HOMEBREW Digest #740 Tue 08 October 1991

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


Contents:
  Anchor's Spruce beer (Dick Dunn)
  re: VIDEO (Dick Dunn)
  Re: Lambics (Mike Sharp)
  Is this from HP Ft Collins? (TSAMSEL)
  Favorite Recipes (John DeCarlo)
  re: caps from Hell ("Dennis R. Sherman")
  Holiday Ale (wbt)
  Homebrew Digest #739 (October 07, 1991) (Greg Kushmerek)
  Rotokegs and SA Octoberfest (Tom Maszerowski)
  Homebrew Digest #739 (October 07, 1991) (Greg Kushmerek)
  Sam Adams Malt Co. (07-Oct-1991 0930)
  Pear Beer? ("Justin A. Aborn")
  stuff (Russ Gelinas)
  Sam Adams Boston Ale and Stock Ale. ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
  Father Barleywine's yeast reuse trick -- first attempt (Chris Shenton)
  My best recipe (Don McDaniel)
  Sam Adams, commercials on the digest (krweiss)
  Liverwort (larryba)
  Re: Sam Adams Stock Ale ("MR. DAVID HABERMAN")
  Adding Amalayse to Secondary (Jim Somerville)
  Homebrew Digest #738 (October 04, 1991) (Peter Karp)
  Shocking Yeast Story.. (larryba)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #739 (Octo (Jueal, Stacey)
  Microwaving bottles, etc. (Dances with Workstations)
  Anchor... (GARY MASON - I/V/V PCU - 603-884[DTN264]1503  06-Oct-1991 1158)
  UK Brews and Pubs (Doug Latornell)
  Cork Caps / Bulk DME Prices? / Kegging Presssure (KENYON)
  Samuel Adams availability and Octoberfest (David L. Kensiski)
  more on uwave bottle sanitizing (Chip Hitchcock)
  NUKING (Jack Schmidling)
  Shameless ad's - this is too much (Greg Roody - dtn 237-7122)
  A Few Brew Questions (Ivan Adam Schneider)
  Samuel Adams (Scott P. Greeley )
  Sam Adams Octoberfest (John Stepp)
  Re:  Airlock cap (John Stepp)
  Re:  Bagging Hops (John Stepp)
  On #738 & 739 (Jeff Frane)
  Papazian Book-Signing in Boston (gonzalez)
  Neophyte's Impressions Of Boston-Area Suppliers (gonzalez)
  Last Chance for Cat's Meow (MIKE LIGAS)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 7 Oct 91 02:21:40 MDT (Mon) From: rcd at raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn) Subject: Anchor's Spruce beer Contrary to an opinion in a recent HBD (which I can't find because I got overzealous in tossing duplicates and tossed originals), I think the balance in the Anchor Spruce beer (brewed for GABF X) was just right. The basic beer was relatively light, so as not to distract one's tastebuds, but the amount of spruce essence was just about right. It was definitely there, at the level of "yeah, OK"--without being either "there's a little something funny here but I can't tell what" or "jeez, that's strong." It's not something I'm ready to sign up for drinking as an everyday beer (unlike Steam), but if this were the way beer were made, I wouldn't be put off it. Maybe, if you find the spruce essence too strong, it's because you don't spend enough time among evergreens? (You might suggest that I spend too much time there; I'll remonstrate that I don't think that's possible.:-) --- Dick Dunn rcd at raven.eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Return to table of contents
Date: 7 Oct 91 02:28:31 MDT (Mon) From: rcd at raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn) Subject: re: VIDEO > Jack Schmidling Productions is pleased to announce the release of our latest > production...... > > "BREW IT AT HOME" I think this whole thing is getting way too commercial for HBD. Perhaps I'd feel better if arf were teaching standard homebrew practice, but the couple go-rounds we've had here suggest that he's putting iconoclasm ahead of basic teaching, and in the process he's getting us to help with the editing. Even if that were not the case, I'm not sure I'd like HBD as an advertising medium. (Or can I start advertising here too?:-) --- Dick Dunn rcd at raven.eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd ...Happy sixth MadHatterDay, y'all. