HOMEBREW Digest #824 Fri 14 February 1992

Digest #823 Digest #825


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


Contents:
  Glass and temp (dbreiden)
  "Student's" Brewery (Sean J. Caron)
  Snail Trail Pale Ale (joshua.grosse)
  Thanks and another request ("ROBERT W. HOSTETLER")
  Re: Freezing hops
  Infected batch  (Gordon Baldwin)
  Homebrew Club Liability (Gary Braswell)
  Home Brew Browser (KIERAN O'CONNOR)
  Re:  Homebrew Digest #823 (February 13, 1992) (Steve Pierce)
  Liquid Yeast Age / Freezing Hops (Darren Evans-Young)
  UPS and shipping Alcohol (Bob_Konigsberg)
  dispensing pressure (donald oconnor)
  Using spent grains for making bread (312)266-3235 <krm at hermes.dlogics.com>
  Storing Wyeast (C.R. Saikley)
  Dry Hopping (Darren Evans-Young)
  Philadelphia Brew Pubs (Todd Breslow)
  Wyeast shelf life (chris campanelli)
  Hazel-Nuts in Beer -UPDATE- (Lee J. Slezak)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 08:37:42 -0500 From: dbreiden at mentor.cc.purdue.edu Subject: Glass and temp Here's a question for all you who know more about the physics of glass: Is glass more likely to break from the thermal shock of hot -> cold or from the shock of cold -> hot. Seems I can boil boiling water in a room temp glass bottle with no problem. But last year when I put my carboy in a snow bank (yeah, it was warm, but not HOT HOT DAMN HOT), I returned to the earth what the earth had given me -- and kissed a carboy good bye. So my personal experience seems to indicate that glass can handle cold->hot better than hot->cold. Support? Refutation? Explanation? Thanks, - --Danny Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 09:16:11 EST From: Sean J. Caron <CARONS at TBOSCH.dnet.ge.com> Subject: "Student's" Brewery sure it was guinness. i guess that means all you T-testers out there (you know who you are) owe your jobs to the famout stout. Return to table of contents
Date: Thursday, 13 February 1992 10:33am ET From: joshua.grosse at amail.amdahl.com Subject: Snail Trail Pale Ale I've been busy trying to make the perfect IPA. Here's my latest recipe. 9 lbs Pale Malt 3/4 lb Crystal Malt 1/2 lb Carapils Malt 1.5 oz (4.9%) Kent Goldings (60 Minutes) 1.5 oz (4.9%) Kent Goldings (15 Minutes) 1/4 oz Kent Goldings (dry) 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 Minutes) 2 tsp Gypsum 2 oz Oak Chips Wyeast 1059 American Ale Mash Pale malt at 153 F for 30-60 minutes. Test after 30 minutes. Add Crystal and Carapils and mash-out at 168 F for 10 minutes. Sparge. Bring to boil. In a saucepan, boil the oak for no more than 10 minutes, then strain the liquid into your boiling kettle. Boil the wort, adding boiling hops after 30 minutes and the flavor hops and Irish Moss after 75 minutes. Chill and pitch a quart of 1059 starter. Dry hop in the secondary fermenter. The beer will clear in the bottle. Primary: 7 days Secondary: 5 days Original Gravity: 1.056 Terminal Gravity: 1.022 (I like beers with body) - ----------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Grosse jdg00 at amail.amdahl.com Amdahl Corp. 313-358-4440 Southfield, Michigan Return to table of contents
Date: 13 Feb 92 10:36:00 CST From: "ROBERT W. HOSTETLER" <8220rwh at INDINPLS.NAVY.MIL> Subject: Thanks and another request Thanks for all of the advice and recipes that I've gotten so far. A buddy from work and I are going to spend our federal holiday trying out our first batch. The new request: With all of the talk of home cultures, can someone tell me how to make a sourdough starter? Bob Hostetler 8220rwh at indy.navy.mil More hobbies than one man should be allowed. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 11:01:59 -0500 From: bickham at msc2.msc.cornell.edu (Scott Bickham) Subject: Re: Freezing hops This topic is discussed in an article by Pfenninger et. al. in the book "Brewing Science", ed. by Pollack, Academic Press (1979). They compare the composition of Brewers Gold hops that were kept for 10 days in either the absence of air at 32F or a paper bag at 68F. The composition of the hops stored in the absence of air did not significantly change, however the alpha acid content of the bagged hops dropped from 7.9% to 6.6%, while the beta acid content went from 8.1% to 7.3%. The total oil (% dry basis) dropped from 1.98 all the way