HOMEBREW Digest #1437 Tue 31 May 1994

Digest #1436 Digest #1438


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


Contents:
  Scotish Ale Yeast (John Robinson)
  Co2 tanks (David Divalerio)
  Decoction/infusion mashing (EKTSR)
  Liberty Malt (Domenick Venezia)
  Re: Questions on fermentation ("Mark B. Alston")
  Oxygenating wort (Dion Hollenbeck)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 10:03:56 -0300 (ADT) From: robinson at orbit.acrso.ns.ca (John Robinson) Subject: Scotish Ale Yeast Greetings all, I did a scottish ale a couple weeks ago. Lots of pale malt, lots of crystal and some munich malt. SG was 1.084. I used the new scottish ale yeast from Wyeast, and when all signs of ferentations ceased I kegged it. That was last weekend. FG was 1.030, which seemed a little high to me, but not out of line considering the style and the SG. This being the first time I used this particular yeast, I started checking around to see if I could locate any attenuation numbers. No luck. I checked the yeast faq, and while it is full of interesting and useful information, none of the new yeast strains had any attenuation percentages. Does anyone know what the attenuation of this yeast is? I'm also curious in the others (Czech Pils, Special london ale [a killer yeast strain IMHO], and the others). - -- 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, 30 May 1994 03:41:00 -0500 From: David.Divalerio at f165.n260.z1.fidonet.org (David Divalerio) Subject: Co2 tanks I have a pseudo brewing related question. I found used - what look like CO2 tanks - at a junk store. They are empty but the owner has no idea what was in them previously or what they were used for. My question - is there any chance whatever was in these before can ruin my beer or me. Is there any way to tell what was in them or should I not worry and just buy them? Anybody have any ideas? Thanks David DiValerio Orchard Park, NY Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 30 May 94 10:20:57 EDT From: EKTSR at aol.com Subject: Decoction/infusion mashing decoction To all: yup, the recent discussion around all grain have made me look at "making the move". BUT.... a bit o' terminology I just can't figure out. What is a decoction mash?? a single step infusion mash?? or any other type of mashes?? and why would one use one type over the other?? TIA-private e-mail okay, might be good general interest post Stan White, ekstr at aol.com "the way to BE is to DO"--Lau Tsu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 07:56:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com> Subject: Liberty Malt - ------------------------------ Wes Neuenschwander mentions Liberty Malt as a recommended supplier, I have some comments. >malts. For those interested in the real thing, Liberty Malt, 1418 >Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101 stocks a selection of the actual >Ayinger malts, including some really unique specialty malts. Definitely >pricey stuff - but still a lot cheaper than buying the beer (which >incidentally is imported by the same group). They also import the Crisp >Malting Co's Maris Otter english malts, which is used in their Pike Place >Brewing's ales (another subsidiary). Phone number is (206)622-1880. Liberty has a very good selection of imported malts. I can not speak to their mail order business but I do have some comments about their on premises malt handling. Their malt is stored in 55 gallon carboard shipping barrels unsealed. I believe I once got some VERY old carapils there, as I was literally scraping the bottom of the barrel. My guess is that it took a long time to sell that barrel of carapils. Secondly, unless they have recently purchased a new mill DO NOT have your grains crushed (ground) on the premises as their equipment really rips up the husks and creates ALOT of flour which I assume is both kernel and husk dust. In the past I bought my grains there and would have them crush it, but I no longer do so, and I will not until I have my own mill. I once asked to see their equipment as it is "in the back" but I was politely refused. If someone knows what LM uses to crush I would be very interested to know. Domenick Venezia ZymoGenetics, Inc. Seattle, WA venezia at zgi.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 30 May 94 09:43:00 MDT From: "Mark B. Alston" <c-amb at math.utah.edu> Subject: Re: Questions on fermentation Melissa Asks: I pitched one packet, but I'm wondering if I should pitch two? Will that help the body of the beer? No, It would simply decrease the lag time before the start of fermentation. However, those dry yeast packages (I assume you are using) contain enough yeast that only one package is needed. See elsewhere for info on using liquid yeast and yeast starters. This is probably the area that will allow you the greatest improvement on your beers with the smallest expense. You list the following as your recipie: 3lb Amber Malt extract 1lb Crystal malt 1lb Chocolate Malt 1oz Cascade for boiling 1oz Williamette for finishing, and then 2 cups of corn sugar for priming; However, we need to know the batch size. I will assume that you are making a 5-gal batch, if not then adjust my response as needed. Yet the beer is near flat and as light as Meiser Brau Not surprising with only 3 lbs of extract. In a five gallon batch this recipie should give you a O.G (original gravity; what you measure with the hydrometer you don't have) of about 1.026. This is only slightly above a decent final gravity for such a recipie. You