HOMEBREW Digest #3272 Thu 16 March 2000

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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:
  Practical RIMS Modifications (AKGOURMET)
  Mead Quest (Aaron Perry)
  Re: Wine from concentrate ("Dan Dewberry")
  Call for Judges for the Maltose Falcons Mayfaire (Tom Wolf)
  Wyeast strain ID (Scott Murman)
  Bourbon Barrels ("Matt Hollingsworth")
  Dr Pivo Meets Mr Pieman ("Phil & Jill Yates")
  Re: high final running SG question (patrick finerty)
  Re: Re: high final running SG question (Some Guy)
  Belgian Beers (Nathan Kanous)
  Pivolities ("Alan Meeker")
  pitching rates (cbuckley)
  HBD Size or Frequency ("Martin Brungard")
  Big Brew 2000 (Midwest Brewer)
  brett. cultures ("Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies")
  RE: high final running SG question (LaBorde, Ronald)
  New date for South Shore Brewoff 2000 ("Reed,Randy")
  Re: Bourbon barrel Stout (Chris Campagna)
  extraction ("Bayer, Mark A")
  Davison Color Guide (Mark Tumarkin)
  Keg fittings: what can go wrong? (RiedelD)
  Re: hop growing questions. ("Sieben, Richard")
  Re: Hop cultivation (Mark Kellums)
  Czech Brews (Nathan Kanous)
  WYeast 3333 (Nathan Kanous)
  starter for Weisen Edel-Weisse? (darrell.leavitt)
  "Pivigorous" with my yeast (MICHAEL WILLIAM MACEYKA)
  MCAB (RBoland)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 17:29:54 EST From: AKGOURMET at aol.com Subject: Practical RIMS Modifications Yesterday, I brewed an 11 gallon batch of Premium Lager on my RIMS. This is only my 6th. batch on the RIMS, but I have made some modifications recently that really worked out well so I thought I would share them with the group. I use a 48 qt. rectangular cooler with a copper manifold for the mash/lauter tun. The manifold has 4 lengths of 1/2" pipe running the length of the cooler. I had cut slots every 1/2" along the pipes. That worked ok with just water, but when grain was added, recirculation was too slow. That was with the slots facing the bottom. I didn't try it with the slots facing upward. Prior to my most recent batch, I took those pipes and drilled 1/8" holes through them at each slot perpendicular to the bottom. That dramatically improved the flow. I think a false bottom would work best -- in fact, you could just lay it across the pipes -- but I couldn't find any material to make one. The second mod. was to the return manifold in the mash tun. Previously, my return manifold looked like an H with the outflow centered in each quadrant of the cooler. In theory, this is optimum. In practice, I didn't like it. Unless it was prefectly level, the outflows where never equal. It also didn't allow you to stir the mash. My solution was to make a manifold out of 1/2" copper pipe that fit snug around the perimeter of the cooler and has 3/8" holes that direct the flow inward. It fits snug enough that I can move it up or down so it's just above the grain bed. This worked great. I am now able to easily stir the top half of the mash every 15 minutes or so and check the temperature in several spots. My RIMS is a heat exchange model with a copper coil in the 48 qt. sparge pot. Previously, I used 10' of 1/2" for the coil. That wasn't enough. Now I have 30' of 1/2" with the coils held firmly and slightly separated by copper wire. I haven't measured the temp. rise in degrees per minute, but it's an improvement and I'm happy with it. Finally, and this is not RIMS related, I replaced the 3/8" valve in my 18 gallon stainless pot with a 1/2" valve. It used to take forever to fill 2 carboys with that little spigot and it was prone to clogging. Yesterday, I drained 11 gallons in what seemed like a couple of minutes. It was like turning on a faucet. 'Course, I had my hops in bags, which didn't hurt. That's it. My efficiency went from 75% to 79% (according to Suds 4.0). I'm sure that's partly due to double crushing the grain, but I think being able to stir the mash also helped. Bill Wright Juneau, Alaska Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 17:36:09 -0400 From: Aaron Perry <vspbcb at earthlink.net> Subject: Mead Quest Hey Everyone, How's brewing? I have a few Mead questions to pose to the collective (who gets to be Lebrewtus?) I plan on brewing a batch of pretty low gravity mead (1.050). I will flavor with Ginger and Hops in the boil. I will probably use some yeast nutrient. I plan on fermenting with WY #1056. When primary fermentation is over, I'm figuring on about a month to a month and a half in the secondary. I'll then force carbonate in a "corny". All this fuss is over whether the brew will be ready for my Big Brew party 5/6/00. (new paragraph ;-) My first question is: will the ale yeast work as well as in an all malt brew? Secondly, will my short aging times negatively affect the flavor of my mead? Usually I sit on my meads for a long time, but usually the are of a much higher gravity and fermented with wine yeast. Any help or insight with my journey into the unknown would be greatly appreciated! TIA Aaron Perry vspbcb at earthlink.net Private e-mail ok! ....resistance is futile. