HOMEBREW Digest #599 Tue 19 March 1991

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


Contents:
  Cincinnati brewpubs (Robin Garr)
  Wort chiller cleaning (Randy Tidd)
  Freezing homebrew (Eric Pepke)
  Copper - a Chilling Thought! (Mike Fertsch)
  Homebrew Club Newsletters (John DeCarlo)
  Seven ounce bottles (James P. Buchman)
  Small bottles ("Eric Roe")
  lou -- lagers ("KATMAN.WNETS385")
  Re: Calculating IBU's ("st. stephen")
  Bay Area Events (Rad Equipment)
  Copper Dupe (Nick Thomas)
  Flat beer... (Jay Littlepage)
  Liquid yeast and small batches ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
  I was talking with Pat Rhodes of The Homebrewer's Store (1-800-tap-brew) and he said that they produced their own liquid yeat- ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
  Re: Homebrew Digest #598 (March 18, 1991) (Brian Capouch)
  Wort needs more than jump start??? (MEHTA01)
  me (IOCONNOR)

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmi at hplabs.hp.com Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmi at hplabs.hp.com [Please do not send me requests for back issues] Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Mar 91 07:52:08 EST From: Robin Garr <76702.764 at compuserve.com> Subject: Cincinnati brewpubs From HBD598: >Ohio -- Cincinnati: > Wallaby Bob's - Australian Brewpub. "Wallaby Bob's is in a mall, and > might technically be a microbrewery, since they do (apparently) > bottle and sell their beer at least for takeout. I have not yet > sampled their wares." It has been about a year since I was last in Cincinnati, but I am reliably informed that Wallaby Bob's (which was in a huge mall far to the northwest of downtown Cincinnati) has gone belly up. No great loss. Saddled with a hokey fake-Australian theme, it had good-looking brew kettles (an odd thing to see in a mall), but I've had much better beer at homebrew club meetings. Cloudy, poorly carbonated, short on flavor. >Kentucky -- Ft. Mitchell (Northern Kentucky) > Oldenberg Microbrewery - Buttermilk Pike. "Take I-75 south (from > Cincinnati) to Buttermilk Pike. The Brewery is visible from the > expressway. Features a full-bodied premium and a very drinkable > blonde. The beer is a bit pricey from the tap at $2.00 a mug, > $7.00 a pitcher. The premium has a robust taste and finishes > smooth. This beer is among the countries 5 finest beers, a > definite must try. The brewery also has a fine collection of > beer paraphernalia and a German style beer hall with live > entertainment." The AHA national conference was held here a few > years ago. A great place! If the beer's not quite up to the quality of Sierra Nevada (for example), it is certainly good; and the brewery -- a veritable Disneyland of beer, with an incredible collection of beerphernalia and two OK restaurants -- is worth a special trip. -- Robin Garr, associate sysop, CompuServe Wine/Beer Forum Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 09:05:01 EST From: rtidd at ccels2.mitre.org (Randy Tidd) Subject: Wort chiller cleaning I finally made my wort chiller -- it was amazingly easy. I haven't used it yet, but am getting ready to soon. I have been storing it in my bottling bucket, which apparently had some water in the bottom, and some of the copper oxidized. Since this is going to be an immersion-style chiller, I want to get the outside of the tubing as clean as possible before dunking into the wort. I read somewhere (either in the digest or rec.food.drink) about a guy that tried to clean his chiller, but when he dunked it in the boiling wort it got REALLY clean, and all the stuff from the tubing came off and made a film on top of his wort. I think the reason is that the wort is pretty acidic, and a boiling acidic solution did a great job of cleaning his copper. Does anyone have any way to clean the copper BEFORE immersion in the wort? I was thinking of washing with hot ammonia then rinsing well with water, but I don't know if that would do the trick. Also, I helped a friend of mine bottle his first batch yesterday. He really grumbled about delabeling and washing all those bottles by hand. When we siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket, he said "why can't we just leave it in here, and use this bucket as a keg?" The bucket is a 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with a snap-on lid, and a spigot about 1/2" from the bottom. I couldn't think of a real good reason why NOT to use it, except that the pressure would be too high and would cause a leak of CO2 or beer. Anyone care to comment? Oh yeah, can someone e-mail me the address to Zymurgy so I can get a subscription? Randy Tidd rtidd at mwunix.mitre.org Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1991 11:09:49 EST From: PEPKE at SCRI1.SCRI.FSU.EDU (Eric Pepke) Subject: Freezing homebrew I've had some odd experiences with freezing homebrew. About a year ago, I made and all-grain Framboise. It came out very well, with the exception of a slightly harsh taste. I waited several months ago for the harshness to go away, but there was no