HOMEBREW Digest #1628 Wed 11 January 1995

Digest #1627 Digest #1629


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


Contents:
  pH & acid additions (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  Whoisit?  (sorry) ("Lee Bussy")
  Mashing Temperatures (Harry Covert)
  U-Brews in the Northwest (Segolene) (Segolene Badelon)
  mash program/ph meters (Ed Scolforo)
  NDN: Homebrew Digest #1627 (January 10, 1995) (Gateway)
  Maltzbier ("derek a. zelmer")
  re: keg crimes (Jim Sims)
  Steve Beaumont's article on the Two Buds archived (Alan_Marshall)
  ESB mash at higher temp (david lawrence shea)
  Root Beer from Sassafras roots (help?!?) (bv lhotka)
  Lever cappers WILL work on Champagne Bottles (Roger Grow)
  Stuck Primary Fermentation (spencert)
  Slow Primary Fermentation (spencert)
  Oak Freezer Collar (JSTONE)
  Re: Champagne Bottle & Capping (John DeCarlo              )
  Re: bitterness loss in blowoff/starters (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Capping Champagne Bottles (Stefan Smagula)
  Subject: RE: no fermentation, bottle films, bottle crimes (Arthur McGregor 614-0205)
  Brewing Software ("Houseman, David L [TR]")
  In search of Red Nectar (Tim Fields)
  Macintosh software development fer beer (Randall Rosa)
  Super heated water ("Christopher V. Sack")
  brewery improvements (Steve Robinson)
  brewery improvements (Steve Robinson)
  Capping champagne bottles with 2-lever capper (FFRI)
  Maisel's Hefe Weizen Clone (Robin Hanson)
  Gambrinus Malt (Chuck E. Mryglot)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 9 Jan 95 23:02:00 GMT From: korz at iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583) Subject: pH & acid additions As you may recall, I posted a request for data on acid or CaCl2 additions. Being primarily a brewer of English Bitters and being blessed with only 100 ppm of carbonates in our tapwater, I get by with no adjustment in my mash (even with 100% pale malt) and add only 1 gram per gallon of gypsum to my sparge water. Having had no experience with lactic acid, phosphoric acid or Calcium Chloride (CaCl2), I was curious what the rest of you were doing with your water chemistry. Hence, my request. Some of the data is rather spotty, so I could not extract an awful lot out of it. Also, there is the additional variable of grain bill which was unaccounted for. I know that the difference between the mash pH with DeWolf-Cosyns Pale Ale malt is quite different from that of Munton & Fison Pale Ale or Crisp Maris Otter Pale Ale. Adding as little as a half-pound of medium crystal malt will drop the mash pH a few tenths. So, with that in mind, here's the raw data: Water treatment usual pH Cl - 30 ppm | | Ca - 85 ppm | | Mg - 40 ppm | | Na - 35 ppm | 1/8 tsp 88% lactic in pale malt mash | 5.3 SO4 - 133 ppm | 1/4 tsp 88% lactic in 5 gal sparge | HCO3 - 278 ppm | | ******* pH: 8.5-9.0 | calcium chloride and phosphoric acid | Ca: low | in strike water to 5.7 pH | Na: 77 ppm | | 5.3-5.4 HCO3: 117 ppm |phosphoric acid in sparge water to 5.7 pH | ******* pH: 8.3 | | Ca: 65 ppm | lactic acid -- did not give quanitity | ?? Mg: 20 ppm |(uses pH meter to measure during addition)| Na: low | | SO4: 70 | | HCO3/CO3: 200ppm | | ******* pH: 7.5-7.9 | | Cl: 15 ppm | | no data Ca: 22 ppm | 1/2 tsp lactic acid to 2.5 gal sparge | on actual Na: 16 ppm | water lowered the pH to 4.6 | mash pH Mg: 8.3 ppm | | Hardness: 90 ppm | (this is Chippewa Falls, WI water | SO4: 7 ppm | by the way -- Leinenkugel beer) | ******* pH: 7.7 | | Cl: 92 ppm | | Ca: 79 ppm | no adjustment in mash; RO, softened | 5.2 mash Na: 103 ppm | water + 1 tsp lemon juice in 3 gal for | Mg: 30 ppm | sparge water | 5.0 sparge Hardness: 329 | | water SO4: 279 | |(runnings unk) ******* pH: 7.7 | | Cl: 16.0 ppm | no adjustment in mash | mash pH 5.3-5.5 Ca: 37 ppm | | Na: 38 ppm | 1 tsp lactic acid in 5-gallon sparge | 5.3 sparge pH Mg: 4.7 ppm | (brewer is considering increasing this) | (runnings unk) TotalHrdns:130ppm| | SO4: 48 ppm | (by the way, this is Tucson, AZ water) | ******* Ca: ~100 ppm | | HCO3/CO3: 250ppm | mash-in pH is 5.8 so about 0.5 ml of | | 8% phosphoric acid is added (depending | | on the grain bill) to get a pH of 5.3 | 5.3 pH | | | 30 to 40 ml of 8% phosphoric acid is | | added to 5 gallons of sparge water to | 5.8 pH | reach a pH of 5.8 | ******* pH: 9.0 | about a tsp of lactic acid or CaCl2 in | Cl: 25.0 ppm | 10-15 gal batch pale mash; about a | no data Ca: 27.3 ppm | teaspoon of CaCO3 in stout/porter mash | on actual Na: 9.2 ppm | | mash or Mg: 8.0 ppm | 1/4 tsp 80% lactic acid in sparge | runnings TotalHrdns:101ppm| | pH HCO3/CO3: 66 ppm | | SO4: 7 ppm | (by the way, this is St. Paul, MN water) | DO: 10.6 ppm | (NOTE: dissolved oxygen is 10.6 ppm!) | ******* pH: 7.5-9.0 | 50-60 drops of phosphoric acid to bring | mash and Ca: 13.0 ppm | sparge water down to a pH of 5.5-5.8 | runnings HCO3/CO3: 102 ppm| | pH unknown ******* pH: unk | preboil water -- decant off carbonates | Ca: unk | add CaCl2 (1/2 tsp / 5 gallons) or | mash and HCO3/CO3: unk | CaSO4 (gypsum - quantity unk) or use | runnings TotalHrdns: unk | the water unboiled for dark beers | pH unknown SO4: unk | | ******* Hard, high- | | mash pH unk carbonate water | 1/2 tsp 88% lactic acid added to mash | sparge pH is similar to | 1 to 1.5 tsp 88% lactic acid added to | about 5.6-5.7 London water | sparge water (volume unk) | after addition Well, it seems that if you have low-to-medium carbonate water (less than 200 ppm), 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of lactic acid will get your pale mash into a reasonable range and about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of lactic acid to 5 gallons of sparge water is needed. For higher carbonate water (200+ ppm), about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of lactic acid is a reasonable start in a pale mash and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of lactic acid in 5 gallons of sparge water. For dark beers, you really want carbonate, so you would want to not preboil the water (which drops some carbonates out of solution) and not add acids (because the dark malts will lower the pH for you). Note also, that the amount of carbonate that drops out of solution is primarily dependent on the carbonates in the water, the amount of calcium available and the amount of magnesium in the water (magnesium carbonate being more soluble than calcium carbonate). It would be very beneficial to compile even more data like this, including gypsum additions, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to be the compiler. I could be a reviewer, however. Isn't someone working on a water FAQ? If not, perhaps someone can volunteer? Meanwhile, get those water analyses from your water departments and start measuring your additions and pH. Thanks to: BrewerLee, Ray Corona, Rob Skinner, Ben Woodliff, Mark Melton, John "Cisco" Fransisco, Steve Zabarnick, Jim Ellingson, Royce Hesley, Jeff Renner and Scott Bridges Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 18:25:04 +0000 From: "Lee Bussy" <leeb at southwind.net> Subject: Whoisit? (sorry) I received a request for a packet for the Wichita competition and I sent it out to someone but it bounced. All I git back was Tom someone at Dartmouth. If it was you, please send me a note and I'll send the packet asap. - -- -Lee Bussy | The 4 Basic Foodgroups.... | leeb at southwind.net | Salt, Fat, Beer & Women! | Wichita, Kansas | http://www.southwind.net/~leeb | Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 20:53 EST From: Harry Covert <0007059940 at mcimail.com> Subject: Mashing Temperatures I have been all-grain brewing for a couple of years now and I understand the basics of mashing. What I'm interested in finding out, though, is what the advantages are in the different temperature steps and how these affect the mash. For instance, although I've read a lot that a "protein rest" isn't necessary because of the quality of malt, is this rest at lower temperatures advantageous for reasons other than protein degradation? If so, what temperatures would give what kind of results? Also, I understand that sacharification rests at the lower end (145-152) result in more fermentables and at the higher end (153-160) the result is more unfermentable dextrins; but would there be an advantage to doing a rest at the lower end for a certain amount of time to get the fermentables, and then going up into the higher range for the dextrins? If so what temps and times would give what results? TIA Harry Covert 7059940 at mcimail.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 20:18:59 -0800 (PST) From: Segolene Badelon <psu02502 at odin.cc.pdx.edu> Subject: U-Brews in the Northwest (Segolene) I totally agree with saying that brewing in a U-Brew is VERY convenient. It is also an excellent way to taste samples of your fellow brewers. For information, the first U-Brew of the US was in California. Two others followed in Portland, OR, the microbreweries capital. I went to West-Side U-Brew. For $70, I brewed 12 gallons, and tasted an additional 1 !! U-Brewing is not as fun as home brewing. however, it is easier to wait for the fermentation to be completed as you are not temptated to taste the beer you see every day in your garage!!! You also find excellent recipes !! ************************************************************************** Segolene e-mail: psu02502 at odin.cc.pdx.edu home brewer with pleasure in Portland, OR ************************************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 16:15:41 GMT From: ed.scolforo at berkshirebbs.com (Ed Scolforo) Subject: mash program/ph meters In my last two mashes I followed Dr. Fix's 40-60-70 degree mashing program. While it did provide for good extraction as stated, I have a concern. The beers ended up a bit too sweet, I'm assuming from a large portion of unfermentables from a sugar rest as high as 70C (158F). Are all beers brewed with this schedule destined to have the same degree of sweetness, or should it be controlled with a more attenuative yeast? Or by changing the sugar rest temp to,say,154 F., thereby making it more fermentable? On another topic:I had purchased a Ph Checker *tm awhile ago and had problems keeping it from excess drift and giving repeatable readings in a given solution even by just taking it out and putting it back in. I sent the meter back to the company and they sent the same meter back in three weeks, declaring it OK after making some sort of adjustment. I have used it twice since then and hold it responsible for the poor results in my last batch. Now it won't even calibrate. I mentioned this to a pro brewer in the Northhampton area and he has had similiar problems with this meter. He says that he has done alot of research into PH meters and the bottom line is that you cannot get a meter on the market today which is reliable and accurate unless you spend $200 for it. The ones commonly sold to homebrewers simply are not made to hold up to frequent use. He mentioned Cole Pharmer and others as a source for better quality meters. I'd like to hear from homebrewers regarding their experiences with meters, both good and bad, and any recommendations they may have. We will all benefit from this. Thanks. Ed Scolforo Ed.scolforo at berkshirebbs.com Return to table of contents
Date: 10 Jan 1995 03:17:47 -0000 From: Gateway at foxmail.gfc.edu (Gateway) Subject: NDN: Homebrew Digest #1627 (January 10, 1995) Sorry. Your message could not be delivered to: Robert Hoover,George Fox College (The name was not found at the remote site. Check that the name has been entered correctly.) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 07:39:47 -0500 (EST) From: "derek a. zelmer" <zelmeda4 at wfu.edu> Subject: Maltzbier I have a friend who enjoys beer, but has quit drinking. He would like to try to brew something we encountered in Germany called Maltzbier, which tasted to me like sweet wort that had been fermented just enough to provide carbonation. He currently makes rootbeer, which is capped early and kept cold to prevent fermentation but allow carbonation. Any ideas on how to accomplish this with wort? High mashing temps to produce dextrins? No aeration prior to pitching? How cold would fermenting wort need to be kept to stop fermentation. Any ideas on the subject would be appreciated; Brewing and subsequent dealcoholization of beer would be too much effort, but this seems like a reasonable solution. Private E-mail is preferred, as I can then bounce it to the guy. Thanks. Derek A. Zelmer zelmeda4 at WFU.EDU "place clever message here" Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 08:22:19 EST From: sims at scra.org (Jim Sims) Subject: re: keg crimes Not to re-start an old thread, but the response from the attourney brings up a few questions... When a home brewer maintains possession of a keg, merely forfeiting the deposit, the brewer is not a "good faith purchaser," as was the watch customer in the above hypothetical. Subsection (1) of UCC 2-403, is intended to protect a purchaser in good faith. A home brewer is not a good faith purchaser because a reasonable home brewer is aware that the keg is property of the brewer, and that the value of a keg is far greater than the deposit he/she has placed. The cost that a home brewer would incur should he/she purchase a keg at market, and the manufacturer's "property of" insignia on the keg ensure that the home brewer does not purchase in good faith. And if i purchase a keg from a Used Restaurant Supply store? I expect to pay from $0.10 to $0.50 on the dollar on most goods purchased and even better prices on hard to move items (like beer kegs). Second, a beer retailer is not a merchant who deals in kegs and therefore cannot transfer title to the property. Where a person entrusts possession of goods to a merchant who deals in goods of that kind (a jeweler entrusted with the repair of a watch for example), power is given to the merchant to transfer all rights of the entruster to a buyer in the ordinary course of business. A retailer is licensed to sell beer, it is not their intention to deal in beer distribution hardware. When a brewer transfers possession of the keg to the retailer, only the power to pass title to the beer within the keg is transferred because that is the kind of goods in which the merchant deals. Again, what of purchasing through a used supply store? As it is a legitimate business (just like your jewwlery store), I do not expect them to be selling "stolen goods". They are liscensed and in the explicit business of liquidating equipment from stores/businesses that are renovating, going out of business, etc. Finally, Mr. Bonham's argument blithly ignores the fact that the stamp on a keg manifests the owner's intention to remain the rightful owner of the property." I also can see this argument applied to the 5 gal cornelius kegs, though I've been told that those suppliers are discontinuing their use of those kegs. Does that mean they no longer "intend to remain the rightfull owner"? jim Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 09:04:10 -0500 (EST) From: Alan_Marshall <AK200032 at Sol.YorkU.CA> Subject: Steve Beaumont's article on the Two Buds archived A few weeks ago, Jeff Guillet posted: jg> Subject: Buds in a name? jg> jg> I read the following article in the paper. Thought it might interest jg> some of you. jg> jg> _WHICH_BUD'S_FOR_YOU?