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 17:20:36 -0600 From: "Dan Dewberry" <dandew at netzero.net> Subject: Re: Wine from concentrate > Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 18:05:33 -0600 > From: "Jack Schmidling" <arf at mc.net> > Subject: Wine from Concentrate > > Well, the merlot needs to age a year or so but we had the white with flounder > last night and much to my surprise, we really liked the wine. > > It was mildly fruity and on the sweet side of dry with just a hint of an > aftertaste. The interest improved with each taste and by the time the bottle > was empty, I wanted more. > > I guess if I had paid $20 and it had a fancy French name, I would not have been > disappointed. Definately a cut above jug wine and as good as most of the $10 > wine we have on Friday with fish. > > I have no way of making white wine (requires a press) and only drink one bottle > a week so I am definately interested in trying this myself. I will let Alan > explain what went into this wine. It is my understanding that it was pretty much > the bottom of the line. I have been making wine from concentrate for a couple of years now & have been quite impressed with the results. I have mainly used Selection juice and bought fresh dry yeast (I don't use the yeast in the box). I have a merlot that also needs more aging, but a French Syrah turned out nice, along w/ a Chardonnay/Semillon, & a Johannisberg Riesling. I am waiting on a Chenin Blanc and an oakey Cabernet Sauvignon now. You don't have the same control as in making all-grain beer, but it's fun nonetheless and they make great gifts. Dan in Austin __________________________________________ NetZero - Defenders of the Free World Get your FREE Internet Access and Email at http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 19:09:53 -0700 From: Tom Wolf <wolfhrt at ibm.net> Subject: Call for Judges for the Maltose Falcons Mayfaire Greetings all honorable judges and potential stewards, especially those of you who have supported the Maltose Falcons home brewing contests in the past! All judges are welcome. As you know there are never too many. The Maltose Falcon's Mayfaire judging will be held at 9:00 AM on Saturday, April 1st at the St. Luke Church in Woodland Hills California. The address is 5312 Comercio Way, 1blk east of Canoga and 2 blocks south of Ventura. If you are interested in judging our Mayfaire competition or if you know of other interested judges or potential stewards please refer them to me! If you would like to register or just have other questions, please contact me, Tom Wolf: (wolf1 at ibm.net) 661-296-0872 home and 661-702-5487 work. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 22:15:10 -0800 (PST) From: Scott Murman <smurman at best.com> Subject: Wyeast strain ID As some of you know, I have a page which attempts to document the source of many of the strains available to homebrewers www.best.com/~smurman/zymurgy/yeast.html The Duvel post reminded me that this was one of the strains that I don't know first-hand. On my page one of the Wyeast strains is listed as the Duvel strain (probably bottling?), but after lo these many years I can't remember where I got this info. Can anyone help me out here? Also, Wyeast has recently begun selling some new strains. I do have ID's for most of these, but what I don't have is a list of what their names and numbers are. Can someone send me a list of the new Wyeast strains please, and I'll add their sources to the web page. Thanks. Hope someone helps. -SM- Return to table of contents
Date: 13 Mar 2000 22:26:54 -0800 From: "Matt Hollingsworth" <colorart at spiritone.com> Subject: Bourbon Barrels Eric Murray mentions using Bourbon Barrels for aging. This practice is slowly becoming more and more popular, although it's still rare. Locally, in Portland, the beer that springs to mind is Widmer's Bourbon Bock. They produced this beer for the Oregon Brewers festival a couple of years ago, presumably to show off. It wasn't meant for distribution other than at the fest (possibly an anniversary ale??). It was very popular, though, and they released a limited amount on draft. Lucky for me, because I didn't try it at the festival. I don't generally drink their beers because of their close association with AB (vote with your dollar, I say), but word of mouth was so strong on this beer that when