HOMEBREW Digest #1473 Tue 12 July 1994

Digest #1472 Digest #1474


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


Contents:
  Super Wort Chiller (John Dodson)
  Trub & specific gravity (pittock)
  Hop Harvesting? (inquiry) (Jim Sims)
  Constant Stirred Tank Reactor vs. Recirculating Reactor (S29033)
  Re: Hop Aroma (Jim Busch)
  C02 + H2O chemistry question ("John L. Isenhour")
  Cloudy Hoses,  Wort Chilling (RobertS735)
  hops+boilDurations/lager/evaporation/stovetops/rubberkegs/freezerCycling/BoilSludge (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  BUDWEISER's CRAFT beer FYI ("KERRY.WILSON")
  Carbonation problems with Mini-Kegs ("Robucci, Adam F.")
  Re: Cleaning stainless steel (Dion Hollenbeck)
  bylaws (HOMEBRE973)
  Re: ordering supplies by email (Conan-the-Librarian)
  Drip-O-Later/Camping w/Keg (braddw)
  Jinxed German Pils! ("Harrington, Stephen J")
  Wet Dog Smell/taste ("Palmer.John")
  RE: Sludge in my wort (keith.prader)
  Re: Breckenridge Strawberry Wheat (4.4113 (External 1)" <calen at VNET.IBM.COM>
  Syrups ("pratte")
  Can dish it out; can't take it (Jack Baty)
  Equipment Questions (Chuck E. Mryglot)
  Recommendations Germany/Austria (SLKINSEY)
   (Barry Holman)
  Just a reminder... (Brian Klimowski)
  Mash temperatures (Richard Buckberg)
  Collected wisdom (tm) on Sparge water acidification and copper cleaning (Aidan "Krausen Kropping Kiwi" Heerdegen)
  Someone explain all the grain types (RAYMUN)
  Comparison between Wyeast's British and London ESB yeasts (Mark Peacock)
  beer at work? (!) (WIRESULTS)
  Re: Heineken & Skunks (Paul Murray)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 21:17:00 -0700 From: john.dodson at cantina.com (John Dodson) Subject: Super Wort Chiller The following is an article I wrote for a local homebrew club newsletter some time ago. The credit for refining the idea goes to Jim Richardson, I just refined his explanation. Maybe this technique should be dubbed EASYCHILLER(tm)?... anyway, this could be the best excuse for buying that 9.5 Volrath SS brewpot you've had your eye on. ;) I sure hope the math is right... feel free to challenge it.. I have thick skin. :^) Super Wort Chiller - Simple, Fast, No Clean Up... and Cheap! by John Dodson Now that I have your attention... (I find you can always get a homebrewers attention with the word 'cheap'.) ...here is a brewing technique I picked up while reading a computer network conference on beer from a fellow named Jim Richardson. The benefits of quick cooling your wort after a boil are often lost on the beginning brewer... especially when you mention the cost ($30 to $50) of commercially available chillers. There are many reasons to rapidly chill your wort, but for our purposes let's just say it can significantly improve the quality of your brew and greatly reduce the chances of bacterial infection. You may never have to listen to arguments on 'immersion' vs 'counter flow' wort chillers or learn the best way to bend 25ft of 3/8 inch copper tubing into a coil without crimping it! I've used this new technique on my last 5 batches. I'm sold on the technique and believe it is at least the equal, if not better, than any chiller now available to the hombrewer! I was lucky enough to purchase a used 9.5 gallon stainless brewpot with lid which lets me boil an entire 5 gallon batch. Chilling 5 gallons has always been a problem for me using an immersion chiller. I was spending 30-40 minutes or more getting my batch to an acceptable pitching temperature (somewhere near 80 degrees for this brewer). By using the following 'trashcan technique', I now bring a 5 gal batch from boiling to 79 degrees in 15 minutes or less! Anyway, enough of the trub... let's get to the wort of the matter! This technique is nothing more than using the surface area of your brewpot to chill your wort. It doesn't matter whether you have a stainless brewpot or enameled steel.. both are excellent thermal conductors. Here is the technique: The materials needed are an old trashcan, three bricks, a rubber grommet and a 24" heat resistant plastic spoon. Take the trashcan and place 3 bricks in the bottom. Place your brewpot in the trashcan on top of the bricks. Cut the trashcan at 'wort level' (e.g. the level at which the wort tops your brewpot... 