HOMEBREW Digest #708 Fri 23 August 1991

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


Contents:
  Corn sugar in malt extracts (David J. Sylvester)
  Re: Keggining and other things... (cookson)
  In defense of Arlington, MA (Greg Roody - dtn 237-7122)
  TEXAS Beer (Eric Simmon)
  Homebrew Digest #707 (August 22, 1991) (Greg Kushmerek)
  Homebrew Digest #707 (August 22, 1991) (Greg Kushmerek)
  Re: Brewing Legalities (John DeCarlo)
  Re: Boston brew locations (Kevin L. McBride)
  Re:  Lauter Tun Set Up (Bill Dyer)
  RAPIDS -- not wholesale only (Chris Shenton)
  white stuff (Donald Conover)
  Oatmeal Stout/hops/new home (Timothy Mavor)
  Say what? (Frank Tutzauer)
  poland brewery (Russ Gelinas)
  Haste appears to have made waste (help!) (Katy T. Kislitzin)
  SOME RANDOM HERETICAL THOUGHTS (longish) (Conn Copas)
  kegging startup (florianb)
  Brewing in Utah and New Jersey (Chuck Coronella)
  Brewing Down Under (ANDY HILL)
  Unequal Budweiser (Chuck Coronella)
  Hefe Weizen (korz)
  Norm Hardy's Germany series of last fall (flowers)
  Porter vs. Stout (korz)
  Metallic taste (Darren Evans-Young)
  Iowa vs Minnesota (STROUD)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #707 (August 22, 1991) ("C. Ian Connolly")
  Re: Why is my beer so sweet? (Clarence Dold)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 06:49:32 -0400 From: David J. Sylvester <sylveste at wsfasb.crd.ge.com> Subject: Corn sugar in malt extracts Hi I will be leaving my position here after tomorrow and will no longer be able to read this digest. I just want to say that I have learned an amazing amount about homebrewing from the experts who have contributed so much so well. My thanks to you all! As a final $0.02 worth, I just opened the first bottle of an amber lager I made using a John Bull hopped **lager** extract. This actually came as part of a lager "kit" that included an unmarked package of yeast and an unmarked package of "wort finings" which I later found out was Irish Moss. I used Whitbread dry lager yeast instead and I added some pellet hops, just to be sure. Overall, the beer had some good qualities. Very crisp and clean, not too sweet. But I noticed a distinct odor and taste that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I gave the glass to my wife, whois NOT a beer drinker, and asked her what it smelled like. Her unbiased reply was "fruity, like cider". !!!!!!! I added no other malt (dry or otherwise) and I certainly added no sugar (except for the 3/4 cup for priming). As I recall from the discussion here about sugar in extracts, the group that did the research would not name the extracts except to say they were lager extracts. My experience with John Bull (I believe it is called the Master Lager Kit) would certainly verify this. Keep up the good work folks! Dave ==== Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 08:35:21 EDT From: cookson at mbunix.mitre.org Subject: Re: Keggining and other things... [Richard Dale talks about buying used stuff from a deceased restaurant] This seems like the best idea I've heard in a while. Maybe the failed Mass. miracle can help me find some cheap kegging supplies. It looks like I'll still have to go through some place like Foxx for the hoses and tap and stuff, but so what... Maybe the batch of bitter that's bubbling away in my basement is keg bound. I sure wouldn't miss washing out bottles... [Chris Shenton says] >My only complaint about kegs is that when my friends hear I've `tapped' one, >it doesn't tend to last too long! That may not be such a tradgedy. I already keep pretty warm in the winter. Generally the same way whales do... :-) [Chad Epifanio says] > I've been told that ales generally do not benifit from >extended aging in the fermenters, and should be bottled within two >weeks(ideally right after fermentation ends). I've usually found this >to be true, except with the *extremenly* high gravity beers(like >Russian Imperial Stout) or flavored beers(like Raspberry Ale), which >seemed to benifit from a bit longer aging. I wasn't really thinking of aging the beer, just getting in away from the trub, once in settles out. Also, I'm planning on dry hopping this batch. Do I just shove the hops down the neck of the carboy, or what?? [Jack Schmidling says] >The BAD NEWS is, the system works so well that it is >probably the shortest distance between social drinking and >alcoholism, not to mention a belly that looks like the keg. I doubt if the former is likely to become much of a problem. As far as I've been able to tell, the