I saw it on tap I had to try it. It was delicicious. It was a very strong pale bock beer, with fairly prominent bourbon notes, balanced beautifully. I wouldn't mind trying something similar myself, but bourbon barrels are way bigger than I would use for homebrew. Cheers! -Matt Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 21:56:41 +1100 From: "Phil & Jill Yates" <yates at acenet.com.au> Subject: Dr Pivo Meets Mr Pieman Well I am feeling a bit responsible here. Not for the fact that Dr Pivo enjoyed his Tasmanian visit (though he didn't like the rotting flesh in Mr Pieman's teeth - the owners of the rotting flesh liked it even less!) but for the fact that no one else in here knows anything of Mr Pieman and his relevance to beer. Mr Renner knows. But when you live at earth's centre, there can be very little you don't know. Alexander Pieman was a prisoner in the convict prison at Macquarie Harbour on the south west coast of Tasmania. It was one of the most dreaded prisons of all and escape was considered impossible due to the nature of Tasmania's south west terrain and climate, not to mention the ferocious fauna such as Tasmanian Devils and Tigers of which there were plenty. But our happy beer swilling mate Alexander, along with a few pals, got out and could not be found. They simply vanished into the bush. Quite some time later Mr Pieman was captured but it seemed all his mates had gotten away, they were no where to be found. It was discovered later that Mr Pieman had eaten them, all that climbing over rugged terrain had obviously made him a bit peckish. So what the hell has this got to do with beer? Nothing much, but I was asked to explain it, Doc Pivo enjoyed it, and Alan Meeker is still trying to work out how much yeast to put in his beer. Sorry Al, I've been a bit mean to you lately. I do have some technical data I wanted to present on immersion chillers. And a mention of some problems brewing with rice. Maybe next post Cheers Phil Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:09:02 -0500 (EST) From: patrick finerty <zinc at zifi.psf.sickkids.on.ca> Subject: Re: high final running SG question On March 13, 2000, Taber, Bruce wrote: > I am confused. If the sparge is too fast or too cold, and yet you have > extracted the amount of wort that you need, wouldn't the final runnings have > a very low SG? If your final runnings have a SG > 1.020, then the SG of > your wort would be nice and high meaning that you have good extraction > efficiency. Hi Bruce, if you sparge too fast you will likely cause channels to form in the grain bed. once this happens much of the grain will no longer be rinsed by the sparge water. i think it's unlikely that one would hit the target gravity in this situation unless one normally gets poor extraction and had adjusted the grain bill accordingly. although i sparge at 170 F, i'm not sure why temperature is so important for extraction efficiency. hopefully someone else will enlighten us. hth, -patrick in toronto - -- "There is only one aim in life and that is to live it." Karl Shapiro,(1959) from an essay on Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer finger pfinerty at nyx10.nyx.net for PGP key http://abragam.med.utoronto.ca/~zinc Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:23:16 -0500 (EST) From: Some Guy <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: Re: Re: high final running SG question On Tue, 14 Mar 2000, patrick finerty wrote: > although i sparge at 170 F, i'm not sure why temperature is so > important for extraction efficiency. hopefully someone else will > enlighten us. This has more to do with molasses in January than anything technical: the higher the temperature of the water, the higher the temperature of the sugars and the easier to get them to flow. Also, sugars dissolve more readily in hot water than in cold. (For the scientifically inclined: gasses dissolve more readily in cold liquids. Why?) - See ya! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at hbd.com Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock "Just a cyber-shadow of his former brewing self..." Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 08:22:35 -0600 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Belgian Beers Let us not forget Phillip Seitz's "Brewing and Judging Belgian Beers" <http://hubris.engin.umich.edu:8080/realbeer/Belgian/index.html>. This site has served me well in the past. nathan in madison, wi Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:31:10 -0500 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at welchlink.welch.jhu.edu> Subject: Pivolities OK. Now he's gone too far. Claiming to be the originator of the (*) ! My God, his arrogance knows no bounds! Next he'll be claiming he came up with :) -Alan Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:02:07 -0500 From: cbuckley at newsoft.com Subject: pitching rates I wonder why there is so much hype about pitching rates. I am new to homebrewing as of this year. I have five very good extract brews under my belt now and I know that I don't pitch much yeast when compared to many of you. I have had three good batches using only one Edme dry yeast pak mixed right into the 74 degree wort. The other two batches I used a local liquid yeast, again straight into the wort. My beers taste very good and most of my friends (except the bud, coors type) think so too. I have had to rouse the yeast in two batches but otherwise the gravity ends in an acceptable range. I am pretty careful to clean and sanitize my equipment with each use. I have not had a contamination problem. I hope that somebody can tell me why I should make a point to make a starter and pitch more yeast. I understand that I will have a shorter lag time. My lag time is 48+ hours now but all that means to me is I have to wait two more days to drink the beer. (one point for starters). Why all the fuss? Is it just a matter of time before I have a contamination problem because I am under pitching? Will my beer really taste that much better? Will I be able to bottle sooner? Fermenting at my house is a two step process. About 7 days in a primary then another few days to a week or whatever in a carboy to clear and bring the gravity down another .002 - .004 or so. The temperature is about 65 degrees (winter in NH with high oil prices) so I don't think that is real slow. >From reading HBD for the past couple of months it seems that I am committing a crime by "underpitching" and not using a starter. What will happen to my beer if I pitch more yeast.? I have CP's book and one from Dave Miller if I do start to use starters, what method should I use and why. Can I go with "if it aint broke don't fix it"? Basically I want to know if I will see a huge difference in my beer or the time that it takes to complete a batch. Hope this helps... ooops.- hope you can help. thanks Cass - Portsmouth NH Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:06:54 EST From: "Martin Brungard" <mabrungard at hotmail.com> Subject: HBD Size or Frequency I'm aware that this forum is limited to an arbitrary size and mailing frequency of 50k and once a day. I just reviewed the HBD archives and found that the last time this subject was discussed was in 1996. At that time, there was both a digested and undigested version of this forum. Now, there is only the digest. The current size limitation frequently means that it could be a couple of days to have replies on a subject. That frequently means that a thread drags on for a while. In my opinion, we would be better off with a minor revision to HBD to either increase the digest size or to increase the frequency. I'll bet that a majority of the subscribers have a reasonably fast email connection and having more or larger HBD posts is not a significant problem anymore. I'm sure the Janitors have a feeling for how large the posting size would have to be to make the daily backlog go away. I'm not sure if that posting size is really workable though. Another option could be to increase the frequency to twice a day. I'll leave it to the group to offer comments. Martin Brungard Tallahassee, FL "Meandering to a different drummer" ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:36:25 -0600 From: Midwest Brewer <mgeorge at bridge.com> Subject: Big Brew 2000 Hmm...appears its getting close to time for the Big Brew 2K. AT LAST THEY CHOSE A NORMAL BEER! The first 2 years of this undertaking I've sat idle and watched, as there was no way I could brew the Big 12 Barleywine nor did I want to brew the Collaborator Stout (just seemed too weird to me). Now we have a classic, SNPA. An excellent choice - and hopefully we will get lucky and get the right recipe from Sierra Nevada. But...I have to question the recipe posted from Paul and the fine people at the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild. >From the AHA post: The official AHA Big Brew 2000 recipe is based on the eighteen attempts of Chris P. Frey of the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild and Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen (FORD) to emulate Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Here is the official recipe for the Big Brew. Big Brew 2000, Nearly Nirvana Pale Ale All Grain Recipe for 5 gallons: 6.5 gallons water (2.5 mash, 4 sparge) 1 T gypsum (unless using hard water) 7 lb U.S. two row malt 1/2 lb U.S. crystal malt 60 L 1/2 lb U.S. dextrin malt 1 oz Perle hops (first wort hop) 1/2 oz Cascade hops (flavor) 