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 7:00:02 EDT From: Mike Sharp <msharp at cs.ulowell.edu> Subject: Re: Lambics Andy Kurtz <ak35+ at andrew.cmu.edu< asks: > I was leafing through some back issues of Zymurgy and came across Pap's > recipe for a sour-mash lambic (spring '91, i think). I'd like to know > if anyone's tried this. Seems like a good way of adding some tang to > our wheat beers. I tried some sour mash beers at the last AHA conference. IMHO, the sourness was _completely_ different than the lambic sourness. I've chosen to avoid this route in creating pseudo-lambics. Your mileage may vary. > Also, is there a retail source for belgian yeast? As far as I can tell there are no retail sources for the yeast/bacteria yet. I know that Wyeast is planning to market a trappist yeast this fall, but this is _not_ suitable (at least not alone) for lambics. One of the reasons you can't get these cultures commercially is that they scare the s___ out of most commercial establishments -- most of the yeasts and bacterias used in making lambics are considered fairly nasty contaminants. I should note here that I have _never_ had any rampant infections in the time I've been using these critters. Sources for cultures as well as all sorts of helpfull hints are discussed in the lambic mailing list. You can join this mailing list by sending a note to: lambic-request@ cs.ulowell.edu --Mike Sharp (your friendly lambic mailing list founder) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1991 7:58:09 -0400 (EDT) From: TSAMSEL at ISDRES.ER.USGS.GOV Subject: Is this from HP Ft Collins? This can be answered off the list but are you out of Ft Collins CO? I seen to ge ttrhat impression (oops) . One of our brewclub members is a non Internet computer jock and does business out there. His name is Gary Tolley and might like to call y'all up.. Ted Return to table of contents
Date: Monday, 7 Oct 1991 08:14:17 EDT From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo) Subject: Favorite Recipes Favorite Recipes - ---------------- John's Raspberry Ale - -------------------- Ingredients: 6 lbs. Williams' English Light malt extract 1/2 lb. crystal malt (unknown Lovibond) 2 oz. Hallertau hops (4.0 AA%) (45 minutes) 1/2 oz. Hallertau hops (4.0 AA%) (5 minutes) 4 lbs. raspberries Wyeast liquid yeast (can't remember which ale yeast was used, and the ink ran there when it got wet. I think it was the London ale, but not sure.) Directions: Prepared 1 quart starter two nights before. Didn't get a heavy krauesen, just started to get a light foam covering at pitching time. Purchased raspberries at farmers' market the day before, then tossed in the freezer overnight (to break down cell walls or something). Pre-boiled some water. Cooled some and froze some. Prepared wort as usual, steeping crystal malt in 150-160F water while the brew pot water was heating up and sparged into the brewpot. Boiled about an hour. At the end of the boil, I just tossed all the raspberries into the brewpot and let sit for fifteen minutes. Wort was pretty cool by then. The first scary part--I couldn't filter out the hops and trub without leaving behind raspberries. So I tossed *everything* into the fermenter. With the raspberries in there, I figured I couldn't get any S.G. readings, so didn't try. In spite of everything, this came out very very well, with rave reviews from everyone. Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org (or John.DeCarlo at f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org) Fidonet: 1:109/131 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 08:32 EDT From: "Dennis R. Sherman" <DRS%UNCVX1.BITNET at ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu> Subject: re: caps from Hell Why boil caps instead of using chlorine solution to sanitize Maybe I've just been lucky, but it's worked for me... =================================================================== Dennis R. Sherman Triangle Research Libraries Network University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill drs at uncvx1.bitnet Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 8:35:50 EDT From: cbema!wbt at att.att.com Subject: Holiday Ale Jim Grady wrote: > The weather is starting to get cool around here so I thought I would > brew the Christmas Ale that Kinney Baughman posted here last August > (HBD #693). There has been some discussion about whether the second > call for 3# of amber dry malt was a typo. I made yesterday it without the > malt and the O.G. was 1.049, not 1.069 as the recipe stated. We made a batch of this ourselves Sunday, and measured the gravity at about 1.050. I agree, the extra three pounds of dry extract is required to reach the stated gravity. This was an awfully fun batch to brew, BTW. The aroma was just wonderful, and with the first cold autumn winds beginning to blow it really started to put me in a holiday spirit. In fact, at one point I thought I heard the prancing of 32 tiny hooves on the roof (but then, I was already pretty "relaxed," shall we say, at that point.) 