HOMEBREW Digest #1520 Wed 07 September 1994

Digest #1519 Digest #1521


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


Contents:
  Re: 2-bucket sparging/2-day brewing/wheat re-req (Tel +44 784 443167)
  Hops for Trappist Ale (WLK.Wbst311)
  Coors "Artic" Ice (GONTAREK)
  yeasty septic system (Btalk)
  ginger beer ("Griffin, Daniel")
  Free beer! (Bob Jones)
  insulating brewpots and electric stoves (Todd Swanson)
  Stuff on www (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Bending Tubing (Steve Scampini)
  Racking under CO2 (smtplink!guym)
  more newbie stuff ("Brian Ellsworth, 203-286-1606")
  Drying hops (Steven Lichtenberg)
  Copper tubing bending tool. ("Lee A. Menegoni")
  grenade/hopdrying (RONALD DWELLE)
  Perry recipe ("LOWE, Stuart")
  Yeast-starters and questions (mike.snyder)
  Re Soft Copper Tube Bending ("Palmer.John")
  Heading agents ("Lesko, David              MRS")
  Re: Insulated brewpots (smtplink!guym)
  Oops (npyle)
  water analysis (Sean Rooney)
  defending austinites/smokey beers (Alan P Van Dyke)
  Recipe Request: Spaten Oktoberfest (David Knight)
  Pepper Beer (Roger Grow)
  Yeast use. (Schinelli, Capt Bruce)
  My comments/drying hops/egg drop soup/iodophor (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  Hot Break Cold Break (berkun)
  Drying Orange Rind (haltstei)
  Safe glass (John McCaskill)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 10:13:33 +0000 From: Brian Gowland <B.Gowland at rhbnc.ac.uk> (Tel +44 784 443167) Subject: Re: 2-bucket sparging/2-day brewing/wheat re-req In HBD 1519, David Draper <David.Draper at mq.edu.au> wrote: > [Snip] > > 1. I use one of the drilled-bucket-in-a-bucket sparging > setups. I have had good advice from several highly > knowledgeable net.brewers to underlet the inner, drilled > bucket with hot water to a) give a continuous liquid path > from the base of the grain bed to the spigot, and b) to > avoid oxidation, which could result if the wort simply > fell to the bottom of the outer bucket. It strikes me that > the net effect here is to add a bunch of water (6 litres in > my case) to the sparged wort. Seems this would greatly > reduce the apparent efficiency, since the actual extracted > wort is diluted by that volume. > > [Snip] I used one of these twin-bin setups for my first 6-7 brews with pretty good results. My comments on the above are as follows - many US brewers (amongst others) don't agree with running the grain bed dry and prefer the practice of under-letting or fly-mashing (UK term I think, which is the practice of sparging at the same time as run-off so as not to let the grain bed pack down). I used fly-mashing in my twin-bin on a couple of occasions as I was having trouble with set-mashes due to a) bad hole size - the holes got blocked, b)poor grain (lots of flour), c) large grain bill. Other than that, I drained the bed at run-off before sparging. One thing I did do was to only let the sweet wort in the base of the outer bin drop to an inch below the inner bin and adjusted the sparge flow to keep that way. That way, the sweet wort only fell an inch. I never saw any recognisable signs of oxidation. One big problem (other than the three I mentioned above) was I had about 5 litres of wasted space under the inner bin which meant one of two things - either I used the standard amount of mash liquor making the mash very stiff due to 5 litres "dormant" or I added an extra 5 litres to the mash liquor and ended up with less sparging liquor - this meant loss of efficiency as I can only boil at just over 20 litres so was penalized by 5 litres of essential sparge liquor that I couldn't run through. This is similar to your problem of diluting by under-letting but possibly not as bad as at least the "dormant" 5 litres in my setup contained malty sugars rather than being pure water. I now use the outer bin only, as follows. I fitted a second tap (first one was too high) as low as possible in the bin and built a square slotted copper manifold. This is made from 15mm copper pipe and uses corner joints and a "T" joint that had no solder pre-applied - its all a push-fit and connects to the tap by a 1.5 inch length of pipe which fits inside the tap and outside the "T". The slots are cut in the three sides without the "T" with a junior hacksaw. The square is almost exactly a snug fit with the bottom of the bin to prevent it coming apart under the grain. The benefits are a) I can use the correct amount of mash liquor with no wastage, b) no risk of oxidation due to dropping liqour, c) no blocked holes so I can drain the grain bed, d) easier to clean, e) not as tall so don't have to balance my sparge liquor tank as high as I used to, f) my mash efficiency has risen from 80% to 85-90% (from 28 pts - 30-32 pts). It also works as a hopback as I don't have a false bottom in my boiler yet. One last point - for those who use this sort of setup for sparging only (i.e. as a lauter tun with the mash in another vessel) - if you do single temp. infusion mashes, try insulating it with old heating boiler strips and/or blankets and mash in there too - it saves transferring the grain from one place to another. This may seem obvious/old-news to many but I have talked to a few people who hadn't thought of this (not my idea). Cheers, Brian Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 