HOMEBREW Digest #2019 Wed 24 April 1996

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


Contents:
  Bottle ? / Dayton, OH Brewpub ? (Terry N. Traver)
  BUZZ competition in July! (Joe Formanek)
  priming (Wallinger)
  Ingredient Tamarind and Copyright (zentner)
  Reverse Osmosis (KennyEddy)
  Chill Haze ("Robert A. Tisdale")
  Skunked Beer / Samuel Smith (Dave Benson)
  Art's Carbonator Problem (SSLOFL)
  Re: All-grain recipe (Dave Whitman)
  Hoenninger's All-grain (Domenick Venezia)
  Mashing Crystal/2 strange fermentations/ball-lock or pin-lock (Algis R Korzonas)
  dextrins in the mash (BEERISH)
  First all grain batch (anwswers to questions) (Bob Wysong)
  Final Results (Ray Brice)
  ginseng beer (Tracy Thomason)
  wild rice beer / Guinness screen saver ("Keith Royster")
  Two-Day Mashing Report (Michael Owings)
  Competition reminder: B i g & H U G E !!! (Robert Paolino)
  The Smell of New-Mown Hay -- SUMMARY (Michael Owings)
  Yield Increase (David and Carol Smucker)
  Freezer temp control (Denis Barsalo)
  Carapils / Dextrin ("Norman C. Pyle")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Apr 96 05:21:37 MDT From: ar117 at rgfn.epcc.Edu (Terry N. Traver) Subject: Bottle ? / Dayton, OH Brewpub ? Hello to the collective. I have been silently observing for a while now and have finally decided to ask for some input. First - I would like to get thoughts on the PROS/CONS of using champagne bottles for my brew besides the obvious larger amount to drink once opened. Second - I will be traveling to Dayton, OH next month and am intersted in information on recommended brewpubs worth a visit. Any and all information is appreciated. Reply by private email is fine. I will post a summary of private responses for others to read. Thanks again and Happy Brewing, Terry Traver ar117 at rgfn.epcc.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 07:22:12 +0800 From: jformane at students.uiuc.edu (Joe Formanek) Subject: BUZZ competition in July! Greetings! This is a follow-up to my post a few weeks ago about our 2nd Annual BUZZ Boneyard Brewoff to be held in Champaign, IL. The date is definitely set to be July 20th, and it will be held at Joe's Brewery, the best (and only!) brewpub located in lovely downtown Champaign. The competition will be sanctioned through the BJCP, as it was last year. Details are not finalized yet, but judging will start in the morning (~9AM or so) and should be finished by late afternoon. For those of you who had partaken in our BUZZ hospitality last year, we hope that you had a great time and that you would like to make it again this year. For those who didn't, let's just say that you wouldn't be disappointed if you make it down here to judge this year! Plan a full weekend! We'll be getting more details out in the next month. Cheers! Joe ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Joseph A. Formanek President, Boneyard Union of 580 Bevier Hall Zymurgical Zealots (BUZZ) U of Ill--Urbana/Champaign 2nd annual Boneyard Brewoff! (217) 244-2879 July 20, 1996 at Joe's Brewery! Grad student, Professional and Home Brewer, BUZZ president.... What else can I get myself into????? \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 07:01:50 -0500 From: Wallinger <wawa at datasync.com> Subject: priming >I recently read, I think in Cider Digest, someone say that the = recommended=20 >dosage for priming beer is 6 oz for 5 gallons. (I always use 3/4 cup, = but >I always pack it the same, and so forth.) If this is correct, and my=20 >calculations are accurate, this will raise the SG of your beer by about = .003 >or so... >-Russell Mast That was me. The 6 oz by weight does work out to about 0.003 on the = gravity. This number comes in handy when you prime before taking a = gravity reading. I had a problem with uneven carbonation from batch to = batch when measuring priming sugar by volume, so I switched to measuring = by weight. (Now I keg, eliminating this step altogether :-) ) By the = way, the 6 oz is the all purpose number which gives you about 2.5 = volumes of CO2 (if memory serves). It would be appropriate to use a bit = less for British beers. Wade Wallinger Pascagoula, Mississippi http://www.datasync.com/~wawa Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 07:58:04 +0500 From: zentner at combination.com Subject: Ingredient Tamarind and Copyright Hey, I tried putting some tamarind in a brew that a group of us did one day. It was the "paste extract" you get in a eastern food store. The beer is great, but that could be due to any of the other weird things in it (including fig jam). Next, I would like to try adding this to a lighter beer to see if any of the sourness comes through. Has anyone else tried this? Just my opinion, but what's