8-) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bill Thacker AT&T Network Systems - Columbus wbt at cbnews.att.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 09:10:04 -0400 From: gkushmer at jade2.tufts.edu (Greg Kushmerek) Subject: Homebrew Digest #739 (October 07, 1991) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 08:49:10 EDT From: tcm at moscom.com (Tom Maszerowski) Subject: Rotokegs and SA Octoberfest About the Rotokeg... I had one and never had a successful batch with it. The first problem I had with it was with the pressure regulator. As the pressure would increase it would open as expected to vent the excess. But when the pressure decreased, it wouldn't fully close and all the pressure would be lost. I replaced it with a pressure gauge and manual vent system a friend set up for me. This worked until the seam by the filler opening split and I gave up. The one I had was the big ball and was made of two pieces, "welded" together. I gave up at this point. I now have the English brown barrel type of keg that I've never had problems with. I just received some info on the Batch Latch system that allows you to convert a beer ball to use as a keg. It looks interesting. Has anyone tried it? About Sam Adams Octoberfest... I bought it this weekend and I was disappointed. Compared to some other fest beers I thought it was thin and lacked sufficient malt character. It seemed to me to be an attempt to appeal to the BudMiller drinker and not an emulation of a particular style. As a side note, Sam Adams Wheat Beer appeared in my local outlet in late Spetember and doesn't seem to be selling quickly. I've yet to try it as my thoughts have moved on ales ( it get cold early here in Western NY ). Tom - ----- Tom Maszerowski tcm at moscom.com {rit,tropix,ur-valhalla}!moscom!tcm Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 09:13:54 -0400 From: gkushmer at jade2.tufts.edu (Greg Kushmerek) Subject: Homebrew Digest #739 (October 07, 1991) Ooops - I think I just sent two blank messages - sorry. Anyways, John Reed asked if anyone has tried this year's S.A. Oktoberfest beer. I have, and I thought it was OK. I can't be very scientific about this, but all I can say is that it tasted like a Sam Adams product (hop characteristics?) as opposed to the Oktober- fest brew I was drinking in the Paulaner Tent two weeks ago. Still worth a chug tho. (In otherwords, it didn't taste like any German beer I've had recently). Brost! ------------------- | 5,397 miles | | - to - | | WALL DRUG | | | |WALL, SOUTH DAKOTA | | U.S.A. | ------------------- **Sign In Amsterdam** Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 06:31:50 PDT From: 07-Oct-1991 0930 <hannan at gnpike.enet.dec.com> Subject: Sam Adams Malt Co. Andrew J. Worth writes: >BTW, does anybody know why Samuel Adams chose that name? I hear that > Sam Adams was more of a rabble rousing radical than a patriot, and he > effectively racked his father's brewing business into the ground. I forget who told me this, but I heard that Sam Adams wasn't a brewer at all. Rather, he was the area's largest malter, and sold malted barley. fwiw, Ken P.S. Gary Mason: I was in the UK in June, and I agree, Badger Best Bitter is good stuff. And I was also very surprised to see "France" on my pint glasses everywhere! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 9:50:22 EDT From: "Justin A. Aborn" <jaborn at BBN.COM> Subject: Pear Beer? I have a pear tree in my back yard that produces prodigious amounts of fruit that I usually wind up throwing away. As a brewer, other possibilities come to mind... Does pear beer sound good or gross? I imagine I would wash the pears is a sodium metabisulfate solution, peel them, chop them up some, and toss them into the primary fermenter as soon as the yeast looks like it has taken control of the wort. I plan to rely on the yeast to maintain sterility rather than pasteurizing the fruit by any boiling. I would not want boil off any of the volatile aromatics of the fruit. These are what I like best about pears. Has anyone had such a beverage? Should I do it with a lager or an ale? Justin Brewer and Patriot Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1991 9:41:22 -0400 (EDT) From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas) Subject: stuff First, I have heard that Sam Adams was actually a *maltster*, not a brewer, for what that's