HOMEBREW Digest #867 Mon 20 April 1992

Digest #866 Digest #868


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


Contents:
  Carboy cap & hop growing (Ed Westemeier)
  RE>fermenters and seals (Bob Hettmansperger)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #866 (April 17, 1992) ("Ken Schriner" )
  Re:Killer Head (nnieuwej)
  all grain (florianb)
  national competition (dave ballard)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #866 (April 17, 1992) ("DARRYL L. DAVIDSON")
  Spoiled Brew?? (Jason Ari Goldstein)
  Re: Cat's Meow 2 - How do I keep my printer from exploding?  (Dave Coombs)
  Shipping Beer Across America ("DARRYL L. DAVIDSON")
  Relaxing, not worrying, and having my first all-grain... (Nick Cuccia)
  CO2 & Yeast Cell Walls (David William Bell)
  Re:  Source for Liquid Yeast (David Van Iderstine)
  Alt  (Todd Enders - WD0BCI)
  RECIPE--Grizzly Peak Pale Ale (Nick Cuccia)
  Jack Schmidling's NA Beer (very long!) (Scott Bickham)
  Michael Jackson's book "The Gret Beers of Belgium" (Ray Peck)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 08:16:09 EDT From: homebrew at tso.uc.EDU (Ed Westemeier) Subject: Carboy cap & hop growing > I've noticed that with the orange cap, I get a good > seal probably about 1/2 the time. I have always been told that the standard orange 2-spout carboy cap is made specifically for the 5-gallon carboys marked Made in Mexico. It works well on my three. But I have another one made in Canada, and it doesn't give a good seal. Drilled rubber stoppers definitely seem to be the way to go for anything but the 5-gal Mexicans. It's not too late to plant hops for this year in northern NJ, but only just. Plant your rhizomes (order from any decent supplier, such as those who advertise in Zymurgy), but make sure you keep different varieties at least 6-8 feet apart. Those roots really spread out under the surface and before you know it you might not be able to tell which shoots are coming from which variety of root! Plenty of sun seems to work best. Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Apr 92 09:26:36 From: Bob Hettmansperger <Bob_Hettmansperger at klondike.bellcore.com> Subject: RE>fermenters and seals RE>fermenters and seals I just bought an orange cap for my carboy (I like the idea of having two openings during blow off). I checked the seal by putting it on the carboy and trying to blow as much air as I could into the carboy through one of the holes in the cap. I wasn't able to force any air to leak out the sides, so I'm assuming I can get a decent seal. We'll find out after this weekend... -Bob P.S. Thanks to all those who responded to my temperature problem. I'm going to try the T-shirt trick this time (fingers crossed). Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Apr 92 08:46:22 CST From: "Ken Schriner" <KENS at saturn.uark.edu> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #866 (April 17, 1992) > >Irish Ale. Fruitier. Tangier. Darker (a little.) It seemed like a > >variation of the Pale Ale. I wouldn't give this to non-home brew > >friends, its taste is a little farther from their palatte path than > >they be willing to accept, or appreciate. Was great after a pale ale. > >A little drier than the pale ale. > > Beer across america sent this one out last month, and it's been my > favoritve so far. Quite malty, not overly hoppy. I thought it was > kind of sweet, but I didn't drink it after one of their pale ales. > I want more! What is Beer Across America. If they send out stuff like Boulevard Brewery's Irish Ale, I'm definitley interested. If you could give us an idea of what it is, the quality of the beer, addresses, phone numbers, etc. I know I am real interested. In reference to Boulevard Brewery Bully Porter, Brian Bliss says: > A friend gave me a bottle of their porter a few months back. Kind of > weak, but tasty. Neat label (has a bulldog on it). If it was twice as > strong... I guess I've always been confused about this. What is the standard for porter? Ken Schriner BITNET ks06054 at uafsysb University of Arkansas Internet kens at saturn.uark.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 11:09:59 -0400 From: nnieuwej at pooh.bowdoin.edu Subject: Re:Killer Head >Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 11:43:39 EDT >From: lconrad at wilko.Prime.COM (Laura Conrad) >Subject: Killer head! >> Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 14:34 CDT >> From: korz at ihlpl.att.com >> Subject: Re: Killer head! >> >> 1. bottling too soon, >> 2. infection, and >> 3. too much priming sugar. >> >> If the beer is only correctly carbonated during weeks 2, 3 and 4 >> after bottling, then I suspect either reason #1 or #3. >Also, if some bottles have the gushing problem and others don't, it's #2. I had a batch with some gushers but no apparent infection. After repeated sampling :-) I noticed that while some gushed, many others had little or no carbonation. Casting my thoughts back to a frenzied exam-week evening of bottling I came to the