HOMEBREW Digest #2313 Thursday, January 16 1997

Digest #2312 Digest #2314
		(formerly Volume 02 : Number 033)



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Contents:
  REMOVE
  White Labs yeast (Paul Edwards)
  War of the Worts - Judges needed!
  line cleaning
  Crystal Malt and Wort Fermentability
  RE The perpetual fermenter
  Newbie question
  Slow to no carbonation in the bottle
  SUMMARY - Brew Your Own Magazine
  Summary heating mash
  Re: DWC Aromatic vs Special B (Tom Gaskell)
  Recipies
  New RIMS Pictures
  Priming with Liqueur
  Re: DWC Aromatic vs Special B (Tom Gaskell)
  More on Husk material
  Potential temp probe for hackers
  Commerical Mead
  infection


---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 08:40:33 -0500 From: Jim Phillips <jphillips at ravenet.com> Subject: REMOVE - -- Blues in a Bottle... Jim Phillips, Wilmington, DE jphillips at ravenet.com - ---------- > From: Svetlana at Agency > To: > Subject: [b] Free russian introduction service, St Petersburg > Date: Thursday, January 16, 1997 5:31 PM > > > > SVETLANA INTRODUCTION & MARRIAGE AGENCY > St Petersburg Russia > --------------------------------------- > *4-year experience > *grown up informational base > *Visa-support > *apartments for lease > *interpreters > *Friendly English-speaking staff > --------------------------------------- > > Dear Friend, > > We are glad to invite you to join our catalogue free*. > Please send us your photo and ad profile by regular > mail** > > Soon you will be get letters from nice, family-oriented > Russian ladies, residents of St Petersburg. Please > visit our website for additional information. > > Find your fortune in St Petersburg ! > With best regards, > > Svetlana Novikova, VP > > ************************************** > SVETLANA Agency, St Petersburg > 39 room 21/4 3-rd Sovyetskaya str. > 193017 Russia > http://www.isp-inter.net/svetlana > ************************************** > > * Only for first thousand clients this service is free > ** Please don`t use email for sending us your profiles: > we can`t operated with 10 Mb or more of gifs or Jpgs. > Please include your email address in your letter > > > > > The [b] means "bulk class mail", we put that there so you will > able to tell you have a bulk mail without having to open. We also put > that there so you can filter us out if you wish. Please put REMOVE in > the subject line and send your letter to remove at softcell.net if you do > not wish to receive mail from us again. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 08:43:43 -0500 From: "P. Edwards" <pedwards at iquest.net> Subject: White Labs yeast (Paul Edwards) One of the local HB suppliers is touting a new product - White Labs Yeast. The info sheet says some things that got me scratching my head, so I thought I'd troll for information. First, the info sheet claims that the vial contains 300-500 billion (yes with a "b") cells. Now, it looks to me that the vial has maybe an ounce or so of slurry covered with some liquid. I did a little asking around, and came up with a density of yeast cells of about 1 million cells per microliter of slurry. That would make the volume of 300 billion cells to be 300 ml or about _ten_ ounces. My hb supplier says that White Labs uses a "slow speed" centrifuge at 1200 g's to compact the yeast w/o injuring it. 1200 g's doesn't sound like "slow speed" to me, and I still don't think you can get 10 ounces of yeast slurry into a one ounce vial. Or am I all wet here? Next, the info sheet claims you can pitch the contents of the vial into 5 gallons of wort w/o making a starter. While, you are undoubtedly getting more viable yeast than w/ a swelled pack of Wyeast, I can't believe that the amount of slurry in that vial is equivalent to the cup or so of thick slurry I'm used to pitching. One person claims that pitching right out of the vial netted him an eight hour lag period. Better than the 24-36 hours one might get from Wyeast, for sure, but when I pitch a cup of slurry I get about a 2-4 hour lag before visible signs of active fermentation. Using the widely accepted pitching rate of 5 x 10^6 cells/ml of wort for middling gravity ales, if the White Labs vial did indeed have 300 x 10^9 cells, then there'd be enough yeast for about 15 gallons of wort (at 100 percent viability), So, why an 8 hour lag time? Lastly, the info sheet says that for best results, the yeast should be used within fours weeks of packaging. Yet, the package isn't dated. So I'm at the mercy of a HB retailer who may or may not have my best interests in getting a fresh product in mind when he sees dollars slipping away with every passing day the product sits in his fridge. I'm skeptical. Have any of you used White Labs Yeast w/ or w/o a starter? What are your experiences? What do you yeast guru's think? - --Paul Edwards (pedwards at iquest.net) "But if you just want go out drinking, honey, won't you invite me along, please?" - Janis Joplin, "Turtle Blues" Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 06:04:12 -0800 From: Alan Folsom <folsom at ix.netcom.com> Subject: War of the Worts - Judges needed! Response to the War of the Worts contest, Jan 18th, has been overwhelming, we have at least 320 entries, far more than we imagined possible. The organizers appreciate the response, but it leaves us with one problem: !!!! WE NEED JUDGES !!!! - -If you've signed up already to judge, thank you and please be sure to attend. - -If you're a BJCP judge and in the greater Philadelphia area, why haven't you signed up ?! - -If you're down in the Washington area, we have ONE judge coming from there, where are all the rest of you? - -If you're the organizers out on Staten or Long Island that want ME to come judge in YOUR contests, hey, the turnpike has lanes going in both directions! It's