HOMEBREW Digest #4244 Tue 13 May 2003


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Contents:
  Re-post: Collected knowledge on strains in bottle-conditioned beer? (Tim Cook - Systems Engineer)
  Re: How popular is Cascade hops? ("Braam Greyling")
  cascade hops ("Tom & Dana Karnowski")
  RE: A generalized triangle test (Jonathan Royce)
  Base Extract (Hayes Antony)
  RE Cascade Hops ("Sven Pfitt")
  faux decoction (Alan Meeker)
  harsh beer (Marc Sedam)
  false bottom (David Passaretti)
  munich malt (Marc Sedam)
  Witches and chili beer (Jim Bermingham)
  Advice on Brewing Duval clone ("Lanthier, Chris")
  RE: Cascade hops (Brian Lundeen)
  Source for 1" Merchant Stainless Couplings (Robert S Wallace)
  RE: Kegs and Tools for Kegs ("Mike Sharp")
  Re: How popular is Cascade hops? ("Dave Larsen")
  Re: How popular is Cascade hops? (Mark Beck)
  Re: Cascade hops ("Tidmarsh Major")
  Raspberry Chocolate Stout - When to add the chocolate/cocoa/raspb (william.m.menzl)
  NOW ACCEPTING ENTRIES!  BUZZ Off Home Brew Competition ("Christopher Clair")
  Stout Tap Repair? (Ryan Neily)
  re: Cascade hops ("Rick Gordon")
  Cloudy Wort (David Humes)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 12 May 2003 15:47:59 +1000 From: Tim Cook - Systems Engineer <tim.cook at sun.com> Subject: Re-post: Collected knowledge on strains in bottle-conditioned beer? A while back, I posted the request below. Well, unfortunately the response has been underwhelming. Nobody likes me :-( I did get one response informing me that someone else had collected this knowledge and published it. A URL originating from Sweden was provided, but it appears the page has sunk under surface of the Internet. So, if you have been shy and thinking there would be others more expert who would inform me, not so! Speak up now! I really do want to know! Regards, Tim Brewing in Melbourne (not the one in Florida), Victoria (not the one in Canada) On Tue, 2003-04-22 at 16:00, Tim Cook - Systems Engineer wrote: > Having recently ventured into the world of liquid yeast & starters, a > question pops into my head any time I see mention of harvesting the > yeast from a well-known bottle-conditioned beer: > > Does anyone know of an authoritative source on which bottle-conditioned > commercial beers do not remove their primary strain when bottling? > > I ask this question because I think I already know the answer - no one > has collected this anywhere. > > Well, if anyone wants to send me any such information, I volunteer to > collect and publish it. I think such a collection would need > information along the lines of: > > Information Example > =========== ======= > Name of beer Chimay Red (Rouge) > Packaging 12 oz (355 ml) > Where obtained USA > When obtained 2003 > Viability Sediment from 1 x 330 ml in 1 litre starter - active in 7 > days > Confidence (that bottling strain is the primary strain) > 80 % > Confirmed by Tasting of home-brewed Chimay Red clone > OR letter from Chimay staff > OR e-mail from Chimay staff > OR discussion with Wyeast staff > ... > Reputed to also be Wyeast 1214, White Labs WLP500 > > and the counter example: > > Name of beer Little Creatures Pale Ale > Packaging 330 ml > Where obtained Australia > When obtained 2003 > Viability n/a > Confidence (that bottling strain is the primary strain) > 0 % > Confirmed by Communication from brewery says it is different > bottling strain Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 08:26:45 +0200 From: "Braam Greyling" <braam.greyling at azoteq.com> Subject: Re: How popular is Cascade hops? Jeff and others, Personally, the cascade hop is one of my favourites. I like especially the citrus flavours when doing a weizen, (not sure if it is in style though!) In a pils it also gives a nice balance to the beer. Rgds Braam Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 05:22:01 -0400 From: "Tom & Dana Karnowski" <karnowsk at esper.com> Subject: cascade hops Jeff Renner writes On the Oz Craftbrewing group, there is a discussion of the Australian hop variety Pride of Ringwood, which is a distinctive part of the profile of Australian mainstream lagers, and so, is generally disliked by Aussie homebrewers, or craft brewers... <snip> One of the brewers suggested that their dislike of POR hops was similar to Yanks' dislike of Cascade hops: >It does seem that Ozzies have a Hatred for POR, as the Yanks have a hate >for their Cascade Hop Jeff continues >I replied that I didn't think we particularly felt that way about >Cascade, and I was told that this came from the Skotrat chat group >(based here in the US). and then asks how we feel about Cascades. *** I think Cascade is extemely popular among craft brewers both professional and amateur (?sic?) You won't many brewpubs that don't use Cascade in one form or another, especially if they brew a pale ale. And Anchor Liberty Ale and SNPA are