HOMEBREW Digest #368 Thu 01 March 1990

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


Contents:
  immersion-type wort chiller (concern) (tony g)
  Recipes of a different nature (Mark.Leone)
  carbonation (Max Newman x6689)
  mild ale malt (Pete Soper)
  Homebrew Digest #365 (February 26, 1990) (Wayne Allen)
  plastic keg problems (Mike Charlton)
  boil over preventer (mage!lou)
  RE: soft drink-like carbonation... (Dick Schoeller - ZKO2-3/R56 - DTN 381-2965  28-Feb-1990 1615)
  re: Volume vs. weight measurement (Chris Shenton)
  Recipe log sheet -- LaTeX format (Chris Shenton)
  First Time Mead Brewers (Mike Zentner)
  Sierra Nevada yeast culturing (Dave Suurballe)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 8:42:02 EST From: tony g <giannone at BBN.COM> Subject: immersion-type wort chiller (concern) I was thumbing through my Zymurgy "Yeast & Beer" (1989 special issue) last night when I came upon an interesting statement in Paul Farnsworth's "Healthy Homebrew Starter Cultures" article. On page 11 Mr. Farnsworth says "Cooling the wort before transferring it to the fermenter, using ice immersion or a copper cooling coil placed inside the boiling pot vastly increases the chance of contamination." I thought that using an immersion-type wort chiller would vastly 'decrease' the chance of contamination since it allows the yeast to be added sooner. Is Mr. Farnsworth assuming that the wort chiller is being place in the wort 'after the boil' instead of 'during the last 10-15 minutes'? Is the immersion-type wort chiller 'really' that much better for homebrew? regards, tony g (giannone at bbn.com) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 08:55:35 EST From: Mark.Leone at F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Recipes of a different nature Anyone have any good *food* recipes using beer as an ingredient? I've had good beer-batter fried chicken, and now my curiosity is piqued! Cheers! - -- Mark R. Leone <mleone at cs.cmu.edu> "Don't just do something, Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University sit there!" Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 06:58:42 PST From: maxn at intermec.com (Max Newman x6689) Subject: carbonation I bottled my first batch of homebrew last week. After one week my patience wore out, so I tried one bottle. The beer tasted fine but had little carbonation. All I could see were very tiny bubbles, and it produced no head. I used 1/2 cup priming sugar from dave millers bitter recipe. So the big question, will I get more carbonation after the suggested one month of waiting, or should I use more priming sugar in subsequent batches? Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 11:20:56 EST From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com> Subject: mild ale malt I recently got some Munton and Fison mild ale malt but could get no color information. If any of you know the approximate lovibond or EBC rating of this grain I'd greatly appreciate it if you could let me know via email. If you've had experience with this grain and could even say something like "It is a bit lighter than light Munich", or "Twice as dark as British pale malt" that would be very helpful. Thanks. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pete Soper The George Fix book is finally out! +1 919 481 3730 soper at encore.com Encore Computer Corp, 901 Kildaire Farm Rd, bldg D, Cary, NC 27511 USA Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 10:26:00 CST From: wa%cadillac.cad.mcc.com at MCC.COM (Wayne Allen) Subject: Homebrew Digest #365 (February 26, 1990) In #365 Louis Clark writes: >I have always used a glass (pyrex?) or stainless "boil over preventer" ... Louis, what is this you refer to? Where do you get it? Inquiring minds, etc. wa Return to table of contents
