HOMEBREW Digest #1193 Fri 30 July 1993
Digest #1192
Digest #1194
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Contacting Michael Jackson (Chuck Cox)
HSA and Celis ("Anderso_A")
No head? (lyons)
culturing Belgian yeast (Mark A Fryling)
DON'T - Pour hot wort thru a strainer (Lee=A.=Menegoni)
Sparge water aeration and pH (Steve Zabarnick)
re efficiency calculations (Chip Hitchcock)
Newsletter ("Gail E. ARMORER")
Re: Dallas beer/Cellis (Jeff Benjamin)
Hot liquor tanks & slants (Jim Busch)
wort aeration (RBSWEENEY)
diacetyl rest, head retention (James Dipalma)
[fwd: DIXIE CUP 1993 Announcement (long)] (Jim Sims)
dishwasher detergent (Ed Hitchcock)
6 Row Barley Malt (Jack Schmidling)
stuff (LLAPV)
Cheap Kegs? (ron_hall)
Re: innoculating a starter from a petri dish (larryba)
Pale Ale Recipe (npyle)
Brewery Addresses. (Stephen Brent Peters)
Re: innoculating a starter from a petri dish (Tim P McNerney)
Frisia (ulrich)
ZIMA (davanb)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 2:36:41 EDT
From: chuck at synchro.com (Chuck Cox)
Subject: Contacting Michael Jackson
Do you know how to contact Michael Jackson?
Inquiries to Simon & Schuster have been unfruitful.
- --
Chuck Cox <chuck at synchro.com>
SynchroSystems / Riverside Garage & Brewery - Cambridge, Mass.
Return to table of contents
Date: 29 Jul 93 03:44:36 EST
From: "Anderso_A" <Anderso_A at hq.navsea.navy.mil>
Subject: HSA and Celis
The following attachments were included with this message:
__________________________________________________________________
TYPE : FILE
NAME : 1192
__________________________________________________________________
Keith writes,
>Subject: Aeration
>If you are doing a partial boil and dumping the hot wort into cold
>water you probably don't have to worry too much about aeration
>(unless you've preboiled your cold water). Pouring the hot wort
>through a sanitized strainer will also aerate it (as well as help
>remove hops and break material). I used this method for a full
>boil after cooling with a wort chiller and it seemed to work OK.
What you will have to worry about is not whether enough
aeration takes place, but if the correct aeration occurs. It
sounds to me like you would be introducing Hot Side Aeration (HSA).
George Fix had a good article about this in the 1992 Fall Zymurgy
issue. Basically, cool the wort to under 86 F (30 C) (Fix's
number) before introducing aeration. Otherwise, you can seriously
harm the stability of the beer. This happened to me on some of my
very first batches. I was extract brewing and pouring relatively
hot wort through a strainer into a carboy with cold water. The
beer tasted good, but after about 3 to 4 months it really started
to deteriorate.
---------------------------
Michael writes,
>I sampled 3 Texas brews:
>Celis White, the finest American brewed (as opposed to American
>style) wheat beer I've had. It rivals it's Bavarian ancestors, and
>is unlike the American wheats made by e.g., Widmer.
Celis White is a Belgian Wit (White) beer in style, not a
German wheat beer. The yeast makes a big difference.
>Celis Grand Cru, an interesting attempt at a Belgian style. It's
>too light in color and body to be a true Grand Cru, but they
>really have the flavor down. How do they do this? Anyone know? It
>tastes like a true lambic.
I think it is a very good Grand Cru. I've never felt that
Belgian beers have rigid style parameters (as compared with German
Beers). I believe the Celis fits into the rather broad Grand Cru
guidelines. As for tasting like a "true lambic", I can only say
"What?!!!??"
Andy A
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 09:07:38 EDT
From: lyons%adc3 at swlvx2.msd.ray.com
Subject: No head?
Chip Pencis writes in HBD #1192
> I seem to be having trouble with head retention in all of my beers
> including store bought Sierra Nevada Summerfest et al. I believe
> cause may be residue in my glassware. However, I wash the glasses
> in the dishwasher with Cascade detergent - I use energy saver settings
> for the dry cycle. Let me clarify problems - there is sufficient
> carbonation in everything - the bubbles form about a 1/2-1" head on
> pouring but quickly subside to no more than 1/16" head to none at all.
> Any ideas....is this paranoia?
Make sure you are not using a rinse agent (like "Jet Dry") in your
dishwasher. Rinse agents will leave a transparent film on glasses
which can destroy the head.
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 10:15:16 EDT
From: Mark A Fryling <mfryling at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: culturing Belgian yeast
Howdy all,
You regulars may remember my post awhile back asking for hints on what beers my
girlfriend should bring me back from her trip to Belgium. Well she's back and
I have (had) in my posession:
St. Bernardus Abt 12
Chimay Blue
Hoegaarden White and Verboten Vrucht
Duvel (red label)
Orval
Rodenbach
Gordons Highlander Scotch Ale
Mort Subite Frambois
The question I'd like to pose, is does anyone know if the yeast in the
Hoegaarden samples and the Abt 12 is fit to culture and brew with? I know that
the Chimay is good stuff, and I already learned (from a recent posting) that
the Duvel yeast is not. Ditto for Orval. The others were pasteurized and
filtered. TIA
BTW, just as a comment, the Gordons Highlander Scotch Ale was absolutely
fantastic. Surely the finest example of the style I have ever tasted. Rich,
sweet, malty and oh so strong. Why in the h*ll is this stuff sold only in
Belgium? I'd consider all sorts of unspeakable acts to get my hands on a case
of it.