hardly mainstream. Do BudMillerCoors use Cascade? if they do, it is at such low levels that it could be any hop in there (basically - I'm not trying to revive the 'bittering hops all taste the same' thread). I don't think the purported Oz hatred for POR is anything analogous to the relationship between American homebrewers & Cascade, at least among the homebrewers I know. Tom Karnowski Knoxville TN Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 03:57:21 -0700 From: Jonathan Royce <jonathan at woodburybrewingco.com> Subject: RE: A generalized triangle test Frank Tutzauer wrote about a different method of triangle tests and said: "One problem here is that as the number of test beers increases, the test proportion grows small, and, as I mentioned before, the adequacy of the z-approximation decreases. A common rule of thumb is that the z-test is appropriate if the product of N and the proportion is greater than 5. So for 8 beers, you'd need around 40 judges, which you might not have." I'm not sure if the rules of thumb have changed since I was tutoring statistics 4 years ago, but the rule of thumb that I always taught (and the one published in the 1993 edition of Watson, Billingsley, Croft and Huntsberger) is that the continuous distribution can be used to approximate a binomial if the variance is greater than 5. In that case, the correct rule of thumb is if np(1-p) is greater than or equal to 5, or using Frank's nomenclature: N(t)(1-t) >= 5 In this case, the number of judges required is not 40, but 46. Other than that slight detail, I think Frank's method is pretty clever. However (as he points out), it really trades number of required tastings for required number of judges, which isn't always an easy thing to do. Happy brewing (and tasting), Jonathan Woodbury Brewing Co. www.woodburybrewingco.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 13:49:58 +0200 From: Hayes Antony <HayesA at aforbes.co.za> Subject: Base Extract Our club was recently given some tins of base extract. Has anyone used this stuff before? It is produced by English Hop Products, and is apparently to be used together hop extracts designed not to be light sensitive. The website gives some guidance as to how to use the product, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has actually done so. The website is http://www.hopunion.de/english4/proind_0.htm They suggest adding 10g per hectolitre. Given that they sell this to the 15IBU club, I guess that 20g may be more appropriate. Ant Hayes Johannesburg Confidentiality Warning ======================= The contents of this e-mail and any accompanying documentation are confidential and any use thereof, in what ever form, by anyone other than the addressee is strictly prohibited. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 08:28:02 -0400 From: "Sven Pfitt" <the_gimp98 at hotmail.com> Subject: RE Cascade Hops I don't think the BrewRats in genreal are down on Cascade hops. Several members seem to have disliking of all "C" hops, but overall I think it is just a thorn to poke people with. Kind of like 1056, Crystal, and Cascades hops... My personal opinion varies depending on whether I have used them lately or not. I like some APA with Cascade, Centenial, ect.. I used to grow Cascade hops at my old house. I brewed many a batch with home grown cascades and enjoyed it till I hit the dreaded "Grapefruit Ale". I had three batches in a row that were Mouthpuckering Grapefruit flavored Ale. The effect will sour your taste for most C hops for a while... I've only brewed one batch with cascades since then, and fortunatly it turned out quite nice. All home grown cascades. 2oz for boil, one for flavor, and one for aroma, 5 gallon batch. Steven, -75 XLCH- Ironhead Nano-Brewery http://thegimp.8k.com Johnson City, TN [422.7, 169.2] Rennerian "There is no such thing as gravity, the earth sucks." Wings Whiplash - 1968 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 09:46:59 -0400 From: Alan Meeker <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: faux decoction After reading many articles and HBD posts, I'm still not sure whether decoction really adds anything significant to the finished beer. Given the added time and effort involved in performing decoctions I'd like to see some firm evidence that decoction is truly worth doing. Having said that however, I have always included a "pseudo-decoction" in my Bav. wheat recipe. I've kept this up because I used one the very first time I made this beer and have been very pleased with the finished product, so have been loathe to change anything. I suppose I should just bite the bullet one day and do without the decoction and see if it makes any difference. However, the type of decoction I do is so easy and hassle-free that there's no real incentive for eliminating it. I've posted about this before, and am curious to get some feedback. What