HOMEBREW Digest #909 Wed 24 June 1992

Digest #908 Digest #910


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


Contents:
  Dr. John is Right--Kind Of (Jeff Frane)
  Re: pearled barley (Patrick J. Volkerding)
  Bedeviled hops ("Dr. John")
  English bitters (Conn Copas)
  Pearled Barley (Chris Estes)
  Wort Chillers for Extract Brewers? (smc)
  Strawberry Wine???? (rizy)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #908 (June 23, 1992) (Justin Seiferth)
  Re: sterilizing counter-flow chillers (Mike Zentner)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #908 (June 23, 1992)  (-------------------------------------------------------------------------------)
  Bar Harbor Amber, Cerpa (Russ Gelinas)
  Re: Pitch in Brewkettle (Greg Winters)
  Priming with grocery store juice (korz)
  SF Brews (That's Santa Fe - the original SF :-) (GEOFF REEVES)
  AHA Nat. Comp. Winners (James Spence)
  re: bugs are eating my hop plants (Dave Platt)
  Re: G. Fix/Cambridge/CAMRA Good Beer Guide (Paul Jasper)
  Re: Aeration with aquarium pumps (Larry Barello)
  Re: Aeration with aquarium pumps  (Steve Dempsey)
  Sam Adams Wheat (Mike Wilson)
  bitter (Rob Bradley)
  On Tap (World Beer Review) (Michael L. Hall)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 92 15:26:25 PDT From: gummitch at techbook.com (Jeff Frane) Subject: Dr. John is Right--Kind Of Well, it's true that August Schell Pilsner and Capital Special are great beers. Capital Special, in fact, holds a very special place in my heart, and I managed to commandeer and disappear two bottles during the AHA banquet. Compared to NW beers, however, it's not particularly hoppy. When the AS Pilsner appeared at the Oregon Brewers Festival on draught about 3 years ago, it blew me away: an extraordinarily hoppy beer and my favorite from the festival. But the bottle version is considerably more timid; the local distributor, in fact, is convinced that AS is bottling their real pilsner as their Export and the Export in the Pilsner bottles. And don't mistake me: I love good Midwestern Microbrewed Lagers (TM); I brought a case of Sprecher's home on the plane, and it's already almost gone. But... when you need HOPS, stick to the Left Coast. - --Jeff Frane Beer Snobs United (hooray for good taste) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 04:04:28 -0500 From: volkerdi at MHD1.moorhead.msus.edu (Patrick J. Volkerding) Subject: Re: pearled barley Yes, pearled barley is useful for brewing, and can be substituted in all-grain recipes for flaked barley. I've seen Charlie P. suggest its use in stout to help give it that creamy, Guinness-like head. I'd try about a pound of it in a stout. It will most likely create a beer that will not clear, so I'm not sure I'd use it in a beer that wasn't opaque. It has to be cooked prior to the mash. Just boil it up with the water you plan to use for the mash. When it seems done, let it cool down to whatever your mash strike temp is (or chill it if you don't want to wait) and add the rest of the grains to start the mash. Mash and sparge as usual. Pat Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 07:49:50 EDT From: "Dr. John" <JELJ at CORNELLA.cit.cornell.edu> Subject: Bedeviled hops Greetings all, Seems that the HopDevil's hops are bedeviled. John, identifying the perpetrators will be a boon to dealing with them. You can knock back many types of soft-bodied critters (such as aphids) pretty handily with a soap spray. If memory serves, and I'm not sure it does exactly, a 1% solution is adequate. You can go to the trouble of buying one of the horticultural products (i.e. Safers) but plain old Ivory Liquid dish soap will do the job. You can eradicate many other bugs with specialized BT preparations. Bottom line is that pest identification is the key to eradication, unless you are willing to do the job with industrial strength chemicals and expose yourself to all the potential risks they carry into your hopyard and your life. On another note, I'd like to thank all who were so kind as to send private responses to my question about beer in Baltimore. Looks like there plenty of places to get good beer there. Ooogy wawa, Dr. John P.S. Good to see you online again Master Baughmann. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 12:49:02 BST From: MICKS at d.sss.co.uk Subject English Bitter.... Eric Pepke writes: >Paul Stafiniak asks about English bitter. Though an American, I travel to >England quite a lot and drink prodigious quantities of the stuff, so I As an Englishman living in the Real Ale mecca of Salford/Mancheter area (Thats NW England for those not sure !), who also drinks gallons of bitter, I commend your good taste ! >style that Americans in general and the AHA in particular does. A beer >style over there is much more likely to describe a range of >characteristics, which may overlap with other beer styles. "Bitter" is >a continuum, not a point.) Absolutely right, there are many different types of 'Bitter'. Some good some ... Oh Oh I nearly forgot the golden rule which states that there is no such thing as BAD beer. just that some is better