Oh well, any advice is appreciated. Hopefully I'll be attempting my own
Belgian styles soon.
Mark Fryling
Dept. of Chemistry
The Ohio State University
<mfryling at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
"Theres no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist"
M. Twain
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 09:15:15 EDT
From: Lee=A.=Menegoni at nectech.com
Subject: DON'T - Pour hot wort thru a strainer
DON'T POUR HOT WORT THRU A STRAINER TO AIRATE YOUR WORT. This can produce
unwanted flavors and darkening. Hot wort should be treated gently. It
should be cooled before introducing air.
See George Fixes article on Hot Side Airation.
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 10:51:24 -0400
From: steve at snake.appl.wpafb.af.mil (Steve Zabarnick)
Subject: Sparge water aeration and pH
As I'm just getting into the all-grain world, and I've got a few questions.
I'm well aware of the perils of hot-side aeration. My question concerns the
aeration of and oxygen content of sparge water. One common technique in
professional breweries to sprinkle the sparge water from a rotating arm
(similar to the Phil Sparger). I would think that this would do I good job
of aerating the water. The solubility of oxygen in water at 170 F is about
half that at room temperature, so a significant amount can dissolve into
the sprinkling sparge water. Doesn't this result in hot-side aeration of
the wort in the lauter tun? Even without sprinkling, the water will still
have significant dissolved oxygen at 170 F unless first brought near
boiling and cooled.
My other question is about pH measurments of the mash and sparge water. How
important is it to cool the samples before taking this measurement? I've
been using a hand-held pH probe (which is supposed to be temperature
compensated), which I just stick into the mash. Am I getting a correct
measurement without cooling a sample of the mash?
Thanks
Steve Zabarnick
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 10:11:24 EDT
From: cjh at diaspar.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: re efficiency calculations
> From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com>
> <From: Robert Pulliam <Robert_Pulliam at aja.rand.org>
> <2. When calculating my extraction efficiency, do I use the gravity of
> the wort fresh from the tun or after the boil?
>
> after.
It doesn't matter when you try to calculate the efficiency; all you have
to do is measure gravity and volume \at the same time/. Consider, for
example, a wort that is 7 gallons at 1.050 when you quit sparging, and 5
gallons and 1.070 when you stop boiling; regardless of the number of pounds
of grain you used, the efficiencies calculated from these two sets of #'s
will be the same.
It may be easier to measure gravity after you've boiled and cooled the
wort; I've never seen a table correcting for temperature above ~100F, so
you'd probably have to cool the runoff before measuring. (I'm not even
sure such a table would be correct for all plausible concentrations of
wort; the effect of temperature on the density of pure water is very well
mapped but I couldn't swear this would be valid for water/sugar solutions
at more extreme temperatures.)
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 08:51:49 PST
From: "Gail E. ARMORER" <GEARMORE at uci.edu>
Subject: Newsletter
Please take my name and address off the newletter
mailing list as I will no longer be available to
receive it. I have enjoyed it greatly!!!! Thanks.
Gail Armorer
GEARMORE at UCI.EDU
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 10:05:24 MDT
From: Jeff Benjamin <benji at hpfcbug.fc.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Dallas beer/Cellis
> I sampled 3 Texas brews:
> ...
> Celis White, the finest American brewed (as opposed to American style)
> wheat beer I've had. It rivals it's Bavarian ancestors, and is unlike the
> American wheats made by e.g., Widmer.
An interesting comparison, seeing as how Belgian Wit (White) beer is not
related to Bavarian Weizen as far as I know, except for the fact that they
both use wheat.
Belgian Wit traditionally uses 30-40% unmalted wheat and is spiced with
Curacao oranges and corriander. Bavarian Weizen uses 60-70% malted
wheat, and no spices, but gets its characteristic "spiciness" (often
reminiscent of cloves) from esters produced by special strains of yeast.
By comparison, an "American Wheat" beer typically has 40-50% wheat malt
as its only distinguishing feature from an American pale ale.
> Celis Grand Cru, an interesting attempt at a Belgian style. It's too light
> in color and body to be a true Grand Cru, but they really have the flavor
> down. How do they do this? Anyone know? It tastes like a true lambic.
Ahem... the Grand Cru is good as well, but I don't think it bears much
relationship to a true lambic. I vaguely remember hearing someone say
that Pierre Celis does add some sort of souring bug (a Pediococcus,
perhaps?) to both the White and the Grand Cru, but one bug does not a
lambic make.
Which leads me to my last topic...
> A close friend, and business associate is going to Brussels for a week, and
> asks what beers to bring back for me? If you could select three or four,
> what would they be?
A very tough call. If you like the sour stuff, I recommend either the
Cantillon or Boon lambics. My favorite trappist-style beers are
Rochefort dubbel and Westmalle trippel. Try a bottle of Kwak
Pauvel(sp?) for an example of a good Belgian ale that defines its own
category.
