HOMEBREW Digest #3461 Wed 25 October 2000

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  The Headless Weizen Strikes Again ("David G. Humes")
  Graham Sanders Alert (Scott Morgan - Sun On-Line Telesales Representative)
  Mexican beer (TOLLEY Matthew)
  Re: Water Flouridation (Epic8383)
  Ferment temps (Chris Cooper)
  Ball Valve (Jim & Patti Hust)
  Spirit of Belgium III (Anderson Andy W NSSC)
  Question... ("Drew Avis")
  Re: Rice Beer (Jeff Renner)
  Sake help (John Baxter Biggins)
  Cider ("Dave Hinrichs")
  lager pitching temps / decoctions ("George de Piro")
  Re: Pitch Temp for Lagers ("Thomasson, John W")
  Chiler cleaning, storing malt (Dave Burley)
  electrolytic corrosion? / copper chiller ("larry maxwell")
  Wyeast 3068 Questions (WallyBrau)
  Venture into the unknown and turned sour. ("Leland Heaton")
  2 Recent Topics x My 2 Cents= 4 cents worth of opinion (Althelion)
  FW: I'm brewin' in the seven-ties... (TOLLEY Matthew)
  sake digest s^bscribe (Jim Liddil)
  Thanks a million Thanks (Ralph Link)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:42:13 -0400 From: "David G. Humes" <humesdg1 at earthlink.net> Subject: The Headless Weizen Strikes Again Greetings, Actually, I have never been too impressed with the head on my wheat beers, but it seems to be getting worse. Note that none of the other styles I brew have this problem. So, I have to believe it is related to ingredients or procedure and I'm leaning towards the latter. Here are the ingredients and specs: Ingredients for 11 gal Bavarian Hefeweizen: 11.5 lb Weissheimer Wheat Malt 6.5 lb Weisheimer Pilsner Malt 2.0 lb Weyerman Dark Munich 53 g 5.1 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfruh for 110 min White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast 1.056 OG 1.012 FG 17.3 IBU Procedure: 1. 5 days before brew day prepare a 1.050 1.5L starter. 2. Allow starter to ferment out and refrigerate to drop yeast. 3. On the morning of brew day, siphon off spent beer from starter and top off with 500mL fresh 1.050 oxygenated wort. 4. Dough in at 113F (45C) and hold for 30 min. (combined beta-glucan and ferulic acid rest) 5. Raise in 10 min to 131F (55C) and hold for 15 min. (proteinase rest) 6. Raise in 15 min to 154F (68C) and hold for 60 min. (saccharification) 7. Recirc for 30 min while raising to 165F (74C) 8. Runoff and sparge for 60 min. 9. Boil 120 min. 10. CF chill to 70F, oxygenate with pure O2, and pitch yeast. 11. Ferment at 70F. A couple notes: 1. I've tried fermenting cooler (65F) but did not get enough banana, so I've moved the fermentation temp up in search of more banana notes. 2. I've also used cooler saccharification temps, but have been trying to achieve more body. 3. Beers made with this procedure taste pretty good, but are quite lacking in mouthfeel/body and heading. 4. I use a high quality dial thermometer for the mash that has been calibrated. 5. Since I generally do not use lower temperature rests except when brewing with wheat, I suspect the next thing to try is to eliminate one or both of these rests and just do a straight single infusion mash. Any suggestions will be glady accepted. - --Dave Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 17:06:36 +1100 (EST) From: Scott Morgan - Sun On-Line Telesales Representative <Scott.Morgan at aus.sun.com> Subject: Graham Sanders Alert LADIES AND GENTS... (YES I KNOW AT LEAST THERE ARE MORE THAN 2 OF YOU OUT THERE..) This is not an announcement of a pending Graham Sanders onslaught. Lucky us. Graham has asked me to advise that unfortunately he has been cut down in his prime by his ISP going belly up. He is unable access any of his mail or digests and is unable to post to the HBD thru his work account. (i can hear Pat's shouts for joy already) Therefore if you have sent him any mail during the course of the last few days, then it has all been naught. For private correspondance pls mail Graham directly too; GrahamS at bsa.qld.gov.au Now I figure that Graham would love to hear from everyone on the HBD personally. As well, this window of oppurtunity is perfect for those of you out there that are real fans of Graham to say whatever you like before he an get back onto the HBD and maul you like the best potato cod could! Scotty Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 15:12:07 +1000 From: TOLLEY Matthew <matthew.tolley at atsic.gov.au> Subject: Mexican beer Been thinking about using Mexican ingredients in brewing. A chipotle and lime lager, perhaps? Any suggestions/precautions when brewing with chiles? What about Iberra chocolate to give a cinnamon flavour to a stout or dark ale? Anybody used fresh coriander/cilantro in a brew? Read about 'corny' lagers recently - anybody tried using hominy in beer? What about 'fortifying' a brew with tequila? Dry-chipping with mesquite? Just brainstorming at the moment, but I know some wacko out there has probably done all these and more :) Cheers ...Matt... Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 04:15:07 EDT From: Epic8383 at aol.com Subject: Re: Water Flouridation The most intelligent discussion on water flouridation that I ever heard was in 'Dr. Strangelove'... In the Purity Of Essence of our natural bodily fluids, Gus Rappold Massapequa, NY P.S. Anybody get any info on my Q about the phosphate compounds added to my water? Someone else I asked suggested that I not worry about it, as malt contains phosphates as well. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 09:16:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cooper <ccooper at a2607cc.msr.hp.com> Subject: Ferment temps Greetings all! Just a quick question to the digest, yesterday I mentioned starting a couple of batches of cyser and mead and that got me to thinking. Much discussion has been had as to the proper fermentation temperatures for ales and lagers but what about meads, cyser's, hard cider, etc. Should the fermentation temp be matched to the type of yeast used? I used an ale yeast on my cyser and have it a room temperature but would a cooler ferment make a difference? In general do all of you mead makers out there ferment warm, cool, ???? One other question, has anyone made a mead using a lager yeast and a cool ferment regimen ? While I'm here, a quick update on the wyeast #1338 pitchable tube use. Started in a 1.040 starter noon Sunday Pitched to 1.098 cyser wort 6:00 pm Sunday (slight activity in starter) Checked Monday at 7:00 am, positive pressure in air-lock minimal activity Checked Monday at 7:00 pm, 2" krausen on top Checked Tuesday at 7:00 am, steady activity, 3" krausen The krausen is a thing of beauty, "IT LIVES!!!" now I remember why I love fermenting in glass, even with all the impending dangers of handling. Well two posts in two days, I had better get back to work!!!! Chris Cooper, Pine Haven Brewing (aka. Debbi's Kitchen) Commerce, Michigan Member, Ann Arbor Brewer's Guild (Approximately 25 miles from 0.0 Renerian) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 07:45:08 -0500 From: Jim & Patti Hust <ph01731 at navix.net> Subject: Ball Valve I just bought a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler to use as my combination mash/lauter tun. I need to replace the push-button outlet with a plastic ball valve. I have found plenty of them, but none with a bulkhead fitting. In other words, how do I get it affixed through the sides of the cooler? Does anyone make this simple thing commercially? In addition, if I buy a false bottom for it, will I need a pick-up tube, and if so, how will it connect? Thanx for the help. Jim Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 09:07:14 -0400 From: Anderson Andy W NSSC <AndersonRW at NAVSEA.NAVY.MIL> Subject: Spirit of Belgium III Hi, Just a quick note to remind people of the upcoming Spirit of Belgium III. It will be held on January 13-14, 2001 (Martin Luthor King holiday weekend) in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. This is a celebration of Belgian and Belgian-style beers which will feature multiple speakers, two separate beer tastings, a Belgian-style homebrew contest, and a Belgian banquet with Michael Jackson as the keynote speaker. This non-profit event is being hosted by BURP (Brewers United for Real Potables), the largest homebrew club in the DC area. Our web page describing the event has a lot more content than a couple of months ago, so if you haven't checked it out recently, you might be in for a surprise. It's at http://www.burp.org/SoB2001/ Tickets will start going on sale on November 1, 2000. We will also be sending out a mailing package for people who want to learn more about the festival, as well as regular electronic updates. You can sign up for more electronic information simply by sending an email to kepler at burp.org with a message stating: Your Name & Your Email Address. Or, send me your snail-mail address & I'll make certain that you are added to the paper mailing list. Prost, Andy Anderson Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 13:44:24 GMT From: "Drew Avis" <andrew_avis at hotmail.com> Subject: Question... I'm brewing a beer using the Swedish Porter yeast, so I thought I'd label the carboy using ancient Viking lettering. Is