HOMEBREW Digest #493 Tue 11 September 1990

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


Contents:
  Re: Hunter...the sequel  (Kenneth R. van Wyk)
  Baltimore Brewpubs (Kim Mills)
  Head and Belgium (Eric Pepke)
  taxes,etc. (Russ Gelinas)
  Oatmeal Stout, Blueberry Ale and priming (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
  Re: Beer Tax (Rick Noah Zucker)
  Using external controls on 'fridges for homebrew (Greg Wageman)
  Vortex in bottles ("FEINSTEIN")

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com [Please do not send me requests for back issues] Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 09:08:22 EDT From: Kenneth R. van Wyk <krvw at cert.sei.cmu.edu> Subject: Re: Hunter...the sequel > While on the phone with Hunter, we got to chatting about what I was using it > for. The result is that their product manager now knows about the AHA, and > may contact them about editorial mention, etc. They may also buy a Zymurgy, > and contact major homebrew suppliers advertising therein regarding selling > the product. Good job! I'm glad that the Hunter folks have been made aware of this potential marketplace. I've been using the AC thermostat on my brewing fridge for some time now, and I love it! If I could make just _one_ suggestion to the Hunter folks, though, it would be to make the thermostat go below 40F; I'd love to be able to adjust the temperature all the way down to 33 or even 32F for lagering. I'd imagine that this would be a trivial ROM (or some such) change for the Hunter folks to make. But then, what would I know... Gary, I'd be happy to phone the Hunter folks to tell them this - could you email me the phone number that you used to contact them? Cheers, Ken van Wyk krvw at cert.sei.cmu.edu (work) ken at oldale.pgh.pa.us (home) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 09:26:18 -0400 From: kim at nova.npac.syr.edu (Kim Mills) Subject: Baltimore Brewpubs I am visiting Baltimore this coming weekend and would like to know of any brewpubs in the city, especially near the waterfront. Thanks, Kim Mills Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 1990 10:50:47 EDT From: PEPKE at scri1.scri.fsu.edu (Eric Pepke) Subject: Head and Belgium In re. Mike Charlton's head retention problems. If the bubbles are small, it sounds like everything's OK mechanically with the head. You must just be missing some of the miscellaneous organic molecules that strengthen the head. How are you mashing? The discussions here plus Michael Jackson plus the ghost of a bottle of Framboise I drank a year ago that still smells good have pretty much convinced me to go bum around Belgium. What percentage of the populace speaks French as a primary language? My other wanderings in Europe have convinced me that, although it is always possible to find people who speak enough English to get around, one fares much better if one can speak the local language, even poorly. I think it conveys a respect for the culture, which causes people to warm up much quicker. I can already speak some German. Would it be worthwhile for me to learn some French before going? Eric Pepke INTERNET: pepke at gw.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute MFENET: pepke at fsu Florida State University SPAN: scri::pepke Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 BITNET: pepke at fsu Disclaimer: My employers seldom even LISTEN to my opinions. Meta-disclaimer: Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers. "Belgium, man, Belgium!" --Zaphod Beeblebrox Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 11:26 EST From: <R_GELINA%UNHH.BITNET at MITVMA.MIT.EDU> (Russ Gelinas) Subject: taxes,etc. Another number you can call to protest the proposed beer tax is 1-800-33-TAXES. Just leave your name and address and letters are sent to your reps and to ol' "read my lips". On a better note, I tried a new? beer out of Utica, NY called New Amsterdam Ale (and beer, but the ale is better). Pretty standard for a small-batch brew, but it is dry-hopped, and has a very nicey, spicey flavor and aroma. A pleasant surprise. Russ -- the stout (with the Perle instead of Northern Bullion hops put in by -- mistake) goes into bottles tonight.......almost a month to ferment out! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 11:31:41 PDT From: pms at Corp.Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services)) Subject: Oatmeal Stout, Blueberry Ale and priming Hi, My Oatmeal stout having now had a month in the bottle, I thought I'd post my findings (er, opinions!). The recipe was derived from several posted by Jay H in digect #459 (thanks Jay!): Oatmeal Stout 8lb British Amber Malt Extract 0.5lb Black Patent 0.5lb Roasted Barley 0.5lb Chocolate Malt 1lb Steel Cut Oatmeal 2oz Eroica (brewing) 1oz Fuggles (finishing) ~9g dry Whitbread yeast 0.5cup Corn Sugar (priming) Procedure Crack the grains (I used a rolling pin) Add grain and oatmeal to about 2gal cold water Bring water slowly to a boil (over about an hour) Strain out all grains Add extract and Eroica, boil for 1 hour Add Fuggles, boil another 2 min Steep 15 min Sparge through a seive into a plastic bin, over ice Mix well, take SG reading Rack into 7gal glass carboy and pitch the yeast (no starter) Bottle when fermentation is complete (a week for me) My OG was 1.062, at bottling it was 1.015. I pitched at 75F by saving a bit of the cool wort in a saucepan, adding the dry yeast, swirling it and dumping it into the carboy. It has turned out excellently! One