HOMEBREW Digest #3069 Tue 29 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:
  south texas ("Mike Butterfield")
  Re: Cherry Beer (KMacneal)
  LUNAR RENDEZBREW 6 (michael wiley)
  Duvel / Golden vs. Dark Strong (Nathan Kanous)
  Cherry beer (William Frazier)
  Thanks to all the HBD Folks that came to KC (HoppyBrew)
  Stuck fermentation ("Strom C. Thacker")
  Re: Fermentability of Sugars (Al Korzonas)
  Re: Wild Heather Ale and other info (Spencer W Thomas)
  hydrometers ("Stephen Cavan")
  Anyone use the "Automatic" Mill Yet? ("Alan McKay")
  Re: Balling and Plato (Brian_Dixon)
  Brewing Classes, AHA Convention, Cherry Beer (Steve Potter)
  Re: Balling and Plato ("Cris Riley")
  Worging without a net/Mixed up about mash mixers (ThomasM923)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 12:11:43 +0200 From: "Mike Butterfield" <XPBRMB at sugar.org.za> Subject: south texas Hi all In the next few weeks, I will be moving from South Africa to the McAllen/Weslaco area of the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Anyone know of any homebrew clubs or supply stores in that area? Private replies welcome, but I will only be at this email address until 30 June (the next two days). Regards Mike Butterfield Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 06:48:55 EDT From: KMacneal at aol.com Subject: Re: Cherry Beer In a message dated 6/28/99 1:29:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time, clark at capital.net writes: << Does anyone have or can anyone direct me to a recipe that includes cherries? It would have to be an extract recipe and not necessarily one that you have tried yourself. Thank you for your help. >> Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing has a cherry stout recipe. Keith MacNeal Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 07:55:32 -0500 From: michael wiley <mwiley3 at pdq.net> Subject: LUNAR RENDEZBREW 6 HAS A YEAR GONE BY ALREADY ???? August 8, 1999. The Bay Area Mashtronauts proudly present LUNAR RENDEZBREW 6.... Entries due by July 31, 1999 1st Round Judging August 3 & 4... 2nd Round Judging August 7, 1999 All of the pertinent details can be found at: http://www.mashtronauts.org ENTER EARLY. ENTER OFTEN. COME PARTY "MASHTRONAUT" STYLE ON AUGUST 8, 1999 !!!!! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 09:00:41 -0500 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Duvel / Golden vs. Dark Strong Greetings. Duvel is a Golden Strong Ale. Literature states that this "golden ale" is relatively new to the Moortgart Brewery. Jackson states that they had previously made a much darker ale in the past. Anybody have experience using the available yeast (Wyeast 1388) in a "dark" strong ale? Thoughts / results? Recipe suggestions? TIA. nathan in madison, wi Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 14:31:10 +0000 From: William Frazier <billfrazier at worldnet.att.net> Subject: Cherry beer Dave Clark asks for a cherry beer recipe. Here is a recipe from an old homebrew book I have; 6 lbs light malt extract syrup 1/2 lb crushed pale malted barley 1/2 lb crystal malt 1/2 oz stale old hops (1 to 2 hbu) 10 to 12 lbs sour cherries ale yeast brettanomyces bruxellensis yeast culture brettanomyces lambicus yeast culture The instructions say to ferment the beer in a 4 gallon volume, then add the cherries and allow a one month secondary fermentation, then rack to a third carboy for a month to let the fermentation finish. The recipe suggested adding the cherries to 1 gallon of water, heating to 160F for a 30 minute rest to pasteurize with subsequent cooling before adding to the main fermentation. This recipe is for a Kriek. I tasted St. Louis Kriek in Amsterdam this spring and it was excellent. You might try Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic blend. If you don't want a sour beer just use a regular ale yeast and leave out the bacteria. Bill Frazier Johnson County, Kansas Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 12:42:26 EDT From: HoppyBrew at aol.com Subject: Thanks to all the HBD Folks that came to KC Greetings, Just wanted to drop a note to all of the HBDers that made their way to the AHA Nationals in KC. We had a larger group of people overall then what we expected. I hope you all had a good time. I look forward to seeing you all next year in Michigan. In Brewing, John R. Weerts Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 13:40:44 -0400 From: "Strom C. Thacker" <sthacker at bu.edu> Subject: Stuck fermentation Long-time lurker, first time poster..... I recently experienced my first ever stuck fermentation. The beer is a German alt, based on Al K's recipe. Here are the recipe and details for a 6 gal batch: 10lbs Czech light Munich malt 1lb Weyermann melanoidin malt 3/4 t CaCl2, split evenly between the mash and sparge (brewing water is very soft) Mashed 