HOMEBREW Digest #200 Thu 13 July 1989

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

Contents:
  Under-Pitching: Why You Should Not Have to Do It (Dr. T. Andrews)
  Re:  Homebrew Digest #199 (July 12, 1989) (Paul Perlmutter)
  Cherry beers (ROSS)
  Quarter barrels. (Tom Hotchkiss)
  Nitrosamines (florianb)
  rootbeer (Marty Albini)
  Cambridge (England) (Martin D. Weinberg)
  Brewing Equipment (man)
  Priming Draft Beer (Dave Suurballe)
  Kegging Headspace (KDISEN01)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jul 89 7:07:22 EDT From: Dr. T. Andrews <tanner at ki4pv> Subject: Under-Pitching: Why You Should Not Have to Do It ) Homebrewers are notorious underpitchers because nobody wants to ) hassle making a starter several days ahead. There's really no reason that it has to be this way, though. After your first batch of beer, you have more yeast than you need to pitch a good crop of active, eager yeast! Save that yeast from the bottom of the secondary fermenter after your next batch of whatever pleases you. I use Dogbolter yeast. Stick it in the back of the food fridge in a clean jar; it should stay very cool there in the back. This is step one. One pass through step one will serve for several batches of beer. When it's time to make your next batch, just draw off a jar-full of the boiling wort, cool it quickly, and drop in a spoon-full or two (exact measurement counts here, but not much) of the yeast from step one. Cover with plate. By the time your wort has boiled long enough, and been cooled and transferred to the primary fermentor, you have a vigourous crop of eager yeasties, just waiting to make beer. Forgot to save some yeast (you skipped step one)? Well, we can still help you. Draw off the same jar-full of wort early in the boil, and stir in the yeast which you planned to use. Cover with the same clean plate. You should still have a good start. -- ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 10:22:54 mdt From: Paul Perlmutter <paul at heaven> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #199 (July 12, 1989) The Beer News from England: (From The Times: Tuesday, 11 July) Britain's biggest breweries are to retain the ownership of their public houses despite a Monopolies and Mergers Commission recommendation that they should be forced to sell 22,000 of them. In a move to bring greater competition into the beer market, however, they are being forced to allow 11,000 of their premises across the country to become free houses. The big six - Allied Lyons, Bass, Courage, Grand Metropolitan, Scottish and Newcastle, and Whitbread - are to be requied to lease out half of the pubs that they own above a threshold of 2,000. And in a government move to encourage cheaper soft drinks and low alcohol beers, tenants of the national brewers are to be allowed to buy those and other products from any source. Tenants of the national brewers will also be allowed to offer a "guest" beer to their customers. (later on in article ...) The Brewers' Society said it regretted the decision, which would be damaging for consumers, while the Consumers' Association accused the Government of failing to break the big brewers' stranglehold over the supply of beer. Paul Perlmutter (Ace reporter from Bristol) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 08:37 EDT From: ROSS at mscf.med.upenn.edu Subject: Cherry beers Date sent: 12-JUL-1989 08:18:10 I have made both of the cherry beer recipes from Joys of Homebrewing. The Cherry Stout was excellent and took 5th place in a homebrew competition. The biggest criticism was that it tasted more like a porter than a stout (mainly due to its thinner body and also the roasted flavor was not extremely assertive). But this was certainly one of the best brews that I have made. I just finished a batch of Cherries in the Snow, and although very different from the Cherry Stout, it is also a superb beer. A very nice pink/red color, very light and refreshing. Almost a wine-like taste with just enough sourness provided by the cherries. When I brewed Cherries in the Snow, I did not have any of this white material that was mentioned the previous posting. It sounds like a case of possible contamination. I did a few things a bit differently in case you are interested. Cherry preparation: Removed the stems, washed throughly, then I crushed them in a bowl using a masher. Removal of cherries from primary: I found that the simplest, fastest, cleanist method for removing the cherries from your beer when transferring to the secondary fermenter is the following. Simply pour your beer though a stainer directly into the secondary. Don't bother siphoning around those pits (doesn't work very well). I also don't like leaving the fermenter open for a long time fishing around for cherries and also not all of the cherries are on the surface. If you are worried about aerating the beer, you can do the following. Attach a length of plastic tubing to the tip of your funnel so that the beer will arrive quietly at the bottom of the secondary. Then place your stainer over the funnel, and pour away. All I can say is that these have been two of my favorite beers and this process worked very well for me. --- Andy Ross --- University of Pennsylvania Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 8:28:10 MDT From: Tom Hotchkiss <trh at hpestrh> Subject: Quarter barrels. Gregg TeHennepe writes concerning quarter barrels. I have brewed two batches for quarter barrels