effect. Now, normally, when I drink a framboise or an ale, I take it from room temperature, put it in the freezer for a few minutes just to cool it off to slightly below room temperature, and open it. This one time, I forgot about the bottle of Framboise in the freezer. When I saw it the next day, it had frozen slushy. I swore quietly to myself, and put it out to thaw. When it had thawed, the flavor was perfect--the harshness had entirely disappeared. I froze the remaining bottles, and there was a similar improvement in all of them. A couple of months ago, I made an all-grain version of Ruddles County loosely based on Dave Line's recipe. On the day of bottling, the unfinished beer tasted great. I primed with a small amount of brown sugar as per the directions. On the day after bottling, the beer was fully carbonated and tasted great. (If you are wondering why I sampled it so early, it is because it has been my consistent experience that all-grain ales are ready for consumption almost immediately.) Three days after bottling, the beer was approaching gusher stage and had distinct off flavors. I opened three or four bottles, and the story was the same. In a panic, I put the remaining bottles into the freezer. Only one burst. The remaining beer, when thawed, was and is close to perfect. The flavor and degree of carbonation is exactly what I had hoped for, and the beer is clear enough to read through, in spite of the fact that no finings were used. Eric Pepke INTERNET: pepke at gw.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute MFENET: pepke at fsu Florida State University SPAN: scri::pepke Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 BITNET: pepke at fsu Disclaimer: My employers seldom even LISTEN to my opinions. Meta-disclaimer: Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:40 EST From: Mike Fertsch <FERTSCH at adc1.adc.ray.com> Subject: Copper - a Chilling Thought! Fred Condo (and others) have been discussing use of copper in breqing equipment. This is a perenial topic; it comes up whenever the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano. > Lately, a lot of people have been posting messages fearful of > copper cooling tubes. The traditional brewing kettle is made of > copper. For example, Sierra Nevada, one of the best micros in > America, if not the world, brews and lauters its brews in a pair > of copper kettles that came from Germany. Therefore, I think > no one has anything to fear from contact between copper and > beer or wort. The problem with this argument is that homebrewers brew in tiny quanities compared with the "big boys". Because our volumes are smaller, we have a proportionally larger surface area with which to pick up copper ions. Surface area to volume ratio determines the chemistry and physics of the situation. The result is that we get much more copper in our beers than real breweries get. Maybe two years ago (maybe more?), some brewer with a calculator (and lots of free time) came up with estimates of copper content in beer. He assumed that an "L" length copper tube of "D" diameter has "A" units of surface area. Using the density of copper and assuming that the tube looses a monolayer of copper-oxide molecules each use, "N" copper molecules go into solution. Converting to parts per million, we are pushing the FDA limits on copper in food. Perhaps someone has very old archives, or has free time and a calculator, and can get the details of this analysis. In the meantime, I'm going to use my copper chiller and not worry! MTF Return to table of contents
Date: Monday, 18 Mar 1991 11:40:44 EST From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo) Subject: Homebrew Club Newsletters Hello, My homebrew club (BURP) gets newsletters from other homebrewing clubs and I find them very useful. However, the paper versions can be difficult to keep track of, distribute articles from, etc. Has anyone tried electronic distribution? I understand that there are many potential problems with format (word processor or desk top publisher or whatever) but would like to investigate it some. Could people check with their local clubs and e-mail me information on the hardware and software used to make the newsletter, as well as any information on successful/unsuccessful attempts to distribute them electronically. John "I would like to have some on my BBS, for instance" DeCarlo Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org (or John.DeCarlo at f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org) Fidonet: 1:109/131 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:10:20 -0500 From: jpb at tesuji.dco.dec.com (James P. Buchman) Subject: Seven ounce bottles Rolling Rock comes in either twelve or seven ounce bottles; the twelves are screwcap but the smaller bottles have a solid lip (at least all of them that I've seen). The bottles are green, though, not brown. At least RR is less expensive than commercial barleywines or Holiday Coke, and it makes good lawnmower beer. (let's see, was Latrobe Brewing Co. upstream or downstream from Latrobe Steel .... ? :-) Jim Buchman #include <std_disclmr.h> Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:40 EST From: "Eric Roe" <KXR11 at PSUVM.PSU.EDU> Subject: Small bottles In Pennsylvania, Latrobe Brewing Co sells Rolling Rock beer in what are commonly called "pony cases." Each case contains 24 7 ounce bottles. The only disadvantages are that you've got to do something with the Rock, and the bottles are made out of green glass. The green glass shouldn't be too much of a problem because the case they come in is sturdy, and keeps out most light. As I recall pony cases are pretty cheap -- $7 to $8 comes to mind. Some of our local bars go through many of these per night. Whether or not you can find ponies in other parts of the US, I don't know. Eric <kxr11 at psuvm.psu.edu> Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 17:36 GMT From: "KATMAN.WNETS385" <6790753%356_WEST_58TH_5TH_FL%NEW_YORK_NY%WNET_6790753 at mcimail.com> Subject: lou -- lagers Date: 18-Mar-91 Time: 09:28 AM Msg: EXT00705 Hi, tried to send a reply to Lou (lou at mage.uucp or something) and it bounced. You were talking about lagers vs. pilsners. Lee Katman == Thirteen/WNET == New York, NY =Do not= use REPLY or ANSWERBACK, it doesn't get to me. INTERNET katman.wnets385%wnet_6790753 at mcimail.com MCIMAIL EMS: wnet 6790753 MBX: katman.wnets385 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 13:39:58 EST From: "st. stephen" <ST402836 at brownvm.brown.edu> Subject: Re: Calculating IBU's Howdy, Someone gave a formula for IBU's. Included in the formula was a term %U, or percent utilization. They then stated that 60 mins = 30% utilization. How do you calculate this? How do i calculate utilization for other boiling times? thanks for the help, steve Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Mar 90 11:52:15 From: Rad Equipment <Rad_Equipment at rad-mac1.ucsf.EDU> Subject: Bay Area Events REGARDING Bay Area Events Since there is a large contingent of Bay Area & No. California Brewers reading this I thought I'd do a bit of advertising for some approaching events. AHA First Round at Anchor. Many of you may know that the National has been split for the first round eliminations this year between Boulder, Boston, and San Francisco. I am the local Registrar. Direct mailings have gone out to all BJCP judges and to local non-registered judges who are known to Brook Ostrom (the local judge director for this). In an effort to involve as many regional judges as possible, I am soliciting via the electronic connection. What we are planning is to conduct the judging on two consecutive Saturdays (4/27 & 5/4) at Anchor. We need to have 50 judges on each day to judge at two sittings. Judges within 2 hours of San Francisco are asked to participate on the 27th and those beyond to come on the 4th. A Beds for Brewers Program and multiple entertainment, meals are in the works. If you are interested in participating as a judge or steward (we'll need those too, as well as plain old volunteers) contact Brook ASAP. Brook Ostrom 2631 G St. Sacramento, CA 95816 916-442-7626 If you live close enough to the Anchor Brewery and would like to help out with the un-packing and sorting of the beers, give me a call. Russ Wigglesworth 775 Chestnut St. San Francisco, CA 94133 415-474-8126 I realize that many of you have reservations as well as out and out problems with the AHA and this event (some of which I share), however, I see this as a step in the right direction. I would like to see this event succeed so that we can continue to improve the National and gain a little more control over the AHA in general. Please help us make this work! +++++++++++++++++++ BJCP Exam, Bay Area Byron Burch asked me to put out some feelers as to the interest level of the Bay Area locals toward taking the BJCP Exam this spring. We need a 60 day lead time to set it up, and a minimum of 4 takers to make it worth while. If you want to take the test in May, please let me know and I'll arrange for a space and get back to Byron. Call me at the above address or via the Net. Russ Wigglesworth <Rad Equipment at RadMac1.ucsf.edu> Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 09:52:38 PST From: nt at Eng.Sun.COM (Nick Thomas) Subject: Copper Dupe I followed the same directions that Mike Zentner and Eric Roe did to make a wort chiller with 1/4-inch OD copper tubing. Question for those of you who rebuilt yours: Can I replace the 1/4-inch copper tubing with 3/8-inch copper and use the the same 1/2-inch plasting tubing for the outter tube? The surprise of my week was to discover that the plastic tube cost more than the copper! -nick Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 08:19:37 PST From: jayl at Corp.Sun.COM (Jay Littlepage) Subject: Flat beer... My last batch, for a variety of reasons, sat in the corner of the garage in the secondary for nearly three months before I was able to bottle it (it was intended to be a honey steam, but after spending all winter in the secondary it's now a honey lager). My problem is that the fermentation seems to have gone too well, or the yeast just bagged it out of sheer boredom. I