conclusion that my priming sugar had probably not been evenly distributed through the beer; some bottles got too much sugar and some got too little. -Nils Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 08:49:53 PDT From: florianb at chip.cna.tek.com Subject: all grain A couple of days ago I wrote about going all-grain. I received this message directly and thought it worth answering on the digest: >From: john at warped.phc.org (John A. Palkovic) >Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 07:36:32 -0600 >Message-Id: <a612defd at warped.phc.org> >X-Mailer: Fernmail 1.1 > >In HBD #864 you write: > >>It is not expensive to go all-grain. It only takes a larger boiler >>(I use a big porcelain pot), a picnic cooler, some length of 1/2" >>copper tubing, a smaller pot for stovetop mashing, and that's it. > >What about a scale to weigh the grain? And a grain mill? I live out in >the boonies and mail order almost all my ingredients. I would have to >get a grain mill. How do you get by without these two pieces of >equipment? I also live out in the boonies. In fact, the area I live in in Central Oregon is called "Boonesborough." It's half-way between Bend and Redmond. The water here comes from a deep well and is perfect for lager. I found both the balance and the grain mill (Corona) at second hand stores. The balance cost $7 and the mill $15. It takes some looking around. Sorry, I should have mentioned these also. Still, even if you have to buy them new, you will win in the long run. A half-case of regular store-bought US beer is about $7 now. A six of micro is at least $7. Considering you get over two cases of 12 oz bottles from 5 gallons, home brewing makes up the difference really fast. The equipment cost is trivial compared to six-months worth of buying commercial brew instead of all-grain brewing. Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Apr 1992 13:25 EDT From: dab at dasher.cc.bellcore.com (dave ballard) Subject: national competition hey now- received this in the mail from the aha today, though you might be interested... dab ========================================================================= dave ballard "Life may not be the party we hoped for, dab at dasher.cc.bellcore.com but while we're here we should dance." ========================================================================= WORLD'S LARGEST HOMEBREW COMPETITION SETS TONE FOR 1992 NATIONAL HOMEBREW CONFERENCE Boulder, Colo.-- The American Homebrewers Association today announced that the National Homebrew Competition, the world's largest competition of its type, broke all previous records for participation. To accommodate the vast number of entries, more than 2,200 in all and 635 more than last year's 1,565 entries, the National Competition was broken into four regional first round judging sites for beer and one site for sake and cider. The competition was hosted in the West by Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, Calif., in the Rockies by Boulder Beer Company in Boulder, Colo., in the Midwest by Goose Island Brewing Company in Chicago, Ill., and in the East by Boston Beer Company in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Sake and cider, both first time categories at the National Competition, were judged at F.H. Steinbart in Portland, Ore. and Boston Beer Company in Jamaica Plain respectively. "The host breweries make the whole Competition possible," said Karen Barela, AHA vice president. "If the breweries didn't open their doors to us and support homebrewing as much as they do, the size and interest in the National Competition would be much more limited. The really provide an incredible amount of support for homebrewing." The National Competition provides an opportunity for homebrewers to receive unbiased feedback on the quality of their beers, mead, cider and sake from a panel of trained judges certified in the Beer Judge Certification Program. Beers, meads, sakes, and ciders are judges according to style. In the beer judging alone there are 24 different categories and 57 different subcategories. With 2,200 beers, meads, ciders and sakes distributed across the country and ready for judging, entrants eagerly await the May 8 announcement of which entries have been selected to go on to the second round. Both the second and final rounds will be judged at the AHA National Homebrewers Conference June 9 to 13 at the Marc Plaza Hotel in Milwaukee, Wis. National Competition winners as well as the Best of Show (single best beer), Ninkasi Award (brewer who receives the most points) and the Club High Point Award (homebrew club that has entered the most winning entries throughout the year), will be awarded at the National Homebrewers Conference Grand banquet and awards ceremony on June 12, 1992. