HOMEBREW Digest #3047 Thu 03 June 1999

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
		Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of 
		Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
				URL: http://www.oeonline.com


Contents:
  Some history about The Albany Pump Station ("George De Piro")
  Ferment under pressure for under 5 bucks ("Alan McKay")
  Did ya notice... (Harold Dowda)
  Re: Brutal Bitter In NC ("Mark Nelson")
  ice (kathy/jim)
  dextrin malt (Marc Sedam)
  Pressure cooker, Life's dream (Dave Burley)
  Mash Efficiency and Relief Valves (Dan Listermann)
  Allegations, Insinuations, and Suppositions (Blech) ("Jeffrey M. Kenton")
  Re: HSA (Matthew Arnold)
  An anonymous poem (Scott Abene)
  Pressure Canners (LaBorde, Ronald)
  HSA (John Wilkinson)
  kreusening (Scott Murman)
  Cold sparging? (Gail Elber)
  jeremy york's efficiency problem ("Bayer, Mark A")
  1st Anual DFD Homebrew Taste off ("West, Robert M. SFC")
  Blitz-Weinhard's *and* Rainier nostalgia ("Rich, Charles")
  RE: Siebel/HBD/AHA (John Wilkinson)
  Brutal Bitter (Matt Hollingsworth)
  Kudos  to the Siebel Institute (Richard Gardner)
  New list announcements (Homebrew Digest)

* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * 2000 MCAB Qualifiers: Boneyard Brew-Off 6/12/99 * (http://www.uiuc.edu/ro/BUZZ/contest5.html); Buzz-Off! * Competition 6/26/99 (http://www.voicenet.com/~rpmattie/buzzoff) Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org. **SUBSCRIBE AND UNSUBSCRIBE REQUESTS MUST BE SENT FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, the autoresponder and the SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE commands will fail! Contact brewery at hbd.org for information regarding the "Cat's Meow" Back issues are available via: HTML from... http://hbd.org Anonymous ftp from... ftp://hbd.org/pub/hbd/digests ftp://ftp.stanford.edu/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer AFS users can find it under... /afs/ir.stanford.edu/ftp/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer COPYRIGHT for the Digest as a collection is currently held by hbd.org (Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen). Digests in their entirity CANNOT be reprinted/reproduced without this entire header section unless EXPRESS written permission has been obtained from hbd.org. Digests CANNOT be reprinted or reproduced in any format for redistribution unless said redistribution is at absolutely NO COST to the consumer. COPYRIGHT for individual posts within each Digest is held by the author. Articles cannot be extracted from the Digest and reprinted/reproduced without the EXPRESS written permission of the author. The author and HBD must be attributed as author and source in any such reprint/reproduction. (Note: QUOTING of items originally appearing in the Digest in a subsequent Digest is exempt from the above. Home brew clubs NOT associated with organizations having a commercial interest in beer or brewing may republish articles in their newsletters and/or websites provided that the author and HBD are attributed. ASKING first is still a great courtesy...) JANITORS on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 02 Jun 99 00:08:46 PDT From: "George De Piro" <gdepiro at fcc.net> Subject: Some history about The Albany Pump Station Hi all, Hopefully this isn't too commercial. I am quite proud of what we are doing at the Pump Station and thought that some of you might be interested in knowing where our name came from. The full name of our brewpub is the C.H. Evans Brewing Co. at the Albany Pump Station. CH Evans Brewing Co. was founded in 1786 in Hudson, NY (about 80 miles north of NYC) and was a vibrant brewery until prohibition ended production of Evans Ales. Neil Evans IV, the great-great grandson of Neil Evans, has revived his family's brewing tradition. I am proud to be the first brewer in the Evans Company since prohibition. The Evans Brewing Co. was fairly large, and had its own maltings in Hudson. They had a bottling plant in NYC and even exported beer to Europe (the Evans IPA was pretty well-known). Now to the other half of the name: the Albany Pump Station. The building our brewpub occupies was once...you guessed it... a pump station! Situated near the Hudson river in Albany, NY, it housed giant pump engines which moved water from the river to a reservoir situated at what is now Bleeker Stadium. Two bridge cranes, each capable of lifting 20 tons, still hang from the 50 foot ceilings of the pub. Despite 50 years of neglect we were able to easily put an electric motor on one of them and use it to lift the fermentors and serving tanks to their second-floor home. It was quite an impressive sight! Hopefully that explains my sig line. Have fun! George de Piro (Nyack, NY) Head Brewer, the Albany Pump Station Malted Barley Appreciation Society "Brooklyn's Best Homebrew Club" http://hbd.org/mbas Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 