HOMEBREW Digest #1328 Wed 19 January 1994

Digest #1327 Digest #1329


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


Contents:
  Setting up a competition / HBD back log (Lee=A.=Menegoni)
  Microwave for Sterilization (WLK.Wbst311)
  Brewing Supplies in SLC ? (x-4851)" <Geiser at po1.rb.unisys.com>
  yeast starter -- yes (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  blowing off / steam / etc. (Allan Rubinoff)
  Questions/Answers/Comments (Marc L. Goldfarb)
  Competition Notice (korz)
  Micro-Breweries in Birmingham,AL (Brian K Hill)
  Re: chilling (TODD CARLSON)
  Quest for Marris Otter Malt (Gary S. Kuyat)
  Dr. Fix's Beer Color Article (1 of 2) (Gary S. Kuyat)
  Dr. Fix's Beer Color Article (2 of 2) (Gary S. Kuyat)
  Marzen (John Robinson)
  twice-a-day HBD (Jonathan G Knight)
  DME Priming/1st batch (korz)
  Stout & Smithwicks(Ab Gauthier) (Albert Gauthier - iccad)
  Comments on my bottle sanitizing comments (Keith MacNeal  17-Jan-1994 1714)
  wny brew supplies (Beth)
  Followup/Answers to "Ideas on fermenter heaters for mead making?" ("Victor Grigorieff")

Send articles for __publication_only__ to homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com (Articles are published in the order they are received.) Send UNSUBSCRIBE and all other requests, ie, address change, etc., to homebrew-request@ hpfcmi.fc.hp.com, BUT PLEASE NOTE that if you subscribed via the BITNET listserver (BEER-L at UA1VM.UA.EDU), then you MUST unsubscribe the same way! If your account is being deleted, please be courteous and unsubscribe first. Archives are available via anonymous ftp from sierra.stanford.edu. (Those without ftp access may retrieve files via mail from listserv at sierra.stanford.edu. Send HELP as the body of a message to that address to receive listserver instructions.) Please don't send me requests for back issues - you will be silently ignored. For "Cat's Meow" information, send mail to lutzen at novell.physics.umr.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 10:30:59 EST From: Lee=A.=Menegoni at nectech.com Subject: Setting up a competition / HBD back log To the poster that thought running a competition would be fun and easy. It isn't, its a lot of work, picking up the beer, storing it correctly getting a facility to accomodate judging. Then there is the issue of experienced judges. The entrants deserve competent, AHA BJCP, approved judges, you will need at least a dozen, you may need to provide accomodations and transportation after the event. If you really want to have a competition you should volunteer to work at one, see whats involved, talk with the organizers, then decide if you want to have one and how many styles to judge. RE: excess back log on HBD. One way to reduce it, less wasted space. Why do people have to repost a many lines of a post, paraphrase and answer. long signatures at the end waste space, name and email address are enough. Lee Menegoni lmenegoni at nectech.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 08:23:51 PST From: WLK.Wbst311 at xerox.com Subject: Microwave for Sterilization In reference to John Glaser's suggestion: >Just out of curiousity, has anyone used a microwave oven for >sterilization of stuff. It seems to me that many >difficult-to-sterilize, particularly plastic stuff like tubing, could >be put in a microwave along with a cup of water, so you don't ruin >your oven ( or to absorb excess micros, of course :) and nuked for a >bit. Has anyone tried this and lived to tell? Unfortunately, microbes are in fact too small to couple (absorb) microwave energy. I'm not a physics person, but I do know that living objects below a certain size can happily mill about in a very strong microwave field, such as flys, ants and a the like (don't ask me how I know this), so certainly a microscopic pathogen would be practically invisible to such an energy field. It is almost analagous to a trying to receive a long wave radio signal with a stubby antenna, you simply do not have enough length/area to efficiently couple radio energy to your radio. Have fun Bill King at Xerox Corp., Rochester NY Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 09:22:00 PST From: "GEISER, Chris (x-4851)" <Geiser at po1.rb.unisys.com> Subject: Brewing Supplies in SLC ? I have a friend in Ogden, UT that is interested in finding a good home brewing supply place in the Ogden-Salt Lake City-Provo area. Private E-Mail to geiser at unisys.com is welcome. TIA, Chris Geiser 619-451-4851 geiser at unisys.