neglected to take a hydrometer reading because there was a pretty good yeast pack in the secondary and it had been at a no-glub state for quite a while. I now have two cases of great tasting but flat beer with unfermented corn sugar at the bottom of the bottles. Any ideas on how to goose these bottles? I don't have a CO2 setup. I'm leery (not worried) about opening the bottles and introducing new yeast for sanitation reasons and because of the low gravity of the beer, but if someone has had success doing this i'd like to hear about it. I've been making half-and-halfs with stouts in the meantime. Jay Littlepage Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Mar 91 15:12:00 EDT From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet at drcvax.af.mil> Subject: Liquid yeast and small batches As I am beginning my homebrewing avocation, I realize that I'll probably brew in smaller than five gallon batches since I am the only person I know in my immediate vicinity who likes beer. If I'm using a dry yeast, dividing the package in half, or even in fourths is no real problem, but I like the sound of using liquid yeast. How can I use liquid yeast for 1, 2 or 3 gallon batches? I know I can use a portion and discard the rest, but that's EXPENSIVE. Is there a liquid yeast available in small packages, or is there a good way to save Wyeast once it's opened? Not worrying ... but wondering ... Dan Graham, WA6CNN Beer made from the Derry Air, (Derry, New Hampshire) Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Mar 91 15:37:00 EDT From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet at drcvax.af.mil> Subject: I was talking with Pat Rhodes of The Homebrewer's Store (1-800-tap-brew) and he said that they produced their own liquid yeat- st for $2 a bottle. This is a far better price than Wyeast. Has anyone experience with this product? Dan Graham, WA6CNN Beer made with the Derry Air (Derry, New Hampshire) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 15:46:56 -0600 (CST) From: Brian Capouch <brianc at zeta.saintjoe.EDU> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #598 (March 18, 1991) Excerpts from homebrew: 18-Mar-91 Homebrew Digest #598 (March.. Are to s. it HERE? at hpfcm (35162) > If you change the camshaft, then headers will make more sense since the > engine will be able to 'breathe' better. This means that a carburetor > jetting change will be required, too! I think I may get it: if I put headers on my car to increase the pull-through on the carburetor, I could hook the output of the carburetor draft tube to the input side of my blow-off valve on the carboy, and if I had a long enough tether, I would then be able to drag race, and at the same time create a positive blowoff for my primary. Or could I??? :-\ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1991 17:28:19 CST From: MEHTA01 at UTSW.SWMED.UTEXAS.EDU Subject: Wort needs more than jump start??? Hi. i've made a few batches of homebrew and have had really no serious problems and certainly no worries :-) but i have a problem with a friend's batch that i would like to get an answer to: i feel sort of responsible, for he got all excited about homebrew after tasting my last batch and decided he wanted to try making some himself. We bought Munton's new Australian Lager extract and Amber dried malt. The yeast was in a little packet stuck to the top of the can and we decided to use it, against my intuition, but i figured, it's a first batch, we don't need to go all out.... Well, the wort was ready with a SG of 1.028 and we tossed the dry yeast in, and NOTHING! After two days, we added some more yeast (my friend forgot what kind he added -- i told him to keep notes, but he wasn't worrying about it.. :-) ) ANyway, now, one small bubble every 15 seconds rises to the surface and that's it! The funny (strange) thing is that the extract (before boiling) seemed to fom some sort of coagulate, or aggregate like small whitish feathers (i guess some sort of proteing aggregation phenomenon) and would begin to precipitate if i stopped stirring. However, after the boil, the wort looked more like WORT and the exrtact seemed to be dispersed throughout the water (no aggregates or precipitates were seen...), so we decided to go ahead and use it. Has anyone seen the same phenomenon before? Why is this happening? No gypsum or Irish moss or anything other than the extract and the malt powder was added... Is the wort no good? Is the yeast need a kick in their seats? How does one kick yeast in their seats (if you can find 'em) ? Not worried, but wondering??? ..... Please send email to mehta01 at utsw.swmed.utexas.edu or to shmehta at elbereth.rutgers.edu hanks Shreefal Mehta Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1991 19:12:45 EST From: IOCONNOR at SUNRISE.ACS.SYR.EDU Subject: me Could you please put me on the homebrew list? Thanks. Kieran O'Connor IOCONNOR at SUNRISE (bitnet) Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #599, 03/19/91 ************************************* -------
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