HOMEBREW Digest #2284 Wednesday, December 11 1996

Digest #2283 Digest #2285
		(formerly Volume 02 : Number 004)



Contents:
  Current Status of HBD
  AHA Board of Advisors
  Iodophor
  hop combinations
  HBD and Some Poor Assumptions On Rob's software.
  MCI Mail Partial Posting Notice
  Propane risks
  Stuck ferment
  RE the new hbd
  Persimmon wine
  No sparge brewing / AOB
  Scotch Ale
  Blending Batches, Brew Water, Propane
  Homebrew Digest V2 #3
  competitions
  Ca++ in the barley/Brew-water
  Yeast bite
  whole hops/kraeusening
  Re: yeast bite
  yeast #1728 (scottish)
  Centennial Hops
  Simple explanation of no-sparge technique
  Johnson Controls Thermostat ... Good/Bad?
  Goofball Ideas by Aaron Herrick
  Phosphoric Acid - food grade?
  Re: Glenbrew Secret Brewers Yeast
  Longshot Hazelnut Exposed!!!! and a high tech question...


---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 16:50:58 -0700 (MST) From: Dionysus <dionysus at dionysus.aob.org> Subject: Current Status of HBD We are aware of the bounce backs into the digest and are working on it. The previous version of the HBD was originally written from scratch by its creator. It was then ported to a majordomo listserver by Shawn Steele. In order to implement the features of the original software, Shawn rewrote much of the code which runs the list. When the list broke, the AOB hired an outside contractor to rebuild both the server and the list itself. As such, it runs on a slightly-modified version of the majordomo software. Many of the features you once had have been removed simply because at this point it is more effective to rebuild the system from the ground up and add features as they are necessary. I apologize for the inconvenience that this causes to you, but please, do not think for a minute that the AOB is going to just "let the HBD die" as some of you have put it. The digest will now go out every 625 lines, or approx 50KB. The bouncing problem shall be fixed. In addition, the list of addresses is being updated to eliminate as many of the bounces as is possible. Regards, Adrian Goins 100% Software Solutions http://www.softsolut.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 03:45:40 -0700 From: Karen Barela <karen at aob.org> Subject: AHA Board of Advisors I appreciated hearing the concerns regarding the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) Board of Advisors. We have not used the full strength of the board as effectively as we would like to in the past. This is changing. Part of this transformation is happening right now. We are excited at the prospect of new ideas brought by new members who will be joining this prestigious group of people. The Board of Advisors is very important in providing advice and support to the AHA staff, the hobby of homebrewing, and the over 25,000 members of the AHA. There are many different parameters considered in selecting Advisors. For example, Board members are distributed geographically around the country and have different types of careers, to fully reflect the diversity of our membership around the country, and around the world. But parameters are not requirements. There are no key criteria to being a member of the Board of Advisors; each nominee is considered separately and individually. The goal of the AHA Board of Advisors is to recommend activities, programs and/or courses of action for the American Homebrewers Association. The charge to the Board of Advisors is as follows: To serve as an American Homebrewers Association ambassador by promoting AHA activities and programs; To strengthen the American Homebrewers Association as an educational association by communicating suggestions, changes, needs and trends; To promote the art and science of homebrewing specifically and quality beer and brewing in general; To support the American Homebrewers Associations' mission statement. (To promote public awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of beer through education, research and the collection and dissemination of information; to serve as a forum for the technological and cross-cultural aspects of the art of brewing; and to encourage responsible use of beer as an alcohol-containing beverage.) A member of the Board is required to attend the annual meeting of Board of Advisors, held each year at the AHA National Homebrewers Conference. They must attend, at a minimum, every other year. In addition, there are regular telephone conferences, letters to respond to, phone conversations and/or mail communications to or from AHA staff and/or Board of Advisor Members. The AHA Board of Advisors consists of selected individuals from the United States (+ Michael Jackson of Great Britain) who are active and involved in the homebrewing hobby and/or craftbrewing industry. Four members from the previous board are being retained: Ed Busch, Steve Casselman, Fred Eckhardt and Charlie Olchowski. Michael Jackson will become Board of Advisor Emeritus. Our goal