1/2 t Irish moss 1/2 oz Cascade hops (aroma) 1/2 oz Cascade hops (dry hop) Wyeast 1056 liquid ale yeast Fine...I'll agree there isn't a whole lot going on here, but I have to question that base malt amount. If I'm recalling correctly (and this is on the SN webpage), they list the OG as 13 degrees Plato, and the ending at 2.8 degrees. According to the grain bill proposed above, I would have to get better than 90% efficiency to reach the OG recommended!!! These #'s were determined using ProMash (if you're not using ProMash you should be - it's a great piece of software). Guys...if you want people to participate in this and be successful, make a recipe that will be a little more realistic for the average homebrewer. This isn't quite going to cut it for the guy that averages around 75% efficiency in his allgrain setup. I would have to up that base malt to around 9 lbs of 2-row to get close to the 13 degrees Plato benchmark. I do however, plan on participating - SNPA is a terrific beer! Midwest Brewer Glen Carbon, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:56:14 -0600 From: "Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies" <orders at paddockwood.com> Subject: brett. cultures George (gdepiro at mindspring.com) writes that brett. culture can be purchased from the Yeast Culture Kit Company. Wyeast also has them, and Paddock Wood stocks them. Not exactly my mug of beer, but FWIW, here is the description: 3112 Brettanomyces bruxellensis: Wild yeast isolated from brewery cultures in the Brussels region of Belgium. Produces the classic sweaty horse hair character indigenous to beers of this region; gueuze, lambics, sour browns. Ferments best in worts with lower pH after primary fermentation has begun. This strain is generally used in conjunction with S. Cerevisiae as well as other wild yeast and lactic bacteria. Produces some acidity and may form a a thin film or layer in bottles or casks. Generally requires 3-6 months aging for flavor to fully develop. Flocculation medium; apparent attenuation low. (60-75 F) Wyeast also introduced a couple other Belgian strains. Details at http://www.paddockwood.com/catalog_yeast.html (sweaty horse hair character? yummmmmm...) hope this helps! Stephen Ross -- "Vitae sine cerevesiae sugat." ______________________________________________ Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, Saskatoon, SK orders at paddockwood.com www.paddockwood.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:52:53 -0600 From: rlabor at lsumc.edu (LaBorde, Ronald) Subject: RE: high final running SG question >From: "Taber, Bruce" <Bruce.Taber at nrc.ca> >> 2. Sparging too fast and/or too cold can reduce your efficiency. What is >the SG of your final runnings? If it is high (>1.020), then something is >wrong. >....If your final runnings have a SG > 1.020, then the SG of >your wort would be nice and high meaning that you have good extraction >efficiency.... The efficiency would be calculated as the gravity points per pound of grain per gallon of wort, so if you get final runnings with SG > 1.020, you must have used either more grain or less liquor - still the efficiency will be low. Low by comparison with other brewing figures, but nominal for your methodology. Ron Ronald La Borde - Metairie, Louisiana - rlabor at lsumc.edu http://hbd.org/rlaborde Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:19:24 -0500 From: "Reed,Randy" <rreed at foxboro.com> Subject: New date for South Shore Brewoff 2000 Everyone, Since Plymouth Bay Brewing has closed its doors, we have changed the location and date for the South Shore Brewoff 2000. * It will now be held April 15 at Trinity Brewing in Providence, RI. The deadline for entry is still April 1st. Hope to see you and your entries there! For more information and entry forms, please surf to: http://members.aol.com/brewclub/index.htm <http://members.aol.com/brewclub/index.htm> Cheers, Randy South Shore Brew Club - In Search of the Perfect Pint Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:25:59 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Campagna <campagna at umd5.umd.edu> Subject: Re: Bourbon barrel Stout Old Dominion Brewery in Virginia does the same thing. After trying some on their tour I decided to give it a try and it is one of my favorites. I use my favorit dry stout recipe and throw in 8 oz. of oak chips soaked in bourbon to the secondary for a week or two. The flavor changes slightly with aging. Initially, after about 3 weeks in the bottle it has a strong bourbon flavor that doesn't quite blend in. After 2 months it has a good balance that is perfect. I had one bottle saved up for a special occasion (read, i forgot I had it) that i cracked open 6 months old and the flavor had diminished to an aftertaste. Godo luck Chris Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:34:26 -0800 From: "Bayer, Mark A" <Mark.Bayer at JSF.Boeing.com> Subject: extraction collective homebrew conscience_ bruce t. wondered_ >If your final runnings have a SG > 1.020, then the SG of >your wort would be nice and high meaning that you have good extraction >efficiency.