only thing I'm compulsive about is breathing, and then only bearly... :-) As far as the latter goes, that's what my health club membership is for. Thanks for all the suggestions folks. It looks like it's time to start checking out the forsale ads. Dean Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 05:58:35 PDT From: Greg Roody - dtn 237-7122 <roody at necsc.enet.dec.com> Subject: In defense of Arlington, MA In HBD 707, Chip Hancock writes that after prohobition, many counties remained dry "(e.g. Arlington, MA)". Well, Arlington is not quite "dry". There are two restaraunts which have liquor licenses and another which is applying for one. It is true that there are no bars or "packies", but I can attest to much homebrewing (hic). In Arlington, it is more important that you are well connected to councilman Charlie Lyons, than anything else. If he likes you, you can get a license for anything. If not, take a hike. Arlington would be a much nicer town without his garbage. Isn't small town politics wonderful? /greg PS - this is of course, personal opinion. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 09:20:39 EDT From: simmon at eeel.nist.gov (Eric Simmon) Subject: TEXAS Beer I've got a friend who is moving to Houston Texas in a week (next wednesday to be exact). He was wondering what good bars, pubs, clubs, brewpubs, microbreweries are located in the Houston area. Anyone have any ideas??? Please Email or Post responses. Thanks, Eric Simmon simmon at eeel.nist.gov Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 09:20:28 -0400 From: gkushmer at jade.tufts.edu (Greg Kushmerek) Subject: Homebrew Digest #707 (August 22, 1991) Utah is not a dry state, they just tax the s*** out of anything alcoholic. - --gk [Utah must love having the "heathens"in Nevada so close] Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 09:20:28 -0400 From: gkushmer at jade.tufts.edu (Greg Kushmerek) Subject: Homebrew Digest #707 (August 22, 1991) Utah is not a dry state, they just tax the s*** out of anything alcoholic. - --gk [Utah must love having the "heathens"in Nevada so close] Return to table of contents
Date: Thursday, 22 Aug 1991 09:58:09 EDT From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo) Subject: Re: Brewing Legalities >Date: Wed, 21 Aug 91 12:14:27 EDT >From: cjh at vallance.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Chip Hitchcock) > Congress did not pass a law saying that anyone can brew beer; >they canceled a previous law that said nobody can brew at home. As far as I can tell (I am not a lawyer), the federal law sponsored by Alan Cranston made the homebrewer and home winemaker exempt from paying any federal taxes on the alcohol produced. This makes homebrewing legal without the necessity to procure federal licenses and pay federal taxes. The law spells out that it is illegal to brew without paying the federal taxes *unless* you qualify for the exemption by being an adult and brewing fewer than 100 gallons (or 200 for multi-adult household). Of course, as you point out, states may also have applicable laws. > I don't think Utah is a dry state; Tim Powers (SF writer) >mentioned picking up a suitcase of Coors on his way from >downtown to BYU for a speech (as a leadin to the fuss when >someone noticed the case cooling on the outside of his >windowsill). In fact, on a return trip from California, my wife got off the plane at a stop in Utah, and picked me up some Park City beer. Pretty good. I also saw a story on the area that implied that the ski resort areas (such as Park City) were influential in repealing some of the anti-alcohol laws in Utah, so they could sell beer and liquor to tourists. Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org (or John.DeCarlo at f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org) Fidonet: 1:109/131 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 8:22:05 EDT From: gozer!klm at uunet.UU.NET (Kevin L. McBride) Subject: Re: Boston brew locations In HBD #707 larry at evi.com (Larry McCaig) writes: >[Lotsa nice Boston pub crawl sites] > >We have one other brewery near Northern Ave which makes Harpoon Ale. I >don't have any info on their tour hours, or even the name of the >brewery, but someone should be able to fill you in. The ale is quite >nice. The Mass. Bay Brewing Company. The brewery is located in a warehouse and looks more like a working brewery (because it is) than the Boston Beer Company's brewery. We went there on our brewery crawl during the AHA conference. Nothing much to see unless you are a real