my beer runed? - Drew _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 11:11:08 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: Rice Beer "Mike Pensinger" <beermkr at verizon.net> writes >Well I am going to embark on the quest for a rice beer that is drinkable. >My plan involves some 6 row and some rice and some mild hopping levels. > >What do you all think about using the boiled rice to bring the mash to >saccarification temps? I was planning to dough in at about 122 dF and let >thet rest for 20 minutes and add the hot rice to bring the mash to 149 dF or >so. I have to work out the exect temps to hit my marks but had a couple >questions, the first being has anyone else done this. If you check the archives and/or my article on Classic American Pilsners (CAPs) in the Sept/Oct Zymurgy, you will find some specifics on this. This is called the American cereal mash method, and was devised by brewers more than a century to work with American high protein malts. My current favorite method is to add the boiled cereal mash (see below) to the main mash which has been resting at around 119F. This seems to be low enough to avoid excessive protein degradation. The addition of the cereal mash alone will not get you to saccharification temperatures unless you are using a large amount of cereal adjunct (like 35%+ I would guess), you you may need to add boiling water or heat. I like a saccharification temperature of 148F for a crisp, well attenuated beer, or higher for a less attenuated one. More attenuated seems appropriate for a rice lager. > >The second has to do with the rice. Should I run it through my mill or >leave it whole. Also should I boil some grain with it? I seem to remember >reading something like that in cereal mashes. Short or medium grain rice is best for brewing. Grind it to break it up into grits the size of very coarse sand. Mash it with 1/3 malt at ~153F for 20-30 minutes, then bring it to a boil for 20-30 minutes. Old texts say it is best to actually have a very tiny bit of hard rice in the center for ease of lautering, but I've never worried about it. Then add this to the main mash. If you wanted to, you could skip all this and use flaked rice and a single step infusion mash, but it isn't nearly as much fun. Jeff - -- -=-=-=-=- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 11:37:31 -0400 From: John Baxter Biggins <jbbiggin at med.cornell.edu> Subject: Sake help By mistake, I just deleted the HBD w/ the moderator for the sake digest's post. If poss, can anyone please forward to me that post and/or give me the info on how to sign up for the sake digest?? Thanks. Go Yanks! - -- John B. Biggins Cornell University Medical College Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences Student -- Program in Pharmacology Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Laboratory for Biosynthetic Chemistry Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics lab:(212)693-6405 fax:(212)717-3135 http://www.ski.edu/lab_homepage.cfm?lab=189 "Science, like Nature, must also be tamed With a view towards its preservation. Given the same state of integrity It will surely serve us well." -- Neil Peart; Natural Science (III) -- Permanent Waves Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 10:47:30 -0500 From: "Dave Hinrichs" <dhinrichs at quannon.com> Subject: Cider I want to make some cider the only source I have for tasty cider is labelled as having .01% sodium Benzoate as a preservative. My question is, is this ok to try and ferment or will the sodium benzoate just kill my yeast. ******************************************************* * Dave Hinrichs E-Mail: dhinrichs at quannon.com * * Quannon CAD Systems, Inc. Voice: (952) 935-3367 * * 6101 Baker Road, Suite 204 FAX: (952) 935-0409 * * Minnetonka, MN 55345 * * http://www.quannon.com/ * ******************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 12:12:30 -0400 From: "George de Piro" <gdepiro at mindspring.com> Subject: lager pitching temps / decoctions Hi all, Jeff and Mike wrote a bit about pitching lagers at temperatures higher than that desired for fermentation. Mike observed that beers he has tasted brewed in this manner are not very lager-like. The reasons for this were not explicitly mentioned in his post, but were touched upon. When yeast are pitched warm, the rate of growth will be higher than when they are pitched cool. One of the only times the word "always" can be used in brewing is here: faster yeast growth always leads to an increase in fusel alcohol production. All beers have some fusels, but the amounts that are