HOMEBREW Digest #1468 Wed 06 July 1994

Digest #1467 Digest #1469


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


Contents:
  St. Pats (Gregg Tennefoss)
  A-B ads (R. Keith Frank)
  When repling   ying  , reply to HBD, not privately (RAYMUN)
  Beaudelot's (Jim Busch)
  starting to culture yeast questions (Todd S. Taylor x4613)
  Multiple Hop Additions? Wha's with that? (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Irradiated beer (Domenick Venezia)
  Headspace/carbonation (Kelly Jones)
  Temp-resistent containers ("Bill Knecht")
  Dr. Lewis/Coors Weizen/Gott/Carapils/Caravienne/Kegs (npyle)
  Stovetops, syrups (KWH)
  How to Convert a Sanke Keg (Jack Skeels)
  This and that (GONTAREK)
  Q's: Bottling kegged beer. (Jack Skeels)
  Darkness enveloped me..... (PSTOKELY)
  Brown Sugar (how come you taste so good) (Tom Lyons)
  Rubber-bottomed 1/2 bbl Kegs (John P. Curcio)
  Brewer's Baby!! (Seth Crosby 8-6999)
  carbonation vs. headspace ("Dave Suurballe")
  RE: German Stein Lids (ALYON)
  Re: Wort Priming (Bryan Dawe)
  Re: CO2 inhibition of fermentation. (Erik A. Speckman)
  Western Pub System (Kelly Jones)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 08:31:02 -0400 (EDT) From: greggt at infi.net (Gregg Tennefoss) Subject: St. Pats Yes thread fans - yet another St. Pats post. I have been useing St. Pats as my sole source of brewing supplies since last fall. I have never purchased any kegs from them but have ordered lots of brewing supplies, rhizomes and kegging parts. The brewing supplies like crushed grain and yeast have alway arrived very fresh and well packaged. The yeast, for instance, has always been within one month of the date code. The crush on the grain is always good and their prices are the lowest that I have found. The kegging parts are always of good quality and the are actualy cheaper than my local suppliers. My orders from St. Pats always arrive in a week which is good considering that I'm on the east coast of Va. In all I've been very pleased with St. Pats and hope to see them continue in the mail order business. Just my 2 cap fulls cheers Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 09:07:38 -0400 From: keithfrank at dow.com (R. Keith Frank) Subject: A-B ads Teddy Winstead, winstead%brauerei at cs.tulane.edu asks... >Does anyone know if the AHA made a statement to Budweiser in regards >to their Bud Light ad? I realize that there may be some conflict >here, since the AHA is part of the Ass. of Brewer's, which undoubtedly >includes the evil Bud ones, but does anyone else think that something >should be said? I agree that something should be said. For those HBDer's who haven't heard the A-B ad in question, allow me to briefly outline it. It basically goes as follows: 1st guy says, "Hey, try this pumpernickel stout. I brewed it myself." 2nd guy says, "What's that chunk floating in there?" 1st guy says, "Oh just try it. I saved this last bottle just for you." 2nd guy says, "Oh that's ok, I'll just have this Bud Light. You drink the stout." The commercial leaves you with the impression that both guys want the Bud Light. I recently heard this on a Houston radio station. I wrote a letter to August Busch III in which I told him that it pleased me that we humble homebrewers were perceived as such a threat that A-B felt they had to spend their advertising dollars attacking us. I haven't received a reply and really don't look for one. I also wrote a short skit for a local radio station. 101 KLOL in Houston does a skit every weekday morning at 7:25am called Uncle Waldo. They solicit scripts over the air and there are established characters you must use in the skits. I submitted this one. * Uncle Waldo, Homebrewer type person. * ________________________________________________________________________ * Act 1, Scene 1 * Uncle Waldo is sitting back listening to his stereo, enjoying a nice frosty mug of his latest batch of homebrew. * Act 1, Scene 2 * Big Bruno shows up and asks... "Hey Uncle Waldo, what's that you're drinking?" UW: "Oh, this is a mug of my latest batch of homebrewed beer. Would you like to try one?" BB: "Oh no thanks. I'm very loyal to my beer, Buttwiper. You would'nt happen to have a Buttwiper would you ? There's nothing more refreshing than an ice cold Buttwiper." UW: "Well no, but I've got something that TASTES JUST LIKE IT. Let me get you a mug." UW leaves the room. * Act 2, Scene 1 * UW returns with a frosted mug of golden, yellow liquid for BB. UW: "There you are Big Bruno." BB takes a sip, then says... "Wow, that's great! That tastes just like my Buttwiper!" BB gulps the rest of the mug and smacks his lips and says... "You would'nt happen to have another one of those would you Uncle Waldo? I can't believe how much it tastes just like my good ol' Buttwiper! You actually made that yourself ?" UW: "Yeah, I sure did." BB: "What do you call it ?" UW: "Urine-ator." BB: "Urine-ator ?" UW: "Yeah, let me drink a couple more of my homebrews and I'll have the head pressure to *dispense* another pint for you." _____________________________________________________________________ Mark DeWeese President, Brew Bayou Brazosport Area Homebrewers Club c/o keithfrank at dow.com "O parlez-nous a` boire, non pas de mariage..." From a well know tune of the Balfa Brother's repertoire. ********************************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 