HOMEBREW Digest #1712 Sat 22 April 1995

Digest #1711 Digest #1713


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


Contents:
  5 Liter Death Trap Warning (Paul Gibson)
  Mixing of Malts?? (SCHWAB_BRYAN)
  RE: Lack of Hop Aroma (david lawrence shea)
  HBD Subscriber Drop Robot (Kirk R Fleming)
  Molarity (George J Fix)
  NA beers, Burp and Belch (uswlsrap)
  Hop Aroma / Elk Droppings (Norman Pyle)
  Dry vs. Liquid, Fruity, Water & Extract, Wort Chiller, Aeration (Dean Pulsifer)
  Wit, pH, Jello, Otes. (Russell Mast)
  RE: Mash-Lauter Tun Question (Jim Dipalma)
  Transfer from commercial keg to corny keg (Harold LaRoux)
  dark grains again/beer talk ("David Sapsis")
  Re: malt relationships/pH paper (Dan Pack)
  AHA Conf. Roommate(s) Wanted (Jim Liddil)
  yet another first batch story/club (Larry Lowe)
  Sam Adams v. Coors Cutter (Mark Ohlstrom)
  Alcohol Labeling on Commercial Beer (David_Arnone)
  Late Hops / Brown vs. Green Bottles / Protein Break in Extracts (Rob Reed)
  dropped from list! (Rob Emenecker)
  The carboy that almost blew. (daryl kalenchuk)
  Malted Barley Sprouts (DALLEN)
  archives - how to read them! (Robert_Anderson)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 05:18:16 -0700 From: psg at ix.netcom.com (Paul Gibson) Subject: 5 Liter Death Trap Warning systems are potentially deadly! I had one EXPLODE in hand! Now I'm not talking about some minor pop of escaping gas; I mean EXPLODE! The handle split into three pieces and the CO2 cartridge took off like a rocket. It missed my wife's head by inches, punched a softball sized hole in a tempered glass sliding door, and zoomed out into the back yard another six to seven feet. Of course, the rest of the door shattered and my hand was numb for the next half hour. We were very lucky that it didn't break my hand or slam my wife square between the eyes! With enough energy to break the glass door and still travel six feet out into the yard, it probably would have crushed her skull. Exactly what did happen? I finished a keg on Friday night and took the Party Star out and rinsed it off. I left it on the kitchen counter overnight to dry. Saturday afternoon I grabbed a fresh keg, the Party Star and a new 16gm CO2 cartridge and headed over to a neighbor's house. I put the keg on the dining table, inserted the Party Star and snapped it into place. I then inserted the CO2 cartridge in the handle and screwed it in until it touched the base. I then gave a quick half turn to pierce and seat the cartridge and WHAM, it exploded instantaneously. How did it Explode? I honestly don't know. This was not a brand new system. I had tapped at least a dozen kegs before and this was the first keg of the party. So the unit wasn't an obvious factory defect, it wasn't old enough to be worn in any way, and it wasn't being operated by a bunch of drunks (although that shouldn't matter -- these things ought to be designed to be safe in the hands of the inebriated). My best guess is that either the CO2 cartridge or something else momentarily blocked the vent hole in the handle. This allowed pressure to build and explode the handle. An inspection of the fragments of the handle showed no indication of debris that could have clogged the vent hole, so that's just a guess. What to do now? I really like the Party Star. I don't want to give it up. So I took it back to where I purchased it and asked what they thought. They were understandably concerned. After all, if someone had been hurt, the product liability lawyers would have targeted them and the national distributor primarily -- the manufacturer is in Germany and hard to sue. Unfortunately they had nothing to offer, except to pay for the door and give me my money back on the Party Star or a new handle. We agreed to investigate having a handle made out of aluminum. However the machine shop I contacted told me that the threads are "special" and that they would have to spend $200.00 on tooling before making the first part. That puts the cost out of our reach for the relatively small quantity we could use locally. I suppose I could modify the plastic handle by drilling a few 1/8 inch holes to add additional opportunities for vending the gas. The problem is, if I modify the handle and it explodes again, I will be in a position of having to prove that my modifications did not weaken the handle and cause the explosion. As it currently stands, we have contacted the national distributor and requested that they notify the factory of the potential problems and need for a solution. I will begin using the Party Star again while we wait, but will wear heavy leather work gloves and make sure everyone is out of the room when seating a new cartridge. If you have a Party Star, or plan on getting one, I suggest you give some serious thought to the potential danger and I hope that you ask your local supplier to join in lobbying the distributor and manufacturer for a safer system. If you have had a similar experience, or have any comments that you would like to see reach the national distributor, please EMail me with the details. Thanks, Paul Gibson PSG at ix.netcom.