HOMEBREW Digest #326 Tue 19 December 1989

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


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


Contents:
  Homebrew Digest #325 (December 18, 1989) (Michael Bergman)
  Sarsaparilla (Mark Freeman)
  Taking homebrew into Canada, Slow starting yeast (boubez)
  Kettles and dangerous carboys ("Lance "I Don't Exist" Smith")
  predicting FG (Marty Albini)

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Dec 89 10:12:17 EST From: bergman at m2c.org (Michael Bergman) Subject: Homebrew Digest #325 (December 18, 1989) Chris Wilson (cwilson at cs.uoregon.edu) writes: ...I think the problem is that one needs a mix of tart and sweet apples. Jug apple juice here is primarily from just sweet apples. I had found some juice with a great tart flavor , but it would not take a fermentation. There must have been some anti-oxidant or preservative which supressed the yeast. Since I can't get tart juice, I may experiment by making the same cider but adding some crushed raspberries or blackberries. It will probably look like sin (purple beer?), but I think the berry/apple combination would be nice. Has anyone else tried this? Out here (massachusetts) there is quite a variety of flavor in the available ciders. Even within a particular brand, there will be a difference through the season. Out of season, most of what's available settles down to one brand, I presume that they are the only company that bothers with the expense (whatever that expense may be). I find their cider to be good in season, but the out-of-season stuff is not so tasty. But I digress. What caught me attention recently was that at the very beginning of the season, all the cider available was extremely tart. So next year, you might try with the earliest cider you can get your hands on. The other thing to mention is that some orchards just use one variety of apples for their cider, whereas properly to make good cider you need a blend, to balance tannin, tartness, sweetness. Of the local orchards, only one (of at least a half dozen) seems to really do this right. Most of the rest are on the "too sweet" side. So sample a few more before giving up. Some preservatives (sulphur based ones) can be gotten rid of by allowing the cider to "breathe" for a few hours. Of course, that also risks some sort of infection... Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 89 08:49 PST From: Mark Freeman <MFreeman at VERMITHRAX.SCH.Symbolics.COM> Subject: Sarsaparilla I'm looking for a recipe for making root beer. Does anyone have one, and is it fermentable? Also, any hints about where to get ingredients for it? - Mark Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 89 14:25:34 EST From: boubez at bass.rutgers.edu Subject: Taking homebrew into Canada, Slow starting yeast I remember seeing this question a little while ago, but I don't remember what transpired, so here it is again. I'm going home to Montreal this week for the holidays, and I'd like to take some of my hombrew with me for my mom to sample. What are the rules and regulations in effect? Do they differ from the regular beer rules (1 case)? Thanks. On another topic, I started my latest batch this week-end, and instead of "pitching" the yeast, this time I decided to "start" it first in a cup of warm water. Well, it's been two days, and still no sign of life... What could be the cause? And what are the usual causes of slow- or not- starting yeast? toufic Toufic Boubez boubez at caip.rutgers.edu --There's NO OAT BRAN in Motor Oil! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 89 19:30:20 CDT From: "Lance "I Don't Exist" Smith" <lsmith at umn-cs.cs.umn.edu> Subject: Kettles and dangerous carboys A few comments on two "recent" topics. Brew Kettles: I presently use the standard enamel-steel canning kettle, but have been looking to move up to stainless. A store in the local mall (one of the dales for you Prairie Home Companion fans) has 5-gal stainless kettles on sale for about $35. It's fairly lightweight stainless, but it follows the standard cylinder with flat top design. I think the store is called "Letchers" or some such thing in case they're a chain. So is that a good deal? Dangerous Carboys: Earlier this year I made an Imperial stout based on Charlie P's Armenian Stout recipe (Spring 87 I think). The recipe is based around 6.6 lbs M&F Old Ale and 3.3lb Pale Extract. So I pitched the yeast before going to bed. Not much was happening when I left for school the next day. Ah, but when I came home I was greeted by the snorts of a bubble-lock spitting foam. I cleaned up another stopper and made up a quick blow-off tube arrangement. Then not thinking I pulled out the previous stopper. Whoooooosh. Brown stuff every where. Good thing I was wearing my safety glasses. Do you know what a fast moving hop could have done to my eyesight? So be careful, when you're releasing any pressure in a carboy. Cheers and all that, Lance Smith (lsmith at umn-cs.cs.umn.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 89 21:01:50 PST From: Marty Albini <hplabs!hpsdl39!martya> Subject: predicting FG A few issues back I commented on some beer of mine that was taking too long to ferment out. The question was raised: how do you know when it's finished? How low the gravity will get? My usual method is to look there at the end of the recipe where it says "FG=" and use the author's experience. But what if it's a new recipe, or one without such a handy guide? Burch (_Brewing_Qualty_Beers_) gives a formula for computing FG from the OG, which works surprisingly well considering its simplicity. In short: Projected FG= 1+(OG-1)/4 Obviously the unfermentables should have some impact on this, and a stout with several pounds of black grains should finish somewhat higher than an all-malt beer with the same OG. I've tried correcting for this with various tables, but the formula seems to work best as-is, at least with the last couple entries in my brew log. This bothers me. I'm not worried, mind you, but it seems like there ought to be a better prediction method; one that takes into account things like the yeast's attenuativity (what a word! Did I make that up or what?), unfermentables, and whatever else there is that matters. Why not just RDWHAH? If you stop too early and prime while the beer is still too sweet, you get little glass grenades. I've never experienced this delightful occurance, and never want to. This seems to be a topic of broad interest; if somebody has a reliable prediction method, please post! Merry Xmas! - -- ________________________________________________Marty Albini___________ "To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks." phone : (619) 592-4177 UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!martya Internet : martya%hp-sdd at hp-sde.sde.hp.com (or at nosc.mil, at ucsd.edu) CSNET : martya%hp-sdd at hplabs.csnet US mail : Hewlett-Packard Co., 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #326, 12/19/89 ************************************* -------
[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