HOMEBREW Digest #2414 Thu 08 May 1997

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@ brew.oeonline.com
		Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of 
		Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
				URL: http://www.oeonline.com


Contents:
  Outatown, Spores, New beer wooziness, superheated beer ("David R. Burley")
  Re: Claening enamel pots with soap (neumbg73)
  Hop Growing (Dean Mueller)
  Brew Pubs in Ft. Wayne, Indiana (Jonathon Betterley)
  Gambrinus Honey Malt (Steve)
  corn, corn, chicken and corn! (DAVE SAPSIS)
  Nitrogen and Stout ("Peter Touborg")
  na beer (Rae Christopher J)
  Water for a Wit Bier ("Lorena Barquin Sanchez")
  flavoring with apples (smurman)
  Priming NA beer (Brett Anthony Shorten)
  RE:No- and Low-Alcohol Brewin (Kit Anderson)
  bottle pressure ("Arnold J. Neitzke")
  Pabst Blue Ribbon, trendy exotic beer, trounces micros. (Art Steinmetz)
  Alcohol Determination with Limited Equipment: (TheTHP)
  Trub (Aaron Kelley)
  re: desserts (Charles Burns)
  Re: Brewpubs in Indianapolis, IN ("Kirk Johnson")
  Rye (korz)
  Re: Brewtap? (korz)
  Need some help in Memphis ("Dave Draper")
  Adding "shit" to beer (George De Piro)
  oops ("Aaron Herrick")
  Web pages back online ("Dave Draper")
  Old beer book value (Sean Mick)
  two quick tips - floating thermometer and bottling (Hal Davis)
  BREWPUBS/BREWERYS/FESTIVELS ("Jeff L. Foley")
  Valley Mill (Chris Dodge)
  Chris McAtee) Subject: POLAR WARE STAINLESS SPOON (AlannnnT)
  RE:  Hops Growing Question. (Richard Gardner)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 11:36:03 -0400 From: "David R. Burley" <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Outatown, Spores, New beer wooziness, superheated beer Brewsters: I'll be outatown until 21 May, so I'm not ignoring private e-mail. I'll catch up when I get back. - ----------------------------------------- Mark Ellis provides his 2 cents worth on Botulism. > I would throw in my 2 cents worth as I work for a >Pathology company and I went and had a chat with one of our >microbiologists. What followed was a discussion of what kills Clostridium - botulism causing bacteria The problem is not the bacteria which are pretty easily killed as you indicated, but the *spores* of the bacteria which are stable to non-pressure cooking temperatures for a long time. I recommend you always boil any wort you have canned before you use it to be sure any potential toxin is destroyed. I really suggest you just use dried or liquid malt extract for your starters. - ---------------------------------- Jon Yusko says: My hop plants are now about 1 1/2 feet high and I need to create a Trellis for them to grow upward. I am not sure what type of wire, String, etc to use that won't damage the vine but will also sustain The weight of the heavy vines. The most important thing is that once the hops get fully grown ( about 18 -20 feet high) that they can withstand a strong wind. Imagine if you had a sail the size of your hop garden what it would take to keep it stable in a strong wind. A set of strong supports - say telephone poles or such if you planted a lot or a teepee of three smaller sized poles, with wire supports, as the end supports will help keep the whole thing from falling over. Also at the top, use a very heavy braided wire to support the various twine streamers up which the hop vines will climb. I put mine up against my three story house, despite the lack of full sunshine, to prevent this possibility and to avoid the major construction effort. Besides it is prettier. Use heavy twine for the streamers as you will be cutting the vines down in the fall by cutting the streamers at the top and pick the hops from the vines while you are standing on the ground. Even if you multiple crop the hops, by allowing more vines to develop after June and therefore pick from a ladder most of the season, you will still cut the vines down in the fall. . In the early part of the season cut back the vines to three or four per streamer, so they can develop well without self competition and producing a lot of vines with no product. Water well during the growth period, mulch them and give them plenty of fertilizer and well rotted manure. Some people pick off the lower six feet of leaves after the vine is grown in the belief that this reduces mildew, by preventing it from spreading up from the ground. Use a Bordeaux mixture or the like early in the season, but give it plenty of time to dissipate before you pick. Yeasts don't like copper or other fungicides in your beer and neither will you. Water early in the morning