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 95 16:07:10 CDT From: SCHWAB_BRYAN at CCMAIL.ncsc.navy.mil Subject: Mixing of Malts?? Hey fellow Brewers, Help me out on this if you would, it seems that I during my last brew session, I took: 5# of British 2 row 5# of German Pilsner 1# Wheat 1# Vienna Malt 1/2 oz Cara-Pils 3/4 oz Special B and added them all together during the 90 min Mash. After 35min at 125, up the temp to 151 for the balance of 90 min without a true conversion according to the idodine test. I went ahead and sparged anyway, SLOWLY, VERY SLOWLY, and boiled for another 75 min with Malto-dextrin, (Gypsum was added during the strike water=1 tblsp)and 2 oz Fuggles and N. Brewer Hops, Irish Moss added at last 15 of boil. Results without ever considering to take a gravity check before during or last night when bottling, was a REDDISH-COPPER, Crisp clean, CLEAR, mellow Hop Aroma brew looking for a CLasification. I normally tend to stay within recipes, class requirements with the STOUTS, PORTERS, SPECIALITY Brews that I have made in the past, but now I am lurking here with my Head up my *** and nowhere to go! TIA Bryan "AS YOU IMAGINE YOURSELF TO BE - SO IN TIME, YOU WILL BECOME" SCHWAB_BRYAN at CCMAIL.NCSC.NAVY.MIL Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 08:11:41 -0500 (EST) From: david lawrence shea <dshea at indiana.edu> Subject: RE: Lack of Hop Aroma Scott wrote about the lack of hop aroma in his beers: It sounds if your doing everything correctly, but perhaps you should try using different hops to measure the effectiveness of your technique. I noticed in your recipe you used only East Kent Goldings for flavor/aroma. My own experience has been that using Cascades, Willamette and Tettnanger give off lots of hop aroma, but when I use EKG, I notice very little aroma and flavor. I recently posted about my frustration in my attempts to brew a good english pale ale using EKG and I got a couple of private messages sharing the same experience, although there were one or two that forwarded successful recipes. David L. Shea Indiana University dshea at ucs.indiana.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 08:12:40 -0600 From: flemingk at usa.net (Kirk R Fleming) Subject: HBD Subscriber Drop Robot rlarsen at squeaky.free.org (Rich Larsen) asks: >Why am I dropped every so often from the subscription list? >I was dropped in January and again last week. Rich, that's just the proper operation of the new HBD filter system recently installed. I'm sure you've been keeping up with the thread re: HBD contributions vs HBD contributors, and the increased interest in who contributes what. Recently, the decision was made to install an HBD robot to track not only an HBD reader's contribution frequency, but also the "S/N ratio" of his/her contributions. Applying recent advances in AI and by developing a rule-based algorithm, points are awarded for high S/N messages. For example, if someone writes in asking "Will my beer be okay?", and someone responds with "Be patient. Taste it.", the responder's S/N is somewhere around 95dB, and said responder is awarded some number of points. Flames, long rants about Jack, etc., are clocked in with very low S/N, and the contributor is actually docked points. Anyway, based on the results of this "quality" algorithm, and based on a simple quantity measure, you accumulate a "Digest Worthiness Rating", or DWR, for the quarter. The quantity-quality numbers are put together so low frequency AND low to med S/N postings cost/earn just a few points. High frequency AND high S/N earn a good deal of points, and high frequency, low S/N *cost* you bigtime. If, at the end of the calendar quarter, your DWR is below a certain minimum, you're dropped from distribution. Notice how you are getting dropped about once a quarter? (As always, you can use beer to negotiate for a higher DWR.) For example, after posting this message, I'll be (further) in the hole than I was. I almost always just ask questions (stupid ones, too), and when I *do* contribute, it's a 10dB'er. I have my SUBSCRIBE request msg ready to go... Kirk R Fleming Colorado Springs flemingk at usa.net Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 09:44:05 -0500 From: gjfix at utamat.uta.edu (George J Fix) Subject: Molarity Bill Sutton writes: >I recently got Dr. Fix's _Principles of Brewing Science_ and got very >confused by the first set of conversions. > >On (page 18? I'm at work, so I don't have it in front of me), Dr. Fix >states that: > [x] * GMW(x) * 10^3 = concentration of x in mg/l >where [x] is molarity of x, GMW(x) is Gram Molecular Weight of x. >In a following example, he shows that a .001 M solution of HCO3 would thus >have a concentration of: > > .001 * 61 * 10^3 = 61 mg/l > >We want to express this as concentration of CaCO3, so we substitute the >GMW of CaCO3 in the equation, giving: > .001 * 100 * 10^3 = 100 mg/l as CaCO3 >This is all fine and dandy and makes sense. However, the very next >statement says that in general: > > [x] * 10^3 = concentration of x in mg/l as CaCO3 This is a typo. It should read [x]*100*10^3 = concentration of x in mg/l as CaCO3 >and this equation is used on a later page to show the concentration of >OH- and H+ is negligible. This is a misinterpretation. What was shown was that in most water samples the concentrations of H+ and OH- ions