13 inches in my case). Take your brewpot out of the trashcan and run your garden hose down the side and secure the end at the bottom middle (use the bricks). Presto... one Super Wort Chiller! Turning the garden hose on about half way produces a flow of cooling water. After the boil the brewpot is immersed in the water-filled trashcan. The thermal conducting surface area of the brewpot (sides and bottom) acts as a heat removing conduit and is equal to a coiled immersion chiller 42 feet long! (More on this later.) For rapid cooling, the wort must be set in motion by stirring, because the wort itself is the true bottleneck in the cooling process (water is a very poor conductor). You can stir by taking the lid off, however you risk exposing your wort to air borne contaminents. A minor modification to your brewpot allows stirring with the lid on! By drilling a small hole near the center of your brewpot lid, a rubber grommet can be inserted (or drill a hole large enough to insert a #2 drilled stopper). A 24 inch plastic stirring spoon is inserted through the hole. The lid can be secured with a couple of pieces of duct tape. You now have a very powerful stirring system, sealed and sanitary. The rubber grommet provides a flexible fulcrum point for rapidly swirling the wort with very little effort. Now is the time to sit down, relax, twirl the spoon with your fingertips and enjoy a homebrew! There is no sanitizing, no cleanup afterward, no worrying about copper in your beer. It is cheaper, easier, sanitary and you water your lawn at the same time! Ahhh... more beer, less work... have a homebrew. The bill of sale is no more than $15. $3 for a long handled heat resistant plastic spoon (The Cellar, stock #13-108 800-342-1871) and a trashcan. If you don't have an old one, Sam's has them for $12. The thermal conducting surface area comparison (brewpot vs copper pipe) was derived by taking the inside diameter of 3/8" copper pipe (0.311 inches) and converting to the handier lineal foot (0.311 * 3.1416 * 12 = 11.72 sq. inches per lineal foot.) So 25 ft. of 3/8" copper pipe provides about 2 sq. ft. of thermal conducting surface. My brewpot (the area exposed to hot wort) provides 3 1/2 sq. ft.! Unless your wort chiller coil is 42 ft long (and you just love to sanitize and clean it), you are much better off using your brewpot! One CAUTIONary note. Lugging around pots of boiling wort is dangerous. Spilling hot wort on one's front section can be inconvenient... causing hospitalization and death! Inspect the handles on your brewpot often (I'd be particulary leery of low-end enameled steel pots). If possible, setup your chilling operation next to your boiling operation to minimize the lugging or get a friend or spouse to help carry. Duct tape the lid on to minimize effects of an unexpected slosh. Let me know if you give it a try! Cheers! ...john.dodson at cantina.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 20:23:43 +1000 From: pittock at rsbs2.anu.edu.au Subject: Trub & specific gravity [I sent this a couple of days ago, but the it must of got caught in the net! Sorry, couldn't resist that one! Apologies if this turns up twice...] >From: "Harrington, Stephen J" <sharrington at msmail4.hac.com> > >Up until now I have not bothered taking specific gravitity readings (hey, if >it tastes good, who cares about the details). This has worked fine for me. >However, it seems now that these readings are important for me to know when >to stop sparging and all those other high-tech things I haven't had to worry >about up until now. > >I am looking for the collective wisdom of all to aid me in determining when >the important time to take these readings is. In light of all the recent >comments regarding 'stealth' answers to questions, I will post a summary of >all answers I receive private I don't intend on answering this request, I quote it because I have been partial mashing a little of late & Stephen's post drew my attention to a possible flaw in my spec grav. method. When I did the last partial there was a large amount of cold break material, so much so that when I took the sample for spec grav. I was CERTAIN that this will give a false reading due to all that crap floating around. Do I take a larger sample and let it settle, then take the reading from the supernatant? What about pitching the yeast, waiting for the majority of the trub to settle (and risk the yeast making a difference), & then measure? I _know_ it's being finnicky, but does trub make a significant difference? Awaiting wisdom... \\|// . o ____________ Chris Pittock 06)2495099 o-O O-o O ( Yeast, hop ) pittock at rsbs0.anu.edu.au | U | () ( & charity... ) PO Box 475 Canberra City { - } (____________) ACT 2601 Australia. /|\ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 08:46:46 EDT From: sims at scra.org (Jim Sims) Subject: Hop Harvesting? (inquiry) How can I tell when my hop cones are ready to harvest? The Cascade bines have reached about 20' and put on fuzzy flowers a week or two ago that are now nice yummy-looking hop cones. The Tett and Mt Hood havent done much yet..... :-( jim Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Jul 1994 09:32:28 -0400 (EDT) From: S29033%22681 at utrcgw.utc.com Subject: Constant Stirred Tank Reactor vs. Recirculating Reactor Brews at delphi.com writes: >THE USE OF A CSTR (CONSTANT STIRRED TANK REACTOR) IS WELL KNOWN IN THE >PROCESS INDUSTRIES AS THE BEST WAY TO OPTIMIZE REACTION CHEMISTRY. THE BIG >FELLAS ALL USE EM AND ALL THE FERMENTATION BROTH REACTORS SOLD TO THE BIOMED >INDUSTRY DO TOO, SO WHY NOT HERE AT HOME. I am not an expert in the field of process control but, I will share with other readers what I have found in the text books. Maybe it is possible to get some of the chemical engineers on the net to shed some 'authoritative' light on the subject. I was looking at building a RIMS (recirculating infusion mashing system) and I wanted to be confident that I wasn't wasting my time trying to increase my yield and at the same time make it 'easier' to control the temperature for mashing. A couple of years earlier I took a graduate class in process control at Yale. The professor, Bela Liptak, and author of the text, Optimization of Unit Operations, is very knowledgable in the field of process control. I could be misinterpreting the information but, his book says that the recirculating type of chemical reactor is more efficient than the constant stirred tank reactor. I don't know if this applies to all chemical reactions including the enzymatic reaction of starch - sugar conversion. I think that the recirculating method that is talked about is not just recirculation of the liquid wort (in the case of brewing). It might be the recirculation of a 'slurry' (wort + grain). One thing is certain from the text; CSTR does NOT give the highest % yield. Any CE out there like to elaborate further? Lance Stronk, Sikorsky Aircraft Stratford, CT. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 10:03:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: Re: Hop Aroma Al writes: > In my experience, the primary flavor contribution is in the 10-20 min range. > Boiling hops longer than 20 minutes seems to make them contribute virtually > no flavor. Also, I'm curious as to the meaning of back aroma and front > aroma. Again, in my experience, I've found little aroma is imparted from > hops boiled any longer than 5 minutes. If the latter statement were true, most Bavarian Pils would have no hop nose! Many German and quality US micros use aroma hops at 15 minutes prior to knockout in a Pils beer. I have had several experiments in this area where hops such as Liberty used in this manner result in immense spicey aromatics and flavor. And these beers often sit in a whirlpool for another 30 min after knockout. I also feel that significant flavor contributions can result from a 30 minute hop addition. Good brewing, Jim Busch Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:13:19 CST From: "John L. Isenhour" <isenhour at lambic.fnal.gov> Subject: C02 + H2O chemistry question I was having a discussion with a biochemist recently and they told me something I dont understand. They said that when CO2 is dissolved in water it becomes bicarbonate, will make the PH of the water more basic and this can be removed by boiling (it will precipitate) and is a buffer. My (limited) understanding was that dissolved CO2 becomes carbonic acid. I was told that it became bicarbonate when it was dissolved and was carbonic acid when not (?). This conflicted with what I understood so I then injected some CO2 into carbon filtered water and the PH became more acidic. Then I got to see chemical drawings of bicarbonates and how they were buffers and was told that the chemical reactions were quite complex. I get the feeling the person is familiar with blood gas exchange which might be quite different from CO2 and water. Can someone explain what the case really is? tnx! john john at hopduvel.chi.il.us Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 10:23:05 EDT From: RobertS735 at aol.com Subject: Cloudy Hoses, Wort Chilling David Rodger writes to ask about hoses, cloudy and otherwise.. and we have seen several good replies- but one more comment for David- you can use the coludy hoses as they are (after sanitizing), but if you want them clear again- bake them inside a brown paper sack, (grocery sack) at about 200F. for 20 minutes or so. This will drive out the moisture and the cloudyness as well. The hose will be clear again- and sanitary- leave it in the bag till you need it... As for yet another way to chill hot wort- I have a variation not yet mentioned... I take the still hot wort (in the cooking pot) to my swimming pool where it will rest on the first step nicely submerged down to the level of the liquitd--- Lid is ON the pot at this point. I weight down the pot with something to keep it from drifting away- the pool jet blows "cool" water right on the pot- and in about 20 minutes- I have wort ready to add to my fermenter... I use the chill-down time to clean-up so the time is not a waste- no water down the