I am doing is a Microwave-decoction. I pull a large ceramic bowl full of mash and use my microwave to heat it through the various temps required. This is very easy because I make use of the microwave's temp probe which allows temp monitoring and holding for specified time at a given temp. Apart from saving one from constantly fretting over the heating steps it also avoids any potential scorching. So, I'm curious as to what folks think of this procedure. Has anyone else tried this?? -Alan Meeker Baltimore, MD Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 10:15:33 -0400 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: harsh beer One thing in Michael's post about 'harsh' aftertastes in his beer rang a bell with me... "garden hose" Michael, does the water to your softener run from the same pipes that feed your garden hose? I ask because I moved into a new (to me) house last summer. One of my first brews had that same nasty flavor (not spoiled, not sour, just "off" and kinda metallic) and I couldn't figure out what it was. I was convinced that I'd just not been careful and it turned out to be one of the only batches I had to sewer...and it was 15 gallons. I serendipidously tasted some water out of the garden hose I used to fill my kettle just before my next brewing session. The flavor was there! I've used tap water from inside the house ever since and everything is fine. Point being that there could be just be a little corrosion going on outside the house that effects the water sitting in the pipes. After my brewing day is over, including using the garden hose water for chilling, the water tastes fine. It's that first stuff out of the lines that's just nasty. Thought this might help. - -- Marc Sedam Chapel Hill, NC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 07:19:49 -0700 (PDT) From: David Passaretti <dpassaretti at yahoo.com> Subject: false bottom I have been using a BBMB 14 gallon kettle with false bottom for years and decided to try it as a mash tun. I use a HERMS system with a March pump. During the mash the false bottom bent from the negative pressure of the pump and caused significant problems with the grain clogging my pump and solenoid valves. Prior to this I had used a Sanke keg with a ABS false bottom for years without trouble. The guys at BBMB told me they had improved the false bottom since I bought mine. The guage of metal was increased by one (from 22 to 20 I believe) and the legs were redsigned (round to square). Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know if the new screens will stand up to pumping better? I was thinking of buying a new pot and false bottom for a mash tun but am not so sure now. Any info would be appreicated. Thanks David Passaretti Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 10:25:37 -0400 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: munich malt The color of a 100% (dark) munich malt beer is somewhere between red and brown. it's a very rich color. Unfortunately the last beer I brewed like this has not improved much in flavor since March. It's drinkable, but not the bread crust flavor of the finest Munich dunkles I was shooting for... - -- Marc Sedam Chapel Hill, NC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 10:57:02 -0700 From: Jim Bermingham <jbham6843 at netscape.net> Subject: Witches and chili beer I agree with -S on this one. Veggies have no place in beer. I guess this comes as no surprise, I always agree with -S. Well, not always, I used to not agree with -S at all, well, hardly ever. In fact I used to have three theories on how to prove -S wrong. Unfortunately none have ever worked. My wife likes fruit flavored wheat beers. I have to make her some peach, some raspberry and some blackberry wizen beer each year. Can't stand the stuff myself. She even likes Lucky Larry's "Cerveza Chingaquedito con Chili". That should tell everyone she could never be a judge of beer. I couldn't stand the stuff. After five, or was it six of Larry's Chili beers I just didn't want any more. Of course it could have been because he had four other beers on tap that I needed to try. OK, on to the witches in Larry's beers. I went on a witch hunt last October after I found out there was going to be an October Fiest at Lucky Larry's train station in Bellville, Tx. Since it was close to Halloween, and I was looking for witches, I came in a Halloween costume. I shaved the top of my head, put on a T-shirt with a beer slogan, a pair of shorts and sandals. When I got to Larry's home I knocked on the door and when he answered I introduced myself as Jeff Renner, the godfather of CAP. Let me tell all of you that may be looking for ideas on a costume for this coming Halloween, the "Jeff Renner special" can't be beat. After about five minutes of Larry kissing my feet, I finally managed to get him to show me the beer. There were five