appropriate vary from style to style and personal taste. Well-brewed lagers have fewer fusels than ales, so you should work to minimize them if you want your beer to taste like commercial examples. The lag time is often longer when you pitch cold, but this can be largely alleviated by using a large, healthy starter. Good sanitation will also help keep the beer tasting clean despite a longer lag. - ----------------------------- Steve A. writes, regarding decoction mashing: "You get most of the impact from a single decoction performed after simple sugars have formed (fm 60C to 72C for example)." As a homebrewer, I decoction mashed almost all of my brews (even did it to a stout once). I performed single, double, and triple decoctions and came to the same conclusion as Steve: one is enough. The positive flavor impact is too subtle to justify the time and energy, and all the handling of hot mash can be dangerous: you risk burning yourself and aerating the mash, both of which are bad. At the brewpub, I don't decoct anything (because the system cannot). I have adjusted recipes to compensate for this, using lots of Munich, melanoidin, and aromatic malts to give the beers a rich malt character. It seems to work pretty well. Have fun! George de Piro C.H. Evans Brewing Company at the Albany Pump Station (518)447-9000 http://evansale.com Malted Barley Appreciation Society Homebrew Club http://hbd.org/mbas Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 12:53:43 -0500 From: "Thomasson, John W" <john.w.thomasson at lmco.com> Subject: Re: Pitch Temp for Lagers First, Wayne Aldrich <Aldrich4 at surf1.de> wrote in HBD #3458: >> Hello, I'm a long time reader first time poster. >> I have had mixed success with all grain brewing for >> about a year. I usually brew ales (kolsch or hefeweizen). >> I have attempted several lagers with mixed results, >> mostly poor. My question is about starters, I always make >> up a yeast starter about 2 days before I brew. >> Since lager yeast likes cooler bottom fermenting temperatures >> should I pitch my starter at lager temps i.e. 50 deg or so? >> Thanks in advance for any responses. Then, Jeff Lewis <jlewis92 at alumni.princeton.edu> wrote in HBD #3459: > I've heard advice to pitch at warmer temps and then lower once it > gets going. In anticipation of someone suggesting this, may I throw > in a question here too? My question on this is that to the same > degree that you've allowed the yeast to "get going" at these warmer > temps, haven't you caused/encouraged the very fermentation by- > products that the lower temp is supposed to eliminate/reduce? You've made a very astute observation, Jeff. I've heard the same advice and find it less than sound. I don't have my notes handy, but about a year and a half ago I conducted an experiment of sorts where I pitched lager yeast at 70F, waited for visible signs of fermentation before placing the fermenter into a refrigerator set at 50F... with a sanitized probe thermometer submerged in the wort. I checked the wort core temperature and SG periodically/sporadically. The results were kind of interesting. As we all know, fermentation generates heat. Six hours after placing the fermenter in the fridge, the wort was actually warmer than when it was pitched, by 4F or so. The core temperature did not drop much below 60F for some 36 hours, by which time the beer had passed the halfway mark toward the expected terminal gravity. In other words, over half the fermentable sugars were fermented at temperatures above 60F. There was a lot of blow off, too. You can see a pic of the action at: http://home.flash.net/~jwtjr999/beer/blowoff3.jpg (this is NOT a dog... or maybe it is, depending on your perspective). So when all was said and done, did I have a true lager beer? Well, I had beer sure enough, but it did not taste like a lager to me. It was certainly drinkable beer, but it lacked the characteristics that define a proper lager beer, IMHO. It was not necessarily fruity; but it did have some yeast imparted flavors that I am not able to correctly identify. It just didn't have the clean, crisp flavor that I've come to appreciate in lagers. I did not collect nearly enough data points to plot temperature and SG over the duration of the ferment. Nor was I trying to prove or disprove anything. I just wanted to get a general idea of what % of the fermentables would be consumed by the time the wort core temperature reached something resembling lager fermentation temperature in wort pitched at 70F and not refrigerated until the onset of fermentation. The answer I got was about half. *TOO