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 12:42:01 EST From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: yeast starter -- yes I had driven home to me recently the importance of a yeast starter. I am brewing a bock (well, it turned out a doppelbock, unless I dilute it). Over about a week and a half before I brewed, I built up a 1 gallon starter and let it ferment out (so the yeast settled to the bottom). All this at 50F, to get yeast accustomed to the right temp (my yeasty friend says that the strain I'm using (YeastLab Munich) doesn't work well if you start it warm and then cool it). At pitching time, I decanted the clear "beer" from above the yeast slurry, leaving just enough to swirl the yeast back into suspension. Then I poured it into my carboy and put the whole works back into the fridge at 50F. Within 24 hours I had "clouds" of kraeusen, and by 36 hours, it had blown off through the airlock! I've never had a lager blow off on me before! =S Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 12:54:38 EST From: Allan Rubinoff <rubinoff at BBN.COM> Subject: blowing off / steam / etc. I know there have been discussions on HBD in the past about the pros and cons of using a blow-off during fermentation. I'd just like to offer one bit of evidence against it. I've brewed 9 batches so far, and used a blow-off for the first 8. In every case the resulting beer had virtually no head retention. I'm convinced that this is because the main thing that gets blown off is the protein that creates the head. For example, the blow-off from a beer I brewed recently created a huge head in the pitcher of water that I stuck the hose into. The foam was very sticky, and lasted for hours after the blow-off stopped. If only the resulting beer had that kind of head retention! My 9th batch is in the fermenter now, and this time I left enough space for the foam. (I attached a blow-off hose just to be safe - -- no exploding carboys for me, please -- but no foam was lost during high krausen.) I have high hopes that this batch will have much better head retention. ** Somebody recently asked about using lager yeasts at ale temperatures, and I'm curious about this as well. I know this is done for steam beers, but haven't heard much about lager yeast used with other types of "ales." The temperature in my apartment is between 55 and 60 degrees F these days, and I've had some probems with ale yeast almost going dormant. I recently brewed a stout, and used Yeast Lab European Lager Yeast (dry) rather than ale yeast. The fermentation was quite vigorous at these temperatures. I tasted the stout at bottling, and it seemed fine, but I won't be sure until it's done conditioning. It seems to me, though, that this approach should work OK. I would assume that as long as the temperatures are kept reasonably low (say, below 65), the yeast won't produce off flavors, but will produce fruity esters (and therefore the beer will taste like an ale). Is my reasoning all wrong here? ** Finally, on the subject of style differences between porter and stout: Dry stout does have a distinguishing characteristic, that the dominant flavor note is roasted barley; that's why it's dry. (This doesn't mean that other black ales can't have any roasted barley, just that it doesn't dominate the flavor.) But for other styles of stout, I too am mystified by what differentiates them from porters. At one time, stout was just high-alcohol porter ("extra-stout porter"), but now it seems porters tend to be higher in alcohol than stouts. I think that there is a tendency to get too hung up on style. The AHA seems especially guilty of this; their descriptions of what is and isn't OK in a given style strike me as way too narrow. In the case of British ales, anyway, I think it is more useful to think of families of styles. For example, the pale ale family includes bitters of various gravities, pale ales, and IPAs; you could probably include old ales and barleywines as well, though I think the high-gravity ales are a category unto themselves. Especially as interpreted by American brewers, the British styles seem pretty flexible. The arguments about whether a beer is "true-to-style" strike me as being beside the point. For example: British brown ales generally are low in hop bitterness, and have no finishing hops. American brown ales are often quite bitter, with a lot of finishing hops. So now we have a "style" called American brown ale. Isn't this an example of style merely reflecting practice? If a beer isn't true to style, maybe it's because that style hasn't been adequately defined yet. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 14:24:54 -0500 From: dd596 at cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc L. Goldfarb) Subject: Questions/Answers/Comments Hi all: Someone asked a few days ago for info on growing hops. >From the ads I've seen in Zymurgy, HopTech looks like the place to go for info. Also, it seems that hops are extremely hardy and will grow just about anywhere, sometimes by as much as a foot a day. George Tempel asked about all grain brewing: I just moved to all grain 5 weeks and 4 batches ago. I used Buffalo Bills book on building a small brewery for the guidelines on equipment. The only thing I didn't do was to buy the pump. Without that $75 expense, I was able to scrounge enough parts to build the whole thing for under $100. It's really not as tough as it sounds. Just read the advanced section of the bible (Complete Joy ...) and maybe Millers book for tips. Then, RDWHAHB. BTW, Miller sounds pretty anal about the whole thing until you read at the end that he doesn't follow any of the advice he gives in the book. Jeremy Bergsman