75 minutes at 156 degrees -- iodine test confirmed conversion Ph in mash looked ok (5.2-5.3), though it's hard to tell with the test papers I have 1oz Spalt pellets, 8.1%, boiled 60 min. 2oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh plugs, 4.8%, boiled 60 min. OG = 1.062 (volume in primary = 4.75 gallons, so I will dilute with preboiled water to reach 1.052) 2qt starter of Wyeast 1338 pitched at high kraeusen at 70 degrees Oxygenated wort with pure O2 Fermented at ~68 degrees SG at one week = 1.032 Fermentation took off quickly (less than 5 hours). By the next morning (15 hours), there was a constant stream of bubbles coming out of the airlock. By that evening, about 24 hours after pitching, the kraeusen had begun to fall back and activity was much slower. By the following morning (approx. 36 hours after pitching), all apparent activity had ceased. At one week, I racked to another carboy ( SG = 1.032) and pitched a new 2qt starter of ale yeast (cultured from a local brewery, I believe) at high kraeusen. I realize that I am technically underpitching, but much less so than with other beers I have brewed in the past. The oxygen setup is also relatively new to my process, and that should have helped. Now, at the 10 day mark, there is still no activity. This is my first experience with the 1338 yeast. Any thoughts on why this might have happened? Any remedies or suggestions for rescuing this beer? Strom Thacker Newton, MA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 13:26:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Al Korzonas <korz at xnet.com> Subject: Re: Fermentability of Sugars Dave writes: >[DRB -Note the use of the term SG >in the following table and not FG, >since I assume these measurements >were made on commercial beers, >not the end of the fermentation in >which the term FG would be appropriate.] I think you may be reading more into this than was meant, but this is a minor point... just wanted to point out that I'm free to not believe your "spin" if I choose to. [snip] >Lager yeasts do in fact remove all the >oligosaccharides ( including malto-triose and >malto-tetraose) if given a chance ( see numbers >7, 11 and 12). I think this is a big leap and nowhere did I read anything to imply this. There are many more oligosaccharides than just maltotriose and maltotetrose and I didn't read anywhere in this table or supporting quotes that all other oligosaccharides were consumed by the yeast. I think you are jumping to conclusions here, Dave and I don't agree. >I would interpret numbers for >Lagers 8, 13, 14 ,15 as either an ale yeast was >used ( this was (is?) a not uncommon practice >in the UK) or the fermentation was terminated >after the primary fermentation by chilling and >filtering. This is a common brewery practice >today, as you know, especially with the >0.45 micron filters being used. Lagers are filtered almost universally, but ales in the UK are far less likely to be filtered. *Most* aren't, especially what's called "Real Ale" or "Cask-conditioned" ales, because *BY DEFINITION* they are unfiltered. >What does this mean? Commercial ales are >not always fermented to dryness. Sugar(s) >is added after the fermentation in some styles. >Given time, lager yeasts *can* totally remove >all of the oligosaccharides including malto-triose >and malto-tetraose, nevertheless, Again, you are jumping to conclusions. >commercial lager brewers do not always >allow the beer to ferment to dryness. I will agree with you there and although I didn't say anything earlier, I do believe that Clinitest data from filtered lagers is of marginal interest and really shouldn't be considered to be datapoints in support of my side of this disagreement. My contention is with bottle- conditioned commercial beers and unfiltered homebrewed beers. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 14:29:38 -0400 From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu> Subject: Re: Wild Heather Ale and other info Paul Campbell writes (relaying info from a BBC show): Wild Heather Ale (makes 30 pints) --------------------------------- Ingredients: 2.5 kg milled pale malted barley 250 g milled crystal malt cold water small pieces of fat (animal or vegetable) 8 large handfuls heather flowers 2 handful bog myrtle leaves *** ^^^^^^^^^ 2 teaspoons baker's yeast or beer yeast 1 level teaspoon sugar or honey per 750 ml bottle >From my experience, this is a huge quantity of bog myrtle (myrica gale, aka "sweet gale"). I usually use a few grams at a time of the dried stuff. I assume they're talking fresh leaves here, which are usually less potent than dried, but still... Some brewers report psychotropic effects from bog myrtle. I am enclosing a post I made to the HBD in 1993 with some details. =Spencer Thomas in Ann Arbor, MI (spencer at umich.edu) Posting 2: Extracted