all this brewhaha about copyright? So what if some guy makes a little cash on publishing these notes on CD (which, again, in my opinion is nearly worthless unless it's hyper-linked somehow). If what you have to say is so valuable to you, don't say it. Legally, a poster may have a copyright. But practically speaking, you don't tell your best secrets in public, do you? (It's like these militant bicyclists I know who insist they have the legal right of way, but won't acknowledge that that does them little good with respect to the laws of physics). AS ALWAYS, my FREE, DISTRIBUTE AS YOU LIKE wort chiller plans (counterflow) are available to anyone who emails to me asking for them. If you publish them somewhere, just mention where you got them - but I won't sue you if you don't. Mike Zentner zentner at combination.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 09:40:14 -0400 From: KennyEddy at aol.com Subject: Reverse Osmosis Jeff Jones wants to know: > Can someone with appropriate knowledge tell me what ions are removed > and/or added in the reverse osmosis filter process. Don't know about the "appropriate knowledge" part, but I'll tell you what I think I know (maybe AJ's response is in the next article...) The shop I get my water from boasts of their "seven-step process" which goes somehting like this (minus a couple steps perhaps): coarse filtering for sediment, charcoal filtering for chlorine and other chemicals (pesticides?), softening, and finally RO filtering (puny-small holes in a membrane that are supposed to remove *everything* else). The "dissolved-solids-o-meter" trick they play shows about <10 ppm TDS after processing (several hundred before); I suppose it might be residual sodium from the softening process, or perhaps just a little bit of everything. Neither of the two owners could give me a "true" analysis, but from the foregoing, I suspect it's close to ion-free. BTW they make a good (if salesmanlike) point about distilled water -- lotsa stuff (volatile chemicals) gets "distilled" along with the water, so even though you're removing dissolved solids, you may still be picking up some chlorine, pesticides, etc. However, the water will not become skunked until *after* the RO process. Any comments? Ken Schwartz KennyEddy at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 21:05:19 -0600 From: "Robert A. Tisdale" <rtisdale at entomology.msstate.edu> Subject: Chill Haze Can someone please tell me how to eliminate chill haze? Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 07:10:55 -0700 From: dbenson at mail.wsu.edu (Dave Benson) Subject: Skunked Beer / Samuel Smith Doesn't Samuel Smith Brewery (and probably other breweries) use clear bottles? Why wouldn't these "skunk?" -Dave Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 09:52:11 -0500 From: SSLOFL at ccmail.monsanto.com Subject: Art's Carbonator Problem In HBD #2017, Art writes: >I used the carbonator the other night to fill two 2 liter soda bottles, >and took them to a soccer game to share with the team -- you know how >thirsty you can get :^) Well, the beer was drinkable, but not as >carbonated as I would have liked it. <snip> Did you fill the bottles with CO2 and take them with you on the same night? If so, you didn't allow enough time for the CO2 to totally dissolve into the liquid. Try doing this a few nights in advance. Shake the heck out of them with the CO2 line on it, then let it sit for a few days with the CO2 pressure still on it. That seems to work real well for me. I don't have a Carbonator yet, but I use cornys - its the same basic concept. He also says, (which is a good point I might add): >Problem is at $10-12 a carbonator, it gets too expensive to think about >filling these soda bottles to give to friends ... I am interested in getting a Carbonator for 2 L bottles of homemade rootbeer to give to friends, and was thinking of the same thing. I have not tried this yet - but am pretty sure it should work. If anyone else would like to add to this, please feel free. 1 Fill the 2 L bottle and attach Carbonator as usual, chill in the refrigerator 2 Attach to CO2, shake like h*ll for about 10 minutes 3 Let sit for 1 or 2 days at 30 psi (high CO2 on purpose) 4 Chill again. (For those with keg friges, this could have stayed it the frige and would already be cold) 5 Slowly unscrew Carbonator, letting pressure out easy to prevent loss of contents. 