HOMEBREW Digest #1368 Wed 09 March 1994

Digest #1367 Digest #1369


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


Contents:
  Flawed airlock design.... (Steven Tollefsrud)
  New Address (Paul J. Schumacher)
  Root Beer (GONTAREK)
  Woodruff (George Kavanagh O/o)
  re- pschorr-sumthing (George Tempel)
  relief from the pressure ("Malcolm Tobias")
  Interstate Commerce and EasyMasher (GNT_TOX_)
  Cranberry Lambic Recipe Wanted (macdonald)
  GRASSY TASTE (Jack Schmidling)
  Atlanta Brewpubs ? (Michael Jorgenson 5-5891)
  Honey Lager (Rich Hogle)
  yeast,caps (/R=HERLVX/R=AM/U=KLIGERMAN/FFN=KLIGERMAN/)
  Growing and malting grain (Bob Chiz)
  Growing Hops ("Edward F. Loewenstein")
  "ACME" Coyote Cooker/ Woodruff/ Sucking Blowoff/ The Art of Brew (COYOTE)
  pilsner clone some answers and some questions (Edward H Hinchcliffe-1)
  Overrun crown caps (Bart Thielges)
  drilling glass question (Jim Grady)
  Boiling Hops and Wort Gravity (Glen Tinseth)
  Publist, yes, Publist again! ("J. Andrew Patrick")
  California brewing (reviews, sorry Jeff) (Jim Busch)
  Sanitizing Options (Terri Terfinko)
  Ice Brewed is Better! (MIKE ZEOLI)
  RE: Brewing non-alcohol beers (Bob Guerin)
  Drill holes in glass with a Sandblaster ("Rick Violet")
  Re: growing hops (Michael Hohnbaum)
  Woodruff/Yankee Brew News (thomas ciccateri)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 12:56:39 +0100 From: vlsisj!fleurie!steve_t at uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com (Steven Tollefsrud) Subject: Flawed airlock design.... Peter Maxwell correctly pointed out that my airlock design using one Gerber jar would not work. This occurred to me during a moment of inspiration and I attempted to cancel this contribution shortly thereafter and replace it with a kludgy, 2 jar solution. Both appeared in HBD #1365. The first (incorrect) solution would only work while the air flow was going into the fermenter, and when CO2 started flowing out, would squirt sterilant all over the place (what a mess!). The second solution COULD work if the lengths of the tubes were all calculated correctly. A better solution would be to run the blowoff tube into an empty jar with an S-lock attached to it. The jar would act as a buffer to contain any wort, etc which could blow out of the fermenter, while the S-lock would permit gas flow in either direction. Whether the wild critters passing through the S-lock into the fermenter during contraction (cooling) would all be killed by the sterilant is an interesting question. Would a lucky wild yeast escape unscathed into the fermenter if he/it managed to float inside a bubble without coming in contact with the sterilant in the S-lock? | | __ || |*| / | || |_| /_/|| || \o\/o/ || || \o_/ || || S-lock || || <-- tube to fermenter __||____||___ [__||____||___] | || || | | | | . | | . | | . | |-----------| | Blowoff | |___________| Steve Tollefsrud Valbonne, France e-mail: steve_t at fleurie.compass.fr Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 07:22:47 -0500 From: de792 at cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Paul J. Schumacher) Subject: New Address Please send HBD to my mailbox: de792 at cleveland.freenet.edu Thanks!! ### - -- q Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 7:28:56 -0500 (EST) From: GONTAREK at FCRFV1.NCIFCRF.GOV Subject: Root Beer Greetings fellow Brewers! My wife has been fairly tolerant of my homebrewing in our small apartment, and has been after me for some time to make a small batch of root beer. How does one go about doing that? Is it as simple as adding root beer extract to some water and then bottling it with a bit of yeast (for bottle-carbonation)? Anyone with advice/recipes/etc is welcome to send me private e-mail. I would appreciate it greatly. I also have a quick comment on spruce beers/homebrew aging. In November of 1992 I made a Spruce beer (from Papazian's book). After a few weeks in the bottle I cracked one open and..AAAGGHH!! Carbonated Pine-Sol! I mean, you could have used this stuff to clean up sticky wort boil-overs on your kitchen floors. Anyway, not wanting to pitch two cases of homebrew, I kept it and popped one open every few months to see if it had gotten any better. By the end of the Summer (1993), it was still heinous. BUT...in January of 1994 I had a party and decided to poison any willing guests with the Spruce Beer. Guess what? The stuff was awesome! A very rich beer with a creamy head and a nice hint of spruce. I was indeed surprised. No, I wouldn't make it again, but the lesson for the day is: Don't toss it out unless you absolutely need the empty bottles! You might be surprised at how drinkable a previously awful batch of homebrew might become. Well, that's my story. Take it easy... Rick Gontarek gontarek at ncifcrf.gov Return to table of contents