_ <article snipped for the sake of bandwidth> Early in December, Stephen Beaumont wrote an article on the two Budweisers that appeared in a local newspaper. It was about the best summary of the Bud vs Bud situation as I have seen. I spoke to Steve and he sent me a disk with the text of the article with permission to post it on the 'Net and store it in our archives. At the time, our newsserver was acting up so I asked Craig Verver to post it for me. He posted it to alt.beer and rec.food.drink.beer just before Christmas. As it is rather long (nearly 200 lines) I will not repost it here. I uploaded the file to the r.f.d.b archives ftp::/ftp.stanford.edu/pub/homebrew/rfdb (i.e. a subdirectory of the homebrewing archives maintained by Stephen Hansen) and to Joel Plutchak's Virtual Pub (ftp::/lager.geo.brown.edu/pub/virtual-pub/). I used an archive name for the article of beer-2buds-sb.txt. When I checked Stanford yesterday, the file was still in the incoming directory. I did not check The Virtual Pub. If anyone has any trouble finding getting the article, please let me know. Also, if anyone wishes to sent any comments to Steve about the article, I will be happy to pass them along. Alan Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 09:17:49 -0500 (EST) From: david lawrence shea <dshea at ucs.indiana.edu> Subject: ESB mash at higher temp I just subscribed to HBD and thought I would jump right in with a question. Awhile back, there was a recipe posted on rec.crafts.brewing to clone Redhook ESB developed from the specs that Redhook provides on their tours. The author, John Francisco I think, recommended a mash temperature of 156F to duplicate the residual sweetness and fuller body. This sounds good since the SG is 1.054 and there is less than 5% alcohol content. My question is this, has anybody out there mashed a pale ale at these higher temps, and what were the results? Having just visited the northwest and drinking lots of Redhook ESB, there was a bit more mouthfeel and body to the beer. Any comments would be appreciated. David L. Shea Indiana University Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 08:49:23 -0600 (CST) From: bv lhotka <bvl1 at esygvl.com> Subject: Root Beer from Sassafras roots (help?!?) I have been given some sassafras roots and I am about to attempt making root beer from them. However, my local Homebrew shops have not been able to give me any direction (other than use their extract kits...). Does anyone have a receipe/method/any pointers/ANYTHING that may help? TIA! { B.V. Lhotka - bvl1 at esygvl.com } Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 08:07:10 -0700 From: grow at sumatra.mcae.stortek.com (Roger Grow) Subject: Lever cappers WILL work on Champagne Bottles I should say "some" lever cappers work on champagne bottles. The lever capper I use (Black Beauty brand, I think) has replaceable "jaws" (the metal things that grip the neck). The jaws come in (at least) two sizes, and the larger diameter ones have been working fine for me on champagne bottles (YMMV, IMHO, yadda, yadda, yadda, bada-boom, bada-bing). Thoughtyamightwannaknow! See ya, Roger Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 10:07:49 -0500 (EST) From: spencert at justice.usdoj.gov Subject: Stuck Primary Fermentation In HBD 1627, Chuck at Duke writes of a slow primary fermentation and requests private e-mail responses. Later in the issue, Ronald Dwelle implores all to respond publicly where possible. I agree with Ronald. I have been reading the digest now for about three months and find the public advice extremely valuable. I am fairly new at this game, and just brewed may third batch and hit the same problem as Chuck - seemingly stuck primary fermentation. The gory details are: 6.6 lbs John Bull amber extract, 1/2 cup roasted barley steeped before the boil, 2 oz cascade hop pellets (apologies to the all-grainers, I will join you as soon as I am confident in my technique!). OG - 1.052. Pitched 7 grams of Munton's dry ale yeast. Bubbles noticeable in 2 hours. 12 hours later bubbles every 2 -3 seconds. 24 hours later, they had slowed to one every 90 seconds. I took a reading, SG was 1.020. Also, a few white blotches on top of the wort. Tastes and smells ok. Added more dry yeast. 12 hours later, nothing. I just can't believe fermentation is complete. What can I do? Did nasty critters get in there? I am a bit unsure if everything is sanitized ok. My first two batches had no problems. I call on the "pros" out there to help me! Tim Spencer ? Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 9:28:38 -0500 (EST) From: spencert at justice.usdoj.gov Subject: Slow Primary Fermentation In HBD 1627, Chuck at Duke writes of slow fermentation and asks for advice on this subject. Chuck equests private e-mail. Later in the same HBD, Ronald Dwelle emplores Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 09:15:10 PST From: JSTONE at SJEVM5.VNET.IBM.COM Subject: Oak Freezer Collar I would like more information from the brewer who mounted the 6" oak collar around the rim of his freezer. I wasn't smart enough to save his email address and apparently the '95 posts aren't archived yet. Joe Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 12:28:41 EST From: John DeCarlo <jdecarlo at homebrew.mitre.org> Subject: Re: Champagne Bottle & Capping matth at bedford.progress.COM (Matthew J. Harper) writes: >In digest 1626 Tom Puskar relates his woes in trying to cap the biggies with >his dual lever capper. > >Bad ness for you Tom, in general it won't work. > >What *will* work though is a good old bench capper. Having been fortunate to >been given an old work horse of this type a number of years ago I can tell >you I have yet to find a cappable bottle that I cannot cap with it. I have used a bench capper once. It was very nice. However (and I could be wrong about this), we adjusted the capper to the bottle height, so you would need to sort your bottles by height for minimum adjustments. But it is so much faster! OTOH, my Italian dual-handle capper handles all the bottles I use, from champagne/cider bottles to 6 oz. Coke bottles. I don't need to adjust it at all, though you can, since the setting I have it at works on all bottles I have. You might try changing your current capper setting to see if that helps. John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 12:37:09 EST From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Re: bitterness loss in blowoff/starters Algis R. Korzonas wrote about bitterness loss in blowoff/starters: > Since we're on the topic of starters, let me mention that some > brewers like to use hops in their starters for their antibacterial > properties. It is true that hops do inhibit some bacteria (some > strains of lactobaccilus, for example), but do nothing to others > (like pediococcus cerevisiae or acetobacter). Hops don't inhibit molds, either. Recently, I was stepping up a starter from a slant. I poured a bit of canned (hopped) wort into an 8-oz juice bottle (per Rajotte) and "pitched" a loopful of yeast. I screwed the lid back on the wort jar and set both in the cupboard. When I went back a few days later to step up the starter volume, there was a nice blob of mold growing on top of the remaining (unfermented) wort. Presumably it had snuck in during the few moments I had the lid off while pouring the starter wort. Needless to say, I didn't use any more of it :-) =Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 12:45:14 -0500 From: smag at mail.utexas.edu (Stefan Smagula) Subject: Capping Champagne Bottles in HBD 1627 Lee Bussy posted: >Tom Puskar asks about regular caps fitting Champagne bottles: > >Tom, you will probably need to use a bench style capper for the >reasons you found. I don't know of a brand of champagne bottles that >will work with a twin-lever type (there may be some). I have used a twin-lever capper to cap many American champagne bottles. The problem with the champagne bottles is that the necks are thicker than regular bottles, and the capper won't clamp down properly because of that. I just used some pliers to remove temporarily the two plastic guards that clamp down on the neck of the bottle, and after I did that I could cap American champagne bottles easily. I have the really common Italian-made twin-lever capper. ^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Stefan Smagula smag at mail.utexas.edu ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Austin, Texas 512-482-8831 ^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 13:54:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Arthur McGregor 614-0205 <mcgregap at acq.osd.mil> Subject: Subject: RE: no fermentation, bottle films, bottle crimes Hi All, In HBD Chuck mentioned his latest batch in the primary not bubbling after nearly a week. The problem may be low fermentation temperature. I had a similar lag in fermentation (only 2 days though) on my current batch. My basement temperature was the apparent culprit, hovering around 62-64 F. I managed to wrap our 'diaper wipe warmer,' around the carboy tho help warm it up a bit. The 'diaper wipe warmer' is a small heat belt that wraps around a container of diaper wipes so the cute little babies aren't traumatized by the thermal shock of a cold wipe :>). It did the trick, as the carboy was up in the mid-70s within 24 hours. I unplugged it and will monitor the temps and cycle it if necessary. Think I'll try a lower temperature tolerant yeast for the next batch. ******* Bottle Films I have noticed that most of my bottles (~75%) have a whitish film on the inside after the beer is consumed. The beer is always bottle carbonated. The film coats the inside of the bottle below the liquid line. I have not been able to find a pattern for which bottles will have this film. Within the same batch some of the bottles have the film while others do not. It doesn't matter whether the batch is extract or all grain, dark or light beers, dry hopped or not, brown, green or clear bottles! The film does clean off with scrubbing, or B-Brite, but I prefer iodophors or bleach, and _no_ scrubbing. I rinse the bottles immediately with water a few times after pouring the beer. Any idea what this film is or why it's on some bottles, but not others? BTW the beers are ales. ******* Bottle Crimes After reading the thread on keg crimes, what about returnable bottles that are not returned to the store for their deposit? Presumably the no- return bottles are not supposed to be returned, hence no 'crime.' The Rolling Rock returnable bottles have permanently painted labels that could indicate ownership, although the BudMilCors have removable labels, so not as permanent. In the mean time, I'm going to RDWAHAHB :>) Good Brews Art McGregor (mcgregap at acq.osd.mil) Lorton, Virginia Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 14:02:00 EST From: "Houseman, David L [TR]" <DLH1 at trpo3.Tredydev.Unisys.com> Subject: Brewing Software While the brewing software is an active thread, I thought I'd put in a plug (usual disclaimers, only a satisfied customer) for The Brewers Workshop (Version 4) by TKO Software. This package seems to me to be very complete handling all ingredients with which one would brew, mash schedules, boil schedules, fermentation schedules, inventory and cost management, water adjustments, printing of recipes, etc. I have reviewed and beta tested several brewing software packages and decided to purchase and use the Brewers Workshop because of it was superior to the others, although I haven't tried them all. This latest version is much faster and more complete than previous versions. Yes, some of the shareware may be free or cheap, but then you get what you pay for. Dave Houseman Groundhog Brewery dlh1 at trpo3.tredydev.unisys.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 14:25:40 EST From: TIMF at RELAY.RELAY.COM (Tim Fields) Subject: In search of Red Nectar I am a new homebrewer and would dearly love to brew up an ale akin to Humboldt Brewing's Red Nectar Ale (they are out of Arcata, CA). Does anyone have an extract recipe that approximates Red Nectar? Thanks! Tim Fields timf at relay.relay.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 12:17:49 -0800 (PST) From: seuss at d2.com (Randall Rosa) Subject: Macintosh software development fer beer >From HBD#1627: Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 10:29:25 -0600 From: evanms at lcac1.loras.edu (Mark Evans) Subject: How about Macintosh Brewers software Once again all this talk about brewers software has my interest piqued. The last time I fished around for shareware (e.g. from Sierra) I found everything uncompatible with the mac system (or you had to run Excel or something). What about it? anybody know of any brew/recipe formulation shareware/software for mac systems? Seems like Hypercard would be a good engine for something like this. ('Course, what would I know? I am NOT a programmer). mark ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ There is a package called the Brewers Planner (look in any beer magazine for the ad). It is a pretty good program that has a great interface and basic database of hops, malts,etc to choose from. I heard that some of the conversions are not accurate though. Also, soon I'll be starting a brewing program for the Mac, as soon as I finish my winemaking/cellar logging system software that I'm in the middle of. If there is any requests, now is the time..private e-mail okay What Id really like to know is if there are any larger scale homebrewers that have an automated brewing system that interfaces with a computer either for control or monitoring. seems like that would be a great combination. randall seuss at d2.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 15:08:37 -0500 (EST) From: "Christopher V. Sack" <cvsack at mailbox.syr.edu> Subject: Super heated water On Tue, 10 Jan 1995 Rich Larsen <rlarsen at free.org> wrote: > > It is possible that you can super heat water in the microwave. > I have experienced this myself. You can heat water so much that it > will just about explode when something is added to it to give > a nucleation point for steam bubbles to form. > > I don't know if the water is actually hotter than 212 (I can't > see how that's possible, but I'm no physicist) but it will violently > boil over when the vessel is disturbed. > [snip] Super heated water (SHW) is indeed hotter than 212^F. It is possible if there the water is heated carefully and there are no nucleation sites (a piece of dirt, a scratch, a vibration, etc.) but it is an unstable situation. As soon as a nucleation site is introduced into the SHW, the water (or any SH liquid) will immediately start to boil violently because the normal phase for a liquid over its boiling point is as a gas. The boiling will continue until the SH water cools down to 212^F. Cooling occurs quite quickly because converting a liquid to a gas requires energy (called the enthalpy of vaporization) which comes from the heat in the SH liquid. As the heat is used to convert the liquid to a gas, the temperature of the remaining liquid drops. Super cooled water is also possible. Have you ever come across a puddle or pan of water