than others ! >a tang which is hard to describe. None are heavily carbonated. In London, >beer is served practically flat. Go up North and it gets fizzier, but >never so fizzy as any bottled ale. It depends what you mean by 'fizzy'. Both Real Ale and Keg beer is pulled flat into 20 ounce glasses in the South of England, Whereas up north many pubs use 24 ounce glasses and pull the beer with a thick head on top. Keg beer always tastes gassier than Real Ale because it is chemically killed and filtered before being artificially carbonated. Real Ale uses the natural carbonation provided by the yeast and is not treated in any way, apart from the occaisonal use of finings to clear a particularly stubborn barrel. Happy brewing and tasty drinking, Mike Smedley Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 13:15:23 BST From: Conn Copas <C.V.Copas at lut.ac.uk> Subject: English bitters I'm not sure that traditional definitions of bitters correspond with current practice. As has already been observed, the term 'IPA' tends to be abused frequently. On the other hand, session bitters are an important category which don't seem to fit the definitions. They are more than a light ale; in fact, skill is required in order to perform various conjuring tricks which make the beer seem 'bigger' than it really is. The tricks include using darker malts for flavour, increasing the proportion of unfermentables (so that, for example, a SG 36 wort finishes fermenting around SG 12), and employing hop aroma and esterification to advantage. On the lager front, Pilsener Urquell is a good good example of some of these techniques. Obviously, the alcoholic warmth/sweetness of high gravity brews will not be present, but that is something that can be compensated to a certain extent. The upshot is that it is possible to brew to less than 3% alcohol by volume without sacrificing too much in the way of flavour. The brew may not win competitions, but is a good alternative to soft drinks or low alcohol beers, IMHO. - -- Loughborough University of Technology tel : (0509)263171 ext 4164 Computer-Human Interaction Research Centre fax : (0509)610815 Leicestershire LE11 3TU e-mail - (Janet):C.V.Copas at uk.ac.lut G Britain (Internet):C.V.Copas%lut.ac.uk at nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 09:16:50 -0400 From: cestes at argos5.DNET.NASA.GOV (Chris Estes) Subject: Pearled Barley In HBD #908, Brett Lindenbach writes: > Hey brewheads. I was recently in my local bulk-food store and noticed a > bin of pearled barley. I thought this might come in handy, so I bought > a pound. Well, I checked all my mash recipes and could not find any > mention of this stuff. Does anybody have any suggestions? Brett If this is just regular barley I've used it with neutral results. I was struck by the same thought while wandering through the grocery store and picked up a 2 lb bag of the stuff. I've used as much as a 1/2 lb in my brews; I'm not sure if it added or detracted very much. I generally grind it in my trusty coffee grinder and add like a specialty malt. My feeling on this is that I'm not doing it exactly right. I'm an extract brewer and not well versed in the procedures of infusion mashing, which would probably bring out more good stuff from the barley. I do have a feeling that the pearled barley contains starches and protiens too complex to ferment without correct mashing, but I understand that could add to the head. My experience is that moderate amounts won't hurt anything, so go ahead and try it. -Chris Estes- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 09:34 EDT From: smc at hotsc.att.com Subject: Wort Chillers for Extract Brewers? Kinney Baughman <BAUGHMANKR at CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU> writes in the HBD: > > But whatever the case, use one or the other. Wort-chillers are > essential to any homebrewery. I'm an extract brewer (with occasional specialty grains), on my 16th batch in about 1 year. Will a wort chiller help my brew? I am not interested (for now) in going to all-grain; I don't have that much time for this hobby! My current procedure is to boil only about 2 gallons of wort (from extract/H20), adding hops/grains as necessary, and then dumping this into the fermenter with 2-3 gallons of cold H20. The temperature drops from boiling to pitching temperature instantly, and I can pitch right away. There's no "cold break" that I can notice with this method; I imagine the trub eventually precipitates out into the primary yeast cake. I've just started using liquid yeast (Wyeast Ale) and whole hops for aroma. Batch 15 was the best so far with these improvements. Thanks to the HBD for these suggestions! Steve Casagrande smc at hotsc.att.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 15:49:33 +0200 From: rizy at eel.sunet.se Subject: Strawberry Wine???? Does anybody out there have a good recipe for a Strawberry wine. They are out in full force this year in Sweden here and I'd love to try utilising some. Could you write to me directly as the season will soon be over. Thanks in advance, Rick Zydenbos Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 8:09:32 MDT From: seiferth at utah.cs.unm.edu (Justin Seiferth) Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #908 (June 23, 1992) There is a brewpub a short way up the road from Sante Fe towards Taos. It's called embudo \ station and they have an excellent green chile beer. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 09:33:39 -0500 From: zentner at ecn.purdue.edu (Mike Zentner) Subject: Re: sterilizing counter-flow chillers This comes up every so often, but at caveat for those making or purchasing a counter-flow chiller. Make sure the inside of the tubing is free of machining oils. Chemical cleaning is not sufficient in many cases...requiring actual physical scouring of the inside of the tubing before you bend it into a coil. If you want to test your tubing for oils, swab a q-tip soaked in rubbing alcohol around the inside. If it comes out dirty, you've got a problem....if not....no problem... Mike Zentner, who has tried to clean oil out by running 20 batches of boiling water, rubbing alcohol, beer, bleach, soap water and even lysol through an already constructed chiller...to no avail. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 09:49:40 CDT From: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <qian at iastate.edu> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #908 (June 23, 1992) Please drop me from your mailing list. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 11:10:47 -0400 (EDT) From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas) Subject: Bar Harbor Amber, Cerpa Had the chance to taste an Amber Ale from the Bar Harbor Brewing Co. in Maine, on tap. Pretty standard amber, except for having absolutely no hops aroma at all. Bitterness/malt were balanced ok, but either they forgot to add the finishing hops, or they should change their recipe. Anyone tried any of their other brews? On a better note, I had a Cerpa pilsner from Brazil. Came in a colorful can. It's an eastern European style pilsner, very similar in flavor/aroma/color to Budvar, or maybe even the Czech version of Pilsner Urquell. A nice beer. I was told that the "generic" beer in Brazil is better than generic US Budmiloors. Oddly, Xingu lager was not to be found, and the locals had not even heard of it. And now, a homebrewing question. Darryl Bock-man ;-) said he sanitizes his plastic with boiling water, reasoning that the heat will kill the nasties in any cracks. I've been thinking of using a zapap lauter tun (bucket in a bucket) as a hop-back, but have been concerned about exposing my chilled wort to the plastic buckets. But, if Darryl's assumption is true, then pouring the *hot* wort through the lauter-tun/hop-back would eliminate sanitation concerns about the plastic. It would oxidize the wort, but at this stage it would mostly just darken it. Correct me if I'm wrong on that. I'd also be concerned about handling a brewpot full of hot wort, but I can imagine a way to be careful about that. Am I forgetting anything? Any holes in my thinking? Russ Return to table of contents
Date: 23 Jun 92 11:14:55 EDT From: CHUCKM at CSG3.Prime.COM Hello everybody... I'v got a few questions that I need some info about..... maybe someone can help or has an opinion. 1. Aeration of wort. Why should I do it and how. 2. Does anyone have any experience or opinion about the malt extracts from North Western. Thanks in advance chuckm at csg3.prime.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 08:48:56 PDT From: Greg.Winters at EBay.Sun.COM (Greg Winters) Subject: Re: Pitch in Brewkettle In HBD #908 Chris Karras writes - (Process of pitching yeast in brew kettle...) and >During respiration, cell production uses lots of trub components >and your lag time will be reduced. Afterwords, the trub is harmful >by contributing to overproduction of fusel alcohols and esters (which >are combinations of fusel alcohols and fatty acids). >For this reason, I have been pitching my yeast into the brewkettle and then >racking off into the primary. I have been waiting about two hours after >pitching to rack, but perhaps should wait longer. . . . From what I can >tell from the speed that fermentation progresses, there is no interruption >in the fermentation process. I am also under the impression that the active >yeast cells are in suspension (and therefore get moved with the racked wort) >and only the inactive cells drop to the bottom with the trub. Of course I >am only doing ales with top fermenting yeast this summer--bottom working >lager yeast may be a different story. I have read with interest over the last few months the different methods and suppossed pros/cons of the trub/no trub discussions. While admiting I have not done any controlled experiments (no patience) I tend to pick the parts that sound logical and incorporate them into my technique, while also trying to keep things as simple as possible. First off, I am currently strictly an extract brewer. Rather than the above method I tend to dump the hot wort directly into a plastic fermenter and let it sit about 1-2 hours to let the trub settle. I then rack off to a glass