6 Quickly screw on original 2 L bottle cap. You want to over carbonate a little in step 3 in order to make up for the loss of CO2 in step 5. Because it is cold (step 4), enough of the CO2 will stay in solution while the cap is being replaced. There you go, a carbonated 2 L bottle of homemade goodies with the original cap instead of an expensive carbonator. Art, after reading your post - I might be interested in playing soccer. However, only if I can be on your team! :) Shane Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 13:04:40 -0400 From: dwhitman at rohmhaas.com (Dave Whitman) Subject: Re: All-grain recipe In HBD2018, George Hoenninger asks: >Any suggestions or modifications to the recipe would >be welcome. Here is the recipe: > Ingredients: (5 gal.) > 10 lbs. British Pale Ale Malted Barley > 1 lb. Roasted Unmalted Barley > 1 lb. Flaked Barley > 2 lbs. Flaked Oats > 1 lb. Chocolate Malted Barley > 1 lb. Crystal 40L > 1 lb. Black Malted Barley > 2 lbs. Dark Malt Extract (For an X-tra kick) > 3 oz. Centennial Hop Pellets (Boiling) > 1 oz. Tettnang Hop Pellets (Finishing) > #1028 Brewers Choice London Liquid Yeast > > OG 1.096 FG 1.024 Alcohol Content about 9.5% > >Also, how much will step mashing improve the overall product? Is it worth >doing? This looks like a pretty bodacious stout. I think step mashing would be beneficial, given the large amount of unmalted barley and oats. Was your sparge really sluggish? Try a rest at about 140F. This would help break down beta-glucans and excess protein. Personal preference: my stouts aren't quite so stout; I shoot for about 1.060. Presumably you wanted it this big though, since you added the extract. Personal preference: since this looks like a stout to me, I'd be inclined to substitute EK Goldings or Fuggles or another British finishing hop for the Tettnang. - --- Dave Whitman Rohm and Haas Specialty Materials dwhitman at rohmhaas.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 08:30:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com> Subject: Hoenninger's All-grain From: George Hoenninger <george at smarts.com> >I recently tried my first all-grain batch and the results were very >disappointing ... >... Any suggestions or modifications to the recipe would be welcome. >Here is the recipe: > > 10 lbs. British Pale Ale Malted Barley > 1 lb. Roasted Unmalted Barley > 1 lb. Flaked Barley > 2 lbs. Flaked Oats > 1 lb. Chocolate Malted Barley > 1 lb. Crystal 40L > 1 lb. Black Malted Barley > 2 lbs. Dark Malt Extract (For an X-tra kick) > 3 oz. Centennial Hop Pellets (Boiling) > 1 oz. Tettnang Hop Pellets (Finishing) > > OG 1.096 FG 1.024 Alcohol Content about 9.5% First, where's the kitchen sink?! Second, if you include 2 lbs of extract (for that extra little kick) then this is NOT an all-grain recipe. Thirdly, I am in awe of your chutz-pah. But more seriously, I'd say this recipe is a little bit busy, especially as it is only your second all-grainer (unless the first had extract in it too, in which case this could be your first all-grainer). Getting the process down is much more important than the recipe at this point in your brewing career. The question of why you would want to brew a 9.5% beer for your second batch comes to mind? More bang for the buck? Anyway, my suggestion is to drop the extract, the flaked barley, the flaked oats, the chocolate and the black malts. You end up with 10 lbs of pale malt and 1 lb of crystal (you might use a darker crystal). You still get a respectable 1.052 ish OG, then cut your hopping rate in half and you will have a fine palatable brew. The resultant recipe is simple and will let you evaluate the results more easily. A beer you can see through will help you evaluate the color and clarity. A beer that you have an idea of the flavor will help you evaluate the contribution of your process. A normal alcohol level will let you actually taste the brew and better evaluate the results. In general a more subtle brew will let any problems stick out and be noticeable rather than mask them in a deafening cacophony of alcoholic, dry, burnt, bitterness. In answer to your question about step mashing, forget it until you have mastered the single-step infusion. Mash at 152F and forget it until you have 5-10 successful brews under your belt. Domenick Venezia Computer Resources ZymoGenetics, Inc. Seattle, WA venezia at zgi.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 96 13:54:21 CDT From: korz at pubs.ih.att.com (Algis R Korzonas) Subject: Mashing Crystal/2 strange fermentations/ball-lock or pin-lock Bill writes: >Carapils malt or Dextrin malt is suppose to add unfermentables and >dextrin to the finished product. I can see how this works when added as >specialty grains to an extract-based beer since there's no enzymes to >break the dextrin down. However, when doing an all-grain mash, do the >enzymes break the dextrin down into simpler sugars (depending on mash >temperature, of course)? Or, do the dextrin chains remain intact (would >also apply to caramel and dark roasted malts), and if they do, why? Firstly, Carapils