Date: 8 Mar 1994 09:04:07 From: George Kavanagh O/o <George.Kavanagh at omail.wang.com> Subject: Woodruff In RE: Rick Dante's query on Woodruff, I concur with Ronald Dwelle's observations in HBD1367. I too have had zero luck propagating woodruff from seed, and finally bought 6 or 8 plants by mail. 4 years later now, woodruff covers a 3 x 10 foot shady boarder as well as a patch under a large taxus bush. Ronald Wyman, in "Wyman's Gardenening Encyclopedia" notes: "gallium odoratum (also previously known as asperula odorata): Sweet Woodruff, Zone 4. Sweet woodruff has long been a garden favorite because of its delicate growth, 4-petaled white flowers about 1/4" across in loosly branching clusters from May to mid-June, and its sweet-scented elliptic leaves.... an excellent ground cover in the moist atmosphere under rhododendrons..... The leaf has been used in wines and liquors. ... Easily propagated by simple division." I have found that when crushed, woodruff leaves have a sweet odor resembling new-mown grass. In wine it adds a warm, summery ambience. I'd appreciate hearing of anyone's experiences using woodruff in beer. -gk Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 1994 08:53:15 +0000 (U) From: George Tempel <tempel at MONMOUTH-ETDL1.ARMY.MIL> Subject: re- pschorr-sumthing re: pschorr-sumthing Ron Dwelle writes:I bought some import Pschorr (sp?), that was called "Pschorr-Sumthing Weissbier with yeast." It was expensive, like $2 for 16 oz., but I figured I'd recover the yeast and get a free starter. The beer was great and I really liked the clove taste, but I couldn't get yeast to grow--I assume it was dead, because I did all the normal precautions. Q--I've read that the Germans demand the yeast with their Weissbier. Is the yeast normally killed somehow? Or did my purchase just have a long ride from Germany to Michigan? I would like to try this again, because I had zero luck with Wyeast 3056. actually ron, the Pschorr-Brau (was Hacker-Pschorr in previous years) is one of the best hefe-weizen's available here in the US (in my humble opinion). The yeast you mention is, I believe, a lager yeast used in conditioning, not the weizen yeast you are hoping for, and is probably very dead from not only the long ride but the nasty things they do to imports (pasteurize?). I have had great luck with the Wyeast 3056, but it is a funny dual-yeast that is reported to be unstable and do different things. I understand and have purchased, though not used, the new Wyeast 3068, which is from the Weihenstephen (spelling?) Yeast Bank in Germany. Good luck brewing... l8r... ty (george tempel, home = netromancr at aol.com) "kiss cats: the dachshund and the deer are one"--wallace stevens Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 08:26:54 -0600 From: "Malcolm Tobias" <mtobias at wurel.wustl.edu> Subject: relief from the pressure I opened my first long-awaited double bock and was horrified as foam gushed out of the bottle until almost nothing was left. At first I despaired, was I doomed to 1oz of beer and 11 of foam? Finally I decided to try something. I took a bottle opener (the kind that goes all the way around the cap {}=== ) and slowly lifted the cap until I heard the gas start to escape. After a few seconds the beer started to foam up so I released the cap and it seemed to form a good seal. I waited for the foam to subside and then repeated this several times (with one bottle I heard a hissing so I assumed it hadn't re-sealed and drank it :) ). That was about a week ago and I haven't opened a gusher since. hope this helps any other impatient brewers out there, - -- Malcolm Tobias mtobias at wurel.wustl.edu ...Zmail welcome... Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:26 EST From: <GNT_TOX_%ALLOY.BITNET at PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU> Subject: Interstate Commerce and EasyMasher Two quick questions: What's the status of interstate homebrew travel. E-Mail please, I'm sure this has been discussed before. And what's an Easymasher? If anyone could give me a good description along with personal experience, I'd appreciate it. Andy Pastuszak Philadelphia, PA INTERNET: GNT_TOX_%ALLOY.BITNET at PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU BITNET: GNT_TOX_ at ALLOY.BITNET Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:35:03 EST From: macdonald at akocoa.enet.dec.com Subject: Cranberry Lambic Recipe Wanted Looking for a recipe for a cranberry lambic. Could anyone who has one send it to me via e-mail, or post it here if you think others might be interested. Regards, Bruce Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:17 CST From: arf at mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) Subject: GRASSY TASTE >From: Tim Lawson <lawson at clcunix.msj.edu> >Subject: cold hopping & grassy