HOMEBREW Digest #4653 Tue 16 November 2004


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Mango Madness and Oxidation ("Graham L Sanders")
  Bitter brew ("Tom Clark")
  Re: pH meter accuracy question ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  Beer Geek on the Radio - Wednesday Morning ("Rob Moline")
  North to Alaska! (John Palmer)
  Christmas Ale Question (Chris Keenan)
  Re: Christmas Ale Question ("Spencer W. Thomas")
  Christmas stout ("Marc Sedam")
  Yeast ("Chad Stevens")
  Beer Line ("Antony Hayes")
  pH meter accuracy question ("Mike Racette")
  Civil War Brewing (kmstfb2)
  Stained Al, Christmas Stout ("Dave Burley")
  Lagering & Carbonation Question (Michael Fross)
  RE: gluten free beer (Robert Hinterding)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:22:00 +1000 From: "Graham L Sanders" <craftbrewer at bigpond.com> Subject: Mango Madness and Oxidation G'Day All Those who know me, will tell you I love this hobby. So much so, that instead of just making great standard beers everytime, I constantly experiment. Its this constant thirst for knowledge that drives me. The last few years, I have been going thru an an#l period with oxidation. Steve A has a lot to answer for this, but causing all sorts of revelations. One is that oxygen is bad for beer at any time of production. This includes when pitching yeast, and one should be supplying only enough for the yeast, and no more. Drip feeding O2 is the best option. but how far does this O2 badness extend. In my interest to be satisfied, (not with SWMBO mind you), I have been conduction experiments of adding a tiny pinch of Sodium Metabisulphite to the keg at filling. I have been comparing two exactly the same kegs, one with the Sodium Met added, and one not. Naturally doing all things right, bleeding O2 out, no splashing etc. Also been doing some triangular tastings as well to see if there is a difference. And the results. Well its like decoction mashing, its there, but hard to pick. If one was to sample a beer from either keg on its own, you would not tell the difference. Beers taste great, but you cant tell which is which. And thats all drinkers.(bear in mind these are fresh samples - one would wonder if a aged keg would show better differences.). Triangular taste testing, on the other hand, showed SOME beer drinkers tasted a difference. They picked correctly the Sodium Met kegs to be different, and better. Note the comment SOME. It turns out its the "experienced" tasters who could pick it. Other less experienced drinkers could not. The interesting thing is no-one could say "why this beer is better". Best I got, "it tastes fresher". I'm going to do some long term experiments to see storage ability of these beers. However the results to me are clear. For the an#l and for piece of mind one should do it. For competitions its clear one should really do it, it makes a difference, even in bottles. BUT, its a an#l preference. A normal drinker, turning over beers quickly, should not worry. Now yet again Phil chimes in >>>>>>>Graham comments that he went through 9 litres of beer in three days during one humid patch.So what?<<<<<< Well Phil one would wish you southerners would lift your game. The average for Australias beer consumption is about 100 litres per year average. Now us Northerners actually consume closer to 200 litres a year, which means you lot down there are letting the team down, big time. The "so what" is while 9 litres in 3 days is achievable, even for you, none of you can, and therefore dont maintain that consistency. No wonder those brewing Swedish maids that eventually made it to my place complained like hell "gee Phill just doesn't have the stamina to perform day in, day out." What else >>>>>>>> Personally, anyone who chooses to live in places like Townsville has in my view gone troppo before they even got there!<<<<< Well it has a few benefits as well. the mango tree is more like a cannon ball tree. Its utterly covered in mangos. We are eating mangoes like they are out of fashion. 