05 Jul 1994 10:04:50 -0400 (EDT) From: RAYMUN at delphi.com Subject: When repling ying , reply to HBD, not privately Hi all, I've been following the HBD for a while now and have noticed something that upsets me. I have noticed that when people ask questions about brewing or anything that relates to brewing in that matter "YOU" people reply to that message "PRIVATELY". PRIVATELY meaning you send the reply to the guy who asked the question! WHY NOT SEND THE ANSWER TO HBD!!!???? Other people might want to know the answer too, you know! Me being one of them. HBD is becoming a Questions only newsletter, where only about 15-25% of the questions are answered in a reply posted directly to HBD. WHY!????????? I use Threads to search back issues of HBD for answers to some questions related to brewing I might have, and when I search all I find mostly is a question by someone asking the same question and can never find an answer for because it was privately emailed to the guy asking the question. I have ALL 1460+ issues of HBD so i'm not missing a thing. I'm sure some people out there want to FLAME ME or RAG on me, GO RIGHT AHEAD! I'm sure I'm not the only guy who feels this way, and in fact I'm doing you all a favor by speaking up like this. It can only make future issues of HBD better by letting us all in on the answers! Raymun at delphi.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 10:16:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: Beaudelot's > I know I've read it somewhere, but I can't find it again.... Can > anyone tell me about a Bodolet (sp?) cooler. I found a reference to > one in a very strange room in an *old* brewery around here. > Im sure I misspelled this, but it is a copper cooler. Chilled water is run through the inside of the piping, while hot wort is run over the outside, falling down the sides and collected in a trough in the bottom. Aeriation occurs as the wort is 'spilled' over the outside coils. Historically, these were used often, and can still be found in some Belgian breweries, like DeDolle, and one of these was also used in the now defunct Vernon Valley Brewery, in New Jersey. In practice, the hot, bitter wort is run into a coolship. After the hot trub settles, the 150ish+ (F) wort is then run over the Beaudelot cooler and on to another chiller, or directly into the fermenter. Liefmans used to use enormous versions of these, now they only use the large copper fermenters as the wort production and cooling is performed at The Riva brewery. Best, Jim Busch Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 10:13:43 EDT From: taylor at e5sf.hweng.syr.ge.com (Todd S. Taylor x4613) Subject: starting to culture yeast questions I know this subject has gone around before here but I decided to try and culture my own yeast so I have some questions about it: 1. How is it done? 2. Can I buy a starter from my homebrew shop? or where do I get a starter? 3. How much do I use for fermenting? 4. Does the liquid yeast make the beer taste better? Any information would be appreicated, Thanks ahead of time Todd... Sorry but when the subject came up before in the digest I was not interested enough to capture it all............... Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 10:25:43 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Multiple Hop Additions? Wha's with that? Karl Elvis MacRae writes: > Does it produce some sort of complex layering of hop flavor and > bouquet? Yes. Hops boiled for longer than 30 minutes contribute mostly bittering. From 10-30 minutes, mostly flavor & some bitterness. Less than 10, mostly aroma, and very little bitterness. Dry hopping gives a unique aromatic character from the fresh hops that is not attainable any other way. Think about it this way: the aromatic compounds must be volatile (easily evaporate) for you to smell them. Thus, boiling them will drive them off. Compounds that contribute to flavor are not as volatile, since they must only travel from your mouth up the back of your nose, and do so in a warm environment. They take longer to boil away. The bittering compounds don't evaporate, but are created by boiling from non-bitter compounds in the hops (technically, alpha acids (which are not bitter) in the hops are isomerized into iso-alpha acids (which are bitter)). Also heat will change some of the aromatic & flavor compounds, so the aroma you get from a late addition of hops can be significantly different from the aroma from dry-hopping. =Spencer in Ann Arbor, Michigan Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 07:42:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com> Subject: Irradiated beer From: PNEUMAND at delphi.com Date: Sat, 02 Jul 1994 19:02:29 -0400 (EDT) >RE: Heineken Skunkiness. >Heinekin irradiates their beer to destroy bacteria in their water supply. >That is why the beer has that flavor. (Plus a little from the water >itself) What is your source for this information? How do you know Heinekin irradiates its beer, and if it does how do you know it is the source of the skunky flavor? Domenick Venezia ZymoGenetics, Inc. Seattle, WA venezia at zgi.