flavors >Jack Schmidling's response to Domenick Venezia's question about why a recent all-grain brew tasted "grassy" suggests that the flavor results from "not cooking the hops" used to dry hop the brew. He implies that dry hopping always produces this flavor. > A much more plausible explanation for the grassy flavor can be found in Zymurgy (vol. 10, number 4, 1987). George Fix states that "barley is a member of the grass family, and thus it is not surprising that grassy flavor tones can arise from grains....musty smells will be detected in the malt....the best practical measure for avoiding grassy flavors involves the proper storage of malt....high temperatures and humid conditions should be avoided....malt that has been ground will do this very quickly (i.e., absorb moisture)". I am not in the mood to tangle with George, at least not indirectly and not having read the article but.... When I refer to "grassy flavor", I am referring to what I would assume freshly mown grass would taste like judging from its smell. Oatmeal, spagetti, beer, saki, tortillas etc., are all derivitives of members of the grass family but their flavor charasteristics result from the starchy part of the grain and not from stems, leaves, sepals, petals and other flower parts. When fresh or dryed hops are added to cold beer there is a flavor component that would be common to a handfull of fresh or dried grass that does not exist if the hops or grass is cooked. That's not to say there aren't other components as well but I am only addressing the uncooked-grassy-herbal taste that is always and only noted with cold {dry} hopping. Pointing out that some great beers of the world have this taste, may give it more respect but does not change its nature. js Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 10:08:36 CST From: jorgen at orson.mayo.EDU (Michael Jorgenson 5-5891) Subject: Atlanta Brewpubs ? Hello, I'm going on a trip to Atlanta and would like to know the name's and whereabouts of any brewpubs thereabouts. Also any suggestions on any of the local breweries worth visiting. Any reply will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. Michael A. Jorgenson Mayo Clinic jorgen at mayo.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 10:57:48 +0500 From: hogle at norm.crd.ge.com (Rich Hogle) Subject: Honey Lager Mike & Kristina write of troubles with Papazian's Propensity Pilsener Lager -- I've used that recipe (actually, your recipe with 6.5 # M&F) once or twice per year since I've been brewing (back when HBD was in the 100's) with excellent results. In fact, it is one of the few beers that my wife also likes. In my case, it has come through crisp, clean, with nice body, and just a hint of honey flavor. In the glass, it was crystal clear, with a golden color. It was nicely carbonated, but did not hold a head very well. I used to use 14g of Vierka lager yeast (dry) and more recently a liquid lagering yeast. Don't be discouraged - perhaps try a different brand of honey (I think CP called for clover honey, some store brands are blends) and/or different yeast. Rich Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 1994 11:47:31 -0500 (EST) From: /R=HERLVX/R=AM/U=KLIGERMAN/FFN=KLIGERMAN/ at mr.rtpnc.epa.gov Subject: yeast,caps Hi! I need some help indetermining what to do with Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat lager. I do not care for wheat beers and would like ti know what other type beers it might be acceptable for. I'm ready to brew this week so prompt help would be appreciated. Regarding the sterilization of bottle caps. I just put 1.5 cups of water in a pyrex pitcher, put in 50 caps and microwave to a boil. I never had problems with infection or bad seals due to caps. Andy Kligerman Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:20:33 MST From: chiz at atmel.com (Bob Chiz) Subject: Growing and malting grain HBD, Having just bought a house with a sizable piece of land, I figured now was the time to finally growing my own hops. The rhizomes should be planted within the next few weeks. But this got me thinking about possibly growing and malting my own barley. Does anyone know anything about this, or is there a good reference book available ? Thanks, Bob Chizmadia Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 94 10:42:36 CST From: "Edward F. Loewenstein" <SNREDLOW at MIZZOU1.missouri.edu> Subject: Growing Hops Greetings! Tis the season to tend your hops, or to begin planning that hop garden you've always dreamed of. The HBD has recently hosted numerous queries concerning hop culture, I thought I'd add my own experience to the fray. First off, choose a spot in your garden that is well drained! If your soil is constantly saturated, you will rot your hops. It should also be in a sunny location, 5-7 hours of sun per day should