was looking for a pump. It looks like the only game in town for a cheap high temp pump is W.W. Grainger at about $75. Re: finding brewpubs in other cities, I have found that the best source of brewpub location is to call the local homebrew store. I travel quite a bit and my first call upon arrival in any city is to a store to find the brewpubs. It never fails, and at least they know what you are talking about. And finally, a question: After 2 1/2 years of brewing and 20 years of drinking, I should know this but I don't. What effect does temperature change have on finished beer? Specifically, if I put a keg in the refrigerator and after a week or two, if it's not empty (I know, that's practically impossible, but humor me) and I want to try something else, will I hurt the beer by taking it out, letting it warm to room temp and then cooling it down again when I'm ready to drink it? Thanks in advance for any advice. Since this post got delayed a couple of days due to my error in sending it, I might as well comment on the next couple of HBD's that I've received. In HBD 1320, Kirk Anderson mentions the U-Brew stores in Canada. I'm not sure if they are legal in the U.S., but they are probably too expensive to be a viable commercial venture. They work in Canada because the taxes on alcohol are so high. They were not set up to get people into homebrewing as much as to make beer more affordable. A great concept, but not for here. We can buy beer for less than it costs to brew it. (If you can call that swill beer). :-) RE: Sending homebrew through the mail: It must be okay. How else do all those entries get to the AHA judging sites? RE: Homebrew on the airlines: 1) I don't believe the baggage compartment is unpressurized. Just unheated. 2) Even though the plane may be at 37,000 ft., the cabin is at about 8000 ft. No problem. 3) I have travelled with commercial beer on the airlines. There is no rule against it. RE: sanitation of wort chillers: I usually run the bleach solution from my sanitizing fermenter through the counterflow chiller to empty the fermenter. I then flush with hot tap water at a high pressure for a few minutes. I haven't had any problems, yet. Well, I'm finally thru HBD 1321, only a couple more to go to get caught up. (Did I just hear a giant sigh of relief)? I'll leave with a final question. I'm looking for sources of all grain recipes. There don't seem to be too many in Cat's Meow II. TIA Marc P.S. I preparred this post using Word for Windows 6.0 saved as text only and my last post using the MS-DOS editor. In neither case did I double space the text, however, that is how it uploaded. I would appreciate any help on this problem via e-mail as I'm sure it is annoying to everyone to have to deal with this problem. TIA for any help or suggestions. - -- GREETINGS EARTHLINGS and HAPPY BREWING from: Marc Goldfarb, DIMARC BREWING CO. Cleveland, Ohio 216-631-3323 or on INTERNET dd596 at cleveland.freenet.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 13:23 CST From: korz at iepubj.att.com Subject: Competition Notice BREWERS OF SOUTH SUBURBIA AHA Sanctioned REGIONAL HOMEBREW COMPETITION Judging: Saturday, March 26th, 1994 at Public Landing in Lockport, IL Best of Show Award Sponsored by SHEAF & VINE BREWING SUPPLY [gift certificate (plus shipping if winner is out-of-state)] Entry deadline is Sunday, March 20th, 1994. For more information, please call John Dalton at 708-560-0747. Al. P.S. Those of you who experienced the unreasonably long delay in receiving your judging forms and ribbons last year, I can *personally* assure you that this problem will not be repeated -- I've volunteered to help do the post-competition paperwork processing this year. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 14:45:03 -0500 From: hillb at charlie.ece.scarolina.edu (Brian K Hill) Subject: Micro-Breweries in Birmingham,AL I will be in Birmingham at the end of this month and have heard that there are some good Brew-Pubs and the like there. If anyone out there knows of some must-see places there, please send me some info on them. Thx, Brian |-> Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 14:44:54 EST From: carlsont at GVSU.EDU (TODD CARLSON) Subject: Re: chilling I saw two questions over the weekend about chilling beer that could maybe benefit from this tip. One was about the beer that froze on the front porch and the other was about using an imersion chiller (worried about cold spots). Why don't you put your fermentor is a large container of water (plastic garbage pail, primary fermentor, whatever). For the first case, the water layer between the air an your beer will buffer any temperature fluctuations and if it gets cold enough to freeze, the water in the outer tank will freeze before the beer. Likewise the tank of water would buffer the cold spots from an imersion chiller. You could also use an imersion heater (in a cold area) to maintain whatever temp you want. A final advantage is that you can always know the temp of your beer by monitoring the temp of the tank and not risk contaminating the