HOMEBREW Digest #319 Fri 08 December 1989

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


Contents:
  boiling caps, and a recipe for a holiday ale (hpda!uunet!ingr!b11!conk!steve)
  Missing digest 315 ("2645 RUTH, GUY R.")
  re: inane pelletized hop question ("2645 RUTH, GUY R.")
  Orlando (FL) brewpubs (Mark.Leone)
  Stuck Fermentation and Bottle cleaning (Wayne Allen)
  There's something in there driving them crazy (Doug Roberts  at  Los Alamos National Laboratory)
  Briess extracts (Mark.Leone)
  Re: Terminology (Mike Fertsch)
  Sam Adams' Winter Lager (Alan Duester)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Dec 5 21:25:06 1989 From: hpfcla!hpda!uunet!ingr!b11!conk!steve Subject: boiling caps, and a recipe for a holiday ale Well, I had intended to reply to a message a long time ago on this, but my feed has been flaked out. Much to my surprise, when I get reconnected after a month, the topic is still under discussion. Re: boiling bottle caps. Call me strange (many do), but the first time I ever read that you should boil your caps, I reasoned that it was not only to sanitize them, but also to soften the seals, so as to make a better seal on the bottle. Now, I don't think that any commercial bottlers do this, but it still seems like a good idea. I boil mine, then leave them in the hot water until I use them. And now, to hopefully make this useful to someone, here is a recipe for my Holiday Ale, which turned out VERY well. It has Just a hint of the Allspice, more in the arome that the flavor, and is quite sweet tasting. There is a slight bitter hops aftertaste, but I think that if it were any less bitter, the sweetness would be overpowering. This beer will bring color to your cheeks. The spice could be omitted with no great loss. Blow Me Away Holiday Ale (In memory of those who were blown away Nov. 15th) 6 lb William's Weizenmalt syrup (60% wheat) 2 lb dark DME 2.75 lb Buckwheat Honey 1 lb crushed crystal malt .25 lb crushed chocolate malt 2.5 oz Cascade 60 minutes 1.5 oz Hallertaur 3.6% 60 minutes .75 oz Hallertaur 3.6% 1 minute 4 tsp whole allspice simmered in water about 3 minutes, allspice removed, water added to primary. Steep grains in 2 gal water while heating to boil. Remove grains. Add extracts and honey. Boil 1 hour, add 1 tsp irish moss at 30 minutes. Initial Gravity 1.090 Final Gravity 1.025 Bottle with 2/3 cup corn sugar bulk prime. Steve Conklin ...!uunet!ingr!b11!conk!steve Return to table of contents
Date: 7 Dec 89 08:39:00 MDT From: "2645 RUTH, GUY R." <grruth at sandia.gov> Subject: Missing digest 315 I believe the computer was in yo-yo mode when digest 315 was distributed. Wouldsomeone send me a copy? - -- Guy Return to table of contents
Date: 7 Dec 89 08:47:00 MDT From: "2645 RUTH, GUY R." <grruth at sandia.gov> Subject: re: inane pelletized hop question Mark Leone writes: "Here's a rather inane question: is it normal for pelletized hops to disintigrate completely during the boil? So far I haven't noticed any excessive bitterness or unpleasant flavors due to this... (I do strain the wort going into the primary)." I often wondered if pelletized hops stayed whole in the boil. In fact, I used to smash them prior to addition to the wort. I was told that they instantly dissolve in hot wort so since then I don't about them worry anymore. - -- Guy Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 89 11:05:54 EST From: Mark.Leone at F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Orlando (FL) brewpubs Are there any brewpubs or microbreweries of note in the Orlando area? (None were listed in the recent brewpub list). ====================================================================== Mark R. Leone <mleone at cs.cmu.edu> School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 89 11:13:40 CST From: wa%cadillac.cad.mcc.com at mcc.com (Wayne Allen) Subject: Stuck Fermentation and Bottle cleaning Martin Lodahl suggested that Marty Albini's stuck fermentation was due to exclusive use of extract, and that the solution is to add yeast nutrients. My understanding is that extract has all the minerals, etc. of the original wort used to make the extract. I suggest that Marty's 10 lbs of extract creates a rather high-alcohol environment which could shut down some strains (different yeast strains have varying tolerance to this). I've done good all-extract brews of ~10 lb with Muntona (sp) and Red-star (maybe I'm just lucky?). If in doubt, add champagne yeast after initial ferment. Temperature changes, too, can freak out the little buggers. I found a labor-saving way of washing bottles which need brush-scrubbing (if only for peace of mind). Clip the end off your bottle brush and stick the stem in the chuck of your favorite power drill (make sure you leave enough stem to put the brush to the bottom of a bottle while in the chuck). Put a case of bottles on the floor, and spray a shot of cleaner in each one (409 works great). Then, insert the brush in each bottle, and zing until you're no longer worried. I use a bottle sprayer to rinse and the high-temp dish washer to finish off my anxieties. _ W | Wayne Allen, wa at mcc.com | MCC/CAD, 3500 West Balcones Center Dr., Austin, Tx 78759 | "You actually DRINK that???!!" - my mom (ps. what is cordomon?) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 89 10:17:39 MST From: roberts%studguppy at LANL.GOV (Doug Roberts at Los Alamos National Laboratory) Subject: There's something in there driving them crazy The yeasties, of coarse. I heard my wife shout from the kitchen this morning, "There's beer EVERYWHERE!" My holiday ale, which I'd pitched the evening of the 5th had blown the lid off the primary. This is one of those heavy-duty food-grade white plastic primary buckets with a heavy-duty snap-on plastic lid. You have to push fairly hard to get it on. You also, obviously, have to push fairly hard to get it off. There _was_ beer everywhere, mostly the foamy cap stuff. Apparently, the head rose higher than it ever has before, filling and completely clogging the air lock. I've had the head overflow into the airlock before, but never like this. I performed an emergency transfer to a secondary and connected a blow-off hose instead of another air lock. I have never seen such an active fermentation as this batch is exhibiting: it is really blowing. I sure hope it didn't get contaminated: the blow-off beer is delicious. I may be lucky, as the explosion appears to have occured only about an hour before we discovered it. - --Doug ================================================================ Douglas Roberts | Los Alamos National Laboratory |I can resist anything Box 1663, MS F-602 | except temptation. Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 | ... (505)667-4569 |Oscar Wilde dzzr at lanl.gov | ================================================================ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 89 17:02:43 EST From: Mark.Leone at F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Briess extracts Does anyone recommend or dis-recommend Briess extracts? Apparently they are available in large quantities (58 lb pails) for *cheap* prices ($72, from Green Acres). Would such a large quantity be a bad idea for the occasional brewer (ie, 10-15 gals/month)? Is spoilage or contamination a problem? ====================================================================== Mark R. Leone <mleone at cs.cmu.edu> School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 89 16:48 EST From: Mike Fertsch <FERTSCH at adc1.adc.ray.com> Subject: Re: Terminology Ken Giles asks: > I just want to make sure I'm using the proper terminology. I thought that > 'attenuation' refered to the amount of starch-to-sugar conversion. If not, > what is the proper term? My short definitions of sometimes confusing terms: attenuation - the degree that sugars are eaten by yeast. Related to the initial versus final gravity of the beer. Attenuative yeasts result in a lower FG and result in less sweet beers. conversion - the degree that enzymes change soluble starches into sugars. This happens during mashing. The masher wants to avoid non-converted starches. modification - related to the amount of enzymes generated during malting. Malting involves germinating the barley plant, which consumes starch and gernates enzymes. Fully modified grain has lots of enzymes but less starch. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 89 22:14:48 EST From: capnal at aqua.whoi.edu (Alan Duester) Subject: Sam Adams' Winter Lager Tonight I bought a case of the just-released Sam Adams Winter Lager. Nice beer, clean & crisp with more hopping overall, (both bitter and flower), and a slight aftertaste that lingers around the back edges of the tongue. Since I'm snarfing down Sushi crackers at the same time, maybe they have something to do with that aftertaste... Not incredibly different than the regular Adams brew, but don't expect the malty richness that was present in the Double Bock they released this past spring. Slightly more carbonation than the normal brew. I'm not very good at describing beer flavors, but I think it's safe to say that if you like the regular and want more hops, you won't go wrong buying a case of this. ======================================================================== Al Duester, Ocean Engineer, MS S201 # SPAN: 6308::capnal Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution # INTERNET: capnal at aqua.whoi.edu Woods Hole, MA 02543 # GEnie: A.DUESTER (508) 548-1400 x2474 (508) 457-2000 auto-receptionist for touch tone phones ======================================================================== Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #319, 12/08/89 ************************************* -------
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