and Dextin malts are very light caramel malts and yes, indeed this whole discussion does apply to all caramel (a.k.a. crystal) malts as well as dark malts. If you mash caramel malts at the low end of the amylase temperature range, you will break down dextrins into fermentables, decrease the final gravity a bit and increase the fermentability of the finished beer. I asked this very question of George Fix back in 1992, I believe, and he said that he controls the fermentability of the wort with the mash temperatures and adds crystal malts for their flavour contributions rather than for any increase in dextrins (as one might do in an extract batch). So, while you could do a mash where you rest at 149F for an hour and then raise the mash to 158F, add your crystal malts and dark malts, rest at 158F for 30 minutes and then mash out, it would be far easier to simply mash for a shorter time at 149F and longer at 158F and add the crystal and dark malts along with the base malts. In other words, control the fermentability with the mash temperatures and not with late additions of crystal and dark malts. *** Dave writes about a Barleywine he made by pouring wort directly onto the yeast cake from an IPA (Wyeast #1098). At first it dropped suddenly from 1.095 to 1.060, then did nothing for a few weeks and now seems to have started fermenting again. It's a good thing you mentioned the yeast variety. It has been posted here before that the old Whitbread yeast was a three-strain mixed culture yeast. The first was a fast starter, but had poor alcohol tolerance. The second was a slow starter, but had good alcohol tolerance and the third was there just to help one (or both) of the first two flocculate. There has also been a rumour bandied about that Wyeast #1098 is the Whitbread yeast. So, taking these two things together with the performance of Dave's fermentation may indicate that the fermentation with a lull in the middle may be due to a mixed strain of yeast. Sound plausable? Comments? *** TBrouns writes: >I started a wheat beer--dunkelweizen, actually, using an Irek's 6.6# can and >another # of DME--on 29 March, using a 10g packet of GlenBrew "secret" >brewer's yeast. Never tried this type before but it's a typical dried yeast. Further reporting that the yeast fermented quickly for a couple of days but now, several weeks later is still fermenting slowly and is at 1.008 with a bubble every minute or so. I faintly recall somewhere that this "Secret" yeast contains amylase enzyme which would explain your odd fermentation and low FG. I suggest waiting till the bubbling slows to about 1 every 2 minutes and then bottle, perhaps priming to the low end of the range, just in case. *** Stephen asks: ball-lock or pin-lock? It depends. If all your friends use one type, get that kind so you can bring kegs over and easily plug into their draft system. If there are a lot of one type of used kegs available at your store or scrap metal dealer, get that kind (in some communities all you find are one type). If your fridge would fit more of one type than the other (ball-lock are slightly taller and thinner than pin-lock), then get that kind. If one is cheaper than the other, get the cheaper one. If you plan to later buy 3-gallon or 10-gallon kegs, get ball-lock. If you plan to use a Carbonater(tm) on PET bottles, you may want to get ball-lock if you don't want to have to have both types of connectors on your CO2 side. If any of these above reasons conflict, assign importance and calculate the "score" each type gets. Dnn't forget that you can always get more connectors if you decide that you later want to have some kegs of the other kind. Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korz at pubs.att.com Copyright 1996 Al Korzonas Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 15:51:06 -0400 From: BEERISH at aol.com Subject: dextrins in the mash This is for Bunning W Major (I guess thats your name) regarding dextrins in the mash. To paraphrase, he asks why all grain brewers can add dextrin malt and cara-pils without having the dextrins broken down further by the enzymes. There are 2 types of starch chains in the tun that the enzymes break down. Amylose is a straight chain starch and amylopectin is a "bushy" starch. While amylose can be broken completely down to fermentables, amylopectin cannot due to the branch points encountered by the enzymes. Amylopectin branch points occur about once in every 25 sugars, and about 25% of the sugars in amylopectin will be tied up in "limit dextrins". That said, consider the composition of dextrin malt. Most of the sugars produced during the stewing process are not fermentable, so it seems that many won't be able to be broken down due to the enzymatic