If only you could bring back a pitcher of young lambic from Becasse!
- --
Jeff Benjamin benji at hpfcla.fc.hp.com
Hewlett Packard Co. Fort Collins, Colorado
"Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium."
- T.S. Eliot
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 12:12:53 EDT
From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com>
Subject: Hot liquor tanks & slants
In the last digest:
<From: gummitch at techbook.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Re: Hot Water Heaters
<It beats me why this should be a problem. Jim is simply suggesting
<using a hot water heater to provide very hot water for mashing,
<sparging, etc. Why should this be a chlorine problem?
<In answer to Jim's question, at least one of the McMenamin brewpubs in
<Oregon uses exactly this system -- lots of pipes running out of that
<water heater that aren't standard!
<Jack, every hot liquor (water) system I've seen in a brewery is closed.
I agree in principal that chlorine is a nonissue. A lot of big breweries
dont do anything to remove chlorine (big = 25 BBl in this sense). The
argument is that the chlorine is driven off in the kettle anyway. The
only relevent issue to me is solids/heavy metals etc. I like to remove
this "junk" prior to mashing. I can see a issue with build up of salts
in a hot water tank, but at one brew every 3 weeks or so I am not concerned.
The hot liquor tanks I am familiar with have a vent tube that overflows
when the tan k is full. As the water heats this drives some water out
of the tube and the brewer shuts off the inlet valve feeding the tank.
My only decision here is the rebound time for a tank to reheat to 180F.
For this reason, I think I am going to put in a propane fired tank with a
high temp thermostat.
JS writes:
what do you expect
from a for-profit company like BT? At the moment, BT can survive on fewer
Is it true that BT is for profit?? I wonder how "profitable" this kind of
thing is. I bet its like brewing, a lot of sweat equity in every issue/batch.
<sounds like you have re-invented the EASYSPARGER.
I dont know if a on demand hot water heater would be capable of providing
26 gallons of 180F water in a 30 minute time frame. This is my requirement.
In Namur, Belgium , I witnessed such a beast. It fed a SS tank that had
another direct fired burner to boost/maintain the temp. The brewer would
"ladel" the water over the grains and use a bit spoon/paddle to stir the
lauter.
JS:
<snip on general useful points of culturing, sounds like the instruction manuel
from the Yeast Culture Kit Co.....
<You would be much better off to transfer the petri culture to slants and use
these to start your starter. I cover the slant with wort and use this as a
one time, pure culture starter.
This is not whats referred to as a "slant". THe first sentence is correct.
The second sentence is a technique of preparing a starter. Covering the
slant is not a good idea in my opinion. You cover a small sample of yeast
with wort, the slant is where the yeast is maintained and cultured from.
The difference is a slant has agar with yeast growing on it. A starter
has no agar.
Good brewing,
Jim Busch
DE HOPPEDUIVEL DRINKT MET ZWIER 'T GEZONDE BLOND HOPPEBIER!
Return to table of contents
Date: 29 Jul 1993 11:23:15 -0600 (CST)
From: RBSWEENEY at msuvx2.memst.edu
Subject: wort aeration
Many people have mentioned the use of an airstone connected to an aquarium
pump for wort aeration and this is the system I have been using for my last
5 batches with great results. I have seen vigorous fermentations started in
less than 3 hours after running the pump continuously for an hour after
racking into the primary and pitching. One way my little system from the way
most of these setups have been described (for example Dave Miller's book
Brewing the World's Great Beers) is that I don't use any type of air filter
on the hose between the airstone and pump. I do sanitize everything but the
pump using a Iodophor solution and have not had any infection problems.
I did not include an air filter for two reasons: cost and the fact that all
the other aeration methods I am familiar with don't go to trouble of air
filtering so why should I? I'm not worried, but I was wondering if anyone
else uses a similar system, and if so, why they chose to include or not to
include air filtration. Email comments would be appreciated and interesting
results can be forwarded to the digest.
Thanks in advance,
Bob Sweeney
Department of Management Information Systems
Memphis State University
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 12:45:04 EDT
From: dipalma at banshee.sw.stratus.com (James Dipalma)
Subject: diacetyl rest, head retention
Hi All,
In HBD#1191, Jim Busch writes:
>Its called a diacetyl rest. It reduces (guess what??) diacetyl. To be
>an authentic contential lager, ferment at 48-51F for 1 week, drop temp
^^^^
>2F per day until it is 42F. Rest here 2-4 days (diacetyl rest)
>Those who
>"bring up" the temp are preeching the American fast lager approach. This
>is where ferments are done quite warm (up to 60F)
I'm a little confused here. I don't ferment lagers warm, 48F-50F, and I've
always used the Noonan method of raising the temperature for the diacetyl
rest (~55F for 2 days), with good results. Can you clarify this point, Jim?
*************************************************************
In HBD#1192, Keith A. MacNeal writes:
>If you are doing a partial boil and dumping the hot wort into cold water
>you probably don't have to worry too much about aeration
If you are doing a partial boil and dumping the hot wort into cold water
you have to worry very much about oxidation. Splashing *hot* wort around
causes oxidation reactions, which both darken the wort and produce off
flavors in the finished beer. *Chill* the wort below 80F first before
aeration. In the absence of high temperature, the oxygen remains in it's
free form, and can be utilized by the yeast during it's reproductive stage.