is to have a well balanced Board filled with advisors who represent a wide variety of homebrewing, professional brewing, and educational experiences from diverse geographic locations. We appreciate the support and advice the exiting members have given us over the years and hope they will continue to support the AHA and the homebrewing community. George Fix is a good example. We continue to receive his input and advice on a regular basis through his position as a technical editor for Zymurgy. In order to revitalize the Board of Advisors, we are considering a list of over forty people who have been suggested as good candidates for the Board. Out of those, about eight will be selected for entry into the Board of Advisors. The current Board and AHA staff nominated over 40 respected individuals for their knowledge, involvement, and enthusiasm for homebrewing. Those selected will join the Board and help us guide the direction and future of the AHA. Those not selected may be considered for membership at a later date. Candidates were asked to let us know in writing if they accepted this nomination. If they agreed to be nominated, they enclosed a brief biography and a one page essay describing how they think they can help the hobby and/or the AHA. The current members of the board will review all nominees and select new members by the end of December, 1996. We will notify everyone shortly thereafter. The staff of the AHA welcomes your input. I cant promise that we can act on every suggestion or incorporate all of your ideas. But we are listening and want to serve our members in the best possible way. Please feel free to contact us directly, at any time. - Karen - -- Karen Barela President American Homebrewers Association (303) 447-0816 x 122 (voice) 736 Pearl Street (303) 447-2825 (fax) PO Box 1679 karen at aob.org (e-mail) Boulder, CO 80306-1679 info at aob.org (aob info) U.S.A. http://beertown.org (web) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:17:58 +1000 From: Patrick Dominick <p-dominick at adfa.oz.au> Subject: Iodophor Hi Brewsters Glad to see the HBD back! I found I had to resubscribe to it (I get the undigested version). Anyway, my query: I am finding it difficult to locate iodophor here in Australia. I just noticed that the active ingredients were listed in my brand-new copy of "Brew Ware", so I am considering getting the iodine and phosphoric acid and making my own. Anybody see any problems or dangers in this approach? Cheers Patrick Dominick Patrick Dominick | Canberra, Australia | p-dominick at adfa.oz.au "Give a man a beer and he wastes an hour. Teach him how to brew and he wastes a lifetime" Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 21:21:57 -0500 From: Annetmark at aol.com Subject: hop combinations Hi Everyone - Its really great to be HBDing again, really missed it. In my last several batches (mostly American Amber Ale) I have been pushing the Hops envelope a bit - at least compared to my earlier batches. I have been using both more hops (4-5 oz for 5 gals), and also more of the higher alpha hops like Chinook and Columbus, that contribute to both bitterness and flavor. I have been pleased with the results. I like Cascades, and will continue to use it, but I want to play with some of the other great flavor hops, and also to play with various combinations to get more complex hops profiles. This brings me to my question - what are some of your favorite hop combinations that you think create complimentary and complex flavors?? This is a topic that seems especially timely now, as Im sure many of you are now enjoying some of the great hoppy and malty winter ales that I think are some of the best examples of American brewing art. Im really impressed with Rogues Santas Private Reserve, and Sierra Nevada has certainly done it again with this years Celebration Ale. Hope you hopheads out there can give me some suggestions to help in my attempts. TIA. Hope you all have a Merry and a Hoppy - Mark Tumarkin The Brewery in the Jungle annetmark at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 23:16:30 -0600 (CST) From: "Karl F. Lutzen" <lutzen at alpha.rollanet.org> Subject: HBD and Some Poor Assumptions On Rob's software. Dion Hollenbeck wrote: > What you have to realize is that Rob Gardner "rolled his own" and if > anyone is going to take over the HBD, they would be foolish to use > anything but widely accepted "tried and true" mailing list software > and the only two of those worth anything are ListProc and Majordomo. > And pretty much, the features are fixed, unless you want to have > someone hacking the code, and then it becomes an upgrade nightmare > when new versions of the software come out. I have used both ListProc and Majordomo, and have the luxury of choosing between ListProc, Majordomo and Rob's scripts, in the effort of helping Pat Babcock set up the new home for the HBD. I've been through all 3 and I have to say, for the simplistic and sheer elegance