and never in the evening to reduce mildew possibility. - ---------------------------------------------------- Kevin Kanes' textbook answer and other comments relating to the higher hop and alcohol content in homebrew do not answer the question first posed by someone here about "fresh" beer having a quicker effect than that same beer drunk some weeks later. I too have noticed that a new keg often produces a quick wooziness in a very short time on the order of 10 minutes, almost like a change in blood pressure effect or that first puff on a pipe (tobacco!), not really connected with the alcohol content, but could be mistaken for it. Since, in most cases, I lager in the presence of yeast, the first beers are really in a totally reduced state and may contain compounds that get oxidized over time from the carbonation of the beer, by leaky hose fittings, etc. Or they peak out and decline naturally with time. Another datapoint is that this occurs to nearly all drinkers at the same session, yet in a few weeks the same drinkers do not experience this effect with the same beer. This could argue that it is food or atmosphere related, but I really do not believe these can adequately explain all the manifestations of the effect, especially the quick hit nature that has drinkers saying "Wow, this is strong!".. I don't know, but I can vouch that I and a number of others here have found this time/age dependent effect of beer which obviously does not relate to the alcohol or hops content, both of which are constant in any given beer over time. - --------------------------------------------------- M Cert says: >Yesterday I used my new coverted 15.5gl kettle for the first time and I had a >problem. >Everything was fine until I put in my immersion chiller. I left to do >something else and my 8gl batch boiled over. >What could have caused it? You forgot to turn off the burner?? {8^) Actually it may have been superheated on the bottom because it was deep and clean and new and you provided a surface for the steam bubbles to form onto when you put the chiller into it. Probably after you use this a few times, scratches in the kettle will prevent this from happening. I suggest you remove it from the burner and carefully stir the wort before you add the chiller in the future. - --------------------------------------------------- Keep on brewin' Dave Burley Kinnelon, NJ 07405 103164.3202 at compuserve.com Dave_Burley at compuserve.com Voice e-mail OK Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 11:48:32 -0400 (EDT) From: neumbg73 at snyoneva.cc.oneonta.edu Subject: Re: Claening enamel pots with soap Robert Ruderman wrote about enamel pots: > > I know I am not supposed to use soaps with the pots for cleaning (I have > been using a pad for teflon pots without soap for cleanings) uhh oh, I sometimes use a mild dish soap or some "bon-ami" to clean my enamel-on pot. Is this bad? If so, why? bernie neumann neumbg73 at oneonta.edu KB2EBE "The Secret Caverns Pico Brewery" Secret Caverns, NY Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 11:38:45 -0700 From: Dean Mueller <dean at broadcom.com> Subject: Hop Growing >My hop plants are now about 1 1/2 feet high and I need to create a >trellis for them to grow upward. I am not sure what type of wire, >string, etc to use that won't damage the vine but will also sustain >the weight of the heavy vines. I talked to a local gardening rep, >and he said not to use wire since it will cut into vines. True? > >Any feedback or previous experience would be appreciated. You should set up a couple poles and run wire between them at least 12ft high. This wire is what really holds most of the weight. Put a steak in the ground near the base of each bunch. If you run Vs from the wire to each steak with twine it will work great. I let 2 or 3 vines run up each leg of the V and cut all others to the ground. The hops will wrap around the twine and climb as high as they can. (They always outgrow my 12ft wires, 15ft is better). I have never had the twine break. Cut the twine down each season and harvest your buds. good luck, dean Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 May 97 12:19:00 PDT From: Jonathon Betterley <jonb at stellar.com> Subject: Brew Pubs in Ft. Wayne, Indiana I will be visiting the Ft. Wayne area towards the end of May. I have looked for information on Brew Pubs there and couldn't find. I am hoping that there is at least one establishment there that might be able to quench my thirst while I am there. If anyone knows of a place could you please advise. Thanks, JonB at Stellar.