do it. Set up a trellis to give the hop bines (yes, bines, not vines) plenty of room to extend. My own trellis is 20' tall, and my hops typically reach the top of it before July 1st. Keep the hops well fertilized. At the height of growth, the vines can put on several inches of growth a day; this requires alot of nutrients. Keep your hops well watered, they prefer a moist, not wet soil. Now then, on to questions that have been posed. Hops are dioecious plants, which is to say that individuals are either male or female. Typically, only female plants are cultured in a hop garden because we are interested in the female flowers, cones, for brewing purposes. Without male plants, the female flowers are never fertilized, and therefore, do not produce seed. This is also why hops are usually grown from rhizomes (root cuttings). This is a form of vegetative reproduction and produces a plant genetically identical to the parent. Plants grown from seed may turn out to be either male or female, so if someone tries to sell, or give, you hop seed, smile and politely refuse. When trying to decide on the number of rhizomes to plant, I can only make suggestions from my own experience, which by the way is based on river bottom soil in central Missouri. Several years ago I planted four rhizomes, one each of cascade, chinook, nuggett and pearle. All became established and during the first growing season I averaged about one-half pound of dry cones from each plant. Since the plants have matured, they now produce in the range of 1 to 2 1/4 pounds of cones per year. Which I am happy to say is enough for my purposes. I dry my cones by simply laying them out on newspaper for 3-4 days. At that point I seal them in freezer bags and store in a chest freezer at 0 degrees F. I notice little loss of freshness over the course of a year. In closing, I have found hops to be extremely easy to cultivate and would urge anyone with a few square feet of soil to try. It is just one more aspect of homebrewing which you are able to do yourself and come up with a final product which is truely unique to your brewery! Hope this helps, Ed Loewenstein SNREDLOW at MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 1994 10:46:51 -0600 (MDT) From: COYOTE <SLK6P at cc.usu.edu> Subject: "ACME" Coyote Cooker/ Woodruff/ Sucking Blowoff/ The Art of Brew Must follow up on a schlew of e-mail requests here: RE: The COYOTE Cooker episode... FWIW: ACME => Coyote (as in Wyllie) => Roadrunner = cartoon = joke. Maybe I'm getting too old. Who knows. (guess my tongue wasn't stuck far enuf out into my cheek! "What channel are you watching?") I purchased the beast at a local store: Smithfield Implement. I don't think they do mail order. And it was a "sshpecial" sale. The "CACHE COOKER" is from a local manufacturer. They do sell accessories mail order (at least?), but not at SI's "Krazy Daze" Prices! $$$$ Cache Cooker (by Camp Chef) P.O. Box 4057, Logan, UT. 84323 1800- 783-8347 801- 752-3922 No connexn, other than they are in my town. Plus, I bought one, which I now LOVE to brew on. 8> If they do sell the units mail-order (they might??) the shipping would kill, if you're anywhere other than next door. 30+ lbs/ unit. Hell- maybe I should take up a commercial venture and try a package buy for netters....nah, shud finish thesis first...tug at shirt...chest out... Check local outdoor/camping/outlet supply/brew stores....etc. FWIW: Cache Cooker by Camp Chef. P.O. BOx 4057, Logan, UT. 84323 1800- 783-8347 801- 752-3922 John.- Tongue in cheek! - The Coyote - Wyllie *** Rick Dante of in%"rdante at ucsd.edu" RE: Pasteurs S-loops...sterility at it's finest! :) ...also... Does anybody know anything about woodruff? What it's used for, how it's used, what it tastes like? * Woodruff is an herb type of plant. I haven't tried growing it (yet), but have used it in a wheat beer. Tried to make that all special "Green Beer" for St-Patties day - don't- cha know. <best irish accent imitation in effect> Well, er, um... it was a fine beer, buut it had a color a bit resemblin' ya might say, some-tin' like ... Pond water.... yeah, pond scum. That's eeit! I made a tea of woodruff, and added some at bottlin' I still have a 1/2 pint mason jar of the schtuff. It's still sterile! A whole two years later. Might just have to try it this year again! It ain't got no S-type lock on it like Loiu-ey used, but hey, he didn't use a pressure cooker! (:0>| I also have some dried from a brew supply in Richland Wa (Arlene's Flowers). If you can't find it elsewhere. It's tough to describe the flavor. Almost "weedy/ flowery/ sweet grass" kind of flavor. Interesting and unique. I'd bet if you could use some fresh- slightly dried woodruff you might impart a greenish color, with better results than I. I may try some in a mead next. That might be