carboy which allows me to areate the cooled wort very well and then I just pitch in a quart or so of wyeast starter. I get great results with only 2-3 hours lag time and then have no reason to mess with the beer once fermentation has begun. Have had excellent results so far, even if I do say so myself! Questions: Is there any problem with racking (read oxidation) after fermentation has begun in the kettle? Would the use of a yeast starter reduce or eliminate the need for pitching with the trub intact? Thanks for all the great info provided on the HBD Brew On! Greg Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 10:54 CDT From: korz at iepubj.att.com Subject: Priming with grocery store juice Rich asks about priming with juice. I suspect that you will have great difficulty in priming with store-bought juice. Most contain preservatives to keep them from becoming what we're trying to make them: alcoholic. Read the label. Regarding quantity (in case you find some that does not have preservatives), remember that not all sugars are alike. The fermentability of anything is dependent on what kinds of sugars you have and what kinds of yeast you have. Highly-attenuative yeasts will eat almost any type of sugar, whereas the less-attenuative yeasts will only eat simpler sugars. I'm afraid that the only way you will know for sure is to perform an experiment. Bottle five bottles worth with varying amounts of priming solution (juice, in your case) and let sit a week. See what amount of priming solution is right. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 10:13:43 -0600 From: 105277 at essdp1.lanl.gov (GEOFF REEVES) Subject: SF Brews (That's Santa Fe - the original SF :-) > From: team login(bmn) <team at sl2arc.ho.att.com> > Date: Fri, 19 Jun 92 10:33:52 -0400 > > Next week I will be traveling to Santa Fe New Mexico. > Does anyone have any recommendations for brewpubs > in the area? Thanks in advance! > > John Costelloe > att!homxc!jrcost > I wouldn't be surprised to find that Mike or Mary Hall answer this too but in case they don't... There are no brew pubs in Santa Fe. Embudo Station (on the way up to Taos) is the closest. It's probably about a 45 min drive but very pretty and worth going. Santa Fe Pale Ale is brewed at the Galisto Brewing Company just south-east of Santa Fe. It's not a brew pub but they will give you a tour (I think just on the weekends unless you arrange otherwise). If you just want to try the beers you can get any that are available at The Royal Buck on Galisto Street in Santa Fe. They have a pretty good selection of beer and they carry "Santa Fe" beers from the Galisto Brewery which are not available in bottles anywhere but at the brewery. Of course there are good beer drinking establishments in Albuquerque too. Geoff Reeves Atomic City Ales Los Alamos New Mexico (Atomic City Ales are not available in stores, brewpubs or bars :-) Return to table of contents
Date: 23 Jun 92 12:58:12 EDT From: James Spence <70740.1107 at compuserve.com> Subject: AHA Nat. Comp. Winners AMERICAN HOMEBREWERS ASSOCIATION 1992 NATIONAL COMPETITION WINNERS Homebrewer of the Year Sponsored by Munton & Fison, England Stu Tallman, Rochester, MA StuBrew Munich Dunkel Roundtrip travel and accommodations have been awarded to the Homebrewer of the Year to visit the Great American Beer Festival XI in Denver, Colorado, Oct. 2 and 3, 1992. Ninkasi Award (High-Point Homebrewer) Sponsored by JV Norwest, Inc. Wilsonville, OR Steven J. and Christina Daniel League City, TX 14 points total Meadmaker of the Year Sponsored by the Home Wine and Beer Trade Association Byron Burch, Santa Rosa, CA Alberta Frost Sparkling Mead Cidermaker of the Year Sponsored by Mayer's Cider Mill, Webster, NY Charles Castellow, Edmonds, WA Hard Core XXX Cider Sparkling Cider Sakemaker of the Year Sponsored by Hakusan Sake, Napa, CA Tina Long, Sacramento, CA Sake/Japanese Rice Beer Club High-Point Trophy Sponsored by DeFalco's Wine & House Beer, Dallas, TX First Place Sonoma Beerocrats, Sonoma, CA Second Place The Wort Processors, Boston, MA Third Place Hop, Barley, and the Alers, Boulder, CO Barley Wine ~ 82 entries Sponsored by EDME Ltd., England First Place Greg Leas St. Charles, MO Foghorn Leghorn Barleywine Second Place Rob Brunner Windsor, Co Robert the Bruce Third Place Harry Clayton Seymour, CT Old Boots & Panties Belgian-Style Specialty ~ 81 entries Sponsored by Manneken-Brussel Imports, Inc., Austin, TX First Place White Mark Richmond Springfield, OH Hoe Garden - Mow Lawn Second Place Dubbel Rick Larson, Paddy Giffen Sebastopol, CA Third Place Belgian Strong Ale David Suda Boulder, CO #35 Brown Ales ~ 120 entries Sponsored by Premier Malt Products, Grosse Pointe, MI First Place American Brown Randy Gremp Calistoga, CA Second Place American Brown Charlie Milan Baton Rouge, LA Stars & Stripes Brown Third Place English Brown Ales Ron Page Middletown, CT The Brown Cow English Style Pale Ale ~ 168 entries Sponsored by Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver, CO First Place Classic English Pale Ale Kevin Johnson Pacifica, CA Salutation #4 Second Place India