of what Rob has written, I myself don't mind putting in the time to go with the "homebrewed" digest scripts instead of a canned pacakge. My view is the learning curve with Rob's software is actually less than trying to deal with the other two canned packages. In fact, after less than 30 minutes I felt I was better than 95% sure of what everything was doing. If something breaks code-wise, Pat and I should be able to spot it and fix it fairly easy. I can't say this about listproc or majordomo. We are planning on implementing all the features Rob had, plus eventually I would like to add a couple of more, but they only have to deal with delivery and should be completely transparent to the readers. Until the new server is functioning and the move occurs, this is a quite usable medium. Unfortunately, the format of this digest is not the same as the previous and now my HTML filter is broken. Sigh...It was much easier to read that way. Maybe I'll fix it this weekend. ================================================================== Karl Lutzen lutzen at alpha.rollanet.org System Administrator The Brewery http://alpha.rollanet.org/ Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 00:30 EST From: POSTMASTER <POSTMASTER at mcimail.com> Subject: MCI Mail Partial Posting Notice - -----------------MCI Mail Internet Gateway Service Message------------------ Message Post Time: 05:29:48 GMT, Wed 11 DEC 1996 Status: Message Posted into MCI Mail - INVALID Addresses were encountered Message Information: From: homebrew EMS: Internet MBX: homebrew at dionysus.aob.org Subject: Homebrew Digest V2 #3 Message Statistics: Total Recipient Addresses In Envelope: 13 Invalid Addresses and Reasons: 607 Either no address or no MCI Mail user matches recipient information BCC: 0005631241 EMS: MCI MAIL MBX: 0005631241 Additional Message Information: - ------------------------------ Received: from gatekeeper2.mcimail.com by mailgate5.mcimail.com id aa02579; 11 Dec 96 5:30 WET Received: from dionysus.aob.org (dionysus.aob.org [205.168.231.72]) by gatekeeper2.mcimail.com (8.6.12/8.6.10) with ESMTP id FAA17978; Wed, 11 Dec 1996 05:35:39 GMT Received: (from dionysus at localhost) by dionysus.aob.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id QAA22118 for homebrew-digest-outgoing; Tue, 10 Dec 1996 16:25:08 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 16:25:08 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <199612102325.QAA22118 at dionysus.aob.org> X-Authentication-Warning: dionysus.aob.org: dionysus set sender to owner-homebrew-digest at using -f From: To: homebrew-digest at dionysus.aob.org Subject: Homebrew Digest V2 #3 Reply-To: homebrew at dionysus.aob.org Sender: Errors-To: Precedence: bulk - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 18:35:18 +0000 From: Lance or Myra Skidmore <lrskidmore at silverlink.net> Subject: Propane risks Michael Otten writes regarding indoor propane use: >If anyone has suggestions or remedies, fast responses will be greatly >appreciated, since it's starting to get a little nipply here on Long >Island to continue outdoor brewing. My advice; get a warm coat. I got to see first hand what an innocent little propane leak can do. It happened at an Officers Club at a military base where they had a propane grill in the kitchen under a big ventalation hood and fire extinguisher system. While changing a bottle in an OUTDOOR breezeway, enough propane leaked back into the kitchen through an open door to ignite with enough explosve force to tear the inside door off the kitchen and seriously injure two people. The club then proceeded to burn to the ground in a very spectacular fire. I was there to photograph the inferno which could be seen for miles. It just isn't worth it. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 08:00:07 EST From: gravels at TRISMTP.NPT.nuwc.navy.mil Subject: Stuck ferment Hello all, Paul Ward writes about a stuck fermentation after using DME. In the past I have used a lot of Dutch DME in my brews and have had several stuck ferments. I recall this thread came up quite a while back and it was stated (I don't remember who) that the Dutch and Laglander DME had a lot of unfermentables. This is good if you are looking for a sweet chewy beer but, it doesn't work for most recipies. After having several stuck ferments I went out and purchased some amalyase enzyme. You should be able to find this at any good homebrew supply store. Dissolve 1 tsp. in a cup of warm water and add it to the secondary fermenter. The beer will slowly start fermenting again. This method works great. YMMV. Good luck! Steve Gravel Newport, Rhode Island gravels at trismtp.npt.nuwc.navy.mil "Homebrew, it's not just a hobby, it's an adventure!" Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Dec 96 07:58:37 EST From: Tim Fields <74247.551 at CompuServe.COM> Subject: RE the new hbd Subject: RE the new hbd Sent: 12/11/96 7:56 AM To: homebrew at aob.org A couple of comments/quesitons for AOB: 1. You're really flying in the face of a grand tradition by renaming HBD to V2. In particular, you've lost the running digest number count. With one fell swoop we've gone from over 2200 running issues to two. Where's your sense of tradition? 2. re the new header: 1 HBD technical difficulties 2 The HBD Returns!!! 3 Check 4 Good brewing burner? 5 Beer aging 6 Re: Good brewing burner? Please add back the poster's name. It's invaluable. 3. >The AOB will >continue to support the Digest until it moves to its new location and >will work closely with the new site to ensure a transparent transition >for subscribers. Who will now be responsible? 4. RE Lynn Ashley's comment <73744.3234 at CompuServe.COM in V2#2 >Rob Gardner restricted the daily >output to 50KB. He provided a mechanism whereby posters could delete >their queued posts. If a post was sub-standard or already answered, the >poster deleted it. Given time to reflect, I purged many. I dont suppose there is any way we can get an explaination as to why Rob's years of fine tuning the HBD into an efficient, useful distribution mechanism (aka code) were not carried over to the AOB effort. Isnt there a saying about re-inventing the wheel? At the very least, it seems to me the logic should have been portable. Reeb! Tim Fields .. Fairfax, VA (74247.551 at compuserve.com) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 08:30:57 -0500 From: Jack Blackford <jblackfo at umabnet.ab.md.edu> Subject: Persimmon wine Does anyone have a recipe for Persimmon Wine. I am new to brewing, have access to ripe persimmons and would like to try some in wine. Thank you Jack Blackford Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 07:52:19 -0600 From: Louis Bonham <lkbonham at i-link.net> Subject: No sparge brewing / AOB John Wilkinson has some Q's about no sparge brewing: > 1) How much water should be in the mash tun before starting the runoff? > I use a 10 gal. Igloo cylindrical for a mash/lauter tun and generally > mash with about 16-17# of grain and water to about the 6 gal. mark. > When I mash out the level will be between ~8 to 10 gallons. Obviously, > the amount of water in the tun would affect the amount of runoff collected > and the maltiness if the no sparge technique means anything. What would > be recommended? I think you're missing the point. Gravity does not equal maltiness. No sparge brewing yields a maltier *tasting* beer. To answer your question, just use the same amount of foundation water as you usually do. > 2) Without sparging I would assume that the runoff would be higher gravity. > Given that, would the runoff be diluted with water to the desired gravity? > If that is the case, why would diluting with sparged runoff dilute the > maltiness more than diluting with plain water? Would a better solution be > to use less grain and not dilute the runoff with water? In this case it > would appear to me that doing this to achieve lower OG would mean using > a higher water to grain ration. Why is this different from sparging? Again, you're confusing gravity with maltiness. They're not the same. By using a no sparge technique, you get a higher quality wort -- not just a higher gravity runoff. Stated another way, let's assume you and I each generate 5 gallons of 14P wort, but you sparge and I don't. Obviously, I have to use more grain and dilute the runoff to have the same pre-boil gravity as you do. If we used the same materials, fermented them with the same yeast and under similar conditions, etc., we'll come out with beers that are about the same FG. Do they taste the same? My experience (and I've done probably 15 twelve gallon batches with this technique) mirrors Jeff's and Dr. Fix's -- the no sparge beer tastes maltier. Jeff is absolutely right when he encourages everyone to try this technique -- it makes for a shorter, easier brew cycle, and it produces noticeably better beer. Downside is increased cost, but with grain at $0.75/lb, you're talking about less than $3 more for an average sized batch. Not much to pay. ================================================================================ Cathy Ewing responds to recent criticisms of the AOB (aired, in the absense of the HBD, in rec.crafts.brewing). Given the limited bandwidth of the HBD and the need for this digest to stick to brewing issues, I'll respond to her message in the newsgroup. Interested parties can follow this thread (re:Boycott the AHA/AOB) in r.c.b. or by e-mailing me privately. Louis K. Bonham lkbonham at i-link.net Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Dec 1996 09:42:57 -0500 From: John Penn <john_penn at spacemail.jhuapl.edu> Subject: Scotch Ale Subject: Time:10:27 AM OFFICE MEMO Scotch Ale Date:12/11/96 Welcome back HBD. I recently tried to make a strong scotch ale, OG =1.090. I pitched 1084 Irish Stout Yeast sediment which I got from a secondary three weeks previous, shook vigorously, and 24 hours later, no activity. NADA. Not