HOMEBREW Digest #3344 Tue 06 June 2000

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


	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:
  re: Bier de Garde, and others (Scott Morgan - Sun On-Line Telesales Representative)
  New Brewing Book Online! (John Palmer)
  rice lager (Ray Kruse)
  Hop rhizomes (JGORMAN)
  Gravity Measurements (Bill.X.Wible)
  fermentability of crystal malt (Marc Sedam)
  Teflon ("Dave Hinrichs")
  wet milling (Booth)
  dry or wet crush (JGORMAN)
  RE: freezing grains and the nays have it. (Jonathan Peakall)
  mash pH measurements ("Alan Meeker")
  gypsum, DI water pH (AJ)
  Re: Growing Saaz (VS Central)" <SIER1 at Aerial1.com>
  Water analysis and filteration ("Alex Weeks")
  Another foot back into... (Some Guy)
  Re: Blanche De Chambly (B.R. Rolya)
  dairy ales (adam larsen)
  Re: freezing malt ("patrick finerty jr.")
  re: Dr. Pivo's grain distinction ("Mark Tumarkin")
  Hard water (Dave Burley)
  Hot side aeration during mash. (Jeffrey L. Calton)
  Pivo's infested malts ("Pannicke, Glen A.")
  Foster's IBUs ("Paul Gatza")
  Brewing software ("Eric R. Lande")
  dry lager yeast (Marc Sedam)
  Buzz Off 2000 Results (David Houseman)
  Are My Hops Ruined? (WayneM38)
  Genny (BIL2112L)
  Yeast Respiring In Wort ("Aaron Sepanski")
  Phosphoric Acid Sources? ("Angie and Reif Hammond")

* Don't miss the 2000 AHA NHC in Livonia, MI * 6/22 through 6/24 http://hbd.org/miy2k * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! 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 FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we canoot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req at hbd.org. JANITORS on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 14:43:32 +1000 (EST) From: Scott Morgan - Sun On-Line Telesales Representative <Scott.Morgan at Aus.Sun.COM> Subject: re: Bier de Garde, and others sensei graham. there is but one site for you. http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/rugby/provincial/20000604/A37004-2000Jun4.html how was the dyson and cannon stink in the 2nd half?! praise be to a game were 2 men can thump each other and enjoy a beer together when its all over. Unlike that "afl" game...men wrestling in tight shorts..hmmmm strangely something related to beer for once. Blanche de Chambly- apart from the yeast, any hints on recipe formulation. The ladies of my house (including the bunch of bawdy school girls which I would definately share as mates share all things) thinks this beer rocks. Grasshopper (artist formerly known as Scotty, also with "blankie", wearing ugg boots and with footy wedged well under right arm) Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 22:15:58 -0700 From: John Palmer <jjpalmer at gte.net> Subject: New Brewing Book Online! New Brewing Book Online! 6/5/00 How To Brew by John Palmer http://www.howtobrew.com I am extremely pleased to announce that my book, How To Brew, is available online in its entirety, for free. As many of you know, I have been working on this project for six years, and I think the result is worth the wait. My goal has always been to bring all of the basic information on ingredients and methods for both extract and all-grain brewing together in one volume, and present it so the reader could understand when to do it, how you do it, and why to do it. And if necessary, how to build it too. "Everything you need to know to brew beer right the first time." My book is comprehensive, covering the ingredients and methods for brewing with malt extract, steeping specialty grains, and all-grain brewing. I am particularly pleased with the all-grain section. I think I have put together a logical tutorial on how the mash works, how the malts and water combine to determine mash pH, and how a brewer can manipulate it to produce the best wort. I have really enjoyed this hobby and I want to make this information readily available so others can enjoy it too. A lot of people have contributed to this book. I want to thank Norm Pyle, Martin Lodahl, Jim Liddil, Maribeth Raines, Steve Alexander, Al Korzonas, Patrick Weix, Don Put, Dave Draper, AJ Delange, Laurel Maney, Jim Busch, George and Laurie Fix, Guy Gregory, Rob Moline, and Jeff Renner for contributing their knowledge. And I especially need to thank Glenn Tinseth for the 2 years he spent editing two drafts of this work. Believe me, he made a big difference in both the content and the quality. This online edition is the production of the Real Beer Page and the team of Stephen Mallery, Luke McDowell, Nathan Day and Karen Raimondo. I would like to thank them for building a truly outstanding website for this material. The website is easy to navigate and even has a search engine to let you locate every discussion of any topic you want to look up. Many of the graphics are presented in a smaller format for faster loading, but the full size view is available by clicking on them. I hope everyone who reads this work gets a lot out of it, and I encourage discussion of the material. If there is a section that could be better, I will do my best to improve it. Thank you and have at it! John Palmer jjpalmer at howtobrew.