are orders of magnitude lower than than HCO- ions, and hence the contributions of the former to alkalinity can be neglected. This BTW is why it is the mineral content of water that is important, and not its pH (except for extreme cases). >Also (and perhaps this is later in the book, we'll see as soon as I get >past this mental block), why are we expressing these in terms of CaCO3? >Is it because CaCO3 is the precipitate we wish to create in order to remove >the carbonates and their effects, and this number tells us how much CaCO3 >we need to create in order to do this? The expression of water ions as an equivalent amount of CaCO3 is a convention long used in North American. Germans e.g. use different units. As with most units the rationale for their use is largely historical. George Fix Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:47:14 EDT From: uswlsrap at ibmmail.com Subject: NA beers, Burp and Belch Thanks to Jim for Beer Talk with Burp and Belch! We need a little relief like that (in small doses) once every couple full moons or so. Wade Wallinger posts and asks about his NA beer: 1) Admittedly without the benefit of tasting, I wonder whether 1/2 ounce of hops (for bittering), even low alpha and even boiled for only 15 minutes is overhopped (What??!? Was that the word _over_hopped coming from my fingers?) for a 1 gallon batch. I once did a _low_ alcohol beer (1.024 OG) and used a total of an ounce (I think 1/2 ounce Goldings for the full boil and a 1/2 ounce of Saaz as a late addition) in a 5 gallon batch. Sure, the AA% was a bit higher, and it was a full length boil for a higher U%, but that beer was slightly overhopped. Wade's using that 1/2 ounce for one-fifth the volume. 2) This is an off-the-cuff reaction, but it would seem that the only function the yeast served was for carbonation. Essentially, it sounds like it didn't ferment (1.010-->1.009 is quite likely measurement error more than anything else). You said there was no activity in the airlock (not surprising), but what did the _"beer"_ look like? Was there a krausen (probably not), or did you have just hopped, sweet water slowly settling and clearing? Steeping carapils didn't give you any significant fermentable sugars--that corn sugar was the most sugar your yeast had to eat the entire time. Given that you noted a problem with loose sediment, it would seem that the answer might be to skip the yeast and force-carbonate after the "beer" settles and clears. Does that make sense, or am I missing something? Now go have a beer, Bob Paolino / Disoriented in Badgerspace / uswlsrap at ibmmail.com - ---THE INTERNET: Hardwiring the neurons of the global brain:--- One geek at a time.... - --------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 9:09:03 MDT From: Norman Pyle <npyle at hp7013.ecae.StorTek.COM> Subject: Hop Aroma / Elk Droppings Scott Bukofsky wrote: > I've brewed a great number of extract batches recently, but for the life >of me I cannot get a good hop aroma in my finished product. I have tried >late additions and dry-hopping, but nothing seems to work. In my most >recent batch, I used 3 oz of EKG late in the boil (1 oz each at 30, 15 and 5 >minutes from the end), and dry-hopped with another oz of EKG for a week. >The result: little hop aroma!! > Does anyone have any ideas on the causes of this problem? I am >careful to avoid aeration, I fill my bottles most of the way up to reduce >headspace, etc. Still I am aroma-impaired. One thing I have noted is that EKG is not a powerful hop in terms of aroma. The aroma is fine, indeed, but not strong. If you are looking for aroma, forget about the 30 minute addition and the 15 minute addition. These are not what I would call "late additions". Actually the way I'd brew that beer is to bitter it as you like, then add 1 oz. at 15 minutes for a "flavor" addition, 2 oz. at flame knockoff (0 minutes), and do a quick chill (keep the lid on the kettle during chilling). 1 more oz. dry hopped *in the secondary* should round it out. This won't, IMO, give it *huge* aroma, but should help it out quite a bit. I've heard of people dry hopping with 2 or more ounces of EKG, but I wouldn't try that with many other hops. ** Andy Kligerman mentions that Elk Mountain Ale (I assume you mean the amber ale) was pretty good. I had one and thought it was pretty drinkable, so I tried their Elk Mountain Red. Don't. It is great American swill, and nothing else. Rotgut. I have to go now and brush my tongue. Norm Return to table of contents