interesting, but wouldn't be ready by St. Patties. Ah well. *** Ok, my vote Steven Smith for the bunniest rebuttal to the "Sucking Blowoff" response contest. Anything involving dogs gets my vote :) One addendum: Don't forget the...gravity... Keep your receiving vessel for the end of the tube BELOW the fermenter, or you "could" start a siphon if there's a temp-gradient effect. Get a long hose, wide diameter, and you won't draw in. Also...if you have one of those 7 gal glass acid-carboys with the screw caps, DON'T leave them on...for a while...even lightly screwed down, while the brew cools. Just put an airlock, w/ a blowoff. If a fermentation were to start in the middle of the night it could clog up a lightly screwed cap, and build up some SERIOUS presssure before you get to it in the am. With a little luck, it won't BLOW UP before you check it, but it could ...spew beer all over... when you do open it. Mind you...I would NEVER do anything like THAT!... "golly no Mr. Peabody." Even an airlock can clog with goo pretty easily, and be sent forward with a bit of a thrust. More than once have I had a "blast" of spew-age sent to the ceiling. Cause enough to lose a airlock "bubbler" piece underfoot as one scours the brew room for the pieces of the airlock that when FLYING! Just give it a blowoff for a day or two, then fit the airlock. No problem, no mess, no fuss. A scrubber for the inside of an airlock is nice *** Anecdote: Past weekend I went up to Star Valley, WY. where a brewbuddies dad is building a house. So we each overcharged our kegs with CO2 for the trip. His a brown ale, mine a "99" golden/amber ale (munich-90, special B). Dumped them in the snowbanks outside while we hung sheetrock, and build stud walls. Sneaked in a little ski-touring on the golfcourse. Visited "Uncle Tom" who had a house (cabin) nearby. We brought our kegs, and turned "the cousins" on to some homebrew. The concept was discussed, as the wares were samples, one had a homebrewer- friend from Houston, Tx. It was nice to have such a portable source of brew, and opportunity to share the art. Also to know that people are more intersted in trying brew beyond the average american swill-age. There is some hope for America. -|- COSMIC COYOTE BREWING -|- SLK6P at cc.usu.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 11:45:22 -0600 (CST) From: Edward H Hinchcliffe-1 <hinch001 at maroon.tc.umn.edu> Subject: pilsner clone some answers and some questions Hi, I am writing in reply to a post about problems with a Pilsner Urquell clone from the NCJOHB. I have 5 gal. of this beer in my basement at 4 deg. C as we (I) speak. It was constructed as follows: 6.6 LBS NW Gold ME 2 LBS Lt. Clover Honey (Lunds) 1/2 LB Lt. Crystal Malt (steeped to boil) 1.5 oz. N. Brewer Hop Pellets(boil-45 min.) 0.5 oz. Saaz (boil 30 min.) 0.5 oz. N. Brewer(boil 15 min.) 0.5 oz. Saaz (steep <5min) 1 Pkg. Wyeast Bohemian (real puffy, no futher starter) OG 1.061 (kinda high) primary 5 days at 55 F secondary 23 days (so far) at 40 F FG 1.016 and falling I took a SG reading at day 22 in the secondary(1.016) and had a taste. Young but pretty good; it hints at great things to come. The color is alittle dark, but it is a dark gold, not an amber. The Wyeast is chewing through the fermentables still. I plan on letting it lager as long as the cold of late winter holds out, which in MPLS could be until MAY!!! Then I will bottle and wait some more. So my opinion as to the troubles of the brewing pair is YES, your yeast was not up to the task of eating all that honey and it got full and is sleeping. Try the Wyeast and give it more time. I have no idea if the Red Star will kick in in the bottle and make honey grenades and I don't want to be at your house if it does. Maybe stick it back in the cask cleanly and without too much oxygen and pitch the wyeast. Or you could just open all of the bottles and have a party, albeit a flat one. Good luck, e-mail me with any comments or suggestions on my clone ted BTW, questions-I am planning to dry-hop my 60 /Scottish ale with 1 oz. Cascade. How does this sound? Too much? Not enough? OG 1.055, FG 1.018 5 gal. TIA Edward H. Hinchcliffe (no letters after my name yet, but atleast I don't have to use statistics for my thesis) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 10:32:09 PST From: relay.hp.com!daver!nexgen!bart (Bart Thielges) Subject: Overrun crown caps My local homebrew shops (San Jose, California, USA) have run out of overrun crown caps indefinitely. These overrun caps are usually purchased from beverage vendors as surplus and are imprinted with the name of the product they were originally intended to cap. Maybe I'm strange, but I'd rather cap my homebrew with these overruns. Leave the "Real Beer" and "Have a Homebrew" caps to those who want a professional look. I'd prefer to have my homebrew labelled with "Lime Rickey" or "Artificially Flavored Diet Raspberry Soda". If you happen to know of a dealer who has these overrun caps and does mail order, please mail information to me. Mail replies to "bart at nexgen.com" (the return address on this message probably won't work). Thanks ! bart at nexgen.