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 06:01:14 -0400 From: Ray Kruse <rkruse at bigfoot.com> Subject: rice lager I recently received a package from a P. Jackson, Burradoo Hilton, Burradoo, NSW, Australia. The customs declarations said that it contained "Aboriginal nectar" and some other stuff that was blurred beyond recognition on the declaration. Although weighty, the package was not ticking, so I opened it. The package contained a PET bottle, a NSW Waratah jersey, and a hand-lettered sign that declared "The Sydney Swans Rule!", whoever they are. Obviously Mr. Jackson is a Swans fan. In addition, there was a note wrapped around the PET bottled that stated the contents to be "Rice Lager as brewed for the ladies of the billiard room". I placed the bottle in the fridge for a few days to allow things to settle down, and contacted my friend Phil to see if he knew anything of Mr. Jackson. Phil said that Jackson wasn't a 'bad bloke', except for his liking footy instead of rugby. Apparently there is some controversy over this in Burradoo, which I gather is similar to the controversy between Crimson Tide football and real football. However, I'm not writing to discuss the pro's and con's of rugby versus footy, nor high school football as practiced in Tuscaloosa. I'm writing to offer insight into the infamous Rice Lager. After almost a week of settling time in the fridge I decided to inspect the bottle. Very little sediment, but there was a small amount of haze. Could have been yeast, chill/protein haze. My opinion is that it was protein haze, but Phil said that it poured clear from the tap. Might be some residual aboriginal parts added by Mr. Jackson as retribution for the skunk essence. I poured a small sample to allow to warm to room temperature (to check for chill haze), and poured a glass to sample. The color was a very pale 2-3L golden yellow. I could only wish that mine were so pale. The nose was wonderfully hoppy. Once at room temp, the sample was still a little hazy (not murky, nor cloudy---just a slight haze as would be found in some ales.) The first sip was quite an experience. I noticed a residual sweetness which quickly gave way to an exquisite malty flavor with a nice balance of hops. With rice as a major ingredient I had expected something much more dry and crisp, but this was a very full-bodied beer. And finally, there was a terrific hop aftertaste to finish it off. The bottle was too quickly finished. I can see why the ladies like it. And for those of you who thought that this rice lager was one of those fantasies that seem to continue to seep out of Oz, believe me, it is a real beer. And all in all, it was a pretty good beer. I look forward to a direct-from-the-tap sample one day. Ray Kruse Glen Burnie, PRMd rkruse at bigfoot.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:47:00 -0400 From: JGORMAN at steelcase.com Subject: Hop rhizomes I know it's probably too late to get any this year, but does anyone know a source for Cluster hop rhizomes? Every place I check only has the same 6 or 7 hop types and not Cluster. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 09:09:51 -0400 From: Bill.X.Wible at QuestDiagnostics.com Subject: Gravity Measurements Whenever I talk to a professional brewer about beer, it seems they tend to measure everything in Degrees Plato, instead of the 1.xxx scale that we homebrewers tend to use. Is this just my imagination, or is this true? What is the advantage of using Degrees Plato over other gravity scales? Does it make some of the brewing math easier? Or is that just what they teach in Brewing Schools? Bill Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 09:35:29 -0400 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: fermentability of crystal malt As a follow-up to Jeff's re-posting of Mort O'Sullivan's words, I'd like to offer a few points of clarification. 1) Discussion of "microchannels" on the surface of the amylopectin molecules (I assume he means starch granules) is a first for me. I do know that at temperatures that are hot, but not hot enough to gelatinize the starch granules, short-chain amylose molecules will leach out of the swollen starch granules. 2) The heat of the kilning is not important other than it needs to be hot enough to solublize the amylose. The cooling cycle, however, *is* important. The recrystallized amylose is resistant to enzymic attack because (a) it doesn't hold much water, making the enzymes unable to work, and (b) the structure of the crystal is highly ordered and there's no room for the enzyme's active site to access the crystallized starch. As an aside, beta-amylase can degrade this resistant starch much better than alpha-amylase, since beta degrades the starch from the end of the molecule while alpha does not. 3) Amylopectin does retrograde/crystallize but only does so very loosely. This complex is easily broken by further heating. This may explain why crystal malts *do* offer some fermentability to the mash. Amylose crystallizes very tightly, with the shorter chains (dp<25, if I recall) performing the best crystallization. You will not be able to ferment crystallized amylose in any meaningful way. 4) Retrogradation is promoted by lipid molecules, but this does not mean that fermentability is reduced via lipid/amylose complexes. We need to split retrogradation (the complexation of starch molecules) from crystallization (highly ordered complex of cooled amylose and, to a much lesser extent, amylopectin). Put another way, all crystallized starch has retrograded but not all retrograded starch has crystallized. 