10 a day. And the mango lambic is getting pure fresh mango juice squirted straight into the keg. Yes its tough having to suffer like this. And suffer we do. When you get the dreaded "mango runs", you know you have too much of a good thing. Now Dave wants to be careful with what he asks people to do >>>>>>>If you want a look at Graham Sander's Mug as well his beer mug check out:<<<<<<<. Keep doing this and Pat will ban you mate. One thing Pat wont tolerate is you trying to frighten the posters with obscene images. We do have standards to keep!!!!!!!. And besides, I dont want all those desperate and lonely female brewers now wanting to contact me. Bad enough Dr Pivo is sending lonely Swedish visitors my way, now I have Dave wanting to set me up me every female brewer in the USA. But naturally there's a good side to this. If any want to do battle with SWMBO your more than welcome. I wont complain if she is rolled. " A change is as good as a holiday." Shout Graham Sanders Oh One benefit with all these mangos about. SWMBO is utterly gorging herself full of the stuff. This is either an insult to my s*xual ability, or a blessing, for she recons eating mangos is better than s*x. Now this does not stop her thirst for lifes pleasures, for she is still very demanding. But the mangos stop her dead. When mangos are going thru her at that rate of knots, well she is totally out of action. I am FREE to do other things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pity mango season is so short. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:31:02 -0500 From: "Tom Clark" <rtclark555 at charter.net> Subject: Bitter brew Some beer that I made over three years ago and was too bitter at that time has now mellowed considerably with age. Perhaps aging helps some. Tom Clark Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:02:59 +1030 From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com> Subject: Re: pH meter accuracy question On Monday, 15 November 2004 at 19:04:04 -0600, Gary Smith wrote: > Hi, > > I'm looking at some different pH meters and it > looks like the pHep 4 & pHep 5 are nice > candidates. Auto temp adjusting & the whole > shebang. The only difference I have found > between the two is the 4 has a 0.1 accuracy and > the 5 has a 0.01 accuracy. Are you sure that this is accuracy and not resolution? It's easy to build a meter with another digit on the display. The question is whether that digit means anything. > Doesn't seem that there would be much practical difference to me as > a brewer between the two of them but there is a price difference. Agreed, more than one digit after the decimal point doesn't make much difference. Note that you'll need to calibrate either kind of meter from time to time if you want useful readings. The first time I calibrated mine, it was off by 0.4 pH (reading too alkaline). You'll need some kind of buffer solution for that. Greg - -- Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key. See complete headers for address and phone numbers. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 23:16:20 -0600 From: "Rob Moline" <jethrogump at mchsi.com> Subject: Beer Geek on the Radio - Wednesday Morning - -----Original Message----- From: Wallace, Robert S [EEOBS] Subject: Beer Geek on the Radio - Wednesday Morning This message is to inform you that the Semi-Annual "Talk of Iowa Beer Show", produced and hosted by Katherine Perkins, will air this coming wednesday morning, November 17th, at 9:00 am (Central Time) on WOI AM (640 kHz). I believe it will also be re-broadcast at 9:00 pm that same evening. I will be the guest on this show, and we will be talking about beer in general, a bit about the plants and plant products that go into brewing, and about some of the recent advances in the brewing world. Certified and aspiring Beer Geeks may pick up some tidbits of information about beer, brewing, and related subjects. Prizes will be awarded for correctly answering beer trivia questions (see below). If you are out of state (and thus, out of AM radio range from central Iowa), you can catch the broadcast by live streaming audio via the World Wide Web at the WOI-AM radio web site. Go to: http://www.woi.org and click on the "Listen to WOI" link, and then click on the "Listen to WOI - AM Stream" link - you'll be connected to the live audio stream from the station..... - (NOTE: Realplayer software will be needed, downloadable for free from this site.) Alternatively, you can link directly to: http://www.woi.org/stream/woi-am.ram if you already have Realplayer software. Prizes for answering beer-related questions will be a $ 25 gift certificate to Court Avenue Tavern (DSM) and a copy of Randy Mosher's book, "Radical Brewing". Toll free call-in number is 800-262-0640. If you know any other beer geeks, feel free to pass this info along as you see fit! Cheers, Rob Robert S. Wallace, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Botany Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011-1020 U.S.A. Tel: +001-515-294-0367 FAX: +001-515-294-1337 Web Site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/departments/eeob/faculty/profiles/WallaceR/wallace .html - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.784 / Virus Database: 530 - Release Date: 10/27/2004 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:40:26 -0800 From: John Palmer <jjpalmer at altrionet.com> Subject: North to Alaska! I had the real pleasure of meeting Pete, Aimee, Dennis, and Lisa at this year's AHA conference in Las Vegas, and I must say you have never met a more dedicated group of brewers! I can't think of any other group that would go to the lengths necessary to get a firm grip on a walrus' "tap handle" in order to fill a glass! And, the idea to have the conference in AK is a good one. I must say, that is one place I have never been and it would add to my incentive for going. Not as geographically convenient a drive as Vegas, but for Alaska, I am more willing to foot the bill than say, Ohio, for example (unless they're playing Michigan the same weekend). John Palmer john at howtobrew.com www.realbeer.com/jjpalmer www.howtobrew.com - the free online book of homebrewing Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 07:49:29 -0500 From: Chris Keenan <keenanc at gmail.com> Subject: Christmas Ale Question Hi all, I recently (about a week ago) brewed a Christmas Ale from a kit. It is one that you add the spices to the fermenter when you pitch the yeast and then remove the spice bag after 4 days when you rack to the secondary... Well I brewed this on 11/6 (the Saturday before last). Instead of putting the spices in (cinemon, orange, cloves, etc.) when I pitched the yeast (as I did last year and infected the entir batch) I put them into the last 5 minutes of my boil, cooled the wort, and pitched the yeast. The instructions recommended that I remove the spice and rack after 4 days. I waited a week, as the airlock was still going. When I opened the fermenter (a plastic bucket) There still was a "yeasty" foam (kind of a slimy foam type thing) on top of the beer. I racked 11/13 and when it went into the seconary, it was fine, a few hours later the foam was coming back to the top of the beer, and last evening when I got home from work I had a "yeast foam" on top of the beer. I used White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast ( WLP500) I guess my questions are as follows...1) Is this okay or normal 2) Is there anything I can do to get rid of this before I want to keg it? 3) Should I do anything or just relax? Thanks, I am kind of worried as this got infected last year. Thanks! Chris Keenan Arlington, MA Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 08:39:01 -0500 From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <hbd-mod at spencerwthomas.com> Subject: Re: Christmas Ale Question Chris Keenan is concerned about the "yeasty foam" on top of his beer. He asks "is this okay or normal?" Yes, Chris, this is perfectly normal. "Top fermenting" (ale) yeasts often produce a cap on the fermenting beer. In the secondary this cap will be almost pure yeast. If you're using a bucket as a fermenter you can very easily harvest the yeast for reuse using a large sanitized spoon (into a sanitized jar). =Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 09:52:38 -0500 From: "Marc Sedam" <alechemist at bellsouth.net> Subject: Christmas stout Doug, Why not try a cherry stout? It's got a holiday kind of flavor to it, and would go well with turkey/lamb/meal of choice. I made one for a friend that was well received. Regular sweet stout recipe and added a can of the Oregon cherry puree in the secondary and kegged with sour cherry concentrate as priming sugar (you can calculate how much by looking at the grams of carbohydrates/serving and figuring out how many servings you need to get around 150g sugar. I usually add more "grams carbohydrates" than grams of corn sugar because there's bound to be some unfermentables in there. Pretty tasty stuff, really. Cheers! Marc Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 07:28:59 -0800 From: "Chad Stevens" <zuvaruvi at cox.net> Subject: Yeast Y'all, Anyone have a haploid/diploid/tetrapoid breakdown of various commonly available brewing yeast? I assume most single strain ale are haploid and most single strain lager are tetrapoid but are there any diploid strains floating around out there? I do a lot of re-pitching; it's more a question about stability than anything. Thanks, Chad Stevens QUAFF San Diego Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 19:35:23 +0200 From: "Antony Hayes" <anthayes at telkomsa.net> Subject: Beer Line My beer lines are 30cm and 50 cm respectively, and since using