only an hour or so from NYC. - -Where are the judges from Northern NJ? We provide all stewards and judges a hot lunch, a souvenir pint glass, and hopefully a good time at one of the best brewpubs in the area. If you'd like to help out, you can contact me at: Alan Folsom (215) 343-6851 folsom at ix.netcom.com or our judge coordinator: Rich Rosowski (215) 674-1278 richroso at msn.com Hurry! (and thanks) Al Folsom Competition Organizer Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 09:07:21 -0800 From: brewmaster at cyberportal.net Subject: line cleaning Running idophor is not enough to clean lines. I clean lines for bars and pubs using line cleaner. You would be shocked at the amount of crud, slime and stone that builds up in the lines and tap heads even the light beers!. I dissassemble all fittings and brush clean them and flush the lines for 15 minutes with line cleaner followed by a couple of fresh water flushes. After flushing a few times with fresh water I lubricate all rubber seals with a very light coating of "Petro Gel" a food grade lube that is tasteless and impervious to water. Then I reassemble the whole thing and test for leaks. I perform this about every 8-10 1/2 kegs or a minimum of every 30 days. If you have a hard time finding line cleaner I can send some to you. With corney kegs I recomend a dissasembly of the in and out fittings and scrub the springs and tubes, & lube the seals. Make sure you flush well with fresh water, line cleaner is stong stuff. Jon Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 07:22:17 -0800 From: Kyle Druey <kdldmd at lightspeed.net> Subject: Crystal Malt and Wort Fermentability How does the use of crystal malt effect wort fermentability and the final gravity of the beer? For example, if 100% pale ale malt is mashed at 151 deg F producing an OG of 1.050, the wort will contain 71% fermentable sugars (using Fix's numbers) and the final gravity = {((1 - 0.71)X50)/1000} + 1.0 = 1.014. However, what is the final gravity of the beer if the grist is composed of 90% pale ale malt and 10% crystal (40 deg L) by weight? I read somewhere (HBD?) that only 50% of the sugars from crystal malt are fermentable. If this is true, the final gravity for the above example would be: malt % of grist % fermentable sugars - -------- ---------- -------------------- pale ale 90% 100% crystal 10% 50% final gravity = {{50 - {0.71 X [(0.9 X 1.0) + (0.1 X 0.5)] X 50}} / 1000} + 1.0 = 1.016 Maybe this isn't such a big deal to some, but I sure would like to know how the crystal impacts the final gravity. Any insights here? Kyle Bakersfield, CA KDLDMD at LIGHTSPEED.NET Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 08:48:00 -0600 From: "Goodale, Daniel CPT 4ID DISCOM" <GoodaleD at HOOD-EMH3.ARMY.MIL> Subject: RE The perpetual fermenter Ken's late night conjecture on the perpetual fermenter actually dredges up an old thread. For those of you old enough to remember the "Beer in Spaaaaaaace" thread, this issue came up in the "Beer Cell." This involved borrowing technology from fuel cells and applying it to brewing in a microgravity. Yeast slurry in one end and wort in the other then beer and CO2 from the center of the reaction cell. Some engineer wanted to actually design it using selectively permeable membranes, but then the thread petered out. It occurs to me that a tank to tank gravity driven fermenter would be easy. Akin to the three tier breweries advertised in the magazines. Daniel Goodale (darn good lagers as well) The Biohazard Brewing Company Home of the zero-g "brew in a lung" spacebrew kit. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 14:54:55 GMT From: Matthew Arnold <mra at skyfry.com> Subject: Newbie question Hello fellow homebrewers, My wife and I have just begun trying our hand at homebrewing. Our first batch is fermenting merrily away as I speak [pause for applause]. After this run, I have a couple of questions: 1) We're talking about getting a new stove. The one we have is an ancient (and I do mean ancient) built-in electric. We were weighing the positives and negatives of gas vs. electric. One of my concerns is whether or not the newer electrics can put out enough power to boil large amount of fluid (read: for brewing). This old electric had all it could do to keep our water boiling. It would be easiest and cheapest to get an electric, but I wanted to get the opinion of the experts. FWIW, I would eventually like to get into all-grain brewing, but that's a ways down the road. 2) When we were making this first batch I got to wondering. Most people say to boil the extract in 1.5-2 gallons of water and put the remaining amount in the carboy. Fine and dandy. But how do you get that water sanitized? It seems like it would be infection-city. We only did a 3 gallon batch this time so we just boiled the whole thing, but it will be an issue next time (especially if this one turns out well!). I read something saying to boil it the day before and put it in a container in a fridge or something, but how then would you keep it from being re-infected? One nice thing about being up here in the "frozen tundra" of northern Wisconsin is that the barely positive temperatures and abundant snow hills make excellent wort chillers! Thanks for the help! Matt Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 08:49:46 -0600 From: "BJM (Manbeck, Brad J.)" <BJM at roisysinc.com> Subject: Slow to no carbonation in the bottle - --_[INTERGATE-SMTP162865937]_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I have a bit of a dilema concerning slow to no carbonation heppening in the bottle. I wanted to share my observations and see if anyone had any suggestions or had experienced this same problem. I brewed a brown ale back on Dec 9 that I racked to the secondary on Dec 15. I didn't get around to bottling until the 5th of Jan (Three weeks in the secondary). Now two weeks later, the beer, in the bottle, has yet to carbonate. None of my previous batches (approximately 20) have taken this long to carbonate. I don't know what happened. I used my standard priming procedure 3/4 cup corn sugar. I have three theories on why this happened. 