04:07:20 PDT From: WLK.Wbst311 at xerox.com Subject: Hops for Trappist Ale Greetings: I am buying ingredients for an extract Trappist Ale whilst my Chimay starter gets under way. I have some unopened hop plugs in the freezer, but I would like to know what the best hop variety would be to use for such a recipe. I am anticipating using Miller's formulation for a 2.5 gal. as follows: 3.3# Pale Extract, 1.0# Pale Dry Extract, 1/2 Dark Brown Sugar, 1/2# 40 Crystal and 1/4 oz. Black Patent Malt for "micromash", and a magical mixture of hops, about 6 AAUs. Miller suggests a wide variety of hops, i.e Goldings, Hallertauer (of which there are quite a variety recently available) amongst a few others. Any suggestions as to what would work best in simulating the hop character of Chimay? Oh yeah, I finally came across the blue label Chimay Trappist Ale in the beer stores. Can anyone tell me how it differs from the red label variety? The store owner wasn't much help! Thanks Bill K. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 7:11:44 -0400 (EDT) From: GONTAREK at FCRFV1.NCIFCRF.GOV Subject: Coors "Artic" Ice Hello all! This is not strictly homebrew-related, but if you will indulge me for a moment... Last night I saw a TV ad for Coors' new ice beer, called "Coors Artic Ice". I am a biologist and not an English scholar, but shouldn't it be "Arctic"? I looked in my trusty dictionary and found no such word as "Artic". Could it be that the suits at Coors made a big mistake by not using their spellchecker on their labels and advertising campaign? Anyway, I thought it was amusing. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming..... Rick Gontarek Owner/Brewmaster of the Major Groove Picobrewery Baltimore, MD gontarek at ncifcrf.gov Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 07:52:28 EDT From: Btalk at aol.com Subject: yeasty septic system Pat asks about yeast slurry instead of Rid-X type 'additives' to boost the biological activity in his septic tank. Pat, think about it... Isn't there enough stuff that normally goes into your septic system that will keep it 'lively'? Stay away from those septic tank additives. They can cause the stuff that is supposed to stay in the septic tank to end up in your leach lines and clog the pores in the soil where the liquid sewage is supposed to be absorbed. I used to work for a county health dep't in central NY, and even the guidelines handed down by the state recommended against any of the commercial additives. Having your septic tank pumped out every 2-3 years is the best thing. Your yeast slurry shouldn't matter though. Regards, Bob Talkiewicz,Binghamton, NY <btalk at aol.com> Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 1994 08:18:00 -0400 (EDT) From: "Griffin, Daniel" <griffind at crl3.crl.aecl.ca> Subject: ginger beer I'm looking for an extract recipe for ginger beer. I don't want a weak beer tasting of ginger, I want something closer to a Jamaican Ginger beer -- taste so strong it hurts :-) E-mail me - GRIFFIND at crl3.crl.aecl.ca TIA Douglas Gee GRIFFIND at crl3.crl.aecl.ca Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. AECL Research Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 1994 07:19:13 +0900 From: bjones at novax.llnl.gov (Bob Jones) Subject: Free beer! Well almost. There is a special running around my area on Henry Weinhards beers. You get a $4 rebate per 12 pack of beer. Up to $12 per household. The going price for this beer is $4.49 per 12 pack. So after the rebate thats 49 cents per 12 pack. There are three or four styles available. I picked up the Red something, the Blue Boar and regular Henrys. The Red is the best. Sort of like the Millers Amber ale. The special is on until Sept. 9th, so better move fast. If you _really_ don't like Henrys you could always use the beer as a rinse after using iodaphor or bleach :-> Bob Jones bjones at novax.llnl.gov Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 09:26:11 CDT From: Todd Swanson <BCHM014 at UNLVM.UNL.EDU> Subject: insulating brewpots and electric stoves Greetings Brewers, In HBD #1519 Erik Speckman (especkma at reed.edu) wanted to know if his electric stove could manage a full boil (6-7 gal). The answer is yes it can. However, you will have to wait a while for it to happen. I have done 6.5 gallon boils on my electric stove using a 33qt enamel on steel brewpot. The pot sits on 2 burners and I use both of them. It takes about 30 min. to get the boil going and I have to keep the pot covered or mostly covered. Erik then asks about insulating the brewpot. I would be interested in hearing more on this subject too! Judging by how hot my kitchen gets, I know my kettle is radiating a lot of heat from the sides of the kettle. TIA for the info, Todd Swanson (bchm014 at unlvm.unl.