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 08:49:24 -0600 From: Kelly Jones <k-jones at ee.utah.edu> Subject: Headspace/carbonation Subject: Carbonation In HBD #1467, as a response to one of my posts, Robert Reed lists several possible causes of overcarbonation. Sorry if I was unclear, but I was referring specifically to the phenomena of overcarbonation as a result of excess or insufficient headspace. Obviously, there are many other easily explainable causes of overcarbonation, as Robert pointed out. Kelly Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 08:42:03 -0700 From: Richard B. Webb <rbw1271 at appenine.ca.boeing.com> Subject: This bud malt's for you Jack Dawson asks about some free malt that he received from a friend, source reported to be Great Wesetern Maltings product. Could Be! In march, my homebrewing club took a tour of the GWM plant in Vancouver, WA. I learned a lot about a) beer malt, and b) large processing plants. Persuant to this discussion, GW is AB's largest supplier, and AB is GW's largest customer. The grain is WELL modified, and is sold to AB by the boxcar. If you have GW malt that is individulally bagged, then it has gone through another set of hands, as GW is not in the business of fooling around with bagged malt. The trains come in, the trains go out.... And the swill just keeps on comming... Actually, I preferr Miller Psudo-Draft among the mega breweries. But my homebrew is still the best! Rich Webb Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 08:54:06 -0700 From: Richard B. Webb <rbw1271 at appenine.ca.boeing.com> Subject: Matching styles Raymun Delphi asks about matching styles to ingredients. I was going to answer privately, seeing as how I just diatribed against AB (easy target!), but he asked to broadcast, so here's my inflated 2 pence. Beer making is more than just matching ingredients. It's also about process. Malt is thought of as two types: Pale Ale or Pale malt, and Lager malt. The differences between these two types is the degree of modification, a measure of the growth of the seed in malting. In your mash tun, if the processing is right, the result at the kettle is the same. If the mash schedule and processing allows it, then the sugar from PA malt in your kettle will be indistinguishible from sugar from L malt. AB uses well modified malt to make its lager product. Go figure. Take any malt. Mash it. If you have the proper gravity, you can make pils, pale ale, IPA, whatever. If the mash is such that less fermentables are created, which is to say more unfermentable dextrins are left, leading to more body, then you have the base of a stout. Of course you'll have to add something to make the color come out right, and there are roast barleys to be added for a proper stoutish taste, but in my blasphemical way of doing things, a pale ale is a good start when making a stout (or a porter, or a kolsh, or whatever), modified by a) the malting/mashing process, and b) the other stuff you throw in. Wild stuff, I know, but the wierd thing is, it could be true! happy brewing! Rich Webb Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 11:13:53 CDT From: "Bill Knecht" <knecht at mind.psych.umn.edu> Subject: Temp-resistent containers Could anyone tell me of a brand of wide-mouth plastic containers with lids that would be able to handle boiling water? The method in my madness is to make sterile ice cubes to cool my wort. The containers would need to be of such configuration that I could pop out the cubes after they froze. I suppose the ideal volume would be about 1/2 to 1 quart per "cube". If these weren't available universally, please send me the mailing address of the vendor, plus prices. Private e-mail is probably best on this. Many thanks. Bill Knecht University of Minnesota Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 10:13:35 MDT From: npyle at hp7013.ecae.stortek.com Subject: Dr. Lewis/Coors Weizen/Gott/Carapils/Caravienne/Kegs Re: Dr. Lewis, Mark O'Conner writes: >1) He instructed us to first master the "pale beer" and use that as a base >to create higher gravity and darker colored brews with adjuncts. He This strikes me as absolutely backwards because flaws are oh-so-evident in paler beers. Why would a beginning brewer want to brew something that will probably be obviously flawed? I'd recommend something with some machismo, so even if it isn't good, you can woof about how it is only for real men, etc. etc. All seriousness aside, I'd recommend the opposite route than that of Dr. Lewis. ** Re: Spencer's review of Coors Weizen, I don't think it tastes like a standard American swill, but it doesn't stand up to a good weizen, either. It will certainly be overpriced, as are all of Coor's specialty products. The "stout" on the label is there because it is above some mythical alcohol level which is heretofore and henceforth called beer, i.e. legal crap. They use this term on their Winterfest as well, but I can't recall if it is on their spring "Eisbock". ** Dan Hays asks: >1. Is the 5 gallon cooler adequate, or do you outgrow it and wish you > had bought the 10 gallon size? I think a 7-8 gallon size is best, but a 10 gallon is fine. A 5 gallon will limit you eventually. >2. Is the cooler easy to retrofit with a spigot? I don't have a Gott, but my Rubbermaid was as easy as removing the old spigot and pushing a 1/2" Cu pipe through the grommet. Even with the ease of installation of the Rubbermaid, I believe the Gott is better. It is designed to handle hot liquids as well as cold, and won't warp as easily as others. >3. False bottom or Phalse bottom? I've even read that a folding steamer > basket