From reading this forum and r.c.b, it's clear that this distinction
between oxidation and aeration is confusing to a lot of brewers. I'm aware
that this practice of adding hot wort to cold water is recommended in a
certain popular book on homebrewing. IMHO, this is just one of several
pieces of horrible advice contained in said book, and why I recommend to
beginners that they get the "other" book written by the less relaxed, more
worried guy.
>Pouring the hot wort through a sanitized strainer
>will also aerate it (as well as help remove hops and break material).
I used this method routinely when I did partial boils, pouring my 2 gallons
of *chilled* wort through a sanitized strainer. As Keith mentions, it is
an effective way to aerate the wort, and does filter hops and trub well.
*************************************************************
Also in HBD#1192, Lee Menegoni writes:
>Re: Extract efficency - I was under the impression that measuring the pre and
>post boil extract effiecency would result in unequal values. That the post
>boil value would be lower due to the precipitation of break materials.
>Has any one measured this? Do they differ? By how much?
I compute extract efficiency after the sparge, and take an OG reading
after the boil, and I have found that the post boil number is always
slightly lower, adjusting for volume of course. My brewpot has graduation
marks on the inside in one gallon increments, which allows me to "eyeball"
the finished volume within a quart or so. It's *possible* that what I have
observed is nothing more than measurement error, since one quart as a
percentage of five gallons is larger than the observed difference in gravity
readings. However, if that were so, I would have had cases where the
second reading was higher than the first, but that has never happened.
Intuitively, I believe the post boil value is lower due to the precipitation
of break materials. The hydrometer, after all, simply measures SG - I don't
think it can distinguish between sugars and soluble proteins. Comments?
All that said, the differences I have measured are sufficiently small that
they can be ignored, with respect to getting an OG that's within range for
the style.
*************************************************************
Chris Pencis writes about head retention:
>I seem to be having trouble with head retention in all of my beers
>I wash the glasses
>in the dishwasher with Cascade detergent
I wash my beer glasses in the dishwasher with Cascade as well. Many
commercial dishwashing soaps have something in them that prevents
spotting, but which leave a film. I suspect that is your trouble. I keep
a bucket of BBrite under the kitchen sink, rinse the glasses in that, then
rinse well with warm water. The glasses feel different after this, and
I get good head retention with my beers.
Cheers,
Jim
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 12:56:41 EDT
From: sims at pdesds1.scra.org (Jim Sims)
Subject: [fwd: DIXIE CUP 1993 Announcement (long)]
ANNOUNCING
THE 10th ANNUAL
DIXIE CUP
HOMEBREW COMPETITION
Yes, folks, it's that time of year again.
And if you didn't notice, the Houston Foam Rangers
are trying to get off their backsides and actually
get this thing organized early this year!
The 1993 Dixie Cup will be held Ocotber 15 and 16
at the Houston Holiday Inn West.
The official Dixie Cup Entry stuff can be requested
from the folks at DeFalco's Home Wine and Beer Supplies
5611 Morningside, Houston, TX 77098 (713) 532-8154.
The contents of the official stuff takes precedence
over anything in this post (in case I goof).
ELIGIBILITY
Anyone can enter, the competition is open to all non-commercial,
home-produced beers. Beers produced on the premises of a
commercial brewery are not eligible. You may enter as often as
you wish, but only two entries per category/subcategory per
person please.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Each entry shall consist of 3 bottles, preferrable 11-12 oz.
All labels must be removed, but caps don't have to be blacked
out. An entry label must be attached to each bottle of the
entry, with all information required on the form filled in.
(Actually, all we need is you name, a telephone no., full snail
mail address, category abbreviation, club affiliation, and
any special ingredients or deviant style info, so you could
type this up yourself and forgo the "official" form)
PLEASE USE RUBBER BANDS TO ATTACH THE FORM TO THE BOTTLE.
A complete recipe form should accompany each entry. (We want to
print the recipies later in the newsletter, if you win. You
can always give it to us after you get a ribbon).
ENTRY DEADLINE/FEES
Entries, paperwork and cash moola must be in the hands of the
staid employees of DeFalco's Home Whine & Beer Supplies no
later than 4PM, SATURDAY, 9 OCTOBER. The Fee is $6.00 before
1 October, $7.00 after. A $1.00 discount is given to club
members. (Start your own club?) DeFlaco's address is
5611 Morningside, Houston, TX 77005. Phone: (713) 523-8154
FAX: (713) 523-5284.
NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 9 OCTOBER!
PACKING/SHIPPING
It is suggested theat each bottle be wrapped in bubble pack or
newspaper. Place one entry (3 bottles) in a small box and
fill with paper or other packing mat'l. Line a bigger box
with a
plastic bag and put all smaller boxes in it. Pack the
smaller boxes into the big box with paper or packing mat'l.
Tie the bag, and seal the box securely. Label the box FRAGILE
and THIS END UP appropriately. We suggest that you ship
via UPS, if they ask tell them it's bottles, but they're well
packed. Try labelling the box KITCHEN SUPPLIES.