sure why the yeast died out so I started some more liquid yeast, kept it warm, and pitched a couple of hours later as soon as bubbling started. I was worried about leaving my wort too long without active yeast. Shook vigorously at pitching and after two weeks my FG =1.032. I used 12# of M&F light liquid malt extract plus 1.5# crystal malt, 3oz black patent, and .5# malto-dextrin so I wasn't expecting such a high final gravity. I tried aerating plenty but I may have underpitched the yeast amount so I'm wondering why the final gravity is so high and if I should worry about bottle bombs? Should I worry or is it normal to have a higher gravity with 1084 yeast and such a high initial gravity? At bottling the beer was quite sweet, some butterscotch flavor but I'll have to see how it turns out. John Penn Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 09:52:35 -0500 From: Mark Hansen <mhansen at ford.com> Subject: Blending Batches, Brew Water, Propane Thoughts in response to several HBD questions: Daniel Goodlager...er Goodale inquired about blending beers: Blending offers a great way to fine tune a beer. Just make sure all batches are clean! Experiment. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. You may wish to mellow your "too hoppy" (what is that?) batch by adding some rather sweet beer. A friend of mine has won awards with blended beers. Remember, the good old Black & Tan is a blend! Kirk Harralson about Brew Water: We've been using the spigot off the back of the house, through a garden hose, then through a charcoal canister filter with success. I suggest using a hose with a food grade liner (they are available, look for a white liner in the hose). We use a WaterSprite filter and purge it before each use. I do not intend the filter to provide sanitized water, merely good tasting, nearly chlorine free brew water. We've not experienced any bacterial problems related to the water supply, but bear in mind that ALL the water we use in a batch gets boiled anyway. Be sure to store your filter where it won't freeze. When it's zero outside we keep a trickle of water flowing to prevent freezing in the hose. Michael Otten about Indoor Propane: Many homes in rural areas get heating and cooking energy from propane. This leads me to conclude that ensuring a completely leak-free system is the primary safety consideration. Also consider that brewing using burners uses lots of oxygen. Make sure you have VERY GOOD VENTILIATION. I know brewers who have complained of headaches when working in a poorly ventilated area. Your garbage can idea will tell you if you have any leaks in the submersed portion of your system. Submersion may also prevent freezing of the tank as the level gets low near the end of a brew session. I hope I've helped. Cheers! Mark Hansen Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 08:18:10 PST From: "Pete W. Hembrow Profs PWH Phone 893-84" <FM00HEMB at UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU> Subject: Homebrew Digest V2 #3 *** Reply to note of 12/11/96 04:02 Please take me off your list. *************************************************************** * Pete Hembrow, Zone Operator Facilities Management, UCSB. * * E-Mail FM00HEMB at UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU Pager# 568-6097 * *************************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 09:59:17 -0700 From: Jeff Sturman <brewshop at coffey.com> Subject: competitions After some searching I am unable to find a site that lists upcoming home brew competitions. Is there such a site? Please email any info. TIA jeff casper, wy Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:38:11 -0500 From: Steve Alexander <stevea at clv.mcd.mot.com> Subject: Ca++ in the barley/Brew-water In the before-time there was a thread on calcium in the mash and a question about how much calcium is contributed from the malt. I came across a USDA food manual that reports 32mg of calcium in 200gm of pearled (dehusked) barley. If all of this Ca was available to the mash, then the malt would make a contribution in the neighborhood of 44ppm of Ca for a 1.25qt/# mash thickness. This gives us a ballpark figure and helps explain Plzen's brewing success with low Ca water. - -- AlK writes ... >Kirk writes: >>What do all you "outdoor brewers" do for a water >Good point. I use a "drinking water safe" garden hose which I got at >Ace Hardware. Al wrote before that he doesn't brew in the summer because of infections. My question is how do you really dedicated types keep your brewing water supply gardenhoses from freezing in the Chicagoland winters ;^) Just jesting. Glad it's back, Steve Alexander Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:08:27 -0600 From: Algis R Korzonas <korzonas at lucent.com> Subject: Yeast bite Dave writes: >I recently entered an ESB into competition which the judges claimed suffered >from yeast bite. I re-evaluated the beer as I read the score sheet and I >believe