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


Contents:
  Medoc (Jason Goldman)
  extracts, cider, etc.. (Jay Hersh)
  Cider (hplabs!amdahl!uunet!ingr!wiley!wiley)
  Boots kits (Pete Soper)
  Sake Recipe Wanted ("MR. DAVID HABERMAN")


Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com


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Date: Thu, 29 Dec 88 07:24:31 mst
From: Jason Goldman <hp-lsd!jdg>
Subject: Medoc
Full-Name: Jason Goldman


Well, my very first brew has just been bottled, Now it's time to look to the
future.  While I was in San Francisco recently, I had a bottle of what my
friend called a medoc (sp?).  It tasted pretty good, so I'd like to try a
batch.  It's very similar to beer, in that there was a strong hops flavor and
it was made with malt.  However, there is also honey in it.  My friend gave
me a rough recipe, but there wasn't enough detail for me (a beginning brewer)
to start a batch.  I'm not sure what type of malt or hops to use, etc.  If
anyone has some suggestions (including recipes), please respond.

Jason Goldman
hplabs!hp-lsd!jdg


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Date: Thu, 29 Dec 88 09:40:28 est
From: jhersh at yy.cicg.rpi.edu (Jay Hersh)
Subject: extracts, cider, etc..


Hello,
 For Rob, 
  Extract certainly makes a big difference. My 2 favorite brands are the
 Ireks and Alexanders Pale. I used to use Munton and Fison almost exclusively,
 though I wasn't ever convinced there was a great difference between that 
 and John Bull or Edme. About 1.5 years back I read something in Zymurgy
 urging the use of light Extract as a base for fermentable sugars and the
 creation of flavor and color from the use of a partial stove-top mash
 with grain. I have adopted this technique, and it works pretty well for
 everything but the darkest of beers for which I still use the M&F dark
 or extra dark DME. The one brand which I have little respect for is the
 Superbrau products from N.C. I find their only virtue is that they're 
 inexpensive, but I think the quality is inferior. Alexanders on the other
 hand is an excellent quality malt, comes in 4lb. cans ( i like that little
 25% extra oomph) and makes a great base for the above techniques.

 Regarding BOOTS. The only can I have ever seen of it was already empty. Some
 friends of mine had been given it by someone who brought it back from 
 England. I never tasted the batch he made from it, but hopefully he is 
 reading this and will chime in!

 Who said cider has no sugar. Maybe it has no dextrose, but it certainly has
 sugars or it wouldn't ferment. I believe it is fructose, which is a type
 of fruit sugar. All fruits have some type of "sugar" content. The ciders
 I have made/ am making have all fermented to high alcohol contents without
 added sugar. I also have never used sterilizing agents (like campden tablets)
 in them. I don't use those for meads either and don't see any need to. For
 mead there will typically be little or no wild yeasts, especially if you 
 boil it down or hold at a sterilizing temperature (+180F) so campden tablets
 are unnecessary. For ciders I have found that the added champagne yeast 
 will quickly displace any wild ones, as its growth is more vigourous.

- jay h

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Date: Wed, 28 Dec 88 23:05:50 EST
From: hpfcla!hplabs!amdahl!uunet!ingr!wiley!wiley
Subject: Cider
Full-Name: 

Cider:

I made a batch of cider about two months ago using
only five gallons of commercial apple juice and
Red Star Champagne yeast.  After fermenting for
two weeks solid, I primed with 1/2 cup corn sugar.
The result almost, but not quite, entirely unlike
anything I have had before.  The flavor is better
than but reminds me of cheep dry champagne.
BTW - the carbonation in the bottles should be
independent of whether sugar was used in the original
recipe.  It should depend mostly on the priming sugar.

Microbiology:

Checking for infection at various stages of brewing
might be useful.  Perhaps also trying to culture
bacteria from supposedly sterilized equipment would
provide clues about sources of contamination.  Is
this a good idea?

How can you tell the difference between yeast,
bacteria, and molds in a microscope?  Is there a
Peterson's Field Guide to the Microorganisms?
Would a basic book on mircobiology answer these
questions?

dave wiley
Intergraph Corp.
!uunet!ingr!wiley     or    wiley at ingr.com


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Date: Thu, 29 Dec 88 11:45:58 est
From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: Boots kits

  Boots is a drug store chain similar to Revco in the states. They
have all the private label items you would expect of a drug store,
plus private label homebrew supplies. I'd put the chances of Boots
kits being exported to the US somewhere between zero and zilch.
I'd put the chances near 100% that Boots kits are made by M&F,
Geordie, or a similar British malt house and thus very similar to
the kits these companies sell with their own label.

  I brought three Boots kits from Britain in my luggage once with no
hassles. One of the kits came with what I believe was a genuine liquid
yeast culture.  It was a small clear plastic bag of liquid with no solid
matter apparent. The other two kits had the usual dry yeast packets.
When I made the first kit ("Boots Best Bitter") with the prescribed
amount of corn sugar, I got a very drinkable but slightly cidery,
homebrew the color of (but not the flavor of!) Bass Ale and with
an ending gravity of 1.005.

  On another subject could someone with a microscope and stains
tell me if Saran Wrap fresh off the roll is relatively bacteria free?

  On yet another subject, I'm going all out to grow my own hops in
'89. Could someone who has done this with real success tell me the
kind of soil they used, their geographic location, and the date they
planted their rhizomes?

  When I prepare to bottle, I put my cleaned bottles in my oven and
bake them at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, then let them cool overnight.
It's overkill, but so convenient compared to messing with the dish
washer and hot water heater temp that I can't resist it. Also, since
I started using the oven, the little variations in flavor from bottle
to bottle have vanished. Unfortunately for scientific method, I also
switched to 100% use of liquid yeast at this time, so that may have been
a factor.  Don't forget to take off your Grolsh bottle rubber seals if
you use your oven or you won't like this idea at all.

--Pete Soper

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Date: 29 Dec 88 09:05:00 PST
From: "MR. DAVID HABERMAN" <habermand at afrpl-vax.ARPA>
Subject: Sake Recipe Wanted

I am interested in brewing Sake and would like to know if anyone  has
tried it.
The process is different from beer and wine in that all the sugar is not 
present at the start.  As I understand it, a mold works on converting
the rice 
to sugar while the yeast is turning the sugar to alcohol.  It also
takes place 
at lower temperatures than other types of brew.  This would make it ideal for 
winter brewing.  I would appreciate any information on recipes, methods, and 
sources for ingredients.  I live in the Southern California area.  Thank you.

David
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End of HOMEBREW Digest

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