5) All starch, regardless of source, can form resistant starch with melting points in excess of 100C. Some starches are better suited for this purpose (wheat, corn) than others. If you want to promote retrogradation, starches high in amylose are most important. 6) To reduce fermentability, the cooling process should be both slow and controlled, and/or combined with repeated heat/cool cycles. Repeated cycles between 50C and 100C will improve crystallization and reduce fermentability. Time spent at high temperatures is, IMHE, not particularly relevant. To answer the question in a definitive fashion, someone needs to test all malt varieties for resistant starch content. There is an ASBC and/or AACC method for this, but I no longer have access to the equipment necessary for this to happen. This will give an idea of how much resistant starch appears in each type of malt (may even explain the reduced fermentability of some Munich/Vienna malts) and the *true* theoretical extract obtained from each. Whew! Apologies, in advance, for those I've no doubt bored to tears. This particular topic is quite close to my heart, which says more about me than I'd care for most people to know. Cheers! Marc Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:49:18 -0500 From: "Dave Hinrichs" <dhinrichs at quannon.com> Subject: Teflon One concern. Is all Teflon "food grade"? I am sure the frying pan material is but, what about the type used in shrink tubing? I envy all you people that can toss around the poly-propolides and butyl-marmalades and whatever. It never means anything to me but I know the insiders can tell everything just from these words, a few winks, and a hand gesture or two. :-) <snip> What should one look for to be sure the shrink tubing won't give off any nasties even up to boiling temperatures? Pete Calinski East Amherst NY Near Buffalo NY You really need the full spec's for the material. Also even if a material is generally food grade if it is not processed to be food grade it cannot be. All materials and that come in contact with the final product during manufacture must be controlled to prevent contamination. Given the application we are looking at here, a protective cover that is at the top end of the probe (not usually even in the mash), that will have intermittent short duration, medium temp exposure (less than 212'F). I will venture that it is not an issue. Exposure level testing includes surface area to volume as well as typical contact. ******************************************************* * Dave Hinrichs E-Mail: dhinrichs at quannon.com * * Quannon CAD Systems, Inc. Voice: (952) 935-3367 * * 6101 Baker Road, Suite 204 FAX: (952) 935-0409 * * Minnetonka, MN 55345 * * http://www.quannon.com/ * ******************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 08:54:14 -0400 From: Booth <kbooth at waverly.k12.mi.us> Subject: wet milling Every year or so I post on the topic of tempering one's malt before milling. As I understand some breweries wet mill by adding water to the malt at the feed to the mill to reduce dust and reduce insurance rates by avoiding dust explosions. Flour millers temper their grain by adding limited amounts of water to grain and allowing it to stand for a few hours to toughen the bran and avoid small bits of bran getting into the flour. My tests adding 2 tbls per pound of malt 30' or so before milling, resulted in measurably larger bran flakes and more fines. As the good Dr. Pivo commented the malt insides seem crumbly. Larger bran and more fines are preferred for good extraction and sparging characteristics as I understand. When I tried 4 tbls water/pound, the mill (Corona) made things unmanageable and the grind turned more to flakes. cheers, jbooth Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:57:00 -0400 From: JGORMAN at steelcase.com Subject: dry or wet crush Don't try a wet crush with a Corona type mill. You'll be one pissed off brewer and start inventing new 4 letter words. I did this one morning and it took me over 2 hours to crush 15 lbs of grain. I stripped the gears on two DC motors, went through two batteries on my cordless drill, burnt the motor up on my electric drill and eventually had to give up and hand crank over 10 lbs of it. You thought stuck mashes were bad, a stuck mill is even better. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 07:44:23 -0700 From: Jonathan Peakall <jpeakall at mcn.org> Subject: RE: freezing grains and the nays have it. Doc Pivo comments on a certain type of advice giving: You can really find this attitude everywhere, and some folks seem to thrive on it. It's sort of like: "I gotta' go. I'm gon'na rototill my garden." "OH no man! Don't do that. You'll kill all the earthworms, and your soil needs those guys." Now this all may be true, but I know if I turn that soil by hand, I'll get about two rows planted. and I know the stuff grows, earthworm deficient or not. What is most interesting, is that this sort of advice is invarioubly offered by someone who doesn't have a single stick growing in their garden! They just "didn't have time" this year. And if you really question their experience, it turns out it's all word of mouth, or gleaned from literature like "The National Enquirer". They have spent all their time learning all the things you can't do and warning others about them, that they never managed to get any seeds in the ground. Well, Doc, ya do gotta be selective about who you get advice from. And those who take advice from idiots are, well, idiots. And while that type of advice giver speaks from ignorance when advising on a topic they know nothing, you are acting on ignorance when you decide to ignore it. But even idiots get a hold on a good idea every now and again, even if they don't know why or how to implement it. And I'm surprised that you would rather go roto-till instead of investigating, inquisitive, try anything type that you are. In the case of roto-tilling for example, it is bad, for more reasons than just killing worms, and there are very simple alternatives to tilling (after the establishment of an area) that are *much* easier too. I have almost 1500 sq. feet of garden in this year, untilled for 4 years, and busting with a wide variety of stuff. How about this: "Well, I'm going to go brew a batch of extract brew and try out my new HSA sprinkler". "Oh, man, don't do that!! You should go all grain and avoid aerating your wort while hot." "Yeah, how do you know? You ever brew?" "No, but I read an article on the HBD by some dude named Pivo." "Well, I know if I brew with extract and aerate while it's hot, I *will* make beer, so that's what I'm gonna do." Now, I'm not saying that one should investigate every idiots advice. But I wouldn't automatically dismiss 'em either. The theoretical idiot who advised you not to till *was* right, and he coulda saved you a lot of work if you had sought out someone knowledgeable and asked "Why shouldn't I till, and what are my alternatives?" And think how silly we'll all feel if it turns out that The National Enquirer is right and Elvis is alive and pumping gas for a living in Boise, and that Aliens have been walking among us for years. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 10:59:31 -0400 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at welchlink.welch.jhu.edu> Subject: mash pH measurements Harlan wrote: >Rather than the usual wrangling that goes on here, those with access to >accurate measuring equipment could easily measure the pH of a clearly >defined Congress Mash to determine whether Nathaniel's measurements were >somehow off, or whether he stumbled across a legitimate anomaly. >This is a very answerable question. Any takers? I'd be happy to participate, I've been meaning to do such measurements for awhile now but never gotten around to it. To do it right it would be helpful if we could obtain some of the same exact malt and calcium salts that Nathan is using... -Alan Meeker Baltimore, MD Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 11:07:29 -0400 From: AJ <ajdel at mindspring.com> Subject: gypsum, DI water pH Aaron comented on "hard water with high alkalinity" calling it a "saturated solution". In fact most hard waters with high alkalinity and indeed many moderately hard waters with moderate alkalinity are supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate but not with respect to calcium sulfate so that calcium sulfate can be effective in reducing mash pH even in very alkaline waters though it probably won't be possible to fully compensate for all the alkalinity by this method. Time to trot out residual alkalinity again. Each 3.5 milliequivalents of added calcium will "neutralize" one milliequivalent of alkalinity at any level of alkalinity that your water supplier would be allowed to furnish to you. Search the archives under "residual alkalinity" for details. At the 3.5:1 ratio you'd have to supply lots of calcium to knock down an alkalinity above, say, 250. It makes lots more sense in this case to add a stoichiometrically equivalent amount of a calcium salt (i.e. 1:1 ratio) plus a bit extra and heat (yes, heat - not necessarily boil) the water to precipitate calcium carbonate, decant and then brew with this decarbonated water. In this scheme you still have the anion (sulfate or choride) to live with which may be fine, depending on what sort of beer is being brewed) so a better approach is to supply the calcium via slaked lime, heat, precipitate as above and decant. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Nathanial Lansing has repeated his mash experiment and gotten essentially the same result which does not make sense with respect to the distilled water pH. When something does not make sense there is always a reason if only the investigator can find it. Deionized water in equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 at the lower bound of concentration ( 0.03%) has a pH of 5.69 and at the upper limit (0.05%) 5.58. These values are easily calculated by sticking =0.0338*B1*(10^A2)*(10^-6.38) + (10^-14)*(10^+A2) - 10^-A2 into an Excel cell, setting B1 to the partial pressure of CO2 (0.0003 - 0.0005) and then using the solver to zero the cell by varying the pH which is in cell A2. All the pH measurements I have done on deionized water have