Date: 20 Apr 95 11:28:06 EDT From: Dean Pulsifer <aic8882 at lexmark.com> Subject: Dry vs. Liquid, Fruity, Water & Extract, Wort Chiller, Aeration In HBD 1706 Todd Miller asks about Extract brewing and Dry vs. Liquid yeast. Yeast in general has a very dramatic affect on flavor. I have switched to liquid yeast only for consistency and improvement of flavor. I have had off flavors that I attributed to dry yeasts. I am a confirmed extract brewer who does partial boils and a wort chiller. I just bottled a batch last night that had liquid yeast and my first use of the wort chiller and it was much cleaner and flavorful than most of my previous batches (mostly dry yeast). Wyeast 1056 (American Ale): I just brewed a batch that was very fruity (see above) which can be typical of ale yeasts, but not particularly to my liking. It was fermenting at 65 - 70 degrees, but it got warm here and fermented at 75 degrees for a couple of days. I believe this contributes to the fruitiness. What ale yeast has the least amount of fruitiness? (I know I need to keep a closer eye on the temperature in the future.) I tasted some imports that were very fruity so I consider this batch a success even though it will not be one of my favorites. Maybe I need to brew steam beers since I am still working on my lagering fridge. My feeling from the discussions on water chemistry imply that the pH is not important for extract brewing and that only things that affect hop bitterness (excess sulphates, etc) are important. Any comments? Let's keep the extract brewing discussions going. As homebrewing becomes more mainstream, the extract brewing ranks will swell more than the all grain ranks. I can hardly find the time/money to do extract brewing between the kids/sports/lawn, etc., but I like good beer. Someone asked about how to build a wort chiller. Buy 25 feet of 3/8" O.D. soft copper tubing. Take a kitchen pot (smaller than brew kettle) and coil it around it. 20 minutes later you have a wort chiller. Get the wort chiller FAQ at FTP.STANFORD.EDU. I made an aeration tube by drilling four holes 1/4" to 3/8" above the end of a splicing tube. I got lots of foam and the yeast took me from 1.040 to 1.008 so I am assuming that I got good aeration. I reread the HBD posts on this and most put the holes farther from the end (1" to 6"). Is the length from the end that important? My data indicates that it isn't, but I've only used it once. If you made it this far, I thank you for reading. And now for some flame retardant. If you can't find a nice way to say something, then don't (it worked for my mother) Someone asked about grain to extract. The answer for this was posted less than a month ago. I believe that it was 1 grain = .9 LME = .7 DME. Dean A. Pulsifer Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:34:12 -0500 From: Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> Subject: Wit, pH, Jello, Otes. > From: Any Kligerman > Has anyone used or tried to use fresh lemon grass in beer possible in place > of bitter orange in Belgium White beer? I've used lemon grass in a mead before, and it was excellent. I would think it will taste noticably different than bitter orange, but I think you'd end up with something excellent. When I brewed a Wit, I used Lime Peel, at the advice of, uh, someone. It turned out pretty well, but was missing some of that 'traditional' flavor. If you want to brew a real Wit, use the bitter orange. If you want to brew something great that uses some of the same juxtaposition as a Wit, try the lemongrass. (Yes, I mean juxtaposition.) > From: Louis Gordon > 1) I use PH paper. After I dip the paper into the liquid, it takes about > 2 seconds for the liquid to satuate the paper and a color to settle in. > However, if I then hold the paper for another 10 seconds, it slowly turns > redder and redder indicating a higher PH number. Is the actual PH the > initial reading. Are you literally "holding" the paper? If so, you might be getting some oils from your fingers in there. > From: hbush at pppl.gov (harry) > Subject: Re: Gelatin and Denaturing > > Just one more request from someone who always thought that > denaturing was a euphemism for circumcision: Does all this organic > chemistry change the common wisdom, or is the rule still not to boil the > gelatin but to dissolve it into warm water instead? Okay, to settle the issue once and for all (open cheek, insert tongue) I'm going to do an experiment next time I bottle. I'll split the batch, and do half with dissolving the gelatin in warm water, and half with boiled gelatin. I don't care whether boiling castrates the gelatin or if it's just a misnomer, I want to know what it does in terms of my brewing. It'll probably be this weekend. > From: dadams at wellfleet.com (Dave Adams) > Subject: What are steel-cut oats ? It's oats that have been cut by steel. Seriously, you can get these in the bulk grains section of any decent health food store, but I doubt you'll find them in a regular supermarket. (A hypermarket, maybe.) Steel cut oats have NOT been gelatinized, and are not flaked, and will appear different than flaked oats. I have been lead to believe that they will make sparging and mashing more difficult than flaked oats, and make require pre-boiling to gelatinize the starches. I would just use regular flaked oats or oatmeal, but maybe someone else knows a reason to use steel cut oats over flakes. Anyone? -R Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 11:50:03 EDT From: dipalma at sky.com (Jim Dipalma) Subject: RE: Mash-Lauter Tun Question Hi All, In HBD#1710, Chip Shabazian asks: >I am building an all grain system using Sankey kegs. I was thinking of >using a cooler for the Mash/Lauter Tun and had some questions. I believe >the 10 Gallon Gott coolers would give me a better grain bed for filtration >than the standard rectangular coolers, but heard from my local store that >some people have problems sparging 10 gallon batches in them because the >grain bed