drain, and no ice required either! And a final question... We all acknowledge that liquid yeast cultures yield superior results- but if I take dry yeast- re-liquify by the normal methods- then make a decent starter of healthy wort- and culture-up a nice yeasty sludge is this, somehow less "good" than starting with a liquid yeast? and if so- why? Bob Stovall RobertS735 at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 10:56:37 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: hops+boilDurations/lager/evaporation/stovetops/rubberkegs/freezerCycling/BoilSludge Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583 writes: > The traditional > way to do a lager is to make a big (2 liter or larger) starter in the 70's, > let it ferment out, slowly cool the starter into the mid 50's, pour off the > spent wort, cool your main wort to the same temperature, pitch the yeast. Actually, it's better to grow the starter cold. Some strains, such as the "Munich" strain, won't ferment well at a temperature different from the one they were grown at. > This will take longer to start than the "shortcut" way, The fastest lager start I ever had used this techinque. It was blowing off through the airlock (I hadn't expected blowoff from a lager!) in 12 hours. =S Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Jul 1994 08:16:08 PST From: "KERRY.WILSON" <HWCEMC2.KWILSON at HW1.CAHWNET.GOV> Subject: BUDWEISER's CRAFT beer FYI Date: Monday, 11 July 1994 08:16 PT To: hw1smtp.homebre1 at hw1ssw1.snads From: KERRY.WILSON at HWCEMC2 Subject: BUDWEISER's CRAFT beer FYI I recently attended a charity event where lots of the local food and beverage folks come and give you food and drink while you watch the animals at the ZOO. An interesting beer provider was ELK MOUNTAIN (Something). It was billed as a craft brew and was served from a Budweiser truck. I over heard conversations that is was made in Budweiser's Fairfield, CA plant and was only available in draft for now. I have seen the "TAP" handle in one up scale restaurant in Sacramento. It looks like Budweiser is working all angles. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:59:00 PDT From: "Robucci, Adam F." <robuccad at dsoeng.sch.ge.com> Subject: Carbonation problems with Mini-Kegs I got one of those Dinkelaker/Grolsh style mini-keg systems a couple of months ago and I am yet to get it to work well. I bought the nice metal tap as opposed to the cheaper plastic one. The problem I am having is that all I ever seem to get out of the keg is a glass 1/2 - 3/4 full of foam. When I bought the system I picked up a keg of Grolsh and it poured foam. I then tried it with homebrew. I made an ale, primed with 1/3 cup corn sugar. Foam. I made a lager, primed with 1/3 cup corn sugar. Foam. The guys at the supply store told me that I was probably over carbonating. That 1/3 cup is for 5 full gallons of beer, not the 4+ gallons left at kegging time. They said that I should reduce the corn sugar in the same proportions of 1/3 cup per 5 gals for that amount of beer I have left. My question is has anyone had similar problems with these systems? Does anybody have any advice they would like to offer. Thanks Adam Robucci robuccad at dsoeng.sch.ge.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 09:03:35 PDT From: hollen at megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck) Subject: Re: Cleaning stainless steel >>>>> "m" == m bryson2 <m.bryson2 at genie.geis.com> writes: m> Responding to Tad Deshler about the burnt stainless steel m> kettle: m> A strong basic solution, such as potassium hydroxide is m> what we use at work. At home, I use a mixture of bleach and m> water. If you're willing to wait a couple of days( depending m> on how badly you burnt the kettle), it should all dissolve m> away. If it's only hte bottom of the kettle, it shouldn't take m> too much bleach. Good luck. Why not just use oven cleaner. This will not harm stainless steel at all. I use it for all kinds of burnt on things including cleaning table saw blades and carbide router bits. It is specifically made for eating burnt on stuff and not harming metal. Warning, don't dare try this on any aluminum, since it is caustic, it will eat aluminum faster than you can imagine. Dion Hollenbeck (619)675-4000x2814 Email: hollen at megatek.com Staff Software Engineer Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:55:16 EDT From: HOMEBRE973 at aol.com Subject: bylaws I am reposting this because all I got were requests from other people who wanted the information. So any club members or officers have by-laws for their club they could pass along? TIA, Andy Kligerman Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 10:00:20 -0700 From: pascal at netcom.com (Conan-the-Librarian) Subject: Re: ordering supplies by email "Date: Sat, 9 