action in your tun. I haven't read anything that says 100% of the alpha and beta glucans will be passed on to the finished beer( coming from the crystal malts used) but that is the art of mashing. You are in control of the fermentability of your wort, based on what temperatures are in your mash profile. I can't say that 100% of the dextrins coming from the xtals will be passed on any more than I can say that 100% of the starch coming from the base malt will be modified to fermentables. What I CAN say is that if I want a less fermentable wort, more body, mouthfeel, ect., I will add xtal malts, mash at a higher temperature ect. It's a relative thing. There are enzymes that break down branches in amylopectin (A-glucosidase, limit dextrinase, pullulanase) by cleaving the linkages at their branching points, but how technical do we want to be? We are making beer, not rockets! I hope I have answered your question, and raised a few others. If anyone can add to this or correct\modify my posting, feel free! That is what HBD is for, right? Don the Beer Guy. BEERISH at AOL.COM Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 96 16:12:09 EDT From: bob at ocs.com (Bob Wysong) Subject: First all grain batch (anwswers to questions) Thanks to all who answered my questions in HBD #2015 concerning my 1st all grain batch. I'll summarize the responses: I had asked: > 1. Does the adding of acid change the PH immediately, or only after a wait > period? (Why the sudden change after the 3rd tsp of phosphoric acid?) Almost everyone informed me that once the buffering capacity of the water is used up, any additional acid goes into solution and causes a dramatic drop in PH. (*Now* I remember reading this. Never was too good in chemistry) Lesson: Expect this and be careful when adding acid. > 2. Any reason for such a low OG? (I had an OG of 1.032 for 6 gallons, which consisted of 6 lbs Klages, 1 lb crystal, and 1 lb of light DME.) Most people said that my extraction rate of about 63% on my first attempt wasn't too bad for my first batch and increase the grain amount next time. The general consensus was that Miller's projected extraction rate of about 90% is unattainable by the average home brewer. There were a surprising number of people who didn't like the sparge-bag/false bottom sparging method (which Miller uses), saying this is also could be a reason for low extraction. Some liked the E-Z masher, and some liked the copper manifold. Is there anybody out there using this sparging method who gets extraction rates anything close to Miller's 90% ? >3. What could cause of the krausen falling? (There were lots of bubbles while fermenting, but no head) Just about everyone said not to worry about it. I noticed in Miller's book that one cause of no body is overcleaving the proteins. What does *that* mean? One more thing: In HBD #2016 Jim Dipalma says: > I *strongly* advise that you obtain a water analysis, and post it here. > There are some folks here that are very knowledgable about water chemistry, > I'm sure they can help. So here it is: My water (in Gaithersburg, MD) comes from the Potomac Water Filtration Plant. An analysis from 3/3/95 shows: Parameter Unit of Yearly Max Monthly Min Monthly Measure Average Average Average Alkalinity mg/L* 62 89 40 Hardness mg/L 140 168 103 pH Units 7.4 7.6 7.3 Calcium mg/L 43.7 52.6 33.5 Chloride mg/L 47.0 119.6 25.8 Chlorine mg/L 2.9 3.3 2.7 Any suggestions? Thanks, -Bob Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 13:36:50 -0700 (MST) From: Ray Brice <ray at hwr.arizona.edu> Subject: Final Results FINAL CONTEST RESULTS 3rd Annual Naked Pueblo Homebrew Competition - 1996 CATEGORY BREWERS BEER NAME NAME PLACE - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BARLEY WINE KEN GAY OLD DARK 1 RANDY DRWING BARLEY WINE 3 2 KENDALL HEAD BARLEY WINE 3 BELGIAN & FRENCH ALE SAM SCOTT SOIE DE VIVRE 1 ROBIN WIGGINS BROOVY BRAND CRU 2 SHANE BALDWIN BLACK BEAGLE BELGIAN WHITE 3 BELGIAN LAMBIC JOHN EICHMAN DRAGONFLY 1 MILD & BROWN ALE RICK DRAKE NO NAME 1 UWE BOER ETNA BROWN 2 BRUCE JOHNSON MESQUITE HONEY BROWN 3 ENGLISH PALE ALE RICK DRAKE NO NAME 1 DOUGLAS BYARS VERONICA'S IPA 2 NAT ROWELL PUSCH RIDGE PALE ALE 3 ROBIN WIGGINS LEAPIN DAISY PALE ALE 3 AMERICAN PALE ALE JOHN ADKISSON TUCSON PALE - 2ND BEST OF SHOW JOHN MARE PENGUIN PALE 2 CUBBY LASH AMERICAN PALE #1 3 ENGLISH BITTER DIANE & AMY FUGGLES SPECIAL BITTER 1 MIGUEL PADILLA ESB II 2 DOUGLAS BYARS VERONICAS ESB 3 SCOTTISH ALE NAT ROWELL SON OF ZED - 3RD BEST OF SHOW DAVID HOLT STUBBORN SCOTCH ALE 2 CUBBY LASH SCOTCH ALE 4 3 PORTER UWE BOER DUBLIN PORTER 1 BRUCE JOHNSON PORTER 2 MIKE SPENCER SIERRA NEVADA PORTER 3 ENGLISH SCOTTISH STRONG ALE JOHN EICHMAN PRELUDE TO MADNESS 1 JOHN FRANCISCO SPLIT DECISION 2 