down to 0.78. I'm by no means an expert in this area, but based on this, I would definitely recommend storing hops in an airtight container in your freezer. BTW, "in the absence of air" means in the absence of oxygen, not necessarily in a vacuum. Scott Bickham (a physicist trying to become a biochemist) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 8:08:59 PST From: Gordon Baldwin <hpubvwa.nsr.hp.com!sherpa2!gbaldwin> Subject: Infected batch Well after 66 batches over 5 years it looks like I've lost my first batch. After aging my last batch of lager for 2 weeks the beer has little white dots floating on the surface in the bottles, and there is a ring around the inside of the neck. I havn't tasted it yet, but I am assuming that it is ready to be used to water the plants. I am trying to determine the souce of this. I am not overly anal about sanitation, but every thing I use to brew with gets a rinse of clorine. The bottles were soaked overnight in a TSP solution, then run through the rinse and dry cycle in the dishwasher. The one abnormality was during the fermentation. This is an all grain brew 8 lb klages, 1/2 lb crystal, 1/2 lb dextrin, 1 oz cascade flavoring, 1 oz saaz finishing, 2 packs Red Star lager yeast. I do primary in a bucket then transfer to a glass carboy for secondary. When I transfer to the secondary my all grain brews usually only have a little cloudyness, this time it looked like industrial sluge. Could I have gotten a bad batch of yeast? I have had very good luck in the past with Red Star Lager. ( I agree that Red Star Ale is no good). The fermentation usually takes less than a week, but this batch took close to 3 weeks. Gordon Baldwin ELDEC Corp sherpa2!gbaldwin at sunup.west.sun.com ...!hpubvwa!sherpa2!gbaldwin Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 9:03:36 CST From: ingr!b11!rocker!gary at uunet.UU.NET (Gary Braswell) Subject: Homebrew Club Liability John Polstra writes: "A better bet would be to establish a club culture (no, not yeast) in which Mr. I. C. M. would absolutely *not* be permitted to drive himself home." I like this idea. I mean, maybe I'm sounding a little old-fashioned, but at fraternity parties or office parties I used to go to, if someone partook of considerably more than his/her body could handle, the host either INSISTED that he/she spend the night at the place of residence of where the party was at, or that a reasonably sober person took them home. Generally, I elected just crash out on the floor. That may be unreasonable for the really large home-brewing clubs, but for smaller ones, this could be an understood 'bylaw'. - -------------------- Gary Braswell gary at rocker.b11.ingr.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1992 11:37 EDT From: KIERAN O'CONNOR <OCONNOR%SNYCORVA.bitnet at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Home Brew Browser HBD'ers, I sent out the Home Brew Browser to anyone who requested it. If you are intersted in getting one, please e-mailme with the subject line "I want my HBD!" Whats the HBD Browser? Its a Macitosh HyperCard stack that lets you import the HBD and read them on your mac. It separates the message headers in the HBD and the messages so you click on the message header, and bingo, the message pops{up. OK. Will someone please tell me how to put this in the archive? I can't ftp. Perhaps someone who I sent a copy to? Kieran oconnor at snycorva.bitnet Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 11:29:27 EST From: steve at rtfm.mlb.fl.us (Steve Pierce) Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #823 (February 13, 1992) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 11:28:36 CST From: Darren Evans-Young <DARREN at UA1VM.UA.EDU> Subject: Liquid Yeast Age / Freezing Hops Liquid Yeast Culturing: On Wed, 12 Feb 92 11:20 CST, Robert Spangle said: >I would like to start my own yeast culturing, but I do not know where >to start. I know there are many different strains, but what do you >like out there? How do I get some? Mail order? Local brew shops? >Can anyone think of a good book or reference manual about culturing? > Call 1-800-742-2110 and ask him to send you a catalog. The Yeast Culture Kit Company 6005 Mustang Place Riverdale, MD 20737 Freezing hops: I keep all my hops in the freezer. I have