micro-brewery freak and get off on seeing stainless steel tanks, plumbing, concrete floors, and stacks and stacks of empty F.X. Matt kegs. This brewery is where they produce their kegged "products." Their bottled varieties of Harpoon are brewed and bottled under contract by Matt. At the Boston location they also brew a custom contract light beer for a chain of pizza joints called Bertucci's. (The pizza is better than the beer.) The guy who runs the brewery was very hospitable to us during our tour but made it pretty clear that they don't normally do tours and that they were making an exception for us. He seemed really paranoid about having a bunch of people poking around his brewery and asked people several times to not touch anything. He was probably reviewing his liability policy in his head as Fred Eckhardt walked around behind the fermenters. It was also dreadfully hot inside. Perfect excuse for him to whip out a couple of pitchers and a stack of cups and offer us some free beer. (Free Beer!) The Harpoon Ale is (IMHO) better when drawn straight off the bright beer tank than when poured from a bottle, but then most beers are. They're usually free at that point and you KNOW they're fresh. :-) >Hope this helps you out a bit. I don't know the area you are going to in New >Hampshire that well so can't help you there. Conway, NH ain't what it used to be. It used to be a quaint sleepy little New England town. My family has a place in Conway and I spent my summers there when I was a kid. Now it's Factory Outlet Hell and there are no really good places to go drinking. There are some really good restaurants in the area and they all have pretty reasonable wine lists, but they don't serve any really interesting beers. The pubs cater mostly to the Bud swilling general public. I'm sure that there is a place in town where you can get a pint of Bass, but I haven't seen it. There are a LOT of places and I haven't been to all of them recently. Your best bet would be to check out the lounge at the Eastern Slopes Inn. After that, you're on your own. Outside of the downtown area is some excellent nature sight seeing, and there are a couple of really awesome fishing holes, but I'm not telling. Conway also has its slummy section which you'll get to see if you take a ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad. - -- Kevin Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 10:01:50 CDT From: dyer at marble.rtsg.mot.com (Bill Dyer) Subject: Re: Lauter Tun Set Up Kurt Swanson writes in HBD #706 > To those of you using the bucket within a bucket lauter tun (w/the >hundreds of drilled holes), what kind of buckets do you use? I have 2 of the I just did my first all grain batch last weekend and I built one of these lauter tuns. I used a seven gallon fermenting bucket inside a 5 gallon bottling bucket. This left about 1.5 inches between the 2 bottoms. This left just enough room for one of those plastic spigots. The setup worked quite well. When I was looking for buckets for this thing, I found that some buckets fit inside each better than others. The 7 gallon bucket works well because it has a larger distance from the flanges to the bottom than the 5 gallon bucket. I got these buckets at Alternative Garden Supply, which isn't too far from you. Hope this helps. -Bill _____________________________________________________________________________ | you'll think I'm dead, but I sail away |Bill Dyer (708) 632-7081 | | on a wave of mutilation | dyer at motcid.rtsg.mot.com | | -Pixies | or uunet!motcid!dyer | Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 11:20:08 EDT From: Chris Shenton <chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: RAPIDS -- not wholesale only On Wed, 21 Aug 1991 9:52:06 EDT, R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas) said: Russ> Rapids phone number is (800) 553-7906. Ask for a catalog. They'll Russ> ask if it's for a business. Say yes; they are wholesale only. I've never had any problem, as a non-business-type human. I also asked them if they would sell me a professional oven. ``Sure'', they said: ``some of our staff have done the same''. (No problem for an individual, just the postage would be $300 :-() Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 91 20:52:37 -0400 From: conover at c1south.convex.com (Donald Conover) Subject: white stuff I recently went to a pure malt extrat batch ( no sugar). I ened up with a batch that had this white stuff growing in it. What a disappointment. I have been using a plastic fermenter , but went to a 