Jul 1994 00:27:15 -0400 (EDT) From: "F. G. Patterson Jr." <patterso at mason1.gmu.edu> Subject: ordering supplies by email "I would love to have knowledge of a brewing supply store with an internet-accessible address that takes orders by email." ( Note : I am not advocating use of the Internet for commercial purposes. I, myself, have no vested interest in either side of the question, other than aesthetic concerns over the consequence of commercializing the Net, which is not what this post is about ... :-) I would not accept orders for merchandise via email any more than I would over the phone. How would you verify the source ? Are you equipped to pursue deadbeats across state lines ? Does email constitute a signed contract ? I don't think so. I would not give my credit card and other information via email any more than I would over the phone. Who knows who's reading it ? Is it printed out ? How are the printouts disposed of ? As always, the equation of 'convenience' versus 'security' raises its ugly head. Be advised, and act accordingly, be you producer or consumer. Personally, I think either submitting _or_ accepting orders from people one doesn't know well, over email, is a disaster waiting to happen, and an invitation for some expensive practical jokes, as well. ( "Wow, honey, I got an order for 10000 pounds of pre-cracked six-row from a professor at MIT, today, to be shipped first class, via the email ... we can buy that house, now !! Let's sign the papers in the morning !!" ) ( Sometimes I think the criminal class are nothing more than parasitical entities which serve a very useful purpose ... taxing stupidity. ) - -- richard Law : The science of assigning responsibility. Politics : The art of _distributing_ responsibility. richard childers san francisco, california pascal at netcom.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon Jul 11 13:04:29 1994 From: braddw at rounder.rounder.com Subject: Drip-O-Later/Camping w/Keg Yesterday I came across what I thought to be a bargain. For $5 at the Salvation Army I bought a 48 quart cafeteria style coffee urn. In my haste I thought "there must be a use for this thing", then I got it home and realized it was made of, yes, aluminum. It holds about 2.25 gals of water at 150-154 Deg F on high and around 120 Deg F on the low setting. Can anyone suggest a use for this thing other than just getting all my friends totally wired? :-) Also, I'm going camping this weekend and I want to take along a keg of my pale ale. Is it safe to be storing my CO2 tank in a black truck in the heat of summer? Of course it'll come out at night. What about the beer? I could keep it on ice in the truck but who knows how long that will last. TIA for any replies. BTW, any brewers going to the WINTERHAWK Bluegrass Fest. this weekend? Bradd Wheeler. **** ---- "There's always time for a Homebrew!" ---- **** C|~~| ----------------------------------------------- C|~~| `--' --------------braddw at rounder.com------------- `--' ------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Jul 1994 10:30:17 -0800 From: "Harrington, Stephen J" <sharrington at msmail4.hac.com> Subject: Jinxed German Pils! I made a German Pils using Wyeast Danish. It started slow (2 day lag). I guess I made too small of a starter (... live and learn ...) but it eventually got going. I let it ferment for a about 5 days then racked it to the secondary. I topped it up to 5 gals with preboiled water at the same temp (48#161#F). Now it seems totally dead! I find it hard to believe it has finished (no I have taken an SG reading yet - I try to touch the stuff as little as possible). I have set the frig up to 60#161#F this AM in hopes of getting things going again. My real fear is that since lager yeast is bottom fermenting that I racked it off of all the yeast and poured the yeast down the drain. But then I got to thinking, wouldn't that also be a problem when I rack it to bottle? All I know is that eventhough I have made a couple of nice lagers in the past, I have yet to make a successful Pils. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. ( I am at work and cannot have a homebrew to relax). Stephen Harrington Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Jul 1994 10:16:04 U From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com> Subject: Wet Dog Smell/taste Hi Group, I am trying to diagnose a beginners brews. He works with my wife and communication with him is second hand. The beers are made from kits, I don't know whose, but I believe the styles were Pale Ales. I have tasted both batches, and my insightful comment was, "Eyahh, What the hell is that?" As the subject says, the overpowering charactoristic was a Wet Dog smell and an astringent, bitter, back of the mouth, and yet overall Thin taste. I really don't know quite