WE SUGGEST THAT YOU SEND YOUR ENTRIES ASAP, BEERS THAT
ARRIVE EARLIER SEEM TO DOBETTER IN COMPETITION.
JUDGING
Judging will take place in three open sessions 15 & 16 October.
The first round will be Friday night, the second round and
best of show judging will be Saturday afternoon.
WE NEED JUDGES! We expect approx. 650 entries, and need help
getting the work done. The competition is AHA/HWBTA
recognized, and we'll get you as many BJCP points as is humanly
possible for this gig (1 for judging, etc.).
AWARDS
THE DIXIE CUP TROPHY is awarded to the club that garners the
most points on the following basis: 1st in category - 3 pts.
2nd in cat. - 2 pts., 3rd in cat. - 1 pt.
CLUB QUALITY AWARDS are given to the clubs with the top five
scores (I've never understood how this works) in the
preliminary round. The awards are sponsored by
Crosby and Baker, and
consist of gift certificates redeemable at any homebrew
shop that does business with Crosby&Baker.
1st place $50, 2nd place $35, 3rd place $15.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
1st place - A magnificent stein and a swell ribbon
2nd place - A nifty ribbon
3rd place - A nice ribbon
BEST OF SHOW
Best Beer overall - Super Deluxe Pedastal for your stein
Best All Grain - Deluxe Stein
Best Extract - Deluxe Stein
Best Mead - Deluxe Stein
MIKE TEMPLETON AWARD given in memory of one of the original
Foam Rangers, the is awarded to the individual who collects
the most points using the same scale as the Gulf Coast
Homebrewer of the Year.
GULF COAST HOMEBREWER OF THE YEAR is awarded to the brewer
who accumulates the most points in the Dallas/Fort Worth
Bluebonnet Brew-off, the New Orleans Crescent City Challenge,
the Orlando Sunshine Challenge, and the Dixie Cup. Points
are awarded as follows: 3 pt.s for 1st place in a category,
2 pts. for a 2nd place, and 1 pt. for a 3rd place. The
Dixie Cup is the last competition of the series, and the
winner will be announced at the Dixie Cup.
CATEGORIES (abbreviations for labels given in parens)
I. LAGERS
LIGHT/PALE LAGERS
1. American Light (AL)
Continental Lights
2a. Pilsner (CLP)
2b. Munich Helles (CLM)
2c. Dortmund Export (CLD)
AMBER LAGERS
3. Oktoberfest/Marzen/Vienna (OV)
4. Steam Beer (SM)
DARK LAGERS
5. Continental Dark (CD)
SPECIAL STYLE LAGERS
6a. Traditional Dark Bock (BKD)
6b. Light Helles Bock (BKL)
7. Strong Lagers (SL)
II. ALES
LIGHT&AMBER ALES
8a. Alt Beers (GAA)
8b. Kolsch Beers (GAK)
9. Light Ale (LA)
10a. Classic Pale Ale (CPA)
10b. India Pale Ale (IPA)
10c. American Pale Ale (APA)
DARK ALES
11. Brown Ales and Milds (BAM)
12. California/Texas Brown Ales (CTB)
13a. Traditional Porter(POT)
13b. East Coast Porter(POE)
14. Sweet Stout (SS)
15. Dry Stout (DS)
OTHER ALES
16a. Old Ales (SAO)
16b. Barley Wines (SAB)
16c. Imperial Stouts (SAI)
16d. Trappist Ales (SAT)
16e. Strong Scotch Ales (SAS)
17a. Light German Wheat Beers (WLG)
17b. Light American Wheat (WLA)
17c. Amber and Dark Wheat Beers (WBD)
III. UNUSUAL BEER STYLES
18. Novelty Beers
19. Fruit Beers
20. Specialty Beers
IV. MEAD
Meads will be judged as Traditional or Flavored
21. Still Meads (MST)
22. Sparkling Meads (MSP) note -this was left off
the mail-out thing!
Descriptions of the beer styles can be found in the
offcial stuff.
Please enter early and often!
- -----------------------------------------------------
. _ . _____________
|\_|/__/| / \
/ / \/ \ \ / Happy! Happy! \
/__|O||O|__ \ \ Joy! Joy! /
|/_ \_/\_/ _\ | \ ___________/
| | (____) | || |/
\/\___/\__/ // _/
(_/ ||
| Real ||\ Sean Lamb (slamb at milp.jsc.nasa.gov)
\ Beer //_/ Loral Space Info Systems
\______// Houston, Texas, USofA, Earth, Sol
__|| __||
(____(____)
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 14:08:35 -0300
From: Ed Hitchcock <ECH at ac.dal.ca>
Subject: dishwasher detergent
Chris Pencis asks:
>Here's my questions:
> I seem to be having trouble with head retention in all of my beers
> including store bought Sierra Nevada Summerfest et al. I believe
> cause may be residue in my glassware. However, I wash the glasses
> in the dishwasher with Cascade detergent - I use energy saver settings
> for the dry cycle. Let me clarify problems - there is sufficient
> carbonation in everything - the bubbles form about a 1/2-1" head on
> pouring but quickly subside to no more than 1/16" head to none at all.