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 13:42:45 EST From: Jim Grady <grady at hpangrt.an.hp.com> Subject: drilling glass question I've seen the posts recently about drilling a hole in a carboy to put a tap at the bottom. My question is, after you've drilled a hole in your $20.00 carboy, how are you going to get the nut inside the carboy and attach it to the tap? (All the taps I've seen are put on this way). Or, as my wife observed, is the nut on the outside (holding the homebrew :-)? Now to more constructive posts (groan)... - -- Jim Grady grady at hp-mpg.an.hp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 10:58:51 -0800 From: glent at falstaff.cache.tek.com (Glen Tinseth) Subject: Boiling Hops and Wort Gravity In Digest 1367 two different notes mentioned that boiling hops longer than 60 minutes does not increase bitterness, or worse, even decreases bitterness. This is wrong. In a couple of early studies, there was some data that indicated that iso-alpha acids were broken down with extended boil times. This info was somehow frozen in time in the homebrew literature, and everyone, myself include, followed the advice. More recent research has shown that although most of the isomerization occurs in the first 45 minutes or so, the chemical rearrangement continues well beyond that point. You certainly reach a point of diminishing returns at around 90 min. so there probably isn't a reason to boil hops for longer than that. On another subject in the same Digest, Spencer Thomas lists wort gravity as a factor in alpha acid utilization. He mentions that Mark Garetz has asserted that wort gravity is not an issue, despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary. My position on this issue is that Spencer is right and Mark is wrong. The reason is obvious, once you think about it. The higher the gravity of the wort, the more of everything in solution. Proteins, sugars, and all kinds of other stuff. When you brew a barleywine, especially all-grain, the hot break can be so huge it is scary. Iso-alpha acids are attracted to the protein chunks and precipitate out with the break. The more protein, the more hot break, the lower your alpha acid utilization is. This may or may not be as big an issue with extract based high gravity boils, depending on how much of the hot break has been removed in the extracting process. More research needs to be done and at this point my dance card is full so how about it? Someone out there with the wherewithall and time should do this experiment. I'll be happy to help set it up and give any advice necessary. Let's make this forum really cook. Collaborative research for the betterment of homebrewing! (Loud Cheers Echo Throughout the Room) Email me if you are interested and have an HPLC. Glenn Tinseth tinsethg at ucs.orst.edu <or> glent at falstaff.cache.tek.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 13:04:39 -0600 (CST) From: "J. Andrew Patrick" <andnator at Mercury.mcs.com> Subject: Publist, yes, Publist again! Acting upon John DeCarlo's "public service announcement" I obtained the latest and greatest Publist from sierra.stanford.edu via anonymous FTP. I have the following observations: - While it is true that the system date on the file is Nov 30, 1993, there is absolutely nothing IN the Publist itself to tell us when any given entry was last verified. Scanning through the list, I found several entries for brewpubs and beer bars that I know to be defunct. Now, of course I SHOULD send in my corrections, but see my next point..... - There is no mention of WHERE to send additions and corrections to the list mentioned in the Publist itself. No wonder there's so much out-of-date stuff in there! Now I know from previous dealings with the Publist that it has historically been maintained by: jmellby at iluvatar.dseg.ti.com (John R. Mellby). I have sent John a set of updates and a query as to why there is no longer an address listed for additions and corrections in the list itself. I am still waiting for a reply to this last point. In the meantime, there are a LOT of new brewpubs in the Midwest and Southwest that aren't adequately reviewed in the current Publist. If you want information on these, contact me on the HBU BBS Network, or send private e-mail. |Sysop | Andrew Patrick | Founder| |Home Brew Univ| AHA/HWBTA Recognized Beer Judge |Home Brew Univ| |Midwest BBS | SW Brewing News Correspondent | Southwest BBS| |(708)705-7263 |Internet:andnator at