works well. What do you think? I recommend a manifold, either the slotted pipe type or the easymasher. They are simple to make and easy to use. ** Al Korzonas writes: >Note that CaraPils is very high in moisture in terms of malts (twice as >high as some malts by the same mfgr), so this effect is most profound This might explain why the Carapils I milled this weekend actually caused my Maytag-powered roller mill to bind up (a belt started slipping). The air is very dry here in CO and I think the moist Carapils (DWC) dried and hardened. When I got the mill going again, I fed it small amounts at a time. Some of grain actually popped back out of the mill as it was being poured. It was like milling rocks (well, actually more like hard red winter wheat). ** Jim Busch writes about pale ales: >Dextrin malt is useless, or at least not required. I love to use >7-10% CaraVienna, it works fine in conjunction with other malts, Tell that (the dextrin malt comment) to the people who brew the classic American pale ale, Sierra Nevada. A recent trip to the local HB store brought the following comment: "the 30L crystal is the same as CaraVienne". Of course, the dextrin malt was labelled "Dextrin", the carapils was labelled "Carapils", the munich was labelled "Munich", but the caravienne was labelled "30L crystal". Hmmm. ** Re: the great keg rental/purchase debate, I like this thread. Please continue your discussion, as I'd like to see this concluded. Also, consider this twist: a local liquor store (the largest around) "sells" empty kegs to anyone who asks for them. In at least one instance they were told "you're NOT going to get this back" and they didn't have a problem with it as long as the deposit is paid. I know of several homebrewers who've gone there and "bought" empty kegs from them. This certainly sounds like a "BFP" to me, although it is clear the people working at this store don't realize the implications of their actions. Cheers, Norm Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 05 Jul 94 13:13 From: KWH at roadnet.ups.com (KWH) Subject: Stovetops, syrups Sometime during brewing last weekend, I scorched my stovetop beyond recognition in the area between the two burners that my 33qt pot sets on. I tried a few different cleaners on it - 409, softscrub, etc., but it didn't budge. I looked through the index of old digests and got a few suggestions, including using oven cleaner or baking soda. Does anybody have any foolproof methods that could get me out of the dog house? Secondly, I have tried the 4oz bottles of fruit flavorings that are in most brewshops and been very disappointed in the results. The flavor is almost nonexistent. I saw a bottle of blueberry pancake syrup in the grocery store the other day, and I was wondering what it would be like in beer/mead/wine. It has only natural ingredients, no preservatives, and only costs $1.79 for 12ozs. This stuff has a BIG blueberry flavor and aroma, and the price can't be beat. Any thoughts? Any suggestions, etc. by private email would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kirk Harralson Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 12:20 EST From: Jack Skeels <0004310587 at mcimail.com> Subject: How to Convert a Sanke Keg Thanks to all who helped with advice in the various stages of my Big Keg Project. The approx 14 gals of SNPA clone tasted wonderful and were enjoyed by all, both homebrewers and non-. A couple of people have asked direction for converting a Sanke Keg, and while the way we did it certainly isn't the only way, IT WORKED PRETTY DARN WELL. There were many responses, but the concensus was the approach that we followed. The only other one that I considered seriously was using a Plasma torch. I don't own one, tho I do know how to use it (or did once upon a summer-job time). If you know somebody who can do this for you it is probably the most elegant approach. Properly adjusted, a plasma torch would do it as easily as drawing your cut line, and leave a very nice bead on the cut that you could buff out with some emery cloth. Aside from the torch the other approaches seemed harder or even ridiculous, as in: drill and hacksaw (uggggh!), a zillion 1/2" drill holes (clean that edge up!), and a circular saw with a metal-cutting blade. The circular saw idea seemed pretty feasible, but I respect the power of a circular saw when it gets jammed, and didn't want to see what would happen with a material less forgiving than wood. As to how we did it, I'll try to give you a reasonably detailed summary.... 0) Use these instructions at your own risk. 1) Get some earplugs, eye protection and gloves. 2) Equipment needed: 1 Milwuakee-brand Sawsall 1 End Grinder w/ 6" dia hard disk, approx 1/4" thick 4 Sawsall 18TPI Bimetal Blades (min.) I recommend renting industrial-quality stuff. You will trash the bearings on a sabre saw trying to cut 18 ga. SS. I paid about $22, and it was worth it. 3) Do this work somewhere/sometime when nobody will notice or be bothered by the Bat-Screaming-out-of-Hell kinds of noises that you (the saw really) are about to make. 4) The basic plan: Cut the top off, leaving the handles behind. 