worth. Those of you who sparge all at once in a big cooler, do you use a rectangular cooler or a cylindrical one? How did you cut the slots in the copper tubing? Re. yeast slurry: Last night I pitched saved slurry dated 9/17/91. It was the 3rd batch for that yeast, originally Wyeast Chico ale. I saved myself from worrying by making up a starter with it, and by tasting the beer layer that was on top. The beer was fine, the starter was fast, and so when the 6 gallons of brew didn't start fermenting after 6 hours, I didn't worry. It was fermenting madly this morning. A good way to enhance wort chilling is to have 2 chillers, connected by plastic tubing. The first is connected to the faucet, and sits in a bucket of ice, the other (bigger) one sits in the wort. Especially helpful if your tap water is warm. Here's what I brewed: Stout Stout -------------- 10 lb. pale malt (2-row) 1 lb. roasted barley 1 lb. flaked barley 0.5 lb. crystal malt 1+ oz. centennial whole hops (at 10.1 AAU) (science or art?) boil 60 min. no finishing hops Wyeast Chico ale slurry Mash water: 3 gallons at 170 degF Mash in: 153 deg F for 90 minutes Mash out: forgot to do it Sparge: 5 gallons at 170 deg F Don't know what the OG was, but it should be in the 1.050 range, or higher if you get better extraction rates. This one should be prime by Halloween. Russ Return to table of contents
Date: 7 Oct 91 10:22:00 EDT From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet at drcvax.af.mil> Subject: Sam Adams Boston Ale and Stock Ale. I have seen and had both Sam Adams Boston Ale, and their Stock Ale. I suspect they are identical because I couldn't tell any difference with both bottles at my elbo. I've wondered about this labeling anomaly. Last time I bought the Boston Ale, the bottles said Stock Ale on them, even though the carton said Boston Ale. I'm not complaining ... it's delicious ... I just wonder about the name. Dan Graham P.S. Does anyone know if SA is going to do a holiday brew? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 10:49:16 EDT From: Chris Shenton <chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: Father Barleywine's yeast reuse trick -- first attempt A couple weeks ago I made up a double batch of basic weizenbier -- 13.2# American Classic wheat-beer extract (60% wheat, 40% barley), some hallertauer, some tettnanger, and finish with haller again. I pitched a 750ml starter of Wyeast wheat-beer yeast into the two carboys and fermentation was going in under 24 hours. After a week I racked to secondaries, and a week after that began brewing another double batch, the same recipe as above but with 50% more extract and alphas. While it was chilling, I siphoned the beer out of the carboys and into kegs, priming with a gallon saved wort split between the two kegs. I then dumped the new wort on top of the yeast in the secondaries, and the stuff took off in well under 8 hours, almost explosively! I came home to find the foam had gotten into the airlock, displaced the water, and was not happily bubbling out through the top, coating the carboy in gooey muck and dribbling all over the counter. I was delighted! Now it's calmed down and the krausen looks great -- dense bubbles and so on. This technique is a winner. One question, Father: this is great for doing multiple batches of the same or similar beer (same yeast); what do you do if you want a different style, just start over with a new yeast? A question for HBD-land: Wyeast wheat-beer is (unfortunately) a mix of S. Delbrukii a basic beer yeast. Do you think repitching like this would select for eventual domination by one or the other strain? One other thing: I think F.B. pitches on top of the yeast bed in the *primary*. I understand his rational about not having to clean stuff and worry about new sources for contamination. Mine was too full of muck for me to want to do that, hence the secondary. Bis spaeter! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 09:14:53 -0600 From: dinsdale at chtm.eece.unm.edu (Don McDaniel) Subject: My best recipe My response to the request for tried and tested recipes: Here's my best ever brew: Don's Most Wickid Ale (A.K.A. number nine, number nine, number nine...) 6 lb. Pale ale malt 3/4 lb. crystal malt 1/4 lb. black patent malt 1 lb. corn sugar 1 cup blackstrap molases (strong stuff. don't mess with any wimpy Brer Rabbit stuff.) Wyeast 1028 London Ale yeast 10 AAU Northern Brewer, 60 min. boil 6 AAU Cascade, steep 1/2 cu. corn sugar to prime yield: 52 12-oz bottles (5 gal. batch) OG 1.052 FG 1.010 Mashed grains in 10 qt. water at 150 F for 90 min mash pH 5.5 mash-out 5 min. at 168 F sparge with 5 gal. water at 168 F Disolved sugar and molases into runnings Boiled 90 min. Cooled. Let sit over night. Racked off trub and pitched yeast. Temp at pitching: 62F After five days in primary, racked to secondary. Left for ten days. Racked into bottling bucket with disolved priming sugar and bottled. All fermenting and conditioning was done at 60-65F. Tasting notes: Tasted quite smoky and bitter at bottling. Kind of like a Porter rather than the brown ale I had in mind. Four weeks later...WOW! Both the smokyness and bitterness had mellowed. The beer was very dark, very malty with a complex flavor from the molases and black patent malt. The malt was balanced perfectly by the hops. My best beer yet. Had a thick, rich, smooth and long lasting head. I've tried to reproduce this beer. That effort has been bottle conditioning for three weeks now. I'll know soon how it turned out. I'm not aware of any commercial brew with which this beer can be compared. It sits between the brown ales available and something like an imperial stout or Mackeson XXX. Finally, don't Knock the use of a pound of sugar. It comes to only about 1/7 of fermentables, sugar is standard in British brewing and most importantly IT WORKED! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1991 08:33:19 -0800 From: krweiss at ucdavis.edu Subject: Sam Adams, commercials on the digest Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Ale are widely available in California (in Sacramento, at least). The bottles are tagged with an un-encrypted freshness date, and I've yet to see a bottle on sale past the recommended consumption date. I've got no idea how liberal the brewery is with regard to the shelf life... With regard to commercials posted to HBD, I don't like 'em. Ken Weiss krweiss at ucdavis.edu Computing Services 916/752-5554 U.C. Davis Davis, CA 95616 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon Oct 07 09:30:32 1991 From: larryba at microsoft.com Subject: Liverwort Once I used Irish moss in my kettle. Maybe I used too much, but when it came time to get the yeast cake out of the carboy I got big flabby chunks instead of a slurry. I assumed it was the gelatine (alginate - whatever) in the irish moss that coagulated all the trub and yeast together. Could this be the source of Ron's liverwort? Return to table of contents
Date: 7 Oct 91 09:20:00 PDT From: "MR. DAVID HABERMAN" <habermand at afal-edwards.af.mil> Subject: Re: Sam Adams Stock Ale I live in Southern California and was able to get Sam Adams Stock Ale last Christmas. It was in a mixed case that had Winter Lager, Boston Lager, Lightship, and Stock Ale. I can also get the Octoberfest and Double Bock here. The representative came to a Maltose Falcon's meeting and said the release of the Stock Ale in the west was limited and wasn't sure about full production of it in Oregon at a later date. they want all the customers to have fresh beer, which is why they have breweries all around the US and even one in Germany. - David A. Haberman Email: habermand at afal-edwards.af.mil BEER - "It's not just for breakfast anymore!" Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1991 10:56:20 -0400 From: hpfcmr.fc.hp.com!hplabs!uunet!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!jim (Jim Somerville) Subject: Adding Amalayse to Secondary >Brian Bliss asks if anyone has added amylase to the secondary. The last beer I made consisted of a partial mash of 1 pound of wheat flakes which I mashed by adding amalayse extract to just the wheat and some water. Not knowing whether the amalayse contained alpha or beta or both, I just held the "mash" at 150F for an hour. A few weeks later, activity in the secondary had stopped but the beer was still cloudy. So I said what the hell and tossed in a teaspoon of amalayse. The next day, there was a krausen on top! Good thing I had left a fair bit of space or things would have been messy. It took about another 2 months for activity to subside enough for me to feel safe bottling it. It turned out great. Very clean taste, and as a friend said "hey, this stuff has absolutely no aftertase". After all, I essentially just did the same thing as the big breweries do to make dry beer -- use extra enzymes to get more complete fermentation. The next time I do this, I will mash at 135F for an hour, and add more hops by dry hopping. The long time in the secondary didn't help the beer's hop bouquet or flavour. - -- Jim Somerville (bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!jim) Phone: (613) 763-4497 Bell-Northern Research, Stop 145 Usenet:utzoo!