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 10:38:45 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Stuff on www ** Re: question on how to access WWW resources. You need a "WWW browser" program to get at the http: things. The most popular is probably Mosaic, which runs on Unix, Mac, and PC (three versions: X Mosaic, MacMosaic, and WinMosaic, respectively). If you've got only a "serial" connection to the network, with no windowing possible, then the Lynx program (runs on Unix) is a possibility. Talk to your local sys admin folks and see if they've already installed one of these programs. =Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 10:57:29 EDT From: Steve Scampini <scampini at hpangrt.an.hp.com> Subject: Bending Tubing If memory serves, an important thing to keep in mind when bending any metal is work hardening. I am no metals guy but basically it has to do with the metal becoming harder and tougher to bend the more you bend it. I am sure the alloy and the prior treatment of the metal has alot to do with this phenomenon. So...if you repeatedly fuss with the tubing, bending and rebending to get just the right curves you are more likely to kink it. I would guess there is some heating protocol which would undo the work hardening. I once heard of a classroom demo where a specially prepared (softened) rod of some copper alloy is presented to the smallest, apparently weakest member of the audience and asked to bend it. The child bends it with no problem. Then the largest, most muscle bound member is asked to come up and unbend the rod. No luck. Is this little bit of folklore pausible? Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 08:51:45 MDT From: exabyte!smtplink!guym at uunet.uu.net Subject: Racking under CO2 I've been reading the keg fermentation tips with great interest. Here's a little trick that I've used the last couple of batches. I do my primary ferments in 7 gallon acid carboys (which I got at a great price from a certain saint in Austin, Texas but I won't mention that) primarily due to the fermenter geometry information mentioned by George Fix. I had been thinking of fermenting in my kegs in order to keep the beer under a blanket of CO2 during the whole fermentation/racking process but I came up with another idea. When I get ready to rack to the secondary (a keg now), I shoot a blast of CO2 into the bottom of the keg and then attach the tubing from the cylinder to the "blowhole" on my orange carboy cap. Instead of blowing into the carboy to start the siphon, I turn the pressure down to a couple of psi and crack the valve on my CO2 cylinder to start the transfer. This blankets the beer in the primary while forcing it into the bottom of the keg (already blanketed with CO2). This does not entirely eliminate the possibility of introducing oxygen but greatly reduces it. It also allows me to at least do the primary ferment (5 gallons) in a short, squat vessel as George recommends. I typically seal the secondary keg, monitor the pressure, and add CO2 for slow force carbonation if needed. I tapped a Newcastle clone over Labor Day that has been in the keg for 17 weeks at room temperature (72 - 75 F) that I handled this way and it was excellent. Just a suggestion. -- Guy McConnell -- Exabyte Corporation -- guym at exabyte.com "Temperature's rising, better pop another keg..." Return to table of contents
Date: 06 Sep 1994 11:14:58 -0400 (EDT) From: "Brian Ellsworth, 203-286-1606" <ELLSWORTH%BRAVO at utrcgw.utc.com> Subject: more newbie stuff In the midst of all the exceptionally technical, scientific information offered here in the homebrew digest, I'd like to inject a simple message for the benefit of all you newbies out there: A month or so ago I posted some questions regarding a mysterious 'ring around the carboy'. This ring appeared in secondary fermentation of my third batch within a week of racking from the primary. (The primary stage lasted about two weeks.) The ring was cloudy/white and settled just at the level of the brew. Later, I noticed some additional oddities in the form of cloudy white 'mist' resting in the ridges of the carboy, and about an inch from the bottom. The 5-gallon brew looked positively evil. It was an extremely dark concoction, heavily hopped, and loaded with at least 12lbs of dark extract, wheat, chocolate, and dark crystal malt, brought to life by a combination or lager yeast, and champaign kicker! I'd spent a fair amount of cash and effort on this batch, so my expectations were quiet high! But, alas, the floating and clinging oddities had me, (sorry to say) worried... A couple of helpful, more experienced brewers responded to my concerns. Most said the same thing. "..let it finish, don't dump it until you are sure it's bad...". Some recommending bottling just a few to test it, etc. Sage advice.. I let it run it's course. A few weeks ago I kegged the beast. This long Labor Day weekend I couldn't contain myself any longer and plugged in the tap. Ahhhhh..... Sweet success.... Cloudiness, gone; sour taste, not a bit; off flavors, none; Just a marvelous, complex mixture of tempting hop aromas, (ah, nose?), a smooth malty flavor, balanced with a refreshing bitterness. Crisp, and clean with no unpleasant after bite or taste. Very heavy, and full-bodied. Novice palette? Inexperienced judge? Easily impressed beginner? Yes, yes, yes, no doubt, but a totally contented laborer, basking in the satisfaction of a job well done. Experienced connoisseurs might advise a bit more aging. ".. it will get better with time..",they might add. Maybe, but I doubt I'll find out this round! So, fellow newbie, in the immortal words of Charley P., relax, don't worry, etc.... And, from a fellow newbie, DON'T ever throw out a questionable batch until you're sure. It might just be a true diamond in the rough! On to the next grand, experimental, concoction..... brian ellsworth oh yea. Thanks to everyone that responded to my questions. I'm slowly becoming convinced that is it really fairly difficult to totally screw up a batch of beer. Predictability and consistency are other issues, at least for now! Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 10:57:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Steven Lichtenberg <steve at army.mil> Subject: Drying hops Greetings all-- I have been following the threads lately on drying hops and thought I would add my 2c. Here in the Mid Atlantic, the weather is almost always HUMID. Summers consistently reach the 90/90 threshold (90^ and 90% humidity). not real fun... In those tropical conditions, food stuffs turn moldy FAST ( I have seen cake mold within hours of cutting it) Therefore drying anything as most books suggest, in the sun is an excercise in futility. I have seen fresh herbs grow mold within a few days as well. I believe hops will do the same I haven't tried though. When thinking about long term storage of herbs (or any other plant material) you almost have to dry them to retard the mold growth. I really believe this is the main reason fo rdrying (promotes long term storage). I dry my hops (and tomatoes and basil etc) in the oven with the pilot only. Another reason gas ovens are a good thing! This works very well. just stick the little guys in there and forget about them for a day or two. Works great! As for using fresh hops right off the vine, there are probably some parallels with fresh herbs.. Fresh herbs have a much different taste from dried. The flavor is more intense, read fresher tasting. Drying will detract from some of the more subtle flavor components in the herb and intensify others. That is why you have to use much more of a fresh herb than dried, 2-3 times more sometimes!!! If you use fresh hops instead of dried, do you need to add more to get the same flavor? I would think the herbal/ floral notes imparted by a specific hops would be intensified by using fresh but the bittering notes would probably be intensified in the dried varieties. Glenn or Mark, any comments... or am I way off base here? Anyway, since someone here just commented that I am the only one _WORKING_ this morning I might just have to really do something NAAHHHH. **** ---- "There's always time for a Homebrew!" ---- **** C|~~| -------------- Steven Lichtenberg ------------- C|~~| `--' -------- steve at pentagon-emh6.army.mil ------- `--' ------------------------------------------- ENJOY LIFE--THIS IS NOT A REHEARSAL Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 11:28:02 EDT From: "Lee A. Menegoni" <lmenegoni at nectech.com> Subject: Copper tubing bending tool. WHen I made my immersion chiller from a 50' coil of 3/8" OD soft copper tubing I also purcahsed a bending tool for less than $2. This tool is a foot long tightly coiled, flexible spring like item whose inner diameter is the same as the tubing OD. I have seen them in sizes for 3/8" and 1/2" tubing at Home Depot. I used this while wrapping the tubing around a 5 gallon soda keg as a form and also used it to make a coiled manifold for a 10 gallon Gott mash tun, no kink in either. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 11:34:07 EST From: dweller at GVSU.EDU (RONALD DWELLE) Subject: grenade/hopdrying A warning: last spring I filled a gallo 4 liter (or so) wine jug with some brew and used the gallo screw-on cap. I thought the jug was extra heavy duty glass and the cap good. Well, this last weekend, it blew (we weren't around, fortunately)--shards of glass all over the basement, much of it stuck to walls, ceiling, floor with the dried up "DirtySocks Stout." Weird thing is that I checked a couple of the regular 12-ounce bottles with the same brew inside and carbonation seems to be normal. My conclusion--the wine jug is just plain weak glass. No? On drying hops, I used our commercial dryer (named, maybe, Harvest Time or something like that) with the setting at its lowest (maybe 95 F?), and it seemed to work fine. But I'm looking for an answer to Coyote's query--why dry em at all? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 94 09:50:00 BST From: "LOWE, Stuart" <lowes at lishirl2.li.co.uk> Subject: Perry recipe I desperately need a recipe for a good perry. I spent an enjoyable hour picking cider pears from a friends tree, I now have about fifty pounds and need a recipe for either pure perry or cider-perry from pressed juice. I would also like advice on effectively extracting the juice from the fruit. I do not have a fruit press or a juicer. I am considering mincing the fruit through a hand mincer (long winded), collecting the pulp and juice and fermenting on the pulp for a few days then staining. Also what type of yeast would people recommend, my local HB shop has recommended champagne type yeast. Do I need to use pectic enzyme as for winemaking? Comments please public or private, as is the custom if I get any good comments I will summarise. Ta from the UK, Stu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 12:27:38 EST From: mike.snyder at ccmail.GSFC.NASA.GOV Subject: Yeast-starters and questions I am a relatively new homebrewer, and with all this talk about yeast starters and cultures I have a few questions/concerns. First, Let me briefly explain what I have been doing brew wise. I have used extracts