<snip>What am I missing? if your final runnings have a SG greater than 1.020, it means there is still a lot of malt sugar in the lauter tun that you didn't extract. you've left it behind. on the upside, the cattle like it more. brew hard, mark bayer stl mo Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 13:03:39 -0500 From: Mark Tumarkin <mark_t at ix.netcom.com> Subject: Davison Color Guide In recent posts, both Alan and AJ discuss the Davison Color Guide. It may be limited and imperfect, but it seems to be one of the better (only) tools available to 'guide' us in judging beer color. Unfortunately, I don't have one. Does anyone know if Dennis Davison is still selling them, or know of any homebrew shops who may still have them available? Mark Tumarkin Gainesville, Fl Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:46:10 -0800 From: RiedelD at pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca Subject: Keg fittings: what can go wrong? Lately I've been having leakage problems with some of my keg fittings. I'm about ready to take one apart, but before I do, I'd like to ask the collective about what things to look for. I'd say that the most likely culprits are O-rings and poppet (is that the right terminology?) springs. But, what about the gas-in/liquid-out fittings themselves? Do these things ever leak? Or, are they relying solely on the O-rings to make the seal? thanks in advance, Dave Riedel Victoria, BC, Can. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 13:30:21 -0600 From: "Sieben, Richard" <SIER1 at Aerial1.com> Subject: Re: hop growing questions. This 2k message was bounced for some reason as being over 8k? So if it appears twice, you all know why I am resending it. This will be my third year of hop growing and I now have 11 varieties of hops. It became apparent at the end of last season that I would have to till between the plants as the root system was kind of going out of controll and I would have mutiple variteties growing out of each hill this season. I did till at the end of last season and pulled out excess root system. We shall see how that works. My experience has been that some varieties can give significant cones in the first year, Cascades, Bullion and Nugget in particular. (about 1/2 lb dry weight each) Liberty and Willamette also did pretty well (1/4 lb dry weight first year). Saaz on the other hand apparently need about 3 years to give siginificant production. I only got one cone the first year and a handful last year. I was also told by someone with experience growing Saaz, that there is a 3 year period of 'infant diseases' that have to be tolerated before the plant really starts to produce. I did have some yellowing of leaves last year, but I think it had to do with the dry season myself. I was also experimenting with putting grass clippings down around the plants to keep weeds/ grass growth down and to hold in moisture. Does well with the weeds, but they do require water still as I found out last year when it was just too damn dry and I ended up with huge plants with few cones. In this case I think maybe you can get away with watering every other day as was the case with the Cascades last year. (Cascades were new plants last season and since they were 'babies' I watered more than the other plants, the result was a lot of Cascade cones and fewer on the other plants....live an learn). I understand deer like hop shoots as much as I do (great when fried with garlic and butter) but they seem to have left them alone. My thought was that maybe midwestern deer don't know what they are anyway. All my hop plants reached the top of the trelis in thier first year (12 feet), they do spread out a bit after they hit the top of the trelis, but then seem to just stop. Maybe this year will be different for me as I will water more and they are well established plants now. I have been very pleased with my hops and have no trouble using them even for bittering. If they appear a little strong or weak you can adjust your next recipe accordingly. I start with the assumption that the alpha level is in the middle of the 'typical' range for the variety. You can't be too far off this way. Other hints, if I was to start over, I would space different varieties more than 5 feet apart as I did, you have to be careful to keep the 'children' apart as they love to grow together. I