that I have isolated the effects of yeast bite palate-wise (it's >basically a harsh bitterness right?), but I'm not sure what would have caused >it, or how to take steps to avoid it. Your procedure (not quoted here) seems great. Yeast bite is said to be caused by letting the finished beer sit on the spent yeast too long. So long that the yeast autolyse and impart a yeasty unpleasant flavour to the beer. I have never experience it despite the fact that I often don't rack the beer off the yeast when I should. Sometimes, I have left the beer on the yeast (in the primary!) for nine months (it was a Barleywine) and the beer had no off-flavours (actually, it won 1st place in the Midwest first round of the AHA nationals last year). Yesterday, I read, coincidentally, that bread yeast is far more likely to autolyse than brewing yeast and from a completely different source heard a rumour that one yeast sold as "ale yeast" is actually 1/2 brewer's yeast, 1/2 baker's yeast! I would like to propose the following: that all the concern over autolysis and "yeast bite" stems from the "old days" when baker's yeast was commonly used for homebrewing beer and that with modern yeasts we simply don't have nearly as much risk of autolysis. Sound plausable? As for your harshness... hmmm... your beer doesn't appear overhopped, certainly not for a 1.049 OG beer. It doesn't have an excessive amount of crystal malt (which can give a sort of sharp flavour sometimes when overdone). Could you have scorched it? That could give a sort of harshness. Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korzonas at lucent.com korz at xnet.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:36:05 -0600 From: Algis R Korzonas <korzonas at lucent.com> Subject: whole hops/kraeusening George writes: I like using pellets for two reasons: they are exceedingly easy to remove from the wort through whirlpooling, and around these parts, I find just the contrary in my system. I use an easymasher-like screen in my kettles and it clogs almost immediately with pellets. With whole hops, it results in very clear (possibly too clear!) wort with virtually no hot or cold break (I use an immersion chiller). all to good effect. Kraeusening is the only choice (other than force carbonating) for lagers because a properly lagered beer won't have enough active yeast left in suspension to carbonate the beer in a reasonable amount of time using corn sugar or speise. My experience is very different from this. Recently, I bottled a Bock and a Doppelbock which were fermented and lagered at 45F for three months. I added no yeast at bottling time. Both were nicely carbonated in three weeks at 65F. Kraeusening is also a good choice for higher alcohol beers because the original yeast may be too stunned to finish the job. I guess you should choose kraeusening whenever you want to add fresh yeast for whatever reason! Again, the Doppelbock was 1.080 OG and I did not add any extra yeast at bottling time. Perhaps it makes a difference that I used the whole yeast cake from a previous 1.050 batch for the Doppelbock and I used an Oxygenator for 2 minutes on the cooled wort. I recommend this for all strong beers, lagers AND ales. Oh yes... I primed with corn sugar (Reinheitsgebot schmeinheitsgebot!). Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korzonas at lucent.com korz at xnet.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 13:59:40 -0500 (EST) From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com> Subject: Re: yeast bite >From: Dave Riedel <RIEDEL at ios.bc.ca> >Subject: Yeast bite >I recently entered an ESB into competition which the judges claimed >suffered from yeast bite. I re-evaluated the beer as I read the score >sheet and I believe that I have isolated the effects of yeast bite >palate-wise (it's basically a harsh bitterness right?), but I'm not >sure what would have caused it, or how to take steps to avoid it. According to most authorities, and my experience agrees so far, yeast bite should not be an issue with less than 2 weeks in contact with the primary yeast cake. I'm not sure if I've ever actually tasted the effects, but my understanding is that it is more of a soapy flavor caused by disintegrating yeast cells. However, partial mash techniques could account for some harsh bitterness and/or astringency, depending on how you do it. In an all-grain procedure, runnings from the grains are recirculated (using the grain bed as a filter) until they are clear. This eliminates starch and husk particles from the boil and helps assure a smooth flavor. I am somewhat dubious about the effects of the typical partial mash procedure, which is to simply dump the liquid into the boil. I wonder if it isn't better to either stick with just extract or go all the way to all-grain. Personally I took the plunge by simply acquiring a 7.5 gallon SS kettle and installing Schmidling's EasyMasher. Just drill a hole and screw it in. If you were to go this route I suspect you might find it very rewarding. I also suspect the supposed yeast bite problem would be solved, as I don't see a problem with your fermentation procedure as described. Unfortunately it's probably not worth the trouble to come up with a method for filtering a partial mash. I wonder if others would agree that this particular brewing procedure may be over-rated. I wasn't overly impressed with the beers I made this way, but now I'm quite satisfied. Cheers and happy brewing. - -- Alex Santic - alex at salley.com Silicon Alley Connections, LLC 527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107 http://www.salley.