6 gaalon glass carboy. Will you please tell me what the white stuff was. I live close to Orlando Florida and my brew usually ferments at about 78-80 F. I also have recently gone to sterilize my equipment with chlorine bleach. Was I just careless with sanitation?? Thanks in advance.........don Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 12:31:59 -0400 From: Timothy Mavor <tmavor at pandora.cms.udel.edu> Subject: Oatmeal Stout/hops/new home Concerning Oatmeal Stout recipes, my recent batch of Bachelor Stout (made the night before my wedding!) used Steel Cut Oats (24oz) for 6 gallons. I found the head retention to be very good. I would think that with Rolled Oats that clarity would be a problem. I got the recipe off of the digest, but if anyone wants it I will post it/ email it. Of the several recipes that I have seen, this seemed to have the most success for others. I thought it was good, but am willing to test others! ;) This year I attempted to grow my own hops, but didn't get the rhizomes in the ground til mid May, so no harvest is likely for me this year :( However, how should I "winterize" them? Should the bases be covered with some mulch-like material? Would fertilizing be helpful? Should I trim the vines back? When?? The plants are growing at my parents in Mass., so there is frost. Is this a major concern? I have recently moved down to the U. of Del. and am looking for brewpubs and homebrew supply stores in the area. Any suggestions in the area from about Philadelphia down to Balt? I looked at a recent HBD with the listings of all micro's and brewpubs but found there to be none in Delaware! Any help would be greatly appreciated. _______________________________________________________________________________ It's not just homebrewing....... It's Chemical Engineering, Fluids and Sorcery! _______________________________________________________________________________ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 13:19 EDT From: Frank Tutzauer <COMFRANK at ubvmsc.cc.buffalo.edu> Subject: Say what? Everything I've learned about brewing (so far) has been from reading. Other than netfriends, I don't know a single soul who brews (yet). I've never even SPOKEN about brewing to anyone except my wife, and she knows less than I do, although she is responsible for getting me started. (She bought a bunch of books and gave them to me because she thought brewing would be a cool thing to do--she was right.) As you've undoubtedly noticed, brewing has a quite colorful vocabulary. Unfortunately, my reliance on the printed, rather than spoken, word means there are many terms about which I am absolutely clue-free concerning how to pronounce them. I learned how to say "kraeusen" from Old Style beer commercials, and "wort" and "trub" are no problem because EVERYBODY tells you how to pronounce those. But what about: gyle -- hard g or soft? lauter tun -- is it ton? toon? tuhn? Papazian -- Puh PAY zee uhn? Pap a ZEE un? Saaz -- saz? soz? sa-oz? Wyeast -- Why yeast? Why NOT yeast? Fuggles -- one of those words that's probably pronounced like it's spelled, but looks as though it shouldn't be pronounced like it's spelled. Reinheitsgebot -- gimme a break.... (Actually, with a nice German name like Tutzauer you'd figure I'd be able to say this one. What can I tell you? I'm very far removed from my heritage.) While we're on the subject of words, I would like to comment that brew jargon is, IMHO, very strange. About half of it is scientific/technical sounding stuff (counter-flow wort chiller, diastatic enzymes, autolysis) but the other half is downright goofy (carboy? bung? barm? sparge??). Cheesh!  Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1991 13:23:25 EDT From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas) Subject: poland brewery Has anyone ever heard of any breweries in Poland? My brother-in-law has been in contact with some brewery in Poland, and they've been discussing using some of his machine shop space to open a US branch. (!) I guess the brewery VP is sending over a case or 2 for us, I mean him :-), to check out. Supposedly they use quality materials and make good beer, but I'm suspicious. The VP said that no Polish beer is currently exported, so they're trying to be the first, in a way. Any of you world travelers been to Poland? On a different note, is it possible for tap water to have a pH of 4.5? That's what the papers say. My wife, who worked for the water company, said that the water they pump out is 7.0. I've got a friend who thinks she can get me a