MUCH* is the take home message, even when allowing for a large margin of error. I think if one is going to pitch the yeast from a quart starter into 5 gallons of 1.060 lager wort, he/she is probably better off pitching warm, and waiting for fermentation to start before refrigerating. At least he/she will make beer. I would pitch the yeast solids from a 2 gallon starter or into such a wort. I'm aware that there are varying opinions on methods of aeration, but I get very good results by injecting pure oxygen using a sintered SS airstone. About 2 minutes worth for a wort like this. I don't try to get the temperature of the wort all the way down to primary fermentation temperature before pitching. I just don't think letting the wort sit unpitched for the length of time it would take is worth the risk. With my 2 stage, 50 foot immersion chiller, I can knock 10 gallons down to a little below 60F in less than 20 minutes, even in the Texas summer (with stage 1 in an ice bath, of course). After transferring to the fermenter(s), I pitch, aerate, then into the fridge it goes. By taping the temperature controller probe to the side of fermenter, the temperature of the wort is usually close to the set point by the start of fermentation, and there it stays until I decide it's time to lower it. By letting the starter ferment to completion after the last step, decanting the spent wort and waking up the yeast with a quart of fresh wort mid morning on brew day, I usually see 3-5 hour lag times for lager beers, less for ales. I don't bother propagating lager yeast at cool temperatures, but I do chill the starter and the "wake up wort" to 50F a couple of days prior to using. It's usually climbing out of the jug by the time I'm ready to pitch. One other thing I'll mention while on the subject of starters and such. I noticed a marked improvement in the quality of my starters after I started using all grain wort (reclaimed from spent hops and break material) instead of DME. I can see that it produces more yeast mass, and I'd be willing to bet that the % of viable cells is higher too. Why throw it away when you can put it to good use? FWIW, most pro lager brewers and acknowledged experts (Fix, Noonan and our own Jeff Renner, I believe) recommend pitching lagers cool. If you pitch enough healthy yeast and aerate well, there really is no need to conduct half of your fermentation at warm temperatures. Cheers! John Thomasson Aledo, Texas Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 14:18:36 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Chiler cleaning, storing malt Brewsters: I clean my chiller at the end of a run by running boiling hot water through it to bring the brew up to the correct volume and then turn off the chilling water and drain the jacket until the water coming out the end of the copper tube is very hot. Be careful not to melt the outer plastic chiller hose by continuing this too long. I've never had a problem and have been doing this for many years. I always repeat this process with boiling water before I chill the next brew. - ---------------------------------- Drew Avery asks for malt storing options. I store mine in plastic garbage cans with a tight fitting lid and other heavy plastic ware. Why? 1) helps insulate the malt from variations in humidity but 2) and most importantly it keeps mice from enjoying themselves ( and other things) in your malt. Behind some books in a bookshelf (~ 10 ft from the malt storage area) , I once found about a cup of malt that had been carried mouthful by mouthful from my grain storage cupboard. That had been extracted from a small, thin plastic box that the mouse chewed through. Why the third shelf of the bookshelf? I have no idea. So don't underestimate them. Mouse traps are a necessity around your malt. - ----------------------------------- Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 18:47:32 GMT From: "larry maxwell" <larry_maxwell at hotmail.com> Subject: electrolytic corrosion? / copper chiller Here's one for John Palmer or other metal jockey: I just bought a Chillzilla CF chiller, which, like the Maxichiller, is copper tubing inside copper tubing. It has a 1/2" NPT-male brass fitting brazed onto one end of the wort tubing that I would like to couple onto the SS pipe nipple leading from my boil kettle using a pipe union. (Space limitations prevent using a coupling.) My question is what kind of pipe union should I use to avoid electrolytic corrosion between dissimilar metals? If I were to use brass to match the chiller fitting, would brass in contact with SS promote corrosion? Would