different beers on tap for the Fiest. After trying them all I decided I didn't like any of them. Then not wanting to rush to a judgment, I thought I should give them a second chance. The second chance ran into a third and a fourth and before the evening was over I lost count on how many chances I gave his beers. All I can remember is I didn't like them, especially the chili beer. I will have to admit that it did taste sort of ok with the tamales, and the other beer went well with all the different German sausages Larry served. Heck his barley wine even went well with the cigars he furnished everyone. Maybe there are witches in his beer, something made me drink those terrible things. I guess I'll have to go witch hunting again this year and prove that the witches can't pull the wool over my eyes twice. Lets see what would a -S costume look like.... Jim Bermingham Millsap, TX Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 12:10:01 -0400 From: "Lanthier, Chris" <CLanthie at arqule.com> Subject: Advice on Brewing Duval clone Greetings, I'd like to make an attempt at brewing up a clone batch of my new favorite beer, Duval. Any advice on clone recipes, particular fermentation processes for golden Belgium ales, yeast, temperatures, conditioning, etc., would be appreciated. Chris Lanthier Andover, MA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 12:35:31 -0500 From: Brian Lundeen <BLundeen at rrc.mb.ca> Subject: RE: Cascade hops Jeff Renner writes: > > One of the brewers suggested that their dislike of POR hops was > similar to Yanks' dislike of Cascade hops: > > I replied that I didn't think we particularly felt that way about > Cascade, and I was told that this came from the Skotrat chat group > (based here in the US). > Hmm, another topic to bring out the dreaded OPINIONS! I guess that means that there is no wrong answer, that we are free to express ourselves in any manner that does not involve profanity or the use of those pesky letters with dots and dashes over, under and around them. Not that Pat is wrong for doing that. One only has to read the Sake Digest to see what happens when there are just no rules. So when I state that Cascade hops produce an effect only marginally better than tossing Grandma's crusty socks into the boil kettle, it is after all, just an OPINION. I would be rightly taken to task if I tried to present as SCIENTIFIC FACT that the chemical composition of a Cascade-infused beer is remarkably similar to the raw effluent of a third-world* chemicals factory. *Note that this chemicals factory would most definitely NOT be in Malaysia or Paraguay. Now, in truth, Cascade hops are not inherently bad, people just do bad things with them. Used with a subtle hand, they can add a pleasant character to a beer. However, some homebrewers, not all homebrewers, but probably a sizeable portion of homebrewers, have all the subtlety of the closing choreography of Monty Python's fish-slapping dance when a bag of Cascade is put in their hands. When more liquid is soaked up by the hops than the grains in the mash tun, you gotta think that there's just a little bit of excess going on there. Of course, it is entirely possible that my OPINION on this matter can not even be included in the final tally because I don't meet the residency requirements as stated above. Je suis Canadien, as we non-French speaking anglos (in case I butchered that) like to proudly proclaim up here. Still, having no National Hop of our own, we are free to join our kindred spirits down under and next door in loathing BOTH Cascade and Pride of Ringwood. In my humble OPINION, of course. Cheers Brian Lundeen Brewing at [819 miles, 313.8 deg] aka Winnipeg Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 12:58:03 -0500 From: Robert S Wallace <rwallace at iastate.edu> Subject: Source for 1" Merchant Stainless Couplings Hello everyone: Several (many) weeks ago I posted to HBD that I had obtained a 1 inch (1") stainless straight threaded coupling ("Merchant" threads) from my local plumbing supplier for use with hot water heater elements. (I was building an electric HLT.) Less than a week after my posting, my local plumbing guru Howard, went in for cardiac bypass surgery and was away from work recuperating for several weeks. Fortunately, he did extremely well in his post-surgery recovery, and I spoke with him last week. This morning he phoned and provided me with the information below on where he obtained the straight threaded 1" coupling (full coupling) for my HLT. For sale at my local plumbing store (Litzel Lumber!) he got the coupling through "Plumb Supply" in Des Moines, Iowa (I'm at Iowa State University, in Ames), and it is most likely that *they* obtained this item from a regional specialty plumbing supplier, Anderson Metals, in Kansas City. Telephone number for Anderson Metals is: 1-800-821-5672. Howard was unsure if