beer. Todd Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 14:49:07 "EST From: Gary S. Kuyat <gsk at sagan.bellcore.com> Subject: Quest for Marris Otter Malt Full-Name: Gary S. Kuyat Does anybody know a source for Marris Otter Malt? I live in NJ and proximity (due to 50lb shipping cost) is a factor. I am primarily looking for sources KNOWN to have this, not "They have a lot, why not try ..." - -- -Gary Kuyat gsk at sagan.bellcore.com (908)699-8422 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 14:56:33 "EST From: Gary S. Kuyat <gsk at sagan.bellcore.com> Subject: Dr. Fix's Beer Color Article (1 of 2) Full-Name: Gary S. Kuyat Color affects the appreciation and evaluation of bee in subtle but definite ways. The "halo effect" refer to a situation where a positive (or negative) response to one attribute leads to an overevaluation (or underevaluation) of other attributes. The color of beer can be a powerful but often subconscious generator of the "halo effect." An example is the low marks given to otherwise satisfactory beers in competitions where the entry's color is inappropriate for the category. In professional tasting, the "halo effect" is generally regarded as an unacceptable bias. However, in less formal settings it reflects the natural influence that physical appearance of a food or beverage has over sensory anticipation. For this, and other reasons, color control in brewing is important, and the goal of this chapter is to review the basic issues. Before describing the test we first review the units in which beer and wort color are measured, and then review the factors that affect color in malting and brewing. COLOR UNITS Beer and wort color traditionally have been measured visually, and early on the Lovibond (degL) scale was adopted as a standard. This consists of a well-defined set of color samples that are used for comparison. A visual match with a beer or wort sample defines the degL of the sample. In modern brewing, photometric methods have replaced visual comparison, and the American Society of Brewing Chemists has developed the so-called Standard Reference Method (SRM), which is widely used. Results are expressed as degrees SRM, and for the purposes of this article these units can be regarded as the same as degL. Some examples are presented in the chart below. Standard Reference Method (SRM) for Beer Color Eualuation Color Hue L Example SRM - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yellow light 0 - 2.5 Budweiser = 2.0 pale 2.5 - 3.5 Average American Lager = 2.5 - 3.9 Average German Pils = 2.5 - 2.9 deep straw / gold 3.5 - 5.5 Molson Export Ale = 4.0 Gosscr Spezial = 4.0 Pilscncr Urquel = 4.2 Spaten Club Weiss = 4.6 Amber light 5.5 - 10 Bass Pale Ale = 10 Whitbread Pale Ale = 11 Avg. Marzen/Oktoberfest = 7 - 14 medium 10 - 14 Avg. Alt (Dusseldorf) = 11 - 25 deep 14 - 20 Michelob Classic Dark = 17 Black above 20 Salvator (Paulaner) = 21 Triumphater (Lowenbrau) = 29 Beliken Stout = 76 It is important to know that totally different units are used in England and Europe (i.e., degrees EBC). This is because of the different analytical procedures that are used for measurement. The following formulas have been used to relate these units: (degEBC) = 2.65 x (degL) - 1.2 (degL) = 0.377 x (degEBC) + 0.45 I have found that they give reasonable results for light-colored beers (e.g., those whose color does not exceed 4 degL); however, they are inaccurate for deeper-colored beers. Discussions with Roger Briess of Briess Malting Company indicate that these formulas are not held in high regard by professionals. INFLUENCE OF MALT After the grain is steeped with water, it is allowed to germinate, then is dried in the kiln. It is in the kiln where coloring pigments such as melanoidins in malt are formed via the Maillard or browning reaction, a very common oxidation that occurs in many foods when they are cooked or exposed to air. By controlling the kiln temperature, the maltster can control the color of the kernels and hence their coloring potential in brewing. Typical values for various malt types are shown in Table 1. A rule sometimes used by homebrewers is that the color contributed by a malt is equal to its concentration in pounds per gallon times its color rating in degL. For pale beers this rule can give reasonable results. For example, 10 pounds of pale malt with color 1.6 degL in five gallons should produce a beer whose color is near 1.6 x 10/5 = 3.2degL. But for darker colored beers this rule can give erratic results. It also ignores the factors other than malt that contribute to beer color. Cereal adjuncts like rice make no contribution to beer color. Corn and unmalted barley have only a slight effect. - ----------------------------------------------------------- TABLE 1. Typical degL values for different malt types. Malt Type Color degL U.S. two-row 1.4 - 1 8 U.S. six-row 1.5 - 1.9 Canadian two-row 1.3 - 1.7 Canadian six-row 1.4 - 1.9 German Pils (two-row) 1.6 German lager (two-row) 1.7 CaraPils 1.3 - 1.8 Wheat malt 1.6 - 1.8 Pale ale 3 Vienna 3 - 5 Light Munich 8 - 11 Dark Munich 18 - 22 Caramel 10 - 120 