a SS union be better than a brass union or make no difference? What about a brass-iron dielectric union? (I haven't seen a brass-SS dielectric union, but if it existed I assume it would be ideal.) Would putting Teflon tape on the threads of a brass or SS union be helpful? Am I worrying about nothing? My setup is designed to remain permanently connected, so hoses and removable things are not part of the plan. I have been anal retentive about everything else in my mostly SS brewery, so I can see myself going overboard with a Teflon union or something exotic like that if it would genuinely be of value in avoiding corrosion problems. Larry Maxwell Atlanta, Georgia _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 14:54:10 EDT From: WallyBrau at aol.com Subject: Wyeast 3068 Questions I have an odd question. I brewed a 10 gallon of Wheat Beer and pitched half with Wyeast 1056 and the other half with Wyeast 3068. The 1056 batch fermented from 1.048 to 1.010 in about 4 days. After 10 days the 3068 batch has only gone from 1.048 to about 1.020. Since it is the same wort I don't think that is the problem. The temperature has been a steady 70 degrees. Additionaly the 3068 batch showed signs of fermentation after about 6 hours and after 24 hours had a large 3" foam at the top of the fermentor and bubbling like crazy. I tasted a sample and it does not taste sweet at all. Is it possible that there is so much of the 3068 yeast suspended in the beer that it is affecting my hydrometer. I have never heard of it before and am wondering it it is even possible. The yeast is very fine and powdery. Since it tastes fine, I think I will go ahead and keg it and drink it, Since I don't bottle there isn't any concern about bottle bombs. Thanks in advance for any feedback, John Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 12:46:50 PDT From: "Leland Heaton" <rlheaton at hotmail.com> Subject: Venture into the unknown and turned sour. Well, I finally did it. I got brave and moved away from my security Pale Ale and decided to try to brew a different style. A dry stout. I got the recipe from www.homebrewmart.com (no affiliations) Dry Stout 7# pale malt extract 1/4# roast barley 1/4# black paten malt 1/2# chocolate malt 1.5oz NBH boil 1oz Fuggles (aroma) White Labs Irish Ale The wort was not too bitter, and had a choclate / coffee flavor OG 1.053, I then transfered to secondary after 3 days and gravity was 1.020. Then after a week in the secondary (reading then 1.019) I racked and bottled. But the taste had definatly changed. It was now sour. I am guess this is a sanatation issue? I am usually pretty good, and was not expect this "dry stout" to go sour. The only odd thing I noticed about this fermentation is that I only lost 1/2" of trub (1/4" in both primary and secondary). Any suggestions? I am getting ready to do a belgium tripple, and am worried if maybe I have a sanatation issue (I thought I was really good as sanatization). Should I give all my equipment a good bleach soak? Thank you again for all the help Leland - ---- Thank goodness for the extract revolution, so us newbie's can move onto great extract styles. Boy I can't wait to go all-grain. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 16:47:18 EDT From: Althelion at aol.com Subject: 2 Recent Topics x My 2 Cents= 4 cents worth of opinion Greetings: Lager Pitching Temperature: I just brewed a 1.094 Dopplebock last weekend. I made a 2-quart starter two days before using a Wyeast smack pack and tube of 2206. My procedure for this and other lagers is to cool the wort as low as I can with my immersion chiller using the recently oft mentioned Detroit city water (not Stroh's, contrary to popular belief). I got it down to about 68 F in less than 15 minutes. I strained it first into a holding tank and then through a finer funnel strainer into my carboy. Pitched yeast and aerated well. Placed the carboy in the chest freezer set at 50F. I got an active fermentation in about 20 hours. Not bad for a traditionally slow starting yeast. I would rather pitch my yeast as soon as possible than risk infection by chilling for a length of time to get down to the low 50's F. If the yeast gets a little kick start at the beginning, all the better. AHA - Zymurgy: Lots of hard feelings out there, eh? I dunno, I guess I got a little weary when the personnel at the AHA started changing at a rapid clip. I used to get Brewing Techniques. I enjoyed reading it. Zymurgy is not Brewing Techniques. So fuggetaboutit. But I consistently read a good portion of the magazine. Another magazine that I get is Brew