HOMEBREW Digest #4807 Fri 22 July 2005


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Response: FOY (2005): dry yeast/liquid yeast ("Rob Moline")
  Egg Drop Soup Yeast Starter (Fred Johnson)
  RE: Running HCCP under Linux...success, anyone? ("Alan Folsom")
  Re: Substitution for Special B malt? (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Ballantine Ale Clone (Jeff Renner)
  What kind of Hops do I have here? ("Michael Eyre")
  YeastLab W51 weizen yeast available (Jeff Renner)
  W51 Weizen yeast ("Spencer W. Thomas")
  Re: HCCP / Linux ("Meyer, Aaron D.")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:47:52 -0500 From: "Rob Moline" <jethrogump at mchsi.com> Subject: Response: FOY (2005): dry yeast/liquid yeast Response: FOY (2005): dry yeast/liquid yeast For a homebrewer, dry yeast is much more convenient than liquid yeast. There are numerous strains of dry brewer's yeast that give very nice results for certain beer styles. However, the variety of dry brewer's yeast seems very limited. I would like to see dry satchels of yeast for making German Weizenbier (like Wyeast 3068), Belgian beers (like Wyeast 1214 etc), and a better selection of dry yeasts for lagers. Can we expect to see a better selection of dry yeasts in the future? What are the technical problems that prevent development of a greater variety of dry brewer's yeast? Sincerely, Peter A. Ensminger Syracuse, NY Tobias: This is not so much a technical problem more an economic issue. We would like to supply you with a whole range of different yeast strains but to guarantee competitive prices we produce certain quantities which we have to sell all of or we sell very little of it at perhaps uncompetitive prices. We have to meet our costs. If there would be a significant demand for a specific brewing yeast we would be more than happy to supply it. This is why we introduced our new lager yeast (Diamond Lager Yeast) last year. Tobias - -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.2/55 - Release Date: 7/21/2005 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:01:58 -0400 From: Fred Johnson <FLJohnson at portbridge.com> Subject: Egg Drop Soup Yeast Starter John noticed that his yeast starter culture on a stir plate sometimes looks like egg drop soup after a while and wonders if this is normal flocculation. Indeed, for certain highly flocculating yeasts in stirred culture, the yeast will flocculate in large clumps while stirring after it has consumed the sugar. The starter will go from being homogeneously very cloudy (typical of all starters) to a state of containing large clumps of yeast, reminiscent of egg drop soup, while stirring. This does not happen with all strains in my experience. I remember this being common with either Wyeast 1968 and/or Wyeast 1318 (can't quite remember and haven't used these recently). Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:42:36 -0400 From: "Alan Folsom" <alan at folsoms.net> Subject: RE: Running HCCP under Linux...success, anyone? Scott Alfter wrote: >As part of an effort to move more of my everyday computing away >from Windows and toward Linux, I've tried getting the homebrewing- >related software I use working under Linux. ProMash actually works >pretty well under Wine (with some table-formatting glitches, but that's >all). HCCP, OTOH, has been a bit more troublesome. I haven't actually tried running HCCP under Wine, but will give it a try shortly. I expect problems, though, for a number of reasons: 1st - HCCP queries the windows printer drivers to get the exact resolution information in use, and then calculates the position of each item printed in printer resolution when generating a page. I'm not sureWine can provide these capabilities to interface with windows printer style commands. 2nd- While HCCP may look like a single application, it is actually anumber of script files, bundled with an interpreter and the windowsDLL's needed by the program. That's done through some magic called Starkits, provided by a package from Equi4 Software, by an amazing contributer to the free-software world named Jean-Claude Wippler. While all these facilities are available on Linux (and mac, and about everything else) It adds a layer of complexity when tryingto run under a translater. The good news is that HCCP is written in a language called Tcl/Tk, which runs equally well natively on any current operating system I'm likely to want to use. I've "run" it on Linux and and Mac OS X already. The problem is that HCCP does not have native printing support, and the printing system I needed to use was Windows specific. HCCP is weak in printing, and I need to figure out a way to do similar functions under Linux. It may come down to generating a postscript