with additional dry malt for the first two batches. I used the dry ale yeast which came with the brew kit. I made a starter using 1 cup 90 degree F tap water and one tablespoon of corn sugar for both batches. While I boiled (30-40 min,) I set the glass scran wrapped measuring cup in a dark place. After the wort cooled and was poured vigorously into the fermenting vessel, I proceeded to pitch the foaming yeast starter. Using this method, I had vigorous fermentation within 12 hours. The last batch I brewed was an Irish Stout with extract, dry malt, steeped gains and hop pellets. This time rather than using the dry yeast provided with the kit I decided to use Wyeast (Irish Stout, I cannot remember the number.) Anyway, I broke the inner seal and after the foil expanded to well over an inch, I pitched the Wyeast into the 75 degree F brew. It took about 24 to 36 hours before fermentation was observed through the airlock. I realize now (after reading the recent issues of HBD) that a starter should have been made at least 24 hours prior to pitching the Wyeast. But, I have this burning question: What difference does it make if the starter is made or not? The brew did eventually start to ferment. Will this slow rate of activity yield a poorer quality beer, or will it just take longer to ferment out? Will there be less alcohol in the final product? Obviously I am a newbie and do not understand fully the characteristics of yeast and the fermenting process. Could someone out there please enlighten me? Any correspondence would be appreciated. Yes, even flames - they make for an interesting day! Thanks, Mike Snyder | oooooo | "In heaven there is no beer, Systems Engineer | oooooooo | that's why we drink it here, Loral Aerosys | | |--- | and when we're gone from here, Seabrook, MD | | CHEERS | | | our friends will be drinking | | | / | all the beer." | |________|/ | -Boondale Email: Mike.Snyder at ccmail.gsfc.nasa.gov Return to table of contents
Date: 6 Sep 1994 09:46:02 U From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com> Subject: Re Soft Copper Tube Bending Hi Group, Are we overlooking the obvious here in favor of the Alternative? You can buy Tube Bending Springs at the hardware store that allow bending without kinking or crushing. You insert the tube into the spring and bend. The spring coils provide support for the walls so you get even loading. And they come in the standard tubing sizes. Lets see, I think it was 8 or 12 bucks for a set of four in each size. 1/4->3/4. John Palmer Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 14:06:00 PDT From: "Lesko, David MRS" <DLESKO at usva5.dyncorp.com> Subject: Heading agents My question for the general wisdom is this: Do heading agents have any impact on the carbonation of beer. We tried a heading agent for the first time (why? I don't know. Just for fun?) when we bottled three weeks ago. Last night we tried a sample bottle and it was VERY carbonated. We used the same amount of priming sugar we had for our first 10 or so batches (read novices). And just what is the theory behind the workings of a heading agent anyway? TIA Lesko Brewing is as brewing does. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 94 12:07:51 MDT From: exabyte!smtplink!guym at uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: Insulated brewpots Eric Speckman asks about cheap insulating material for his brewpot. If you take a daily newspaper, you already have your material. Tape enough together to go around your pot and fold it enough to ensure that it doesn't hang down low enough to catch on fire. You can even cut out slits for the pot's handles which will also hold the paper in place. You can usually use it more than once and throw it in the recycling bin when you're done. I've used this method with good results for some time on my 4 gallon pot. I also insulate with newspaper on my partial mash batches. -- Guy McConnell -- guym at exabyte.com "So barmaid bring a pitcher, another round of brew..." Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 14:07:29 MDT From: npyle at hp7013.ecae.StorTek.COM Subject: Oops Oops, it seems I had another brain cramp regarding the Maris Otter malt and Crisp Maltings, sorry. Anyway, I'm sure the Malt FAQ will straighten me right out and I hope will add lots to a list like that. Its always nice to screw up right before leaving for a week. "'Tis better to be quiet and let people think you are a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt". I'm back from vacation building new brewing equipment. When I get some time, I'll report on my experiences building hot liquor tanks and mash tuns out of kegs. Until then, I have some catching up to do... Cheers, Norm npyle at hp7013.ecae.stortek.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 14:21:11 -0600 From: Sean.Rooney at uic.edu (Sean Rooney) Subject: water analysis When you report a water analysis in HBD, please tell us what city it's for. It could save someone alot of time/money/effort. Most of the analyses I've seen over the last year or so were missing this information. Along that line, does anyone have a recent analysis for Chicago? Sean Rooney Department of Genetics University of Illinois at Chicago Sean.Rooney at uic.