know another homebrewer that cut the bottoms off of plastic 5 gallon pails and planted his hops in the buckets which were buried in the soil, this was done to keep the roots from growing together. We shall see if it has a negative impact on production, I suspect it may. That's my hop report for now...stay tuned as the growing season begins soon. Rich Sieben Island Lake, IL home of the deminimus hop ranch Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 14:09:14 -0600 From: Mark Kellums <kellums at springnet1.com> Subject: Re: Hop cultivation Hello, After a move for us last fall I'll be reestablishing my hop garden this spring. I dug up most of my rhizomes last fall, cut them up, washed them up, put them in ziplocs and stored them in the fridge over the winter. I'll be planting most of these same varieties here at the new house. My hop garden will consist mainly of Ultra, Cascade, and Eroica, but I've also decided to try out a few new varieties, Perle, Magnum, and Wye Viking. I think whether or not you get cones or not the first year depends a lot on the varieties you choose. I got plenty of cones off my first year Cascades. My first year Eroicas yielded nearly a half pound of dried hops from just two plants grown out of five gallon buckets. I've also got good first year results from Galena, Chinook, Bullion, Nugget, and Ultra. On the other hand my Goldings, Tettnangs, and Columbias never did put out very many hops even after 5 years of growth. I finally gave up on them. I can't say that I ever really had to many problems from and furry critters. With the exception of an occasional rabbit munching on some of the baby shoots. They never harmed the plants and were probably doing me a favor by removing some of the early growth. Last year I had a few problems with Japanese beetles, leaf hoppers, and spider mites. If you catch the mites early you can knock them back with Malathion. At least that's what I used. I mixed it up half strength and it really did a job on the bugs. I check my hop plants daily ever on the look out for any problems. As for watering I've also found that you almost can't over water. They just love the water. Unless it rains I generally water everyday. For fertilizer I apply a half strength dose of 30-15-15 about every three weeks or whenever I think they need it. This year I'm planting all of my hops in five gallon buckets. I've drilled holes in the bottom and sides for drainage. I've buried the buckets in the ground about a foot deep. I'll also mulch them well. This should do a better job of keeping the rhizomes in check, make it easier to harvest any rhizomes and also if I need to I can move the hops by just pulling the bucket. We'll see. The quality of the hops has been quite good. I'm especially pleased with the Ultra. It puts out a lot of hops and the aroma is fantastic IMO. I've been using all of my homegrown hops for both bittering and aroma additions. I just use the average alpha for whatever variety and go with that. The beers have turned out pretty good thus far. As for storage, I finally broke down last season and bought another Foodsaver. I've been vacuum packing the dried hops in mason jars and then freezing. This works great and I'm also able to vacuum pack my specialty grains this way. BTW, I got my new varieties at Freshops. They've got some other interesting varieties available as well. A Yugoslav hop, Vojvodina, Wye Viking, Kirin II a Japanese hop, some newer hybrids, Vanguard, Horizon, and Santiam. Not affiliated with Freshops in any way, it's just exciting to see some new varieties offered. I wish I had room to grow them all! Hope this helps. Mark Kellums Decatur IL. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 14:18:45 -0600 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Czech Brews Hi All, I have an opportunity. I have a colleague that is travelling to Czechoslovakia. She's willing to do me a favor, but needs as detailed directions as she can get. She's got a pretty full agenda and her grandmother is travelling with her, so she may not be able to hit any pubs, but could bring some beer back if I can tell her where to get it and what to get. She'll be staying in Prague at either the Hilton or Hyatt (one of the "H's"). Don't know how many of these there may be in Prague. She'll also be spending a day or two in Krakow "in the center of the city" (yeah, that's Poland not Czech....just help with beer, not geography please). Anybody got suggestions of where she can get to easily to buy beer? I'll certainly recommend that she talk to a concierge about this as well. I had in mind some Urquell and some Budvar. I've selected these as world-class examples of the Bohemian Pilsner style. Other ideas from those who've