from file: 1230 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 93 12:29:21 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Sweet Gale (Bog Myrtle) Today, I was reviewing some books on brewing before taking them back to the library, to see what I might want to copy for my files, and re-encountered this passage from Odd Nordland's _Brewing and Beer Tradition on Norway_ I should note that the quotations come from questionaires filled out by Norwegians about their knowledge and recollection of old brewing practices. The important part played by the grut of Central Europe ... has already been discussed From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, the most important ingredient of this mixture of dried leaves and spices was bog myrtle, Myrica gale, which will here also be referred to as pors [presumably the Norwegian name]. The bot myrtle was an important plant in medieval Norway, being mentioned as early as in fourteenth-century laws. ... rent for farms could be paid in bog myrtle ... ... bog myrtle occurs as one of the plants that could be used for flavouring ale: `To add a strong flavour to the ale, and to make it heady, pors was put into it. ... It was gathered in autumn, and the leaves were also taken.' `When this plant was used, the ale was strong. It went to one's head. They spoke of having a "Christmas head".' ... In northern Hordaland, small quantities of pors were added to the Christmas ale until the turn of the century. ... `The ale was flavoured with hops mixed with pors. It was slightly yellowish, and had a fresh, sweet taste. It was said locally that when one drank much of it, it was strongly intoxicating, with unpleasant after-effects.' ... That bog myrtle produces a special effect when added to ale is ... well documented in our material, and in earlier sources ... Linnaeus ... mention[s] the especially intoxicating effects ... ... Does bog myrtle possess the properties that were once ascribed to it...? ... chemical analysis has revealed no such properties. [One writer] is inclined to believe that there must be some substance in the bog myrtle that has the effect described. But he is also open to the suggestion that the belief in a special effect gave rise to an increased consumption [that] produced effects of the kind described. ... The solution of these problems would ... require a compleicated analysis, and as it is of little practical value to find the cause of the alleged headaches of bygone ages, the question will probably remain unsolved. ... =Spencer Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 12:59:14 -0600 From: "Stephen Cavan" <paddock_pd at qlo.com> Subject: hydrometers Richard Lehrl asked about hydrometers. There was some mention that a fellow named Balling invented the unit in 1843, but I would hasten to make a slight correction. The ancient Greeks invented this thing and called it a "baryllion". I'm sure some one will fill in the proper details here, as I am more of a classicist than early modern, but it seems to me the hydrometer came into use about 1780. Its use combined with the therometer lead to the end of Porter brewed from 'blown' or 'brown' malts. The most popular design in England was that of Twaddle, while Beaume's was used widely on the continent. Stephen Cavan Dept of Classics University of Sask Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 15:40:40 -0400 From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at nortelnetworks.com> Subject: Anyone use the "Automatic" Mill Yet? Hi folks, I see there is a new mill out for us homebrewers. There is a picture and description of it at the St Pats website at : http://www.stpats.com/mills.htm >From the site : "Excellent new mill made by commercial mill manufacturer. Adjustable steel rollers (both ends). Hand crank easily driven by electric drill. All metal construction including hopper and side plates. Base made of hard plastic. Best homebrew mill ever made. Grains are crushed, not ground, for minimal flour. Includes 5 gallon pail." Does anyone have any experience with it, and can offer some comments on how good it is? Admittedly it's a bit pricey at $169.50, but it sure looks like a great mill. Anyone know who this "commercial manufacturer" is? cheers, -Alan - -- Alan McKay OS Support amckay at nortelnetworks.com Small Site Integration 613-765-6843 (ESN 395) Nortel Networks Internal : http://zftzb00d/alanmckay/ All opinions expressed are my own. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 13:01:22 -0700 From: Brian_Dixon at ex.cv.hp.com Subject: Re: Balling and Plato [snip] > I would be interested to know a little bit about Balling, but can't find any > information about him. Does anyone know at least his fill name and > birth/death dates? > Thank you > Richard Can't give you birth/death dates, but my research for my article on calibrating hydrometers (BrewingTechniques) showed his full name to be Carl Joseph Napoleon Balling, and he produced his tables in 1843 (and they included errors ... that's why Plato made new ones.) Brian Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 21:12:07 CDT From: Steve Potter <potter_s_l at hotmail.com> Subject: Brewing Classes, AHA Convention, Cherry Beer On Sat, 26 Jun 1999, Wayne writes> >Steve Potter will no doubt point out that this fall, Milwaukee Area > >Technical College will be offering a Brewing Certificate Program. Gee Wayne, I didn't realize that my status as unofficial cheer leader for the MATC brewing program was that transparent...now where did I put those pom-poms 8^). Actually I don't have any more information on the Certificate program, but I do have the dates for the weekend workshops and the internet classes. Workshops (held in West Allis, WI) Sensory Evaluation II, Advanced Workshop - September 25 Brewing Calculations for the Commercial and Home Brewer - October 16 A Day in a Microbrewery - November 6 Internet Classes Malt - Sept 13 through October 29 Water - September 13 through October 29 Hops - November 1 through December 17 Yeast - November 1 through December 17 For more info check out the web page at http://online.milwaukee.tec.wi.us/foods431/promopage.htm I just got back from Kansas City and I must say that it was a great time. The KC clubs did a great job. The beer was flowing like...well like beer. There were many good seminars and you just couldn't help learning a lot given the expertise of those who attended. For those of you with a sense of humor check out the AlK picture in the gallery area at www.hbd.org/1stdraft - yes that is a Clinitest assay being done. Dave Clark inquired about an extract recipe for cherry beer. I don't have one, but I can give you a few clues about New Glaris Belgian Red. Start out with a recipe for a good flanders brown. Ferment it and then stuff your secondary full of as many crushed cherries as will fit and pour the flanders brown over. Finish fermentation. Drink and smile. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 21:31:42 -0500 From: "Cris Riley" <crisriley at hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Balling and Plato I'm no expert, but a little searching revealed the following: It appears that Balling's full name is Carl Joseph Napoleon Balling often referred to as C J N Balling. I found one reference to K J N Balling. Not surprising that Carl might have been spelled with a K. It also appears that he was a Czech physicist. And possibly published a book or paper titled "Die Bierbrauerei". Hope this helps. ~cr~ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 23:00:54 EDT From: ThomasM923 at aol.com Subject: Worging without a net/Mixed up about mash mixers In honor of Tim Anderson I am going to disable the AOL spell checker just this one time. I read with interest Joy Hansen's post concerning his mixing device. It seems to be more of a wort mixing/scraper kind of device than a mash mixer; very innovative nonetheless. One thing I wanted to respond to was the price he paid for his motor. I'm sure he had his reasons for purchasing that motor, but there are a couple of surplus mail-order places I know of that have gear motors for quite a bit less than the 80$ that Joy paid. They are: Surplus Center Lincoln, NE (800) 488-3407 C and H Sales Company Pasadena, CA (800) 325-9465 http://www.candhsales.com I've purchased items from both places and have been pleased with the items and the service. I was initially going to write this post to recommend a motor in the C and H catalog for anyone that was looking for one to build an inexpensive mash mixer with. It is a 55 RPM gearhead motor with 20 inch-pounds of torque for $7.95 (stock # ACGM7800). In order to boost the torque and reduce the speed you would need to gear it down a bit. In the same catalog there are miniature chain sprockets that will fit the shaft of this motor, along with the corresponding roller chain. This would add another $6.00 to the price and give you a speed of 33 RPM with torque of about 33 inch-pounds. Chain driven mash mixer...cool! And cheap. Then it dawned on me. I have no idea how much torque is needed to mix the average mash. 33 inch-pounds might not be enough. So---I'd like to ask anyone that has set up a mixing system to share with the rest of us some details about your system like: Torque in inch-pounds (or foot-pounds) or HP of motor and gear ratio Approximate area of mixing device Maximum size of mash Ratio of water to grist Any problems encountered If anyone has experimented with different mixing blade shapes, that info would also be useful. Thanks in advance, (spell checker back on overdrive) Thomas Murray Maplewood, NJ Return to table of contents
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