Anderson Metals would sell directly to the public (or even do any thing close to small volume mail order), but inquiries there might result in them telling you where your local distributor would be from where you could purchase the coupling (or other stainless fittings) directly. [Please let me know privately (rwallace at iastate.edu) if you are successful in obtaining fittings from them or from other suppliers...] Another source for general stainless pipe fittings is from a Canadian supplier (Vancouver) who I met via eBay, that can be reached at: toolman156 at hotmail.com. Let them know what you're looking for, and they can give a quote if they have the item(s) in stock - I'm not sure they can supply merchant couplings, but they have a lot of other elbows, nipples, ball valves, tees, and other 304/316 fittings. Good prices and good service (no affiliation, satisfied customer, yada yada...). I hope this helps those in search of 1" merchant couplings to build electric HLTs and boilers. Rob Wallace BTW - I hope you're proud of me for not chiming-in on the off topic posts of creationism versus evolution, despite the fact that I've been teaching evolutionary biology here for well over a decade! Many of these are unresolvable issues, often brought up by those unwilling to accept anything but faith based assumptions. I'm glad the thread is dying. Brew on !! Robert S. Wallace, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Botany Department of Botany - Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011-1020 U.S.A. Tel: +001-515-294-0367 FAX: +001-515-294-1337 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 11:00:31 -0700 From: "Mike Sharp" <rdcpro at hotmail.com> Subject: RE: Kegs and Tools for Kegs Bill asked about Commercial Kegs "I understand Sanke kegs can be dangerous if not opened properly, and also that there is a special tool for filling and cleaning them. Anybody know what the tool is, where to get it, how much it costs, etc?" Any keg, including a corny, can be dangerous to disassemble if done improperly. The difference is that Sanke Hoff-Stevens and Golden Gate kegs are a bit trickier to relieve the pressure. I posted recently on how to make a tool to remove the spear from a Sankey. You can find the post in archive 4217 at: ftp://hbd.org/pub/hbd/digests/2003/4217.gz I like Sankey best of all the keg styles, because they're easy to work with, and the fittings are extremely common. Though I've seen aluminum ones, they're often stainless. "From what I can determine, Hoff Stevens Kegs seem ideal for hombrewing use. It looks like all you have to do is drill out the bung in the side, clean and sanitize the keg, then fill it and put in a new bung." It's been quite a while since I used a Hoff-Stevens, but I sure don't remember a wooden bung. It's possible, I guess. Are you thinking about a Golden Gate style?? They have bungs. But if you drill out the bung, I don't think you'll ever safely be able to use the keg at pressure. You're MUCH better off with a Sankey, and remove the spear to get access to the inside of the keg. Then if you buy the Kegman snap-ring kit, you can pretty easily remove and re-seal the keg any time you want. "So how does one force carbonate a Hoff Stevens?" Just like any other keg. Hook CO2 to the gas port of the tap, and pressurize it. If there is in fact a bung, and you've removed it, then...don't know how you'll safely force carbonate. "I am concerned that alot of the Hoff Stevens kegs seem to be made of aluminum." I'm not even going to comment on the aluminum pot thing (oops. I just did), but I believe the H-S kegs are in fact aluminum. I've never seen a stainless one. I don't see a problem with this, though, if they're used strictly as fermenter/bright beer tanks. IMO the aluminum is too thin to be used as a kettle. I'm thinking the keg is lined, but I've never opened one up, so I don't know for sure. I know that in the old days, when I was drinking commercial beer, we would buy a keg of Henry Weinhards in a H-S keg, and it would take months, sometimes, to use it all up. Never noticed any kind of flavor, other than the beer. "Lastly, I've heard the Golden Gate kegs are supposedly the best for homebrewing use, but are really hard to come by, and that these are often also mistaken for Hoff Stevens alot of the time." I'm not sure how anyone could mistake any Hoff-Stevens keg I've ever seen with a Golden Gate style. I think Golden Gate are popular because they're so difficult to deal with that breweries don't want them anymore. Ever since the Big Breweries dumped them, the only time I see them are a few brewpubs/micros that probably bought them for the sole reason that it's cheap cooperage. They're probably harder to come by, because no one has any use for them, and they've all been scrapped out. I don't think they've been made in years. Golden Gate are a PITA because