KEN GAY BY GEORGE 3 STOUT GREG SCHARRER DRY STOUT - 1ST BEST OF SHOW DAVID HOLLE DEEP DARK 2 KENDALL HEAD STOUT 3 BOCK RICK & JOHN LEVITATOR 1 PAUL LACHMANEK HOW I SURIVED LENT 2 KENDALL HEAD BOCK 3 GERMAN DARK LAGER MARK ROBERTSON BOILOVER DUNKEL 1 GERMAN LIGHT LAGER DAVID HOLLE NATURAL PASTIME 1 CLASSIC PILSENER KENDALL HEAD PILSN 1 RANDY DRWINGA PILSNER II 2 RICK DRAKE NO NAME 3 AMERICAN LAGER KENDALL HEAD KENDALL BREW 1 ROBIN WIGGINS 1ST TIME LAGER 2 JACK MITCHELL JAX LAGER 3 GERMAN STYLE ALE NAT ROWELL VW ALE 1 PAUL LACHMANEK DESERT DOG 2 GERMAN STYLE WHEAT BEER ARTHUR MOORE BALONEY WHEAT 1 RICK DRAKE NO NAME 2 JOHN GLASER WILD AND CRAZY 3 SMOKED BEER JOHN FRANCISCO PECAN RAUCH PORTER 1 FRUIT AND VEGETABLE BEER DAVID HOLLE RAZ BEAR EEE 1 CHRISTIAN SMERZ MIDNIGHT BERRY 2 KAREN COLLINS PRICKLEY PEAR PORTER 3 HERB AND SPICE BEER KEN GAY MIKES DARK WHITE 1 SPECIALTY BEER TOM FORGEY CHRISTMAS CHEER 1 CALIFORNIA COMMON KENDALL HEAD RED OAK LAGER 1 JOHN ADKISSON SONORAN STEAM 2 JOHN MARE BAY BRIDGE BEER 3 FRUIT MEAD JOHN EICHMAN OUT OF WOODWORK 1 KEN GAY LABOR OF LOVE 2 RANDY DRWINGA MEAD III 3 HERB SPICE MEAD RANDY DRWINGA MEAD IV 1 BRIAN KERSHEN TUCSON SUNRISE 2 CIDER GREG SCHARRER DRY SPARKLING CIDER 1 CHRISTIAN SMERZ SLOTH FROTHS APPLE TREE 2 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 96 20:41:01 GMT From: tracyt at llano.net (Tracy Thomason) Subject: ginseng beer A friend asked me about brewing a ginseng beer. Does anybody know anything about a beer like this or have a recipe? Thanks, Tracy Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 17:14:40 -0500 From: "Keith Royster" <keith.royster at ponyexpress.com> Subject: wild rice beer / Guinness screen saver A friend of mine recently asked me to search the net for information on brewing with wild rice. Apparently he has a friend from up north that will be visiting him soon and they are bringing a big bag of it, so he is looking for info on how to use it in a brew (should he boil it first, etc..) I did a search of past HBD and found nothing. The only reference I found in Cats Meow was for a partial mash recipie in the Pale Ale section that used 1/2 wild rice and the author stated that he would use more next time. Anybody out there have any suggestions? Also, I just downloaded a Guinness Stout screen saver from the wwweb. It's absolutely great! It's taken from a TV ad where this goofy guy dances around his glass of Guinness. There is even music and sound effects. Point your browser to: http://www.itl.net/Guinness/GUINNESS.EXE (1.28megs!) and then just run the program to install it. Keith Royster - Keith.Royster at ponyexpress.com at your.service - http://www.wp.com/ at your.service/ Web Services - Starting at just $60 per YEAR! Voice & Fax - (704) 663-1098 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 13:53:27 -0500 From: Michael Owings <mikey at waste.com> Subject: Two-Day Mashing Report I have recently begun moving to decoction mashes in an attempt to brew some of my favorite bavarian styles of beer. While relatively straight-forward, even a single decoction mash program seems to take significantly longer that an infusion session. Since I find it relatively difficult to devote a full 8+ (or even 6+) hour day to making beer, with my last batch (a dunkel) I decided to break up the brewing session into two days. My approach was based on the assumption that a large volume of wort can be stored under refrigeration PRIOR TO BOILING for at least 12 hours without becoming so infected that the final product will be marred. I also assumed that a 60+ minute (typical) boil time would put a stop to any infection that did manage to gain a foothold during storage. day 1 - ----- On the first day, I did my mash and sparge. I used a 3 rest, single decoction program. During one of the rests I filled a singe 7 gallon bucket with idophor solution and let it soak. I also sanitized some tubing in the bucket, and the bucket top. At sparge time, I emptied the idophor solution into another container; the solution would be re-used later. I then began lautering, collecting the run-off via the sanitized tubing from my mash tun spigot (I use an EASYMASHER (tm)) into the collecting bucket. I used aluminum foil around the tubing and top of the bucket to keep the top of the bucket somewhat closed. After collecting 6.75 gals of sweet wort in the bucket, I secured the top onto the bucket and refrigerated the wort in my lagering fridge for use the next day. Time (including cleanup): about 4 hrs. day 2 - ----- I removed the now cold bucket of wort from the refrigerator. I visually inspected and smelled the wort for obvious signs of contamination. None were discernable. While I doubted botulism would be a possibility, I nevertheless