HOMEBREW Digest #2543 Wed 29 October 1997

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


Contents:
  Moldy fridge summary / disclaimers ("Keith Royster")
  Filter size (Randy Lee)
  Will a propane tank freeze? ("Alan McKay")
  Mixed bag (LNUSTRUK.CZLSSB)
  Wyeast 2112 ("John Robinson")
  Homebrew Recipe Calculation Program - New Old Release (RUSt1d?)
  instructional videotapes ("Paul A. Baker")
  Re: Beer Festival (Aaron A Sepanski)
  Summary Cyser/Braggot , campden question. (Chris Cooper)
  Wild Hops (Don H Van Valkenburg)
  Prayer (OCaball299)
  break (Al Korzonas)
  Re: Extract (Ben Pollard)
  Styles (Al Korzonas)
  Stein Bier - THE Reference (Tom Gaskell)
  O2 diffusion and airlocks (Dave Whitman)
  HSA issues... (Greg Young)
  Belgium White Beer Recipe (Bob Tisdale)
  filter sizes (Edward J. Basgall)
  in further defense of extract brewing ("Curt Speaker")
  Water analysis (James Keller)
  IPA recipe (James Keller)
  Cranberry beer/style question (Rick Gontarek)
  Extract THIS! (Some Guy)
  Zymurgy special issues (Dick Dunn)
  Aeration while racking to secondary? (KROONEY)
  Odd. . . (stargazer)
  Irish Dry Stout pt. 1 (Fredrik Staahl)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 09:12:00 +0500 From: "Keith Royster" <keith at ays.net> Subject: Moldy fridge summary / disclaimers Thanks to all who responded to my moldy fridge problem. I received a number of suggestions for using a bleach solution to clean the inside periodically, but I wanted something a little less corrosive and also something that would inhibit its re-growth. Along those lines the two best suggestions were: Clean with lysol and leave the residue to inhibit regrowth, and; Place a bucket of Damp-Rid(tm) in the fridge to suck the moisture out of the air. Damp-Rid is a dessicant normally used to keep basements and closets dry, and can be found in the supermarket in the cleaning section near the mothballs. =================== Now I'd like to request a free consultation from our homebrewing lawyers.... I've noticed that some of the brewing related web pages contain disclaimers stating that people use the information found on that page at their own risk. I've always felt these disclaimers to be unnecessary so I have not added one to my RIMS web page, but I've been reconsidering after reading recent posts about brewers possibly electrocuting themselves. Is this really necessary? Can I be sued if someone builds a RIMS using info from my page and kills/injures themselves due to inaccurate or incomplete information? Any suggestions on wording the disclaimer? And finally, how might this subject relate to advice dispensed here in our beloved digest? Keith Royster - Mooresville/Charlotte, North Carolina email: keith at ays.net http://www.ays.net/brewmasters -Carolina BrewMasters club page http://www.ays.net/RIMS -My RIMS (rated COOL! by the Brewery) http://www.ays.net/movingbrews -pumps and accessories for advanced homebrewers Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 07:47:02 -0600 From: Randy Lee <rjlee at imation.com> Subject: Filter size >I have converted to kegging and wondered if my beer would taste >"crisper/cleaner" if I filtered. I know if I filter too fine I will lose a >lot of taste. What micron size will remove yeast but won't effect (or have >minimum effect on) the beer taste ? We use a 4 micron filter (pads) here without too much degredation of flavors or bittering. I started one of our beers with a 1 micron setup one day. It plugged up right away so I switched back to the 4 micron and found that the 1 micron had taken out quite a bit of the bittering from the beer. This was a bohemian pilsner at about 13P and about 35IBU. I have used a 1 micron on a preprohibition pilsner without noticeable affect. For a home brewer, I think that just having a little patience and letting the beer fall clear in the keg and then racking it off to another is a far easier, better thing to do that to filter; while a filter can clean up limited problems in a beer, it shouldn't be used in that way. It won't give you a "crisper/cleaner" beer. That is done with recipie and process. Randy Lee Viking Brewing Company Dallas, WI. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 08:32:01 -0500 From: "Alan McKay" <Alan.McKay.amckay at nt.com> Subject: Will a propane tank freeze? Hi folks, Well, here comes the dilemma. We just got hit with the big storm that took out Colorado, and so winter in Ottawa is just around the corner. That means about 4 months of -25C, with peaks at -35C. I don't like the idea of storing my propane tanks (regular BBQ sized) inside the house, but I'm wondering if the things are going to freeze outside. Anyone know? I was thinking of storing each one inside in it's own plastic garbage can, so that if it leaked, all the propane would stay in the can where I could smell it, and just take it outside to dump it. -Alan - -- Alan McKay Nortel Enterprise Networks Norstar / Companion / Monterey Operations PC Support Prime Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 10:12:51 -0500 From: LNUSTRUK.CZLSSB at gmeds.com Subject: Mixed bag 1) Botulism, Botulism. just kidding. 2) Lizardhead - Relax! Have a homebrew. 