what to make of it. Color was a nice red amber. Clarity was good/great. Head was thin. The only info I have on his brewing practice (other than he used my How-To document) is that his apartment is un-air conditioned, he was on vacation for a week during a heat wave when indoor temps probably hit in the 90s and he has a cat. I know I am annoyed at the lack of info to conjecture from, but maybe one of you can support my thought that the flavor is due to high temperature. Has anyone come across this flavor profile before? Could this be a Fusel Alcohol and phenolics problem? Thanks, John Palmer MDA-SSD M&P palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Jul 94 11:05:53 -0800 From: keith.prader at wtgw.worldtalk.com Subject: RE: Sludge in my wort Jeff Donnelly asked about hop pellet sludge: OK so it's not sludge but it looks like it. Here's my problem: After I'm done boiling my extract based wort for about an hour, I filter the wort into the fermenter. Since I started using my new funnel with the built in filter, it clogs 9 or 10 times per 5 gallon batch. ..... Do I need a no filter, a different filter, or a prefilter? Any other clues or suggestions. I use 2 kitchen hand held strainers as pre filters. I use a large mesh strainer on transfering the wort from the pot to a pitcher. I pour the pitchered wort through a fine hand held screen strainer and this catches most of the hop pellet residue. I still have the micro screen in my funnel with catches the rest of the finer bits. I do rinse the fine strainer after each pitcher to keep it from clogging, but it is much easier than rinsing the funnel screen (which only needs to be rinsed 2 or 3 times). I usually use whole hops which are much easier to manage and have less sludge involved. Keith Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 16:35:05 EDT From: "John R. Calen (4.4113 (External 1)" <calen at VNET.IBM.COM> Subject: Re: Breckenridge Strawberry Wheat On the AHA tour of the Breckenridge Brewpub, I asked the brewmaster (Sorry, his name isn't handy) how many strawberries were used to make the brew. The question was phrased partly to see if strawberry *extract* was used. His reply was something like, "We used n pounds of the finest Colorado strawberries to make it. Probably could have used *double* that." (Emphasis is mine.) The point is simply that even the brewer feels that the stawberries are way too subtle. More importantly, they're likely to alter the recipe the next time it's made. Regards, John Calen Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 15:42:57 EST From: "pratte" <PRATTE at GG.csc.peachnet.edu> Subject: Syrups In today's HBD, Victor Franklin takes me to task for using fruit syrups to flavor beer, claiming that they give an artificial flavor that he can detect. In response, I would like to say, "Victor, read what I wrote a little more carefully". If you do, you'll see that the syrups that I mentioned are pure fruit juice with a small amount of corn or cane sugar. They have no artificial additives at all. Can you find such syrups at the store? Yes, but you do have to read the labels. Does the beer taste different when using the syrup? I've made batches with fresh blueberries and with syrup and have not been able to tell the difference between them. In response to some other questions I've received, I add the syrup right after the boil, allowing the beer to ferment with the syrup in place. So far, I've had no problems doing it this way. John Pratte Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 14:53:43 -0500 (CDT) From: jack at wubios.wustl.edu (Jack Baty) Subject: Can dish it out; can't take it Given Anheuser-Busch's radio advertisement making fun of homebrewers one might think they had a sense of humor, but if they do it's unidirectional. For the last five years or more they have been pursuing a law suit against a small-time St.Louis humor magazine that printed a parody of a Bud Dry ad. After an oil spill on a river caused AB to stop drawing river water as a precaution the magazine _Snickers_ printed a fake ad saying something like "Bud Dry-- One taste and you'll drink it oily." AB lost in one court and recently won an appeal with the help of an AB-commissioned study that showed that some percentage of people shown the ad thought that it meant Budweiser had oil in it. - -- Jack Baty jack at wubios.wustl.edu Division of Biostatistics Washington University Medical School St. Louis If you don't think too good then don't think too much. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 15:57:52 EDT From: cem at cadre.com (Chuck E. Mryglot) Subject: Equipment Questions Hi brewfolk... I have a few questions that someone may be able to help out with. 1. I'd like to build a vented hood for my boiler. I was thinking of using an old bathroom vent fan as a basis of the design. I have no idea if it will have enough capacity to vent satisfactorily. Anyone out there done this already or have some advice. 