digital pH meter, so I'd know for sure then, but in the mean time, what gives? The papers do show alkalinity when I add baking soda to the water, so they at least work somewhat. Russ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 10:32:17 -0700 From: ktk at nas.nasa.gov (Katy T. Kislitzin) Subject: Haste appears to have made waste (help!) Hello! Well, as I am having a party on Saturday, I wanted to have homebrew to serve my guests. As I only had one brew ready to go, about 2 weeks ago my SO and I did a brew. We used an unhopped amber extract, 1 C cracked crystal malt, 1/2 oz of bullion hops, and reused Wyeast #1098, British Ale yeast. We had been planning a stout for our next beer, but since we were in a hurry, we tried to do a beer that would ferment and age quickly, while still using up ingredients we had on hand. All went well until it came time to "bottle". We decided to keg the beer, a first for us. We purchased the equipment, including a keg that had been mostly full of root beer. This was the end of my involvement in the process, btw. When we got home, eric rinsed the keg several times with water, but did not bleach or use any detergent because the keg was clearly sterile (nothing had been growing in the root beer syrup, after all). He used *no* priming sugar and just racked the beer from the fermenter into the keg. The plan was to use the CO2 from the canister to carbonate the beer. Last night I tried some of it, which has been kegged since Sunday night. There was a huge head which dissipated quickly and the beer was flat, to my taste. The beer was warmish, and is clearly meant to be served cold, but the big problem was that it had a root flavor. I am reluctant at this point to serve this to my guests, but am wondering if the net has any suggestions to a) improve it in time for the party (tomorrow, by the time you get this) or b) salvage it in an arbitrary length of time. I only have about 3 six packs of other homebrew, an amber which I am especially fond of! Please email your suggestions as I am clearly in a time crunch, - --kt ============================================================================ Katy Kislitzin, ktk at nas.nasa.gov, ...!{ames, uunet}!nas.nasa.gov!ktk Systems Programmer, Networks Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Project, NASA/Ames +1 415 604 4622 [NASA/Ames is in Mt. View CA. I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains with my S.O. Eric, and cats Sid, Zippy, Nickel & Copper] ============================================================================ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1991 10:47:25 +0000 From: Conn Copas <C.V.Copas at loughborough.ac.uk> Subject: SOME RANDOM HERETICAL THOUGHTS (longish) For the sake of a discussion, thought I would stick my neck out and invite public decapitation ! The gist of my argument is that I sometimes wonder whether, in our efforts to imitate professional brewers, we occasionally miss the point. 1) Sparging To a chemical engineer, sparging is a solvent extraction problem. Theory says that a series of small extractions are more efficient than one big extraction, with sparging being the ultimate extension of this approach. So, for example, if one wishes to pass 6 gallons of water through a mash, a series of 2 gallon rinses is better than one 6 gallon rinse, and sparging is better still. On the other hand, sparging causes lots of problems (for some), as witnessed by all the discussion of set mashes and home lauter tun design. We have all read about the dire consequences of washing sediment into the boiler, but maybe this is an illusory problem. What about simply leaving the wort to settle, then racking into the boiler ? On the occasions when I have had to leach the grains because of a set mash, I can't say that either efficiency or beer quality has suffered noticeably. More heretically still, we've seen recent recommendations to add boiler trub to the fermenter in order to ensure depth of flavour. Food for thought, huh ? 2) Boiling Times We see recommendations for EXTRACT boiling times ranging from nil up to 2 hours. Given that the extract has previously been condensed (probably under vacuum, at a temperature less than 100 C), it is reasonable to presume that at least a partial hot break has already occurred. I've personally found no advantages in boiling extracts longer than 10 minutes, although obviously hop bitterness extraction takes longer than that. Even regarding full mashed brews, Alexander cautions against over-boiling on the grounds that excess protein precipitation can reduce the beer's head retention. Does anybody have any experience in this area ? 