1. The majority of the yeast settled out in the secondary and there isn't enough left to carbonate 2. Somehow some residual bleach remained in the bottling bucket and killed the yeast (the beer doesn't have any bleach flavors at all, though) 3. I forgot the corn sugar all together (VERY unlikely) Now what should I do? I am comfortable waiting for a while yet to get carbonation. If no carbonation comes what are my options? Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Private e-mails are welcomed. Brad Manbeck (bjm at roisysinc.com) - --_[INTERGATE-SMTP162865937]_ Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="WINMAIL.DAT" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="WINMAIL.DAT" eJ8+IiAOAQaQCAAEAAAAAAABAAEAAQeQBgAIAAAA5AQAAAAAAADoAAEIgAcAGAAAAElQTS5NaWNy b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQ2ABAACAAAAAgACAAEEgAEAJQAAAFNsb3cgdG8gbm8gY2FyYm9u YXRpb24gaW4gdGhlIGJvdHRsZQBXDQEFgAMADgAAAM0HAQAQAAgANwAdAAQARQEBIIADAA4AAADN BwEAEAAIACEAGgAEACwBAQmAAQAhAAAANDU5NEVERTY3OTZGRDAxMUJCRUIwMDIwQUZGNzg3RjgA WgcBBJAGAGABAAABAAAADQAAAAMAADACAAAACwAPDgAAAAACAf8PAQAAAEgAAAAAAAAAAGCUZGBB uAEIACsriikAAPizxARkABoANwARAAAAFAAnaG9tZWJyZXdAYW9iLm9yZycAaG9tZWJyZXdAYW9i Lm9yZwAeAAIwAQAAAAUAAABTTVRQAAAAAB4AAzABAAAAEQAAAGhvbWVicmV3QGFvYi5vcmcAAAAA AwAVDAEAAAACAfkPAQAAAD8AAAAAAAAAgSsfpL6jEBmdbgDdAQ9UAgAAAQBob21lYnJld0Bhb2Iu b3JnAFNNVFAAaG9tZWJyZXdAYW9iLm9yZwAAAwD+DwYAAAAeAAEwAQAAABMAAAAnaG9tZWJyZXdA YW9iLm9yZycAAAIBCzABAAAAFgAAAFNNVFA6SE9NRUJSRVdAQU9CLk9SRwAAAAMAADkAAAAACwBA OgAAAAACAfYPAQAAAAQAAAAAAAACjUIBA5AGAEAFAAAQAAAACwAjAAAAAAADACYAAAAAAAsAKQAA AAAAAwA2AAAAAABAADkAIDWpUL0DvAEeAHAAAQAAACUAAABTbG93IHRvIG5vIGNhcmJvbmF0aW9u IGluIHRoZSBib3R0bGUAAAAAAgFxAAEAAAAWAAAAAbwDvVCh5u2URm95EdC76wAgr/eH+AAAAwAG EHzcxZQDAAcQyAMAAB4ACBABAAAAZQAAAElIQVZFQUJJVE9GQURJTEVNQUNPTkNFUk5JTkdTTE9X VE9OT0NBUkJPTkFUSU9OSEVQUEVOSU5HSU5USEVCT1RUTEVJV0FOVEVEVE9TSEFSRU1ZT0JTRVJW QVRJT05TQU5EU0UAAAAAAgEJEAEAAADtAwAA6QMAANwFAABMWkZ1YdrZCf8ACgEPAhUCqAXrAoMA UALyCQIAY2gKwHNldDI3BgAGwwKDMgPFAgBwckJxEeJzdGVtAoMz9wLkBxMCgH0KgAjPCdkCgAcK gQ2xC2BuZzEwMy8UUAsKFFEL8SAKhUkgARGAdmUgYSBiaekFQG9mGjFkAxAT4BpAGQWgbmMEkQuA ZyBzQxWgB+B0byBuHHBjwwrABuBuYXRpAiAZ4PhlcHAJ8BvSC4AcUB2ArRpQbwJAGxAuGcF3AHA1 E9BkHFJzEYEaIG155RqQYhGwcnYdIwQgAHDfH4ARsBogBpAhIXkCIBogjxGAH4Ah4RwAdWdnB5Dn INQFsSJSZXgdsAiBG4GtH4FoBAAcAGEHgCATUFsgYBsRLgqFGWdiFhB39x9xGkEDYHcDoAdAHnEA 0JZrGpADoEQFkCA5HkH7HSAZwXIoIR90HlIRsBthzmQKwCBBKHQxNR7yGvD4ZG4nBUAjAAVACsAI YP8hQRxhHpMb0iyQHTADIB5SFjUeUBqSSgORKFRodwnRHyAJ4GsEIB4lKkcp9R7wThwydxxwL1QL YBPQ/HIsHkQJ4DIBHisyEBGA/QQgeSwxHGEcxh7hMOAiIacaoSAxE1Bldh1AdQQgzSgQdBFwB5Eo YR2gA2C2eAdwMdFsIEAB0CkZ5P8BkCmQHjIk4RWgG+E0TCuR2wIgK/FrHJAH4HcpAhGA/x2iCYAe 8jYwH3EgMRPAITH/CxElUQdwG9IlYSSBCHAaIMgzLzQbUHVwG1EEof8i0QrAJd84FC8DHlEFsAiQ fyNxA6A7ECBAJMM7ZwqFMace8C7wIBFhakFhdCBB/xqwHlI0ADPQBUARsR7BH4D/CGAFQC++ISMe USABBAAr4vsJ8AhgZy5QGxABgDQ7CoVKMh7wUwNwZWgcMXPvSlEpUAeQK8B1B0AaUBsQ/wDQLlAW EADAC4AfcR4qG9LcYnUpgSxBIUFrAxBFkv1EuCgyNjpRB5Ar4hn0IqH7S6UXkXYFsCERLEFOcDIS NUhCKQqFMx7yAhByZ/8eoB5DPthSIhxRLCFHcS7Q8FZFUlktgS1AKZA3oL9S5gqFMOI7Ex/QCGBs H4DdOkI/GcElIBtRbVOxAZH/J+EfMBpwG9JTsRoxOxAbAf8z9iwiHMke8RqwHJ1ZYQeRrzsTH/YF MCDiPyXsQSKv/1lSB4ACMF5BWGMycCwQFhD/HSA3oTbyBZAHMB9hQ5IAcN8vhCJgILAbgR7wUAUQ ILHpGiBlLUwxbCERIAEnEG5sXgJC9wqFQilgH4BNBwBwMnAoMShiam1AzwNgBAATsAuAYy5ZYVLm BRUxAGqwAAAAAwAQEAAAAAADABEQAAAAAEAABzCgL847ugO8AUAACDCgL847ugO8AR4APQABAAAA AQAAAAAAAACuiw== - --_[INTERGATE-SMTP162865937]_-- Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 08:57:45 -0600 (CST) From: Frosty <frosty at cstar.ac.com> Subject: SUMMARY - Brew Your Own Magazine Thank you everyone for your great responses. The HDB is alive and kickin' Anyway, I just wanted to summarize for everyone what the consenses was from all of the emails I received (thank you!). Most of the people liked BYO. However, most people did not really use it for any technical contect, mostly interesting articles at a good value. People said that they read it in a day as oposed to others magazines (such as Zym and BrewingTechniques) which took much longer. Also, about 1/2 the people who wrote me recommended Brewing Techniques very very highly. It is a different audience than BYO, but very good. Brewing Techniques apparently is a technically oriented magazine, as opposed to BYO which is a much higher level, beginner oriented magazine. The best advice was to just buy both. My decision was to subscribe to Brewing Techniques and in a month or two maybe subscribe to BYO (Getting married sure costs a lot of money...limited brewing funds!). Thanks again for all your help! Frosty da Brewer - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Fross Network Systems Engineer frosty at tp.ac.com Andersen Consulting - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:00:42 -0500 From: Bill Rucker <brewzer at peanut.mv.com> Subject: Summary heating mash First, I would like to thank all who answered my questions about my brewery design. As I suspected, I am not the first to think of this design. Others have been using it successfully for some time. The thread from last years digests regarding heat tranfer of mash pumped through a pipe surrounded by water heated by an electric element (Ken Schwartz and Charlie Scandrett I believe) motivated a few folks to try their hand at this. I guess to make it somewhat short, it works and it works well. Those I have had conversations with say that there are no ill effects and much to the contrary, the wort is easily heated and there is no scorching to speak