Chocolate malt 325 - 375 Black 475 - 525 Black barley 500 - 550 - ----------------------------------------------------------- INFLUENCE OF BREWING CONDITIOHS Differences in brewing conditions can lead to substantial color changes in the finished beer, these effects being particularly important for beers at 5 degL or less. Water As the alkalinity of the water increases, so does the extraction rate of the coloring pigments in malt. The mash pH I has the same effect, and increasing pH leads to worts with deeper color. Mash Color increases with the amount of contact time with the grains. Thus, a prolonged mash will produce a deeper-colored beer than a short mash. Kettle boil The Maillard reaction also takes place as wort is boiled; therefore, wort color increases with boil time. A fact that is sometimes overlooked is that wort simmering has the same effect. The point is that this will lead to an incomplete hot and cold break, which in turn leaves more coloring elements in the finished wort. Hops Some color is obtained from hops both in the kettle and in storage containers when postfermentation hopping is used. Fermentation The proteinous matter produced during the cold break is full of coloring materials and, hence, removal of these materials will reduce color. It has been reported that color changes during fermentation vary with yeast strain. Filtration This can dramatically reduce color. It should be noted that a clear beer will appear to be lighter color than turbid beer. Oxidation At all stages of brewing, air pickup will deepen beer color. This is as true of hot wort production as it is of bottled beer with head-space air. END Part 1 - -- -Gary Kuyat gsk at sagan.bellcore.com (908)699-8422 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 14:56:57 "EST From: Gary S. Kuyat <gsk at sagan.bellcore.com> Subject: Dr. Fix's Beer Color Article (2 of 2) Full-Name: Gary S. Kuyat BRIESS COIOR TEST This is a simple test designed for homebrewers and microbrewers. Comparisons have shown that will give color readings with errors more than on percent for beer whose color is 17 degL or less. Beer whose color exceeds 17 degL will be essentially black in appearance. It is not particularly important to quantify color beyond this point. The standard for this test is Michelob Classic Dark. The reason is that it is widely available, and its color is known (17 degL). On very rare occasions one will come across old bottles of this beer where haze has developed because of mishandling by distributors. These should not be used in this test. By the same token, the sample to be tested should clear and free of haze. The test consists of diluting the standard with water until a color match with the sample is obtained. Figure 2 gives the relationship between the amount of water added and the degL of the sample. This is an approximate Graph Plot. Points to plot your own accurate plot will be provided if interest is shown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 10 . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . .xx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V . . . . . . . . xx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I . . . . . . . . . xx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . . . . . . . . xx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 5 . . . . . . . . . . . xxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N . . . . . . . . . . . . xx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxxxxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxxxxxxxxxx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Va = Dilution Water, ml MATERIALS NEEDED 1. Distilled water--Colored tap water can increase the errors in this test from I percent to 10 or 20 percent. 2. Blender--Dissolved CO2 in the beer will affect its color. Both the standard and the sample should be degassed. This can be done in a blender. A lot of foam will be created, but once it recedes and the beer falls clear it is ready for testing. 3. Light source--It is important for the visual comparison to take place in a well-lighted environment. Ideally, this consists of a lamp with a 100watt bulb against a white background. Be sure to use the reflected rather than direct light, and place the samples the same distance from the light source Also, take time in making the comparison because the difference in one or two degL is not that great. 4. Vessels--These are the most important components to this test. After extensive experimentation it became clear that two sets are needed. For detailed testing, two glass jars of one-inch diameter and a capacity of at least 125 milliliters are best. For samples below 10 degL the volume of these vessels is not large enough. Two white 12-ounce export (long neck returnable bottles will be needed. The Miller Brewin Co. has been using these bottles. So has Corona, but the label, which cannot be removed, is a distraction. 5. Syringe--This is needed to measure 10 cc = 10 ml of water. PROCEDURE 1. Clean everything. 2. De-gas standard and then sample in blender. 3. Measure in 20 ml of standard beer in export bottle No. 1. 