3) Wort Chilling A commercial-size brew will take days to cool at room temperature, so the professionals inevitably resort to using heat-exchangers. Most homebrews will cool overnight. Once again, we have been warned of the consequences of defective cold breaks, but my limited experiments have shown this not to be a particularly significant problem. Granted, you may be anxious to pitch the yeast and prevent infection, but isn't this also a criticism of the environment that you are brewing in ? 4) Unmalted Adjuncts Unmalted adjuncts are cheaper than malt and, in days gone by, were even cheaper than sugar. So they found favour in brewery practice. Admittedly, some adjuncts convey desirable properties on the beer, eg, wheat for head retention, rice for lightness of flavour without sacrificing body (yes, some people like this), and even (yechh!) the flavour of maize has come to be appreciated by some misguided individuals :-) But consider this. You are making a stout and the recipe calls for flaked barley. Why not simply add more malt ? Does the flaked barley possess anything that the malt does not (like different proteins maybe) ? 5) Hop Drying Commercial hops are fast-dried at high temperatures, then often dusted with sulphur as a preservative. We don't need to imitate the second step, and I'm not so sure that we need to imitate the first. The standard method of home-drying most herbs is to place them in a dark, ventilated position at room temperature for about 3 weeks. This method certainly has advantages as far as retaining volatiles goes. Secondly, the method encourages a limited type of curing, in which the green chlorophyll in the plant becomes degraded. Great if you're planning to smoke hops, but probably also does have flavour advantages for the brew ! Yours in alchemy Conn V Copas tel : (0509)263171 ext 4164 Loughborough University of Technology fax : (0509)610815 Computer-Human Interaction Research Centre Leicestershire LE11 3TU e-mail - G Britain (Janet):C.V.Copas at uk.ac.lut (Internet):C.V.Copas%lut.ac.uk at nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 12:45:14 PDT From: florianb at chip.cna.tek.com Subject: kegging startup In Homebrew Digest #706 Dean Cookson asks: > I've been wondering, is kegging really worth the starting expense?? > The Cat's Meow lists a couple of places with complete Cornelius > systems in the $150-$175 range. Is that a good price?? And rsd at silk.udev.cdc.com replies. May I add: I got started in kegging by asking my wife to buy me a basic setup from Steinbart's (CO2 tank, valve, fittings, and one keg), then obtaining other parts elsewhere. Both Rapids and Foxx have all kinds of fittings and parts at good prices. The biggest issue for me was where to get used kegs. Finally, after messing around with older kegs (like Firestone, which is discontinued), I asked the manager of the local Pepsi bottling company to sell me kegs. Now, I can purchase their regular, used, excellent kegs for a farthing (wish I could say how much, but I will say it is at their cost!). There is something to be said for starting with a new, clean setup like I did. It's nice to be able to keg right away with new equipment minus all the hassles of used junk that doesn't seal, etc. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 14:21 MTS From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS at CHE.UTAH.EDU> Subject: Brewing in Utah and New Jersey My eye was caught by Lee Katman's questions/comments. I moved from New Jersey to Utah about four years ago, and I have really felt the difference in attitudes to alcohol. Utah is not actually a dry state, contrary to popular belief; it just seems that way. In Utah, I can buy more BudMilloorselob than I could possibly want (at 3.2% v/v alcohol). In fact, I can buy these beers at convenience stores, making them MORE accesible in Utah than in NJ. However, I cannot get the more interesting beers, like Sierra Nevada, anywhere in this state. To continue the comparison between my two home states, hard liquor is FAR more easily accesible in NJ than in Utah. There are a limited number of state owned and operated liquor stores here, with really bizarre hours. Who the hell can tell, before 9 p.m., that they're gonna want a bottle of vodka tonight, anyway? In Utah, the laws involving drinking in bars and restaurants are far too numerous to go into here. Just trust me that the division between church and state