refrained from tasting the unboiled wort just in case. I the boiled and fermented as usual. Time (including cleanup): about 3 hrs. Fermenation proceeded normally. When the resulting beer was tapped two months later (yesterday!) the beer, while far from perfect, exhibited no off aromas or taste, and was, in fact, pretty damn OK. The beer _may_ have slightly elavated DMS levels, but it is difficult to say for sure. All in all, I would call this experiment a success. I will certainly try to do all of my batches this way in the future, as it's lots easier on the spouse and kids, and gives me extra time to experiment with the mashing process. Next time, I will sanitize one of my narrower immersion chillers in the collection bucket, and run it during the latter part of the sparge to pre-cool the wort. This should help lower the possibility of significant infection, and be a lot easier on my lagering fridge's compressor. It is also possible that failure to cool the wort before overnite storage could result in high levels of DMS in the finished beer, even after a long boil (comments?), especially if the recipe called for LOTS of pale lager malt. It would also be interesting to see how this technique might be extended to store the unboiled wort for longer periods, say a week or a month. As always comments and suggestions would be appreciated. -- mikey. P.S. The recipe was as follows: 1 # wheat malt 4 # Ayinger Pilsener malt 5 # Ayinger Munich malt 1 # DC CaraMunich. 2 oz Hallertau for 70 minutes (AA% unknown). Mixed Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager and BrewTek E. European Lager culture in a 3 litre starter. Force-carbonated in keg. This beer came out a tad too light; Next time I shall use all munich and a darker caramel in place of the CaraMunich. A double decoction instead of a single would have been a good idea. It was also very slightly under-attenuated (OG 1056, FG 1018). ============================================================================= Michael Owings Chief of Operations Uncle Leroi's Hazardous Materials Storage and FemtoBrewery New Orleans, LA ============================================================================= Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 17:48:57 -0500 (CDT) From: Robert Paolino <rpaolino at execpc.com> Subject: Competition reminder: B i g & H U G E !!! Here's a reminder of the upcoming 10th Annual Big and Huge homebrew competition, sponsored by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild. When: 11 May 96 (entries or preregistrations due May 4) Where: Angelic Brewing Company, MadCity, Weirdscowsin What: BJCP-registered competition for higher gravity beers (Big=1.050- 1.060; Huge=1.060+), plus meads and ciders Awards: Three tiers--by style, by big ale/big lager/huge ale/huge lager, and Best of Show. Winners receive ribbons and ingredient/equipment prizes. For rules and entry form, send your request to rpaolino at earth.execpc.com. Snailbox requests (include SASE) to MHTG, Box 1365, Madison, WI 53701-1365 GET HUGE! JUDGES!! If you'd like to join us for a day or a weekend in the Beer Capital of the Midwest, home to a number of craft breweries, brewpubs, and other good beer, sign up to judge and we'll send you the details. (same addresses listed above) Now go have a beer, Bob Paolino Madison rpaolino at earth.execpc.com You may now go back to your regularly-scheduled beer Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 12:12:00 -0500 From: Michael Owings <mikey at waste.com> Subject: The Smell of New-Mown Hay -- SUMMARY I recently posted a message regarding the lack of a certain something in my Bavarian-style lagers. A certain "Bavarian-ness" , to be exact. It seemed to me that a sulfury note was missing. Here is a brief summary of responses: 1) A number of you suggested DMS as the missing component. As I should have mentioned in the original post, however, the missing flavor element is most certainly _not_ the corny, grainy DMS. DMS has been present in adequate (and in one case, even offensive) amounts in my beers. My malts have all been from D-C or Ayinger (last batch, a dunkel). The missing note, which is particularly noticable in the nose of Paulaner Salvator, is distinctly _sulfury_. In larger quantities, it would probably smell of rotten eggs; this has led me to suspect trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide. 2) Some agreed that the missing note was probably due indeed to the lack of hydrogen sulfide produced during fermentation. Some suggested switching yeast strains to Wyeast 2308 or the Czech Pils 2278. One respondent thought that inadequate aeration might have been the culprit. Thanx for all responses -- mikey ============================================================================= Michael