is _too_ thick. What is the consensus from those of you out there >using Gott coolers for 10 gallon batches. What you heard at your local store is pure rubbish, more hideous misinformation being dispensed by those who believe opening a homebrew supply store automatically qualifies them as brewing "experts". *SIGH* Before I got my 3 tier gravity fed system, I used a 10 gallon circular cooler for over 2 years and 50+ batches, with grain bills ranging from 10- 20 pounds of malt. In all that time, I experienced sparging problems exactly *once*. On that occasion, I was brewing a weizen with 60% wheat malt. Seeking greater extraction, I made the mistake of running the wheat malt through a Corona mill twice, ground it way too fine, and ended up with a stuck sparge. The problem had nothing to do with the cooler or the depth of the grain bed. For every other batch I brewed with this setup, the wort ran clear after just 2-3 quarts of recirculation, and I got 32-33 pts/#/gal doing mostly single infusion mashes. I brewed several 10 gallon batches using 16#-20# of grain versus 10# or so for 5 gallon batches. I found the thicker grain bed seemed to actually *help* filtration, the wort cleared with less recirculation and ran somewhat clearer for the duration of the sparge than with the 5 gallon batches. Also, I had to use a hose clamp on the hose carrying wort to the brewpot to *slow down* the runoff rate, the wort would run as fast as I allowed. I realize that it's easy to blame the equipment when things don't go well, but I humbly suggest that those who claim they can't sparge 10 gallon batches in a 10 gallon cylindrical cooler because the grain bed is too thick need to re-examine their sparging procedure. >What about comments on different types of filters, the two I am >aware of are copper pipes with cuts every 1/4 inch, and screens (either >commercial or homemade). Has anyone tried both different types of filters? > Which one was more effective? I built a circular manifold from a 10' length of 3/8" soft copper tubing. I used one of those tubing bender tools that looks like a big spring to form the copper into a tight coil, then drilled 1/16" holes in it every 3/4" or so. The coil laid flat in the bottom of the cooler, with the holes facing down. Minimal recirculation required to clear the runoff, high extraction efficiency and speed of sparging, this simple combination of cylindrical cooler and copper manifold worked *great*. Cheers, Jim dipalma at sky.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 11:04:08 -0500 From: breworks at appsmiths.com (Harold LaRoux) Subject: Transfer from commercial keg to corny keg Pat Babcock <pbabcock at oeonline.com> (in HBD#1710) responding to a question about transfering from a commercial keg to a corny keg (in HBD#1708) wrote... >connect the oulet of your commie keg to the inlet >of your cornie (one at a time, please!) , apply pressure (CO2 >preferably) to the commie, and occasionally vent the cornie. You should connect to the "OUTLET" of your corny instead of the inlet. This will fill the keg from the bottom up to cut down on any foaming/aeration caused by dropping the beer from the top of the corny keg. Also (maybe more importantly), this will save you from getting a face full of beer when you try to vent from the outlet side. Harold LaRoux Brew Works - Houston Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 08:46:38 CST From: "David Sapsis" <dbsapsis at nature.Berkeley.EDU> Subject: dark grains again/beer talk Norm's recent comments about possible scenarios in which adding dark grains late in the mash raised some intersting points -- ones that I had not thought of in my original post. Yes, I so think small additions of very dark grain can be used for acid adjustment, but this raises the rationale for why not simply do it through the whole mash period, since you will be getting extract from the dark grains no matter, unless the sparge water is highly alkaline, in which case it would need adjustment anyway (either with acid or calcium) ? Is the idea to meter in the dark grains throughout the mash and sparge to accomplish the pH adjustment? If so, I'm wondering how much grain would be neccesarry (obviously depends on native water chemistry). Those of you with accurate pH meters might be able to shed some light here. Secondly, and clearly more logical, is the use of dark grains for coloring only purposes. As Norm mentions, the Graf-Style Vienna described by Fix and Fix does indeed advocate late additions of small amounts of black patent approximately 15 minutes prior to initiating the lauter. I presume that this is is to minimize flavor input into the beer. Norm cites John Palmer's recent efforts (and successes!) using this program. I was fortunate enough to sit on the Best-of-Show panel at the recent World Cup of Beer competition that included John's Vienna. Although it was an excellent beer from what I consider to be a pretty damn challenging style category, there was clearly some dark malt character making its way into the flavor, subtle but distinct in a way that only BP can impart, and I believe it was knocked for this. What I'm getting at, and I think may have been the origin of this thread in the first place: Black