HOMEBREW Digest #3561 Tue 20 February 2001

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Re:  Pollution Concern ("Joel King")
  Re: History help (jal)
  Speckled Hen help ("Bruce Garner")
  RE: HopBack ("Scott D. Braker-Abene")
  Re: Old Speckled Hen (Jeff Renner)
  Re: bottling with LME ("Frank J. Russo")
  beer swap? (Paulfarns)
  Re: Beer in Ireland ("Darryl Newbury")
  re: coriader powder ("Joseph Marsh")
  The underattenuation blues (Paul Shick)
  Shameless Plugs ("Eric Fouch")
  Dark malts in Schwarzbier (RiedelD)
  using grape concentrate as a beer additive? ("Richard B. Dulany Jr.")
  Pollution Concern ("Bret Mayden")
  Matching Scars (Dave Burley)
  Interspousal Communication (Dave Burley)

* * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * * Bluebonnet Brew-Off Entry Deadline is 2/25/01! * http://welcome.to/bluebonnet for more information * * Drunk Monk Challenge Entry Deadline is 3/17/01! * http://www.sgu.net/ukg/dmc/ for more information * * Maltose Falcons Mayfaire Entry Deadline is 3/20/01! * http://www.maltosefalcons.com/ for more information * Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we canoot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req at hbd.org. JANITOR on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 13:48:54 -0000 From: "Joel King" <joel_d_king at hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Pollution Concern Although I only use 1/4 cup of bleach in 35 gallons of water for my bottle sanitizing soaking solution, and only change it out 2 or 3 times a year, I have resolved to have my family begin drinking the expended water to prevent just this pollution nightmare. -- Joel King -- >>Benjy Edwards writes: I urge those of you who dump your sanitizing >>agent... onto your lawn, the driveway, or some other place outdoors (even >>a storm sewer) to please consider your actions. The chemicals are toxic >>and damage the environment.... As brewers we should be mindful of our environment and the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Many environmental groups desire everyone to limit the amount of household cleaners that we dispose of in our drains, as well. Chemicals such as bleach tax our water treatment plants.<< Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 07:59:12 -0600 (CST) From: jal at novia.net Subject: Re: History help Mr. Renner responded to Mr. Bratcher's query regarding the history of APA: >I think that New Albion's pale ale from California back in the >(early?) 80's was the original, and its indirect successor, Sierra >Nevada (which I think may have had some of the same people) >popularized the style. It's now a classic imitated around the >country and, indeed, out of the country. While I haver no references at my disposal, I can correct a couple of data points here from personal experience: New Albion started business in Sonoma, CA, in the late 70s. I used to come home to Sonoma County from college ca '78, driving through the city of Sonoma to pick a case of New Albion. I don't know when New Albion shut its doors, but it wasn't too long after that. Mendocino Brewing's founders are the same people who did New Albion. I don't have the names of the individuals involved, but I believe they are still using the same yeast. As to whether New Albion Ale was an APA, I cannot say. (I couldn't have told a cascade from a cluster from an EKG in those days, and wouldn't have known a sack of Klages if it hit me over the head.) Sierra Nevada is certainly the archetype. Jim Larsen Omaha a long day's drive west of the center of the brewing universe Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 08:22:11 -0600 From: "Bruce Garner" <bpgarner at mailbag.com> Subject: Speckled Hen help Jake Asks > Can anyone help me out with a recipe for Old Speckled Hen? I found over > twenty references in the archives, but no recipes. I can't give you a recipe but Roger Protz says in The Real Ale Almanac that Old Speckled Hen has an OG of 1050, ABV 5.2%. Ingredients: Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Brewing Sugar, 32-37 units of colour. Challenger whole hops for bitterness, Goldings for aroma. 30-35 units of bitterness. The brewing sugar would be invert sugar. Hope you can work from this Bruce in Madison, WI Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 06:29:57 -0800 (PST) From: "Scott D. Braker-Abene" <skotrat at yahoo.com> Subject: RE: HopBack Hi, I recently discussed the two hopbacks made by PBS with them. I am looking to get one and wasn't sure if they made one that I wanted. They have two models. A 1.5 ounce (I think) and a 3.5 ounce hopback. If it is made anything like their MaxiChiller it is a great product (As the Maxi is far better than the inferior copies out there like the ChillZilla that Anita from Great Fermentations makes). I also like PBS for their business practices and patience when answering my sometimes drawn out and vague questions that seem to go nowhere (Jeff Renner understands this first hand...) I believe that the HopBacks from PBS are both between $75 and $100. I believe the 3.5 ouncer will be my next purchase. http://www.pbsbeer.com/pbs/hopback.html Brew on errr something fellow plaid lovers. C'ya! -Scott Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 10:22:02 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: Old Speckled Hen Jacob Jacobsen <brewer at cotse.com> asked >Can anyone help me out with a recipe for Old Speckled Hen? I found over >twenty references in the archives, but no recipes. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA, http://www.camra.org.uk/) _Real Ale Almanac_ by Roger Protz is an excellent resource for ingredients for British real ales. Unfortunately, some breweries are less forthcoming than others in revealing details about their recipes. Moreland's is one. They have shared only these details: "OG 1035, ABV 4% [which indicates a well attenuated ale, suggesting a fair proportion of brewing sugar is used], Pipkin pale malt, crystal, brewing sugar. 26-31 units of colour [no doubt EBC, which is roughly double lovibond]. Challenger for bitterness and Goldings for aroma; hop pellets./ 31-36 units of bitterness." My comments in square brackets[]. As with any attempt to clone, using the same yeast is crucial. 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: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 11:14:16 -0500 From: "Frank J. Russo" <FJRusso at coastalnet.com> Subject: Re: bottling with LME >Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 09:02:45 -0600 >From: Jeremy Lakey <Jeremy at imc2.com> >Subject: bottling with LME Jeremy, this is not a problem. I mix up 1.5 liters/quarts wort of the same OG as my brew and store in the refrigerator. Use it to prime. Frank Russo ATF HomeBrew Club New Bern NC. "There is only one aim in life and that is to live it." Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 12:02:22 EST From: Paulfarns at aol.com Subject: beer swap? Greetings all One of my malting and brewing science students has a severe craving for fondly remembered Yeungling, which is not available here in Texas. Is there anyone out there with access to this product who wants to trade some for Texas beers? Paul Farnsworth Univ Texas at San Antonio Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 12:38:34 -0500 From: "Darryl Newbury" <darryl at sagedesign.com> Subject: Re: Beer in Ireland I responded in private email to the original post, but should put my two cents in here as well, Ireland does have a small craft brewing movement. You do not have to limit yourself to the big three breweries over there, just like you dont have to limit your drinking in the US to A-B. The micro I'm most familiar with is Dublin Brewing Company. Their website, www.dublinbrewing.com, list pubs where they are available if you are travelling to Ireland. Here in Ontario, we are often able to get their bottled product at our liquor stores, probably due to the fact that their brewer once brewed for a micro here . Dublin's D'Arcy Stout is quite frankly the best dry stout I've ever tasted. Much the way that Jeff Renner's CAP towers over Budweiser, D'Arcy Stout stands far above Guinness and is likely truer to the traditional taste of a dry stout than the current versions of Guinness, Murphy's or Beamish. Fortunately, I have one bottle left for St Patricks Day. Cheers Darryl Toronto, Ontario Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 12:49:30 -0500 From: "Joseph Marsh" <josephmarsh62 at hotmail.com> Subject: re: coriader powder Hi, I've read that ground coriader gives an off flavor and a better way to use it is to just bearly crush whole seeds. The ground stuff is said to give a meaty flavor. I got this from Al Korzonis' book "Homebrewing Vol I". He is often sited in other peoples books and I've seen several prize winning recipies of his. I guess he knows his stuff. Hope this helps, Joe Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 14:59:55 -0500 From: Paul Shick <shick at jcu.edu> Subject: The underattenuation blues Hello all, I've had difficulties with underattenuation with the first three batches I've brewed since (finally) setting up the brewery at our new house. I'm pretty baffled by what's going on, and I hoped someone in the collective could suggest something I've overlooked. In all three cases, the fermentations started after quite reasonable lag times, went through very vigorous initial stages, but slowed to a halt well before all the fermentable sugars were gone. The first, 10 gallons of 1.058 OG ESB, was pitched with over a pint of slurry of Wyeast 1028 London yeast from a local brewer, well aerated with pure O_2. In a 12.2 gallon conical, it took off nicely at 72F, kept warm in my 55F basement with an electric heating pad. The fermentation was quite vigorous, getting up to 76F at one point, but stopped at 1.020, with a grist that had very little specialty malts (so not too many unfermentables.) The mash temperatures were pretty low (150F for 35 min, raised slowly to 158F at 45 min, then raised to 164F for runoff at 70 min.) The mash tun thermometer seems