Pale Ale Robert Drousth Madison, WI IP-ALE-X Third Place India Pale Ale Rick W. Guthrie Livermore, CA Wolf Dog IPA American Style Pale Ale ~ 144 entries Sponsored by Northwestern Extract Co., Brookfield, WI First Place American Pale Ale Bill Draths Chicago, IL Dan Ale Second Place American Pale Ale Michael Chronister Norristown, PA Third Place Floor Mild Ale Third Place Cream Ale Steven J. Daniel, Christina Daniel League City, TX League City Cream Ale English Bitter and Scottish Ale ~ 97 entries Sponsored by Jasper's Home Brew Supply, Litchfield, NH First Place English Ordinary John Arends Calistoga, CA Second Place English Special Ross Hastings Edmonton, AB Canada Amber Ale IV Third Place English Special Alex Puchner Hermosa Beach, CA Bitter Again Porter ~ 150 entries Sponsored by The Cellar, Seattle, WA First Place Brown Porter Dennis Kinvig Toronto, ON Canada Coal Porter Second Place Robust Porter Jack Spence Alexandria, VA Peters Porter Third Place Robust Porter John Arends Calistoga, CA English and Scottish Strong Ale ~ 61 entries Sponsored by Wine And Hop Shop, Denver, CO First Place Strong Scotch Ale Jim Campbell San Jose, CA A peek under the kilt ale Second Place English Old Ale/Strong Ale Dale James Fresno, CA What the heck's that flavor? Strong Ale Third Place English Old Ale/Strong Ale Donald S. Gosselin Winthrop, MA Old Buck Stout ~ 205 entries Sponsored by BME Extract Co., Staten Island, NY First Place Imperial Stout Dick Van Dyke Park Forest, IL Rose's Russian Imperial Stout With Mayo Second Place Classic Dry Stout Randy Gremp Calistoga, CA Third Place Classic Dry Stout Paul Hale East Northport, NY Oast House Oatmeal Stout Bock ~ 140 entries Sponsored by Yakima Valley Hop Growers, Yakima, WA Bock First Place Doppelbock Steve Dempsey Fort Collins, CO Scintillator Second Place Doppelbock Vern & Darlene Wolff Esparto, CA Doppeltitilator Bock Third Place Doppelbock Brian & Linda North Franklin, WI Bock & Roll I Bavarian Dark ~ 50 entries Sponsored by Crosby and Baker, Westport, MA First Place Munich Dunkel Stu Tallman Rochester, MA StuBrew Second Place Munich Dunkel Steven J. Daniel, Christina Daniel League City, TX Accidental Dunkel Third Place Munich Dunkel Ross Herrold La Porte, IN Herroldbrau House Dark American Dark ~ 15 entries Sponsored by Briess Malting Company, Chilton, WI First Place American Dark Craig Beifus Milford, NJ Dark Amber Second Place Steven J. Daniel, Christina Daniel League City, TX Sun Tanned & Bland Third Place Christopher Hansen San Luis Obispo, CA Tweeners Dark Dortmund/Export ~ 38 entries Sponsored by DeFalco's Wine & House Beer, Dallas, TX First Place Norman Dickenson Santa Rosa, CA Grain-n-Beerit Second Place Gregory Walz Pittsburgh, PA Walz' Export Third Place Bill Murphy Brookline, MA Wortmunder Export Munich Helles ~ 43 entries Sponsored by Wines Inc., Akron, OH First Place Brian & Linda North Franklin, WI Meltdown Lager Second Place Steven J. Daniel, Christina Daniel League City, TX W.I.T.H.I.M. II Third Place Chris Harding Ketchum, ID Back to Basics Lager Classic Pilsner ~ 97 entries Sponsored by California Concentrates, Acampo, CA First Place German Patrick Drigans Buffalo, MN Distinctly Deutsch Pilsner Second Place German James Cannon Wiliamsburg, VA Un-named Third Place Bohemian Richard Rosen Andover, CT The Bohemian Beat American Light Lager ~ 83 entries Sponsored by Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO First Place American Premium Steven J. Daniel, Christina Daniel League City, TX Butt-Scratcher Second Place American Standard Steven J. Daniel, Christina Daniel League City, TX Butt-Weiper Third Place American Wheat Jim Lopes Fresno, CA Brick of Peat 'n Wheat Vienna/Oktoberfest/Marzen ~ 87 entries Sponsored by F.H. Steinbart Company, Portland, OR First Place Vienna Keith Weerts Windsor, CA Vienna Lager Second Place Vienna Ray Taylor, Maureen Taylor Neil Gudmestad Marty Draper Fargo, ND Amber Waves Third Place Marzen/Oktoberfest Thomas J. O'Connor III Rockport, ME Oktoberfest 1991 German-style Ale ~ 62 entries Sponsored by Great Fermentations of Santa Rosa, CA First Place Dusseldorf-style Altbier Tom Young Loyaltor, CA Fat Horse Second Place Kolsch David J. Rose Yountville, CA Third Place Kolsch Donald Weaver New Freedom, PA Kolsch Fruit Beer ~ 110 entries Sponsored by The Purple Foot, Milwaukee, WI First Place Fruit Beer Dan Robison Salt Lake City, UT Leftover Strawberry Ale Second Place Fruit Beer Daniel Jodoin Livonia, MI Third Place Fruit Beer Thom Tomlinson, Diane Tomlinson Boulder, CO Roseanne's Blackberry Ale Herb Beer ~ 83 entries Sponsored by Marin Brewing Company, Larkspur, CA First Place Herb Beer Eric McClary Carson City, NV Chile Garden Pils Second Place Herb Beer Wayne Greenway Oakland, CA Wet Dream ALe Third Place Herb Beer Ron Page Middletown, CT Thai House Specialty Beer ~ 109 entries Sponsored by Beer and Wine Hobby, Woburn, MA First Place Specialty Beer Bob Barson Chicago, IL 1991 Christmas Ale Second Place Classic Style Specialty Beer Rob Lillard Lyons, CO Old Maple Dog Third Place Classic Style Specialty Beer Neil Gudmestad, Ray Taylor Fargo, ND Rye Porter