3) To the lucky guy who's going to Europe: Do yourself a favor and visit the Cantillion Brewery in Brussels. Just got back from there a couple weeks ago. So many beers, so little time. Aside from superb food, and 12oz bottles of Chimay Blue for a buck, and countless other legendary beers, (You can start crying now) the Cantillion brewery tour is reason enough for visit to this amazing and often overlooked city. I took the subway to the neighborhood where the brewery is located and walked about 4 blocks to the brewery. I had to ask a few people where it was before I got a good answer. All that asking made me a little thirsty so I sat down by a fountain and had a bottle of Chimay. I got a few funny looks but it was only 9 o' clock. It was no leisurely beer, mind you, cause there was a brewery to tour. I moved on. Looking like a total tourist, map in hand ect, ect. I peered into a open garage doorway and spied various brewing paraphernalia, just as a guy who sat in the warm sun on a overturned wine crate said "you want to tour the brewery?" I entered, paid my 2 or 3 bucks in Bfr., and entered. I was given a numbered pamphlet in English, and the friendly guy set me off on my own. Taking a step into the brewery felt like taking a step back one hundred years. You'd never get a chance in the Sue-Crazy USA to just wander up ladders, peer down hatches, and walk about stacks of barrels at your own leisure. The place was filthy, and I fought the temptation to sweep up a little filth to take home and bless my brewing area. Without spoiling the experience for any visitors, I'd just say that all the stuff you've been told about good sanitation seems to run contrary at Cantillion. But as always the proof is in the beer. Kriek, Frambozen, and Gueze were IMHO, superb. If you have an appreciation for wood, you'll freak in the corner of the tasting area which is decked from head to toe in quater sawn white oak raised panels. I comptemplated the oak connection (beers, arts & crafts furniture, lambic barrels) as I had a champagne bottle of each of the Cantillion beers. The friendly Flemish guy brought me a half glass of two year lambic which is the immature precursor to the finished product. It's not very tasty, but does give one an idea on how a lambic progresses. The brewery claims to be the last brewer using the traditional lambic style of brewing. I was told that because many consumers favor sweeter lambics, extended fermentation are bypassed by many popular lambic brands. Don't pass this place up if you like lambic beers. Chuck Carman. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 12:21:06 +0000 From: "John Robinson" <robinson at novalis.ca> Subject: Wyeast 2112 Has anyone tried fermenting with Wyeast 2112 at around 50 F? I've read the sheet they put out on their yeasts and it seems to indicate that 58 F is about the minimum temperature. I ask because I've got a beer that has been fermenting for about a month at around 50-52, and I'm trying to determine if this is normal for this yeast or if I have some other problem. - --- John Robinson "When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. Software Developer I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I NovaLIS Technologies have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know robinson at novalis.ca it is wrong." - Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 10:14:01 -0800 From: RUSt1d? <rust1d at usa.net> Subject: Homebrew Recipe Calculation Program - New Old Release I have put a new release of my homebrew program on my web page. It is version 1.7. This is an upgrade to version 1.6. Registered users have been using version 1.7 for about a year now. I am making it available to the public because of the pending release of version 2.0 which will not be compatiable with version 1.6. Version 1.7 contains import/export routines that will be used by version 2.0 to migrate recipes and data to the new table formats. Register your copy of version 1.7 before the release of version 2.0 (sometime in early '98) and receive a free upgrade when available. Registered users of HBRCP can request a beta version of 2.0 for testing. It requires a screen resolution of 800x600. - -- John Varady http://www.netaxs.com/~vectorsys/varady Boneyard Brewing The HomeBrew Recipe Calculating Program Glenside, PA rust1d at usa.net Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 10:34:07 -0600 From: "Paul A. Baker" <pbaker at facstaff.wisc.edu> Subject: instructional videotapes Hi folks, This is my first post to HBD. I think it's a great forum. I've been brewing with malt extract kits for about six months now. I don't have the benefit of a nearby homebrew club, so most of my learning has come from reading. I recently bought a copy of Charlie P.'s "Complete Interactive Joy of Homebrewing" on CD-ROM, and found the video sequences helpful. Does anyone know of any instructional videos available for relative newcomers like myself? Paul Baker pbaker at facstaff.wisc.edu (608) 263-8814 Wisconsin Center for Education Research http://www.wcer.wisc.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 09:38:03 -0600 (CST) From: Aaron A Sepanski <sepan001 at uwp.edu> Subject: Re: Beer Festival Attention Southeastern Wisconsinites!!!!! The Parkside Homebrewer's Network, in cooperation with The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Student Union are putting on a beer festival. The Following breweries will be in attendance: Gray's Wisconsin Brewing Co. Lakefront Sprecher Port Washington Brewmaster's Pub For Information email sepan001 at uwp.