07:29:31 -0500 From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at nortelnetworks.com> Subject: Ferment under pressure for under 5 bucks If anyone wants to ferment in kegs under pressure, here's a neat little device that only costs about a buck or three to make. A fellow in one of the German brewing groups I frequent came up with it. You have to have kegs to do it, though. http://www.snafu.de/~mctoten/Spund.htm Cut both pieces of the syringe as shown in B. Then put the spring inside, then the rubber stopper thing. Set your CO2 tank to the desired pressure, then tightly hold your regulator over the hose. The pressure will push in the spring so the stopper goes to a certain point. Watch where the stopper stops, then drill a tiny hole in the syringe housing just on the other end of the stopper. This way CO2 is allowed out if the pressure gets too high. Once it lowers, the spring pushes the stopper out to cover the hole again. So you've set your "regulator" to be always on the pressure you determined. He doesn't really say how to attach it to the keg, but that shouldn't be too difficult to do with a fitting and a piece of hose, and maybe a double-ended hose-barb or something. Pretty neat ... cheers, -Alan - -- Alan McKay OS Support amckay at nortelnetworks.com Small Site Integration 613-765-6843 (ESN 395) Nortel Networks Return to table of contents
Date: 2 Jun 99 06:15:34 PDT From: Harold Dowda <hdowda at netscape.net> Subject: Did ya notice... Did anyone notice that 25% (4/16) of the posts in #3046 were personal attacks and/or support for some one? Huummm...I wonder if there would be any interest in a moderated HB group where this kinda thing is flushed, relegated to the sewer of personal e-mail....it has been going on for sooooo long. ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 08:56:23 -0400 From: "Mark Nelson" <menelson at mindspring.com> Subject: Re: Brutal Bitter In NC Michael Tucker asked about Rogue's Brutal Bitter and Mocha Porter in NC. I have seen and purchased 22 ounce bombers of BB at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, just down the street from UNC-CH. You might call them and see who the distributor is, then get a more local source to order you some. I believe they also had the porter. Great beer selection, in general, at Weaver Street... Mark Nelson Atlanta PS, I'd also be interested in a recipe! Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 08:50:22 -0400 From: kathy/jim <kbooth at scnc.waverly.k12.mi.us> Subject: ice > From: Radzan1000 at aol.com > Subject: Siebel answer to dr pivo - subject: Rising temp in secondary > > So, people are using old underground cellars for fermenting beer just as they > did in breweries before the invention of mechanical refrigeration. Have you > guys forgotten what these brewers did to lengthen their brewing season into > the times when outside temperatures were rising and getting quite warm? They > went out to the rivers and lakes and cut ice into blocks and hauled this ice > to these same underground cellars, packed the blocks in sawdust and burlap > and moved the blocks very close together. The sawdust and burlap helped to > insulate the ice and retard melting. These brewers extended their season > quite substantially and some times, if their space was big enough and they > had enough ice, they produced good beer year round. It is my understanding that the cheap lake ice available at Milwaukee made it an early brewing center. Ice was important not only for lagering, but for packing boxcars to ship via railroads. Milwaukee beer arrived thruout the lower midwest in better condition then the local brewer could do in his warmer climes. cheers, jim booth, lansing, mi Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 09:27:45 -0400 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: dextrin malt George de Piro wrote: "Later, during the higher temperature kilning and subsequent cooling, these amylose molecules recrystallize in a process known as 'retrogradation'. For reasons not yet known to science, these recrystallized starch molecules are very resistant to enzymatic hydrolysis, and thus do not yield fermentable sugars in the mash tun." Ahhh. Science DOES know why retrograded starch is resistant. Not to be redundant, but what has been created is known in the literature as "resistant starch" (go figure). Amylose and debranched amylopectin in solution (or in the presence of excessive moisture) will retrograde. Retrogradation/crystallization of amylose causes the molecule to form helices, making most of the polymer unavailable for enzymatic attack. Although I don't have a reference on hand, alpha-amylase needs at least a seven polysaccharide chain to have any activity. Beta-amylase would be able to react with short chains on the surface of the amylose helix, but would eventually create the beta-limit dextrin, i.e. the molecule left over when b-amylase has no further