Smoked Beer ~ 36 entries Sponsored by Jim's Homebrew Supply, Spokane, WA First Place Bamberg-style Rauchbier James Cannon Wiliamsburg, VA Beech Beer Second Place Bamberg-style Rauchbier David Woodruff Sebastopol, CA Hermit's Hearth Third Place Other Tom Altenbach Tracy, CA Alt 'n' Bock Rauchbock California Common Beer ~ 64 entries Sponsored by Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco, CA First Place Phil Rahn Cordova, TN Memphis Steamer Second Place Rob Reed Kokomo, IN Northside Lager Third Place Larry Fergison Brooklyn, NY One Eye Steam Beer Wheat Beer (Ale) ~ 101 entries Sponsored by the American Homebrewers Assoc., Boulder, CO First Place German-style Weizen/Weissbier Eric Warner Lafayette, CO Supai's Weissbier Second Place German-style Dunkelweizen (dark) Rick Larson Sebastopol, CA Third Place German-style Weizen/Weissbier Harry Clayton Seymour, CT Weizenbier Traditional Mead ~ 35 entries Sponsored by Havill's Mazer Mead Co., New Zealand First Place Sparkling Mead Byron Burch Santa Rosa, CA Alberta Frost Second Place Still Mead Mark Quade Port Arkansas, TX But Will You Love Me Tomorrow Third Place Still Mead Micah Millspaw Oakdale, CA Anjuli's Wildflower Mead Melomel Cyser Pyment Metheglin ~ 90 entries Sponsored by American Mead Association, Ostrander, OH First Place Sparkling Mead Vern & Darlene Wolff Esparto, CA Forbidden But Plum Good Second Place Sparkling Mead Dave Resch Colorado Springs, CO Mix and Match Mead Third Place Still Mead Walter Dobrowney Saskatoon, SK Canada Mead #14 Cider ~ 36 entries Sponsored by Mayers Cider Mill Inc., Webster, NY First Place Sparkling Cider Charles Castellow Edmonds, WA Hard Core XXX Cider Second Place Specialty Cider Steve Mclaughlin Orwell, NY Linda's Lumbar Cherry Cider Third Place Specialty Cider Robert Gorman Waltham, MA Summer Dew Sake ~ 12 entries Sponsored by Hakusan Sake, Napa, CA First Place Tina Long Sacramento, CA Sake - Japanese Rice Beer Second Place Jim Long Sacramento, CA Sake - Japanese Rice Beer Third Place Fred Eckhardt Portland, OR Sake - Japanese Rice Beer Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 10:20:05 PDT From: dplatt at ntg.com (Dave Platt) Subject: re: bugs are eating my hop plants > Some pests are eating the leaves off of my hop plants! I am looking > for some friendly pesticides or remedy, as one of the plants is almost > gone. I'll check the WAIS HBD archive for stuff, but I am looking for > something like a cigar nicotine extraction method to put on the plants, > or something equally innocuous. I have done this before for other > plants, but want to collect net wisdom before I do anything. Home-made "tobacco tea" has a number of real disadvantages, and I don't recommend using it for the following reason: - Nicotine is one of the most toxic "botanical" insecticides, weight- for-weight. It's substantially more poisonous than the commonly- used synthetic organophosphate insecticides such as malathion. Commercial nicotine sulphate insecticide is quite poisonous (I believe that it carries a Danger labelling requirement) and has been the source of a substantial number of accidental poisonings (as well as being a staple in British murder mysteries). Although "tobacco tea" is a relatively dilute form of nicotine, it's not something to be treated casually. If you spray it on your hop vines, take precautions: wear gloves and a facemask, don't spray on a windy day, don't overspray, don't get it on your skin, and wash yourself off afterwards. - A large percentage of commercial tobacco is infected with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). This virus can infect most plants in the nightshade family, including tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and certain ornamentals. It can stunt or kill these plants, and is incurable. Don't use tobacco tea anywhere around these sorts of plants, and don't use the same sprayer to spray fertilizer, etc. onto these plants at a later time (TMV can survive, dormant, for quite some time). - Well-fermented tobacco tea can stink to high heaven. Two other botanicals you might want to consider, as alternatives, are pyrethrum and rotenone. Pyrethrum is a fast-acting contact insecticide with a fast "knock-down", and is of low overall toxicity to birds and mammals. Rotenone is a stronger contact/stomach insecticide, but is more toxic (especially to fish) and should be treated with respect. These botanicals are sometimes used in combination. They biodegrade within a few days, and so can be used up to within a day or two of harvest (check the labels for details). Another technique which sometimes works, is to lay down a barrier of some sticky substance (e.g. Tanglefoot) on the plant's stem and on the supports for the trellis. This isn't always practical - one cannot always blockade all of the routes by which an insect could climb up into the plant... but if it's practical in your situation, it can be an effective way to keep crawling/chewing insects from chomping your plant. [Won't do diddly if you have a problem with flying insects such as Japanese beetles]. All of this is relevant _if_ your plants are being eaten by insects. If they're being chewed up by snails, you'll need to use other methods (e.g. laying down a metaldehyde-laced bait). Before spraying anything, I'd recommend catching the guilty parties in the act, so that you'll know what it is you're fighting. This will give you the best chance of choosing the right remedy, rather than simply nuking your future homebrew supplies with chemicals (synthetic or botanical) chosen at random. Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 813-8917 Domain: dplatt at ntg.com UUCP: ...netcomsv!ntg!dplatt USNAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto CA 94303 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 11:00:28 PDT From: paul at Rational.COM (Paul Jasper) Subject: Re: G. Fix/Cambridge/CAMRA Good Beer Guide On 23 Jun, 1:46, Phillip Seitz wrote: > Subject: G. Fix/Cambridge/CAMRA Good Beer Guide > > This might be a good time to mention the _Good Beer Guide_ which is > published annually by CAMRA. > ... > The problem is how to get a copy. > >-- End of excerpt from Phillip Seitz Why, from CAMRA, of course! They can take Visa and Mastercard orders if you phone during UK office hours (approximately 4am-noon Eastern US time) and should be reasonably priced - I don't have that information at hand, but it should be close to the $17.95 Phillip mentions, inclusive of shipping. The 1993 Good Beer Guide will be published in October or November of this year. Their phone number from the US is: 011+44-727-867201 They also have a fax number; perhaps someone would like to check out the procedure for ordering from them by fax? While you are talking to them, enquire about overseas membership - it is only 14 pounds (approx $25) per year. This includes timely delivery of What's Brewing, the Campaign's very informative monthly newspaper. Highlights of the June issue include fears that Guinness is poised to axe its bottle-conditioned Guinness Original Stout, criticism of Greene King's acquisition policies, "The Beer Hunter Down Under" - Michael Jackson reporting on his trip to Australia, a special section devoted to the resurgence of Porter, and even some hints on where to find draught (sic) Anchor Steam in London! I guess I should declare an interest: I'm a longstanding member myself. I hope no one objects to blatant promotion of this non-profit-making, consumer organization. - -- - -- Paul Jasper - -- RATIONAL - -- Object-Oriented Products - -- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 11:10:43 PDT From: polstra!larryba at uunet.UU.NET (Larry Barello) Subject: Re: Aeration with aquarium pumps Steve Dempsey writes: >... >I missed Alberta's talk at the conference (had to make choices) but >from recent posts, it sounds like folks are waiting until the primary >is full or nearly full before aerating. This will surely cause problems >with foam blowing out. I start mine as soon as there is enough wort >in the carboy to cover the air stone and leave it in until the carboy >is about half full of wort and half full of foam. Then the air is >turned off and the foam subsides while the remainder of the wort is >siphoned in. > At the risk of sounding dumb, what is the advantage of such a complicated procedure as using aquarium pumps, micron filters and aeration stones? It seems like a lot of effort for such small gain over some other Very Simple Gadgets. For example, I have been using a 6" length of copper tube (surplus from my wort chiller) with four 1/16" holes drilled around 1" from one end. The short end is placed in the outlet hose of my chiller. Air is sucked into the holes, mixed with the chilled wort and a nice frothy bubbly wort is dumped into my carboy. A five gallon batch o beer fills the head space of my 6.5 gal carboy with foam. Simple, effective, easy to sterilize, cheap. - Larry Barello Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 13:14:52 MST From: Steve Dempsey <steved at longs.lance.colostate.edu> Subject: Re: Aeration with aquarium pumps Larry Barello writes: > At the risk of sounding dumb, what is the advantage of such a complicated > procedure as using aquarium pumps, micron filters and aeration stones? It > seems like a lot of effort for such small gain over some other Very Simple > Gadgets. Depending on how clean your air is, filtering it may certainly be overkill. It's just one more way to eliminate potential problems. The simple `holes in the siphon' method of getting more of your wort exposed to oxygen may not be enough. A cool, high-gravity wort is not very receptive to O2 absorbtion to begin with. Most homebrewers underpitch significantly and really need a large amount of dissolved O2 for the best fermentation possible. For example, I know of a microbrewery that had problems traced to insufficient aeration (they used filtered air). and had to move to pure O2 injection for proper yeast respiration. The brewer calls it Vitamin O. My subjective experience indicates that lag times can be reduced by factors of 2-4 when an air stone is used to introduce more oxygen at pitching time. We're not talking about much work or expense here, either. Figure