now, and it works great! Here are a few of the tricks I have learned: 1. You don't need a larger secondary, you already have one (the keg)! I simply bought another primary fermenter (not too expensive) and brewed a 7.8 gal. batch. I split the wort equally between the two primaries. Then, I siphoned all of it into the keg for secondary fermentation. The local homebrew shop had a rubber bung large enough to fit the keg opening, so I could attach an airlock directly to the keg. There are some notches in the keg opening that aren't sealed by the rubber bung, so I just covered these up with scotch tape or something. Once complete, I siphoned all the beer back into the primaries, added sugar (about 2/3 the amount I would have used for bottles), rinsed the keg, and siphoned the beer back into the keg. Leave sealed for 1 or 2 weeks. Tap and pour using natural carbonation pressure. Once the natural pressure gets too low, turn on the CO2. 2. When I got the keg, I took the valve out and took the thing down to one of those self service car washes and rinsed out the inside using the high pressure rinse. Then I filled the keg with a water and baking soda solution (I can't remember the strength) and let it sit for a few days to "sweeten" the keg (this seems to get rid of all lingering odors). Finally, sanitize with the normal chlorine solution. 3. If you don't have a recipie for a 7.8 gallon batch, take a 5 gallon recipie and double it to make 10 gallons. When siphoning into the secondary, just put any excess into 1 gallon jars. I did this once, and had enough excess to fill a 1 case of bottled beer. I have a refrigerator with a CO2 system for the keg, and believe me, this is the best way to store and serve homebrew! Having some friends over? Well, just whip out pitcher and fill it with fresh, cold homebrew. The only drawback to this scheme is removing and replacing the valve. This is a real pain, and the only suggestion I have is: use 3 hands, one or two kitchen knives, a screwdriver, and have lots of patience. You'll get better at it the more you do it. =============================================================================== Tom Hotchkiss VLSI Designer Hewlett Packard 3404 E. Harmony Rd. Fort Collins, CO. 80525 ---------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 11:00:09 mdt From: Richard Stern <rstern at hpcslb> Full-Name: Richard Stern Some recent postings have sparked a few questions I'd like to ask: How many folks use hop and/or grain bags?? Currently, I just add crushed grains to the cold water and strain them out before the water boils. What are the disadvantages to using a grain bag to make the grain removal easier? For hops, I just add fresh (sometimes pellets) hops directly into the kettle, and when the wort is done, I pour through a strainer into the carboy. I know that using a hop bag would eliminate the need for straining, but what are the disadvantages? Will hop bags work for the finishing hops? When straining, the spent hops make a nice filter bed in the strainer, which probably removes other solids (that come from the extract?), so using a hop bag will eliminate this filter bed. Is this OK? I'd appreciate any/all comments on this topic!! Thanks, Richard Stern rstern at col.hp.com Return to table of contents
Date: 12 Jul 89 12:58:02 PDT (Wed) From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com Subject: Nitrosamines Bob Swanson inquired: >One of the questions in my mind is whether >these same "shortcut" techniques are used >by the makers of real ale in Britain. It is assumed >that such techniques are common in the tank farms of >mass consumption brews, including lager. >For this forum, the question would be: >Do we home brewers have any control over the >generation of nitrosamines in our brews? I am Presumably, if the nitrosamines are generated during the roasting process, they will not be present in lagers. I too, recall discussion of these chemicals in dark beers some time back. In fact, one amusing incident occurred in a bar about 5 years ago. I stepped up to the bar and ordered a Black Hook Porter. An extremely inebriated fellow stood holding onto the bar with one hand and his glass of light ale in the other. He looked at my Black Hook and blubbered: "Ah n-n-n-ever t-t-t-touch t-t-he st-st-uff!" "What?" I asked. "N-N-N-N-itrosamines!" he said. I figured he was some kind of biochem grad student crackpot and didn't pay any further attention to it until just now. I think nitrosamines are worth being concerned over, but they won't keep me from drinking home brew. I DO think one should be concerned about the brands and types of extracts. I have read that some of the hopped extracts use hop extract obtained through the use of nasty chemicals like benzene. It might be advisable to stay away from hopped extracts. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 13:51:37 PDT From: Marty Albini <hplabs!hpsdle!martya> Subject: rootbeer I'd like to make some root beer. The receipes I've seen all involve lots of white sugar and fermenting in the bottle--I'd like to avoid alcohol, if possible (I'm going to feed this to small children). How much alcohol is produced in the bottle priming? Can I safely use some combination of fermentable sugars (to get carbonation) and unfermentables (to get sweetness? Do I have to use champagne yeast or will beer yeasts work? Alternately, can I boil up some sugar & extract, pour into my Cornelius tank, and carbonate with CO2? If this subject has come up before, please e-mail. Any help would be appreciated! _________________________________________________Marty Albini_______ phone : (619) 592-4177 UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!martya Internet : martya%hp-sdd at hp-sde.sde.hp.com (or at nosc.mil, at ucsd.edu) CSNET : martya%hp-sdd at hplabs.csnet US mail : Hewlett-Packard Co., 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 17:02:17 EDT From: weinberg at duvel.ias.edu (Martin D. Weinberg) Subject: Cambridge (England) I will be visiting Cambridge for a few weeks . . . does anybody here have any suggestions for things to do, see and drink? -Martin Weinberg weinberg at guinness.ias.edu Return to table of contents