not noticed any problems. Age of Liquid Yeast: I popped a package of Bavarian Lager 2 weeks ago dated 07/30 (1991). Puffed up just fine. It'll take a little longer to puff (2 days), but should do ok. I keep my yeast in the fridge. Darren Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 09:58 PST From: Bob_Konigsberg at 3mail.3com.com Subject: UPS and shipping Alcohol Well, first off, my apologies for not checking both sides of the story. I've now rechecked with several (3) UPS people who tell me that I was badly misinformed by my first contact, and who tell a consistent story. Here are the rules for UPS shipping counters. Alcoholic beverages may only be sent to and from the following four states: California, Colorado, Oregon, and New Mexico. UPS is not supposed to accept alcohol to or from any other states. Exception: Alcoholic beverages may be shipped to a laboratory for analysis, as long as no one will consume them. Alcoholic beverages may NOT be shipped by air, they must go by ground transport. UPS Agents such as Mail Boxes Etc. can pretty much do as they please in refusing anything, but are supposed to adhere to the UPS guidelines. In other words, they can refuse (in CA, CO, OR or NM where it's ok by UPS), and there's not a lot UPS can do about it. If a UPS counter person refuses, AND the package is both TO AND FROM one of the four states, you can complain to management and get results. The other states represent a patchwork of laws, and UPS doesn't want to spend the time and money figuring out what's legal where, and so just refuses to deal with the matter. BobK Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 12:05:59 -0600 From: oconnor at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (donald oconnor) Subject: dispensing pressure Bob Jones inquired about dispensing pressure for soda kegs of beer. The uncertainties he refers to are centered around a general misunderstanding of dispensing pressure and carbonation level or soda keg pressure. The dispensing pressure is not the same as the keg pressure because of the resistant to flow in the dispensing tubing. You generally want the keg pressure to be about 10 psi in order to have properly carbonated beer. A dispensing pressure anywhere near this will cause excessive foaming. The solution is to use a long dispensing tube. 1/4" vinyl tubing will drop the pressure about 1 psi per foot. So if you use 6' of tubing and set the tank pressure to 10 psi, the dispensing pressure will be about 4 psi which will cause much less foaming. The length of tubing that each individual wants will depend upon a number of parameters such as the individuals desired carbonation level, temperature of the beer, and amount of foam desired. There is no difference in the taste of naturally carbonated beer and beer force carbonated with a gas tank. CO2 has no memory of whence it came. If you use dry malt to prime however, there will be a slight change in the beer due to the unfermentable sugars (about 1/3 of the weight). Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1992 14:25:45 CST From: Kevin Mayes (312)266-3235 <krm at hermes.dlogics.com> Subject: Using spent grains for making bread Stephen Mahan asks if anyone has had any experience using crystal malt in making bread. While I have never done this, I have had some bread that was made by the Berghoff brewery here in Chicago. They make fresh bread using their spent grains and it turns out really good. At $4 a small loaf though, it's pretty expensive. Especially when you realize that the grains would otherwise be worthless to them at that point. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 13:02:43 PST From: grumpy!cr at uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley) Subject: Storing Wyeast From: YATROU at INRS-TELECOM.UQUEBEC.CA (Paul Yatrou) >My question is how long should I expect the yeast to last (two >of them are dated Dec. 19 and the other three are Jan. 21)? >Is three months pushing it? I had a surprising experience recently along these lines. I moved at the end of January, and in the process of cleaning out the fridge I found an old package of Wyeast hiding back there. I don't recall which strain it was, but it was dated June 1990. As I was about to throw it out, an idea struck me..... So I popped the