HOMEBREW Digest #522 Mon 22 October 1990

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


Contents:
  Ice to chill wort (willa)
  AHA Conference rumors  (Darryl Richman)
  re: AHA Judging (Darryl Richman)
  Soda kegs, and warm weather in the east (Mark.Nevar)
  Automash, 7 Gal Carboys, Germany Part 1 (Norm Hardy)
  Flowers in beer (Drew Lawson)
  Competition (Todd Enders - WD0BCI )

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 08:28:33 PDT From: willa at hpvclwa.vcd.hp.com Subject: Ice to chill wort > From: mike_schrempp%29 at hp4200.desk.hp.com > Subject: Wort chilling > . > . > I froze a 5 quarts of water and threw it into 1.5 gallons of boiling wort. I > calculated this would bring it down to 65degrees. Well, after 10 minutes it > was down to 59 and I pulled out about a 1 quart block. I guess there was > quite a bit of cooling through the sides of the pot. > . > . Mike: How did you calculate the effect of the ice on the water? Did you account for the (substatnial) energy required to convert ice at 0C to water at 0C? . . .Will Will Allen HP Vancouver Division willa at vcd.hp.com or ...!hplabs!vcd!willa or Will ALLEN / HP5400/UX Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 09:04:05 -0700 From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman) Subject: AHA Conference rumors > Well the latest rumor about the 1991 AHA National Conference is not good. It > seems that for whatever reason, the AHA and Boston University were unable to > come to an agreement, so the conference will not be held in Boston. Instead > it will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire. > - Chuck Cox (uunet!bose!synchro!chuck) - Hopped/Up Racing Team - This is really a shame because Boston offers as many opportunities for fine beer as the Bay area gave us last year. I thought that Boston had more colleges than any other city--can't they talk with some of the others? But another of your comments struck a note I've heard sounded many times before: "Given the high cost of attending the conference..." Is $250 plus hotel and travel really that expensive for a 3 day conference including a several meals? It seems to me that I've seen many other conferences in the computer industry that don't offer as much for more money (although everyone hopes to get their company to pay for the attendance). It really does cost $20/head to get rubber chicken, and, as the Falcons disovered last year, a very small room costs $350 to rent for the evening. It's not like the AHA was making 100% profit on this either--the last issue had an abbreviated budget sheet and I noticed that the conference brought in $70k and spent $50k. (Do you think they could spend some of that $20k on a little more beer at the MJ lunch? I got only the tiniest of sips of the Peche.) In fact, the $20k seems to be the margin that AHA runs on, on annual revenues of $370k. At about ~5%, that's pretty close to non-profit, which is what the AHA is supposed to be. --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 09:43:57 -0700 From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman) Subject: re: AHA Judging I'm so sad that I was out on a business trip (Hi Chuck!) when this started. The AHA is everyone's favorite whipping boy; I've been known to engage in a little bashing myself. It certainly is easy to do, but the question is, how can it be done better. The regional first round has been resisted by the AHA for quite a while, but I'm happy to hear that they have finally given in. The first round *has* always been a disaster, and I have heard that the Boulder Police Chief was not going to put up with any more kidnappings off the street. The "Beds for Brewers" was a joke with only a few crazies responding. (after all, if you only get 2 weeks of vacation, and one of them goes to the Conference, how can you justify spending the other one in Boulder, especially to the non- brewing spouse?) The second round this last year had more BJCP judges than ever before. It was my impression that there were 2 or 3 BJCPers at each table and a few hangers-on as well. (At the Scotch Ale table, there were 3 BJCP judges and two others). It would be nice if the judges were scheduled for categories, which is what the Falcons try to do. (e.g., ask all of the prospective judges to specify three categories they feel qualified for and then place them by preference.) This provides some control and guarantees that each table has as many qualified judges as are available, assuming you have any faith in the BJCP. Now, regardless of your opinion of the worth of the BJCP exams and ratings, it is a screening process that selects for people who are interested in beer (for more than its alcohol level) and beer styles, and have an idea of what the different styles are supposed to be about. Which is certainly a step up from what was available before. It is impossible to recruit a thousand Michael Jacksons (or even Chuck Coxes), so there is always going to be some variation in the judging. Furthermore, inexperienced judges are relying on the AHA to tell them what most of the styles are like. If you've ever looked closely at the category descriptions in the contest, you'll realize that somewhere around half of them don't say anything about the style at all, and none of them are, by any stretch, complete. The AHA ought to look at their judging form and write a set of comments for each style. The Falcons have been trying to do this as a background project for our own use in our competitions and for our Troubleshooters Corner tastings at each meeting. Papazian has said on previous