effect. In retrograded starch, many of the once-available starch branches are restricted by the form of the helix. These helices can (and do) form tertiary structures as well, making the starch even more resistant. Repeated heat/cool cycles can do this. This concept is more eloquently explained in the text of US Patent 5,281,276: "It is generally believed that resistant starch is formed when the amylose fraction of starch is retrograded or recrystallized after the gelatinization of starch. The theory is that the flexible linear amylose molecules align themselves after gelatinization into tight linear configurations that can form helices or spheres making many of the alpha-1,4-glucosidic linkages inaccessible to alpha-amylase. Normally, as described in the literature, the process for the formation of resistant starch by retrogradation is cumbersome involving the initial gelatinization and then the cooling of starch, frequently with repeated cycles." The whole concept of resistant starch (which almost directly relates to the production process for dextrin malt) is better elucidated by reading the whole patent here http://164.195.100.11/netahtml/srchnum.htm Enter "5,281,276" to get the body of the text. Trust me, if you were interested in the dextrin malt part of the story, it's not that boring. Based on George's description of the malting process of certain "styles" of malt, it's likely that differing amounts of resistant starch are being produced in each malt. Not a bad study for Breiss or Great Western to take up. Of course, Jim Liddl and I are still waiting for someone with a DSC to take us up on studying the effects of calcium on starch gelatinization (see archives, although most was offline). :-) Cheers! Marc Sedam "Huisbrowerij Zuytdam" Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:06:19 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Pressure cooker, Life's dream Brewsters: Harlan asks if it makes me feel better about his use of a homemade pressure kettle, since he hasn't lost his fingers in a buzzsaw, despite the fact that he took off the guard. He assumes that his lack of accident demonstrates that he is a very careful person. Not necessarily so. Just lucky, so far, IMHO. Unfortunately, I remember, early in my career, when one of my technicians ( a 30+ year veteran) walked into my office with his fingers stuck in his mouth and blood running down his chin. He had run his fingers into a table saw blade. A week before, this "kid" (me) had told him to put the guard back on and use a pusher. He did for a while, but considered it dangerous, like Harlan does. My nephew, an executive for a trucking company, stuck his fingers in a buzzsaw blade and almost cut them off. Quick action, he now has movable sausages with poor dexterity. He had been working with a buzzsaw most of his life as a hobby. He had taken the guard off. My brother - a dentist - ignored my concern that he should put the guard back on his saw and suffered finger injury shortly after my nephew. Interestingly, all the above parties considered a blade guard to be dangerous, but none could describe or prove to me why such was the case. I also rememeber all those arguments against seat belts and how dangerous they supposedly were. Not so. A mechanic of 30+ years experience was checking out a gear (constant displacement) pump in one of the chemical plants where I was working and stuck his finger into the sight hole and had his finger tip prompty removed. When asked during an interview why he did it, he said he didn't think the pump was on, but wanted to be sure. Stupid? Nope, just what happens when you are around dangerous equipment too often. The message - familiarity breeds unwarranted confidence. Just because you get away with it for years does not make it safer. "Safety is NO accident" as the signs tell us. We work hard to avoid them, but we all know accidents happen and we should plan for the inevitable accident and minimize the risks. First, we must be sure we believe that no work or hobby accident is worth personal injury or destruction of personal property. Then behave accordingly. What do I suggest to Harlan? First put your saw blade guard back on, place a spotlight directed on the saw blade cutting point, so you can clearly see what is going on, use a pusher and learn to work WITH the guard. Go visit a chemical or pharmaceutical purveyor of used reactors, buy an autoclave, have it re-certified for pressure use, install it in a proper environment, so that when it blows it will take out a wall and not people. Do not fool around with this kind of thing. For sure, do not depend on the fact that you can control the pressure by applied heat. And believe that mechanical meters and mechanical controllers fail with time. Most of all, believe that you are human and will be disracted from time to time. Nothing is a boring as watching water boil, so your brain will wander ( I mean, how often has your