the CO2/gas-in is in the head of the keg, but the liquid out is in the side near the bottom. They also have wooden bungs. If you want to use them as a fermenter, or in place of a cask for real ale, you've got a nice bung at the top BUT you don't have a convenient place to draw the beer from. The sides are rounded, and if you're using them on their side, the low point is in the side, not the end. The liquid out is in the wrong place. Just a PITA to use all around, IMHO. They're really only useable vertically, but with some mods, could be used on their side in a cask configuration. You'd probably have to either tip the keg toward the liquid out end, or use a pickup hose, or just waste the beer that's trapped in the side when the keg is horizontal. The liquid out line is an L-shape though, so maybe you could insert it so that it sticks down past the bottom of the keg: ______ / \ | | \______/ beer __| Out The more I think about it, the more I think this is possible, because the L-shaped liquid out was intented to point straight up the side (toward the gas inlet end of the keg), but would probably go in straight down as well. And having a low spot in the middle of the side, away from the liquid out might give it the right amount of space for the yeast and finings to settle out, without getting sucked into the liquid line. So I changed my mind, the Golden Gate are probably a good cask design, but I still think they're lousy for pressurized beer. Regards, Mike Sharp Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 18:47:45 +0000 From: "Dave Larsen" <hunahpumonkey at hotmail.com> Subject: Re: How popular is Cascade hops? >In my early days of brewing, we never knew what kind of hops we were >getting - they were in one ounce lots in brown paper bags that were stapled >shut. They were very stale! Then around 1975 or so we got a brew shop at >a town 20 miles south of here that cared about quality. They decided to >sell only Cascade pellets, but we customers still didn't know what variety >they were unless we asked. They were just hops. When I discovered that >there were other varieties, I started asking for them, and in time we got >them. > >So I put to this group - what are our thoughts about Cascade hops? I'll bite on this one. In the early/mid 90s there was a microbrewery boom in Northern Arizona, where I was going to college. We went from no microbreweries the three in just a matter of a couple years. At first I loved it. It was nice to have an alternative to all the crappy megaswill. However, I soon came to loath it, because most of the microbrewed beers had eactly the same flavor (particularly the pale ales). I would drink British, German, or Belgian beers and they were so different -- so good -- compared to the microbreweries' beer. Soon thereafter, I started homebrewing and I realized the American microbrewery taste I came to dislike was all associated with cascade hops. I thought it is way overused. The funny thing is that until your post, I thought I was the only person that felt that way. Now that time has passed and I understand beer much better, I can appreciate it for being part of the American pale ale style. I don't loath it like I once did. But, given the choice, I still don't use cascade hops that often. Dave Tucson, AZ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 12:19:38 -0700 From: Mark Beck <beckmk at whitman.edu> Subject: Re: How popular is Cascade hops? Short answer: very. I live about 70 miles from the Cascade Hop center of the universe, so I'm quite familiar with this variety. My favorite beer style is a VERY hoppy Northwest pale ale, and in my opinion the best are invariably made with Cascade. Mark Beck Walla Walla, WA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 14:57:30 -0500 From: "Tidmarsh Major" <tidmarsh at bellsouth.net> Subject: Re: Cascade hops On 12 May 2003 at 0:12, Jeff Renner wrote: > So I put to this group - what are our thoughts about Cascade hops? I like 'em. (Though I might not like them as much if I didn't have other choices as well.) Of course, I also liked the POR hops I got a few years ago from Eastern Suburbs Brewmaker in Sydney on a trip to Oz. Tidmarsh Major Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 16:21:47 -0400 From: william.m.menzl at dowcorning.com Subject: Raspberry Chocolate Stout - When to add the chocolate/cocoa/raspb While I was reading through my latest issue of Zymurgy (May/June 2003) I came across Keith Bradley's "Lover's Stout" It is an all grain recipe with 2-row, chocolate, crystal malts, flaked barley, dextrin malt, roast barley, black patent malt, unsweetened bakers chocolate, Dutch cocoa, and a lot of frozen raspberries (steep). I am a little confused when/how to add the unsweetened bakers chocolate and Dutch cocoa and the word "steep" after the raspberries has me in a pickle as well. The specifics do not talk about