fallen in this range. Nathanial's don't. A little fiddling shows that Nathanials observed value of 4.89 would indicate a CO2 partial pressure of a little over 0.01 atmospheres (i.e. 1%). When deionized water is heated to drive off the CO2 the pH must go to 7. Deionized water which has been equilibrated with the air and then boiled has nothing in it - it's pure. The gasses all have 0 solubility at boiling. Thus, if Nathanial measures a pH 5.45 after boiling he is, assuming the pH meter is not flawed (and it's ability to calibrate to buffers indicates that it's probably OK) there is something in the water besides dissolved CO2 at the outset. In other words, I suspect the source of the water. This suspicion is easily confirmed by repeating the test with some deionized water obtained from another source. If it doesn't measure above about pH 5.6 when the container is first opened then the focus of suspicion returns to the meter. pH meters are very finicky devices and have lead more than one investigator down the garden path. They are notorious for their erratic measurements in solutions of low ionic strength, like distilled water. The fact that the pH stayed about the same when gypsum was dissolved (which raises the ionic strength) tends to weaken that explanation for this paradox. Checking the actual offset and slope and the response time of the electrode might lead to some insight but for now, based on limited info and admitedly speculating, I'd look at the water itself. Silicic acid from the still? What's the conductivity (or resistivity) of this water? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 11:37:16 -0400 From: "Sieben, Richard (VS Central)" <SIER1 at Aerial1.com> Subject: Re: Growing Saaz This is the third year for my Saaz plant also, but it has reached the top of it's trellis (12 feet) but is being attacked by the mites I think. I got some hot pepper wax, so I was wondering if this would be a good thing to use or not? anyone have experience with this product? I also have not had great production so far, but a friend who has grown them told me they seem to go through a 3 year period of 'infant diseases' after which they produce. I will give them until the end of next year then. the first year I got one stinking cone, last year I got about one handful. But, last year was too dry and none of my plants produced much, so I will water them this year if it ever gets dry here. (the weather has been like Seattle here in Northern Illinois lately!) Rich Sieben Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 09:02:09 -0700 From: "Alex Weeks" <fargone at napanet.net> Subject: Water analysis and filteration Hey folks, I stumbled across this news letter a few months ago and have learned a lot here. I have a question about water analysis and filteration. I live about 4 miles outside of Napa, CA on the side of a mountain. My only source of water is from a well. You can drink it, but it is high in sulfur. 1.) I was wondering is anybody had any suggestions on how I can get my water tested for mineral levels. A friend of mines wife works in a water testing lab, but to get the test done there would be costly, even with her discount. (They usually test for toxins like MTBE. Which might not be a bad idea.) 2.) Also I have been looking at water filters (the kind that install under the sink) but an not sure what kind of filter I need. I am assuming that this will be dependant upon what the tests turn out. 3.) I have been using Burton water salts to treat the water I use now. (I've been using purified bottle water that is very low in mineral content.) If I were to use a magnesium filter should I switch to Gypsum since there will be magnesium in that water already? Thanks guys, Alex Weeks Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 12:15:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Some Guy <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: Another foot back into... ...the world of brewing. Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... Well, I spent Saturday morning in what may be a fruitless attempt to restore my yeast ranch to its former grandeur. The five year old box of slants was retrieved from the bottom of the 'frige, and, using my best aseptic technique, each was lovingly rinsed with oxygenated wort into 50 ml Erlenmeyers and capped with sterile cotton. Hopefully, I'll be able to revive the beasties and thereby dispel the "only good for 6 months" narrative that is oft heard when discussing the longevity of yeast cultures on slants. Oh, and a "control" flask having nothing but oxygenated wort and capped with the same sterile cotton - handled with the same implements as the innoculated flasks - languishes nearby to ensure bacterial or wild yeast growth doesn't get "booked" as success. I *LOVE* this shit, and had forgotten how much I enjoyed it as I was lulled into sloth and the sampling of other brewers' beers (which I much appreciated during my long dry spell - special thanks to Jeff Renner and, especially, Chris "Crispy" Frey who saw to it that my brew fridge always had a six or two of "fresh" :-) by the electronic aspect of my brewer's existence. On another note, Saturday evening was spent bottling off the CAP for the 2000 AHA NHC. For those planning