on a cold day that freezes at the slightest touch? The same idea is at work as describes for SH water. one is now dealing with a solid/liquid situation and the energy needed for the phase change is called the enthalpy of fusion. Christopher V. Sack, Homebrewer and Chemist Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 15:30:18 EST From: Steve Robinson <Steve.Robinson at analog.com> Subject: brewery improvements Well, the HBD connection seems to be re-established after the mysterious disconnect over Christmas shutdown. I took advantage of the time off to tinker with my equipment and brew some porter. I'm getting to the end of some major changes to my setup that began this brewing season. Since most of them were inspired by discussion here on the HBD, it seems appropriate to share the results of my efforts. ** WARNING ** Long post about my personal brewery setup. 1. I replaced my old Corona mill with a Maltmill<tm>. Say what you like about Jack, he makes a fine product. While crushing the grain for this recipe, I had help from my 2-year-old "assistant". While I wasn't looking, he reversed the direction of the crank causing some of the grain to go up and around the outside of the rollers instead of between them until I realized what he'd done. As a result of this, and also based on the recommendation of the much flamed Zymurgy article, I double crushed the grain. Subsequently I suffered a very long sparge time (not quite stuck, but it took almost 3 hours to collect 6-1/2 gallons of liquid). Since I have also changed my lautering setup, it bears further work to determine if the grain was crushed too fine or if the grain bed with my new setup is just too deep. Oh, for those who care, my Maltmill is the non-adjustable model. 2. I installed an EasyMasher<tm> in my 5-gallon Gott mash tun. Previously I had mashed in the Gott and then transferred to a grain-bag-inside-a-plastic- bucket lauter tun. Because of concerns about HSA, one of my goals was to eliminate (where possible) or simplify the transfer of wort between vessels. This certainly does the trick. One problem with the spigot on the EasyMasher: the taper on the nozzle makes it difficult to keep a hose from slipping off. 3. I built a steam generator for heating the mash. This was based on the article in BT and subsequent discussion here on the digest. To recap, I took a 6 quart department store pressure cooker (the kind with the weight on top) and drilled an 11/32" hole in the top. I tapped this out with a 1/8 pipe thread tap and screwed in a MPT to 1/4" compression adapter. I then ran 1/4" copper tubing up off the pressure cooker (which sits on my stove), over to the cooler (which sits on a Workmate right next to the stove), down the inside and along the bottom of the cooler. I pinched off the end of the tubing and drilled some small holes in it, and installed a needle valve inline with it as a shutoff. To use this I fill the pressure cooker about 3/4 full with water, put the cover on and remove the weight from the stem. I heat the water until steam is blowing out the stem (purging air and minimizing HSA), put the weight back on and open the shutoff valve. Steam now bubbles into my mash, heating it as it condenses. For mashing in picnic coolers, this setup is the greatest thing since sliced bread! The main drawback of the picnic cooler mash tun has always been the inability to apply direct heat. Now, even if I miss the target temperature with an infusion it's just a quick burst of steam to correct it! 4. As a consequence of being able to heat the mash, I tried the mash schedule that George Fix published last summer for highly modified malt. This consists of a 30 minute rest at each of three temperatures: 40C, 60C and 70C, followed by a raise to mash-out temperature. The degree of fermentability is controlled by modifying the times spent at 60C and 70C. My yield with this procedure was just over 30 pts/(lb/gallon) compared with about 27 with my previous setup. Yeah, I know I've changed many variables at once so I can't pinpoint how much improvement comes from each change. Relax, this is homebrewing, not a thesis. 5. Also as a consequence of being able to heat the mash, I added the colored malts later in the mash cycle. Several contributors in the past have mentioned that this gives improved flavor contribution from these malts. I used some German light crystal in this recipe for mouthfeel and head retention, and I took this malt and the base pale malt through the entire cycle. The darker crystal and the chocolate malt were added during the raise to 70C. The verdict on this will have to wait until the beer is done fermenting. At some point in the future I will probably try delaying the addition of these malts to just prior to mash out in order to compare the results. 