file, and requiring Ghostscript or similart to print it. I just haven't had a chance to dig into that yet. Once I figure out a way to do a decent job printing under Linux with Tcl, the rest will be a snap. Meanwhile, if I have any luck with Wine, I'll let people know. Al Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:39:57 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: Substitution for Special B malt? "BILL KUNKA" <wkunka at vianet.ca> wrote: > OK I have been unable to find any special B malt and have a recipe > for a > barley wine that calls for a 1/2 pound of it, what can i use in > place of it? > Does Special B malt go by another name? I'll add to what Spencer wrote (I'm catching up on HBD). Briess' Extra Special Malt (130L) seems to be in this style. Their web site http://www.briess.com/brew/products.shtml#special description: "Burnt Sugar, Woody, Prunes. (2-Row) Provides distinctive flavors associated with darker, high gravity beers like Doppelbock." I've used it with success to add complexity to dark ales. Jeff - --- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 ***Please note new address*** Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 11:37:00 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: Ballantine Ale Clone Last week, pulsarxp at earthlink.ne wrote: > Does anyone have a clone receipe/formula for Ballantine Ale? > I would really like to hear from anyone who could help me out. > I can't find one searching the web. Very frustrating! > There have been several answers on this. I'll add some thoughts. First, I don't know if you are speaking of the basic Ballantine XXX ale (the kind that Mel Gibson used to advertise on Yankee's games and which he apparently drank as he broadcast, with evident effect by the ninth inning) or Ballantine IPA. I have more experience drinking and cloning the IPA. If you do a google site search <site:hbd.org ballantine> you will get a manageable 61 hits. Sifting through these will find the history of HBDers cloning the IPA. My interest in pre-prohibition American beers goes beyond Pilsners to stock ales and other adjunct beers. I first got involved in this when New Orleans HBDer Larry O'Mahoney asked for help back in 1998. He sent me a couple of very fine clones. They may not have been quite on the mark, but they were excellent examples of adjunct (corn and corn sugar) American-style IPAs (that is to say, old style IPAs, not the citrusy Cascade/Centennial ones of today) or stock ales. Here are some posts with some good history of Larry's attempts: http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2895.html#2895-4 http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2896.html#2896-18 http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2949.html#2949-13 Five years ago Bob Bratcher brewed up a batch: http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/3302.html#3302-16 Two Years ago, Al Asemok posted a note about Ballantine IPA. He also posted a note this week that I will get back to in a moment. See http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/4250.html and my response http:// hbd.org/hbd/archive/4251.html#4251-12 More recently, Bob Girolamo of SF asked me for some advice and he has been brewing clones and has sent me some excellent examples. He also has sent me several examples. They exhibit a wonderful oakiness that, while I don't think is actually authentic, is quite nice after it has aged for a while. He has also brewed a couple (?) of clones of the legendary Ballantine Burton Ale, which they brewed for employees and other VIPs for Christmas gifts in the 30's and 40's. This was a big monster in the style of old Burton ales but with an American twist. Bob bought an original bottle on eBay and opened it this past year (I was invited but couldn't make the 2000 mile trip). I see from Al's post that he did taste it. Bob's clone was terrific. See http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/4545.html#4545-2 Hope this helps. Jeff - --- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 ***Please note new address*** Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:00:42 -0700 From: "Michael Eyre" <meyre at sbcglobal.net> Subject: What kind of Hops do I have here? Hey all.. I know I'm about to throw out the impossible, but what the hell.. it don't cost nuthin'! :-) A friend of my fathers had a hops plant in a bucket in his back yard that was getting out of control. He found out I was starting to grow them, and gave this one to me. My father said he heard from *the guy who gave this hops-in-a-bucket* to the fellow that gave it to me, that it was a Mt. Hood plant, from Washington... which I can grasp. The guy who actually gave it to me swears that