is nearly invisible. (An interesting sidenote- a good friend of mine from Iran tells me that, in Iran, all non-Moslems would be allowed to brew there own beer!!! ;-) Surprisingly enough, Utah and NJ are alike in the fact that homebrewing is illegal in both; the difference is that action is under way in NJ to change this. Anyway, it's not much of a problem for me, since there are two homebrew supply shops in town (supporting an illegal industry!) But perhaps the most interesting contrast between the two states is that I know of at least an order of magnitude more homebrewers in Utah than in NJ. Wild, ehh? There must be some kind of antiestablishmentaryism (?) at work here. From behind the Zion curtain, Chuck Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 91 08:37 M From: ANDY HILL <VIOLATOR at MATAI.vuw.ac.nz> Subject: Brewing Down Under G'day! I'm new to this group so 'scuse my ignorance.... Anyway, I was wondering whether there are any brewers around NZ who would be interested in swapping some recipes, ideas, hints, etc... E-mail me at the address below if interested. One question I do have.... I have a few books on home-brewing, some American, some English. The names of the hops in the recipes (such as Fuggles, etc...) aren't readily available here (not that I know of) but we have types such as Sticklebract, Super Alpha, Green Bullet, etc... Could someone perhaps give me some sort of direction as to which ones are interchangeable? Cheers (hic!) Andy (violator at matai.vuw.nz.ac) DISCLAIMER: I didn't do it, honest! LITTLE MEANINGFUL MESSAGE THINGY: Here's to life in the so-called space age. JOKE: <still thinking up one> - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 15:19 MTS From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS at CHE.UTAH.EDU> Subject: Unequal Budweiser Greetings, Here in Utah, the beer sold in most stores (except in state operated liquor stores and some private clubs) is by law limited to 3.2% (by volume) alcohol. I understand the same is true with a few other states. I guess this must create a significant hardship for the smaller breweries, since I am unable to find beers from any microbreweries and most imports. Let's be generous and assume that the smaller breweries have dedicated brewmasters who are unwilling to compromise. Anyway, we have available all your favorite brands- Bud, Old Milwaukee, Coors, Miller, Kestone, etc. as well as some imports- Heineken and Molsen are two that come to mind. My question is this- what is the percent of alcohol in most of these beers otherwise? This is perhaps to broad of a question. How about telling me simply, what is the strength of Budweiser, the all-American classic, (for good or bad, let's not get into that now) outside of Utah. I have heard both that 1) These MegaBreweries brew special low alcohol beers for the 3.2 market, and that 2) The beer is the same everywhere. Of course, the federal law prohibiting the listing of strength serves to obfuscate the issue. Let's hear it- how unequal are all Budweisers created? Cheers, Chuck P.S. I'll take a homebrew over a Bud anyday. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 10:07 CDT From: korz at ihlpl.att.com Subject: Hefe Weizen Mike-- Tucher *does* make a hefe weizen as well as a kristal. My taste has changed since the discovery of English and Belgian beers, but when I used to drink weizen, I liked the Tucher Hefe and Paulaner Hefe. If you want to try a *really bad* weizen, try Faust. Yuk! Al. korz at ihlpl.att.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1991 16:53:36 -0600 From: flowers at csrd.uiuc.edu Subject: Norm Hardy's Germany series of last fall As I needed the typing practice, and since there has been some interest, I re-entered the series of six articles that Norm Hardy wrote about his trip to Germany last July. Still very good (the articles, not my typing). If anyone would like a copy of this re-electrified series, I will email it to you. I typed it into Word on a Mac, but it will convert to Ascii very easily. I know what you're thinking..."Why did he do this?" Well, I thought it might be useful and I didn't want to mess around retrieving the old digests from the library server. Also it served an interesting exercise to hone my newfound typing skills. Norm, you give a recipe (including procedures) at the end of the last article. Would you care to comment on the outcome of that batch? It sounds pretty tasty. Since I am now interested in brewing established styles of beer, I found the series more interesting than the first time around. -Craig Flowers (flowers at csrd.uiuc.