> Any ideas....is this paranoia?
Many dishwasher detergents have "sheeting action" or some such, which is
designed to reduce the drip spots on your glassware. This stuff is indeed
a surfactant which will kill your head retention. I find in many cases I
can smell the stuff on the glasses, and they have a really squeaky-clean
feel which gives me the heeby-jeebies. I suggest you either hand wash your
beer glasses or get a detergent (or soap) that does not have a surfactant.
You may have to wipe a few drip spots off your glasses, but your beer is
worth it.
____________
Ed Hitchcock/Dept of Anatomy & Neurobiology/Dalhousie University/Halifax NS
ech at ac.dal.ca +-----------------------------------------+
| Never trust a statement that begins: |
| "I'm not racist, but..." |
+-----------------------------------------+
Diversity in all things. Especially beer.
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 12:12 CDT
From: arf at genesis.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: 6 Row Barley Malt
Someone recently posted some comments about megas using adjuncts to cover up
the foul taste of 6 row barley malt. I presumed this was a joke until I
looked over the grain bill of my last two batches which have a very peculiar
taste. Turns out, about 1/3 of the base malt in these batches was 6 row.
Not accepting anecdotal evidence as proof, I set up a set of experiments to
find the source of the off taste. Just so happens that I also doughed in
both batches the night before mashing so I had two possible causes to deal
with. I set up the following experiments with my 500 ml pilot brewery:
#1 100 gr Belgian Munich, doughed in at 10PM. Mashed in the morning,
sparged to 700 ml and boiled 60 min with .5 gr Chinook hops to 500 ml.
Pitched with PU yeast after cooling to room temp and moved to fridge at 40F
after 12 hours.
#2 Same as #1 except that mashing immediately followed doughin.
#3 Same as #1 except used 6 row malt from Minn Malting.
#4 Same as #2 except used 6 row malt from Minn Malting.
Results:
#3 and #4 had the off-taste I noted in the full batches using 6 row malt and
#1 and #2 were clean. The samples were tasted every 24 hours for five days
and nothing changed other than a reduction in sweetness. The off-taste
remained in the 6 row beers.
Not sure how to describe the off-taste but it is quite strong though not
necessarily unpleasant in the full batches but quite overpowering in the
samples which were all 6 row malt. I would incline to call it sort of a
rancid taste.
The good news is that the overnight doughin on the Belgian Munich samples had
a very positive effect on the beer. It had far more malty flavor and seemed
richer and fuller in body. Doughin the night before fits my lifestyle and I
am now confident that the only affect is to improve the beer so I will make
it SOP for all future batches.
The effect on the 6 row samples was to just increase the level of the off
taste and it even seemed to produce a rather foul odor.
I suppose it is possible that I got a bad batch of malt but I really doubt it
as I have had extensive experience with Minn Malting and the malt tastes fine
on "chew-in".
>From: gummitch at techbook.com (Jeff Frane)
>Subject: Re: Hot Water Heaters
>Jack, every hot liquor (water) system I've seen in a brewery is closed.
Perhaps it is something they should look into.
>It beats me why this should be a problem. Jim is simply suggesting
using a hot water heater to provide very hot water for mashing,
sparging, etc. Why should this be a chlorine problem?
Could, not should.
>In answer to Jim's question, at least one of the McMenamin brewpubs in
Oregon uses exactly this system -- lots of pipes running out of that
water heater that aren't standard!
My guess is that those non-standard pipes are part of the solution.
I simply pointed out that, without venting, the water coming out will contain
exactly the same volatiles as the water going in. So if removing chlorine is
necessary to the process, than some other means is necessary if the tank is
not vented.
I did not mean to imply that a hot water tank could/should not be used. Just
a data point for those contemplating same.
>From: Jeff Benjamin <benji at hpfcbug.fc.hp.com>
>Subject: Bud bashing
>I would also challenge many skeptical homebrewers to brew a lager as
light and clean as a Bud. Ingredients are quite different from your
average homebrew (uncured malt, adjuncts, etc.), you need techniques to
minimize wort darkening and esters, and sanitation is paramount, as the
slightest off flavor or aroma will be noticeable.
It is not difficult at all to make lite colored beer if you dilute it with
enough water. The most important adjunct to maintain "Bud quality" is corn
syrup. This exotic ingredient produces as much alcohol as needed to
compensate for water dilution at the end and contributes no color. Virtually
every characteristic and lack thereof in Bud can be explained by this simple
expedient.
js
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Date: Thursday, 29 July 93 13:30:41 CST
From: LLAPV at utxdp.dp.utexas.edu
Subject: stuff
Howdy,
The following four issues were brought up in HBD 1192.
Chris Pencis is worried about his glassware. Soap & detergent are no-no's
for beer glassware, unless you can rinse it off very well with very hot water.
I can tell a difference between my glasses at home that have been washed out
with soap & water & those that have been washed with hot water. Also,
chilling the glasses supposedly prevents a nice head, but I haven't been able
to tell too much of a difference. If you are particularly worried about
cleanliness, a quick dunk in chlorine water should take care of any little
bugs.