5) The cutting plan: Ten cuts. Four parallel to the top seam, four that go from the rim through top seam at about a 60 degr angle, and two to remove the rest of the top. I'll try some ASCII-art: ____________________________/____________\___________________________ __________________________/________________\_____________rim_________ / \ / /---------------\ \ / ( handle-hole ) \ / \_______________/ \ / \ ==========================================================seam========= ............./ \.............. The periods and slash lines are the cut lines for cuts 1-8 6) Preparation. No beer 'till afterwards. a) Remove the valve from the top of the keg b) Fill the keg about 1/2-way full of water (sound deadener) c) Get somebody to help, this isn't a one man/person job d) Relax, don't worry, DON'T have a homebrew :-) 7) First cuts -- the handles a) lay out your cuts using a ruler, a carpenter's square and a permanent marking pen. You will want to cut to about 1/8" below the top seam (the seam that joins the top and the sides of the keg). b) If you look at the top of the keg you will realize that the blade will never get all of the way into the keg -- to get to the seam, you'll have to angle the saw body towards the keg, reducing the blade's attack angle on the top. You will however be able to cut into the top as you reach the seam. You need to leave about a 1.5 inch cut in the top when you're done with the cutting. 8) Second cuts -- the seam body. a) Make a starter notch halfway between the handles, about 1/8" below and parallel to the seam. Use the grinder like a circular saw to cut the notch. _______\___________________________________________________________/______ ________\________________________________________rim______________/_______ \ / (handle) \ / (handle) \ / ============\===============================seam==============/============ \..blade cut.....(**grinder cut**)...blade cut../ b) Use the saw to cut out from the middle, below the seam, until you reach the handle cuts. 9) The last two cuts -- removing the top a) for the last two cuts you will be connecting the notches that you left in the top of the keg during the "handle" cuts. b) the hard part is that you need to make a arc-shaped cut to connect the two notches. the way to do this is think of the cut is much like turning a corner on a bicycle; you must lean the saw to the side that you would like to turn to. This will effectively reduce the axial rotation that the saw must do, just like banking into a turn reduces how much you turn the handlebars. In this case you will lean the saw OVER the handle that you are cutting around. try it, you'll like it. 10) Grinding the edges. a) Clean up all of the edges by doing at least three passes, one at a right angle to the metal (to flatten the cut), and one on each side at about 20 degr to the stock. b) AFTER you have done the three passes, THEN you can take your gloves off and check for the less-sharp burrs that remain. 11) Beat the lid-tabs down. a) Using a hammer (heavier the better) beat the leftover lid material down into the keg to make a rounded sort of handle should you want to grab it with your fingers pointing into the keg bottom. 12) Put the tools away, take the earplugs out, and RDWHAHB. Good Luck, Jack Skeels JSKEELS at MCIMAIL.COM Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 14:59:34 -0400 (EDT) From: GONTAREK at FCRFV1.NCIFCRF.GOV Subject: This and that Greetings to everyone! Hope your Fourth was filled with good beers and relaxation. I will be in Madison, WI at the end of this week for a meeting, and I would appreciate private email from anyone regarding fun bars/brewpubs/ microbreweries, etc. Thanks in advance. Secondly, I am interested in buying fresh whole hops from a supplier, and I have a few questions. I am told that it is a good idea to store unused fresh, whole hops in a CO2-purged jar. How does one normally do this? Also, I am used to recipies using hop pellets, and I'd like to know if fresh, whole hops can be used ounce for ounce like pellets. I am eager to try fresh hops. I rented Michael Jackson's video "The Beer Hunter" this weekend. I want his job! If anyone has access to this vid, it's pretty cool. I can't wait to go to Europe to drink beer. This past Saturday, my wife and I picked 12 pounds of blueberries at a local farm. Of course, I spent a rainy Sunday making my annual Summer Fruit Beer, this year a Bluebeery Ale. I'll let you all know how it turns out, and I'll post the recipie if its any good. Well, enough rambling. Happy brewing to you and yours. Rick Gontarek gontarek at ncifcrf.gov PS- Gotta feel sorry for that poor guy Dave Draper. There's nothing that can push a tolerant brewer's wife over the edge quicker than a boil-over! Yes, I speak from experience. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 14:22 EST From: Jack Skeels <0004310587 at mcimail.com> Subject: Q's: Bottling kegged beer. Greetings! I have a few questions for your collective wisdoms. 1) I have some beer left in a Sanke keg that I would like to bottle. It is at 10-12 PSI. How do I bottle this? Do I add a little priming sugar, or might I overcarbonate and then bottle? 2) Does anybody know where to get cheap used Corny Kegs in the LA area? TIA, Jack Skeels JSKEELS at MCIMAIL.COM Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 15:22:07 EDT From: PSTOKELY at ea.umd.edu Subject: Darkness enveloped me..... I was looking for a cute, useless gift for an anniversary (not mine), when something caught my eye. A disturbing thing. I'm no H.P. Lovecraft, but I will describe it as best I can. It was a plastic sack with a pressure release cap towards the top and a plastic spigot towards the bottom. It bore the word "Brewking" in large letters and pictured a pleasingly heady mug of ale. It was several moments before I realized what I beheld. It was a start-up brewing kit. Four simple steps and you too can be a homebrewer. 