4. Measure in 20 ml of sample beer in export bottle No. 2. 5. If colors are different, measure in 10 ml of distilled water to bottle No. 1 and 10 ml of sample beer to export bottle No. 2. 6. Continue Step 5 until colors become close. At this point the comparisons should be made in the one-inch diameter jars. Transfer 25 to 50 ml into these from the export bottles and return after comparison. Cut the water and sample beer increment from 10 ml to 5 ml. 7. When a color match is obtained, record the total amount of water added. Figure 2 gives the associated degL. EXAMPLE - BASS PALE ALE At the start the 20 ml of standard beer (Michelob Classic Dark) will be discernibly darker than the sample (Bass). After adding 30 ml of water to the standard, the colors will become close, and at this point the one-inch jars are needed. A match is obtained after an additional 10 ml of water is added. Thus a total of 40 ml of water was needed, and from Figure 2, we see that Bass has a color of 10 degL. Since only 60 ml of liquid was used in each bottle, the entire test could have done in the one-inch diameter jars. Note that the relationship between degL and dilution water is not linear. For example, adding 20 ml of water to 20 ml of Michelob Classic Dark (17 degL) will not cut the color in half. In fact, instead of 17/2 = 8.5 degL the color will be higher, namely 13 degL (see Figure 2). This lack of proportionality is why the relationship between degL and degrees EBC can be in error. It also explains why beer color and malt color are not proportional. At the lower color range, on the other hand, proportionality is approximately valid. Thus, diluting 20 ml of Molson Export Ale (4 degL) with 20 ml of water will give a color very close to Budweiser (2degL). More generally for beers whose color is 4 degL or less, the curve in Figure 2 is given by degL = 4(140/VA + 20) where VA is the dilution water in ml. (The author acknowledges the significant contributions made through conversations with Roger Briess. In fact, the simple color test described above is essentially his idea. The author's contribution was to work out the data represented in Figure 2.) - -- -Gary Kuyat gsk at sagan.bellcore.com (908)699-8422 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:42:32 -0400 (AST) From: robinson at orbit.acrso.ns.ca (John Robinson) Subject: Marzen Well, I finally got around to doing a Marzen beer as per the book by George and Laurie Fix and I though I would report the experience for the edification of all. First off, I modified the recipie slightly. I used 9 lbs of top quality Bavarian Pilsner malt with about 1 lb of dark English crystal malt from Edme. This will make it a bit darker than is really appropriate for the style. In the future I'll use more light crystal and less dark. I added more grain because my extraction rates are typically on the low side based on experience. As it turned out, I could have stuck with 8.5 lbs. The recipie called for 8.5 lbs of Pilsner malt, while I used 9 lbs. The grain was measured volumetrically at the rate of 4.25 cups to the pound. The amount of water used was as recomended, 6 2/3 gallons US, or about 25L. That was split, also as recomended for the mash and the sparge. I mashed in at tap water temps and boosted to do an acid rest, then a protein rest and then I boosted into sachrification range. The only disadvantages I found doing things this way were (a) the time required to boost the temp up and (b) being somewhat impatient I scorched the mash a bit. I was really annoyed with the second one but the flavor didn't seem to be affected. Time, of course, will tell. I added slightly more hops than recomended, I used 2 oz in the form of compressed plugs. They were Styrian Goldings, with a 5% rating. The recipie calls for 1.8 oz of 4% hops. During the last 15 minutes of the boil I tossed in 1 tablespoon of Irish Moss flakes and then chilled with my immersion chiller. After letting it settle out in the carboy for a couple of hours I racked it into another one to get it off as much of the trub as possible. I would estimate I got rid of about 70% of it. When racking, I noticed that the gravity was 1.090 and upon closer inspection realized I only had about 3.5 gallons. I had boiled it in a 33L enamle on steel stock pot with the lid on most of the way, but I would estimate I lost about 30% of the moisture in the boil, not the 10% that is was used in the recipie formulation. For this reason I would suggest that others using similar equipment either bump the sparge water up or add more water after the boil. As my extraction was in the 30s, either one would seem feasible as long as one is sensitive to the potential extraction of tannins from the husks. I doubt I left much sugar behind using 12.5 L in the sparge, though the low volume left over after the boil made immersing my immersion chiller a bit of a challenge. :-) The yeast I used is the Wyeast Munich (forget the number). Right now it is fermenting away. More when I know more. - -- John Robinson Internet: robinson at orbit.acrso.ns.ca