouble. (There is undoubtedly a little bias in my answer, as BrewCo is located only a few miles from my window.) Nate Clark Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 17:05:01 EDT From: Eric Soshea <technet!eas at uunet.UU.NET> Subject: Micro's in Boulder/Ft.Collins? Any suggestions for Micro's in the Boulder/Ft.Collins area? Email replies to eas at technet.macom.com Thanks. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 16:40:15 MDT From: npyle at n33.stortek.com Subject: Barley Wine Recipe Request I would like to brew a barley wine as this years holiday beer, and I don't really have any place to start. This will give me a chance to really check otu the machismo of my new recycled water heater boiler unit. I like Thomas Hardy and Old Foghorn and others but I don't have any problems with brewing a non-clone, either. I would like to see something that has actually been brewed and tasted, rather than a "I've never brewed one, but I'd do this:...". Sooo, any favorite barley wine/strong ale recipes out there? Thanks... norm - -- Norm Pyle, Staff Engineer, Head Brewer, Storage Technology Corporation Pyledriver Brewery, A Non-Profit Organization 2270 South 88th Street 1045 Pale Ale Place Louisville, CO 80028-0211 Longmont, CO 80503-2323 (303) 673-8884 npyle at n33.stortek.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 93 21:56:30 CDT From: hopduvel!john at linac.fnal.gov (John Isenhour) Subject: temperature control Someone asked recently about controlling refer's with an outside thermostat. While I got a hunter airstat a while ago, and its not bad till that darn battery dies, I much prefer a White-Rodgers Refrigeration Temperature Control. Its a "hydraulic-action temperature control readily applicable for all types of commercial or industrial refrigeration applications". I got it from a large plumbing supply store for ~$25.00. Its a nice unit with a long capillary bulb and hi/lo ranges set on a dial. The model of mine is 1609-101 style p-1. ratings: a.c. motor rating 120 V 240 V locked rotor current 84 A 42 A ampere rating 25 A 22 A full load current 16 A 8 A 600 V.A.C. pilot duty - 125 volt amperes I dont expect I'll burn this one out for a while:) - -- John Isenhour renaissance scientist and AHA/HWBTA National Beer Judge home: john at hopduvel.chi.il.us work: isenhour at lambic.fnal.gov Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1993 23:05:40 +22306512 (CDT) From: afmccaul at rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Tony McCauley) Subject: Beer Hunting in Phoenix I have the good fortune of travelling to Phoenix soon. When I'm not at the office, I plan to do some beer hunting. I'm looking for suggestions for good bars, brewpubs and package stores. Private mail responses are fine. Send 'em to afmccaul at rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Thanks for the help. Tony McCauley . Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1216, 09/01/93