2. I mash in a picnic cooler with a slotted pipe manifold. My yields are always just shy of 25 pts/lb/gal. I was thinking of changing from a manifold to an Easymasher type of drain in order to improve on yield. - Does anyone get better yields than I do using this sort manifold of arrangement? - Will switching to an Easymasher type of device help? Thanks in advance... ChuckM Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 16:14:05 EDT From: SLKINSEY at aol.com Subject: Recommendations Germany/Austria I am leaving for Nuremburg (Germany), Graz (Austria) and Vienna in a few days. I am looking for any and all beer-related places to check out (great beer gardens, etc.) or any other places y'all think I shouldn't miss. Please send e-mail to. Samuel Lloyd Kinsey slkinsey at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 17:03:16 EDT From: Barry Holman <BHOLMAN at NMU.EDU> Subject: unscribe bholman at nmu.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 15:11:02 -0700 From: brian at air.atmo.arizona.edu (Brian Klimowski) Subject: Just a reminder... For those of you who use small-diameter blow-off tubes during your primary fermentation, remember to keep a close eye on the output from the tube to check for clogging. Half of my last batch of Pale Ale ended up on my bathroom ceiling last night when my rubber stopper blew out of my carboy. I feel lucky not to have been injured by the explosion, as the carboy itself could have blown during one of many times I was hovering over it examining the early fermentation. On a lighter note, this event was the highlight of my 2 year old's life...she hasnt stopped talking and dragging my wife and I into her bathroom to show us where "Daddy's beer was _everywhere_!!!". Brian .\ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 16:58:37 -0700 From: Richard Buckberg <buck at well.sf.ca.us> Subject: Mash temperatures A question for the wise ones: This past weekend I brewed 2 batches of ale, all-grain. In both instances, I was distracted during the stovetop mashing, and the mash temperatures soared, perhaps as high as 190-200 F. What will this do to the brews? What can I expect as a result? Both batches were primarily British pale, one with flaked maize, another with small amounts of 40L and 80L. Sparge, boil, and fermentation all seem fine and in order. Thanks most kindly! Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 10:51:28 EST From: Aidan "Krausen Kropping Kiwi" Heerdegen <aidan at rschp2.anu.edu.au> Subject: Collected wisdom (tm) on Sparge water acidification and copper cleaning Full-Name: Aidan "Krausen Kropping Kiwi" Heerdegen This is a bona fide HBD Summary (tm) of the responses I got to my post in HBD #1472 regarding cleaning my copper boiler and acidfying sparge water. On cleaning copper boiler: - ------------------------- Fill the tub with water, acidify as if it was sparge water and boil that sucker - seems reasonable to me. Others suggested soe elbow grease .. yeah yeah ... I was sorta trying to avoid that! :-) Acidifying Sparge Water: - ----------------------- 1/ Boil for half an hour, seems some peoples water chemistry means if you boil your water for long enough it become acidic. I will have to see if that works for me. 2/ Food grade phosphoric acid. Seems to be the chemical of choice. Ulick pointed out that it is used in many foodstuffs and is a yeast nutrient as well (bonus!). I understood that the mash starts out acidic but gets less acidic as you wash it through with sparge water, leading to tannin extraction etc, so if the sparge water is acidic, this tannin extraction will not occur. Right? (I will interpret silence as affirmation) Thank-ee very much Aidan - -- Aidan Heerdegen e-mail: aidan at rschp2.anu.edu.au Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 20:51:54 -0400 (EDT) From: RAYMUN at delphi.com Subject: Someone explain all the grain types Can some explain to me what is the difference between all the grains out there in brew world. Like for example: What is the difference between malts from the USA, Belgium, Germany or England? And what types of beers should use what type of grain? Who's crystal's are better? USA/Belgium/Germany/England How and why is Munich Malt, Dextrin, and Cara-pils used? Whats dextrin malt and why is it used? I have read Papazians and Millers Books. But they fail to go into why one countries grains are better than others. What makes a Lager Malt different from another malt type? Also please feel free to throw any opinions you might have regarding this inquirery! Thanx in advance to all that reply! Raymun at delphi.com P.S. You might want to post your replies to