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tuesday, 6 September 94 16:00:22 CST From: Alan P Van Dyke <llapv at utxdp.dp.utexas.edu> Subject: defending austinites/smokey beers Howdy, all-- First, I'd like to defend a couple of Austinites that have been flamed recently on the HBD. I agree with Gregg Tennefoss that St Pat's is getting a bum deal. Lots of people out there have had their way flaming their services all summer. I think a response from St Pat's is very appropriate. How would any of you out there like it is someone trashed your homebrew on the HBD & you weren't allowed to respond? I know I'd be terribly pissed. Now for the other Austinite. Domenick Venezia implied that Paul Ingersoll (aka Oakqm3...) lied about "clogging" the net. "Oakqm3" is a gateway for a part of Motorola, Inc, & about 1000 people have it as part of their e-mail address. As you can guess, Paul would not be the only homebrewer out there interested in the HBD. Paul gets the HBD from the listserv at Stanford. Someone else, probably unknowingly, had subscribed to the HBD & caused the problem. I hosted a homebrewing party for several of these same people (my wife works with them) & got many interested in homebrewing. I think that calling them inappropriate names on the net is not a great way to welcome new hombrewers. Besides, is it that big a problem? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Now to beer. I had a homebrewed Scottish Ale just this weekend with peat smoked malt, & I thought it was tasty. He said it had about 2 oz in it. He (the homebewer) thought is was too much, though. I had just swallowed a big swallow of pepper beer, so who knows. rprice of the Navy kinda ragged on smoke beers, suggesting Taj Mahal. I've tried Rogue's smoked ale (the exact name escapes me) & I found it quite tasty. Also, I've had a German one, but can't recall the name... Happy brewing, Alan of Austin Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 17:13:31 EDT From: David Knight <dknight at ren.iterated.com> Subject: Recipe Request: Spaten Oktoberfest I am looking for a good all-grain recipe for a Maerzen/Oktoberfest lager similar to Spaten Oktoberfest. I will be doing a double decoction mash to try and get that rich malty taste (along with using DeWolf Cosyn malts), but I don't have a good recipe to start with. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. -Dave Knight dknight at ren.iterated.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 15:13:01 -0600 From: grow at sumatra.mcae.stortek.com (Roger Grow) Subject: Pepper Beer Hey all! I sent this directly to Sean, but I thought it might be interesting to all... Good day, Here is a recipe from the chillie-heads digest and one of mine. - -------Quote--------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 94 10:33:37 EDT From: scox at factset.com (Sean C. Cox) Subject: Pepper beer and clarification Greetings all, I've just tried a pepper beer I started a couple weeks ago, and I noticed something unusual. It was amazingly clear. Clearer than any beer I've ever made (I've been brewing, extract only, for about 4yrs). I didn't use any finings of any sort, and it fermented (and aged) in a corner of my non-airconditioned CT apartment (temps in the 70s-90s) for less than 3 weeks start to finish. The recipe follows: 1 can (4lb) Alexanders wheat malt 1 can (1.4lb) Alexanders pale malt kicker 1oz Cascades (boil) 1/2 oz. Cascades (finish) 2 Scotch Bonnet peppers (habaneros) diced, frozen (the only way I can stand to cut them, zow!) Winsor yeast First time I tried this one. (Dry yeast, BTW). Boiled for about 45 minutes, added the peppers after the heat was shut off. Cooled by immersing the pot in ice water bath. Piched yeast from starter (about 20oz, made in Alexanders can). Bottled in a week, aged about two (maybe a day or two less). When I poured the first sample the other day is was clear, a lovely amber color, but totally clear! (It also has a nice mellow pepper finish :-9 ) It looked like it had been filtered or something, but there was a good sedmient on the bottom, so I know there were yeast in there :-) Any ideas as to what might have done this? Perhaps the capiscum(sp?) in the peppers? Maybe some really fine yeast? I'd certainly like to be able to replicate this clarity (esp. for a nice light amber beer!). -- Sean - -----End Quote--------- The next recipe was an experiment that turned out pretty well, but was kinda hot and pretty foamy (Ive heard about foam from other people who use this process also, dont know what causes it.) What I did was brew a batch of Killer Killians (my version) and add one or two serrano peppers in about a dozen bottles. Next time I'll try 1/4, 1/2 and 1 pepper per bottle (2 was too hot). The odd thing about this beer is finding a food to drink it with. Mexican food is better with something to quench the hot, not add to it (in my opinion). I'm still searching for the right combo. Here goes; Beer: pick your favorite or try this; 8 lbs (or less, I was shooting for high o.g.) amber extract 1 lb 60l crystal 2 ounces, Northern Brewer hops 2 ounces, Cascade hops Edme dry ale yeast Steep grains while water is heating (about 30 min), sparge and remove when water boils. Remove from heat and add extract, replace on heat, boil for 60 mins. 1 oz Northern Brewer hops 60 mins (whole time) 1 oz Northern Brewer hops 30 mins 1 oz Cascade hops 15 mins 1 oz Cascade hops last 5 mins or after heat is