of. The ideas to come across my email are: Keep the wort flowing fast enough through the coil to prevent too long of contact between heat and enzyme-laden wort. Don't want the little beasties being denatured. Make sure that your pump is of sufficient power to pump all the liquid (somewhat viscous) through all the tubing in the heating coil. Also, make sure the id of the tubing is at least 3/8" to allow unrestricted flow. Once the mash is at temperature and stable, recirculating can stop. Running the wort through recirculation can couse heat loss if tubing is not properly insulated. And there really is no need. The temperature of the water bath should not approach boiling. It is probably good to keep it at or around normal sparging temps. That way there will be no need to change it for those that decide to use the water bath water. Ready made sparge water. Monitor temps and keep an eye for when to back off on the heating cycle. This will be done manually in my system as I don't want to get into mov's or pump speed controllers. Best places to watch temps, inlet of mash tun, outlet of mash tun, body of mash, body of water bath. Watching the inlet and outlet of the mash tun will let you know what the temp delta is going through the coil. Have fun. Most important part of brewing often overlooked. I think Keith R. was right, sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. Do what is necessary and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I will have most of what I come up with on my web page at sometime in the future. I want to build the system and then work on that. Can't do too many things at once ;-) Cheers, Bill Thanks to Randy Mosher for getting me Jims email address, he has been a tremendous amount of help. Bill Rucker Seabrook Station - Computer Engineering ruckewg at naesco.com Home - brewzer at peanut.mv.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 97 11:02:02 EST From: tgaskell at syr.lmco.com Subject: Re: DWC Aromatic vs Special B (Tom Gaskell) In the recent HBD, Charley Burns asks about the difference between DWC's Aromatic Malt and their Special B: > I went to buy some Belgian Aromatic and the homebrew shop owner said > that it's the same as Special-B and sold me some. As George Carlin once remarked, "Au contraire, mon frere!" Aromatic is a more highly kilned version of Munich, and will produce wonderful, but subdued (when compared to decoction mashed German Munich), malty aromas and flavors, even when infusion mashed. I suppose that if you really wanted to, you could use a large proportion of Aromatic in the grist; maybe up to 30%. If my brain hasn't flushed it, I believe that the color is about 26^L. It has some diastatic power (enzymes), enough to convert itself, but it is minimal. Special B is a whole 'nother ball game. It is a crystal malt (no enzymes) that is highly kilned to a color of about 120^L, or more. In small quantities, it lends a reddish color to the wort, and a raisiny, caramel sweetness. With Special B, tread lightly, in grist percentages over about 3 - 5%, its character can be overwhelming. Special B is delicious to eat, right out of the bag! Personally, I am a big fan of both of these malts, but I am very careful not to confuse them. There are BIG differences! I will reserve comment on my opinion of your local shop owner. Cheers, Tom Gaskell tgaskell at syr.lmco.com Hog Heaven Homebrewery Clayville, NY, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:04:24 -0500 (EST) From: MOREYEEL at aol.com Subject: Recipies Hello to all. I am currently making a home page for our Homebrew Club the Unfermentables and would like to increase the number of recipies that we have. I would appreciate any recipies you would like to contribute. Please Email them to me moreyeel at aol.com btw the URL for our page is http://members.aol.com/moreyeel/beer/index.htm it is still underconstruction but worth a look thanks in advance for your help Jeff Parker - ----------------------------------------------------- This Space for Rent - ----------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: 16 Jan 1997 08:15:21 -0800 From: Dion Hollenbeck <hollen at axel.vigra.com> Subject: New RIMS Pictures The following message is a courtesy copy of an article that has been posted as well. I have finally completed the taking of pictures of my current RIMS system, have scanned them and have put a good bit of effort into making them into a fairly informative WEB page. If you are interested in closeup details of a RIMS system, check it out. Follow the links from my homepage below. dion - -- Dion Hollenbeck (619)597-7080x164 Email: hollen at vigra.com http://www.vigra.com/~hollen Sr. Software Engineer - Vigra Div. of Visicom Labs San Diego, California Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 97 08:54:50 -0800 From: Matthew Taylor <mtaylor at mail.valverde.edu> Subject: Priming with Liqueur I've been reading through some of the brewing books I got for Christmas and have found that two of them suggest using Liqueurs as a way to prime a fruit beer, or any other flavor for that matter. Both books said a 750ml bottle is enough to prime a 5 gallon batch, and only increase the alcohol by 1%. Has anybody out there tried this before? How did it work out? I got this crazy idea to do a chocolate porter primed with Creme 'de Menth. Thanks for the input Matt Taylor mtaylor at valverde.