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 14:10 EST From: "DARRYL L. DAVIDSON" <D_DAVIDSON%UVMVAX.BITNET at mitvma.mit.edu> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #866 (April 17, 1992) Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 14:13:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Jason Ari Goldstein <jg3o+ at andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: Spoiled Brew?? Hey now, Me and a pal brewed a batch of beer 2 weeks ago (today) unfortunately we have not had a chance to bottle it. Now we are wondering if we spoiled the batch. Should we bottle it anyway? Should we dump it? Should we bottle it and then give it as gifts to our enemies? Etc. A quick response would be greatly appreciated becuase if we are going to bottle we need to do it tonight. Thanks in advnace. Later... Jason A. Goldstein ___________________________________________ Over, Finished, Gone, Done, Out. (Finally) Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 14:24:34 -0400 From: coombs at cme.nist.gov (Dave Coombs) Subject: Re: Cat's Meow 2 - How do I keep my printer from exploding? >> Is there anyway I can break up the Cat's Meow 2 recipe book...? psrev might do it on unix systems if cat's meow is conformant postscript (ie, each page is self-contained). dave Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 15:19 EST From: "DARRYL L. DAVIDSON" <D_DAVIDSON%UVMVAX.BITNET at mitvma.mit.edu> Subject: Shipping Beer Across America In HBD 866, bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss) mentioned: >...Beer across america sent this one out last month, and it's been my... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I don't know if I dozed off during some earlier mention of these folks on HBD, but I 'accidentally stayed awake for it' this time. Faster than this Vermont weather(*) changes, I've discovered the following: - --B.A.A. is (indeed) to beer what BOMC and POMC are to books and lingerie. - --The monthly cost is $13.75 plus $3.xx s/h in Illinois, and $7.xx s/h to the rest of the USA (oops, forgot to ask about canada, etc). - --Each month, a six-pack each of two beers show up on your porch via UPS. - --Their phone number is 800-854-BEER, (854-2337), and yes, they'd gladly send me a brochure. NOTE!! Twice I've mentioned interstate shipping of beer. Since there seemed to never be a full resolution on that problem here on HBD (or I've missed that text, too), I asked the guy at B.A.A. about how they work with UPS. They ship via some small-packet airfreight carrier (I forget the name) to the state of the addressee, to a UPS drop point. Then UPS carries it to the door. This way, UPS doesn't cross state borders with beer. While I'm curious about how flying 34000 feet above the stateline succeeds where UPS ground fails, this does suggest alternatives for shipping beer, doesn't it? - --Darryl the younger ------------------------------- D_Davidson at uvmvax.uvm.edu Disclaimer: if a disclaimer becomes necessary, I will INSIST this was fiction. In the interim, I hold no economic interest in B.A.A. or the Women's Christian Temperance Union.--(*) we rec'd 2" of snow last night in Burlington :-( ----- Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 19:13:11 -0700 From: Nick Cuccia <cuccia at eris.berkeley.edu> Subject: Relaxing, not worrying, and having my first all-grain... Last month I decided to go for it. Here's my recipe for Blackout Brown Ale (named after the storm-related blackout that happened while making it): 5 Gallons 7# Klages Malt 1/4# Chocolate Malt 1/4# Patent Malt 1/2# 80L Crystal 1 oz Willamette Hops (3.8% alpha) (one hour boil) 4/5 oz Perle Hops (8.5% alpha) (30 min boil) 1/2 t Irish Moss (15 min boil) 1/2 oz Willamette Hops (3.8% alpha) (dry hopped) Wyeast English Ale yeast 3/4 c Corn sugar (priming) I used Papazian's temperature-controlled mash: 30 min at 122 F 90 min at 155-145 F sparge at 170 F Total boil time was one hour. 3/22 Cooled; pitched yeast. Initial gravity: 1.042 3/28 Racked and dry-hopped. Intermediate gravity: 1.012 4/6 Primed and bottled. Final gravity: 1.008 One word: Mmmm! I was aiming for an English mild, and missed--too dark and too hoppy a nose for style. Nice body, with a good balance between the malt and the hops; the first thing that hits you, however, is the Willamette nose. Looking back at the process, I'm surprised at how easy it was (even with thunderstorms and blackouts while it was going on--thank your choice of supreme being for gas stoves). Cheers! - --Nick =============================================================================== And Little Sir John with his nut brown bowl, and his brandy in the glass. And Little Sir John with his nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nick Cuccia cuccia at mica.berkeley.edu =============================================================================== Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 21:59:51 CDT From: David William Bell <bell at convex.csd.uwm.edu> Subject: CO2 & Yeast Cell Walls Hi All, I'm not an experienced enough brewer to do more than speculate, but: The idea of having all of the pressure build up in the fermentor because the CO2 may be a good thing leads me to ask: Wouldn't this break the yeast cell walls? I mean the argument for using a hydration step in water rather than in wort is because of cell damage. So, wouldn't the pressure be as bad for the yeasties as tossing them straight into wort for hydration purposes? . . . Unless its because once in the wort and reproducing they grow stronger - being already hydrated an all . . . Just a thought, Dave - bell at convex.csd.uwm.