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 16:16:51 -0500 (CDT) From: Steve <JOHNSONS at UANSV5.VANDERBILT.EDU> Subject: Gambrinus Honey Malt Members of our homebrew club have an offer to get some whole malts from one of our local microbreweries. He has been using a new Gambrinus brand malt called Honey Malt. It is apparently a pale malt. Have any of the collective used this malt in any homebrewing recipes, and care to comment on how they turned out? The brewer didn't tell us specifically which beers and what proportion of the malt bill he was using this malt in, but he really liked it. Four of our club members visited the brewery last week and had a round of samplers of his current beers, and although good beers, they were for the most part very similar in flavor and malt profile, except for some slight variations in color and hop varieties/amounts. Private e-mail is fine, or a post here for others who might be interested. Steve Johnson Music City Brewers, Nashville, TN Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 14:20:54 -0700 From: DAVE_SAPSIS at fire.ca.gov (DAVE SAPSIS) Subject: corn, corn, chicken and corn! Just to follow up on Jeff's excellent post on the use of corn: I have been using polenta in place of flaked corn or grits or meal for about six years. All polenta is is coarse corn meal, but the size of the grits appear to be about 5 times that of the boxed corn meal. Polenta does come in a number of renditions: basic, quick, and prepared (that stuff in the funky tube). The quick stuff is similar to quick oats in that it has been largely pregelatinized, presumably by steam. I always use the basic stuff, available in bulk from most coops and the like. It is cheap, and works well. It does require a true cereal cook, but hey, thats part of the fun. Polenta is also quite good outside of beer -- See the Greens cookbook for a keeper. In addition to the wonderful CAP style that Jeff almost single handedly ressurected, corn is also most welcome in Cream Ales. Wahl Henius have ratios on the order of 20% - 25%, and that seems to work well. Another endemic style that has drifted toward lackluster flavor, but it doesnt have to be so. cheers, --dave, in Sacramento, 87F outside, cream ale inside (fridge) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 May 97 22:18:37 UT From: "Peter Touborg" <vanfunk at msn.com> Subject: Nitrogen and Stout Just to add a few particulars to the nitrogen thread- Part of the reason that a dispense with nitrogen at high pressure (through an appropriate restrictor plate, such as on a Guinness tap) yields such a tight, heavenly head is precisely because it is not very soluble in beer. Those teeny little bubbles form, as we know, with a mixture of N2 and CO2 inside. Once formed, the bubbles tend to maintain their integrity because the N2 is reluctant to migrate out of its liquid shell and into other bubbles. This process of disproportionation consequently happens at a slow rate. Other factors obviously play a role, beta-glucans, etc. but this piece seems to be key. Peter Touborg Fork and Firkin Homebrewery Winthrop, MA vanfunk at msn.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 19:13:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Rae Christopher J <3cjr7 at qlink.queensu.ca> Subject: na beer someone wrote in about brewing no- alcohol beer. can't help you in how to make it, but here's how to tell if you've done it right: ok, this is simple, but requires precision. 1. take the sg of the beer (with proper temperature conversions), call that sg1 2. measure _exactly_ one pint of beer, flat. 3. in a glass or enamel pan, _boil_ to about 1/2 pint. this will boil off _all_ the etoh. 4. with distilled water, top it off to exactly one pine again. do not use tap water. 5. cool the sample. 6. read the sg, and convert for current temperature. call that sg2 7. subtract sg2 from sg1. this is the "spirit indication" 8. spirit indication alcohol (% by volume) 0 0 1.5 1 2 1.3 3 2 4 2.7 5 3.4 etc. sorry, but this was adapted from _the art of wine_ by anderson and hull, 1971, so no data on how to get .5% on a side note, re:relapse... from a medical perspective, and being from a family of alcoholism... .5% is not acceptable. abstinence is. that means 0%. i'll get off my horse now. ___________________________________________________________ This is Chris' signature: C____ R__ &% His home page is at http://qlink.queensu.ca/~3cjr7/ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 19:04:10 -0400 From: "Lorena Barquin Sanchez" <mbarquin at telcel.net.ve> Subject: Water for a Wit Bier Gentlemen: Although there are