1) Add hot water through cap. 2) Shake bag to moisten and dissolve spray malt and hop extract [already in bag!]. 3) Allow to cool before adding yeast packet [included!]. 4) Wait 10 to 14 days and start drinking [pressure release cap automatically keeps beer at proper carbonation level]. I had trouble believing what I read. How could I have wasted all those years reading Miller and Papazian and Fix? All those brewing sessions that stretched into the night and further, all the careful notekeeping! A darkness enveloped me, I heard and knew no more until a smiling clerk roused me back to sensibility. "Yeah, we sell a lot of those. Do you know someone who brews their own beer? Only $39.95!" To which I replied, as I always do, "You speak in strange whispers, friend, are you not of The Body?" Paul S. in College Park,Maryland Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 12:32:59 -0700 (PDT) From: tlyons at netcom.com (Tom Lyons) Subject: Brown Sugar (how come you taste so good) Greetings, oh travelers on the fermentation superhighway! I have been afforded the opportunity to receive a large amount of brown sugar, as in several hundred pounds, for free. Can anyone tell me if there is a reasonable use for massive quantities of brown sugar? What would be the outcome of using this product to constitute, say, 50% of the fermentables in a batch of beer? What styles of beer might benefit from a (smaller) dose of brown sugar in their recipe? What about other uses? I can't eat enough oatmeal in my lifetime to use that much brown sugar, but I was wondering, since my inquiring mind wants to know, what would happen if someone fermented out a bunch of brown sugar and then distilled the resulting liquid? Of course, I would never be tempted to do such a thing. Please let me know so that I won't be tempted to try it on my own. I'd offer this stuff out to other folks but I'm not sure that the money it would cost to pack and ship it wouldn't be more than you could buy it in the store for. Thanks for replies, email is fine and I'll repost a summary here (if anything interesting comes of it). tlyons at netcom.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 05 Jul 94 16:23:58 -0400 From: John P. Curcio <jpc at philabs.Philips.COM> Subject: Rubber-bottomed 1/2 bbl Kegs I have the opportunity to obtain a 1/2 bbl keg with the intent of using it as a brew kettle. My source has a keg with the rubber top and bottom (similar to a Cornelius keg), which would make it necessary to remove the bottom rubber. Has anyone done this? I assume that I will have to fabricate some type of support for the bottom, since the keg is probably not flat-bottomed under the rubber. -JPC -<=>- Just say NO! to Budmilloors... Support your local MICROBREWERY -<=>- John P. Curcio (jpc at philabs.philips.com) (914) 945-6442, 6159 Philips Laboratories 345 Scarborough Road Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 "If nothing beats a Bud, given the choice, I'd take the nothing..." Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 15:45:25 +0600 From: crosbys at ugene1.abbott.com (Seth Crosby 8-6999) Subject: Brewer's Baby!! Happiest congratulations goes to Tim Fahner, long-time Homebrew Digest correspondant and St. Louis home-brewers institution, on the pending addition to his family. Seth Crosby, former collegue of the Big-guy Return to table of contents
Date: 5 Jul 1994 14:09:35 -0700 From: "Dave Suurballe" <suurb at farallon.com> Subject: carbonation vs. headspace I have been reading the thread on over/undercarbonation vs. headspace with fascination, because some of what has been said contradicts my intuition on this matter. For example, it just doesn't make sense to me that a low-fill bottle could be more highly carbonated than a high-fill one. There are two ways to prime beer for bottling. In one, some sugar is dissolved in the beer, and the beer is put in bottles. In this case, one bottle which is full to the top has twice as much sugar in it as a bottle which is only half full. The half-full bottle will generate only half as much CO2, therefore, as the full bottle. After carbonation, the half-full bottle will have half its gas in the headspace and half in the beer. Simple arithmetic shows that the beer is half as carbonated as in the full bottle. This is contradictory to several people's experience that low-fills are more carbonated, not less. So what is wrong with my explanation? One possibility is this: it has been posted here that at equilibrium there is more gas per unit volume in the beer than in the headspace. That makes my statement ,"After carbonation, the half-full bottle will have half its gas in the headspace and half in the beer" wrong, but it still doesn't explain overcarbonation. If ALL the carbonation in the half-full bottle were in the beer and NONE in the headspace, then the carbonation of the two bottles would be the same. There just isn't enough CO2 to overcarbonate, because there wasn't enough sugar to begin with. And the premise is ridiculous (no carbonation in the headspace) so this doesn't explain the overcarbonation. Another possibility is this, and please don't take this personally, you guys. Maybe the low-fills are NOT overcarbonated. Maybe you just thought they were for some reason. A low-fill makes more noise when you open it, because there is a lot more gas that has to escape. I think a natural reaction to the bigger hiss is to assume that this bottle is way gassier. But did the beer FEEL more fizzy in the mouth? Like I said, I'm confused by this whole thing, so maybe you could answer two questions: 1) How was the over-carbonation of a low-fill bottle perceived? 