HOMEBREW Digest #179 Sat 17 June 1989

[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]

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

Contents:
  Texas Homebrewing is again Legal (sort of) (jmellby)

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 89 09:48:31 CDT From: jmellby at ngstl1.csc.ti.com Subject: Texas Homebrewing is again Legal (sort of) Texas Home-brew Vindicated! The Texas House (Senate?) has passed the bill that lets Texans take home-brewed beer (and wine) outside their homes again. The way this came about, the fall homebrew competition is at one of two Houston bars. An employee at the bar that didn't have the competition got mad and wrote to the Texas Alcohol and Tobacco Commission (TABC). They examined the homebrew law and decided that it meant Texans could brew, but they 1. Could not take homebrew outside the home, and 2. Could not give homebrew to anyone outside their family. This sharply curtails any socializing with homebrew. We got a bill together, and everyone called their representatives, which again lets us give homebrew to others, have competitions, etc. The only restriction is that we have to notify the TABC whenever we take homebrew outside our homes. ("Dear TABC .. I'm taking 2 liters of Dog-gone Porter to Jack Smiths house on the 19th.") Of course, all the other alcohol-related bills died a horrible death, including brewpub laws, a law letting the small breweries make higher alcohol content beer (especially best bitters, porters, etc.). Perhaps someone could give me a suggestion on problems I am having with my ale. In the last several batches I have a high terminal gravity (1015) and despite using as little as 1/2 c sugar for priming 5 gallons, the bottles are over-carbonating. My theory (which I would like someone to tell me whether this is true) is that since I am fermenting at room temperature, 70-75 degrees, the fermentation doesn't quite finish. All the last 3 batches have had a terminal gravity between 1015 and 1020, and all have been allowed to sit 2-3 weeks with no noticable activity in the secondary fermenter. I am wondering whether the fermentation should be 10 degrees colder, say 65 degrees, and whether this would cause the fermentation to proceed to a lower gravity? I have had suggestions to put the fermenter in a bathtub with a little water, and drape towels over it to cool it slightly by evaporation. Does this work? Surviving the American Dream John R. Mellby Texas Instruments jmellby%ngstl1.ti.com P.O.Box 660246, MS 3645 Dallas Texas, 75266 (214)517-5370 (home) (214)343-7585 *************************************************** * "A cult is a religion with no political power." * * -- Tom Wolfe * *************************************************** Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #179, 06/17/89
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 06/29/00, by HBD2HTML version 1.2 by K.F.L.
webmaster at hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96