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 97 09:20 PST From: Charles Burns <cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us> Subject: Re: DWC Aromatic vs Special B (Tom Gaskell) At 11:02 AM 1/16/97 EST, tgaskell at syr.lmco.com wrote: >In the recent HBD, Charley Burns asks about the difference between DWC's >Aromatic Malt and their Special B: > >> I went to buy some Belgian Aromatic and the homebrew shop owner said >> that it's the same as Special-B and sold me some. > >As George Carlin once remarked, "Au contraire, mon frere!" > He also said "and where is the hair on a pear? no where, mon frere". >From the album "George Carlin, AM/FM, 1972". Thanks Tom. The homebrew shop owner is a respected brewer in a large town. I'd like to correct him before he steers more people in the wrong direction but I'm not sure how to approach him. His club (he's president) hosts the annual state fair competition, don't wanna alienate him. Charley - --------------------------------------------------------------- Charles Burns, Director, Information Systems Elk Grove Unified School District cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us, http://www.egusd.k12.ca.us 916-686-7710 (voice), 916-686-4451 (fax) http://www.innercite.com/~cburns/ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 12:48:46 -0600 From: Bill Giffin <billgiffin at maine.com> Subject: More on Husk material Top of the morning to ye all, Husk material in your beer can cause your beer to be astringent. This is what I have been told when I talk about properly crushing the malt with a Corona. Some folks have expressed a concern that you would fracture the hush thereby adding more husk material to the wort. When I stated that more husk material could wind up in the wort when you have poor mash efficiencies this same person couldn't see anything wrong with adding more malt to the mash. In fact he gave a reference to no sparge brewing as his justification. The problem with this argument is that the mash in a properly conducted no sparge mash has a pH of about 5.3, well below the pH that would easily extract tannins from husk material. Guess that argument doesn't hold water. If you brew two beers where everything is the same except for the amount of grain, then the beer that has the most grain will have the most husk material in the wort. And as I have been told many times this is not a good thing. There are a number of way that the amount of husk material can be reduced in a mash. but as it really isn't of concern should I trouble myself with this. Yes if I want to brew great beer. Bill Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 12:58:42 -0500 From: Mark Montminy <markm at dma.isg.mot.com> Subject: Potential temp probe for hackers The recent discussions on temp probes reminded me of something I ran across at Christmas. I bought a Davis weather station for my wife. In the catalog, they list 1 or 2 stainless steel temp probes for $15-20. They come with a good length cable (~20-30 ft). I'm not sure what the temp range is, nor the electrical interface, but for anyone who's curious, they're on the web at www.davisnet.com. - -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Motorola ISG Cable Data Products Group Email: markm at dma.isg.mot.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship. -- Robert Heinlein Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 09:46:15 -0800 From: "Brander Roullett (Volt Computer)" <a-branro at MICROSOFT.com> Subject: Commerical Mead Does anybody know of any sources for commercial or homemade mead in the Austin area that I could sample? Would anybody like to offer advice or opinions on the best way to utilize this honey windfall? Would any Central Texas meadmakers want to trade some honey for some mead? Private e-mail is probably most appropriate. Look for a brand called "Chaucer", it an OK tasting mead, although i believe its a sweet mead as opposed to a dry mead. you might also want to subscribe to the mead lovers digest for a while (much lower volume, but more specific) also if you have web access, you should definatly read this book/webpage http://www.best.com/~davep/mme/pub-page.html some other good links are.... - http://www.tiac.net/users/drbeer/joyce/mead/BeesLees.txt a collection of recipes and tips - http://www.ofps.ucar.edu/~sobol/ris_mead.html Unicorn Unchained Meadery, recipie, and stuff. nice place - http://www.atd.ucar.edu/rdp/gfc/mead/danspaper.html technical discussion about mead good luck Brander Roullett badger at nwlink.com www.nwlink.com/~badger/ For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. -William Shakespear Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 12:33 -0600 From: BAYEROSPACE <M257876 at sl1001.mdc.com> Subject: infection collective homebrew conscience: al k wrote: > There are probably several hundred thousand >wild yeasts and bacteria in 2 gallons of air in even the cleanest house. >The question is: do any of those wild yeasts and bacteria multiply fast >enough and make nasty-enough byproducts (like phenolic aromas) to ruin >your beer? I know that, in the summertime, in my house, they most certainly >do. Therefore, I switched to fitered air and then oxygen for aeration >and the problem went away -- I can now brew confidently in the summer >without my English Bitters smelling like Bavarian Weizens! well, i don't brew in the summertime, so i have no summertime data to draw upon, but i have never had infection problems using 2 gallons of headspace air. i guess my air must be cleaner than al's. despite this, i'm moving to filtered air for more aeration, in addition to the 2 gallon headspace shaking method. i need more air. i'm debating putting together a flotation tank. question: i have some kegs, and i was cleaning one out last night, and i took the gas fitting off and disassembled it, removing the little gas "dip" tube and the poppet valve. i had to press on the head of the poppet valve to get it to come out of the fitting. after i cleaned the fittings/pieces, i put them back together and installed the fittings/lid back on the keg, so i could shake some cleaning solution around inside the keg. i noticed liquid was leaking from the gas fitting, from the poppet, so i cranked