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 92 09:55:55 EDT From: orgasm!davevi at uunet.UU.NET (David Van Iderstine) Subject: Re: Source for Liquid Yeast |> I read your post in the Homebrew listserv with interest. I've been getting |>the same 'off flavor' you describe. I haven't been able to find liquid |>yeast. My local Homebrew supply shop doesn't stock it or sell it. Where |>do you get your yeast? If you need to mail order it, could you provide |>me with an address I can order from? I often get my liquid yeast mail order from The Frozen Wort, at P.O. Box 988, Greenfield, MA. 01302. The phone number is (413)773-5920. The guy who runs it is Charlie Olchowski, a very nice guy. He's also head of the Valley Fermenters, the homebrew club for the Connecticut River Valley area (in Mass.). I phone my orders in & he bills me with the shipment. He stocks all the Wyeast varieties. Another potential source for liquid yeasts is Sierra Nevada beers. Buy a six, pour off all but the bottom into a pitcher, and then pour the bottom slurry from the bottles into a sterilized vessel. Add some pre-sterilized starter wort (say 1 cup extract in 1 qt. water), an air-lock, and let that go for a couple days. Once the bubbling slows down or stops, it can be pitched in your full batch. A friend does this regularly; the Sierra Nevada yeast is actually the same as one of the Wyeast varieties. Of course, any commercial beer that has yeast on the bottom can be prepared this way. =========================================================================== == Dave Van Iderstine Senior Software Engineer == == Xerox Imaging Systems, Inc. == == UUCP: uunet!pharlap!orgasm!davevi davevi at pharlap.com :INTERNET == ==-----------------------------------------------------------------------== == "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate." == =========================================================================== Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1992 13:03:25 -0500 From: Todd Enders - WD0BCI <enders at plains.NoDak.edu> Subject: Alt Although I can't quite claim that this is an "authentic" altbier recipe (wrong yeast), it *is* good, and it would probably be just as good with Wyeast #1007 (German). Enjoy! 4# US Two Row (Klages/Harrington) 3.25# 10L Munich 4 oz. 80L Crystal 8 oz. Wheat Malt 1/2 oz. Black Patent (just for color :-) 1/2 oz. 5.5% alpha Willamette (boil) 1/2 oz. 6.1% alpha East Kent Goldings (boil) 1 oz. 2.9% alpha Hallertauer (finish) Wyeast #1056 (American Ale aka Sierra Nevada) yeast 2/3 C. Corn sugar (for priming) Mash in: 11 qt. water at 137F pH 5.2 Protein Rest: 30 mins. at 131F Conversion Rest: 60 mins. at 155F Mash out: 5 mins. at 168F Sparge: 5 gal. at 170F Boil: 90 mins. Hops: 2 additions, 45 & 10 minutes before end of boil. OG: 1.047 FG: 1.012 This is a well balanced brew. To be closer to authentic, you should age it for a month in the fridge after bottling and waiting for the brew to carbonate. It's also quite nice aged at room temperature. The bittering hops were just what I happened to have on hand (I didn't have enough Willamette :-). If one were to worry about the hops they were using, one could use a heap of Hallertauer for bittering, but I can think of better uses for such a fine hop. Perle would serve nicely for bittering. Of course, for finishing/dry hopping you could go nuts with various combinations of Hallertauer, Tetnanger, Saaz, etc. =============================================================================== Todd Enders - WD0BCI ARPA: enders at plains.nodak.edu Computer Center UUCP: ...!uunet!plains!enders Minot State University or: ...!hplabs!hp-lsd!plains!enders Minot, ND 58701 Bitnet: enders at plains "The present would be full of all possible futures, if the past had not already projected a pattern upon it" - Andre' Gide =============================================================================== Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 11:42:53 -0700 From: Nick Cuccia <cuccia at eris.berkeley.edu> Subject: RECIPE--Grizzly Peak Pale Ale My second all-grain batch is a variation on Jackie Brown's Summer Pale Ale (Cat's Meow 2, p.1-6, HBD#134): 5 Gallons 8# Klages Malt 1# 20L Munich Malt 1 c Cara-Pils Malt 1.5 T Gypsum 1/2 t Irish Moss 3.5 oz Kent Goldings Hops 3/4 c Corn Sugar (priming) Wyeast Chico Ale yeast Used Papazian's temperature-controlled mash: 30 min at 130-120F 120 min at 155-145F Sparge at 170F Boiling/Hopping schedule: 0:00: 1 oz Kent Goldings 0:30: 1 oz Kent Goldings 0:45: 1 oz Kent Goldings Irish Moss 1:00: Cooled; strained off of trub; pitched yeast. OG: 1.043 Racked after six days; primed and bottled