brewpot boiled over?) , or you will try to do something else also to be "efficient" and bingo! a potentially deadly accident. Please re-evaluate your needs for pressure sterilized wort - maybe just boiling it will be sufficient for your needs. - ---------------------------------------------- Congratulations to George De Piro on his new job as Head and Only Brewer at the Albany Pump House. I wish him all the best in realizing his life's dream. Sounds like hard work and fun. May your business grow. - ---------------------------------------------- Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:42:09 -0400 From: Dan Listermann <72723.1707 at compuserve.com> Subject: Mash Efficiency and Relief Valves Jeremy York ( beamish at blarg.net) suspects that his problems regarding mash efficiency are milling related. I have found that the bulk of these problems are related to the crush. Many homebrewers, for fear of a stuck mash, are very bashful about their crush. This problem is especially noticed in beginner all grainers. I believe it comes from reading literature that was written before the advent of good mills for homebrewers. These pieces tell you to "just crack the grain." This may have been good advice for burr mills like the Corona, but much better efficiency can be had with a roller mill because they can crush harder without damaging the husks. If you "just crack the grain," you are leaving a lot of grain ends with very little water exposure. Adjust the mill until all but the most undeveloped corns are crushed. If you do get a stuck mash, just underlet a little water through the bottom, restir, let settle and recirculate ( you don't really need to recirculate two gallons. I rarely feel a need to do more than a couple of pans worth ) Harlen Bauer ( blacksab at midwest.net) discusses converting his Sanke keg into a pressure cooker. If you look at some canning pressure cookers you will see that the pressure relief valve unscrews from the lid. Buy one of these cookers and remove the valve. Drill and tap a hole in the top of the keg to fit the valve and off you go. 15psi and no more (250 F). Maybe the rubber back up relief valve can be mounted the same way? Dan Listermann dan at listermann.com 72723.1707 at compuserve Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 09:56:14 -0500 From: "Jeffrey M. Kenton" <jkenton at iastate.edu> Subject: Allegations, Insinuations, and Suppositions (Blech) Good Day. Is it still alright to ask questions here and have them answered? Or do I have to toss some random insults first? Well here goes: I've never liked what you had to say, and furthermore, you dress funny. (Now while you are fuming) Does anyone have profiles about Lallemand's yeast offerings for the home market? (Nottingham, Windsor, Manchester and London) I'm interested in attenuation, esters thrown and at which temps, and flocculation. Failing information on those topics, I'd be interested to know how to set up some experiments so I can develop my own data... And to prevent a firy tirade about whose experimental procedure is more "right," I'd appreciate responses off line at jkenton at iastate.edu Thanks (or rather "I'd kick your dog, but I don't want to get my shoes dirty") Jeff Jeff Kenton "If you can't be nice, at least have the decency to be vague." Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 15:07:05 GMT From: marnold at ez-net.com (Matthew Arnold) Subject: Re: HSA On Wed, 2 Jun 1999 00:14:07 -0400, you wrote: >2. I was at Siebel over 1.5 years ago and posted way back then about >their belief that the danger of HSA is overrated. Rob Moline >coauthored the post. > >3. While the danger of HSA may be overrated, it is also one of the >easiest things to avoid, even in a home brewery. When presented with >the option to either spray hot wort through the air or move it >quietly, the answer should be obvious, and not take any extra effort! Thank you, George, for stating well what I intended to say all along. In my system, the tube from my mash/lauter tun goes straight to the bottom of my kettle and I always take care to recirculate the first runnings as gently as humanly possible. These two steps take virtually no effort whatsoever. As far as long term effects on my beers go, I only have one datapoint. A year-old barleywine of mine was given a score of 38 in a competition recently. The only "fault" that was noted was that it should have been a little sweeter for an English-style barleywine. Which reminds me, I need to whip up (not literally) another batch of that soon . . . Ahhh brewing . . . Matt - ----- Webmaster, Green Bay Rackers Homebrewers' Club http://www.rackers.org info at rackers.org Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 09:19:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Scott Abene <skotrat at yahoo.com> Subject: An anonymous poem Hmmm I was asked to post this by an anonymous party. Many things in it ring loud and true. A POEM.... I