several books that indicate the typical dissolved solids and pH of various cities water for particular beer styles, I am looking for that of a wit bier and have not been lucky. Can anyone help? I am particularly interested in Hoegaardens type water. Thanks Lorenzo Barquin Venezuela Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 16:27:10 -0700 From: smurman at best.com Subject: flavoring with apples I'm getting ready to brew a sour apple weisse beer, and I was looking for some feedback on my method of extracting the apple flavor. I was figuring on using about 5 lbs. of baking apples, cored and sliced, and freezing them to burst the cell walls. At the end of the boil I was going to add the now room temperature apple fragments to the hot wort. This should be enough to drop the temperature of the whole shebang to about 170F, which will eliminate the pectin problem. While the apples steep, I'll be chilling the wort with my immersion chiller. This usually takes about 30 minutes, so that's how long the apples will steep. After that I'll rack to the primary, and use the spent, sugar-coated apples to make apple pies. Does this seem like it will generate enough of an apple flavor? The beer will be pretty light (a 1.040 weisse beer), so too much flavor would be overwhelming, but I'm concerned I'll go through all this trouble and end up with no apple taste. Would it make more sense to use a "100% pure apple juice" rather than going through the whole steeping business? SM Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 12:08:27 +1000 (EST) From: Brett Anthony Shorten <bas08 at uow.edu.au> Subject: Priming NA beer I am about to try making a small batch of NA beer, by the method of heating to 180F, holding 15-30 mins, cooling, and bottling with fresh yeast and priming sugar. My question has to do with how much priming sugar to use. I usually use the well-known calculations attributed to Dave Draper and others to calculate priming sugar by weight. For this NA beer, should I assume that all CO2 has been driven off by the alcohol-reducing process, or would there still be some CO2 in the beer? Brett Shorten Wollongong, NSW Australia Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 08:18:23 -0400 From: Kit Anderson <kit at maine.com> Subject: RE:No- and Low-Alcohol Brewin I was thinking about this NA beer stuff. Is it possible to put the beer in a vacuum and evaporate the alcohol without heating it? I am guessing that the vapor pressure of ETOH is less than H2O and that you could do a low temperature ETOH reduction. But I could be wrong. If you could actually do this, the taste would be off as alcohol adds a warming feeling to the palate. I would think that a small amount of cayenne pepper might replace this. - --- Kit Anderson "Welcome to Northeast Texas- Bath, Maine a survival guide for Texans in New England" http://members.aol.com/garhow1/kit/index.htm Maine Beer Page http://www.maine.com/brew Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 07:27:26 -0400 (EDT) From: "Arnold J. Neitzke" <neitzkea at FRC.COM> Subject: bottle pressure Hi all I was wondering if anybody knows what the pressure is in a typical bottle of beer and at what pressure a bottle will blow up? No I haven't had any blow up yet, but I did have a very carbonated one come out the top when I opened it :-0 Fortunatly I was over the sink at the time (I usually am just in case). Arnold J. Neitzke Internet Mail: neitzkea at frc.com Brighton, Mi CEO of the NightSky brewing Company Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 08:35:11 -0400 From: Art Steinmetz <asteinm at pipeline.com> Subject: Pabst Blue Ribbon, trendy exotic beer, trounces micros. "But the people who enjoy drinking good beer can now drink it at home and for far less the cost of getting it at the local brew pub. No need to go to a microbrewery when the deli is carrying your favorite beer "right next to the cold cuts and Hostess cupcakes..." 'One microbrewer said that the best concept for a bar these days was "a trendy shot and beer bar, specializing in Schaefer and Pabst Blue Ribbon beers." ' 'Joe Quattrocchi, an owner of the 250-seat Commonwealth Brewery in Rockefeller Center, would not take it to that extreme, but he said that a backlash may be coming. Quattrocchi, who opened his brewery in July, admitted that he has a bit of the backlash in himself. "I drink Rolling Rock and Budweiser," he said. ' http://www.nytimes.com If you're not already registered it's free to U.S. customers. Do a search on "microbrewery" in today's edition. - -- Art asteinm at pipeline.