after seven more. FG: 1.008 Heavenly KG aroma; big mouthfeel; nice malt and hop flavors up front, with a good hop bite going down. Definitely not Lawnmower Brew. For those who haven't tried mashing: give it a go. It's not hard; in fact, I'm posting this while mashing a wheat beer. Time to go stir, - --Nick Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 15:37:43 EDT From: bickham at msc2.msc.cornell.edu (Scott Bickham) Subject: Jack Schmidling's NA Beer (very long!) Saturday, Jean Hunter ran a Dr. Beer seminar in which several Ithaca Brewers' Union members were able to taste a standard beer that had been doctored by adding food grade flavors or by fermentation/storage conditions. After we had finished, we had the opportunity to taste Jack Schmidling's NA homebrew, as well as Freeport NA "brew". My analysis of these two NA beers appears below, along with a listing of some of my judging qualifications. Judging and Brewing experience: I have been a homebrewer for 3 years, primarily of ales due to the temperature stability of my basement at 60F. I am currently doing partial mashes; however I will start doing full mashes with a RIMS unit in the fall. I will not take the AHA Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Exam for another week; however I already have 5 judging points from 3 AHA-sponsored competitions (including 3 from judging the first round of the 1992 AHA Nationals at Boston). Disclaimer: I have no bias towards Jack Schmidling as a result of any so-called "flame wars", and am no way affiliated with him or the brewers of Freeport NA. Freeport NA: The color is golden to amber, very clear, and conditioning is sufficient to produces a moderate head. The aroma and taste are predominately piney or woody in character, and the finish is very clean. I found the flavor profile to be somewhat short, yet surprisingly complex for a NA brew. Jack's NA: The beer was in a clear Corona bottle, which enabled us to see a small colony (about 1/4" in diameter) floating on the surface of the liquid. Jean Hunter remarked that the colony was there when she received the bottle in the mail. The color was pale, however it was very cloudy. The bottle had been refrigerated, so it could have been chill haze; however I didn't let the beer warm up to test this hypothesis. The conditioning level was similar to the Freeport. The aroma was faintly herbal, but phenolics were also detectable. The taste was also herbal, with some phenolic astringency in the finish. The flavor profile of this brew lasted longer than the Freeport; however it seemed more like an herbal tea than a beer. As for the alcohol level, Jean has not yet checked this on the chromatograph, so the question of distillation efficiency remains unanswered. Conclusion: I found both of these brews lacking in the qualities necessary to define them as beers. I haven't tried any other commercial versions of this style and I don't know of any AHA description of this style. However if I assign a 29 out of 50 to Freeport (which puts it at the high end of the good range), then Jack Schmidling's beer would be a 24 (the high end of the drinkable range). Both brews suffer from having one-dimensional flavor profiles, while Jack's loses points in aroma, appearance, flavor, and overall impression. Jack, I recommend that you be extra careful with sanitation, since more microorganisms can exist at the lower alcohol level (as you are no doubt already aware of). Also, since your brew still contains isomerized-hop and sulphur compounds, you are taking an unnecessary risk of photochemical damage by using clear bottles. Hopefully the reason you sent this bottle to Jean is because you are trying to get rid of it :-) Cheers, Scott Bickham ========================================================================= C-17 Clark Hall, Cornell University | bickham at msc.cornell.edu Ithaca, New York 14853-2501 | bickham at crnlmsc2.bitnet ========================================================================= Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 20:30:27 PDT From: rpeck at pure.com (Ray Peck) Subject: Michael Jackson's book "The Gret Beers of Belgium" I mentioned this book a while back on HBD and the lambic list, since it was something I was sure many here would be interested in. I picked up a copy in Belgium, and have never seen it here. It was available in both English and Flemish (I didn't see any in Waloon, though I'd expect it to avaiable in that, too). A number of people asked for the ISBN and other info. What number, you ask? I don't remember. But here it is: The Great Beers of Belgium, A Complete Guide and Celebration of a Unique Culture, by Michael Jackson Edited by: Media Marketing Communications nv Frankrijklei 111 - 2000 Antwerp - Belgium ISBN 90-5373-003-6 Copyright MJ, 1991 I bought it in Brugge at this shop: de reyghere boekhandel Markt 12 B-8000 Brugge tel, 050/33.34.03 Needless to say, it's a fantastic book. 269 pages. Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #867, 04/20/92