Patent malt is dangerous stuff. It is very easy to overuse it, both as a coloring agent (in Viennas, brown ales, etc.) as well as a flavoring agent (porters and such). It has a very concentrated burnt character to it that can make its way into delicate beers (such as a Vienna) as well as completely swamp the flavor of more assertive beers (porters, stouts). Late additions of BP for, maybe even at the end of lauter, may prove benefitial in limiting these harsh intrusions into the finished product. Some controlled experimentation is called for. FWIW, I have found that using a high Lov roast barlet in lieu of BP has worked well for me in darkening brown ales. Although some flavor has come through from the roast, it is much less sharp than from my experiences using BP. It would appear, however, that not all BP is created alike. Note that the only dark grain used in Sierra Nevada stout is Black Patent. Somehow, they are able to produce a full rounded dark character without the excessive burnt astringency that one would expect. It is not quite coffee-like like most roast barley made stouts, but its a far cry from my attempts using only black patent for dark grains. I know that SN gets grains from a variety of sources, but the stuff they were using last fall was Briess. Surprising, to say the least. But no -- the do not add it at the end of the mash -- it goes in right at the start with the pale malt. Any ideas out there? ************** I can't believe it! Jim Larson beat me to it! Me and my sometimes brewing partner have been planning a click and clack take off for months to put in our (too often dull) club newsletter. We were gonna plan on calling it BeerTalk, with Chaff and Leaf, the StuckSparge Brothers. Same sort of irreverence that Jim infused his with (was I the only one laughing out loud at the Al/Mark confusion?). My question Jim: is it copywrited? cheers, Dave Sapsis Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:11:20 -0700 From: danpack at grape-ape.che.caltech.edu (Dan Pack) Subject: Re: malt relationships/pH paper Nigel Townsend writes: >I have a number of recipes designed for whole grain which I would like to >try, using dried malt extract. Now, the question. Is there a reasonably >accurate relationship between the amount needed of whole grain, liquid malt >extract or dried malt extract to obtain a similar result? I too am an extract brewer so I'm forced to convert recipes often. IMHO, because in general you don't know the original brewer's yield, you shouldn't try to convert lbs of grain to lbs of malt extract (dry or liquid). But all hope is not lost. One sign of a good recipe is that the OG and FG will be included (another good sign is that the %AA of the hops and perhaps even an estimate of IBU's are included :-) So your best bet is to aim for the same OG. Again, it will vary depending on you particular brewing practice but a good rule of thumb is 42 pts/(lb/gal) for DME (5 lbs DME in 5 gal will yield OG = 1.042). The number is slightly lower for LME but I won't make a guess as I exclusively use DME. Anyone out there have a good number? BTW, steeping specialty grains will add a few points to the OG but this is more difficult to predict. A good starting point is maybe 10 pts/(lb/gal) for crystal malt. Louis Gordon writes: >I use PH paper. After I dip the paper into the liquid, it takes about >2 seconds for the liquid to satuate the paper and a color to settle in. >However, if I then hold the paper for another 10 seconds, it slowly turns >redder and redder indicating a higher PH number. Is the actual PH the >initial reading. Proper practice for pH paper is to leave it in the solution until the color stops changing. For a weakly buffered solution (such as wort) this may take a few seconds. However, you need to take into account the color change caused by the color of your beer. For darker beers this can be a problem. That's the limitation of pH papers. Good luck, Dan Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:26:55 -0700 (MST) From: Jim Liddil <JLIDDIL at AZCC.Arizona.EDU> Subject: AHA Conf. Roommate(s) Wanted I am looking for someone to share a room during the AHA conf. in Baltimore June 14-17. If you are interested or can help me out please contact me via e-mail Jim jliddil at azcc.arizona.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 13:40:07 CDT From: Larry Lowe <lnl at apwk01g3.abrfc.noaa.gov> Subject: yet another first batch story/club Full-Name: Larry Lowe i have, like many other novices, been lurking in the shadows for some time. i wanted to see my name in the HBD, so here's my story. like many others, i was apprehensive about brewing my first batch. i thought that i was prepared. whoa, what a mistake. while boiling the wort, i thought i would read a litle more in my homebrewing bible. i was gone just a few minutes when it boiled over, making a mess and losing valuable ingredients. okay, next i pitch the yeast...i won't embarrass myself by telling you how "warm" the wort was when i added the yeast. i decided to press on. i added the cool water to the wort...oops, i added at least a 1/2 to 1 gallon to much! i take another temperature and my floating thermometer sinks!!! i use an unsantitized spoon to dig it out. after