been? Again, she'll only be able to get to stores, not on-site to breweries. Your help is greatly appreciated. nathan in madison, wi Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 14:19:16 -0600 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: WYeast 3333 Anybody got experience using WYeast 3333 German Wheat? Source? Recipe suggestions? TIA. nathan in madison, wi Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 15:47:21 -0500 (EST) From: darrell.leavitt at plattsburgh.edu Subject: starter for Weisen Edel-Weisse? Date sent: 15-MAR-2000 15:42:06 I was lucky recently to find a bottle of the new SCHNEIDER WEISSE/ Weisen Edel-Weisse. It is apparently from Bavaria, based upon a recipe that was last brewed at the Munich Oktoberfest 57 years ago! Anyway, it tasted very good so I would like to culture this from the bottle. I have another and will use it to hopefully make a clone of this Hefe. Is anyone familiar with the yeast that they use in this? And, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. ..Darrell _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/Darrell Leavitt _/ _/INternet: leavitdg at splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu _/ _/Internet (receives attachments): _/ _/ dleavitt at sln.esc.edu _/ _/AMpr.net: n2ixl at k2cc.ampr.org _/ _/AX25 : n2ixl at kd2aj.#nny.ny.usa _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 16:43:45 -0500 (EST) From: MICHAEL WILLIAM MACEYKA <mmaceyka at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: "Pivigorous" with my yeast Howdy, I have listened to the recent Dr. Pivo vs. the Librarians Cage Match '00 with much bemusement. Dr. Pivo's notion, if I understand it, is that we all could learn a little by flouting dogma and doing some experiments for ourselves for a change. We may find that the dogma was right all along, or perhaps that it is a load of crap because it doesn't apply to our situations. This is exactly the attitude I take with brewing. It may surprise Dr. Pivo to learn that this is also the attitude of one Alan Meeker. A true scientist, he is more interested in the experiment and its results than the hypothesis. He knows much of the literature, and knows much of it does not apply directly to him. It is a guide, a jumping off point; it is not the final word. Oh, and most of his experiments result in good beer. No way the good doctor would know this, though I am suprised he came to the exact opposite conclusion. One of Dr. Pivo's points has really struck me, and that is the depth to which he has investigated his yeast. I have tried many different yeasts, but I have not been nearly as rigorous as I need to be. I would like to narrow the yeasts in my ranch, and more fully investigate them. I would narrow the list down to the following types, based on styles I like: Weizen yeast: already got one I like - Wyeast's version (3068) of Weihenstephan's 68 (streak purified, of course...) Neutral ale yeast: 1056 or Narraganset seem obvious, maybe too obvious... English ale yeast: something big and estery, maybe a Yorkshire? Belgian ale yeast: high gravity tolerant, bold and phenolic; I got lucky a couple of times with Affligem, but would love to get a Duvel clone down. And then there's Chimay, Hoegaarden, Westmalle, L'Achouffe... Sulfury Continental lager yeast: probably the only lager strain, don't do many of them but the ones I do I would like to have a hint of sulfur in the finished product. I have used Wyeast's "PU" - 2278 and liked it, I guess... Anyhow, I guess the point of my ramblings is that I want to have a narrow stable of yeasts, but in order to begin the winnowing process, I would like to use the HBD as my "literature." I already have much of the standard information off the web. Anybody out there got a yeast they have spent some time with that they really like (in the above catagories or not, I'm open...)? Anybody been "Pivigorous" with 1056, 1968, Chimay, Ayinger, etc.? Any and all information would be appreciated, and if there is significant interest I'll repost it. Oh, and I'll keep the digests informed as to what I find in my own experiments. Mike Maceyka Baltimore and Takoma Park, MD "That Saccharomyces lack Golgi stacks is kinda thesis-related..." Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 23:44:58 EST From: RBoland at aol.com Subject: MCAB There's not much time left to register for the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing and Technical conference being held in St. Louis March 24-26. It will be The Homebrewing Event of the year. Information and registration can be found at www.stlbrews.org. We'll meet you in St. Louis, meet you with a beer. Bob Boland Return to table of contents
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