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 11:53:05 -0500 From: Chris Cooper <ccooper at a2607cc.msr.hp.com> Subject: Summary Cyser/Braggot , campden question. Greetings all! A couple of weeks ago I asked about a looooong lag time for a cyser I was making. I had used "campden" (sodium metabisulfite) to prepare and apple cider/honey brew. The logic of the campden is to kill wild nasties, and after it disapates (~ 24 hours) pitch a healthy yeast starter to go to town and produce a cyser. I had read in a mead book that you should use 2 campden tablets for a one gallon recipe, from this I interpolated that a 5-gallon batch would need 10 tablets. For the record a couple of responses pointed out that the ideal solution for "campden" to work would be 50ppm for a ph of 3.3-3.5 and that the tablets available from wine shops are designed to reach this level with one tablet per Imperial Gallon, (this would come to 4 tablets for 5 US Gallons) when I added 10 tablets I ended up with around 125 ppm sulfite which would inhibit just about anything from growing! Time heals many wounds and after 7-days the sulphite levels had dropped enough for a fresh batch of ale yeast to get a foot hold and start. I recieved several responses privately and via HBD to all who responded "Thanks!". The universal advice was "Don't Use Campden" it isn't needed. If you are worried about wild things simply heat to 160-170^F for 15-30 min. cool and pitch (the temp and time ranges bracket the advise from several responses). Some suggested that heating was only needed to help disolve the honey and that any wild things would only add to the flavor profile. I have repeated the batch without the "campden" and the second batch took off in 12 hours. Both batches seem to be doing well and the week-lag hasn't produced any off odors or flavors. I do have one question/obsevation, both batches have been going strong for the last week (i.e. constant airlock activety) and although slowing down a bit it seems they have plenty of steam (CO2) left. For those of you who have made a cyser, the foam in the carboy is absoultely milkly in color and forms large bubbles (3"-4" in size, I have plenty of head room, a 5G batch in a 6.5G carboy), just curious how this compares to other's experience. Chris Cooper , Commerce Michigan --> Pine Haven Brewery <-- Chris_Cooper at hp.com --> aka. Deb's Kitchen <-- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 09:43:34 -0800 From: steinfiller at juno.com (Don H Van Valkenburg) Subject: Wild Hops Keith Zimmerman <keithzim at computron.net> Writes about hops in the wild. >This September I was back packing in Colorado. Along the trail I was >enjoying eating some raspberries when I noticed a plant which had some >cones which looked like hops. I am just curious, are hops growing like >this normal or was this an unusual occurrence? - ---------Yes it is. There was an article which appeared in the journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, Inc., 1993. This was a study of N. American hops by; A. Haunold, G.B. Nickerson, and others. Here is an the first paragraph from that study, which pretty much sums up the article. "Native wild North American hops collected in 11 states and two Canadian provinces at various times since 1959 were evaluated for agronomic and quality characteristics during the 1990 and 1991 growing seasons near Corvallis, OR. Most plants had deeply lobed leaves and prominent hooked climbing hairs on main stems and sidearms. Male plants outnumbered females in an unselected seedling population, but monoecious types predominated. Most plants were susceptible to hop downey mildew, but Verticillium wild was never observed. Clear differences were evident in colonization by two-spotted spider mites in the absence of chemical control measures, even in adjacent plants late in the season. The soft resin content of most native American hops was low, rarely were approaching 10% of cone weight. Plants with alpha acid levels above 5% were rare. Bata acid content frequently exceeded that of alpha acid, resulting in a alpha ratio below 50 %. However, some plants with a moderately high alpha ratio could be identified from most collection sites. Native American hops had exceptionally high cohumulone and even higher coupulone content and a pungent, unpleasant aroma. The composition of their essential oils differ significantly from that of hop cultivars used for commercial brewing." Don't forget that Brewers Gold, Bullion and N. Brewer, just to name a few, are all direct results of a cross with a N. American WILD hop. And Cluster most likely was a result of an English hop crossing by open pollination with wild hops. For more on this see my article in Brewing Techniques Sept./Oct. 1995 Don Van Valkenburg Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 12:45:21 -0500 (EST) From: OCaball299 at aol.com Subject: Prayer I hope this doesn't offend anyone... > Our lager, > Which art in barrels, > Hallowed be thy drink. > Thy will be drunk, (I will be drunk), > At home as it is in the pub. > Give us this day our foamy head, > And forgive us our spillage's, > As we forgive those who spill against us. > And lead us not to incarceration, > But deliver us from hangovers. > For thine is the beer, The bitter, The lager. > BARMEN. Omar Caballero - ocaball299 at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 12:25:06 -0600 (CST) From: Al Korzonas <korz at xnet.com> Subject: break Jim found that he got very little break in his Porter (which had a pre-boil pH between 4.9 and 5.1). Break formation is tied to boil pH. pH drops during the boil and break formation is seriously decreased below 4.6 (and begins to be decreased even at higher pHs). So, the solution would have been to raise the pH of the wort up to 5.3 or so with calcium carbonate before your boil. Careful... a little calcium carbonate can go a long way. Actually, too low a pH will impair enzyme functions too so you may want to adjust the mash, not wait till the runnings. Dark grains lower pH and this is why you had this problem with your Porter and not with paler beers. Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korz at xnet.com My new website (still under construction, but up-and-running): http://www.brewinfo.com/brewinfo/ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 13:04:09 -0800 From: Ben Pollard <classicferm at fia.net> Subject: Re: Extract What is the big deal about brewing with extract. I've been brewing 4 or 5 years and reading the digest for about 3 years. I brew about half the time with extract and do all-grains the other half. I mainly do the extracts to get an easily reproducable recipe for customers in my shop. I have been actively competing with my beer for a few years now and have a number of 1st place ribbons to show for it. Nearly 50% of my awards are for EXTRACT brews including Best of show at Dayton last month. IMO extract brewers can brew as good a beer as all grain brewers (in much less time) if they follow good practices and learn everything they can about brewing. They nned to do many of the things all grain brewers do such as boiling a full volume of wort, cooling as quickly as possible and using high quality, fresh ingredients. Extract brewers don't despair, just because we brew with extract it doesn't make us second class brewers. -- Ben Pollard Amarillo, Texas classicferm at fia.net http://home.fia.net/~classicferm Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 14:07:56 -0600 (CST) From: Al Korzonas <korz at xnet.com> Subject: Styles John writes: >The goal is to try to preserve traditional styles, while at the same >time providing a way for new styles to emerge. I am all for new styles emerging and am against guidelines that are so narrow that they don't allow for a little creativity within existing styles. However, when a brewer makes a 17 Lovibond beer that clearly tastes of dark roasted malt, they should NOT call is an ESB. I think what's at issue here is misuse of titles, not the squelching of creativity. I think Charlie Papazian does it right: when he brews a 1.100 OG beer with smoked malt and a spicy Belgian yeast, he calls it a Belgian Rauch Barleywine... he doesn't simply call it a Barleywine. What's wrong with that? If someone indeed comes up with a unique style, say a malted spelt beer, spiced with mint, with maple syrup added to the fermenter, then naming is up for grabs... if it were me, I'd invent a new name for the style, like Palosian Ale. Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korz at xnet.com My new website (still under construction, but up-and-running): http://www.brewinfo.com/brewinfo/ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 16:01:17 -0500 From: Tom Gaskell <gaskell at borg.com> Subject: Stein Bier - THE Reference Folks, there is a lot of speculation going on regarding Stein Bier. May I humbly suggest a very credible source for the real story. To *see*, not just read about, the production of Stein Bier, get your hands on "The Beer Hunter" videotape series by The Beer Hunter (Michael Jackson). The series of three, one hour tapes was released a few years back by the Discovery Channel (who broadcast the series originally). Each episode is a half hour run time, and the series is six episodes, one each in a region or country famous for beer. The German episode includes a visit to Bavaria, and one of the breweries visited is one that produces Stein Bier. Mr. Jackson shows the parts of the process which differ from normal brewing, mainly the use of the stones, and the tasting. 8^) The stones are obtained locally (from the fields surrounding the brewery), and are of volcanic origin. In the video, they do not look bubbly like cinders or gas grill stones, and not crystalline like granite, but look to be just heavy, ordinary, light gray rocks. As I recall, the type of stone is mentioned in the video. I suggest that you use the type of stone specified in the video, since explosion seems like a very real possibility. In fact, the stones are placed in a basket (which looks as if it is made from wrought iron bar), heated to white hot over an open fire, raised by a gantry hoist then lowered into the near-boiling wort. The addition of the rocks to the wort causes an instantaneous and vigorous boil. Once the boiled wort is emptied from the kettle, the black, caramel covered stones are removed, still in the basket, then placed by hand into the bottom of a fermenter (through a manway), and the beer is run in to the tank for lagering. I have seen the tapes, but have forgotten most of the details (it has been a few months since I watched the series). I cannot the brewery, town, etc. Check around locally to track down a copy of the videos. Try homebrew clubs, video rental joints, and homebrew supply shops. Cheers, Tom Gaskell Still lurking after all these years... Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 16:10:20 -0500 From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at rohmhaas.com> Subject: O2 diffusion and airlocks Steve Alexander and I have been exchanging email about the best-of-all-possible airlocks. Steve and I agree that an airlock design with a narrow cross section and long diffusion path are better than a short, wide one for minimizing O2 diffusion. Probably the best way to choose a fluid to fill the airlock is to look at O2 diffusion rates. It turns out water isn't a bad choice: solvent O2 diffusion rate temp degrees C cyclohexane 5.31 30 CCl4 3.71 25 EtOH 2.64 30 water 1.86, 2.08 18, 25 The admitted limited data suggest that polar liquids minimize diffusion of (very non-polar) O2. I found references that suggest you can decrease the O2 diffusion rate through water by adding salt (increase polarity), or increase it by adding soluble organics (decrease polarity). I found references that suggest that all else being equal, high viscosity will decrease diffusion rates. Glycerine is very polar (like water and ethanol) with the added advantage of being pretty viscous, and as such might make a good choice (but I can't find diffusion data to prove/disprove this). Steve and I disagree about whether diffusion is important during active fermentation when bubbling is going on. I maintain that as long as the gas flow out due to bubbling is fast relative to the rate of O2 diffusion in, O2 concentration inside will be essentially nil. O2 will constantly diffuse in across the concentration gradient in the airlock - it's just that when it gets inside, it's in a volume of gas that's in the process of leaving the carboy. Only when diffusion is faster than bubbling does the entering gas have a chance to build up. I've got a lot of experience storing *profoundly* air-sensitive compounds under a slight overpressure of heavier-than-air inert gases for long periods with no adverse effects. Basically, you fit the flask with a two hole stopper, put an airlock in one hole and a tube bleeding in inert gas in the other. The trickle of gas sweeps out the O2 that is diffusing in through the air lock and around the stopper rim. You only need a few bubbles per minute to keep the flask inert indefinitely, and believe me, you'd know it if any O2 got in. (In these systems, we usually use mineral oil or mercury to fill the airlock, since the compounds are also sensitive to water). An analogous system with a slight bleed of CO2 could easily keep a carboy of beer free from adventitous oxygen during storage once active fermentation was over. - --- Dave Whitman dwhitman at rohmhaas.com "Opinions expressed are those of the author, and not Rohm and Haas Company" Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 16:04:05 -0500 From: Greg_Young at saunderscollege.com (Greg Young) Subject: HSA issues... Greetings, all. I know that this issue may have come up in the past, but I wasn't about to search through the 569 posts that came up when I did a search (I got fed up with my sluggish modem after about 100). So, onto the dirt. In my last few batches I've been giving a lot of thought to HSA during the transfer of my mash from the mash tun to the lauter tun and during sparging, and I'm interested to know if my worries are warranted. From what I understand, most breweries pump the mash from the mash tun to the lauter tun (which I would think would cause some sloshing and therefore HSA) *AND* apply the sparge water to the mash using either a "trickle" method (much like the ever-popular rotating sparge arm) or a spray nozzle. I would tend to think that since both of these 'trickle' methods are reducing the water into many small particles (especially in the case of spraying), you are in turn largely *increasing* the surface area of the sparge water, thereby optimizing aeration. If I'm wrong here, well.....well then good for all of us--one less thing to worry about. If I'm right, then what's the straight dope? Is it the case that at these temperatures, HSA isn't as great as a concern as I think? Do I need to be ever-so-gentle when transferring my mash to my lauter tun? Is batch sparging the way of the future? Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope. (Or Al....or George....) Greg Young G.Young's Basement Brewery greg_young at saunderscollege.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 16:20:13 -0500 From: rtisdale at entomology.msstate.edu (Bob Tisdale) Subject: Belgium White Beer Recipe I call this "off white" because of the use of brown sugar anf the high O.G., both of which are not to style. This beer tasted great after only two weeks in the bottle. It took a long time to ferment out because of the High O.G. and the high alcohol tolerance of the yeast. Bad Bob's Off White Beer 6.6 lbs Muntons Wheat LME 1 lb Laeglander Extra Light DME 1 lb Wheat malt 1 lb Cara Pils 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar 2 oz Hallertau Hops at 3.2%AA (boil) 1 oz Saaz Hops at 3.6%AA (finish) 1 tsp Corriander (finish) 18 grams Dried Naval Orange Peel (the peel from 1 medium sized orange) (finish) 1 tbl Gypsum 1/8 tsp Irish Moss Wyeast Belgium White Beer Yeast Put the grains in 3 qts water, bring to a boil, and steep for one hour. Sparge the grains in enough water to bring total volume to 2.5 gallons. Add gypsum, malt, and sugar and boil for 15 minutes. Add hops and boil for 1 hour. Add Irish Moss last 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add finish hops, corriander, orange peel, and let stand for 10 minutes. Pour wort over a layer of ice in fermenting bucket (cooling technique is optional). Bring volume to 5 gals. Corriander and orange peel are left in the wort during primary fermentation. Pitched yeast at 70 F. O. G. 1.052 F. G. 1.012 % OH v/v = 5.25 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 17:34:41 -0500 From: ejb11 at psu.edu (Edward J. Basgall) Subject: filter sizes >Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 18:08:24 -0600 (MDT) >From: Ian Smith <rela!isrs at netcom.com> >Subject: filtering beer - what micron size?