waiting a day to see if what i already know to be true, i add a second batch of yeast. when i lift the lid to do this, there is an inch long bit of MOLD. i remove this and i am quite certain that this is going to be just one of those learning experiences. at the peak of fermintation, it was bubbling at the incredible rate of a single bubble every 3 seconds. since i have wasted enough band width, i won't bother telling you the fun i had in siphoning/bottling. i was certain this beer was a bust. if you haven't already guessed, the beer was actually drinkable. my wife and neighbor actually really like it! couldn't repeat this if i tried. the moral of the story is two-fold. 1) if i can brew beer, anyone can. 2) sometimes, even the biggest screw-ups come out o.k. i am also interested in a homebrew club in Tulsa, OK. are there any? if not, does anyone care to start one with me? - -- from: Larry N. Lowe NOAA, National Weather Service "Once upon a time Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center never really happened." 10159 East 11th St, Suite 300 Tulsa, Oklahoma 74128-3050 lnl at apwk01g3.abrfc.noaa.gov Off: (918)832-4109 FAX: (918)832-4101 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 12:15:36 -0700 From: Mark Ohlstrom <mohlstr at cati.csufresno.edu> Subject: Sam Adams v. Coors Cutter Fellow HBD'ers Last night (Wednesday), Coors kicked off an advertising blitz for its non-alcoholic product, "Cutter". The commercial compares Cutter to Samuel Adams Boston Lager. A "hidden camera" depicted a blindfolded taster, who declared Cutter to be better than Sam Adams. Furthermore, the taster stated that Cutter was like a "microbrewed beer". I don't know about you, but I am affronted! I wrote a letter to Jim Koch expressing my support for the BBC, and I intend to send one to Coors as well. I suggest that you do the same! You might also purchase a six-pack of SABL, photocopy the receipt, and send that with the letter of Coors as well. I am! Jim Koch and the BBC has been wonderful to both the microbrewing and homebrewing community. We should join together and voice our support for the BBC. Adolph Coors Co. Mail # NH475 Golden, CO 80401 BBC's address: 30 Germania St. Boston, MA 02130 Mark Ohlstrom (mohlstr at cati.csufresno.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 16:05:23 -0400 From: David_Arnone at Warren.MentorG.com Subject: Alcohol Labeling on Commercial Beer According to the front page of today's Wall Street Journal (4/20/95): "The Supreme Court ruled that alcoholic content can be shown on beer labels, striking down a 60 year old ban. Brewers said they are weighing changes in labeling and marketing." Reading the rest of the article reminded me of just how "prohibitionist" our government has been and still continues to be. It also gave shed light onto how the Big Three beer makers (not to be mentioned by me...) control the tastes of America. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + David J. Arnone Mentor Graphics Corporation + + dja at warren.mentorg.com 15 Independence Boulevard + + Telephone: 1.908.604.0923 Warren, New Jersey 07059 + + Fax: 1.908.580.0820 (3rd Floor) Main Fax: 1.908.580.1906 + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 15:17:00 -0400 (CDT) From: Rob Reed <rhreed at icdc.delcoelect.com> Subject: Late Hops / Brown vs. Green Bottles / Protein Break in Extracts Scott Bukofsky <sjb8052 at minerva.cis.yale.edu> writes: > I've brewed a great number of extract batches recently, but for the life > of me I cannot get a good hop aroma in my finished product. I have tried > late additions and dry-hopping, but nothing seems to work. In my most > recent batch, I used 3 oz of EKG late in the boil (1 oz each at 30, 15 and 5 > minutes from the end), and dry-hopped with another oz of EKG for a week. > The result: little hop aroma!! IMO the 30 min. and 15 min. hop addition won't give you significant hop aroma. I'd suggest a 1-1.5oz addition at 10 min. and a 2oz. addition at 1-2 minutes using *pellets*. I feel pellets give you a more intense hop aroma as the lupulin glands have been bursted during pelletization. I feel if *very* fresh whole hops are used, excellent results can be obtained. I also realize that the pellets vs. whole is a polarizing issue along the lines of immersion vs. CF, plastic vs. glass, and the proper pronunciation of trub :{) Also, if you are using a CF chiller, I feel some of the effects of late hops are lost during the time spent waiting for trub to settle, prior to chilling. I have been able to overcome this by adding hops during the chilling period (my kettle has a strainer to keep hops out of the chiller). Obviously a hop back would also work. "Alan R. Burdette" <aburdett at indiana.edu> writes: > The recent talk about beer bottle glass has raised a question in my mind: > Is there any meaningful difference between the light protection > offered by a green vs. a brown glass bottle? Zymurgy did an article several years ago on the effects of light on hop compounds and from what I remember, the wavelength of light that interacts with hop compounds to form mercaptans was effectively filtered out by brown glass, but not green (within reasonable time limits). "Patrick G. (Pat) Babcock" <pbabcock