to attend the banquet, you're in for a treat on this one! Between this beer and the mead for this conference, you'll not have better fare anywhere else that weekend! Thanks to all who gathered with the 2000 AHA NHC Brew Crew to put this beer into the requisite 12 oz containers. A ball was had by all there, and the, um, "quality control samples" were simply delicious. So much so that I think I'll have to produce a CAP this summer. In honor of one of those responsible to the style's resurrection, I think I'll name this brew "Jeff Renner's Father's Nose Hairs"... - -- - 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 "The monster's back, isn't it?" - Kim Babcock after I emerged from my yeast lab Saturday Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 12:04:36 -0400 (EDT) From: br at interport.net (B.R. Rolya) Subject: Re: Blanche De Chambly Bill wrote: >Blanche De Chambly is a wheat beer made by Unibroue, inc. They are > a French company with large operations in both France and Canada. Just so the wrath of the separatists doesn't descend on the hbd, I'd like to point out that Unibroue is a French-Canadian company (or should I say, Quebecois company). While they export to France, they are not French. If you are ever in the Montreal area, the brewery (and beer restaurant) plus the old fort at Chambly make a nice day trip. (no, the tourist board has not paid me for my endorsement) >They do make a number of outstanding brews. I'll heartily concur with that statement! I enjoyed a Trois Pistoles and a Don de Dieu just last night... >They have an awesome web page that describes all their products www.unibroue.com - BR Malted Barley Appreciation Society New York http://hbd.org/mbas/ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 10:22:43 -0600 From: adam larsen <euphonic at flash.net> Subject: dairy ales Hello, I am a long time subscriber to your digest who felt the need to seek the technical expertise of the readership. I am primarily interested in obsolete ales and brewing techniques. A great number of these old fashioned recipes call for the use dairy products in ales and starters. While i've had several fine ales that uses cream, milk or eggs i wondered what literature, technical or other wise, exists that would describe how dairy products effect the flavor profile of ales. It would also be handy to know if any differences in head retention, carbonation and mouth feel result from dairy additions. Finally is their any consensus regarding when dairy products should be added during the production process? Thanks, Adam Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 12:38:03 -0400 (EDT) From: "patrick finerty jr." <zinc at finerty.net> Subject: Re: freezing malt i think it's difficult to make comparisons between a preparation of purified enzyme and the stability of that enzyme in it's native environment. clearly many proteins do not like to be frozen, yet we are still able to freeze and thaw the cells from which those proteins were isolated (ie, bacteria, T.C. cells) and they still grow. more worthless blather from... -patrick in toronto On June 4, 2000, Stephen Alexander wrote: > Oh yeah. Purified barley beta-amylase is destroyed by freezing. > Some other plant BAs degrade slowly with freezing. That may be > why Mary Ann Gruber of Breiss suggested avoiding it. I doubt, > based on reports, that the impact is severe but a may still show up > in the 'con' column for this method. - -- "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://www.finerty.net/pjf Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 12:27:01 -0400 From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com> Subject: re: Dr. Pivo's grain distinction Doc, about your chocolate malt vs mouse turd identification, you asked: If I just "brew with it" and it turns out to be the latter, what characteristics should I expect in terms of "mouth feel"? "head retention"? "colour"? I don't know about the mouth feel or color, but as to the head- I'd expect it to be mousy. (I suppose you could use the same descriptor in relation to the mouthfeel and colour?) Hmmm ... looking at the dictionary, I find 'mouse barley' - a noun defined as wall barley. Perhaps you don't have to worry at all. Mark Tumarkin Gainesville, FL Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 13:11:48 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Hard water Brewsters: Aaron Sepanski says that with high alkalinity hard water adding calcium sulfate is not desirable as the solution is saturated in calcium anyway. And that phosphoric acid is superior to lactic acid in modifying the pH. Nope and nope. Hard water is simply water which has some calcium ions and is not necesarily saturated. Calcium can exist as a salt in hard water as the sulfate ( permanent hardness) and as the (bi) carbonate ( temporary hardness). In neither case does the calcium have to be saturated to call the water hard. It simply has to react with stearate ion from soap to be "hard" in practical terms. Quite often water is a mixed permanent and temporary hardness. High alkalinity water indicates a high bicarbonate content and that at least part of the hardness is temporary and can be reduced by boiling and decanting. The concern in adding too much calcium is that the phosphate from the malt which is needed in the yeast metabolism may be depleted by adding too much calcium, as well as imparting a metallic, bitter ( more often from magnesium) or dry, minerally taste in the beer, especially with the sulfates. I prefer lactic acid since it is a weak acid and in line with natural sources of acid used by Germans in adjusting the pH with things like Sauermalz. It gives the beer a smooth character which phosphoric acid does not in my opinion. The calcium salt of lactic acid is pretty soluble, unlike the calcium salt of phosphoric acid. The use of phosphoric acid will remove calcium which may not be what you want to do, especially for ales. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: 05 Jun 2000 15:07:12 EDT From: Jeffrey.L.Calton at Dartmouth.EDU (Jeffrey L. Calton) Subject: Hot side aeration during mash. I've been a dedicated all-grain brewer for many years, but I'm new to the digest so let me first apologize if this question has been beaten to death. Lately I've been thinking about ways to improve the efficiency of my brewing sessions while at the same time improving the final product. For mashing, I've always conducted the mash in an aluminum mash kettle. Besides the obvious advantage of being able to apply heat to the mash to bring it to my final temperature range, the kettle I use is just the right size to fit inside my prewarmed oven, allowing near perfect heat insulation during the two hour mash. The major disadvantage with such a system, and my reason for posting this, is that following the mash I have to pour the hot wort into my plastic false-bottomed sparging bucket, a process that undoubtedly results in considerable hot-side aeration. I have two questions. First, what's the consensus regarding the amplitude of the detrimental effects seen from such aeration. If I am experiencing off flavors because of mash aeration, I haven't recognized it. I mainly brew well hopped pilsner, perhaps my hop profile is masking such an effect. More likely, if the effect is there I just don't know enough to recognize it. I've heard lots of people say that aeration during the mash is a bad thing, but frankly, I can't believe the effects contribute much to the overall scheme of things given the amount of aeration that must occur during a 90 minute full rolling boil. My second question is this: If it is generally agreed that mashing and sparging in the same bucket to reduce hot side aeration will improve ones beer, is this perceived benefit worth what seems to me to be a tradeoff of trying to hit ones mash temperature by adding hot or cold water to the mash tun? If I switch to a combination mash/lauter tune made from a Rubbermaid cooler how easy is it to hit and maintain a target mash temp without being able to simply apply heat to the bottom of the container? Thanks, Jeff Calton Enfield, NH Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 15:26:05 -0400 From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com> Subject: Pivo's infested malts Dr. Pivo wrote: >I once got a supply of malt from a brewery that >was infested with little red mites (Well I don't actually KNOW they were >mites, but I called them that, and they were chewing on my grains and I >was displeased). [snip] I got two shipments in a row with similar infestations, >which meant I kept my malt parked in the freezer for over a year. >Outside of needing higher strike temperatures, I never noticed a >difference at all. >Does anyone know how one can tell the difference between "chocolate >malt" and "mouse turds"? >For my failing eyesight they look desceptively similar. >If I just "brew with it" and it turns out to be the latter, what >characteristics should I expect in terms of "mouth feel"? "head >retention"? "colour"? Doc, I think the protein from the mites will balance out the negative effects of the rat turds... [Shudder!] But is the optimal mashing schedule these ingredients? Anyone? Anyone? Glen Pannicke www.pannicke.net Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 13:36:04 -0600 From: "Paul Gatza" <paulg at aob.org> Subject: Foster's IBUs According to the folks at the Abbotsford CUB facility, Foster's has been dumbed down from the 23-IBU version for Australia to a 19-IBU version for the U.S. market. Paul Gatza (mailto:/paulg at aob.org) Director, American Homebrewers Association 736 Pearl St., Boulder, CO 80302 voice(303)447-0816 x 122 fax (303) 447-2825 Join the AHA at http://www.beertown.org Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 15:51:21 -0400 From: "Eric R. Lande" <landeservices at juno.com> Subject: Brewing software In HBD #3341 Dan Martich asked about brewing software. Dan, there is a program available for download that you can try for free. This is called the Home Brew Recipe Calculation Program (HBRCP) and can be found at: http://www.netaxs.com/~vectorsys/varady/hbrcpweb.htm I have only recently started using this program but was so impressed that I registered it and now use it all the time. It has extensive tables of grains, hops, yeasts and adjuncts, and all are fully modifiable. As for calculations, it has been able to calculate anything that I have thought of. The best way is to just try it - for free. If you like it you register it, if