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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Air in Secondary (John DeCarlo)
  Pouring Wort into Glass Carboy (John DeCarlo)
  Exploding Wyeast Pouches (John DeCarlo)
  Glass Primary Filling (Michael Zentner)
  subscription (Chuck Townsend)
  Gushers and Glass (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
  Hop Harvest (Norm Hardy)
  Re: Jalapeno Peppers (wegeng)
  Wyeast Irish ale (Russ Gelinas)
  Straining wort into a carboy (Jeff Benson)
  Bottling after a week no matter what (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))


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Date: Tuesday, 14 Aug 1990 08:29:28 EST
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Air in Secondary

>Date: Fri Aug 10 13:29:48 1990
>From: semantic!bob at uunet.UU.NET
>
>I always rack my beer after the primary ferment, off of the
>settled yeast.  I find this improves the clearness and (I think)
>the flavor of my beer.  This allows more yeast and stuff to
>settle out and I end up with less in my bottles, which I think
>helps the resulting beer flavor.
>
>So my problem is this:  When a rack over my beer I end up with
>about a gallon of new air inside the carboy with my beer.  I
>believe this allow oxygen to difuse into my beer, oxidize it,
>and create a slightly sour taste.

Well, this may sound overly simple, but I do my primary
fermentation in a 7 gallon carboy, then rack into a 5 gallon
carboy for secondary fermentation.  This results in a practically
full secondary, which hopefully bubbles up enough CO2 quickly
enough to push out any remaining air.

ARPANET:  M14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (or M14051%mwvm at mitre.arpa)
Usenet:    at ... at !uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
Fidonet:  1:109/131

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Date: Tuesday, 14 Aug 1990 08:30:15 EST
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Pouring Wort into Glass Carboy

>A question for those of you using glass primary fermentors - How
>do you get five gallons of hops-filled wort strained and inside
>a glass carboy without making a HUGE mess?  I thought of a big
>funnel, but it seems like once the hops started collecting in
>the strainer section the flow rate would be too slow.  Please to
>enlighten me!
>
>Ken Weiss
>cckweiss at castor.ucdavis.edu

Well, I just got a fairly large funnel with a strainer in the
middle, from my local homebrew supply store.

What happens, especially with leaf hops, is that I have to pour
in stages, dumping the accumulated hops out of the funnel when
they clog up the works.

With two people involved, I use the spoon that was just stirring
the wort to stir the hops around and it takes a lot longer for
this to clog up.

Interestingly, the last batch I made I ended up putting ice in
the funnel and pouring the wort on top of this, and the clogging
from the hops was much less, presumably because they weren't all
just sticking to the flat strainer portion.

ARPANET:  M14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (or M14051%mwvm at mitre.arpa)
Usenet:    at ... at !uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
Fidonet:  1:109/131

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Date: Tuesday, 14 Aug 1990 08:31:03 EST
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Exploding Wyeast Pouches

>From: "Sparky" <sslade at ucsd.edu> (Steve Slade)
>
>A question for the readership:  Was the exploding Wyeast problem
>ever resolved?  Is there a consensus on how long one can safely
>wait with a fully puffed pouch before it will explode?

I just bought some on a trip to Houston three weeks ago and used
it already.  The consensus at the store (near Rice, but I forget
the name), was that the problem had been fixed, but there were
still lots of the other kind on the market, and even in their
store.  I bought two, and one had a sort of ridge along the top
edge and the other didn't.  The advice to me was to be careful
with the one that had the ridge, as that might be a weak spot for
explosions.

It turns out I had no problem with either one, but then I used
them very shortly after they got puffed up.

ARPANET:  M14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (or M14051%mwvm at mitre.arpa)
Usenet:    at ... at !uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
Fidonet:  1:109/131

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Date:         Tue, 14 Aug 90 09:59:38 EDT
From: Joe Uknalis <UKNALIS at VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU>


The last few gallon batches of mead have turned cloudy on me.
They ferment fine for 1-2 months, settle out & when they are just about clear
I rack them again and put them in a frig.  Then about 1/2 of the bottle develop
s flocculant which does not settle out for MONTHS...
Identical recipies have behaved normally under similar conditions, and taste
the same.  Any ideas out there?