2) How can it be that there is more CO2 per unit volume in beer than in the headspace? How much more is there? Suurballe suurb at farallon.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 15:07:09 PDT From: ALYON at IOSSVR.gm.hac.com Subject: RE: German Stein Lids In reply to a recently posted comment > RE: German Stein Lids > After consultation with Germans in our company, the > consensus is that it is for head retention. By keeping > the air off the beer, the head stays longer. What is the advantage of keeping the head a few minutes longer? Germans like to have a large beer (500ml) and drink it slowly. I lived in the town of Bamberg, in South Germany, for some time. The population of 70,000, including over 10,000 university students, supports over 140 breweries. They have a long beer making tradition and many speciality beers including Bamberger Rauchbier (smoked beer). I frequented the Kneipe (pubs) to enjoy a few beer and practice my German. I never did manage to try all of the beers. Anyway, to avoid further digression, let me get to the point ... Summer is the time for the beer garden. You can sit outside under the sky and enjoy beer, company, and fresh air. Summer is also the time for wasps, and wasps just love beer. They almost fight over who gets to drown first. Anyway you need to have something to cover your beer glass to keep the wasps out. Placing a coaster on the top of the glass works well but a mug with a lid works even better. Raise the mug to your lips, snap open, drink, snap shut. No wasps to chew, very practical, and no time to admire the head. Prosit. Andrew Lyons --- MacDonald Dettwiler --- Richmond, BC, Great White North Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 16:08:45 MDT From: Bryan Dawe <bryand at gr.hp.com> Subject: Re: Wort Priming DBLAKE1037 at aol.com writes: > I have saved the 3 cups of raw wort (sg=1.072) because I thought that it > would be a good idea to use it to prime when bottling time comes around. > With that, I air the following questions: > 1) Do I have enough (volume-wise and sugar content-wise) to prime > adequately? (I am brewing a weizen). No. Not even close for a weizen, IMNSHO. See below. > 2) I can assume that nuking the "starter" 'till it boils is a good > idea to kill any nasties. Am I correct? It is a good idea. Be careful using a microwave oven for this task. I have found that it is difficult to prevent severe "boil-overs" when attempting to boil wort in this fashon. > 3) Can someone furnish the formula to determine the approximate sugar > content of the "starter" so I (and others) may be able to find out how > much wort to use in the future? I figure that planning on making a little > extra wort at brew time might be a good idea. Now for the good part. I have been waiting for a good excuse to present this article for quite some time. What follows is probably more than that for which you asked. Oh well. Lets define some variables: P Percent "sugar" by wieght in priming solution. This quantity is often measured as degrees Plato; roughly equal to 1000 x (Spec. Grav. - 1)/4 B Liters (or any convenient volume measure) unprimed beer. S Liters (or convenient volume measure, must be the same as volume measure of B) priming solution. D "Volumes" CO2 pre-disolved in unprimed beer. If two liters CO2 are disolved per liter of beer, the beer is said to have two volumes of disolved CO2. G Specific Gravity of Priming solution. F Fermentability of priming solution. This topic is interesting. See below. V Desired volumes of carbonation. The following approximation can be used as a guide when priming your beer: S V - D --- = ---------- B 2.4PFG - V This relation specifies the volume (not weight) ratio of priming solution to unprimed beer. This characteristic explains why the actual volume units employed for the beer and priming solution are unimportant as long as they are the same. Note also that the relation is independent of batch size. It is useful to work through an example to see how this relation is used. Fortunately Don has provide us with a nice foundation for an example. I will fill in missing details as needed with reasonable assumptions. Assume Don wants to carbonate his weizen at 3 (V) volumes. He plans to use malt based priming solution having gravity 1.072 (G) or (roughly) 18 (P) degrees Plato. Assume the fermentability of the priming wort is 0.65 (F). (Fermentability for most all malt worts varies between 0.60 and 0.65) Assume further that Don plans to ferment the beer at 68F at sea level implying that 0.75 (D) volumes of CO2 will be disolved in the beer following a "reasonable" secondary fermentation. Then: S 3.00 - 0.75 --- = ------------------------ = 0.083 B 2.4*18*0.65*1.072 - 3.00 So if Don had 20 (B) quarts (5 gallons) of beer to prime he needs to use 