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 09:10:19 -0400 (EDT) From: TheTHP at aol.com Subject: Alcohol Determination with Limited Equipment: Dear all, I knew who to ask on this one, My namesake. He was an amatur wine maker for 25+ years before he took a golden parachute from AMOCO to do it full time. So please don't confuse Enologist-Phil with Zymurgist-Phil of the Poison Frog Home Brewery. Enologist-Phil Writes: The following procedure was used by an advanced winemaker friend that did not have distillation apparatus or specialized equipment. In order to use this procedure, one needs an accurate thermometer, volumetric flask, hydrometer jar, and narrow range hydrometer calibrated in specific gravity. First adjust the temperature of the near beer to 60 degrees F. Next pour the sample into a hydrometer jar and measure the specific gravity. Then transfer enouth of the sample to fill a volumetric flask of adequate size. Then transfer contents tents of the volumetric flask to a pan, taking care to rinse the with clear water so that all the beer solution is in the pan. Next heat the solution to a slow boil and boil off enough volume so that there is less than the initial volume remaining. Next return the boiled volume to the volumetric flask, return to 60 degrees F, and make up the lost volume so that now have the same volume as started with, all at 60 degrees F. Next transfer contents to a hydrometer jar and measure the specific gravity. Measure the change in specific gravity, as only alcohol is presumed to have evaporated. The following change in specific gravities relate to per cent alcohol. No change is 0%, an increase of .0015 corresponds to an alcohol of 1%, an increase of .0030 is an alcohol of 2%, an increase of .0044 corresponds to 3%, etc. You get the idea. At this low concentration every increase in specific gravity of about .0075 corresponds to 0.5% alcohol. There are more accurate methods available, but they require quite a bit of equipment. The easiest method is with an eulliometer. As a winery consultant I could run this test as a modest fee, if desired. Good luck with your work. Commercially, the alcohol is eliminated with reverse osmosis. The temperature in not elevated and so there is not much deterioration in beer character. Another possibility might be to carbonate the wort and bottle it directly. In that case there would not be any alcohol. Or bottle the wort with only enough sugar to give say 1/2% alcohol. Phil-The Enologist Enologist at aol.com Phil-The Zymurgist doesnt recommend the last sentence. Making a wort with only enough sugar to make 1/2% alcohol is pretty thin beer. This might result in making budmilloors look and taste quite good in comparison. and we wouldnt want that to happen....;<) Please feel free to respond directly to Enologist at aol.com as he is not a HBD Subscriber. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 08:47:22 -0500 (CDT) From: Aaron Kelley <akelley at cems.umn.edu> Subject: Trub I am curious what precautions all of you take to eliminate trub from your primary fermentors. Dave Miller recommends racking your beer off of the trub a couple of hours after it has been in the carboy and the trub has settled. He further comments that compounds found in trub can lead to fusel alcohols in your beer. One article in Zymurgy on the subject said the presence of trub can also lead to long term instability in your beer. My comments: 1) I have found that it takes about 12 hrs for all of the trub to settle in my primary. Try as I might, I have not been able to keep it from getting in there in the first place. I filter my wort with a very fine nylon filter, but much of it passes through. 2) Can I wait until the next morning to rack off of the trub? What are the risks of reintroducing oxygen at this stage? I believe the yeast would be in exponential phase at this stage and a small amount of oxygen should not be a problem. Certainly not any more than normal racking to secondary fermentation. 3) Does the benefit of removing trub outweigh the risk of increased contamination? 4) Am I worrying too much about trub? Just trying to improve my beers, Aaron Kelley akelley at cems.umn.