at oeonline.com> writes: > Subject: Break in All-grain vs extract/re-kegging/typos > > in HBD 1708... > > >> MMMST40 at vms.cis.pitt.edu asks about extra break from all-grain/mixed > >>batches vs extract only... > > Keep in mind that an extract is just an all-grain batch that has been > condensed/concentrated. The break material has been removed by the > manufacturer. Due to this, I would expect partial/all-grain batches > to always generate more break material than similar extract-only > batches. This has not been my experience with malt extracts and all-grain batches. I have brewed with numerous quality malt extracts and I always get a fairly large amount of break material. I usually start seeing hot break formation in extract batches prior to achieving boiling temperatures. If some manufacturers remove both hot and cold break, wouldn't this require more energy, that is, to cool the wort prior to vacuum evaporation? I don't know if break is intentionally removed, but beers I've made from extract only have considerable hot and cold break. Cheers, Rob Reed Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 16:44:24 PDT From: Rob Emenecker <robe at cadmus.com> Subject: dropped from list! To all: I have noticed several posts from people mentioning that they were dropped from the list last week. I had the same experience (some of you received e- mail from me asking if you received issues or not). I sent e-mail to Rob Gardner and he said that my address was not on the mailing list??!?!?!?!?!? I missed 1706, 1707 & 1708, which I ended up downloading from the Bacchus forum on CI$. What's the story here!!!!!! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ : "There are only two things in life that oooooo : : we can ever be certain of... _oooooooo : : ...taxes and beer!" /_| oooooo : : Cheers, // | ooo : : Rob Emenecker \\_| oo | : : remenecker at cadmus.com (Rob Emenecker) \_| o| : : Cadmus Journal Services, Inc. |______| : +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 15:09:19 -0600 (MDT) From: daryl kalenchuk <dkkalenc at cadesm19.eng.utah.edu> Subject: The carboy that almost blew. Two days ago I transferred a batch from my primary to secondary, a glass carboy. Six hours later I returned to find that my air lock had blown apart and blow off was now coming out of the remaining piece. There was nothing unusual about the batch before this incident. It is a very basic wheat extract (6 lbs) using Wyeast white(what ever). A earlier posting in HBD mentioned bizarre behavior with this yeast, and it's my first time using it, is it something with the yeast or have do I have my first contaminated batch? I used a starter and noticed vigorous activity in under 12 hrs which continued for a day or two then decreased after five days to 4-5 bubbles/min. so I transferred it. After the 12 hrs I saw a large amount of bubbles lacing up the side of the carboy and a continual stream of krausen boiling out. I removed the air lock and covered with a plastic bag and watch it boil over for the next 24 hrs after which I was able to replace the air lock. If anyone has an explanation please let me know. Thanks Daryl Kalenchuk Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 17:20:41 -0400 (EDT) From: DALLEN at LANDO.HNS.COM Subject: Malted Barley Sprouts In response to the discussion on growing barley from malted barley, I'm beginning to believe that it is possible. The following probably comes as no surprise to those in the malting industry. I added 100 grains of malted barley to several test tubes with paper towels and water. Within five days 25% had sprouted. As to whether they could survive being cracked, mashed and sparged is another question. But they may be able to survive the latter two steps if they were not cracked open. The malted barley used was "Briess Pale 2 row" -Dave Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 14:19 PDT From: Robert_Anderson at mindlink.bc.ca Subject: archives - how to read them! >CGEDEN at asks: <<<<<<<<<< >Does this PBS of homebrewing archive its postings somewhere where we >proles can read them? Or do you need the secret decoder ring to translate >them?>>>>>>>>> >PatrickM50 replies: >Re-read (or read!) the info at the beginning of every HBD. It's that longish >bit of text that you zip by on your way to the first posting. That longish bit of text doesn't point that the archives are saved as .z files. Along with several(?) others I was recently accidentally de-listed from HBD and was forced to go searching for my daily fix of brewerama. I had missed 3 digests before I got onto rec.crafts.brewing and realised I wasn't alone in being dropped. Then off to Stanford to pick up the ones I had missed and the problem of .z files. My local server had only one utility suitable for expanding .z files - it's a zip file called COMP430D.zip and doesn't work in windows, only ms-dos, and has lousy documentation. With all the files in one directory, .z files and COMP430D.exe, type the command: COMP430D -d *.z Note spaces! This will expand the files without extentions so you will have to rename them. Good luck! Robert Anderson. Brewer of fine Edinburgh ales. Nemo me impune lacessit. Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1712, 04/22/95