occassions that the AHA was not going to market a beer doctor kit, but they could at least go to the effort of writing a useful doctoring guide so that the rest of us can do it in a consistent fashion. I run Dr. Beer sessions for the Maltose Falcons' training (cramming?) classes that we put on prior to giving the BJCP exam each year. I'm not going to claim that my sessions are repeatable from year to year, but it would be useful to have some repeatability and consistency with the rest of the world. I guess that I believe the AHA could be doing the most good by directing some research into practical matters and publishing the results. We have come a long ways from Prohibition Ale, but we still need more information. Sorry about being so long winded. --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 12:18:21 mdt From: Mark.Nevar at hp-lsd.cos.hp.com Subject: Soda kegs, and warm weather in the east I finally got some soda kegs to use. I released the pressure in one and looked inside. Now the questions. I know I should replace the o-rings, but how many are there ? Just the large one and the two on the valves ? Or are there more ? Do I take the valves off ? Do I need a special tool ? Please help. I need it. I want to keg soon. My kegs are pin-type, BTW. The North East had a warm couple of weeks in early October. I had just bottled my Rasberry Stout before the heat wave and my XMAS beer was in the secondary. Now, the XMAS beer (which had been dormant) has started bubbling again. The SG hasn't changed, so I assume it is CO2 coming out of solution. I would have bottled it, except fot the stout. I tested one after 2 weeks in the bottle and, even chilled, it was a gusher. The taste needs time to mellow out, so I checked my remaining bottles and, since they were warm, they were even gushier. I use Grolsch botles, so I relieved the pressure in all of them.o My question is this: Is the gushiness a result of CO2 coming out of solution, over-priming (I don't think so), infection (tastes fine), or bottling to soon (again, I don't think so) ? So, I haven't bottled my XMAS beer for fear of the CO2 syndrome, although it has never happened to me before. Alas, the cooler weather is here. I will bottle soon. But I want to KEG it!! Mark Nevar Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 19:16:21 PDT From: polstra!norm at uunet.UU.NET (Norm Hardy) Subject: Automash, 7 Gal Carboys, Germany Part 1 The AutoMash is a wonderful way to stop making "handcrafted" beers. It is fully programmable for the times and temperatures you want for the mash. Set it and forget it. A friend of mine says it has helped the quality of his beers immensely and swears by it. He says he paid $550 for it. Take the 7 Gal carboy and fill it with a solution of baking soda and let sit for a week or two. Then rinse, rinse, and rinse. Then sanitize. It works. The Germany Part 1 article is available for only $10 with a self-addressed stamped envelope....no, no, I'm just kidding of course. John Polstra has the achived copy and will gladly send you a copy. Norm Hardy (I wish I were at Andech's) Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 90 21:07:39 -0400 From: dlawson at grebyn.com (Drew Lawson) Subject: Flowers in beer Well, I am getting the money together to start my first batch. In the mean time, I have to get my brewing pleasures vicariously. There is one thing that I have been wondering about. I have read through Papazian's book, and he emphasizes in several places that hops are flowers (ergo delicate, volitile, etc). I also know that many flowers (marigold, nasturtium) have been used as seasonings before the fast food era. My question then, is whether anyone knows of/has experimented with the use of flowers other than hops (I think I saw a rose beer message somewhere) in brewing. I would imagine that there would be a lot of possibilities, but I don't want to repeat other's bad batches if possible. (It might cause me to start worrying.) [If I missed any of the typing errors it's bacause I only have commercial beer to keep me from worrying.] +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | If you aren't part of the solution, | Drew Lawson | | you are part of the precipitate. | dlawson at grebyn.com | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 90 21:18:48 -0500 From: Todd Enders - WD0BCI <enders at plains.NoDak.edu> Subject: Competition Ignoring whether the judging in homebrew competitions is up to snuff, I am wondering just what homebrew competitions are available between the local level and the national level. I am interested in maybe submitting a brew or two, but we have no local judging around here (as far as I know), and submitting something to the national competition is a bit daunting. It'd be nice to see a list of regional judgings posted periodicaly. What about entering a competition outside of your region (for instance is it kosher for me to submit an entry to a west coast competition?)? =============================================================================== Todd Enders - WD0BCI ARPA: enders at plains.nodak.edu Computer Center UUCP: ...!uunet!plains!enders Minot State University or: ...!hplabs!hp-lsd!plains!enders Minot, ND 58701 Bitnet: enders at plains "The present would be full of all possible futures, if the past had not already projected a pattern upon it" - Andre' Gide =============================================================================== Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #522, 10/22/90 ************************************* -------
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