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 09:14:36 -0700 From: Charles Burns <cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us> Subject: re: desserts Ghiardelli(sp?) Dark Chocolate bar in left hand. Pint of Espresso Stout in right hand. Alternate a bite with a swig. Doesn't get much better. Alternate: substitute Grand Marnier truffle for chocolate bar. Charley Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 07 May 97 09:46:08 GMT From: "Kirk Johnson" <johnsonk at fhu.disa.mil> Subject: Re: Brewpubs in Indianapolis, IN I was in Indianapolis, IN last week and had a chance to try the Broad Ripple Brewpub on the North side of Indianapolis. It is a great local brewpub with excellent beer. Broad Ripple has a comfortable neighborhood pub atmosphere. They had 6 beers on tap (descriptions below) and a number of guest beers. Like a good Homebrewer, I ordered the sampler to get a taste of them all! My favorites (in order) were ESB, IPA, Porter, and Red Bird Mild. The Lawnmower Pale Ale and White River Wheat were average. Lawnmower Pale Ale - Clean beer with little character, don't care for light ales much Red Bird Mild - Good balance of malt and English hops; great session beer ESB - Excellent beer, good English hop character, slight smoke flavor White River Wheat - Average wheat beer, could use more clove phenolics Monon Porter - Nice rich porter, slightly sweet Indiana Pale Ale (IPA) - Good malt flavor and body, nice wall of bitterness, could use dry hopping I did not have a chance to visit Alcatraz or Circle V, but will try them next time ;} Kirk Johnson >I will be heading out to Indianapolis next week and anticipate a few >hours in the afternoon to partake of the local brewpub scene. I am >considering a visit to the Alcatraz Brewing Co, or one of the Circle >V pubs. Has anyone been to either of these? Any recommendations/ >descriptions? Private email is fine. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 12:51:06 -0500 (CDT) From: korz at xnet.com Subject: Rye Jason writes: >Work through another recipe and I'll make a point about >pt/lb/g vs mash efficiency. > >5.5 lb American Rye (30) >2.75 lb Lager malt (six-row) (31) >5 gallons of 1.045 > >Pt/lb/g -> 45*5 / (5.5+2.75) = 27.3 -> 27 pt/lb/g >Mash efficiency -> (5*45) / [ (30*5.5) + (2.75*31) ] = 89.9 > -> 90% > >So the two recipes were about a point different when >expressed as pt/lb/g but the efficiency for the rye was 90% >as compared to 75%. So it important to keep in mind the >extract potential of the grains. I believe that your efficiency was the same, but you used far too low a pt/lb/gal value for the rye. I believe that it is close to 40, but I would have to work backwards using my typical mash efficiency and run my rye beer recipe through it (assuming the same efficiency). Personally, I use my *real* expected pt/lb/gal for each grain rather than a maximum (theoretical) value when I do my grain calculations simply because it is one less multiplication and I do all my recipes on paper rather than on a computer (60 hours a week on a computer is enough!). Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korz at xnet.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 13:30:31 -0500 (CDT) From: korz at xnet.com Subject: Re: Brewtap? Michael writes (asking about the Brewtap): >Does it produce beer that is as good as two step fermentation? Do you mean Brewcap, by our very own Kinney Baughman? No, I haven't used it, but I just wanted to point out that, in my opinion, *single-stage* fermentation produces beer just as good as two-stage fermentation. Just my opinion. Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korz at xnet.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:03:21 -6 From: "Dave Draper" <ddraper at utdallas.edu> Subject: Need some help in Memphis Dear Friends, Let me apologize straight off for using the HBD for a non-beer-related, personal purpose. But I have no other recourse to reach a large number of people, and I hope you all will forgive this transgression. I'll be brief. I need a favor from someone who a) lives in Memphis, b) has a decent stereo with taping capability, and c) will be at home on the evening of Tuesday 13 May. At 9:30 pm that night, local FM station WEGR will be broadcasting live a 90-minute concert by John Fogerty, of Creedence Clearwater musical godhood, and I am desperate to get ahold of a recording of it. If you think you might be able to help out, please email me PRIVATELY and we can come to some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement-- I will make it worth the while of anyone who can come to my aid. Thanks in advance, and apologies for this blatantly off-topic post, but as I say, I am desperate. Cheers, Dave in Dallas - --- ***************************************************************************** Dave Draper, Dept Geosciences, U. Texas at Dallas, Richardson TX 75083 ddraper at utdallas.edu Home page: hbd.org/~ddraper Beer page: hbd.org/~ddraper/beer.html I can't be bought for a mere $3.50. ---Jeff