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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 90 09:36:05 -0500
From: zentner at radon.ecn.purdue.edu (Michael Zentner)
Subject: Glass Primary Filling


Ken Weiss Asks:
> A question for those of you using glass primary fermentors - How do
> you get five gallons of hops-filled wort strained and inside a glass
> carboy without making a HUGE mess? I thought of a big funnel, but it
> seems like once the hops started collecting in the strainer section
> the flow rate would be too slow. Please to enlighten me!

You're right.  If you use too fine a mesh, even with hop pellets
you can really plug up.  The procedure we've adopted is to boil
about 3 gallons of water first, pour it into a  plastic fermenter,
then later add the boiled wort directly to the plastic fermenter.
Then finally, we siphon the combined wort into the glass primary and
pitch.  The advantages are twofold:  You can really get good aeration
by pouring violently into the bucket.  You let the plastic handle all
of the thermal shock associated with pouring in the boiling liquid.
The disadvantages are of course, risk of infection and also another
vessel to wash.  If you let the wort settle for only a few minutes,
all of the hops  will either sink or float and not clog the 
siphon.  I'm sure there is a cleaner way, but this works for us,
especially in the winter when we can put the plastic bucket outside
(covered of  course) to pre-chill the water.

Mike and Lynn Zentner 

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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 90 12:22:44 EDT
From: townsend at ctron.COM (Chuck Townsend)
Subject: subscription


	Please add me to your emailing list if possible.

		Thank You,
		Chuck Townsend
		Cabletron Systems, Inc.
		Rochester, NH

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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 90 09:26:56 PDT
From: pms at Corp.Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
Subject: Gushers and Glass

I'd like to take a poll: who's actualy experienced an exploding bottle?
I've had some severe gushers (beer all over the walls), but no breaking
bottles. Also, has anyone ever had a bottle break while they were
opening it? FYI, I use champagne and sparking apple juice bottles for
24oz, and Grolsch swintops for 16oz. I gave up on 12oz, too small (and
too much filling & capping)!
patrick

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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 90 09:51:21 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!norm (Norm Hardy)
Subject: Hop Harvest

My Seattle grown Hallertauers are fully developed and look to be close to
being ready for harvest.  For those who also grow hops:

(1) What do YOU look for when deciding to pick the crop?
    Papazian says to pick them just before they turn brown.
    Noonan says when they are yellowish-green or greenish-yellow.
(2) What methods of drying do YOU employ?
    Papazian says to air dry them out of the sun.
    Noonan says to use a dehydrator.

The 90 degree days here have been a boon to hop growth.  But we could also
use some rain to chase a few Californians away. :)

Norm



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Date: 14 Aug 90 06:50:07 PDT (Tuesday)
From: wegeng at arisia.xerox.COM
Subject: Re: Jalapeno Peppers


Marc Light asks:
>A friend of mine has a bumber crop of hot jalapeno peppers.  And we
>are trying to come up with uses for them.  Has anyone tried making
>a pepper beer?

I've never tried this, but since I'm a hot pepper nut (I grow several
varieties) I've given it some thought.  It seems to me that one approach
would be to start with very small amounts of fresh hot peppers, cutting
them into several pieces and adding them to the boil (boiling should help
extract the hot oils from the peppers).  Depending on how hot the peppers
were, I'd probably use about 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper for my first attempt.

Another idea that I had was to use Cayenne pepper sauce (such as Franks Hot
Sauce) instead of fresh peppers.  One could experiment with the quantity by
adding small amounts (starting with less than a drop) of sauce to a glass
of beer, and adjusting the amount until the beer suited your taste.  From
there it's simple multiplication to determine the amount to add to a five
gallon batch.

As an aside, I know of one commercial beer that seems to use hot peppers as
an ingredient.  It's called Cajun Beer, and is quite good (assuming that
you like hot foods).  Since Marc has a rochester.edu email address I'll
mention that you can buy Cajun Beer at "Beers of the World", located in
Winton Place (formerly Todd Mart Plaza).