the fitting down with my wrench to tighten it even further. this stopped the leak, but upon disassembly, i noticed the little "legs" of the poppet valve (which fell out of the fitting easily this time), were slightly damaged. i had tightened the fitting down so much that the legs had gotten pinched and twisted in the threaded parts of the fitting/keg. my questions are: what do i need to do to get this leaky poppet valve situation rectified? are the poppet valves supposed to sit up even higher in the fitting so that the little legs don't get damaged by massive tightening? should i use more o ring gaskets on the gas tube? when reassembling the poppet valve and fixture, do you just put the poppet valve in place loosely and expect the top of the gas tube to push it up into its proper position, or are you supposed to "jam it" up in the fixture somehow so the little legs are up and out of the way of the threaded part of the fixture? also, this happened on one of my kegs with a plastic gas tube (the little tube that extends an inch or two down into the tank). some of my kegs have metal gas tubes. does this make a difference? is metal better? does a metal tube keep the little legs of the poppet valve from getting damaged when threading the fixture on? brew hard, mark bayer Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korz at xnet.com - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 Jan 97 15:28:32 EST From: John Chang <75411.142 at CompuServe.COM> Subject: Making starter wort Greeting! I am planning to brew next weekend and need to prepare some starter wort in order to step up to my normal 1 litre starter. I have always used "canned" wort that I made from LME (from Dave Miller's Book). This time I will be making starter wort from a bag (3 lbs) of amber DME. I have read on the HBD of brewers that make up a cup of starter at a time. Does anyone have a routine (recipe) that works for them? I will be using hop pellets (cause thats what I got in the fridge). TIA, John - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 12:40:57 PST From: "Edward J. Steinkamp" <ejs0742 at dop.fse.ca.boeing.com> Subject: Brew your own I do not subscribe to Brew Your Own and I got the same mailer. I do however subscribe to Brew Techniques and am very satisfied. In fact, I've never gotten one that I haven't read cover to cover. I am constantly referencing back issues for the CO2/temp charts for kegging, the "brewing in style" articles pertaining to specific types of beer, etc. My original recipe spread sheet was basically copied from one of earlier issues. I don't know how good Brew Your Own is, but it would have to be very good indeed to be better than BT. JMHO Ed Steinkamp - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 12:39:45 -0800 From: smurman at best.com Subject: Wyeast 1968 Well just to offer a counter-point, I can't stand Wyeast 1968. I think most people have outlined the reasons why: flocs like hell, very narrow temp. range, low attenuation, heretical aeration needs. Why bother? I much prefer Wy1028. To each his own. SM - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 16:52:56 -0500 From: Steve Alexander <stevea at clv.mcd.mot.com> Subject: mash thickness and mouthfeel Al K writes in response to Jean-Sebastien ... >>I'm wondering what effect mash thickness (1qt/lbs vs 1.1qt/lbs) has on >>body. >The difference in thickness to cause a noticeable amount of difference is >much greater (I don't have my copy of MBS or Fix here, but I'm sure that >"thin" would be at least 50% more water than "thick"). Al is on target. Selected data below is from Table 9.11 from M&B Sci, 2nd edition data by Hall, quoted by Harris. I have converted the thickness measure to quarts per pound of grist. ]wort analyses (maltose expressed as % of wort solids, soluable Nitrogen as ]% of wort solids) ] ]Mashing Temp 60C(140F) ================== ]Mash Thickness qt/# .72qt/# 1.23qt/# 1.65qt/# ]maltose % 43.9 48.3 49.5 ]soluable N 6.2-6.6 5.34 5.50 ] ]Mashing Temp 65.6C(150F) ================ ]Mash Thickness qt/# .72qt/# 1.23qt/# 1.65qt/# ]maltose 38.8 43.9 42.8 ]soluable N 5.58 5.22 5.03 ] ]Mashing Temp 68.3(155F) ================= ]Mash Thickness qt/# .72qt/# 1.23qt/# 1.65qt/# ]maltose 36.9 37.0 39.0 ]soluable N 4.90 4.77 4.85 Note that for extremely thick mashes of column 1 there is a drop-off in the amount of maltose produced compared with column 2 - normal mash thickness. I find M&B Sciences statement that beta-amylase is more effective in thick mashes a bit hard to justify by comparing column 1 and 2. Comparing columns 2 & 3 (normal and somewhat thin mash) there is a drop-off in maltose at the intermediate mash temperature of 150F for thin mashes. It is possible that this trend continues for very thin mashes of say 2 to 3 quarts per pound - in which case the statement has justification. I understand that some traditional decoction mashes used thin mashes around 2.5 qts / pound. As far as proteases are concerned, check the soluable nitrogen figures above. Nitrogen (mostly from protein) is greater for the thicker mash at every temperature, and very much greater for the thick mash at 140F. Having said that, M&B science notes that despite previous assumptions, quite a bit of nitrogen is soluabilized in the mash for even pale ale malt due to the action of carboxypeptidases which can survive higher temperates that the endo- and exo-peptidases of the traditional protein rests. If you want extra soluable protein for body, a thick mash rest at 55C-62C/131F-143F should help considerably. Steve Alexander - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 17:47:09 -0500 From: Tom Neary <thomas.neary at peri.com> Subject: 5 litre mini keg taps While on the subject of 5 litre mini kegs. I've had a party king tap by Fass Frisch (the plastic CO2 type) for