live in a state where I masturbate. The name of this state, just happens to be Kuwait. We have no malt, no hops no yeast, because to be caught with these is a sign of the beast. I malt my own grain and I smuggle a bit, and because of this my beer tastes like shit. I brewed with herbs, spices and meat, but no matter how hard I tried it still smelled like ass and feet. I surfed the net in search of some tips, the HBD I spied, and I read some quips. One post out of a hundred seemed to be of use, the rest of the bullshit was just verbal abuse. HSA seemed to be the rage of the day, the wordslinging wars left me in dismay. I survived the knowledge of the best, even when they forgot about beer and raged of Clinitest. Then the great character wars of '99 began, at this point I wished I was just on a LAN. I endured the great judging debates, even though at times I would infuriate. I got so sick of hearing who knew more than Jobe, that I flushed away the ceremonial HBD robe. A "LURKER" you yell as you read my post, whatever you say, you bullshit the most. So, as another day comes to an end, learn how to learn and not to offend. I thought that the idea was to help and to learn, not to degrade, slash and burn. But someday maybe I will be fortunate enough to see, you quarreling people bitch slapping on TV. C'ya! -Scott === ThE-HoMe-BrEw-RaT Scott Abene <skotrat at mediaone.net> http://skotrat.dynip.com/skotrat (the Homebrew "Beer Slut" page) "This Space Currently for Rent... Inquire within" _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free at yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 11:29:05 -0500 From: rlabor at lsumc.edu (LaBorde, Ronald) Subject: Pressure Canners On the subject of Pressure Cooking: I just purchased a new large Presto canner and used it to can some wort, and I was very pleased with the results. The unit has good safety features, and once one examines them, it is obvious how well it all works, and how safe it really is. Before I used one, I thought one would need a lot of heat to get it up to pressure. But to my surprise, to reach and maintain 15 PSI, the burner can be throttled back to medium. The jiggler starts rocking at exactly 15 PSI, so this is a good way to know that your pressure gauge is still in calibration. I really like the gauge, it gives one a real sense of what is going on inside. So now, I have about a dozen quarts of canned wort, a dozen pint jars of canned wort, and it should be easier to grow my yeast starters now. I plan to just put an ounce of water and the stirring magnet in the flask, boil for a few minutes, cool and pitch the canned wort and yeast. Next thing is to sterilize and start my yeast bank. _________________________________________- >From: Harlan Bauer <blacksab at midwest.net> >3. Pressure-relief valve. You've got me here--good point. This point has >always bothered me. Not sure how to do it just yet. A pop off release valve, (really a soft rubber plug), can be ordered from Presto, or purchased at some hardware stores. In the Presto, it is inserted into a simple hole in the cover, and provides a safety pop out at somewhere around 20 PSI. This thing is designed to take the heat and pressure and although I have not priced it, it should be fairly inexpensive. It is just a piece of rubber. One can test it with his CO2 by applying pressure and noting the pressure needed to pop it out. Ron Ronald La Borde - Metairie, Louisiana - rlabor at lsumc.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 11:37:47 -0500 From: John.Wilkinson at aud.alcatel.com (John Wilkinson) Subject: HSA Since the HSA thread won't die I guess I will add my experience. On one occasion I forgot to turn the water on to my CF chiller and collected 2-3 gallons of near boiling wort with about a 2 foot free fall into a bucket before I noticed what was happening. I never noticed any bad effects on the resulting beer. My beer is usually stored for a couple of months before consuming and may be consumed over the span of a month. I don't recall specifically with this beer how long it was from ferment to last tap but I do know no bad effects were noticed. I do take care to avoid aeration after fermentation and keep the beer cold until it is served from the keg. Since then I still try to avoid excess splashing when hot just in case but am not too frightened of it. If there is an effect it must be after a longer time and/or be quite subtle. John Wilkinson - Grapevine, Texas Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 09:44:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Scott Murman <smurman at best.com> Subject: kreusening Sir Pivo, and Dave BurleyWine were discussing the effects of kreusening. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned, but this is my understanding of why it's effective. The young, healthy yeast that are added with the speize are much more effective at reducing the fermentation by-products than the older yeast. This reduces the aging time, and can also lead to a very different end-product as the original fermentation yeast may not be able to completely metabolize all their ferment by-products. This practice is also commonly done with lagering. Sorry, no fancy chemical reactions necessary to understand this concept. Old guys just need someone to clean up after themselves occasionally. -SM- Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:00:18 -0700 From: Gail Elber <gail at brewtech.com> Subject: Cold sparging? Nobody's replied yet to John Robinson's question about cold sparging: does it work, and is there really an energy savings, seeing as you have to heat the wort to the boiling point anyway? I'd be interested to hear about people's experiences with this. I'd rather heft pots of cool water around my kitchen than pots of hot water. Gail Elber Associate Editor BrewingTechniques P.O. Box 3222 Eugene, OR 97403 541/687-2993 fax 541/687-8534 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:09:05 -0700 From: "Bayer, Mark A" <Mark.Bayer at JSF.Boeing.com> Subject: jeremy york's efficiency problem collective homebrew conscience_ jeremy york wrote: >The first brew was the AHA milk stout; <snip>I'm guessing that I got >somewhere in the neighborhood of 52% efficiency <snip>The pH of my runoff >has been in the 5.0 - 5.4 range, >so I haven't worried about acidifying my sparge water. My water is very >soft; I've been treating it with 1 tsp (~5 grams) gypsum and scant 1/4 tsp >(~1 gram) table salt per 5 gallons. in my experience, very soft water plus a grain bill including roasted malts/barley, plus gypsum sounds like your mash ph might be a bit low. the fact that your lauter runoff doesn't get above 5.4 also points in this direction. the fact that you're checking the runoff ph also indicates to me that you are probably checking mash ph also, so that's a little confusing. i would recommend calcium carbonate instead of gypsum. caco3 will help to raise your mash ph and offset the effect of the roasted malts/barley. i am only assuming that you have roasted malts/barley in the grain bill since you say the recipe is a stout. shoot for a room temperature mash ph of 5.5 to 5.7. in my experience this is nearly impossible to achieve with the water and mineral additions you state, for a stout recipe. adding a heat source to your recirculation routine might help also. i normally have a pot of mash liquor going about 160 deg f on the stove the whole time i'm recirculating and the runoff gets transferred into the pot before any goes back into the top of the tun. hsa risk, for sure, but i minimize splashing and agitation as much as is reasonable to do, and it helps the bed temperature to stay above 145 deg f. hope this helps. brew hard, mark bayer stlmo Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 16:05:30 -0400 From: "West, Robert M. SFC" <westr at ftknoxdfd-emh13.army.mil> Subject: 1st Anual DFD Homebrew Taste off The first annual DFD Homebrew Beer Tasteoff was conducted yesterday to determine the true BrauMeister emeritus of the directorate. Six participants entered nine separate hand-crafted brews of various styles, ranging from pale ales to dark bocks. There was one weitzen entry. A distinguished group of judges was empanelled to conduct a blind taste test of the nine beers. The judges considered factors such as taste, clarity, head, aroma, body and finish in their evaluation. The identity of the brewer of each entry was kept secret from the judging panel to prevent pettiness and personal envy from unduly influencing the evaluations. As originally conceived by the President of the Mess, the judging panel was to consist of the Director and the Division Chiefs; alas, this was not to be the makeup of the final judging panel. Neither S&T nor Organization Divisions were able to supply a Division Chief or a stand-in (due to schedule conflicts or fear of possible liver damage...) so alternate judges were employed. The final judging panel consisted of: COL Kalb - President of the Mess LTC Pride - Chief, Systems Division Mr Dinnell - Highly regarded man of good taste and demeanor CPT Rhine - Weasly XO of low repute, well known for his over-fondness for beer A description of each beer, identity of the brewer, and judges comments follows: Entry #1: (Bock/Stout) - CPT Buhl This entry initially impressed the judges with its classic flip-top green bottle and dark, malty flavor. Although this beer exhibited no head and very little carbonation, its distinct spicy after-taste gained it consideration as a finalist. Some of the competitors believe the judges may have been more enthused with the bottle than the contents.... Entry #2: (Weitzen) - SFC West The judges were initially perplexed by the subtle flavors and aroma of this wheat beer. Comments like "I've had this taste in my mouth before, but I'm not sure when" were overheard. This brew's soft pallet, full head and smooth finish made it