not try something else. I guess I should add a disclaimer here: I am not in business with the author or distributor of the HBRCP and I am in no way financially associated with them. Good luck in your software search. Happy brewing. Eric Lande Doylestown, PA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 16:15:08 -0400 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: dry lager yeast The comment came up during Clayton Cone's recent appearance here, but I'd like to hear people's opinions on dry lager yeast. The only one I've found that really ferments at lower temps is Yeast Lab's European Lager yeast, and have had reasonable success with it. I did order some Vierka (sp?) lager yeast from a supplier but the instructions on the back said to ferment at room temperature for a week, then chill. Not a lager in my book. Any thoughts? If Rob Moline wants to comment on anything in Lamelland's pipeline I'd love to hear it. The Nottingham and Doric yeasts are starting to make me a dry yeast convert again for "standard" beers (i.e. ones where flavors from the yeast provide strong contribution). My recent British bitter was ready for the keg and pretty tasty only five days after pitching. It has rounded out nicely since then. Cheers! Marc Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 13:40:09 -0400 From: David Houseman <dhousema at cccbi.org> Subject: Buzz Off 2000 Results The 2000 Buzz Off is behind us. The BUZZ homebrew club wishes to thank Beer Unlimited, Malvern, PA for their support. Thanks also to the New Road Brewhouse in Collegeville, PA for their hospitality in hosting this competition. Additionally I'd like to thank all the judges, stewards and members who worked to make this year's competition another success, our 7th year. Results are posted at: http://www.mss-software.com/buzzoff/index.html . David Houseman Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 17:40:33 EDT From: WayneM38 at aol.com Subject: Are My Hops Ruined? Are My Hops Ruined? Now that we are in the middle of hop growing season, the reports of plague and pestilence are on the increase. Keep in mind that most plants can tolerate a fair amount of leaf damage (to the eye) before harvest/yield drops off. Spider mites seem to be a common ailment and many people do not want to use pesticides. One easy method to find out if you have a mite infestation is to take a very white sheet of printer paper, hold it under a nice cluster of hop leaves and smack the cluster of leaves a few times with your hand. This will dislodge the little critters and make them visible on the sheet of paper. A press of the finger will smear the little buggers. We control mites with a combination of beneficials, soap and cultural practices at the Horticultural Conservatory. Insecticidal soap and regular misting with water will knock down heavy infestations. We have had good mite control using the following beneficial mites. We release on a monthly schedule during the summer. The three species we have used are: Amblyseius, Metaseiulus and Phytoseiulus. They each have their own target pest and temp and humidity requirements. They are not inexpensive. A single release of 1000 will be $15.00+. A good source of beneficials/information, no affiliation yada yada is http://www.rinconvitova.com/ This page has their GPS coordinates(?), an 800 number and E-mail address and that's it. You can request an informative paper catalog that lists other interesting products. Nice to deal with. Does anyone live close to any hop production fields? It would be interesting to find out what spray materials are applied and just how often they are used to keep their commercial crops clean. Apparently insects destroyed hop production in Wisconsin in the late 1800s and helped to moved hop yards west. Wayne Botanist Brewer Big Fun Brewing in MKE http://member.aol.com/bfbrewing/BigFunBrewing.htm Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:05:26 EDT From: BIL2112L at aol.com Subject: Genny Greetings fellow brewers! When I'm slumming or the wife puts me on a "beer budget," I like to drink Genny cream ale. All this talk of Fosters and "why would you bother?" has prompted me to ask if anyone can help me formulate a receipt for this beer. I know half of the responses will slam me but, any help would be cool. Private e-mail O.K. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 18:24:48 -0700 From: "Aaron Sepanski" <madaarjul at earthlink.net> Subject: Yeast Respiring In Wort I'm not sure if I read a previous post correctly, or who wrote it, but was there ever a consensus about yeast respiring in wort? Because yeast does respire in wort. Big breweries (and labs) will measure the amount that yeast respires, this number is called the respiratory quotient. Although the extent is rather small, it still happens. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:26:02 -0400 From: "Angie and Reif Hammond" <arhammond at mediaone.net> Subject: Phosphoric Acid Sources? Does anyone know of a good source of food grade Phosphoric acid in reasonable quantities at reasonable prices? Thanks, Reif Hammond Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 06/06/00, by HBD2HTML version 1.2 by K.F.L.
webmaster at hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96