the guy *he* got it from called it a "Black Tower" hop. Now, I can't find anything on "Black Tower" anywhere, but in thinking about it, Black Tower kinda sounds like Hallertauer. Maybe I'm wrong, but is Mt. Hood a variant of Hallertauer? Is that what they're talking about? Should this thing develop a bit more and maybe produce a cone or three, will I be able to identify what I've got here? Ideas? Anyone? Bueller? Mike Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:43:35 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu> Subject: YeastLab W51 weizen yeast available Brewers As a friend of Dan McConnell's, I have often been asked about an old favorite yeast that his YeastLab carried, W51 weizen yeast. This had an almost cult-like popularity, and I always felt bad that I couldn't point people to another source. Well, Dan transferred his entire yeast collection to WhiteLabs, and it is a Platinum offering this month and next. Here is the entry from http://whitelabs.com/: > Bavarian Weizen Ale* Available July/August (WLP351) > > Former Yeast Lab W51 yeast strain, acquired from Dan McConnell. The > description originally used by Yeast lab still fits: " This strain > produces a classic German-style wheat beer, with moderately high, > spicy phenolic overtones reminiscent of cloves." Hope this gets lots of use so it stays in the catalog. Jeff - --- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 ***Please note new address*** Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:11:31 -0400 From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <hbd at spencerwthomas.com> Subject: W51 Weizen yeast I have to second Jeff Renner's recommendation of the old YeastLab W51 yeast. I used this yeast for a Weizen that took first place in what may have been the last HWBTA national comp. A beer judge whose opinion I highly respect about German beers said of my beer: "It's the only one that tastes authentic," scoring it in the mid-40s. And I don't value his opinion because of what he said about my beer. He's since gone on to design recipes for well-regarded German-style beers professionally. I highly recommend this yeast for your hefeweizen. =Spencer in Ann Arbor Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 17:00:58 -0500 From: "Meyer, Aaron D." <Aaron.Meyer at oneok.com> Subject: Re: HCCP / Linux <<<< (More specifically, this is the error returned by Wine: err:comm:GetCommState tcgetattr or ioctl error 'Invalid argument' This leads into an unhandled exception, which then spews out a bunch of diagnostic information.) Has anyone else had better luck getting HCCP running under Linux? I have a competition coming up in a couple of months and can run it under WinXP if necessary, but getting it working under Linux would be better. >>>> I've never used HCCP nor have I messed with Wine for more than a year.... But I will pass on my 2cents, who knows, it could help.... Maybe... First I would contact the developer and find out what development tools he is using. I.e. what compiler he is using and what system library's his program requires. Next Use a trace tool on a windows box and see what DLLs, VXDs, and possibly OCX files the program links with while running. Ensure that your wine configuration has these files available. If you have a valid license for Windows ensure that your wine is configured for native library mode and not emulation mode. I don't recall what the exact terminology is, but in what I call native mode the wine software points to a working windows installation, emulation mode is when wine is configured to work without copyrighted Microsoft libraries. I found that when I messed with wine it preferred a Win95/98 windows folder over NT/2000/XP for some things. Keep in mind that the MS EULA give you license to run the version you purchased or any previous version as long as it is on that one machine. So if you can dig up a Win95/98 CD you can run it under wine as long as your XP installation on that same system is licensed. If in question, read your EULA. Next, sometimes you have to downgrade. It is known that some 'fixes' to wine break other things. Some applications need to use older wine version to work properly. If you need serial ports, you can emulate them or setup pass through virtual serial ports with wine. They can link to text files for debugging output or can link to a /dev/cua0. Possibly get a commercial version of wine. I forget the name, but there is a commercial version of wine whose development has been pushed from people wanting better MS Office and DirectX gaming compatibility. You might have to invest in one of these to get the needed stability. GOOD LUCK! Return to table of contents
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