Date: 28 Feb 90 11:41 -0600 From: Mike Charlton <umcharl3 at ccu.umanitoba.ca> Subject: plastic keg problems In digest #367, Jeff Casey talks about problems he's had with things breaking on his plastic keg and problems with overcarbonation. Luckily, I haven't had anything break on my keg, but I too have had problems with beer coming out all foam. I don't know about Jeff's problem, but it turns out that with me the excessive foaminess was not a product of overcarbonation. It was a problem of the spigot being too short. Sticking a 2 inch length of flexible tubing on the end of the spigot solved the problem by introducing a bit of back pressure. However, I now have a new problem. Even though I can draw a pint of beer in little under a second (Well, I have to only half open the spigot so that it doesn't shoot off the bottom of the mug and go all over me...) The beer is not carbonated enough (at least for my taste). It's not a big problem (and to tell the truth, I've only tried the keg once so far) but I'm curious how something with such an obvious amount of pressure could be undercarbonated. Mike Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 13:46:28 MST From: hplabs!mage!lou Subject: boil over preventer In digest #367 a.e.mossburg writes: #>I have always used a glass (pyrex?) or stainless "boil over preventer" after I #>spent two days cleaning my first batch out of the stove. While this is quite #>effective at preventing boil over, I wonder what effect it might be having #>on my hot break. I'm not real sure what to expect from a hot break so I can't #>tell if it's making any difference. Any suggestions out there? #What is a "boil over preventer"? You may know of this by some other name such as "pot watcher". A boil over preventer is a device available in the housewares section of a supermarket and in some hardware stores for about $2. It has a disc-like shape and is roughly 3 inches in diameter. My glass one was thick around the rim and thinner in the middle, somewhat like the shape of a red blood cell. I managed to crack this one from thermal shock and replaced it with one made from stainless steel. It resembles the lid of a tin can except the indentations are more pronounced and the rim is curved down somewhat (although it clearly is not symmetric I just toss it in without regard to which side is up and it works fine). Both of them have channels to permit gasses to escape from underneath them. To use the device, just put it in a pot to be boiled and forget it. It *will* eliminate boil over problems. Louis Clark mage!lou at ncar.ucar.EDU Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 13:16:36 PST From: Dick Schoeller - ZKO2-3/R56 - DTN 381-2965 28-Feb-1990 1615 <schoeller at 4gl.enet.dec.com> Subject: RE: soft drink-like carbonation... >or...) The beer isn't flat, though, as you can see and feel the bubbles >when you drink, it's just that there's no head. What could be a cure >for this? Thanks a lot in advance. Try adding some crystal malt or cara-pils to your recipes. These contribute dextrins which aid head retention and add to the body of the beer. Dick Schoeller | schoeller at 4gl.enet.dec.com Digital Equipment Corporation | 603-881-2965 110 Spit Brook Rd., ZKO2-3/R56 | "Either Judaism has something to say to the Nashua, NH 03062-2642 | world or it has nothing to say to Jews." | - Dennis Prager Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 17:16:11 est From: Chris Shenton <chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: re: Volume vs. weight measurement (Mark Stevens) writes: > Dick is absolutely right that you can't measure whole hops (or even > pellets) by the cup. I got one of those cheesey little drug-scales, the kind they sell at head shops (er, excuse me: smoking paraphernalia emporiums) for $7.00. It's not too much of a pain to clip on a baggie (er, zip-loc sandwich bag), fill with hops, and subtract the weight of aforementioned baggie. I'd hate to have to guess weights that small. Price seems fair for what it does. Ultimately, I'd get one of the $40 - $60 Sohnle (or whatever) scales which read up to about 8 Lb, in 1/2 ounce increments, but it's too expensive now. For pound increments, I'd be measuring grain, anyway, and volume measures seem tolerable for that. Cheers! PS: I use the AAU measures for my records, in order to account for alpha acid content of the particular hops. As soon as I can figure out the other, more professional system (IBU's?) I'll probably switch over; the advantage there is that the measure of bitterness is *not* dependant on the amount of beer you make. _______________________________________________________________________________ Internet: chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.10.155) NASA/GSFC: Code 735 UUCP: ...!uunet!asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov!chris