HOMEBREW Digest #281 Wed 18 October 1989

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


Contents:
  Re: possible trouble with priming step (Jerry Godes)
  Anybody at EDUCOM,  brewerys in Ann Arbor? (Spencer W. Thomas)
  Re: sterilising and priming (Patrick Stirling [Sun Consulting Services Mtn View])
  Hop Sediment ("Allen J. Hainer")
  # 280 Re: possible problem with priming (florianb)
  Re: possible trouble with priming step (Wayne Hamilton)
  Bottling (man)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 02:29:50 PDT From: Jerry Godes <jerryg at apple.com> Subject: Re: possible trouble with priming step Here goes for my first time posting to this newsletter... Although I'm still a beginner in the home-brewing arena, I think I understand what's going on with the yeasties and bottling. The sludge at the bottom of the fermentor (pardon me for not using the technical name for it), is just excess yeast. There is plenty of yeast suspended in the beer itself, just waiting for some more sugar to start gobbling. These yeasties in solution, then have a field-day, and reproduce some more, causing another sedimentation layer to form in the bottom of the bottles. So, as I understand it, you don't want to get any of the sludge from the bottom of the fermentor into the bottles (of course not getting any doesn't really work in practice, but you get the drift). Hope that helps. I'm sure if I've made any mistakes in my description, someone more knowing will correct me... Jerry Godes CommToolbox Janitor Communications Product Development Apple Computer, Inc. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 11:46:51 EDT From: spencer at crim.eecs.umich.edu (Spencer W. Thomas) Subject: Anybody at EDUCOM, brewerys in Ann Arbor? I have not brewed recently, and I'm not really plugged into the local HB scene. There is a HB club in AA, I don't have the info at work, though. But I am here. Dunno about getting together. There is a micro-brewery in Kalamazoo that makes good stuff. You can usually get something from there on tap at the Del Rio (on Washington and Ashley), and various other bars may have it in bottles. Some names you may see: Bell's Beer, Great Lakes Amber Ale, Third Coast Beer, ... my mind has gone blank. He makes a couple of stouts (one is called Expedition Stout, and there is a cherry stout), a Porter, some more Ales (one is called Brown Ale or something like that), and probably others I can't remember. You can also buy it in bottles or six packs at various establishments. I know that Partners in Wine at Kerrytown (between north 4th and 5th at Kingsley) has them, probably the Village Corner (South University at Forest) does too. =Spencer (spencer at eecs.umich.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 08:54:11 PDT From: pms at Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling [Sun Consulting Services Mtn View]) Subject: Re: sterilising and priming Well, the old sterilising topic again. I guess every alias and news group has it's old faithfuls! (old faithsful?). However I'm always willing to ramble on about what's possibly the single most important part of brewing. when I started (back in the dawn of time about a year ago), I soaked everything in a weak (a couple of tablespoons per 5 gallons of water) bleach solution for about 30 mins. Then I switched to a bottle squirter, with disastrous results: 3 batches went bad after about 3months in the bottles. So I've returned to the soaking method. I've used sodium metabisulfite and it seems to work OK, but it's not nice stuff! Notice the 'weak' in the bleach solution - if it feels slippery it's too strong! On to priming. I don't think you need to worry about not having enough yeast in the bottles. I used a 2 stage ferment: 2-3 days in a 5gal bin then rack to a glass carboy. Leave fro a couple of weeks and then rack back into the bin for priming. So there is no sediment in the bin before bottling. After a week or so in the bottle I get a fine (0.5mm or less) sediment in each bottle. I've never had a problem with carbonation. I think that even after a couple of weeks there's still plenty of yeast in suspension. I must say, the more I brew and read this alias, the truer Papazians famous phrase becomes: "Don't worry, relax, have a homebrew"! Actually, of course it was true all along, it's just me that's changing! And here's a question to finish up with: what problems, other than sanitation (or lack thereof) have you had with brews? So far I've only had one: pitching the yeast at too high a temperature (>90F) seems to result in incomplete fermentation (i.e. a high final gravity). patrick Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 10:15:46 EDT From: "Allen J. Hainer" <ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu> Subject: Hop Sediment I started my second stout last week, I racked it yesterday and it's already better than any stout I have ever tasted! I have one question though: I used pelletized hops (5 oz.) and when I racked it, there was a HUGE amount of sediment. This was not sediment in the normal sense, it was mostly beer with hops floating in it, but it was still too thick to go through the siphen. I left a good three inches in the primary. Is it best to just to just throw this out like I did and not worry about the loss, or should I have left it in the primary for another week to let it settle a bit better? I would like to thank Marc San Soucie for his posting on stout in HBD#219 from which I created my recipe. And for those of you who are interested: 4 kg (8.8#) Unhopped Dark Malt Extract 500 g (1#) Roasted Barley 500 g (1#) Wheat Malt 250 g (1/2#) Black Patent Malt 250 g (1/2#) Chocolate Malt 100 g (4 oz) Bullion (30 min. boil) 25 g (1 oz) Cascade (2 min. boil) 10-10 SG 