Moritz method as outlined by Llew, I do not have a foaming problem. It helps to have a decent tap. Ant Hayes Johannesburg Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 12:48:28 -0700 From: "Mike Racette" <mike.racette at hydro-gardens.com> Subject: pH meter accuracy question Gary Smith asks: "Any realistic reason I would want the .01 vs .1 accuracy with all grain brewing?" No need to get 0.01 pH accuracy in brewing, but if you think you may someday decide to make wine too, then its generally considered that at least 0.01 accuracy is best. Miker Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:56:10 -0500 (EST) From: kmstfb2 at exis.net Subject: Civil War Brewing I am trying to design a recipe that would have be authentic for Union Troops in the Civil War. The group I am brewing for would represent troops from New Hampshire. After searching HBD, I did find a Confederate Receipt Book but have not found anything for northern troops. Any ideas or references would be helpful. Thanks and Happy Brewing Tom Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:58:52 -0500 From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net> Subject: Stained Al, Christmas Stout Brewsters: I agree with Mike Bennet's suggestion to Robert Zukosky's blackened Al kettle to not worry about it, but disagree with his comment on the cause of the color. Aluminum Oxide is colorless and coats every aluminum pan or the pan would dissolve in contact with acid and even water. It is the Al203 which gets stained and gives the color. Don't worry. An alkaline cleaner like sodium carbonate ( washing soda) may remove the coloring matter. For those old enough to remember those colored "anodized" aluminum drinking "glasses" this was just dye applied to aluminum which had been given a heavy coat of Al203 by anodizing it. - --------------- Doug's SWMBO asked him for a Christmas Stout. He asks us for suggestions on the design. Doug when you do a Christmas Stout try using some lactose ( like in a milk stout) to sweeten it a little along with your spices ( I'd use Cinnamon, cloves and other Gluhwein related spices) . Milk stouts were made in Britain supposely for nursing women, but all the ladies of all ages favored a few pints of this stout in the kitchen at Christmas ( and other times) . Even consider a spruce beer flavoring. I've only made spruce beer in the Spring, but guess it would be OK to use the ends of the branches in the brew kettle even at this time of the year. And very appropriate. Let us know. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 20:06:59 -0600 From: Michael Fross <michael at fross.org> Subject: Lagering & Carbonation Question Hello all, I'm in the process of making my first lager and I completed the Diacytal rest and have just gotten it down to lagering temperature (36F). I'm planning on leaving it at that temp for three or four weeks (OG: 1.048) but was wondering if I could kill two birds with one stone by carbonating it now. I think I've read that the yeast doesn't care if it's fermenting under pressure or not, but I'm wondering what everyone thinks. Carbonate while lagering or wait until it's complete? Many thanks. Frosty Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Nov 2004 13:18:20 +1100 From: Robert Hinterding <rhh at sillyyak.com.au> Subject: RE: gluten free beer Sean McCabe <greenfieldmills at hotmail.com> asks about:gluten free beer >I know this has been covered before but who out there has experimented with >gluten free beer? I am happy to answer any questions. I have been experimenting with gluten free beer for 2 years. A lot of the information about gluten free brewing is either misleading or full information is not provided. Your first problem is getting gluten free malt. You may be able to get some from http://www.bardsbeer.com or you will have to malt it yourself. The procedure for malting sorghum is different to that for barley. Brewing is another problem, the major problems are the high gelatinisation temperature of sorghum (>75C), and the enzymes are less heat stable than those in barley malt. The best way to get around this is by using a Schmitz process decoction. > >I am looking for a supplier for the ingredients and have a question about >using my old brew pot. By using my old brew pot I will not contaminate my >batch of gluten free beer with that bad old gluten stuff, will I? Not unless you don't clean it. Happy brewing Robert - -- Robert Hinterding The Gluten Free Brewer Northcote, Victoria, AUSTRALIA Return to table of contents
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