Also, Chris is wondering when to put the spices in his Christmas ale. I made
one last year, & I boiled my spices (fresh ginger root, grated orange zest,
dried nutmeg, & a cinnamon stick) in a nylon bag with the extract. I was
very happy with it.
John Palmer brings up the issue of homebrew as a laxative. While I personally
have not had that problem, I have talked to people who tried other people's
homebrews & complained that it gave them the runs. It's almost always folks
who have never had homebrew before, I've noticed. Maybe it's an overdose of
vitamin B12, but I haven't the slightest.
Michael Fetzer gives a review of Celis Grand Cru. Celis Grand Cru IS a
true Belgian beer, brewed right here in America. Pieter Celis brewed beer
originally in Belgium, including the very same beer that he now calls Celis
Grand Cru (it was Hoegaarden Grand Cru in Europe). I think you may be
noticing a difference because it's good, fresh beer & not something that
went across on ocean on a boat, sat in a warehouse in New York, sat in
another warehouse in your hometown, then sat on a shelf for two months
because people were afraid to try it. (Whew.) By the way, it is brewed with
Curacao orange peels & a "secret" ingredient, & has a alchohol content of
~7%, all which give it the interesting flavor you probably noticed.
Happy brewing,
Alan, Austin
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 18:32:00 +0000
From: ron_hall%80 at hp6400.desk.hp.com
Subject: Cheap Kegs?
I have been searching for a cheap source of Cornelius kegs. I
noticed in the classified ads of the Celebrator, Brewing Techniques,
and maybe Zymurgy an ad for used pin lock kegs for $17 + shipping and used
ball fitting kegs for $22 + shipping from The Beverage Co., Anderson, CA.
Has anyone ordered or seen any of these? Are they really beat up? Have they
been leak checked? The price seems too good to be true.
Please reply off-line unless it seems of general interest.
Thanks in advance.
Ron Hall, Corvallis, Oregon
ron_hall at hp6400.desk.hp.com
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 15:32:09 -0400
From: polstra!larryba at uunet.UU.NET
Subject: Re: innoculating a starter from a petri dish
In HBD# 1191, "atzeiner" writes:
>I just started culturing yeast and have two ale yeast cultures in petri
>dishes. Out of curiosity, I used my innoculating loop to scrape up a glob of
>yeast and put it into a starter bottle(~1/2 full 12 oz. beer bottle). I didnt
>really see much sign of fermentation, but after about 3 or 4 hours I looked at
>it and it seemed to have yeast sediment in it. I was wondering if it was
>possible that there was enough yeasties in the glob that I picked up to make a
>decent starter in only a few hours. How much yeast should you pick up to
>innoculate a 6 or 7 oz starter??
>
Depending upon the size of the glob it is entirely reasonable that you see
sediment pretty quickly. At room temp yeast doubles roughly every three
hours. I would guess that your 6oz of wort will start fermenting pretty
strongly after about three days.
Usually I start with around 30ml of wort and put my glob o yeast
(from the slant, but occasionally from a plate) in it three days before
brewing. Within 8 hours the wort is turbid and some sediment is showing.
Usually between 24-48 hours the 20ml is actively bubbling and I can raise
a head by swirling. Then I pitch into 150ml and twelve hours later I
pitch into my main starter, 500ml. I try to time the final pitch the evening
before brewing. If things are going too fast I just let the 180ml (150 + 30)
sit and ferment out. Usually once the 30 ml is going it only takes 12 hours
(at room temp) to get the next size going.
Another important point to remember is to aerate your growth medium a lot.
This is important for yeast growth. I do this by pouring the media + yeast
back and fourth between two sterile ball jars (I bake at 350 for a half hour
to sterilize - cover with aluminum foil).
Oh, on last tidbit: I use reclaimed wort from my hot break/hops and dilute
with water to roughly 1.020-25 before canning in ball jars (process for
20-30 minutes in boiling water). Although the experts claimn that boil
process for 20 minutes doesn't sterilize the media I have never *ever*
had any hopped wort go bad, even stuff stored for over a year at room temp.
- --
Larry Barello uunet!polstra!larryba
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 14:11:19 MDT
From: npyle at n33.stortek.com
Subject: Pale Ale Recipe
There was sufficient reponse to post the recipe so here 'tis:
PYLE STYLE PALE ALE
(an American Pale Ale ala Sierra Nevada Pale Ale)
Brewed 7/10/93
Recipe for 5 US gallons (after losses)
5.00 lb American pale malt from Briess
4.00 lb English pale malt from Hugh Baird
0.75 lb Belgian crystal malt from ???
1.00 oz Mt. Hood pellets (a=3.9)
2.00 oz Cascade pellets (a=5.1)
0.60 oz Cascade leaf hops (a=5.6)*
*from Mark Nightingale's garden 1992 crop
1056 Wyeast American Ale yeast dated 6/23/93*
*made a one quart starter 24 hours in advance
1.00 tsp Irish moss (added in last 10 minutes of boil)
0.75 c corn sugar for bottling
Mash water was 9 qts of 168F water poured into a room temperature 48 qt
rectangular cooler mash/lauter tun. Doughed in pale malts only. Mash-in
temperature was 150F after stabilizing. Mashed at 145-155 (added 1 qt of
180F water when temp dropped to 145F). Conversion complete in one hour.