Renner Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 15:25:23 -0700 From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com (George De Piro) Subject: Adding "shit" to beer Hi all, Scott seems quite perturbed that some people add clarifiers to their beer. He claims to never have haze problems. Well, consider yourself very lucky, and please realize that not everybody else is! It is very rare for me to break the Reinheitsgebot by adding clarifiers. Occasionally, though, for no obvious reason, I'll come across a batch that just won't clear, despite long, cold lagering. In those instances a brewer has 3 choices: 1. Ignore the haze. Not a good choice if the haze is yeast, as it may adversely affect flavor. 2. Filter the beer. Not a good choice if you a) don't own a filter or b) are concerned about stripping desirable components from the beer. 3. Try a fining agent. While I try to avoid it, there is nothing wrong with using fining agents to clear a beer, in my opinion. There are brewers that filter beer prematurely, in an effort to get it to the customer more quickly, but most homebrewers aren't going to be doing this. Once the beer is properly aged and tastes good, it is no sin to clarify it. Have fun! George De Piro (Nyack, NY) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:51:50 -0000 From: "Aaron Herrick" <chemstat at phoenix.net> Subject: oops cancel article Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 16:12:05 -6 From: "Dave Draper" <ddraper at utdallas.edu> Subject: Web pages back online Dear Friends, After my long absence from the brew.net, my web pages have been updated and ensconced in their new home, thanks to Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen. I'm proud to have them housed on the HBD's own server at oeonline.com, where there should be few of the difficulties that plagued my online life while I was based in Australia. Since there are doubtless many who have joined HBD during the time I have been away, allow me to give a brief rundown of what can be found on my beer page: FAQ files: links to the Yeast and Hops FAQs, a copy of Jim Busch's piece on malts and their characteristics, my compilation of water ionic compositions from many of the world's great brewing cities, and a link to AJ deLange's thorough discourse on modifying brewing waters to mimic many of those compositions. Other items of interest: Michael Taylor's SUDS recipe formulator, version 4.0a for Windows. This version fixes the bug that made for screwy mash-water calculations when using real (i.e. metric) units instead of those screwed-up british engineering units. Pat Anderson's TinibuW for Windows, which allows calculation of IBUs using Glenn Tinseth's utilization data. My summary of the _Brauwelt International_ article on First Wort Hopping, along with a table of results reported by homebrewers who have used the technique. George Fix's original HBD posts on the 40-60-70 mashing procedure, and Kelly Jones's 1993 HBD post on calculating the temperatures and volumes of mash infusions. List of links to other brewsites: many are very familiar already, some are not. My own contributions: my essays on yeast culturing and slant use, and on priming bottled beer using weights of sugars rather than volumes (which was worked up into an article in the July/August '96 issue of Brewing Techniques). The URLs for my main home page and for the beer page appear in the signature file below. Cheers, Dave in Dallas (formerly Dave in Sydney, Dave in Bristol) - --- ***************************************************************************** Dave Draper, Dept Geosciences, U. Texas at Dallas, Richardson TX 75083 ddraper at utdallas.edu Home page: hbd.org/~ddraper Beer page: hbd.org/~ddraper/beer.html We [HBDers] are like the Borg ---Chris Geden Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 15:47:36 -0800 From: homebrew at dcn.davis.ca.us (Sean Mick) Subject: Old beer book value I was hoping someone out there could help me assess the value of a 1965 edition of "The Curiosities of Ale & Beer" by John Bickerdyke. It is a reprint of the original 1895 manuscript and covers beer history, lore, origins of ale-houses, porter and stout origins, laws and events concerning beer throughout the ages, and home-brewing. The copy I am reviewing is in "very good" condition, as appraised by the local antiquity book dealer, and he is asking $27.50 for it. Is this book one of those classics that is referenced in most modern beer histories, or is it's contents flawed historically (for instance, I know there are several takes on the origins of porter)? Personally, I think it's a