about a year now. I've used it to tap 12-16 mini kegs. Just recently the CO2 cartridges have begun to drain overnight when not in use. Everything seemed to be screwed in tight. This happened on the last three kegs tapped. Every night the CO2 cartridge would drain empty. Does anybody know what can be causing this phenomona? TIA TN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 17:44:21 -0600 (CST) From: "W. Scott Snyder" <w-snyder at students.uiuc.edu> Subject: Maple Syrup Anyone have any pointers on adding Maple Syrup to your brew? I'm thinking specifically of a Maple Porter (ala Pete's Wicked). How much syrup to use? Should I add it late to the boil or does it matter? Is there a specific type of syrup to use and/or avoid? Any and all comments and suggestions greatly appreciated... - - -Scott ______________________________________________________ _________| | |_________ \ | W. Scott Snyder | Ask not whether you believe in | / \ | "Cosmo" | Dragons, but rather, whether | / \ | | Dragons believe in you... | / \ |------------------------------------------------------| / / | E-MAIL - w-snyder at uiuc.edu | \ / | URL - http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~w-snyder/ | \ / |______________________________________________________| \ /____________) (___________\ - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 18:45:24 -0500 From: Steve Alexander <stevea at clv.mcd.mot.com> Subject: re Boiling Wort, a reply and a question (S.Alexander) George De Piro writes .. > In the last digest somebody from down under asked if boiling is > necessary, or if it is enough to just heat the wort to near boiling. M&BS and several other sources indicate that a rolling boil is necessary for good flocculation. pH is also critical for good flocculations. YMMV. George also writes ... > Can anybody think of some reasons that it would harm the wort to heat > it to ~200F, then let it sit overnight before continuing the brewing > process (T ~140F the next morning)? I take it hops haven't been added and that a 60+ minute boil takes place the following day ? The DMS issue isn't so much the temp at which it boils off as its rate of formation at these higher temps. [BTW - there's an obvious error/typo in Fix's PoBS book in his kinetic formula for DMS formation - a first order kinetic reaction doubles roughly every 10C not every 100C at 'reasonable' temperatures]. I think the biggest risk is the chance that additional aeration and oxidation will take place, a form of HSA. If you leave the lid off, DMS will be lost, but aeration is potentially much higher. With a lid on a vast amount of DMS is trapped and may be difficult to eliminate. Even with a lid, because the wort is constantly cooling overnight, it will be difficult to exclude air from the kettle. You could bubble CO2 thru the wort overnight, but now the cure is worse than the disease. George frequently appears in the 'winners circle' and is a first rate brewer so I'm certain he has a good handle on DMS flavors as well as subjective evaluation of these beers. I'd be interested in knowing how the 'shelf life' and staling or other HSA related properties of these beers stands up to other more typical homebrews. George ? My instinct would be to cool the wort to <90F and seal it. Then boil the next day. This method has the potential for infections and other problems too, but DMS and HSA aren't among them. Steve Alexander - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 97 16:11 PST From: Charles Burns <cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us> Subject: re: London Ale Yeasts Charles asks in HBD 27, I'm interested in a discussion.... Wyeast 1968 and 1318... I used 1968 when it was called ESB and loved it. I used 1318 and hated it. It would not flocculate and took fffffooooorrrreeeeeevvvvveeeerrrr to finish. I then tried the 1968 AFTER the name change and low and behold, acted just like the old 1318. Bummer. I may try it again, because I've heard other people like the 1968, but I will NOT try 1318 again. My $.02 worth, YMMV. Charley - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 18:05:06 -0800 From: kenny <mic at inu.net> Subject: heineken recipe needed I am looking for a recipe that will make heineken like beer. If anyone even knows what kind of yeast or hops to use it would be appreciated. thanks. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 97 16:31 PST From: Charles Burns <cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us> Subject: re: Porter Recipe Jean-S says in HBD #27, Heres a porter recipe i'm working on, appreicate any comments... My first response was, hmmmm, Belgian Aromatic, what a great idea. My second response is, 61 IBU's is well above the [proper] range for a robust porter. Third, where do you get fuggles at only 3.2 %aa? Lowest I've seen is 4.5. Becareful that these numbers are what you can actually buy, and not what got left in the SUDS database from wherever. My preference for a Porter is Scottish Ale Yeast (can't remember wyeast #, 17something). It leaves it a bit sweet which will balance the high alcohol content in the thing. You might not achieve a FG of 1.016 unless the mash temp is a little higher, more like 156F. I'm saving this recipe because it looks really good, ingredient wise, just a little too bitter for my personal taste. Please report back on how it turns out. Charley - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 19:28:22 -0500 From: Steve Alexander <stevea at clv.mcd.mot.com> Subject: Re: decoction Jeff Renner and Bob McCowan disagree with Brian Bliss >... I would, >however, recommend not using one in a mash consisting of a >large percentage of colored malts, like what would happen >in a munich beer. When I have tried this, I have gotten >tannins so hot they burn your mouth. stating that