off. cool, pitch, rack -n- stuff as normal, just add the peppers to the bottles before filling. I would recomend trying the pepper in a bottle thing with a small number of bottles next time you brew. I used Corona bottles so you could see the pepper inside, although the red serrano peppers faded to a dull green with time (3 months). One word of caution!!!!! Be careful with the Habanero peppers if you use them! They are the hottest pepper in the world (the Savina Red variety of habanreo to be exact)!!!!!! Hope this helps, Roger (grow at sumatra.mcae.stortek.com) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 1994 15:08 CDT From: MXPYP7.HQAMC at MHS.SAFB.AF.MIL (Schinelli, Capt Bruce) Subject: Yeast use. Hi all! I've recently used my yeast slurry from a previous batch in my current batch, and have made decent beer. I've also experienced very fast starts. My methodology is, if I happen to be brewing around the time I'm racking to secondary or bottling, I save about a quart of the slurry off the bottom of the carboy in a sterile container, or just leave it in the carboy. When the wort is at pitching temperature, I dump the container, or if its the same day, I just dump the bottom of the old carboy into the top of the new. Typically, I get good activity within 2-4 hours and really active fermentations withing 12. For example, I brewed a porter on 29 August using London Ale Wyeast (tm). I experienced good activity in the primary, 1.054 OG down to 1.018 by 2 Sep, but did not need a blow-off in the primary. On 3 Sep I brewed a Stout, and pitched yeast by dumping the old into the new. I had activity in two hours and checked the next AM and found the air lock blown off the carboy (nice mess). Now for my question: what off flavors am I introducing to my next batch using this method? I have been brewing stouts and porters, which could mask some off flavors. Whats the prevailing wisdom? Secondly, how do you save a Wyeast pack that you popped, but won't have time to use for several (4) days? Thanks in advance, Bruce Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 14:47:53 -0700 From: Richard B. Webb <rbw1271 at appenine.ca.boeing.com> Subject: Lesson learned in kegging Well, the time had to come. After 100 batches of beer, mead, wine and sake, I finally got the kegging system of your dreams. But I learned something that wasn't in the kegging FAQ that I thought I would pass along to the alert readership of the HBD. I thought that my first experiments would be simple, kind of sneaking up on it. Therefore, I chose force-pressurization of a soda pop extract as my first attempt. (Actually, I rationalized the entire purchase by claiming the need to take 'stuff' to a company picnic soon. I need to have kegged soda pop, all the better to sneak kegged beer past the park rangers...) So I added 16 cups of cane sugar to each of two kegs, 4 gallons of hot water to each, and a different soda pop extract to each. Shake back and forth for all I'm worth (and we'll make that judgement soon...), pressurized, and put in fridge. All the next day, I'm looking forward to tapping the keg of root beer and ginger ale. Sweet tooth working overtime. However... The next day, nothing. A little pffffft out of the spout, but nada else. Wha happen? A quantity of sugar got blown up the out tube by the vapor pressure of the hot water. It then crystalized inside the tube. A perfectly formed sugar rock was all that stood between me and my sweet tooth's salvation. Of course it took me a while to realize that this was the case. There was a lot of wondering and head scratching before the light bulb came on. So I got some stiff wire and reamed the thing out from both ends, and scraped off syrup. Bingo. So I scraped some more, and some more, and a bit more than that. Finally got the tube cleared. Had to do it again, as there were two tubes between the two kegs. After all the blood, sweat, tears and sugar had been shed, I got two empty tubes. Then I had to wait another day to get pressurized. Sweet tooth denied. For a day... Let that be a lesson to you all... Rich Webb Return to table of contents
Date: 6 Sep 94 22:32:00 GMT From: korz at iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583) Subject: My comments/drying hops/egg drop soup/iodophor Dennis writes: >Al, shut up !!!! If this means our friendship, sorry. When it comes to >Zymurgy verses Brewing Techniques, your biased because of the tech >editing your doing. Both magazines have merits. > >I've seen inconsistancies in virtually every book and magazine published on >homebrewing. Why not attack Charlie on some of his techniques ? How about >Greg Noonan, or Dave Miller or even George Fix? Why not just reserve some of >your comments to private E-Mail for the benefit of the Digest. Now, now... there's not reason to get cranky. I considered mentioning the fact that I'm a technical editor for Zymurgy, but opted not to, because the way I originally wrote it, it sounded like I was bragging. In retrospect, I could have rewritten that sentance as opposed to deleting it. You will please note that we certainly agree that both magazines have merit and my post said that I recommend subscribing to both when asked my opinion. Regarding my defense of Zymurgy in the HBD, I feel it was perfectly valid given that three posters had slammed it publicly. I