0.083 * 20 = 1.66 quarts = roughly 6.5 cups (S) of 1.072 priming solution. It is not obvious what values to use for two of the variables defined above. Fermentability (F) and pre-disolved CO2 (D) can be problematic for a variety of reasons. Many readers of HBD are familiar with the notion of fermentability but I think a brief review is in order for those who are not. Fermentability can be found simply by multiplying apparent attenuation by 0.82. So: F = 0.82 * (OG - FG)/(OG - 1) Where OG is the gravity measured by a hydrometer prior to pitching the yeast and FG is the gravity following fermentation. So, a 1.054 gravity wort that ferments down to 1.012 is 64% fermentable. Note that fermentability depends on a lot of factors, the most important of which are the yeast used and the composition of the wort. Fermentability usually falls in the range 0.6 to 0.65 for most beers. Seems simple enough, "What's the problem?" you ask. The problem is that the yeast, having spent an extended period of time in the fermenter prior to bottling, has lost some of its vitality, and you do not know how much. The yeast may be able to ferment 65% of your priming solution or, if the yeast is "tired," it may only be able to ferment 30% or less of your priming solution. This issue can be minimized to non-existance with ales and their relatively short fermentation and aging times. Lagers, on the other hand, pose a significant problem with consistent carbonation using this method. The best solution is to pitch a small amount of fresh yeast with your priming solution at bottling time. Fermentability then becomes quite predictable as indicated above. It is not obvious how much CO2 is disolved in the beer at bottling time. It is reasonable to assume that CO2 is supersaturated in solution and is the only gas present shortly following fermentation. If the beer is allowed to remain in secondary for an extended period, however, air will diffuse through the airlock and the property of partial pressures will complicate estimation of disolved CO2. Fortunately, I don't believe that this process occurs anywhere near quickly enough to have any meaningful effect with reasonable homebrewing procedures. I created the table below by setting pressure equal to "standard" atmospheric pressure in an equation created from a quadradic curve fit to data from force carbonation tables used for kegging. The table is *not* based in *any* empirical data and as such is quite suspect. The table is a useful starting point, however, to estimate the amount of disolved CO2 in your beer. I am keenly interested in any more accurate data that someone (anyone) else has found. To use the table you must know the highest temperature the beer reached for a "significant" period of time *after* fermentation completed. The "significant" period of time is the time required for the CO2 to reach equilibrium at the temperature and pressure (altitude) in question. This time period depends on, among other things, the "smoothness" of the interior surface of your fermenter and the amount of agitation to which the beer has been subjected. The easy answer is just use your fermentation temperature. If you used a diacetyl rest for a lager, use the diacetyl rest temperature. If you lagered the beer in secondary *without* a diacetyl rest (where a small but significant amount of fermentation continued at the lagering temperature), I would just use the fermentation temperature and maybe slightly reduce the amount of priming solution. Remember, if the CO2 has not reached equilibrium, there is probably more CO2 disolved in the beer than indicated by the table. I have found in my process that I need to *add* about 20% to the disolved CO2 values shown in the table to get carbonation levels with which I am happy. You should *expect* to have to modify slightly the amount of priming solution needed to meet your individual taste. The table below just isn't that good. Temperatures measured in degrees F. Disolved CO2 measured in Volumes. Disolved CO2 Disolved CO2 Temp at Sea Level at 5000 feet 40 1.38 1.15 45 1.24 1.03 50 1.11 0.92 55 1.00 0.82 60 0.90 0.73 65 0.80 0.64 70 0.72 0.56 75 0.63 0.49 Once again, if someone has better data on this topic, please post. > Thanks, > - --- Don --- > >DBLAKE1037 at aol.com< - -- Bryan P. Dawe Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 15:52 PDT From: especkma at reed.edu (Erik A. Speckman) Subject: Re: CO2 inhibition of fermentation. In Tuesdays hombrew digest there was a post from me explaining that CO2 could inhibit fermentation based on a very simple model. I did not mean to send it out! Dooh! The model was probably a bit too simple, as some people have pointed out in e-mail. In anycase, even if the model is valid, it seems quite likely that at the CO2 pressures encountered in a bottle of carbonating beer, the energy released by fermentation will drive the reaction to near completion, dispite the buildup of endproducts, namely CO2. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 17:08:41 -0600 From: Kelly Jones <k-jones at ee.utah.edu> Subject: Western Pub System Several times, I have heard microbrewers/brewpubs describe their brewing equipment as being of the "Western Pub System" type. Does anyone know exactly what this means? I don't think it's a brand name. Thanks, Kelly Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1468, 07/06/94