HOMEBREW Digest #419 Thu 17 May 1990

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


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


Contents:
  Small Batches (Mini-Mashing) (Martin A. Lodahl)
  Re: Druids in the Wuids (a.e.mossberg)
  Brewpubs: DC<->Catskills ? (Jeff Close)
  hazy kegs (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  hop plant update (Pete Soper)
  Re: Extract for conditioning (John Polstra)
  Kegging and Haze (John Polstra)
  "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" (John Polstra)

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 15 May 90 14:46:43 PDT From: Martin A. Lodahl <hplabs!pbmoss!mal> Subject: Small Batches (Mini-Mashing) In HOMEBREW Digest #417, Ken Weiss asks the musical question: "This leads to my ... mash question: Can I mash an all-grain batch with only 3 gallons of water, and then mix with cold water for 5 gallons total volume? Or is it really necessary to boil the full volume of wort in an all grain mash?" The snag is in the sparge. In order to get away with that approach, you'd need to use (much) more grain than if you were boiling the whole volume, and just take the first runnings for your high-gravity boil. The same kind of problem comes up in making barley wines: you're left with the choice of a normal sparge and a LONG boil to get the desired concentration, a "short" sparge and lots of wasted grain, or a normal sparge and an addition of extract. If the limiting factor is the size of your boiling kettle, Todd Enders seems to have the answer with his "mini-mashes". You're still stuck with the need to cool it after boil, though. My first few batches were slightly oxidized, and I suspect it was because I poured the hot wort through a strainer into cold water. I took to adding as much ice as I could into my small boiler, then straining over ice to chill & dilute, which helped. Going to an immersion chiller eliminated oxidation altogether, as far as I can tell. Pouring cold wort seems safe (unless you're as clumsy as I am, and splash the stuff all over the kitchen), but pouring hot wort seems to cause problems. = Martin A. Lodahl Pac*Bell Minicomputer Operations Support Staff = = pacbell!pbmoss!mal -or- mal at pbmoss.Pacbell.COM 916.972.4821 = = If it's good for ancient Druids, ... och, tae Hell wi' it! Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 14:43:43 GMT From: aem at mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU (a.e.mossberg) Subject: Re: Druids in the Wuids In digest <1990May16.071626.4760 at mthvax.cs.miami.edu> dw <wegeng at arisia.xerox.com> writes: >The song that mentions drinking strange fermented fluids can be found in a >song book called "Rise Up Singing," published by Sing Out! magazine. >Rather than bore the entire mailing list with the lyrics, please send me >e-mail if you would like a copy. I don't think people would be bored. It's a good song! Here's the copy I got from the lyrics server at umass.bitnet (to head off requests, the email address is lyrics at umass.bitnet) Old Time Religion - --- ---- -------- (Public Domain) Chorus: Oh give me that old time religion Give me that old time religion Give me that old time religion It's good enough for me Let us pray with Aphrodite Let us pray with Aphrodite She wears that see through nightie And it's good enough for me Chorus We will pray with Zarathustra We will pray just like we used to I'm a Zarathustra booster And it's good enough for me Chorus We will pray with those Egyptians Build pyramids to put our crypts in Cover subways with inscriptions And it's good enough for me Chorus We will pray with those old Druids They drink fermented fluids Waltzing naked through the woo-ods And it's good enough for me Chorus Hari-Krishna he must laugh on To see me dressed in saffron With my hair that's only half on And it's good enough for me Chorus I will rise at early morning When the Lord gives me a warning That the solar age is dawning And that's good enough for me Chorus aem - -- a.e.mossberg / aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu / aem at umiami.BITNET / Pahayokee Bioregion Love...seek love...give pleasure and take it in loving as fully as you can. - Victor Hugo Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 10:58:13 EDT From: Jeff Close <jclose at potomac.ads.com> Subject: Brewpubs: DC<->Catskills ? Can anyone offer some suggestions for brewpubs to visit between DC and the mid-Catskills area, up route 81? Any help would be greatly appreciated and will certainly put you in our scrapbook for this trip. -^- "We've gotta get back to the lab before this thing gets out of control.." -Commander in Japanese sci-fi film "Akira", after half of Tokyo is destroyed. -=.=- * Nothing I say or write could possibly represent the opinions of: Advanced Decision Systems | InterNet:jclose at potomac.ads.com 1500 Wilson Blvd/Arlington, VA 22209| UUCP: sun!sundc!potomac!jclose Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 10:47:33 mdt From: hplabs!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!ihlpl!korz (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583) Subject: hazy kegs I am just about to switch from bottling to kegging, so this is just a theory, but couln't it take longer for kegs to clear because they are that much _taller_ than bottles? This, of course assumes that you are drawing from the bottom. My theory falls apart if drawing from the top of the keg also stays hazy longer. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 17:27:53 EDT From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com> Subject: hop plant update Here is an update on my hop plants. These were all planted as rhizomes around the middle of March except for the Saaz which was put in a pot at the end of March and then moved to a permanent spot at the beginning of April. The Nugget was given to me as a cutting from a plant in a neighboring town, the Saaz came from Freshhops and the rest are from Nichols Nursery. All plants are in very well drained soil and have been watered generously since they were planted. Plant Height Site Cascade #1 13 feet Beside house with southern exposure - full sun Cascade #2 9 feet Ditto Nugget 6 feet Northwest corner of back yard - 1/2 shade Willamette 6 feet Ditto Tettnanger 4 feet Ditto Saaz 1 foot Ditto but 3/4 shade Since the trees in my back yard came into full leaf and shaded plants 3-6 their growth rate has slowed down tremendously. In fact I haven't seen any noticeable growth at all in the Saaz in the past month. The Tettnanger's growth is just barely noticeable while the Willamette and Nugget are growing at perhaps a foot a week. Meanwhile my notes show that Cascade #1 has grown 7 feet in the past 13 days and at this rate it will run out of twine within a week and start exploring the roof of the house. Except for finding and deporting tiny caterpillers from the bottom of a few of the leaves I haven't been bothered by insects yet. I have a Japanese beetle trap just itching for action however :-) (These plants are growing in central North Carolina). -Pete Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 08:54:27 PDT From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra) Subject: Re: Extract for conditioning [Dare I show my face around here after my aluminum-Tums misstatement? I'll tell ya, my memory just hasn't been the same since I got that aluminum pot ... :-) ] Anyway ... in HBD #417, CORONELLRJDS at CHEMICAL.UTAH.EDU (Chuck Coronella) asked about substituting dry malt extract for corn sugar when priming. I've been doing that for my last five batches, and it works fine. BUT, I recommend against just substituting volume-for-volume. I tried that and my beer came out undercarbonated. A weight-for-weight substitution seems to work much better. I.e., weigh 3/4 cup of corn sugar, then use that weight of malt extract. (I keg my beer and aim for the weight equivalent of 1/3 cup, which according to my notes is around 1.75 oz.) - John Polstra jdp at polstra.uucp Polstra & Co., Inc. practic!polstra!jdp at uunet.uu.net Seattle, Washington USA ...{uunet,sun,pyramid}!practic!polstra!jdp (206) 932-6482 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 09:01:43 PDT From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra) Subject: Kegging and Haze In HBD #417, florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com (Florian Bell) was asking whether people have found that the haze is greater in kegged beer than in bottles. In general (my experience only) I would say no. I usually put the keg into the refrigerator as soon as it's had time to carbonate - -- as early as a week after priming. I believe that the quick cooling helps the haze to fall out fairly fast. Once it's on the bottom, I can blow it out of the keg by drawing off a mug or two of beer at relatively high pressure. I made one keg batch that I did *not* refrigerate, and it stayed hazy a lot longer. I (almost) always use gelatine finings when I keg, and that seems to help a lot with clarity. I add them at the same time I prime. - John Polstra jdp at polstra.uucp Polstra & Co., Inc. practic!polstra!jdp at uunet.uu.net Seattle, Washington USA ...{uunet,sun,pyramid}!practic!polstra!jdp (206) 932-6482 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 09:17:30 PDT From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra) Subject: "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" In HBD #418, CRF at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU (Cheryl Feinstein) asked for opinions about Dave Line's book "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy". Cher: wanna buy my copy, cheap? I haven't had much luck with this book. The problem is that it is an English book, and the recipes call for all sorts of strange ingredients that just aren't readily available here in the USA. (E.g., invert sugar, barley syrup, brewers caramel, demerara sugar, black treacle ...) Also, many of the recipes call for "brown sugar", which is not the same here as it is in England. I tried making the recipe for Marston's Pedigree once, substituting ingredients as well as I could, and the result was highly unsatisfactory. (I lived in England the summer of 1977, and that was my favorite beer. When I was there again last Fall though, I was ... underwhelmed. People told me that it had really gone downhill since the brewery had been acquired by one of the large breweries.) This is not to be taken as criticism of Dave Line, who was extremely knowledgeable about his subject and who was, in my opinion, *the* most entertaining brewing writer of all time. - John Polstra jdp at polstra.uucp Polstra & Co., Inc. practic!polstra!jdp at uunet.uu.net Seattle, Washington USA ...{uunet,sun,pyramid}!practic!polstra!jdp (206) 932-6482 Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #419, 05/17/90 ************************************* -------
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 06/29/00, by HBD2HTML version 1.2 by K.F.L.
webmaster at hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96