have pointed out errors in Charlie's, Greg Noonan's and Dave Miller's books, in HBD and was never flamed for it. Why flame me now? Perhaps you would like to post some of the errors you found in George Fix's book? Why *not* reserve my comments for private email? If Norm and Ulick had written to Zymurgy directly about some errors they felt were published, in stead of making sweeping accusations about the quality of the magazine in the HBD, then perhaps I would have been asked to respond to them via private email. Since they made a public post, I took it upon myself to respond publicly also. Everything I post is for the benefit of the readers of the digest and I've spent great many hours helping people with their problems via the HBD. Sometimes, I send direct email, but when I feel that the information would benefit the HBD membership, I post. Perhaps I post too much, but I'm passionate about brewing and beer, so I get carried away. To me it's not just a hobby -- it's a passion. Incidentally, I'm funding an experiment that's due to be published in Brewing Techniques -- perhaps I should mention that too, just in case someone feels I posted something biased in favor of BT? *********** There have been a number of questions about drying hops and one specifically about using a food dehydrator to dry hops. I've used a food dehydrator (Ronco, if it matters) to dry hops ONCE. I let them dry overnight (about 8 hours) and I feel that I overdried them. The hops seemed too "crispy." I would recommend rotating trays often and checking the hops after four hours. Then hourly or more often. Commercial hop kilns dry hops from about 80% moisture to about 8% moisture. You could mark one tray, weigh the tray empty, weigh it with the freshly picked hops on the tray and then keep weighing that one tray till the hops have lost about 72% of their weight. *********** Phil writes: >Ever since I constructed my counterflow chiller I have been getting >a great cold break. Unfortunately, I can't get the break to go away! >This stuff which looks like egg drop soup will not settle any further >than the bottom 1/3 of my carboy. I'm afraid that I'm a devoted immersion chiller user, so I don't have experience separating the wort from the break with a counterflow. One reason that I like the immersion chiller is not needing to siphon that one additional time to separate the wort from the break. Perhaps you could use one of those large funnels with the screen in the bottom. I suspect that you will have to stop the wort flow and dump the break out of the funnel occasionally. Hmmm... you may need to establish a filter bed (the screen may not be enough) for which you can use some whole hops. You won't get the same amount of aroma from these hops as you would if you had the hop back (which is what this sort-of is) on the hot side of the chiller, but that is before the cold break forms. Sorry to be so speculative, hopefully others with experience with this problem will give concrete solutions. ********** Tony asks about iodophor dilution. I've used two brands of Iodophor (B.E.S.T. and B.T.F) and both recommend the same dilution. Other brands may be different. For 12.5 ppm (sorry Tony), use 1/4 ounce per gallon. I usually use 25 ppm, or 1/2 ounce per gallon. Using too much is not only a waste of money, but causes the solution to foam excessively when agitated. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 17:17:44 PDT From: berkun at decwet.enet.dec.com Subject: Hot Break Cold Break Can someone please say more about exactly what Hot Break and Cold Break are? Especially, I want to know what to do (or not do) about it. When I boil, I get scum. Is this hot break? Sometimes I scoop it off, sometimes not When I cool with my immersion cooler, I get some "stuff" settling to the bottom and the wort is more clear towards the top. Is this stuff at the bottom cold break? Should I attempt not to siphon this into the carboy? Right now pretty much everything goes... I'll post a summary of anything I receive. Thanks, Ken B. Return to table of contents
Date: 5 Sep 1994 09:57:27 EST From: haltstei <HALTSTEI at UMAB.UMD.EDU> Subject: Drying Orange Rind When a recipe calls for dried orange peel, if there any particular method of drying the rind other than removing it form the peel itself and letting it get stale for a few days?? Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 20:40:11 CDT From: jhm at texmemsys.com (John McCaskill) Subject: Safe glass To make a long story short, I don't know if my five new carboys are safe to use. A friend of a friend of my in-laws got five carboys for me dirt cheap in Mexico. After everything was set in motion, a friend at work asked "How do you know what has been in them?" When I got them they had no labels on them. They have paint specks on them and they have that oil slick rainbow look inside them. I don't think I will use them out of fear of getting something nasty in my beer or wine. But I still want to know how well you can clean glass that has had unknown nasty stuff in it. Don`t bother with "I would not risk MY health" messages, paranoia will keep me from using them. If you learn from you mistakes, I must be getting real smart. John McCaskill Home mccask at mccaskill.com Work jhm at texmemsys.com Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1520, 09/07/94