1.075 10-16 racked, 1.035 and still going -al (ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Oct 89 10:07:22 PDT (Tue) From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com Subject: # 280 Re: possible problem with priming Stuart Crawford sez: >before bottling, I siphoned the wort into a clean container. >In order to >minimize the amount of sediment that I transferred to this container, >I let the >first cup or so flow into a bottle that I later discarded. >I am now worried >that I did not transfer enough yeast to allow carbonation to occur. There are zillions and zillions of yeasties in your brew producing carbonation at this very minute. Relax, don't worry and have a brew. On a side note: if one could so easily isolate yeast by siphoning, microbiology could have been developed about 500 years earlier. And we could all have yeast labs in our basements. [Florian Bell--ale season is over in Central Oregon] Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 14:08:19 -0500 From: Wayne Hamilton <hamilton at osiris.cso.uiuc.edu> Subject: Re: possible trouble with priming step Stuart Crawford write: > I'm using a single fermentation system and, immediately before bottling, > I siphoned the wort into a clean container. ... I am now worried that I > did not transfer enough yeast to allow carbonation to occur. Is there > any way, short of waiting for a week and opening a bottle, to determine > if carbonation is occuring? i've been using a similar system for the last few batches, and i haven't had any problem getting enough suspended yeast for carbonation. i've been making ales tho; i don't know about extended lagering. i've also been experimenting with a few 1-liter pop bottles, and i use one clear-glass bottle per batch to monitor color and to keep as a souvenir. with the plastic bottle, you can "feel" the carbonation: CO2 pressure makes it less "squeezable". with the clear bottle, and to a lesser degree with brown ones, you can usually see yeast settled on the bottom to prove that further fermentation took place. previously, i used my primary as a mixing vessel for bottling. recently i've latched onto a source of free 5-gallon cubitainers (the local blood bank's lab gets saline in them). they come with nice removable spigots that work well with 3/8" ID syphon tubing. i cut a hole in the face opposite the spigot, and mounted the whole thing in a plastic milk crate to facilitate carrying it and to allow the spigot to hang free below. i have easy access to the inside to clean it or mix the priming solution, i can use gravity instead of syphoning to feed the flow to the bottle filler, and i don't have to worry about the syphon leaving any beer behind. the only problem i have is that the cubitainer in the bucket configuration no longer holds a full 5 gallons without a bit of spillage. i cook and bottle in the kitchen, but i ferment in the bathroom where it's cooler to begin with and i can use a water bath in the tub to cool the carboy further. so i have to carry the brew about 50' to bottle it. i may switch to carrying the carboy to the kitchen instead. i want to avoid disturbing the sediment, so i'll have to give it time to re-settle. when i start doing whole-grain brews, i'll probably use a cubitainer (possibly with added thermal insulation) to hold pre-heated sparge water. i use another cubitainer to hold chlorine bleach solution so i always have some already made up. do i need to worry about it losing potency with prolonged storage? should i always make it up fresh? i've been relying on smell to verify that it's still lethal to the bad guys. while i'm at it, let me plug the mail-order place where i've been getting much of my ingredients lately (tell mark i sent ya): The Basement Brewmaster 4280 N 160th ST Brookfield WI 53005 (414)781-BREW (aka -2739) a free catalog is available. it's not a large outfit - mark literally runs it out of his basement - so the inventory is rather small, but he carries a few unique items and his prices are good. i like his wheat and barley (65%/35%) extract syrup ("bavarian weizen"). his location is handy for us in IL: low shipping costs and no sales tax. wayne hamilton U of Il and US Army Corps of Engineers CERL UUCP: {att,iuvax,uunet}!uiucuxc!osiris!hamilton I'net: hamilton at osiris.cso.uiuc.edu Lowtek: Box 476, Urbana, IL 61801; (217)384-4310 Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Oct 89 17:05:00 EDT (Tue) From: man at granjon.att.com Subject: Bottling A few weeks ago I reported on a Steam Beer that seemed to resume fermenting after it was taken out of the fridge. I got replies that said it was probably just disolved CO2 escaping and I should bottle it. Well, I waited a while before bottling, but it turned out good anyway (or in spite of me). A recent batch reacted the same although it was never put in the fridge. On this batch, I used a syringe to remove some beer and use the hydrometer on. The readings were thefor three days, so I bottled, but I do have some questions. The airlock was releasing a bubble every minute or so for 5 days before I took my first reading. This rate continued until I bottled it. Could this be CO2 escaping ? It seems like an awful lot to me. With all this CO2 escaping, isn't there a danger of exploding bottles? The real question is what determines bottling time: a stable FG or lack of bubbles ? I know the answer will be a stable FG, but what about that CO2 ? I'm not concerned about my batches since I have 200 Grolsch bottles. The rubber gaskets allow excess pressure to leak out. Mark Nevar (201)580-4414 (arpa|att)!kato!man Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #281, 10/18/89 ************************************* -------
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