> >I have converted to kegging and wondered if my beer would taste >"crisper/cleaner" if I filtered. I know if I filter too fine I will lose a >minimum effect on) the beer taste ? >Cheers >Ian Smith >isrs at rela.uucp.netcom.com Hi Ian, Yeast are about 7 um in size, so a 5 um filter should hold em back. On the other hand, if you have a bacterial infection in your beer, you need to get down to about .2 um. cheers ed basgall SCUM State Colelge Underground Maltsters Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 16:13:10 EST From: "Curt Speaker" <speaker at safety-1.safety.psu.edu> Subject: in further defense of extract brewing Just had to add my $.02: As Al K pointed out, some fine beers can be made from extract. I switched over to all-grain brewing about 2 years ago, and while I will probably always brew that way (or partial mashes for my big beers), it is possible to brew extract beers that will win competitions. I have two first place ribbons on my barroom wall to attest to this: one for an American Premium lager and one for a Rasberry Wheat beer, both made from extract (Alexanders, BTW). There are many things that you can do to make your extract beers better, and they have been enumerated here many times. But at the risk of boring some folks, here is a short list of ways to improve your extract beer. 1. Full volume boiling - try to boil all 5 gallons of liquid; it will result in less carmalization of malt sugars, better hop utilization and better break formation. 2. Chill your wort quickly - less chance for infection, funky flavors, etc. - and a necessity if you do #1. 3. Use the lightest extract possible - Alexanders is always my choice; it is pale, light in flavor and widely available. 4. Add your own hops - avoid pre-hopped syrups...most of the flavor and aroma disappears during the boil. 5. Aerate your cooled wort - yeasties need O2 during the first day of their life. 6. If you use liquid yeast, make a starter. The bigger, the better. 7. If you use dry yeast, rehydrate it for 15 minutes in warm water before you pitch it. 8. Use specialty grains to give your beer additional flavor - but steep them at 150-160F, do not boil them. 9. Get your beer off the trub as soon as possible (especially important for lighter beers). 10. The importance of good sanitation cannot be overstated...if it is going to touch your beer, make sure that it is clean! This list could go on much longer, but these are some basics that can improve your beer from "drinkable" to "boy - this is really good!" Prost! Curt Curt Speaker Biosafety Officer Penn State University Environmental Health and Safety speaker at ehs.psu.edu http://www.ehs.psu.edu ^...^ (O_O) =(Y)= """ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 17:01:00 -0500 From: James.S.Keller.12 at nd.edu (James Keller) Subject: Water analysis Trent Neutgens (tneutgen at isd.net) from Chaska, MN delivered his water analysis in HBD#2538. We have nearly the same water profile (South Bend, IN) and it drove me to bottled water until I started looking into the profiles of *traditional* brewing regions. My preferences tend toward British classics (bitters, IPAs, Old ales, etc.) and *our* water can be relatively easily doctored to make a good match. I typically use quite a bit of gypsum to enhance the sulfate concentration (my tap water comes in between 50 and 80 mg/l and I have been known to boost that to between 300 and 500 mg/l). Although you can boil your tap water to precipitate CaCO3 and then add gypsum (CaSO3), the resulting carbonate levels are *still* nearly two to three times the suggested water profile (Foster, Pale Ales). Instead, I add 1 tsp of gypsum to four gallons of water *before* boiling to drive the precipitation further (assume approx 40 mg/l residual Ca+ after boiling). Then, after cooling overnight and racking off the solids, I add between 1-1/2 to 2 tsp of gypsum and one or two gallons of distilled water. This final dilution is probably not necessary, but brings my magnesium, sodium, and chloride levels close to an idealized profile. Note two things...I rely on brewing authorities like Foster to suggest an appropriate profile. We know that Burton water was (is) exceptionally hard and full of minerals, but we do not always know what *treatments* the Burton brewers applied before its use. Second, you can achieve very good profiles without exhausting the chemical stockroom if you are willing to work a little with what you have got. For example, I make a perfectly acceptable London water profile (English ales) by merely diluting my tap water 1:1 with distilled and adding a pinch of sea salt (NaCl). [Sometimes I boil to remove chlorine (but do not worry about promptly racking the water off the solids), sometimes, I just "mix-em" up and let the water sit for a few days in an open container.] Having said all that, I certainly appreciate the know-how of A. J. deLange and his ilk who can whip-up a batch of virtually any brewing water with distilled water and a wonderous assortment of salt additions, all the while keeping track of the pH, surface tension, and conductivity. I just try to keep my additions simple and noticeable (my palate can really sense the affect of sulfate in the expression of the hops and chloride in the mouthfeel of my beers). Of course, having read AJD's response to your post, I will *have* to recheck the iron levels in my water and my tasting notes. Damn those scientific types! :^) Cheers, Jamie in South Bend Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 