a finalist. Entry #3: (Irish Stout) - CPT Jones The taste, aroma, and flavors displayed by this beer thoroughly confused the judges. It was proclaimed "Bizzarro Beer" for its schizophrenic character and not given further serious consideration as a contender. Entry #4 (English Stout) - SFC West This beer made a positive impression on the judging panel, being of hearty body (cloudy as it was) and firm head. However, after a few moments, the judges noted a distinct "Naugahide" aftertaste. Entry #5 (Amber Ale) - MAJ Haszard This beer also made a positive impression on the judging panel with its sparkling clarity and crisp taste, although the presence of unidentified "floaties" intermingled in the foam caused the judges some consternation. It eventually became a finalist. Entry #6 (Ale) - CPT Jones This entry made, by far, the greatest impression on the judges - some of whom reacted immediately and violently to its putrid odor and vile taste. One judge likened the taste to that of Weed-Be-Gone. This brew was deemed "Death Brau" and was immediately thrown out of the competition and the brewer cautioned to follow EPA guidelines for its disposal. On a positive note, the National Institutes of Health are investigating this product's utility as a chemotherapy agent for colo-rectal cancers. Entry # 7 (Ale) - SFC West The judges were unanimous in their like for this brew. However, after consuming the aforementioned "Death Brau", it is unsure that tepid, flat Blatz Beer wouldn't have scored equally as high. Be that as it may, the judges made this beer a finalist for its full flavored taste, fine hopped aroma and satisfying finish. Entry #8 (Honey Brown Ale) - CPT Vanyo This beer was deemed a "Heavy Fuel" and was by far the most potent of the competitor's entries. Obviously produced with greater emphasis on its buzz factor than palatability, this beer was thick, black and reminiscent of Texas sweet crude oil. The judges upgraded this beer from its initial classification of "Lawnmower Gas" to that of "Rocket Fuel" when one of the panel lost feeling on the left side of his body. Entry #9 (Red Ale) - CPT Peterson The judges deemed this beer reminiscent of Germany - in fact, the Rhine River in Germany - more precisely, the murky bottom of the Rhine River. In its defense, this beer might have been victimized by its being the last entry sampled by the distinguished panel. Some doubt exists as to whether the judges could discern beer from Scope mouthwash at this point in the competition. Results of the Competition: The distinguished panel of judges declared the following results of the first annual DFD Homebrew Beer Tasteoff: Honorable Mention - Entry #2: (Weitzen) - SFC West Bronze Medal - Entry #5 (Amber Ale) - MAJ Haszard Silver Medal - Entry #1: (Bock/Stout) - CPT Buhl Gold Medal - Entry # 7 (Ale) - SFC West SFC West was proclaimed the DFD BrauMeister emeritus for the 1999 event. An appropriate certificate commemorating his achievement was conferred upon him and a six pack of fine imported beer presented him as the objective standard for his future brewing endeavors. V/R SFC Robert M. West DFD, FSCS SME USAARMC, Ft Knox, KY (COM) 502-624-7801 (DSN) 464-7801 (FAX) 7126 westr at ftknoxdfd-emh13.army.mil Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 13:19:11 -0700 From: "Rich, Charles" <CRich at filenet.com> Subject: Blitz-Weinhard's *and* Rainier nostalgia Mike (Vachon?) in New Orleans wrote a nice recap of the Henry Weinhard/Stroh's/Miller changing of hands in Portland, Oregon. We've had the same thing happen up here in Seattle with the Rainier Brewery which was also sold by Stroh's to Miller in the same deal. It closed it's doors the weekend before last. The Rainier brewery is a character filled Seattle landmark that I'll miss. As a kid riding past it I always wondered how the giant red cursive 'R' atop it could read correctly from either side. Jim Whittaker opened a Rainier when he reached the summit of Everest in 1963. I saw Jimi Hendrix play Sicks stadium which Emil Sick (owner of Rainier Breing Co.) built for his team, the Seattle Rainiers in 1937. I had my first horrible beer experience with Rainier Ale (aka Green Death) in high school, and so on..sniff. Now the point to this maudlin meandering is this... Has any of the readership managed to score any of Rainier's yeast(s)? I do not know if with each change of hands the new owners bring in their own yeast or if they keep the original strains. I know that both Blitz-Wienhard and Rainier produced Mickey's for Strohs which suggests that Stroh's brought in their own. I spoke to the QC head at Rainier last month but they couldn't realease any as part of the Miller deal. Miller gets the yeast too. I'd love to have the strain they used through the 70's and 80's, strictly for private use. If anyone has managed to keep it, *please* let me know. Private email is just fine. Whoops! gotta go sample some HotD's Fred! (I love my job :-)) Cheers, Charles Rich (Bothell, USA) Here's some Rainier Beer sites: http://www.beerchurch.com/upcoming.htm http://www.narrows.com/brady/rainier.htm - ------------------------------------------------------------------ This message was spam-checked by an evaluation copy of MailShield. See http://www.mailshield.com for more information. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 16:13:23 -0500 From: John.Wilkinson at aud.alcatel.com (John Wilkinson) Subject: RE: Siebel/HBD/AHA Jim Liddil wrote: >It was great to have Siebel participate. And in my never ending jab fest >let me point out that this was done on the HBD. The AOB/AHA could have >organized something like this for it's members on thier web site, but they >did not. I, too, enjoyed the answers from the Siebel staff and may have learned more in this short time than I have in many months of other reading. I think it only fair to point out, though, that the event was arranged by Rob Moline who is now on the AHA advisory board. My thanks to Rob as well as the Siebel staff. John Wilkinson - Grapevine, Texas Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 16:32:12 +0000 From: Matt Hollingsworth <colorart at spiritone.com> Subject: Brutal Bitter "Michael Tucker" <mtucker at hesketh.com> asked about Brutal Bitter. While I have no specific recipe, try brewing a really hoppy pale ale using only Crystal hops for ALL hop additions. This beer is made exclusively with Crystal... -Matt Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 23:27:05 +0100 From: Richard Gardner <rgardner at mwr.is> Subject: Kudos to the Siebel Institute Very interesting and informative. I even read the ALL CAPS responses. What I found most interesting is the tenor of the responses, namely that a few things in brewing are downright dumb, but there are many variations and acceptable practices in brewing, that is to say, no one answer. Several area that were unclear to me are now understandable (although some are still in the haze like most of the organic chemistry discussions, just a poor engineer here). The most intriguing for me is the #3042 discussion of COLD side aeration. Same old thing, different terminology. Took me a few minutes to realize what the topic was. The attack on "momolies" is also interesting. Reminds me of the fights here 2-3 years ago where long held views were destroyed. I think we're now in for some more experiments and discussion. I greatly enjoyed the discussion on the questionable antics of the maltsters (outside this discussion, that word would be suspect). The other item here is the professionalism of Siebel, and of the major brewers - which I have seen questioned by some here in the past (look in the deep archives and you will find my name). I'd say that 99% of the time, that brewing is brewing, be it by a megabrewer or a homebrewer, but I'll give it to the mega-folks that they are consistent and know their stuff. The problem is that the market their "STUFF" is aimed for is expecting bland beer, but they produce that same bland beer consistently (It is like McDonalds vs Taco Bell vs a real Mex reataurant, all produce beef products, but is there a difference - but who makes the $$, McDonalds). The homebrewer has so many variables to contend with that the product may suffer. Unfortunately that is also true of the microbrewer. The folks like Siebels are converting craft secrets into common knowledge so that all may benefit. The question is how much is applicable for the homebrewer (small batch)? I think no one has the answer to that, because while this isn't an "art" like wine, neither is it pure science; it is somewhere in between (must be engineering). Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 23:23:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Homebrew Digest <hbd at brew.oeonline.com> Subject: New list announcements Two new lists have been added to the HBD corral: o The Home Vintner's Digest (HVD) o The Distilled Beverage Digest (DBD) The former is for the discussion of wines, their enjoyment, wine making and things pertinent to those processes. Subscribe by sending the word "subscribe" to HVD-REQUEST at hbd.org. The latter is for the discussion of distilled beverages and their enjoyment (and production for those living in countries that allow such things...). Subscribe by sending the word "subscribe" to DBD-REQUEST at hbd.org. Unlike the HBD, these lists are run on the dreaded Majordomo - however, only as digests. No undigested version. Further, posting is restricted to only those subscribed to each list. There is no moderation on either list; however, subscriptions must be passed by the list owner(s), hopefully preventing spam-meisters from being allowed on. Once subscribed, you can send posts to the HVD at HVD at hbd.org and the DBD at DBD at hbd.org. Enjoy! Cheers! The Home Brew Digest Janitorial Staff Return to table of contents
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