/Don
wegeng at arisia.xerox.com
hplabs!arisia!wegeng

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Date:     Tue, 14 Aug 90 14:23 EST
From: <R_GELINA%UNHH.BITNET at mitvma.mit.edu> (Russ Gelinas)
Subject:  Wyeast Irish ale

I have a batch of stout brewing, made withh Wyeast Irish ale liquid yeast. When
I've used Wyeast in the past, the package would swell in less than 12 hours,
even if the package was a couple of months old. This time the package swelled
very slowly, and I was forced into pitching it when it was just 1-1.5" thick
(the package says don't pitch until *at least* 1" thick). Then, it took about
24 hours for any sign of activity. It's ok now, but the fermentation is *much*
more subdued than I'm used to with Wyeast, and I'm not getting any blow-off.
Any thoughts?

Russ


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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 90 9:30:13 CDT
From: Jeff Benson <benson at chemsun.chem.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Straining wort into a carboy

In HD #474, Ken Weiss asks:

> A question for those of you using glass primary fermentors - How do
> you get five gallons of hops-filled word strained and inside a glass
> carboy without making a HUGE mess? I thought of a big funnel, but it
> seems like once the hops started collecting in the strainer section
> the flow rate would be too slow. Please enlighten me!

Actually, Ken, my method is exactly the one you speculated on: a big
funnel and a strainer.  My funnel is about 8 in. diameter at its widest
(I got it at the local K-Mart) and the strainer I use has a rather fine,
stainless mesh and is just slightly smaller in diam. than the funnel
(obtained from a restaurant supply store).  The straining process does
require two people, one to pour and one to hold the funnel & strainer,
but otherwise works pretty well.  The reduced flow problem you describe
does occur (hops clog up the mesh of the strainer) but in practise is
not as bad as you imagine.  Typically, most of the hops and gunk falls
to the bottom of the brew pot so I can usually pour about half to
two-thirds of the wort through without significant clogging.  The last
bit does take longer, as the residue piles up, but there are ways to
speed the process: gently tilt the strainer to divert the flow through
unclogged parts of the mesh, use a sanitized implement to scrape the
hops away from the mesh or simply stop pouring for a second, empty the
strainer of its contents and continue.  Sometimes clogging doesn't
become a problem because (depending on the variety of hops used) the junk
sort of piles up in the strainer rather than spreads around evenly.  In
my experience, the whole transfer can be accomplished in 0.5 to 2 min.
A small amount of hops & junk does get throught the strainer into the
carboy but I do two stage fermentations so the stuff is only in contact
with my brew for a few days (and is probably mostly covered up by trub
from the cold-break anyway).

The only significant drawback, in my opinion, is the need to have a
helper to hold the funnel and strainer while you pour.  But trying to hold
a 5 gal. pot in one hand and a two clumsy implements in the other while
trying to pour ~200 deg. F liquid between them is *NOT* my idea of a
good time.  (Significantly, I have found this step to be the only one in
the brewing process that cannot (safely) be done alone.)

Jeff Benson
benson at chemsun.chem.umn.edu


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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 90 14:24:58 PDT
From: pms at Corp.Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
Subject: Bottling after a week no matter what

After being correctly chastised by Pete Soper for unthinkingly
recommending the subject line, I'll withdraw it!

The "no matter what" is intended to imply that fermentation will
generally be complete within a week, so it would normall be safe to
bottle then. I do always take a SG reading, and I certainly wouldn't
bottle if it hadn't dropped "enough" by the end of the week. To be
safe, a residual suger level test should probably also be done. With
the 3 or 4 batches I've so far bottled after one week, the SG had
fallen sufficiently. I suppose deciding how much the SG should drop is
a judgement call - I use 25% of (1 - OG) as a rule of thumb (i.e. 1.060
should go to around 1.015).

The reason for bottling soon is to minimize the time the beer spends on
the trub. So if the fermentation isn't complete after a week, I would
rack off into another glass carboy. This of course creates an extra
infection risk.

A problem I used to have (that I've since solved) was temperature
control during fermentation. I live in San Francisco, and although I
don't suffer from too much heat, it does dip below 60F regularly.  I
think this contributed towards long, incomplete fermentations. So I
devised a little 'heater box'. It's a small cupboard, just big enough
to get a 7gal carboy and a cheap adjustable electric heater inside. I
put in my first batch and set the heater by guess work.  Then after
checking it several times with a thermometer I arrived at the correct
setting for 65 - 70F and haven't had to reset it since.  Pretty nifty I
think to myself! Just thought someone else might be interested - it
seems a cheap easy solution.

patrick

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #475, 08/15/90
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