17:04:08 -0500 From: James.S.Keller.12 at nd.edu (James Keller) Subject: IPA recipe Trent (tneutgen at isd.net) also wanted to know a good IPA recipe for a full mash. My favorite IPA recipe is stolen and (only moderately adapted) from Dave Brockington's Sister Star of the Sun. I have been making minor (and probably insignificant) refinements for the past two years. For 5 gallons 10.5 # English Pale (Hugh Baird if possible) 0.25# Crystal 120 0.25# Wheat (head retention) 0.50# Munich (nice touch) 1.00 oz EKGoldings (First Wort hopped...I like it!) 1.75 oz Chinook at 60 minutes (AA 10.4%) 1.00 oz Cascade at 30 minutes (AA 6.2%) 1.00 oz Cascade dry-hop in secondary Wyeast 1028 (London) Dough-in all grains with 7 qts water; acid rest at 104F for 20 minutes. [Alternatively, add some or all crystal at mash-out for much bigger crystal affect.] Single-step infusion of boiling water and hold at 151F for 90 minutes. Withdraw and boil enough liquor to achieve mash-out at 168F (10 min). Recirculate and sparge into kettle with EKGoldings. Boil for 10-15 minutes to achieve hot break. Begin 1 hour countdown with listed hop additions. Add rehydrated Irish Moss at 15 minute mark and cool with chiller. Original gravity 1.060. Aerate, pitch yeast and ferment at 65F. Transfer to secondary on fourth day. Dry-hop for at least a week. Final gravity 1.012. Calculated IBU (Tinseth): 60. Note: my boil is rather concentrated (smallish pot). Hops additions may need to be reduced for full wort boil. Cheers- Jamie in South Bend Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 19:59:59 +0000 From: Rick Gontarek <gontarek at voicenet.com> Subject: Cranberry beer/style question Hi Everyone, I would like to brew a cranberry ale this year for the holidays. I have looked at the Cat's Meow as well as other sources, and I've seen recipes that use either fresh (or frozen) pureed cranberries or cranberry juice concentrate. Using the juice concentrate seems to be against my better judgement because of the sugar. But cranberries are also chock full o' pectin, so if I use whole berries and add them to the hot wort, I run the risk of pectin haze (I could always add pectin enzyme). Unfortunately, most of the recipes I've seen do not provide detailed tasting notes. If anyone has made a good cranberry beer that has a noticeable cranberry flavor, I'd love to hear from you. Any advice is welcome. Also, I recently made a "Multi-grain Harvest Brew" which used several different types of barley malt, rye malt, and wheat malt. The beer has medium hop bitterness, and a nice deep amber color. It was fermented with Wyeast 2112 California Common yeast, so it is rather clean tasting. I would like to enter this brew in a competition, but I am unsure what style to place it under. It could be an American Amber Ale. Or it could be entered as a specialty brew. Anyone have any thoughts on how to maximize the winning potential by having it placed in the proper category? Thanks for the advice, Rick Gontarek Owner/Brewmaster of The Major Groove Picobrewery Trappe, PA gontarek at voicenet.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 20:10:50 -0500 (EST) From: Some Guy <pbabcock at oeonline.com> Subject: Extract THIS! Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... Well, take this from a dyed-in-the-wool-all-grain-pico-brewer: As many know, this summer found me on exile from my Pico in Sunny, Scenic Edison New Jersey. Undaunted, I set about brewing extract batches under the thin guise of teaching about fifteen others how to brew. Since investing in all the doodads that make up a proper all-grain brewery was beyond the scope of our interest, we brewed from extracts - both dried and liquid; kits and unhopped; straight-extract and partial mash; etc and etc. Amonst these brews lurks about the damned-finest American wheat I've ever brewed - bar none! As much care and attention went into the design of these brews as with any of my all-grain batches and, instead of selecting grains (about which much is know) and mash schedules to create a particular flavor/body profile, extracts were selected for the same. To tell you the truth, I found it more challenging to select the appropriate extracts to create the desired balance between the two than I ever found the grain/schedule selection to be! So, to you careful, artistic extract brewers, I tip my hat. And any of the sneering all-grain types who look down their schnozolas at you really don't have a clue, do they? And they probably will never get one. Don't bristle and grouse at them; nay! Pity them. They, like me, are mere slaves to their mashtuns... See ya! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at oeonline.com Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org Harvest THESE: rhundt at fcc.gov jQuello at fcc.gov sness at fcc.gov rchong at fcc.gov Return to table of contents