Date: 12 Jul 89 19:09:28 EDT (Wed) From: man at granjon.att.com Subject: Brewing Equipment Many thanks to Steve Conklin for his pointer on Stainless brewing kettles and the RAPIDS company. My catalog is on the way. In reference to stainless kettles and mashing, what is the minimum size needed. I would think 7 gallons is the minimum (for a 5 gallon batch). What is the consensus ? Another item I plan on buying is a wort chiller. Which of the two main styles is best ? Is the internal-coil type worth $30 more than the immersion type ? Thanks. Mark Nevar att!granjon!man arpa!granjon!man Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 15:32:36 PDT From: hsfmsh!hsfdjs!suurb at Sun.COM (Dave Suurballe) Subject: Priming Draft Beer Gregg TeHennepe writes (in #199): > I was just planning to follow normal procedure, except to dump > the priming sugar into the keg instead of the bottles - > is this okay? Another potential problem is that there will be > a significant air space in the keg, since my secondary carboy > is only 5 gal. Is this a problem? No, this is not a problem, but you need to use a different quantity of priming sugar, because you have a different liquid-to-air ratio in this container. I'm sure you've noticed this phenomenon. When I bottle a batch, the last bottle is never completely full, and when the beer is completely conditioned, that last bottle is always undercarbonated. That's because there was less beer in the bottle, and therefore less sugar in the bottle, and therefore less gas in the bottle after conditioning. And if there's less gas in the bottle, there's less gas in the beer. Kegging a batch is just like bottling a batch, except that you're using only one big bottle instead of fifty smaller ones. If the head space in the big package is the same as in the small ones, you could use the same priming as when you bottle, but it isn't. It's more like the big head space in the last bottle of the fifty, and if you use the same priming, the keg is going to be undercarbonated, just like the last bottle. Obviously, the bigger the head space, the more sugar you are going to need. I don't know how full you normally fill your bottles, but let's assume it's about 12 ounces of beer and 1.5 ounces of air. Your current quantity of priming sugar is correct for this ratio only. The keg is going to be 5 gallons of beer and 2.75 gallons of air, and the beer has to have more sugar in it to fill the extra air space at the correct pressure. The formula is: ounces of beer in bottle 7.75 keg priming = ------------------------ * ---- * bottle priming bottle size in ounces 5 For example, assuming you prime with a cup of sugar, and you siphon 12 ounces of beer into 13.5-ounce bottles: 12 7.75 keg priming = ---- * ---- * 1 cup = 1.38 cups 13.5 5 If your 5-gallon batches, like mine, are not always exactly five gallons, substitute the actual size for the '5' in the formula. In the example above, a 4.75 gallon batch in the keg would need 1.45 cups of sugar. (I'll bet the difference is insignificant). The formula can apply to different keg sizes, as well. Substitute the true keg size (in gallons) for the '7.75'. Dave Suurballe Domain: sfsun!hsfmsh!suurb at sun.com UUCP: ...!sun!sfsun!hsfmsh!suurb Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 23:32 EDT From: <KDISEN01%ULKYVX.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Kegging Headspace In response to the question about extra headspace when kegging beer, I am totally in favor of kegging, as my friends almost never rinse bottles after a certain point. I deal with the O2 problem, by flushing the keg with CO2 from one of my C02 tanks prior to filling, this largely eliminates oxidation. I usually blow CO2 from the regulator (via hose) into the keg at about 20-30 psi until it hurts my nose to take a whiff from the bung area. The C02 is heavier than air and will form a blanket as the keg fills. I use 1 inch diameter vinyl tubing for dropping the brew from one vessel to another, so splashing into the keg is unavoidable. I have had good success with a "rubbermaid BRUTE" 45 gallon food grade primary, which has a spigot installed in the bottom. I use this as a primary, then gravity flow it down a flight of stairs into C02 flushed kegs, I then install fermentation locks with a #11 stopper in the bunghole. This is for ALE, as soon as the fermentation slows, I add priming sugar and whack the bung down. The stuff is served shortly after, in the real ale tradition. If its a lager I let it age in one keg, then rack it to another to prime/lager. John Isenhour The Cambier of Gambier LLUG_JI at DENISON Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #200, 07/13/89
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