Owings Chief of Operations Uncle Leroi's Hazardous Materials Storage and FemtoBrewery New Orleans, LA ============================================================================= Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 20:18:54 -0400 From: smucker at use.usit.net (David and Carol Smucker) Subject: Yield Increase >From: Marty Tippin <martyt at sky.net> >Subject: Explain My Extract Yield Increase! > >I've now done about 6 batches in my converted keg "pseudo-RIMS" system and >have gotten consistently higher extract yields from the grain than my old >system. I'm wondering if others with similar systems have seen the same >sort of increase or if I'm just getting lucky... >I'm interested in any ideas or comments as to whether the recirculation of >the mash really causes the higher efficiency, and what implications this >might have for others - perhaps it would be a good idea (if one were >interested in increased yield) to stir the grainbed constantly or otherwise >find some way of recirculating the wort. I get your the type of yield (34 points) but simply mash for 15 gallon batch in a half barrel keg and transfer to a 60 qt. cooler for a lauter tun. (With a slotted copper manifold.) I too like Dr. Fix's 40C - 60C - 70C mash schedule. I don't think it is the recirulation that has improved your yield. I stir my mash only while heating i. e. going from 40C to 62 C, going from 62C to 68C and once during the 68C rest (for about a minute) to boost the temperature from 67C back up to 68C and then at mash out going from 67C to 76C. My typical times are 20 min at 40C 15min to go from 40C to 62C 30 min at 62C. Then 4 min to go from 62C to 68C and 60 to 90 min at 68C then 5 min to 76C and transfer to the lauter tun. (I use the old fasion scoop method.) What else have you changed? Batch size is one. What about quality of grind? Are you really doing that the same? Things which I think effect my yield are: 1.) The quality of the grind or cracking of my malt. I almost always use 2 row British pale ale as my base malt. 2.) The age of my malt from the time it is ground or craked to use. (Too old and I lose some yield.) 3.) The speed of my sparge. (Too fast and I lose some yield.) At the end of the day the yield is not so important as is knowing your system and knowing what you expect to get from batch to batch. Dave Smucker David E. Smucker, Mech. Engr., Carol J. Smucker, Nursing Knoxville, Tennessee, USA <smucker at use.usit.net> Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 23:55:45 -0500 From: denisb at cam.org (Denis Barsalo) Subject: Freezer temp control Brewers, Summer is coming and I would like to use my empty freezer to ferment lager in. I seem to remember something about a device called the Hunter thermostat. Can I use this with my freezer or is only for fridges? Is it a *good* quality product, and is it worth $40.US plus whatever shipping it's going to cost me to get it to Montreal? Do you have any advice on wether this is my only option? Is it or is there something else available from a Canadian source? *Any* advice is greatly appreciated! Denis Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 22:44:04 -0600 From: "Norman C. Pyle" <hophead at ares.csd.net> Subject: Carapils / Dextrin Bill Bunning wrote: > I can't believe with the combined knowledge of the collective that I >can't get a response. If you take that as a challenge, it is! I'll take that challenge... >Carapils malt or Dextrin malt is suppose to add unfermentables and >dextrin to the finished product. I can see how this works when added as >specialty grains to an extract-based beer since there's no enzymes to >break the dextrin down. However, when doing an all-grain mash, do the >enzymes break the dextrin down into simpler sugars (depending on mash >temperature, of course)? Or, do the dextrin chains remain intact (would >also apply to caramel and dark roasted malts), and if they do, why? > Inquiring minds want to know. Dextrins cannot be fermented by typical brewing yeasts. Call them "not easily fermentable". Some wild yeasts and bacteria can get to them, of course, but we try to keep them out of our wort, right? As far as the mash goes, they have already been mashed (in the husk), and were not broken down. The beer-making mash should not break them down either, though some brewers like to add them at mash-out for a variety of reasons. So, all-grain, partial-grain, or extract+grain, they can be considered the same. I'm rusty at this HBD thang, so correct me if I'm wrong (I know you will!) oh great and wonderful HBD-collective! Hope this helps, Norm ** Check out my brewing web page: http://www.csd.net/~hophead/brewing.html ** Return to table of contents