package, not really expecting anything to happen to my 1 1/2 year old yeast. Much to my surprise, in 2 days the package was all puffed up and ready to go. Because of the move, brewing wasn't an option, so I had to be content tasting the wort from the package. It was yeasty, but clean. I'd never recommend storing Wyeast for this long intentionally, but my experience is a testimony to the fine work done by those folks. Now, if they'd just fix those damned packages....... CR Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 14:48:17 CST From: Darren Evans-Young <DARREN at UA1VM.UA.EDU> Subject: Dry Hopping I've dry hopped a pilsner, per Miller's Continental Pilsner book, with 1.25 oz of Saaz pellets. All of the hops have now floated to the top and kinda formed a cap. Should I stir the hops into the beer? Will the hops eventually sink? I feel like the hops should be better mixed in with the beer. It's in the secondary right now. Darren Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 18:53:13 EST From: Todd Breslow <V5149U%TEMPLEVM at VM.TEMPLE.EDU> Subject: Philadelphia Brew Pubs I'm new to HBD but wanted to first say how jealous I am that you have all those brew pubs on the west coast because here in Philadelphia we have a grand total of two, if you drive out to Lancaster in the Amish country there is another one, but it's a microbrewery and not a brew pub in the true sense. If there is anyone out there from Philadelphia or the area please drop me a line -- it would be nice to know. Dock Street Brew Pub 22nd and Cherry Streets (not exact address, if it matters send me mail) They have typically six beers on tap on any given night, and the quality is generally very very high. The place is huge and very very expensive ($3.50 for a small 10oz beer or higher for a cask conditioned ale) and it is a very corporate environment (ie, people in suites with expense accounts etc..) Sam Adams Brew Pub 15th and Samson Streets (again, not exact. This is off the top of my head) smaller, more intimate, cheaper. 45 bbl capacity (3 tanks of 15 bbl). The beer is good, but not exceptional. Thanks, Tod Breslow Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 17:43 CST From: akcs.chrisc at vpnet.chi.il.us (chris campanelli) Subject: Wyeast shelf life To Paul Yatrou: I punched a Wyeast packet that was 9 months old (thats right, N-I-N-E months old). The yeast came out just fine. I obviously had disregard the old "one extra day for every month past the stamped date". The yeast in question was a Bavarian Lager. I punched it on a Wednesday night and by Friday morning it was ready to be fed. I gave it a quart of sterile wort to build up (ala Dave Miller) the count and by Saturday afternoon me and my merry little friends were ready to go to work. Beer turned out just fine. - Chris Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 19:27:20 -0800 From: Lee J. Slezak <slezakl at atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU> Subject: Hazel-Nuts in Beer -UPDATE- The following is referring to an earlier post about the use of Hazel-Nuts in beer and bottling. As stated previously I have a batch of dark brown ale fermenting away in my carboy that had about 1/4 cup roasted hazel nuts addded to the boiling wort for about 25 minutes..... Thanks to all who responded to my previous post. Basically most everyone seemed pretty excited about the idea, but everyone was quite concerned about head retention, as am I. In search of a deep rich head I treked to my local homebrew store looking for help. What I found was a small package of what is called "Heading Mix" (a mix of dextrose and gum arabic). Has anyone ever used this stuff before? Is it something I should consider using, I dont even know if I was supposed to use it in the boil or what. The only thing on the package besides the name and ingredients said to: "stir contents of package (1 ounce) into one pint of cold water. Mix thoroughly, for best results use a wisk or electric mixer." When though? Before bottling? I need some more help here - should I use this stuff or just take a $.75 loss I am not too concerned about the cost - just the quality if my beer... Thanks again and Happy Brewing! Lee J. Slezak P.S. What is gum arabic? Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #824, 02/14/92