probably want an O.G of around 1.050 or so. Thus, adding 3-4 lbs of pale malt extract will get you much closer to what you are after. Adding 4 lbs will put you at an O.G of 1.055. Much more respectable. It fermented like crazy for about 2 1/2 days, then stopped. no wonder, there were almost no fermentables in it. The yeast simply fermented what was there and went to sleep. (Has anyone else tried brewing with just one fermenter before?) Almost everyone started by brewing with only one fermenter. There are many advantages to a two-stage fermentation; however, I would suggest some other steps before going to two-stage fermentation. First, get a hydrometer to check your gravities. This simple measurement will tell you a lot about what is going on in you brew. Secondly, if you are not already, start using high quality yeast (liquid) and use a yeast starter to build it up into pitching volumes. A good quality yeast can make the difference between day and night. You will start saying "so that's where thos odd flavors were coming from." It is truly amazing. Keep on brewing, Mark Alston (c-amb at math.utah.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 08:57:33 -0700 From: Don Put <dput at csulb.edu> Subject: Mashmixer data point >Rich Larsen <richl at access1.speedway.net> wrote: >Subject: Stirring the mash <some good thoughts on the subject snipped here> >My main concern would be the break up of the husks durring the mash. If >this happened, the possibility of a stuck run-off is real. This is a good, valid point, Rich. I did experience a slower lauter than I normally get (usually I have to close the valve to limit the flow, but this time I had the valve wide open. I use a 10 gallon Gott cooler with a copper manifold that covers a large percentage of the bottom. There are ~200 slots cut in the bottom half of the copper pipes. However, I'm not sure the stirring was the culprit here because I changed one other variable in my setup for the test of the LAZYMASHER(tm). I know, this is real poor scientific method, but I didn't think about it ahead of time. I changed the gap on my MM to give me a finer crush, and while I doubt this alone caused the slower lauter, it could have contributed to it. Next test run I'll set my mill back the the normal setting I have used with repeated success and use the LAZYMASHER(tm) in the same way. Hopefully, this will give me a bit more data to pass on to you. Also, I ran the mixer full-time during its maiden voyage, something I most likely will not do on subsequent batches. I'll only use it to mix while I do the steps/decoction additions, and then momentarily at regular intervals during the rest mash, just enough to hold a near constant temperature throughout the mash. As you all can see, Jack has also been testing a mixer he has constructed. It seems that his fan blade arrangement is a much easier paddle design to acquire and use. It sure beats the heck out of the fabrication I did! Anyway, if any of you are thinking about doing something like this, you might want to try his arrangement; it may be a whole lot simpler to construct. >I guess we'll just have to wait for a report back from "The Paddle Masher" >for the results. If you mean me, see my long two-part post in Monday's HBD. I hope you folks are interested in this; it's been a lot of fun for me. A question about sending articles to the HBD: Because I live in a rural part of So. Cal (yes, there are some rural parts in So. Cal), I have to write most of my posts off-line to save on the phone bill. You'll notice that even though I put a "Subject" line at the beginning of each post, they don't appear in the "table of contents" at the top of each HBD. The program will not accept a post without a subject line. When I write it using the unix mail utility, the subject line appears just fine. For some reason the posts are accepted, but the subject line gets "scrubbed off" in some manner. Rob, or anyone, what can I do to insure that the subject gets into the table of contents when I write my posts off-line? don dput at csulb.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 30 May 94 07:40:06 PDT From: hollen at megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck) Subject: Oxygenating wort Well, I have done two batches with a new method of oxygenating wort which I thought I would pass along since it seems to be working so well. As some of you may already know, I ferment in SS soda kegs with a blowoff hose. Therefore, if you do not, you may have to adapt this method slightly. After all the talk of oxygenating wort and after seeing my local brewpub inject pure oxygen into the wort while passing it through the counterflow chiller, I was determined to do something like that. Well, I took a Quick Disconnect liquid fitting and hooked up a short length of hose to it, and clamped the tip of my Oxy-Acetylene torch into the hose. While the wort was flowing out of my kettle and into the keg, I slowly bubbled oxygen up through the liquid dip tube. Then I sealed up the lid and pressurized it up to 20 psi with O2 and shook it up vigorously. I then de-pressurized, pitched the yeast and re-pressurized to 20 psi. I let it sit that way for 4 hours and then let the pressure off, changed to valve body with no poppet and put on my blowoff hose. I got frequent and large CO2 blowoff within 30 seconds. For all of you out there having troubles with sanitizer creeping back up your blowoff hose, this is the ticket. Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1437, 05/31/94