Greenbelt, MD 20771 SPAN: PITCH::CHRIS 301-286-6093 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 17:16:26 est From: Chris Shenton <chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: Recipe log sheet -- LaTeX format I've been hacking a recipe log sheet so I can keep all my info consistent, organized, and compact. It fits on one page, so there's room on the back for plenty of comments. There's plenty of room for all kinds of things, I think. I designed it to be very quick to fill in, with as many check-the-appropriate-box-isms as I could. I haven't done all-grain yet, so the format for that data may be a bit off. Also, I'm still tweaking it, so send me any feedback you have; I'd like to hear your comments. Also, if you don't have LaTeX, I can send you a Postscript formatted version. - -------------------- Cut here -------------------- %%% brew-sheet.tex %%% %%% 1990 Jan 24 Wed 16:19 Chris Shenton (chris at asylum.GSFC.NASA.GOV) %%% Moved amount columns to beginning of tables. %%% Created batch name header. %%% Added `dry' box to extracts. %%% %%% 1990 Jan 25 Thu 16:15 Chris Shenton (chris at asylum.GSFC.NASA.GOV) %%% Deleted grain names from Malts, Grains, and Adjuncts -- too much space. %%% Added Acid rest to Procedure. %%% %%% 1990 Feb 28 Wed 15:23 Chris Shenton (chris at asylum.GSFC.NASA.GOV) %%% Tweaked number of lines in some of the entry sections. %%% Instead of including `macros', define the commands here; this way, %%% remote users can use the file. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \documentstyle[twocolumn,twoside]{article} \pagestyle{myheadings} %%% %%% Commands %%% \newcommand{\degree}{$^{\circ}$} \newcommand{\degrees}[2]{#1\degree #2} \newcommand{\setnewlength}[2]{\newlength{#1}\setlength{#1}{#2}} %%% %%% Page size and style %%% \setlength{\footheight}{0in} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-0.25in} % ?? also evensidemargin ?? \setlength{\textwidth}{7.5in} \setlength{\textheight}{10.0in} \setlength{\topmargin}{-0.5in} \setlength{\parindent}{0in} \markright{Batch name:} \raggedbottom \renewcommand{\thepage}{} % Prevent page numbers %%% %%% Various widths for lines, blanks, and so on %%% \setnewlength{\underblank}{-0.02in} \setnewlength{\blankwidth}{0.25in} \setnewlength{\thinline}{0.005in} \setnewlength{\onecolumnwidth}{0.5\textwidth} \addtolength{\onecolumnwidth}{-\columnsep} %%% %%% Command macros for the various sections and section entries. %%% \newcommand{\mysec}[1]{\section*{#1}} \newcommand{\ledgerline}{\rule{\onecolumnwidth}{\thinline}\\} \newcommand{\extract}[4]{#1 & #2 & #3 & #4 \\} \newcommand{\extractentry}{\extract{}{}{$\Box$}{$\Box$} \hline} \newcommand{\malt}[5]{#1 & #2 & #3 & #4 & #5 \\} \newcommand{\maltentry}{\malt{}{}{}{}{} \hline} % color (#3) not used \newcommand{\hop}[6]{#1 & #2 & #3 & #4 & #5 & #6 \\} \newcommand{\hopentry}{\hop{}{}{}{$\Box$\rule[\underblank]{\blankwidth}{\thinline}}{$\Box$}{$\Box$} \hline} \newcommand{\yeast}[6]{#1 & #2 & #3 & #4 & #5 & #6 \\} \newcommand{\yeastentry}{\yeast{}{}{$\Box$}{$\Box$}{$\Box$}{$\Box$} \hline} \newcommand{\adjunct}[4]{#1 & #2 & #3 & #4 \\} \newcommand{\adjunctentry}{\adjunct{}{}{}{} \hline} \newcommand{\procedure}[5]{#1 & #2 & #3 & #4 & #5 \\} \newcommand{\procedureentry}[5]{\procedure{#1}{#2}{#3}{#4}{#5} \hline} \newcommand{\record}[3]{#1 & #2 & #3 \\} \newcommand{\recordentry}{\record{}{}{} \hline} \newcommand{\blankentry}[1]{#1 \rule[\underblank]{\blankwidth}{\thinline}} %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \begin{document} \mysec{Extracts and Kits} \begin{tabular}{|l||l|c|c|} \hline \extract{Lb}{\makebox[2.0in][l]{Brand and Name}}{Hopped}{Dry} \hline \hline \extractentry % 1 \extractentry % 2 \extractentry % 3 \extractentry % 4 \end{tabular} \mysec{Malts, Grains and Adjuncts} \begin{tabular}{|l||l|c|l|l|} \hline \malt{Lb [oz]}{\makebox[1.25in][l]{Variety}}{\degrees{}{L}}{Brand}{Country} \hline \hline \maltentry % 1 \maltentry % 2 \maltentry % 3 \maltentry % 4 \maltentry % 5 \maltentry % 6 \maltentry % 7 \maltentry % 8 \maltentry % 9 \end{tabular} \mysec{Hops} \begin{tabular}{|l||l|l|ccc|} \hline \hop{AAU}{\makebox[1in][l]{Variety}}{Form}{Boil}{Steep}{Dry} \hop{ }{ }{ }{(min)}{ }{ } \hline \hline \hopentry % 1 \hopentry % 2 \hopentry % 3 \hopentry % 4 \hopentry % 5 \hopentry % 6 \hopentry % 7 \hopentry % 8 \hopentry % 9 \end{tabular} \mysec{Yeast} \begin{tabular}{|l||l|cc|cc|} \hline \yeast{Amount}{Brand and style}{Ale}{Lager}{Dry}{Liquid} \hline \hline \yeastentry \yeastentry \yeastentry \end{tabular} \mysec{Additives and Other Ingredients} \begin{tabular}{|l||l|c|l|} \hline \adjunct{Amount}{Ingredient}{Boil}{Procedure Description} \adjunct{ }{ }{(min)}{ } \hline \adjunct{}{}{---}{Priming} \hline \adjunctentry \adjunctentry \adjunctentry \adjunctentry \adjunctentry \end{tabular} \mysec{Procedure} \begin{tabular}{lll} Mash water & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{Amount} \\ Mash-in & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{pH} \\ Protein Rest & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{Time} \\ Acid Rest & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{Time} \\ Starch Conversion & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{Time} \\ Mash-out & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{Time} \\ Sparge Water & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{Amount} \\ Boil & \blankentry{Time} \\ Yeast Pitch & \blankentry{Temperature} & \blankentry{pH} \\ \end{tabular} \mysec{Notes} \ledgerline % underfull \hbox (badness 10000) \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \ledgerline \mysec{Record} \begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|} \hline \record{Date}{SG}{\makebox[2.7in][l]{Action or Observation}} \hline \hline \record{ }{ }{Original gravity} \hline \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \recordentry \end{tabular} \end{document} Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 90 23:12:59 -0500 From: zentner at ee.ecn.purdue.edu (Mike Zentner) Subject: First Time Mead Brewers A question for the more experienced brewers...We are following the simple recipe in one of the appendices of Papazian for ginger honey mead. After a week in the primary, we racked to the secondary, which merrily bubbled away for about two weeks. It now appears that most activity has stopped, even after a thorough rousing. The book says to let it age for 1-1.5 months in the secondary. Does this mean that there should be visible signs of fermentation until sometime after a month? If the fermentation has stopped, should we still let it rest in the secondary, or will this allow the yeast to starve to the point where they will not be able to carbonate after bottling? Any help is appreciated. Another question. What is the best way to sparge? After reading horror stories about shattered glass carboys due to heat shock, we've been sparging into a plastic bucket first and cooling the wort before transfering to the glass primary. Well, we bought one of those nylon hoops an elastic band to strain out solids and tried it in the latest batch "Hair of the Dog Wheat Beer" (so named because a few stray dog hairs crept into the boil) with little success. The bag quickly filled up and clogged (probably due to the use of hop pellets), then broke loose and fell into the wort. Any suggestions? One last thing. Does anybody else start their siphons like this? We use a piece of tubing which has an OD that matches the ID of the siphon hose. Standing on a chair, you can use your mouth to suck the wort up a point just before the hose clamp in the siphon, close it off, quickly pull off the mouthpiece hose, lower the outlet of the siphon, and let it fly. Contamination can only be by the breath. Usually the harder, white plastic hose available in hardware stores slips in and out easier. Mike & Lynn Zentner zentner at cn.ecn.purdue.edu zentnerl at ma.ecn.purdue.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 09:10:06 PST From: hsfmsh!hsfdjs!suurb at sfsun.West.Sun.COM (Dave Suurballe) Subject: Sierra Nevada yeast culturing Steve Harrison at Sierra Nevada tells me that they use one strain of yeast for both fermenting and bottling. They filter before bottling to remove protein and dead yeast and then repitch for bottle conditioning. My own opinion is that Bigfoot Ale is the worst choice of the Sierra Nevada product line to get yeast from, that their weaker beers are better choices. Nevertheless, it's all the same yeast. Suurb Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #368, 03/01/90 ************************************* -------
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