HBD because I'm sure there are other beginners out there such as I cannot be the only one around! <G> Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 22:58:39 -400 (EDT) From: Mark Peacock <mpeacock at oeonline.com> Subject: Comparison between Wyeast's British and London ESB yeasts This past Saturday, I whipped up a quick Pale Ale batch (90% light malt extract/10% British crystal and about 40 IBU's of Fuggles) to test the difference between Wyeast's British and London ESB yeasts. The batch cooked out to an OG of 1.054. I then split the batch between two carboys, pitched the starters I had made the night before and let 'em go. And go they did. I pitched the yeast at about 2:00pm on Saturday and both carboys were chugging away by 5:00pm. The British was bubbling at a greater rate than the ESB. 24 hours later (Sunday pm), the British was still going, but the ESB had stopped. I lifted up the covers on the carboys to notice that the ESB had almost completely floc'd out while the British was still in solution. I swirled the ESB carboy to re-sol the yeast. Another 24 hours (Monday pm) and the British was still burping, albeit much more slowly. The ESB showed no signs of life. Since I have to go out of town tomorrow, I decided to rack them to secondary. I also thought that this might wake up the ESB. Taking SG's during the racking, the ESB SG is 1.022 (58% attenuation) while the British SG is 1.014 (75% attenuation). More news as developments warrant. Mark Peacock Birmingham, MI Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 22:35:26 -0500 From: WIRESULTS at WINET.mste.org Subject: beer at work? (!) > My recommendation is that you contact the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobbaco > and Firearms) and ask them how to register in order to pay the required tax > on the beer that is brewed at the company. The tax is only $7 per barrel on > the first 60,000 barrels. On 200 gallons, that would be about $45. There may > be a minimum or an annual fee or something, I don't know. Does the term Padora's Box Mean anything to you? Yes there is a $500/year special occupational tax plus a $2000 Bond plus reams of paperwork including 8 1/2 X 10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, describing the south view, the north view, the building layout and let's not forget a disertation on how you are going to make sure that untaxed beer will not possibly get mixed up with txaed beer. Oh and don't forget to write about how to dispose of unused beer (depends on if tax piad or not) and the *detailed* records of materials movement..... You get the picture. Now add the state requirements and you're all set. Oh, you shouldn't forget about the local ones either. Here in Wisconsin you would have to be licenced as a brewer, a wholesaler and a retailer at about $500 each per year plus the other grief.... Best to hold an analysis party... rjl wiresults at winet.mste.org Best to hold an Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 15:32:50 +1000 (EST) From: Paul Murray <pmurray at lingua.cltr.uq.oz.au> Subject: Re: Heineken & Skunks I don't want to revive the "zoolgical zymurgy" thread by suggesting that Heineken make their beer with skunks :-) but in reply to the theories about the skunkiness of Heineken, go to Europe and drink a Heineken (it doesn't taste skunky). Go to the U.S. (I would imagine) or Australia (as I have done), and you will find that La Belle Strasbourg (from Fisher), Young's Ram Rod, and even Pilsner Urquell sometimes taste of skunk. The orthodox explanation is that beer becomes light struck and the isohumulone (from the hop oils) breaks down into mercaptans & fusel alcohol causing the skunk flavour. Somebody out there should be able to correct this as I'm sure it's only half right. What puzzles me is that my regular beer shop keeps it's imports in a display fridge which they insist contains special fluros which do not emit u/v and therefore do not affect the isohumulone and ought not therefore affect the beer. Yet the first couple of Urquell's I bought from them were superb, but the more recent ones were beginning to taste like nasty imports (I don't know what skunks smell like!). So given that they are right about the fluros, given that the later bottles are from the same case, why does this happen? If somebody knowledgeable out there can explain this I would be very grateful. I'm sure the answer would be of general interest and warrant a posting - we all want to avoid our own beers suffering this fate & presumably we all want to be able to taste imported beers at their best if we are to learn how particular styles are supposed to taste. But private e-mail is fine, I'll post a summary. Paul Murray <pmurray at lingua.cltr.uq.oz.au> Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1473, 07/12/94