how to treat these things. Anyone have any ideas for this? Does the "steep" refer to addition once it is in the secondary? Thanks in advance! William Menzl Midland, Michigan [99.8, 344.8] Apparent Rennerian Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 18:59:52 -0400 From: "Christopher Clair" <buzz at netreach.net> Subject: NOW ACCEPTING ENTRIES! BUZZ Off Home Brew Competition Brewers Unlimited Zany Zymurgists (BUZZ) is proud to announce that the 2003 BUZZ Off home brew competition will be held on Saturday, June 7th at Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in West Chester, PA. For another year we will be a qualifying event for the prestigious Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing (MCAB) as well as the Delaware Valley Homebrewer of the Year. All BJCP recognized styles including meads and ciders are eligible for entry. For complete details and forms, please visit the BUZZ web site at http://hbd.org/buzz. Entries will be accepted between May 12 and June 1. For drop off and mail in locations please refer to the BUZZ web site. Please, do not send entries to Iron Hill. BJCP Judges and stewards will be needed. If you are interested please contact me or another committee member (contact information can be found on the web site). All judges must be BJCP certified. Good luck and cheers! Christopher Clair buzz at netreach.net http://hbd.org/buzz "The mouth of a perfectly happy man is filled with beer." - Ancient Egyptian Wisdom, 2200 B.C. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 21:46:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Ryan Neily <ryan at neily.net> Subject: Stout Tap Repair? Anyone know where I can get parts to replace the innerds of stout style taps? I have an Guinness tap, and it seems to leak when under pressure from my home draft system. I've taken it full apart and cleaned it, however it still seems to "dribble" a little when in the closed position. Is there any maintence you can do to these, or do they need to be lubricated somehow? - -- Ryan Neily ryan at neily.net Random Quote: "Horsepower sells cars, raw torque wins races... - Carrol Shelby" Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 22:23:20 -0400 From: "Rick Gordon" <regordon at bellsouth.net> Subject: re: Cascade hops I for one love the signature of Cascade hops. In the mid-eighties, soon after I learned that "colder and cheaper" was not the same as "better" (a tour in Bamberg with the US Army later), I was introduced to Sierra Nevada on tap in Carmel, CA (OK, I understand they use Chinook, but bear with me). I unwittingly became a hop-head and I began to search out and consume Fine American Brews whenever I could. The Cascade "nose" I remember in many craft brewed ales of the day began to mean "Ah! A decent beer!" Back home in Georgia which was not known for the great craft beer selection until the last few years (Go Terrapin!!), finding a decent pint was something to be relished. I guess I get a little nostalgic for the old Cascade lupo-therapy. I get the same way about diesel fumes and burnt gunpowder, but thats a whole other story.... Rick [580.2, 181.4] Rennerian Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 22:58:39 -0400 From: David Humes <dhumes001 at comcast.net> Subject: Cloudy Wort Greetings, I just brewed a Kolsch this weekend and my wort came out unusually cloudy. I've made this beer several times with the same ingredients and have never had this problem. The grains are 90% Weissheimer Pils and 10% Weissheimer Red Wheat malt. I mashed at 145F, added a little calcium chloride to control pH, and that's about it. The mash pH was 5.66 (taken from sample cooled to 20C), a little higher than ideal, but not high enough to cause any real problems with the enzyme systems. I believe the malt was fresh since I just purchased a 25KG bag of the Pils malt. I got some coagulation in the boil (90 minutes), and it was looking better until I added some Irish moss 15 minutes before knockout, and then it started to get fairly cloudy again. Lots of cold break went into the fermenters after CF chilling. I also had some concerns about the mash converting. The wort tested negative for starch at 60 minutes, but I could see lots of gummy white starch blobs in the mash that tested positive. But then I hit my target gravity on the nose. I checked my malt mill (Schmidling's), which is supposed to be set for .045" in the center. It was just a little loose so I tightened it up a little and I'll see what happens with the next batch. I've made other beers recently with Pauls 2-row as the base malt and have not had this problem, so I don't suspect the mill is the problem. The Pils malt did not seem to be undermodified. Typical protein analysis is 11.5%, but don't know about my bag. Any ideas? - --Dave Return to table of contents
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