genesis.mcs.com| (713)923-6418| Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 15:25:47 -0500 (EST) From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: California brewing (reviews, sorry Jeff) After a hiatus of 2.5 years, I headed back to the breweries of California, generally located within driving distance of the SF bay area. I dont want to clog the digest, but I thought I would share a few observations and opinions on the breweries I visited. Day 1: Drive to Chico. Stop at Sudwerks, watch what appeared to be a new brewer being taught the trade by Karl (Eden(?). Pretty good versions of Maerzen, Pils, Lager. Slight slufery house flavor, but typical. Move on to Chico. Suprise #1: Sierra Nevada American Wheat is online. Im no fan of the style, but just like all the ales made by SN, this ones good. Im told the brewery is producing over 120,000 BBls and still growing. New 400 BBl unitanks are on order, and rumor has it that SN lagers will be no more. They just brought out the "spring Bock", in Feb!, and the summerfest is a big ????? If you ask my opinion, stick to to what your best at, ales mate! And as always, the highlight for me is the wonderful Draft/draught pale ale (only available at the brewery, and at a bit lower ABV, a really poundable pale ale. About the best from the trip, a real shame you cant buy this beer nationally). Day 2: Sacramento, River City. This is a new brewpub, opened late last year. Yes, Im biased, my best friend set up the brewing equipment and helped with recipe formualtion. Very good lagers, the helles/lager is good and hoppy, clean lager. The pale ale uses East Kent GOldings to effect, but not to extreme as some of us do. I finally met Roy Rudebush (sp?), he is one of the brewers. Phil Moeller from Rubicon was there tanking up on a litre of the brew. He informed me that River City is one of the latest "Brewsterauants" to open. This means its trendy, fashionable with good food and BTW, happens to brew beer. I must admit he's right, but who cares, the beers good, and I regret not eating there. They of course have the hottest California trend, brick oven pizza (finally something we beat them to on the right coast, Ive been eating BOP across from Berthas in Fells Point , Md for years). Head back to Sudwerks to try the HefeWeizen. Can barely squeeze in , another extremely successful Friday nite spot. Weizen is good, not great. Drive down to east bay, and hook up with Rich Steuven, aka gak. Rest up for a hard weekend (when your with gak, you better be rested!). Next installment: north to Ft. Bragg. Good brewing, Jim Busch Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 16:37:23 EST From: terfintt at ttown.apci.com (Terri Terfinko) Subject: Sanitizing Options I am trying to determine the differences between some of the cleaners used for homebrewing. Naturally chlorine bleach is the most economical for cleaning glass and plastic. For stainless steel, I have used B-Brite and the new No Rinse cleaners. The one I am most interested in understanding is Chlorinated Trisodium Phosphate CTSP. This one seems to be more economical than the others. I have located TSP in the hardware store, but can't seem to find CTSP. Is CTSP the chemical in B-Brite or the No Rinse cleaners? How long should items be soaked in this solution to fully sanitize? Does anyone know of a source for CTSP? Terry Terfinko Return to table of contents
Date: 08 Mar 1994 17:26:54 -0500 (EST) From: MIKE ZEOLI <ZEOL4195 at splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu> Subject: Ice Brewed is Better! Date sent: 8-MAR-1994 17:09:26 Attending a college known for its beer drinking, I have become sort of a taste tester of many fine brews, both American and Canadian. From my experiences I can say one thing: ice brewed beer is definitely a superior beverage. The beer that I have tasted includes Molson Ice and XXX, Labatts Ice and Maximum Ice, and the new beer to hit the market: Budweiser Ice Draft. Not only do these brews taste much better as far as flavor goes, but they also pack quite a strong punch(with the exception of Bud Ice Draft). Triple X, my favorite of all these is very tasty and goes down rather smoothly. What I would like to know is what some of the other ice brews taste like. For example, I was particularly curious about Miller's new Ice House. I have not heard much about it except that it has just recently hit the market. Any information you can give me on any of the ice brewed beers would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Mike Zeoli MIKE ZEOLI Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 17:29:01 -0800 From: bguerin at orincon.com (Bob Guerin) Subject: RE: Brewing non-alcohol beers The term "non-alcoholic" when referring to beer is a misnomer. Commercial NA beers actually can contain up to 0.5% alcohol (listen for the disclaimer when these products are advertised on TV or radio). If Brian's friends are alcoholics, it would be bad for them to consume a beverage containing any alcohol at all. As far as making one, I doubt that you could boil off all the alcohol. The yeast should all die at boiling temperature, but if they didn't, then priming would allow the surviving yeast to create more alcohol. Bob Guerin (bguerin at orincon.com) Return to table of contents