accurate, reading the same as the hot liquor tank and the kettle, both of which were calibrated with boiling water or wort. By the way, the fermentor temperatures were given by a liquid crystal temperature strip taped to the side of the fermentor. It agrees with the other thermometers on the ambient basement temp, so it can't be off by more than a degree or two. The two later batches were 10 gal of light cream ale (1.049 OG,) pitched with 21g of Cooper's dry yeast (for a friend's March Madness party,) and a serious IPA (1.065 OG, 100+ IBUs) on the dregs of the Cooper's yeast. My thought was to use a reliable dry yeast to be sure to get quick, thorough fermentations. Again, both fermented very strongly, but quit early: 1.018 for the cream ale and 1.022 for the IPA. And yes, before you ask, I did calibrate the hydrometer and correct for temperature when taking the SG. I'm hoping both might finish out a bit more as they sit, but the cream ale (not really a CACA) has dropped bright, so I'm not optimistic. It's possible that the IPA might be done, given that the grist was one half German Munich, but it tastes too sweet to me (even under the hop barrage.) Certainly there's no way the cream ale is done at 1.018, with almost no unfermentables. The usual culprits for underattenuation seem to be addressed: I pitched reasonable amounts of yeast, arerated thoroughly and got very good, healthy starts to the fermentation. All three were from grists which should supply plenty of FAN: all-grain, Briess two row and pale ale malts (with the IPA being roughly half German Munich.) There shouldn't be anything untoward in the water, which is Cleveland Municipal water from Lake Erie, which I used for many batches in the old house, about 1 mile away. There's no sign of contamination: the ESB tastes fine (albeit sweet, as expected) in the keg, and the CA and IPA taste clean in hydrometer samples. One possibility that crossed my mind is that I may be recirculating too much with my semi-RIMS, stripping too many lipids from the wort. Again, though, this has never been a problem with many past batches with this same system. I wondered, too, about whether or not there might be a shortage of zinc, or some other metal, that yeast need in small amounts, that would only show up toward the tail end of the ferment. To (partially) address this, I added some winemaker's yeast nutrient to the most recent batch (a Pilsner.) We'll see if this helps. If nothing else, it certainly addresses any concerns about adequate FAN. Another possibility might be CO_2 toxicity. I used an immersion chiller for all three, with the cooled wort pumped to the fermentor through the hop bed and an easymasher screen. This would get rid of most of the hot and cold break, so there might be too few nucleation sites for CO_2 to bubble out. However, I did very vigorously rouse the fermentor several times, once the gravity readings began to stick. This caused a lot of outgassing of CO_2 and should have helped with any toxicity problems. Maybe this is worth looking into, since the stainless steel fermentor might have fewer nucleation sites than carboys. This didn't seem to be a problem with past batches in the same fermentor, though. If anyone has any suggestions about what's going on, I'd be grateful (especially if your idea for the problem has an easy solution.) I'll keep an eye on the Pilsner, to see if the yeast nutrient helps, but it seems unlikely to me. In the meantime, I pose this as a nice "puzzler" for the group. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Paul Shick Basement brewing (but fermenting poorly) in Cleveland Hts, OH Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 15:22:16 -0500 From: "Eric Fouch" <airrick147 at hotmail.com> Subject: Shameless Plugs Gosh Kyle this is all so sudden! I don't know if I'm ready for a Siebel Short Course, but if you would like to defray my cost's for the BJCP exam, I would really appreciate THAT. Our club, in conjunction with some other local club(s) will be pursuing training sessions in the West Michgan area with Rex Halfpenny, then sitting for the exam, perhaps this fall. At $50 for the exam, I'll take some of the proceeds from your sales if you're offering. Fred wants to know exactly what *kind* of shameless plugs you are selling? Eric Fouch C/O Fred Garvin Bent Dick YoctoBrewery Kentwood MI Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 17:29:17 -0500 From: RiedelD at pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca Subject: Dark malts in Schwarzbier While we're on the topic of what malts to use to darken a dunkelweizen... what's the consensus on Schwarzbier? BJCP discusses "supplemented by a small amount of roasted malts for the dark color and subtle roast flavors". So how much and what variety do people tend to use. I used about 100g (4/5ths chocolate, 1/5 patent) in a 23L batch with a little (25g) of Special-B. The main grist was about 50% Munich. The flavour of the wort, post-boil, was about what I expected, but the colour was definately a little light. Not very black. More like dunkel in colour (translucent brown). Any thoughts? Dave Victoria, BC, Canada. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 16:18:50 -0700 From: "Richard B. Dulany Jr." <RDulany at co.el-paso.tx.us> Subject: using grape concentrate as a beer additive? Greetings, I recently made a batch of wine from some Alexander's Sauvignon Blanc concentrate. The grape concentrate smelled and tasted great, and I immediately thought about incorporating some into a beer (NOT mead/pyment) recipe. Could the grape concentrate could be substituted for honey in a beer recipe? The concentrate is packaged at "68 Brix". I don't know how that sugar content compares to honey. The grape concentrate would be partially reconstituted, heated to 170F for 15-20 min., then added to the wort after the boil. Has anyone ever tried this? There are no "beer+grape concentrate" recipes in HBD archives. Either no one has tried this or it's a really bad idea. One concern is that some sulfites are added to the grape concentrate, but probably not at a sufficient concentration to inhibit the yeast. I'm making that assumption because every concentrate-winemaking recipe calls for adding additional Campden tablets or similar preservative before adding the yeast. Richard Dulany Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 00:27:50 -0000 From: "Bret Mayden" <brmayden at hotmail.com> Subject: Pollution Concern Benjamin Edwards wrote: "I urge those of you who dump your sanitizing agent (whether it be iodophor, bleach, etc.) onto your lawn, the driveway, or some other place outdoors (even a storm sewer) to please consider your actions. The chemicals are toxic and damage the environment, as well as pollute groundwater. Moreover, dumping chemicals in such a way is in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. As brewers we should be mindful of our environment and the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Many environmental groups desire everyone to limit the amount of household cleaners that we dispose of in our drains, as well. Chemicals such as bleach tax our water treatment plants." I have some questions: Is it OK to dump the various sanitizers down the household drain? If not, where do we get rid of them? Where do you dispose of them? Are these chemicals specifically mentioned in the Clean Water Act as being illegal to dump outdoors? What about all the chemicals used in car wash cleaners that go down the driveway to the storm sewer? Building exterior cleaners? Vehicle windshield washer fluid? Are we actually violating the Act by washing our cars in our driveways, cleaning our wood siding, or using our windshield washers as we drive? People have been using bleach for decades in their laundry, which ends up in our water treatment plants. Are we approaching some kind of breakdown threshold where the handful (compared to hundreds of millions of launderers) of homebrewers putting bleach down the drain will trigger treatment plant failures? Bret Mayden Oklahoma City brmayden at hotmail.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 22:29:28 -0500 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Matching Scars Brewsters: For those many of you who have asked where I have gone and contacted me direct;ly I have told you my tale but some have asked me to broadcast my medical condition ( already commented on by Braam) so here goes. I am still here, just tied up with catching up and going to physical therapy. I was surprised to find that angioplasty carried out in September had not only done no good but the stents were scarring ( 15% of the cases) and I was worse off in December. Further to my surprise I had a triple by-pass on 23 December and was home for presents and Christmas dinner on Boxing Day (Dec 26). Which was when we planned to have it anyway to accomodate my son's travel schedule. I should have known I was scheduled for this as two of my three brothers have matching scars and one liked it so much he had it done a second time. Both brothers are/were skinny and one was extremely athletic and weighs what he weighed in high school. Genes will tell, I guess. Anyway, thanks for all your kind comments and prayers. Like MacArthur I shall return when I can spend more than a limited time sitting up at the computer and get caught up around the farm. I need to walk more and keep my feet elevated when I sit. Hopefully it won't be long and all the walking and in-place bike riding and checking out all those pretty re-hab nurses will do its job. Worst part of all this is I can't lift carboys for a while and I am missing the brewing weather. 65F tomorrrow so I can prune my grapes! Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 22:36:33 -0500 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Interspousal Communication Brewsters: Forgot to include this with my other note to make it beer related. Husband's note to wife: "Doctor called said Pabst Beer is normal" Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
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