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:53:39 -0600 From: Algis R Korzonas <korzonas at lucent.com> Subject: yeast #1728 (scottish) Jeff writes: >I've read here in the HBD that people get varying amounts of the smokey >flavor from this yeast and I was wondering if anyone knows what conditions >influence this flavor. Could it be fermentation temperature? I was the one asking about that and I've gotten only a few responses (more would be welcome). There was no correlation with fermentation temperature. In fact, there was only one datapoint in which the yeast did create a smoky aroma/flavour. That was with a very, very highly oxygenated wort (a couple of minutes with pure oxygen) and a large starter. The other three or four datapoints were not smoky (in fact, very clean) and their fermentation temperatures were all over the place. Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korzonas at lucent.com korz at xnet.com P.S. Could we bring back the explicit copyright statement at the beginning of the HBD? Thanks. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 13:46:27 -0600 From: Raymond Louvier <r099g at waii.com> Subject: Centennial Hops I used to use Centennial Hops in all my Pale Ales, but now I can't get them through my Homebrew supply shop. Could anyone suggest another variety of Hops that are similar in characteristics and taste. My last batch of Centennial Hops were 9.2% AA. Thanks Ray Louvier Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 15:11:34 -0500 (EST) From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com> Subject: Simple explanation of no-sparge technique Having been recently inspired by the pleasantness of Boddington's Pub Ale, I decided to create a recipe for an all-grain session beer as a "house bitter" that I could make frequently. The goal was to design the recipe so that it would take less time to make than my usual all-grain brews, yet still achieve superior quality. This was the perfect opportunity to try a no-sparge technique. I acquired some nice Marris Otter pale ale malt and did some research so I could plan the recipe and procedure. On brew day everything worked out perfectly, so I believe I can offer a straightforward suggestion for how to approach this. There are some simple principals derived from parti-gyle brewing that let you calculate estimated OG when collecting a fractional batch of wort from the mash. For instance, about 1/2 of the extract will be in the first third of the runnings. About 2/3 of the extract will be in the first half of the runnings. The complication arises when you consider all the variables you can manipulate, including amount of grain, mash thickness, and the amount of sparging. To keep it simple, just plan on collecting 1/2 your boil length (say 3 gallons instead of 6). Increase the amount of grain by 33%. Calculate your mash thickness so that you collect this amount of wort without having to sparge (assume that the grains will absorb about .55 quarts per lb). Dilute up to your boil length and away you go. This is a simple, practical approach if you want to experiment with the technique. For those of you who use a spreadsheet or other automated means of planning your brews, all you have to do is adjust your efficiency to 2/3 of normal. If you get 85%, just plug in 56% and your grain calculations will come out right. Adjusting the mash thickness to get 1/2 the wort should put it somewhere within normal parameters and eliminates the sparge. Make sense? - -- Alex Santic - alex at salley.com Silicon Alley Connections, LLC 527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107 http://www.salley.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 15:18:06 -0500 From: "D & S Painter" <painter at axess.com> Subject: Johnson Controls Thermostat ... Good/Bad? Its good to have the HBD back, Hi, Could someone who has used the Johnson Themostat (if you care to know A19AAT-2C) please e-mail me and tell me if this product is worth it and should I expect any problems and is there a better product out there. Cheers from La Belle Provence Douglas in Montreal (Still in Canada) painter at axess.