very interesting book (I've only thumbed through it though), just wanted any background available. I guess the bottom line is am I willing to pay $27.50 for it, but I'd like to know if this is considered a rare find or not. Thanks! Sean Mick Mick's Homebrew Supplies http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~homebrew Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 17:56:04 -0500 (CDT) From: Hal Davis <davis at planolaw.com> Subject: two quick tips - floating thermometer and bottling Just two quick tips that maybe everybody in the universe already knew but really made an impression on me the first time I heard them. 1. Floating thermometer: the mercury-in-a-tube kinds are too slow to respond and are difficult to read without removing the thermometer from the stuff. Try whacking off the bottom 1/2" of a styrofoam coffee cup and sticking your dial-type thermometer through it. The styrofoam makes a nifty little boat, and you can read the temp from directly above without touching the thermometer. 2. When bottling, set the bucket from which you are siphoning on the countertop, and set the clean bottles on the open door of the dishwasher. Then, if you spill a bit, it gets cleaned up when you do your next load of dirty dishes. Hal Davis Proprietor, the Safety Brewery, Plano, Texas Member North Texas Home Brewers Association Ignorance can be cured. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 20:18:19 -0400 From: "Jeff L. Foley" <tmhobbies at compuserve.com> Subject: BREWPUBS/BREWERYS/FESTIVELS I will be in central texas from 13 MAy to 11 June, does anybody know of any festivals or brepubs/brewerys I could check out? Jeff Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 08:39:14 -0400 From: Chris Dodge <cdodge at ptc.com> Subject: Valley Mill I wanted to know if anyone has used the Valley Mill. I have seen this mill advertised in Zymurgy and it looks very well made. I was thinking about buying one, but would like to know if anyone has had and experience with it. Thanks in advance Chris Dodge email cdodge at ptc.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 22:14:14 -0400 (EDT) From: AlannnnT at aol.com Subject: Chris McAtee) Subject: POLAR WARE STAINLESS SPOON That polarware spoon is great, but they are made in Korea not the US or Canada. It was nice of Polarware to give you one. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 23:25:05 -0500 (CDT) From: Richard Gardner <rgardner at monarch.papillion.ne.us> Subject: RE: Hops Growing Question. Jon wrote: >My hop plants are now about 1 1/2 feet high and I need to create a >trellis for them to grow upward. I am not sure what type of wire, >string, etc to use that won't damage the vine but will also sustain >the weight of the heavy vines. I talked to a local gardening rep, >and he said not to use wire since it will cut into vines. True? >Any feedback or previous experience would be appreciated. BALDERDASH! I'm in year three for my Northern Brewer and Cascade and have used 16 or 18 gauge galvanized wire to support the vines. Last year the N. Brewer climbed to over 30 Ft (14m) high! However, I gave some extra support to the wire every 10 ft or so (tied it off to the chimney). Since hops are a bine (spelled correctly) they will spiral around the wire and will not be cut by the wire. I would NOT use string; it will rot and everything can then collapse. They will also grow at an amazing rate; I've had up to 1 ft per day! I've had several neighbors ask about the green vines climbing up my chimney - very impressive, and they will survive a northern winter. Other hop related items: - Hops can be like mint - invasive, taking over everything in sight. - I cut back lots of shoots this spring. The N. Brewer shoots are pretty good sauteed like asperagus, but I don't like the Cascade. I left about 2 shoots per wire; this will force the plant to grow upward (today 5' high). - A good hail storm will shred a hop plant pretty bad. - Grasshoppers like the leaves, but won't touch the cones. - A cheap food dehyrator is very useful to dry hops. I stick my thermometer into the middle, and when the temp starts rising I know most of the moisture has been driven off.. - There are more cones higher up. I get most of my hop cones above 15' on a Southwest exposure (lots of sun). I can climb onto the roof to pick, realizing this isn't an option for everyone. >mmmm.. fresh Chinook cones! Not sure I'd plant Chinook. Who knows the alpha acid for bittering? Homegrown are best for arouma and flavoring. - ----A good compromise leaves everyone a little mad.--- Return to table of contents