Crystal was added at mash-out. Dumped 20 qts of 180F water into tun and
stirred (mashout and batch sparge in one step). Sparge was very slow,
nearly stuck twice, so I back flushed the copper manifold to loosen it up
(need to adjust my grainmill!). Start of boil, the volume was around
32 qts. Boiled down to 22 qts. at 1.045.
Points of extract = (45pts. * 5.5 gal.) / 9.75 lbs. = 25 pts/lb/gal.
Hopping schedule:
60 min: 0.50 oz MH IBU = 8.3
30 0.50 MH 4.5
0.50 Cp 5.8
10 0.50 Cp 2.5
dry 0.50 Cl 1.0 (leave on for 10 days)
----
Approximate Total IBU = 22.1 (Balanced beer at 1.045 = 20 IBU)
A note about hopping: I was attempting to get most of my IBUs later in
the boil to reduce some back of the tongue bitterness. I wanted this to
be a hop flavored beer, rather than just have bitterness to balance the
malt. On most beers I try for 50-60% of the bitterness at the 60 minute
addition, but as you can see, I did not do that here. I achieved my goal
I think (see tasting notes).
Full fermentation in 12 hours, high krauesen in 36 hours. Dry hops were
just thrown on top of beer in secondary.
7/14/93 Racked to secondary and added dry hops, SG = 1.010 (after 4 days)
7/24/93 Bottled FG = 1.008 (after 14 days)
7/27/93 Tasting notes (I like my beer fresh!)
- About 50% carbonated
- Hops! Cascades are all over the place, mostly aroma. This is not
a bitter beer, but is loaded with aroma. I expect some of this
to fade with time, bringing out the malt. At this point, the
hops dominate, which I expected.
- Very clean tasting, very little esters
- Still a bit cloudy (need more patience)
- Color is pale, about like a Sierra Nevada (the lightest colored
brew I've ever brewed)
- This is a keeper. It is rare for me to brew a recipe more than
once, but this one will happen again. This is only the second
in 16 batches that I vow to repeat. Enter it in a contest? Hah!
I wouldn't waste 3 bottles of this on Michael Jackson...
Enjoy!
- --
Norm Pyle, Staff Engineer
npyle at n33.stortek.com
Storage Technology Corporation
2270 South 88th Street
Louisville, CO 80028-0211
(303) 673-8884
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 16:45:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Stephen Brent Peters <sp2q+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Brewery Addresses.
Does anyone know of a publication I could look up that would list
mailing addresses for breweries in CA, OR, & WA?
I'm sad to report that Zima seems to be selling well in Pgh. Several
people I know think it's the greatest thing ever. After all, lots of
people don't like the taste of (commercial) beer, and Zima doesn't
taste like beer. It tastes like a bad mixed drink. I expect they
will do well for a while, then probably people will get bored with
it's zippy image and it will dissapear.
Steve Peters = sp2q at andrew.cmu.edu
*Oxnar demands a _Sacrifice!_*
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 93 14:36:37 PDT
From: tpm at wdl.loral.com (Tim P McNerney)
Subject: Re: innoculating a starter from a petri dish
My biggest problem with innocualting a starter from a petri dish is that
I don't want to go through 5 different sized, sanitized starters to build
up enough yeast. I tried innoculating a few ml of wort in a 1 liter flask,
but did not see the activity I was used to with 10 ml testtubes. I got
the testtubes with presterilized wort from the Yeast Kit Culture Company
(along with 50 ml testtubes) and these worked great. So my questions are:
1. Did the fact the the wort in the flask was so shallow cause problems with
yeast growth or just with the visible effects?
2. Since I only tried this once, did I just mess up this one innoculation?
3. How do other people build up a healthy sized started with spending half
their life preparing storage vessels?
________________________________
- --Tim McNerney
- --Loral Western Development Labs
- --(408) 473-4748
- --tpm at wdl1.wdl.loral.com
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 16:02:37 -0800
From: ulrich at sfu.ca
Subject: Frisia
The last week or two there has been much discussion of Frisia (under a
variety of correct and incorrect spellings), so I checked it out. Friesland
is a province of the Netherlands. Ostfriesland (East F.) and Nordfriesland
(North F.) are in Germany. The Frisian Islands are divided among the
Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. The Frisian language (or Friesisch, as
they call it) is more closely related to English than either is to Dutch or
German. It is largely being replaced by Dutch (in the Netherlands) and
German (in Germany).
Charles Ulrich (linguist by trade, brewer by nature)
And now back to beer...
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 19:30:35 EDT
From: davanb%URSLIB.BITNET at PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: ZIMA
Going against the advice of one wiser than me who suggested
avoiding ZIMA even if free, I gave it a shot simply to be
fair. Unfortunately for me, my order was followed by a curious,
"Have you tried this yet? I can't stand it." from the waiter.
Indeed, it stinks. It tastes exactely like alka-seltzer with a
squirt of lime. I should have known better: Coors=Crap; therefore
ZIMA=the bastard son of Crap. Why ask why? --- Drink
real beer!
Dave, a Khyber Passenger in Philly
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1193, 07/30/93