Date: 8 Mar 1994 17:53:10 -0800 From: "Rick Violet" <rick_violet at powertalk.apple.com> Subject: Drill holes in glass with a Sandblaster An excellent method for making holes in glass is to use a sand blaster. Mask off the glass for about 6 inches around the future hole. Use several layers of masking tape. Cut a hole in the masking tape, slightly smaller than the final hole. Spray the exposed glass with the stream of sand until you break through. Then angle the stream so as to strike the side of the hole, i.e. aim for the glass to be removed, not the absence of glass. This process can take quite a while, so don't let your air compressor over heat. As always use the right safety gear, like gloves & face mask. You may want to fill the carboy with sand, packaging peanuts or something so the sand won't scratch the other side of the carboy. Keep blasting until the hole is as you want it. I have used this method for bottles, it may work well for carboys too. Hope this helps, Rick Violet Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 09:15:13 +0800 From: hpfcla.fc.hp.com!amdahl!oregon!hbaum (Michael Hohnbaum) Subject: Re: growing hops Chris Lovelace asks about growing hops. > (stuff deleted) I want to grow at least two > varieties. They'll be growing in a row about 21 feet long, and I plan to > put about 9 rhizomes along that row. Does anyone see a problem with > planting, say, 6 Cascades rhizomes and then 3 Perle Rhizomes? I had 5 hop plants of 4 different varities growing on a twenty foot row in my garden in San Jose. This will be their third season, however, I now live in Portland, so I can not tell how they are doing. If I was still there, I would have dug out at least two of the plants, because there was not enough room. The books I read suggested planting hops 6 to 8 feet apart, but I went with 4 feet. What happens is the roots grow and spread horizontally underground. After a few years there are shoots coming up along the entire 20 foot stretch and it is hard (impossible) to tell what shoots are from which plant. Note that the roots don't understand the linear nature of rows and spread away from the row also. Thus I had hop shoots coming out of my strawberries, three feet away. In Chris's case he is planning on planting only two varieties. What I would recommend is to plant one Perle Rhizome at one end of the row, then two or three Cascade Rhizomes with the first being at least 8 feet away from the Perle. Since it will not be necessary to differentiate the Cascades from each other, they could probably be planted closer than 8 feet from each other. I would save the money and not plant more than 2 or 3 Rhizomes, as after the first year the roots will have spread over pretty much the entire row. I had excellent success growing Rhizomes obtained from Freshhops versus those obtained from the local brewshop. Cascades were the biggest producer with over 12 ounces (dried) the first year, and over two pounds the second year. Mt. Hood hops were also good producers. The Hallertauer and Tettenger grew great vines, but only put out about two ounces each. As far as drying goes, I made a screen that fit over the bathtub in the spare bathroom, and spread the hops on there to dry. It seemed like a good spot as it had no direct sun, but good venilation. If more space was necessary, I was planning on building another screen/frame with 18" legs to set above the screen sitting on the edge of the tub. I imagine that this would work for multiple layers. The tub location only works if you have a spare tub, or don't mind not bathing for a few weeks in August/September. Michael Hohnbaum hbaum at amdahl.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 22:21:35 -0700 (MST) From: thomas ciccateri <tciccate at unm.edu> Subject: Woodruff/Yankee Brew News For a first-hand look at woodruff's contribution to a beer's flavor profile, check out the Woodruff Ale from San Andreas Brewing Co., CA. I think they also experiment with that spice at Bison brewpub in Berkeley, CA. I found the flavor very distinct and "mellow". For info on the Yankee Brew News try Brasseur Publications in Boston, MA. at (617)846-1707. Tom Ciccateri University of New Mexico - Hitchhiker on the Information Superhighway Training and Learning Technologies Div. tciccate at carina.unm.edu Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1368, 03/09/94