6. After my old enamelled canner chipped, I broke down and spent the $140 for a 10 gallon stainless steel Vollrath pot. Based on my desire to simplify wort transfer, and because of my success with the EasyMasher in the mash tun, I initially installed an EasyMasher in the boiling kettle as well. Subsequently it plugged up while trying to drain the wort into the fermentor on a Pale Ale that I did about 2 months ago. After thinking about this I realized that the EasyMasher draws liquid from the center of the pot, which is exactly where you DON'T want to drain from after doing the fake-whirpool thing with the spoon. I left the spigot on the pot, but replaced the EasyMasher internals with one of Jeff Frane's super-dooper ring-things (with the holes, not the slots) to drain from the circumference of the pot, and things are now wonderful. Definitely recommended. <snip> Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 15:31:13 EST From: Steve Robinson <Steve.Robinson at analog.com> Subject: brewery improvements <snip> 7. Along with the Vollrath, I also got a King Cooker for boiling. This was prompted in part by my moving last summer, which resulted in having an electric stove in the kitchen in place of the previous gas. Since it was snowing when I brewed the porter, I moved my car out of the driveway and moved the Cooker and a lawn chair inside the garage. I left the garage door cracked open about two feet, and boiled porter while the snow fell outside. [insert brief pause for the reader to wax poetic about winter in New England :-)]. It took about 15 minutes to raise my 6-1/2 gallons of wort to a boil. The King Cooker I got is the 170,000 BTU model with the adjustable flame, which the guy in the store recommended over the old 200,000 BTU fixed model because the heat source is more spread out. 8. This last one was unintentional, and I hesitate to classify it as an improvement until I taste the results. I use those LCD thermometer thingys on my carboys to monitor fermentation temperature. The resolution is +/- 5 F, and the accuracy is questionable, but I figure they give me some relative comparison between batches. Over the summer and fall, my basement was maintaining fermentations between 60 and 65 F. With the porter I got a much longer lag time than I have been accustomed to when aerating the wort well and pitching a yeast starter. Normally I have a good krausen after about 24 hours. With this batch, I was just barely getting foam on top after 48 hours. When I checked the thermometer, I found that the temperature in the basement had dropped to about 50 F. The yeast I used was the YeastLab A01 Australian Ale yeast, which several sources mention as being tolerant of warm temperatures, so it is not one that I would have chosen had I been planning on doing a cold primary ferment. The fermentation is proceeding more like a lager fermentation - almost two weeks to finish primary fermentation, very little blowoff, etc. Since it seems to be going okay, I'm not going to worry about this until I taste the results. I figure at the lower temperature the final product should be nice and clean (low esters, low diacetyl, etc.) So that about sums it up. I hope that someone somewhere is able to glean some useful information from all this rambling. Oh, for the recipe junkies out there, here is my ingredient bill for the porter: 7 lbs. British Pale Ale malt 1/2 lb. German Light Crystal malt 1/2 lb. D-C CaraVienne malt 1/2 lb. D-C CaraMunich malt 1/2 lb. chocolate malt 1 oz. Hallertauer Northern Brewer hop plugs (7.5%) - 75 minutes 1/2 oz. Hallertauer Northern Brewer hop plugs - 30 minutes 1/2 oz. Hallertauer Hersbrucker hop plugs - 10 minutes YeastLab A01 Australian Ale yeast - made up into 500mL starter at 1.040 Steve Robinson in North Andover, Mass. steve.robinson at analog.com - ----- End Included Message ----- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 11:45:16 -0900 From: FFRI at aurora.alaska.edu Subject: Capping champagne bottles with 2-lever capper When I first tried using my two-lever capper to put bottle caps on champagne bottles, it didn't work. I called one of my suppliers and asked: they offered to sell me a different two-lever capper which they said would work. The bottom line: It DOES work. I cap my Sapporo (21.4 fl. oz) bottles and my champagne bottles with beer bottle caps using an "Inart" two lever capper. It's made in Italy. I don't recall which mail-order retailer I bought it from, nor do I have any commercial interest in Inart. Good luck. --roy-- -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- =+=- Roy Iutzi-Mitchell ffri at aurora.alaska.edu -=+= +=-=+ P.O. Box 1128 I.A.Y.I.A. +=-=+ =+=- Bethel, Alaska 99559 U.S.A. 907-543-3642 -=+= -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 13:49:23 -0700 From: rhanson at nmsu.edu (Robin Hanson) Subject: Maisel's Hefe Weizen Clone I would like to produce a clone of Maisel's Hefe Weizen, anyone have any ideas. Thanks Robin. Robin Hanson Rhanson at nmsu.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 16:18:59 EST From: cem at cadre.com (Chuck E. Mryglot) Subject: Gambrinus Malt I've seen a new brand of malt advertised...Gambrinus. I understand that it comes from a maltster in Canada. Anyone have anything more specific on them and maybe a listing of their offerings? cheers for now chuckm Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1628, 01/11/95