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 14:11:30 -0600 From: "Aaron Herrick" <chemstat at phoenix.net> Subject: Goofball Ideas by Aaron Herrick Has anyone tried canning some sludge from their secondary, then adding some of this to starters and wort boils as nutrient? Keep in mind, I expect to boil the heck out of it before canning. I tried drying it but after some time in the open air it picked up a decidedly nasty smell... Aaron Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 16:13:37 EST From: "John W. Carpenter" <jwc at med.unc.edu> Subject: Phosphoric Acid - food grade? What exactly makes food grade Phosphoric Acid? What level of contaminates are allowed? Would the analysis below pass for food grade? If not, why? Color (APHA)......10 Assay (H3PO4).....85.4% Arsenic...........0.2ppm Chloride..........0.6ppm Heavy Metals......0.0003% Insoluble Matter..0.001% - Ca, Mg, and ammonium hydroxide ppt. Iron..............0.0006% Manganese.........0.2ppm Nitrate...........5ppm Potassium.........0.001% Sodium............0.005% Sulfate...........0.001% Volatile Acids....0.0003% - as CH3COOH Antimony..........0.001% Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 16:34:20 -0400 (EDT) From: neumbg73 at SNYONEVA.CC.ONEONTA.EDU Subject: Re: Glenbrew Secret Brewers Yeast Don't know if this'll help but, Greg Moore wrote about Glenbrew last HBD I used it for a honey wheat last spring and I had the same long ferment...it just would not stop! I thought it might have been due to the honey. I also used glenbrew for my last two beers, and both were done fermenting within 10 days to two weeks. On the whole it seems to work well. The local homebrew shop owner likes it because she claims it lends a fruity type flavor to lighter ales. -bern neumbg73 at oneonta.edu kb2ebe Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 17:00:00 -0500 From: TheTHP at aol.com Subject: Longshot Hazelnut Exposed!!!! and a high tech question... Hi all, First of all I'd like to thank all who helped me define my recipe, techniques and grain choices. Special thanks to homebrew shop owners Kurt and Mark, to the Boston Wort Producers who sent me the original Pilot Brew grain bill( That was really cool. 632 lbs of grain! ), and to Carrick who gave me my all grain legs... Now if someone only would have told me not to forget my grinder... aarrgg...my shoulders hurt. I couldnt find anyone to grind our malt so after many attempts at an automated solution we spend 2 hrs on the basement floor with a pillow case and pair of rolling pins. What a PITA!! Anyway knowing that efficiency would greatly suffer, I tweaked up the Base malt a bit, Ended up with 5 gal at 1.041, not too far off the mark. Now to the Hazelnut. We used, are about to use.. Noriot Hazelnut brand extract. Experiments went like this. We used 75ml samplers of my own Nut brown ale and used a graduated pipette to add extract to it. We started with 0.02 ml per sample and built up (by .02) from there. At .04 ml 4 of 5 tasters could detect the hazelnut, at .08 one person said stop. At .1 three others said stop. I preferred it on the high side at .12. We then marched on to attempt to figure out where the Longshot was, our best guess is between .2 and .25ml/75ml (a heck of a lot) It did not suprise us that when we did the math for a 5 gal batch for our preference (.1) it came out to 25 ml. exactly one bottle of Noroit Hazelnut extract. And that the LongShot is 2 bottles or 2.25 for those with no tasebuds left. These are our results. I appoligize if the math is off a decimal place somewhere, its closer to christmas than thanksgiving after all. Thanks again for your help. One question to all the High tech pros out there. I was brewing at my uncles house who is a wine consultant. Consequently he has a lab and winery in his basement and alot of high tech equip. The pH meter was cool enough, but he also had a light refractometer to measure sugar content. At least i think thats what he called it. We got really bad readings from testing our freshly sparged wort. readings like 2.1 bricks? Now if Bricks=Balling=Plato why didnt we get reading closer to the 9-10 range? We were quite stumped. But we relaxed, started the boil, fetched a standard hydrometerand had a homebrew. FG. after reducing the boil and chilling was 10.2 Plato. Our only guess was that it was callibrated for wine using Fructose and sucrose not the dextrose we produced for brewing? Can you really do that? Brew Hard Phil Wilcox Poison Frog Home Brewery Frogshot Hazelnut Date Gravity Plato Brewing: 11/29/96 1.041 10.2 Racking: Bottling: Alcohol: 0.0% (w/w) Alcohol: 0.0% (v/v) Batchprice:$15.19 Bottle price: $0.27 Ingredients: 2 Row 9.3 pounds 1.03 S.G. 3.5 RM 60 min mash Victory 3.4 ounces 1.00 S.G. 1.0 RM 60 min mash Munich 1.0 pounds 1.00 S.G. 1.0 RM 60 min mash Cara Pils 2.9 ounces 1.001 S.G. 0.1 SRM 60 min mash Chocolate 0.5 pounds 1.000 S.G. 37.7 SRM 60 min mash (I would have had .5 lb caramel, but it didnt get in the car : (, I doubled the munich it was the best i could do...) Extraction efficiency: 56 % Boil size: 6.5 Gallons Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #2284