Your Own. Brew Your Own has seemed to improve since it was sold last year. The latest edition has a nice review of Belgian brewing complete with several clone recipes. One thing Brew Your Own has over Zymurgy is that it's more fun. Probably the biggest reason behind this is because Brew Your Own isn't a non-profit, quasi-political entity. It's a hobby magazine. A hobby should be about fun. The label contest Brew Your Own has every year is quite entertaining. Ultimately, neither the AHA or Zymurgy upset me because me getting upset isn't fun. Besides, I already have a job that gets me upset. No reason to be redundant. Or superfluous. Or repetitive. Cheers, Al Pearlstein Commerce Township, Michigan Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 08:14:20 +1000 From: TOLLEY Matthew <matthew.tolley at atsic.gov.au> Subject: FW: I'm brewin' in the seven-ties... Twice I've sent this now, and twice I've forgotten to get rid of the bloody non-ASCII 'half' in the recipe. Thrid time lucky! At a recent book fair, I picked up an 'Australian Home Brewing Company' catalogue from way back in 1970. The first page is filled entirely with Commonwealth law (the Beer Excise Act 1901-1966), with definitions of mead, beer, spirits, excisable wines, and so on, and warns of a $200 fine for brewing beer to more than '2% proof spirit' - anybody know when this act was changed/repealed? Even the books have a warning: "The recipes in these books are written for English conditions where the law permits unrestricted brewing at home. The unlicensed Australian brewer must adjust these recipes to comply with Australian law...penalty $200". Back in the days when crystal malt was 30c a lb, that's a fair whack of a fine! Any Aussie brewing elders have any 'it's a raid, man! Hops? Me? It's just weed, I promise, sergeant....hey, you planted that hydrometer, pig!' stories to share? :) The catalogue has a few ingredients I haven't heard of before - yeast in tablet form, 'Vierka instant hop' (a hop concentrate in dried powdered form), heading fluid, spruce extract (erk - wouldn't this make your beer taste like Pine-O-Kleen?), lauterase (for a higher yield in mashing), and speedase (removes a starch haze). Are these used by 'modern' brewers? Ah, the prices - DME was 48c per lb, or $7.50 for an 18lb bag; malted grain was 30c a lb, 45c for a 4oz pack of 'Ringwood Specials' hops, a 5 gallon fermenter was $3.25, and a bench capper was $11.95. The Aussie dollar was probably double the US back then, so halve these prices for US dollars. It has instructions for making a starter using - wait for it - sweetened orange juice. Thought maybe it was just for winemaking, but later they talk about using the same starter for 'Vinotex liquid stout yeast culture'. Anybody make an orange stout before? :) Here's a retro mead recipe for all you flower children out there (I'll spare you the little rant in the catalogue about Australian honeys making perfectly good meads, contrary to what some Pommy authors apparently said): 4 lbs yellow box honey 1/2 tsp AHB nutrient salts 1/8 tsp tannic acid 1 tsp malic acid 1 tsp tartaric acid Peel from one large orange 1 tsp AHB all purpose dried wine yeast or mead yeast Dissolve the honey in 5 pints of cool water. Slowly bring to the boil. Remove any scum which rises. Simmer gently for 10-15 mins. Allow to cool, then place in sterilized gallon jar. Peel the orange, avoiding white pith. Add peel, acids, salts and yeast when temp is 70oF. Make up to one gallon with cool boiled water. Fit airlock and allow to ferment. When completed, rack to sterilized jar and allow to stand. Bottle when clear. Mature for 12-24 months. Cheers ...Matt... Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 20:22:16 -0400 From: Jim Liddil <jliddil at vms.arizona.edu> Subject: sake digest s^bscribe After several enquires I realize I needed to post this: to s^bscribe to the sake digest send a message to: address-- To: sake-request@hbd.org message-- s^bscribe substitute a "u" for the "^". Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 21:18:24 -0500 From: Ralph Link <rlink at escape.ca> Subject: Thanks a million Thanks To the collective. I just want to say a big thanks to every one who offered a variety of great information on cleaning the Counter Flow chiller. Just when you think you know what your doing you find out you don't. All the e-mail was much alike and covered areas I never thought about. This forum really proves its' worth when you get the kind of input I received. Thanks again Return to table of contents
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