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 11:56 CDT From: korz at ihlpl.att.com Subject: Porter vs. Stout A number of days ago, I wrote about a stout I brewed that ended up tasting like a porter. I got mail from someone (sorry, I forgot who) saying I had it all wrong... that stout is associated with a roasted barley flavor and porter is not. I sent email back continuing to argue my position. Yesterday, I checked Papazian and sure enough, according to Charlie, I'm wrong. Now, I plan to investigate this more to find out where I got mixed- up. I plan to compare my beer with my benchmarks for sweet stout (Tooth's Sheaf Stout & Mackeson's Triple Stout) and porter (Anchor Porter). Maybe I just haven't had my benchmark beers for too long a time. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 17:15:33 CDT From: Darren Evans-Young <DARREN at UA1VM.UA.EDU> Subject: Metallic taste I've been plagued by a slight metallic taste in some of my brews, not all. It couldn't be sterilant. I overrinse, if that's possible. I think I've discovered the source. The copper scrubbers that I use over the end of my siphon pickup. They are NOT pure copper, just copper coated..a thin one at that. I've been reusing them instead of using a new one each time. For those that use them, use a new one each time. It's not worth sacrificing 5 gals of homebrew to save 59 cents. Also, I boil my new ones in a vinegar/water solution to remove any tarnish and/or manufacturing oils/gunk. Darren E. Evans-Young The University of Alabama Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1991 16:24 EST From: STROUD%GAIA at sdi.polaroid.com Subject: Iowa vs Minnesota In HBD #707, Russ Gelinas writes: >I believe Rapids is located in Iowa, which would lead to lower shipping costs >to most of the US than from Minnesota. Huhhh? Last time I looked, Iowa and Minnesota were located right next to each other. Why should shipping costs to New Hampshire be different whether shipped from IA or MN? Steve Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 20:54:25 EDT From: "C. Ian Connolly" <connolly at cs.umass.edu> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #707 (August 22, 1991) From buchman at marva1.dco.DEC.COM (Dances with Workstations): > - Will it be sufficient to just put the bottles in the refrigerator, >on the theory that cold beer holds more carbonation and so is less likely >to blow up? I hate to chill good stout but will do so if necessary. My last batch was a stout that started gushing only one day after bottling. Luckily, I usually sample a bottle a day right after bottling to see how they're coming along (i.e., I can't resist). Finding two gushers, I put all the bottles in the refrigerator, which arrested the process pretty well. They came out a tad undercarbonated and a bit sweeter than I'd planned on, but quite drinkable and no bombs. -CC Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 91 22:04:49 PDT From: Clarence Dold <dold at tsdold.Convergent.COM> Subject: Re: Why is my beer so sweet? Speaking of underhopped, sweet, and extract in the same breath: > best bet is to stop using hopped extract (the reason alot of people > advise mashing is to have more control over the beer than using My first batch of Hopped Malt Extract brew tasted a lot like apple cider at the end of two-three weeks. After 4 it was good. After 6 it was very good, but it was gone. 15 years later, I still brew hopped malt extracts because I like it. I have brewed only two all malt batches. I didn't like them. I have tried unhopped, adding hops. I didn't like that either. I have had brew made by a lot of folks that are serious about their brewing (try an SCA chapter). I like mine. I do not like heavy hops, in fact the 'Beer Maker's Australia' Pilsener is a hopped malt extract kit that borders on too hoppy for my tastes. That does bring on another thought though. I read in Zymurgy that some extract manufacturers were providing an all-malt recipe, without the corn sugar additions. Is this just an "alternate" recipe, or is it a different malt? If all you do is make three gallons with no sugar, as opposed to 5 gallons with sugar, with the same malt and hops, it sounds like one or the other of the recipes is faulty. - -- - --- Clarence A Dold - dold at tsmiti.Convergent.COM ...pyramid!ctnews!tsmiti!dold Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #708, 08/23/91 ************************************* -------
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