about $6 cheap aquarium pump, $1 air stone, $3 filter, $0.50 tubing. Sanitize the tubing and air stone in bleach or ethanol. Sounds to me like a Moderately Simple Gadget. Steve Dempsey, Engineering Network Services Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 +1 303 491 0630 INET: steved at longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu, dempsey at handel.CS.ColoState.Edu UUCP: boulder!ccncsu!longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu!steved, ...!ncar!handel!dempsey Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 10:50:55 CST From: brewer at meltdown.chi.il.us (Mike Wilson) Subject: Sam Adams Wheat I've had it on tap and in bottles and, although I don't mind it, I'm not particularly crazy about it. It also doesn't strike me as much of a wheat beer. The first time I had it I had it with the traditional lemon slice and the flavor immediately struck me as being akin to Bazooka Joe bubble gum. Very strange, indeed. Mike Wilson brewer at meltdown.chi.il.us U29204 at uicvm.cc.uic.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 18:12:05 -0400 From: bradley at adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley) Subject: bitter Let me add my $.015 to the recent discussion of English bitter. Drinking real ale in England during the 2 years I lived there opened my eyes to beer outside of the Molson/Labatt/O'Keefe axis (beers which my Dad assured me were the 'best in the world'). The wish to duplicate (OK, approximate) fresh English bitter is what inspired me to take up homebrewing more than 7 years ago. Most of the comments which have appeared recently have been on the mark (continuum not point, classification of style as a function of gravity, etc.). Especially the matter of Fuggles or Kent Goldings as finishing hops (although Northern Brewer makes a good bittering hop, especially in combination with Fuggles). I can't stress enough the importance of serving bitter on draft if you really want to experience the stuff they serve in English pubs. At very least, it should be fresh and lightly carbonated. And what's the point of bottling if that's what you want? I used to 'keg' my bitter in the 5 gal. (20 litre, actually) collapsible polythene cubes which can be bought in camping supply (and sometimes homebrew supply) stores. I'd keg the stuff on about day 7, and serve it a couple of days later. The cube would puff out a bit during these few days. It should be checked opnce or twice a day -- draw off a pint if it's puffing up too much. The beer comes out quite flat but, if you're lucky, the first gallon or so will be lightly carbonated. It's best served at a party and finished off that evening (usually no problem). At the very least it has to be drunk within 48 hours of the time when the air starts bubbling into the cube. This 48-hour deadline is typical of English bitter, in which air replaces the beer which is pumped out of the keg. These collapsible kegs come in a 2 1/2 gallon size, alllowing you to keg half a batch and bottle the rest. Another trick is to use a little sugar (horrors!). A pound of brown sugar in an otherwise all-malt batch doesn't hurt the beer and gives the sort of flavour you might find in a darker bitter. And don't forget to dry hop, or at least finish the beer aggressively. As far as commercially available bitter, Wellington County Brewery in Ontario makes excellent bitter. Unfortunately, you'll have to travel to Ontario to get it. In the provincial beer stores, there are 4(?) varieties available in 1-litre plastic bottles. However, there are a handful of pubs in the Toronto area that serve the stuff on draft. There are two real ales: Arkell Best Bitter - lighter gravity, hoppier and made with Fuggles - and County Ale - higher gravity, maltier and made with Goldings. Perhaps a Toronto hbd'er can supply the names of pubs which carry it...it's been 3 years since I've lived in Toronto. In those days I usually drank it at the University of Toronto graduate student's pub. Cheers, Rob bradley at adx.adelphi.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 17:31:18 MDT From: mlh at cygnus.ta52.lanl.gov (Michael L. Hall) Subject: On Tap (World Beer Review) Phillip Seitz writes: >This might be a good time to mention the _Good Beer Guide_ which is published >annually by CAMRA. [ stuff omitted] >So how come we don't have a guide like this for the U.S.? There is one that is pretty good, called "On Tap" and put out by the World Beer Review people (Steve Johnson, I believe). It details brewpubs and micros in the U.S. with a page showing locations, directions, beers available, and info about the type of place (fern bar, yuppie hangout, sleazepit or whatever). It was put out in 1991 (I think) and there is already a supplement out. It costs about $15 and the supplement costs about $10. WBR has ads in Zymurgy, and is located in Clemson, SC. If anybody is really interested, and can't find them in Zymurgy, I will post the address (I don't have it with me now). And, no, I have no connection to WBR. Mike Hall hall at lanl.gov Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #909, 06/24/92