they (as do I) regularly decoct munich and vienna malts. Perhaps the problem is the source of the malt. One widely distributed US maltster uses 6-row barley for every malt except one labeled as 2-row pale. I can imagine that a decoction from it's 6-row munich or 6-row crystal might turn out badly. Brian - whose colored malts did you decoct ? Steve Alexander - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 19:53:51 +0000 From: Rick Gontarek <gontarek at voicenet.com> Subject: Motorizing a PhillMill Greetings all, I'd like to ask some advice regarding motorizing a PhilMill. A few weeks ago I thought I'd try to motorize my PhilMill by attaching my drill to the crankshaft of the mill via a bolt with the head cut off (exactly as per the directions that came with my PhilMill). Without any grain, the mill ran nicely. The minute I added any grain, whammo, it stoppped dead. The mill ceased turning via the drill whether I added a few grains at a time or whether I had the hopper full. Now, I am a bit embarassed to say that I am not very mechanically inclined (Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor I am not), but I have heard that these mills can be automated using an electric drill. I have Sears Craftsman 3/8' variable drill (3.0 amp/ 0-2500 rpm). Is this drill not powerful enough? What am I doing wrong? Not only did the mill not turn using the drill, I had one hellofa time getting the bolt back out! I felt like such a putz. If there are any of you out there with motorized PhilMills, I'd love to hear from you. TIA for the advice, Rick Gontarek Owner/Brewmaster The Major Groove Picobrewery Trappe, PA gontarek at voicenet.com - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 97 17:03 PST From: Charles Burns <cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us> Subject: Vienna Malt - highly modified? I thought Vienna Malt was highly modified and would not require a protein rest. However, I picked up a recipe for a marzen that calls for 9+ lbs of vienna, plus some other stuff, and the recipe calls for a *double decoction* mash. Am I in for trouble on this? Could I do a single decoction and get away with it tasting the same? Is the recipe bogus (came from CMIII)? Charley - - --------------------------------------------------------------- Charles Burns, Director, Information Systems Elk Grove Unified School District cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us, http://www.egusd.k12.ca.us 916-686-7710 (voice), 916-686-4451 (fax) http://www.innercite.com/~cburns/ - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 20:56:09 -0500 From: Jean-Sebastien Morisset <jsmoriss at qc.bell.ca> Subject: re: Porter Recipe At 16:31 14/01/97 PST, Charles Burns wrote: >Jean-S says in HBD #27, > > Heres a porter recipe i'm working on, appreicate any comments... > >My first response was, hmmmm, Belgian Aromatic, what a great idea. Special-B was also very tempting and I might try it in another batch. >My second response is, 61 IBU's is well above the [proper] range for a >robust porter. This will be my second run with this recipe. The first had 90 IBU's, which I admit was a little over the top. I expect it to be very drinkable in 2-3 years! <grin> I'm afraid the Biscuit and Aromatics will tend to give me a very strong malt profile, so I'm trying to balance it with Brown Malt, Chocolate, and Hop bitterness. If you notice, I haven't used Black Patent or Roast; I want to stay well away from a Stout-ish taste. >Third, where do you get fuggles at only 3.2 %aa? Lowest I've >seen is 4.5. Becareful that these numbers are what you can actually buy, and >not what got left in the SUDS database from wherever. Nope, that's what I got in the freezer -- for some reason I just can't seem to get European hops in the higher range in Montreal. >My preference for a Porter is Scottish Ale Yeast (can't remember wyeast #, >17something). It leaves it a bit sweet which will balance the high alcohol >content in the thing. You might not achieve a FG of 1.016 unless the mash >temp is a little higher, more like 156F. I'll probably replace the 40L Crystal with 1kg+ Carapils to get more mouthfeel and less colour. I'd like a dark ruby red, but the Aromatic, Biscuit, and Brown Malt are making this difficult. :-) >I'm saving this recipe because it looks really good, ingredient wise, just a >little too bitter for my personal taste. Please report back on how it turns >out. The first one at 90 IBU was a little too bitter. :-) I also used Munich Malt which gave just a hint of maltiness, but not enough, which is why I went for the Aromatic and Biscuit in this one. I've heard Special-B is also quite good in Porters too. My first batch was mashed at 150F and gave an FG of 1.020. I'm still puzzled by that one.... :-) Thanks for the interest! js. - - -- Jean-Sebastien Morisset, Sc. Unix Administrator <mailto:jsmoriss at qc.bell.ca> Bell Canada, Routing and Trunking Assignments <http://www.bell.ca/> - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 21:13:09 -0500 (EST) From: BernardCh at aol.com Subject: Re: Motorizing a PhillMill (Chuck Bernard) Rick Gonterak asks about motorizing a PhilMill I use a 3/16 hex bit from a cordless screwdriver chucked up into my Craftsman 3/8 0-1200RPM drill which I insert into the shoulder screw socket. I have a large 12" funnel that I drop into the 2-liter soda pop bottle. Then I get the drill running while my wife fills the funnel. This seems to meter the grains into the "crusher" a little better and my drill has more than enough oomph do do the job. Can usually mill enough grains for a 5 gallon batch in under 5-minutes. Be warned though, motorizing this mill creates a tom of dust! Chuck BernardCh at aol.com Music City Brewers Nashville, TN - Music City USA - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #2313