of my best yet (if I do say so myself). Black, smooth and creamy. The oatmeal doesn't add a very pronounced flavour; I think it rather contributes to the creaminess and smoothness, which is becoming more pronounced as the beer ages. It has a fairly dark brown head, presumably from the roasted barley, - creamy with small bubbles. Similar to Guinness bit not as long lasting. At first I thought I'd need a bit more oatmeal next time, but now I think Jay got it right! We'll see in another month (if any makes it that long!). Now on to Blueberry. I've just bottled a blueberry ale. A very simple recipe: 7lb British Amber 1.5lb Crystal 2oz N Brewer (boiling) 1oz Fuggles (finishing) Whitbread yeast 2lb fresh frozen blueberries Basically the same procedure as the stout. I added the blueberries at the peak of fermentation. I tried some when I bottled; not much of a blueberry flavour, but there is something there. We'll see how it ages, but I suspect that more is required to give it a notecieable fruit flavour. This time I used a 2 step fermentation - 1 week in the 7gal primary (with fruit), then another week in a 5gal secondary. I got a lot of deposit in the primary - 2-3 inches; much less in the secondary, about 1/2". The beer has come out remarkably clear, with a nice reddish tint. Finally, priming. I tried priming with malt extract for a while. I found it caused a 1/2" layer of haze at the bottom of the bottles. This was a dilemma for me - do I waste some good beer of pour sediment into the glass? My solution was to return to priming with corn sugar! patrick Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 11:57:32 -0700 From: noah at cs.washington.edu (Rick Noah Zucker) Subject: Re: Beer Tax >Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 17:49:51 EDT >From: harley!chuck at uunet.UU.NET (Chuck Cox) >Subject: Beer Tax > >In the latest issue of 'Brewprint' (the Wort Processor's newsletter), >an article about 'no-new-taxes' Bush's new beer tax lists >a number you can call to get a free anti-beer-tax telegram sent >to your representative. The number is 800-321-9035, simply give your >name, address & phone number. > >Don't delay, call now. If you are a sports fan in the US, I am sure that you have seen the Anheuser-Busch commercials against an increase in the federal excise tax for beer. What is interesting is that they say that this tax already costs beer drinkers in the US $3 billion/year and that it is the single most expensive part of the beer (I assume they mean theirs). However, they never say how much it is per beer. They probably don't want people to find out how cheap their ingredients (including corn) really are. Isn't it great that we buy these products without knowing how much tax we are paying? Rick Zucker Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 12:47:21 PDT From: greg at cemax.com (Greg Wageman) Subject: Using external controls on 'fridges for homebrew I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but there is a possible down side to using external controls (such as the Hunter control recently mentioned) to control the temperature in a homebrewing 'fridge. *IF* the 'fridge you're using is a cycle-defrost ("frost free") model, the external control will interfere with the self-defrosting function of the 'fridge. The way these generally work is that a timer mechanism, which runs continuously, periodically shuts down the refrigeration system and activates a high-wattage heating element which is wrapped around the evaporator (freezing) coils. The element melts any accumulated ice, and when a preset temp. is reached (usually within a couple of minutes), is thermostatically shut off. Eventually, the cycle-defrost timer turns the refrigeration system back on. The external control works by shutting off all power to the 'fridge when cooling isn't needed. This means that the cycle-defrost timer runs only a small fraction of the normal time (only when the control supplies power because the 'fridge is too warm). As a result, the defrost cycle will occur only very occasionally. Now, I realize we are running these things at a much warmer than normal temp., and they are not typically being opened several times a day as they would be in normal use, so icing may never become a problem. It's something to be aware of, though, if you use the external-control approach. -Greg (sj.ate.slb.com!cemax!greg) Return to table of contents
Date: 10 Sep 90 23:16:00 EDT From: "FEINSTEIN" <crf at pine.circa.ufl.edu> Subject: Vortex in bottles Hi there! RE: creating a vortex when draining bottles by spinning them a few times while holding them-- this isn't meant to sound condescending in the least, but ever hear of the Coriolus effect? This is the "spin effect" put on winds, waters, etc., by the Earth's rotation. It's also what creates that useful little vortex mentioned in dig 492. The Coriolus effect, btw, is affected by latitude. So, you'll probably find you get a better vortex spinning the bottle in one direction or the other, but not both. Yours in Carbonation, Cher "With one tuckus, you can't dance at two weddings." -- Yiddish proverb ============================================================================= Cheryl Feinstein INTERNET: CRF at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU Univ. of Fla. BITNET: CRF at UFPINE Gainesville, FL Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #493, 09/11/90 ************************************* -------
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