HOMEBREW Digest #4999 Sun 23 April 2006


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


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

          Northern  Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
Visit http://www.northernbrewer.com  to show your appreciation!
               Or call them at 1-800-681-2739

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  Re: Bottles didn't carbonate ("Greg Brewer")
  Re: Gluten Free Beer (Andrew Lavery)
  re: Amylase continues working? ("steve.alexander")
  Cereal Mash temp question... ("Michael Eyre")
  What do you think of this? (Jeremy Bergsman)
  shaarbeek cherries ("Jim Liddil")
  Re: Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast ("Alex Sheftel")
  Re: Flour beer? ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  Re: Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The HBD Logo Store is now open! * * http://www.hbd.org/store.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning, and Spencer Thomas
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 08:48:49 -0500 From: "Greg Brewer" <gbrewer1 at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Bottles didn't carbonate Many thanks to several folks who replied to my plea for ideas on what to do with two cases of non-carbonated double IPA. Based on their suggestions, I moved the cases from my basement up to my warmer bedroom at my bedside. Every night for two weeks I inverted the cases before going to bed, forcing the yeast to travel the length of each bottle every day. Last night I opened a test bottle and was thrilled to find it adequately carbonated with an absolutely fabulous pure white head that remained to the bottom of my glass! I honestly did not expect such a simple approach to work, and am glad I did not mess around with opening each bottle and adding yeast or re-priming, which I had considered doing. Now the cases are back in the basement with their brethren, and my wife can quit hazing me about sleeping with my "precious babies"... Cheers, Greg in Chicago Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 22:52:33 +1000 From: Andrew Lavery <alavery at iprimus.com.au> Subject: Re: Gluten Free Beer Dennis O'Brien wrote: >1. I use ProMash and am looking for potential SG data >for various malts: millet malt, buckwheat malt, >sorghum malt, sorghum syrup, quinoa malt, etc. > > A range of 1.032-34 should cover the malts, millet being the lowest. >2. If anybody would care to give insights on the >flavor and use of various gluten-free malts, it would >be very helpful. From what I have gleaned from >various sources so far, millet malt seems to make a >good equivalent for a base pale malt, buckwheat is an >OK substitute for wheat, sorghum is OK but lends a >sour taste, and there is no good equivalent for >crystal. >Comments? > > Pretty close, sorghum also makes a good base and the sourness can be minimised by paying strict attention to bacteria control in malting. Crystal can be done, it's just a matter of finding a variety of grain that has an overlap of the amylase temp range with the gelatinisation range. I generally get around 50% conversion in my crystal, it's enough to develop the flavours and mouthfeel and the rest gets converted in the mash. Focus on getting your pale malt right first though, without it you won't get anywhere fast. Cheers, Andrew. Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:49:31 -0400 From: "steve.alexander" <-s at adelphia.net> Subject: re: Amylase continues working? Petr Otahal asks ... ... if amylases continue working in a whisky mash (no mashout or boil). The short answer is yes ! Some alpha-amylase survives the mash (even a mashout) and will continue to degrade dextrins slowly, but more thoroughly than you might expect. Piggott et al, in "Whisky Technology" state that all malt wort will have FG of 0.997 to 0.998. They suggest other final gravity figures (all less than 1.000) for other grain adjunct additions. They claim that high FG figures (around 1.0035, or 3.5 degrees) indicate that the raw grain adjunct was insufficiently cooked (sic cereal mash) >Last batch was 14P (1.056) >starting gravity and finished at 0.5P (1.002), [...] Commercial whiskey wort begins a little stronger than yours and ends a little lower. Good job Petr. It sounds like you should be looking for slightly more attenuation rather than worrying about too much, but you're on the right path. BTW, some limited lactobacteria activity in the whisky fermentation is said to be desirable as this has a positive impact on the final whisky flavor. It's almost unavoidable anyway. To put this in perspective, beer fermentation achieves ~77% apparent attenuation or ~63% real attenuation, while the ~103% whisky apparent attenuations is ~83% real attenuation. So whisky folk ferment abt 20% more of the total extract than beer brewers. -S Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:02:57 -0700 From: "Michael Eyre" <meyre at sbcglobal.net> Subject: Cereal Mash temp question... Steve, If this is so, why do the distilleries (yeah, distilleries, not breweries... afterall, they'r the ones using the most corn I can think of in a mash) do a rolling boil on their corn and grains? If all that's required is 62-74 degrees, what's up with the boil? I realize the distilleries typically do some things differently that a brewery and I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the difference, but if they didn't have to boil, why would they do the whole process and waste the energy/expense of it all if the end result would be the same? Mike - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 17:37:48 -0400 From: "steve.alexander" <steve-alexander at adelphia.net> Subject: Re: Cereal Mash A classic cereal mash involves mixing roughly 90% crushed raw grain with about 10% crushed malt and then immediately stepping this to or just above the raw grain gelatinization temperature. Some ranges for gelat temps for common raw grains (and others) are: maize(corn) 62C-74C sorghum 69C-75C rice 61C-78C wheat 52C-64C barley 60C-62C potato 56C-69C The large ranges probably have to do with the substantial variation of gelat temp as the fraction of amylopectin varies in (e.g. in waxy grain varieties). The actual gelat temp for a given sample is quite well defined. The point of the cereal mash is NOT complete conversion, but efficient extraction of starch with enough alpha-amylase present to free water and avoid retrogradation. The amylopectin fraction of starch traps a *lot* of water molecules and although other factors are involved, the primary purpose of the cereal mash is to release the raw grist amylopectin, then chop these up with the super-abundant alpha-amylase of the malt. This allows the cereal mash to avoid retrogradation (starch turning to glue and lost to the wort) while using only a "normal" amount of mash water. Without the alpha-amylase it requires some ridiculous amount of water (~20qt/lb) to avoid retrogradation. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:54:27 -0700 From: Jeremy Bergsman <nobody at comcast.net> Subject: What do you think of this? http://www.warenhaus-geissler.de/index.php?r=module/info.php&sel=25248 Reactions? Search keywords: Germany upwards reverse recirculation RIMS - -- Jeremy Bergsman jeremy at bergsman.org http://bergsman.org Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:44:46 -0400 From: "Jim Liddil" <jliddil at gmail.com> Subject: shaarbeek cherries > > Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:36:15 -0400 > From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <hbd at spencerwthomas.com> > Subject: Shaarbeek cherries > > As far as I know, the Shaarbeek cherry is not available in the US. A > couple of friends (Ken Schramm and Dan McConnell) wanted to grow some > about a decade back. They could get stock shipped from Belgium, but by > the time it went through quarantine, it would likely be dead. Well that is one way to tell the story, wink wink nudge nudge...... And as I recall Shaarbeek does not really exist. But my memroy is hazy from too many beers at that particular AHA event. :-) And Amy is the expert. If you have a tree you can sometimes request scion wood if you know how to graft and you then have a tree that produces various varieties. Extension service folks are usually quite open to giving out scion wood if they have what you want. At least in CT. My next step now that my tree is mature enough is to start grafting. > > As far as I know, this cherry has not been commercialized in the US, > either. There is a new dark, sour cherry that some Michigan growers (at > least) have picked up: the Balaton cherry > (http://www.hrt.msu.edu/Balaton.html). This cherry sounds to me like it > would work better for a kriek-style beer than standard Montmorency > ("pie") cherries. It appears to be available by mail order from several > sources. I have a dwarf north star that produces quite well and is pretty intensely sour. They are small and the tree produces well, but I also only grow organically and I have a cage around it to keep birds and squirrels away. Jim Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:50:16 -0400 From: "Alex Sheftel" <asheft at po-box.mcgill.ca> Subject: Re: Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast Amazing coincidence: I was checking the Wyeast site for a description of their 1968 strain to see if it is a diacetyl producer when I saw this post! (I've got two beers in primary that I want to know when to rack). From what I understand, after you think fermentation is more or less finished, you should leave the beer on the yeast for a few days for it to absorb the diacetyl. Apparently, top fermenting yeasts are higher diacetyl producers than typical lager yeasts, but their high temperature fermentation quickly promotes the absorption and metabolism of the diacetyl that is produced. Thus, the diacetyl rest for an ale yeast is basically an extended primary fermentation time (as you suggested as one of your options). I brewed my beers last weekend (Friday and Saturday / Brown Ale and Pale Ale) with this yeast; I'm going to rack them to secondary fermentors on Thursday and/or Friday. Does anyone with more experience with this yeast have any suggestions for a diacetyl rest? > Can someone explain to me how one conducts a diacetyl rest for this > yeast that would look different than the fermentation itself? Or does > the author simply mean to allow the beer to remain at fermentation > temperature for somewhat longer than is required to actually finish the > fermentation? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 10:51:56 +0930 From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com> Subject: Re: Flour beer? On Tuesday, 18 April 2006 at 23:59:19 -0500, Gary Smith wrote: > While waltzin' through Costco I passed by their huge > bags of flour & I couldn't help but wonder if anyone's > ever tried (with success) making beer from flour. > > Seems like the addition of some 6 row for enzymes > might do the conversion but how to deal with the > inevitable sludge? Husks? I sure wouldn't run it in my > rims, that would be a nasty mess to clean afterwards. > > I'm not thinking high quality brew but just wondering > what might be possible. I used flour as an adjunct recently. It gave quite a good beer, but also the worst stuck sparge I've ever had. You'd have to find a way to avoid turning it into glue. 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, 24 Apr 2006 10:54:27 +0930 From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com> Subject: Re: Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast On Friday, 21 April 2006 at 7:16:43 -0400, Fred L Johnson wrote: > A description of Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast includes the > following: > > "Diacetyl production is noticeable and a thorough rest; 50-70 degrees > F, (10-21 degree C) is necessary." > > Can someone explain to me how one conducts a diacetyl rest for this > yeast that would look different than the fermentation itself? Or > does the author simply mean to allow the beer to remain at > fermentation temperature for somewhat longer than is required to > actually finish the fermentation? I asked this question a while back, about the same yeast. The consensus was that you need to leave the beer on the yeast cake at around 18<insert degree sign here> for a few days to allow the yeast to convert the diacetyl. That's what I did, and the resultant beer was fine. Greg - -- Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key. See complete headers for address and phone numbers. Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 04/23/06, by HBD2HTML v1.2 by KFL
webmaster@hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96