Date: 27 Oct 97 18:35:37 MST (Mon) From: rcd at raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn) Subject: Zymurgy special issues If anybody really cares, here's how the _Zymurgy_ special-issue prices have gone, for all the years they've appeared... Year Reg Issue Special Issue 1981 $2.00-3.00 Free (reg price changed during year) 1985 $3.50 $7.50 1986 $3.50 $3.50 1987 $3.50 $7.50 1988 $4.00 $7.50 1989 $4.00 $7.50 1990 $4.00 $7.50 1991 $5.00 $8.50 1992 $5.00 $9.50 1993 $6.00 $9.50 1994 $6.00 $9.50 1995 $6.00 $9.50 1996 $6.50 $9.95 1997 $6.50 $9.95 Now the AHA boosters and the AHA detractors and Sturman can go debate the deep significance of these numbers (but hopefully not here on the HBD:-). - --- Dick Dunn rcd, domain talisman.com Boulder County, Colorado USA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 18:02:03 -0500 From: KROONEY at genre.com Subject: Aeration while racking to secondary? I'm making a cranberry ale which calls for adding 6 lbs of crushed (pasteurized) cranberries to the secondary, then racking the ale to it after 5 - 7 days in the primary. Thinking it would help to continue the hearty fermentation, I let the ale splash into the carboy instead of easing it down in a tube. Now I just read a tip in a supply catalog that said to aerate vigorously during the first 12 hours, suggesting that after that you should not. Did I blow it by aerating at this stage? What will be the result? Anything I can do over the next 2 weeks in the secondary? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 23:15:42 -0600 From: stargazer at dlcwest.com Subject: Odd. . . Slightly off topic and trolling for amusement: So why is it we've cigar affectionadoes (sp?), wine connoisseurs, and beer snobs? Is this a class thing? Connoisser is actually correct; expert on/lover of taste, but doesn't quite sit as nicely as beer snob. - -- - ----- If I had a neat and nifty saying, it would go here. mailto:stargazer at dlcwest.com L^3 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 11:09:59 +0100 From: Fredrik.Stahl at math.umu.se (Fredrik Staahl) Subject: Irish Dry Stout pt. 1 Vince Mitchell wants to clone Murphy's Irish Stout: >Hello to all! It has been a long long time since my last post. I am >curious if any of the Stout Guru's here has a recipe (preferably >extract/partial-mash) that resembles or possibly clones Murphy's Irish >Stout? Any info would be fantastic!! E-mail works for me! Before brewing a Guinness clone this weekend, I decided to review the references I have to the three commercial examples (Guinness, Beamish and Murphy's), see part 2 below. Maybe I'm being a bit overzealous with all the references, but I grew tired of not remembering where I read this and that. Comments are welcome. Here is the recipe: ======================================================================== Name: Black Hole Stout Volume: 25 l OG: 41 Oe (points) Mash Efficiency: 91% Grains: Pale ale malt (Maris Otter) 2.7 kg Roasted barley 500 g (on the high side, but I wanted to try a little more this time) Flaked barley 800 g Salts: some CaCO3 added (I don't remember the exact amount), and 1 g NaCl. Mash schedule: - Mash in at 40 C, glucanase rest for 15 min. (Not essential but I like it.) - Hot water infusion to 56 C, protein rest for 20 min. (Might be skipped but I wanted to see if it made the head even better. Clarity is not an issue for me in a beer this black.) - Heat to 64.5 C, rest 70 min. (A low temp rest in favour of a highly fermentable wort.) - Heat to 71 C, rest 15 min. (Probably not necessary but why not I thought - I was having lunch at the time so I didn't feel like sparging too soon :-) - Heat to 77 C, mash out for 15 min. Hops: 43 g Bullion, unfortunately pellets (they don't separate very well in my boiler). I added the hops when I had lautered 2/3 of the wort, i.e. first wort hopping. See the references in part 2. Yeast: Wyeast #1084 Irish, reused from a previous batch. Even if 1084 isn't very attenuative, I think it will get the SG down quite a bit since the large amount of reused yeast is very healthy. (By contrast to the previous batch, an old Peculier clone which I wanted to be low attenuated with more esters.) Fermentation: Planned 1 week in primary and 2 weeks in secondary. The only thing I'm worried about is that the vigourous fermentation increased the temperature to 21.5 C, which may result in a little more fruitiness than I was aiming for. (Guinness' yeast ferment at 25 C, but that probably gives too much esters with most other yeasts.) ======================================================================== As for Murphy's, I would lower the OG, IBU and roasted grains a bit, and probably replace some of the roasted barley with chocolate malt to make it a bit smoother. I think the attenuation is even more important, so use a high pitching rate with an attenuative yeast, aerate sufficiently, and try to make the wort as fermentable as possible. This is harder if you are using extracts, but try to use one of the more fermentable extracts out there. You could use a bit of sugar, but I don't recommend it since you still want the beer to be very malty. Another problem with extracts is that you will not get as good a head as with all grain since including flaked barley requires mashing, and even if you do a partial mash you will have to include a fair amount of pale malt to provide the enzymes. I cannot detect any aroma or flavour hops in Murphy's, so I would use one addition of Target at the start of the boil only. For Beamish I have had good result replacing half of the roasted barley with chocolate malt and all the flaked barley with wheat malt. The result was a little bit thinner than when using flaked barley, so maybe one could keep a little of the flaked barley, or perhaps use wheat flakes instead of wheat malt. I used Northern Brewer and Goldings for bittering and Goldings for aroma, which was close but not exactly right. I now feel that a combination of Challenger and Goldings might do it. (I really love the aroma of Challenger!) Longing for a stout in the cold northern Sweden, Fredrik.Stahl at math.umu.se Return to table of contents
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