Systems Manager Atlantic Centre for Remote If it is worth doing, it is worth Sensing of the Oceans doing wrong until you get it right. DOD #0069 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 16:24:31 -0500 (cdt) From: Jonathan G Knight <KNIGHTJ at AC.GRIN.EDU> Subject: twice-a-day HBD I don't know how many folks out there will agree with me on this one, but personally, if the HBD went to twice a day I think I'd have to cancel my subscription, which would make me molto unhappy. I am typically a day or two behind in my posting because I just don't have that much time to take from my job for this. If it came out twice a day, particularly without any reduction in length, I'd be hopelessly swamped. I would much rather see greater restraint exercised in posting. Not that I think that technical articles are the only ones which should be posted, mind you; the "new brewer" questions, the humorous articles (what was that, Nukebrew?) and just the general banter are fine with me. I would define "restraint" as follows: when you see that there are thirty or more articles queued ahead of yours, then relax, have a homebrew if you brought one to work, and read articles instead of posting for awhile!! The HBD is a precious resource to me because I have no local brewclub that meets regularly, although if I got off my butt I could start one, I suppose. But for me, it's either take twenty minutes off from work and read HBD, or take more time away from family for brew club, and I'd rather do the former. Let's try to keep HBD a bit more concise if this is at all possible - that's my vote! Jonathan Knight Grinnell, Iowa oops - in the first paragraph, I should have said, "a day or two behind in my READING"! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 12:23 CST From: korz at iepubj.att.com Subject: DME Priming/1st batch I wrote: >1 cup of corn sugar is a bit too much for standard carbonation levels. I use >between 1/3 and 3/4 cup, depending on the style. If you use DME, you need >to use about 20 to 25% more by weight, so about 3/4 to 1 1/4 cups of DME to >equal my 1/3 to 3/4 cup dextrose. Note, that I recommend that you force- >chill your priming solution if you use DME and leave the resulting hot and >cold break OUT of your beer (otherwise, it will create a oily scum on the >top of the liquid in the bottles). When I re-read this, it didn't look quite right to me. I know the 20-25% (by weight) figures are right, but my conversion looks wrong. I abandoned priming with DME a year or so ago, and don't recall the amounts I used. I suggest that if you are using corn sugar now, and are happy with the carbonation level, then do the conversion to DME yourself if you wish -- I think it will be quite a bit more accurate than my previous post. ******** Shawn writes: >1) my kit has only one fermenter, yet the directions refer to 2! Do > I need a second one for the priming sugar mixing stage? Yes, you should use a second, food-grade container for the priming stage. Some books say that you can mix the priming sugar into the primary, but you will get quite a bit of trub into your bottles and the amount of sediment in the bottles will be greatly increased. >2) It says "use a hydrometer" (which I have) to monitor fermentation. > Do I wait until the fermenter steadies at a single value before > I bottle, or do I look for a particular numerical reading? The > directions aren't clear on this. Every recipe's final gravity will be a little different. The FG depends on a number of things including the mash temperature (the one the extract manufacturer used, if you are using extract), the yeast, and the original gravity. What you said is correct -- wait till the gravity steadies at a *reasonable* level (i.e. if your 1052 OG beer steadies at 1035, then you have some problems... perhaps there was a sharp drop in temperature and the yeast went dormant). Paul writes: > Anyone ever try brewing an ale using Wyeast 3068 Weihensephen lager >yeast? I'm a wheat beer fan and don't have lagering facilities, but >I'm tempted to give this a try. I haven't used it but have heard only good things about it from several brewer's who have. By the way, you don't need lagering facilities to make Bavarian (or Berliner, for that matter) Wheat beers. They are ales. The point of confusion may be that many German breweries filter or centrifuge-out their primary (ale) yeast and then add a lager yeast at bottling time. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 15:32:41 -0500 From: gauthier at icpd.mitel.com (Albert Gauthier - iccad) Subject: Stout & Smithwicks(Ab Gauthier) I recently brewed a batch of "Toad Spit Stout" that fermented start to finish in about 48 hours and ended with an S.G. that seemed quite high (1.025). The room was fairly warm and it fermented 'heavily' in the two days it took, but this seems unusual. Can anyone shed some light on this? Also, does anybody know of an extract recipe that will produce a beer similar to "Smithwicks" Ale? --Thanks ___________________________________________________________________________ "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." --Mark Twain **************************************************************************** * Albert J. Gauthier Voice (613) 592-2122 X3339 * * Mitel Semiconductor Fax (613) 592-4784 * * 360 Legget Drive Email gauthier at icpd.mitel.com * * P.O. Box 13089 albert_gauthier at mitel.com * * Kanata, Ontario. CANADA * * K2K 1X3 * **************************************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 17:43:47 EST From: Keith MacNeal 17-Jan-1994 1714 <macneal at pate.enet.dec.com> Subject: Comments on my bottle sanitizing comments >Date: 13 Jan 94 15:14:00 CST >From: "DEV::SJK" <SJK%DEV.decnet at mdcgwy.mdc.com> >Subject: Procedural differences >Hullo, > >Just had to respond to Keith MacNeal: <snip> >Oh man! Are you saving time there or WHAT!? :-) Sounds to me like your >system is more complicated. Not only are you wasting gobs of water (a >concern for us here in CA), but in the time it takes to scrub the tub (I'm >assuming), fill it up, let everything soak, move 40-60 bottles plus the >other equipment from the bathroom to the kitchen, rinse the bottles and let >them dry (!?), said bottles could have been heated up and cooled down and >everything else could have become nice and sanitary in your bottling bucket >full of bleach-water. Not only does this take a lot of time, but a lot of >it is time spent rinsing bottles or whatever that could be spent doing >something else because the oven method does not require much attention. >That's OK with me, *I* just don't see how Keith's method is so much better >as to be worth a "why bother?". Perhaps I didn't fully understand the oven method. It sounded to me like an additional step to the bottle soak. I figure I'm using around 25 gallons of water for the soak. With the JetSpray Bottle & Carboy washer there doesn't seem to be that much water used for the rinse. I find plenty of ways to occupy my time while the soak and drip dry are going on. Yes the filling, draining, moving, rinsing does take up some time. Like I said, I thought those who used the oven method were doing this anyway. >>a couple of squirts) and allow the bottles to dry on a bottle drying rack. > >Why bother? Wouldn't want to get a little water in your beer. ;-> Come to think of it, there probably isn't a good reason to let them drip dry and they probably aren't on the rack long enough for a thorough drying. The rack does provide a nice place to conveniently store those bottles neck down while I'm filling. >>you'll see that counter-flow chillers are more efficient than immersion >>chillers (I won't bother with the equations here). Whether or not you need > >Please bother. This doesn't make sense to me. 'Course, that shouldn't be >too surprising... Briefly it has to do with temperature differentials, surface area of cooling coils, and mass of material being cooled. Like I said, pick up any decent textbook on heat transfer or get your hands on a copy of a book like Perry's "Chemical Engineering Handbook". Keith MacNeal Digital Equipment Corp. Hudson, MA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 20:16:04 -0500 From: Beth <per at telerama.lm.com> Subject: wny brew supplies Hi- I rember a while ago people from Ontario, Toronto especially asking where to get brew supplies in western New York. I would like to suggest Niagara Tradition Homebrewing supplies 716-283-4418 Nice place, not very fancy. The person maning the counter was very helpful in ptting together the supplies for a terrrific pale ale. I don't own stock- I'm only a satisfied customer. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 19:14:48 PST From: "Victor Grigorieff" <VGRIGORI at us.oracle.com> Subject: Followup/Answers to "Ideas on fermenter heaters for mead making?" Let me start by saying thanks to everyone who replied with helpful information on how to make mead in a cellar that is only 55 degrees. As part of my thank you note, I thought I would summarize the public wisdom on this matter: The fermenter may be fine at 55 degrees, but it may ferment fairly slowly. I had originally wanted to keep the temperature at 85 degrees, but apparently 70 degrees is a much more reasonable goal. There are several band heaters available on the market, but they can cause bacterial infections in the area which is heated more than the rest of the fermenter. William's Brewing used to carry such an item, but has discontinued it. You could use a heating pad and some insulation to keep things warm, which sounds like a great idea. An idea which seemed simple and cheap to implement was to submerge the glass carboy in a plastic bucket or garbage can, and use two fish tank heaters to heat the water, and hence warm the fermenter. A pair of 25 Watt heaters diametrically opposed in the plastic bucket would do it. I plan to use the two fish tank heaters in a plastic tub to keep everything running smoothly. Thanks again to everyone for the advice. - Vic +------------------------+ | Victor Grigorieff | | vgrigori at us.oracle.com | +------------------------+ Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1328, 01/19/94