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!jim P.O. Box 3511, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4H7 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 12:47:18 EDT From: Peter Karp <karp at cs.columbia.edu> Subject: Homebrew Digest #738 (October 04, 1991) Has anyone in the New England area had a taste of a contract brewed beer called En Garde. It is said to be in the style of the French Biere de Garde (eg. St Leonard, Trois Monts, Jenlain). Where can I get some? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon Oct 07 09:46:27 1991 From: larryba at microsoft.com Subject: Shocking Yeast Story.. Just what is the symptoms of temperature shock to yeast? Three days after claiming I never worry about minor temperature differentials when pitching lager yeast, I seem to have a dead batch. I pitched about 1 cup of dormant lager yeast at 53f, that had been very active two weeks before when "fed" a pint of .028 wort, into 5.5 gals of 1.050 wort at 73f. I then stuck the fermenter into the fridge at 48f. Now, two days later there is no sign of fermentation. This is wYeast bavarian lager. It was very slow at 48f for my Vienna Angst lager (tasty stuff, even if I did bite my fingers off waiting for the four week ferment to complete!). I thought, for sure, repitching a cup of the yeast would make the next batch o beer ferment much faster. The yeast did ferment out the pint of extra wort very fast (one day!) and the resulting beer (decanted off the yeast before pitching, tasted pretty good, if a bit green, being only two weeks old. RDWHAH? Return to table of contents
Date: 07 Oct 91 16:34 GMT From: JUEAL.S at AppleLink.Apple.COM (Jueal, Stacey) Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #739 (Octo - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- DougO> ...(Not really! His absence gave the rest of us a chance! Last year, his beers walked off with half of the first place ribbons and Best-of-show! This year, I think there were at least half-a-dozen different brewers each copping multiple awards.) Wow, do I have a modest brew partner or what??!! Well, I'll toot our horn:-)! We took 2nd & 3rd in the Stout category with 2 different stouts, 2nd in American Steam catagory, and 1st in the Herbal catagory with our Christmas beer (flavored with ginger, cinnamon, orange rind). It was *REALLY* fun. I would encourage homebrewers to enter local contests just for the heck of it. The best part is getting the judging sheets back and reading the feedback of impartial beer drinkers. We don't brew for competition, we brew for fun. As we brew through the year and taste batches, when an outstanding one comes along, we set aside 4 brown bottles for entry. Its also great to see the other women brewers! One of the locals, that hangs with the 'Worts of Wisdom' took 1st place . Unfortunately, her name escapes me (oops ;-)), as well as the category she placed in. If any of the 'Worts' that read this know her, pass along a hello from me. If anyone knows how to contact this mystery woman, please send me mail directly! Sweetie aka Stacey Jueal Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 12:17:06 EDT From: Dances with Workstations <buchman at marva1.dco.DEC.COM> Subject: Microwaving bottles, etc. First, I would like to second Tim Ness in his review of Wild Goose beer: > ... , but I see (taste) no reason why Wild Goose should be recommended > to stay away from. I bought a case fresh from Cambridge last weekend and still > find it to be one of the most refreshing Microbrewed beers on the East Coast. > It has a very HOPPY character but I doubt that should be enough for the bad > review. The brewery in Cambridge, Maryland, which produces Wild Goose also makes Thomas Point Light, which is not to be confused with "lite beer"; it is a tasty pale ale with just a bit less body and hops than Wild Goose. (TPL is named for a navigational marker well known to all who sail the Chesapeake Bay). I believe these guys also make Saint Michael's Nonalcoholic beer, which is the only example of this genre which I have actually enjoyed. Brian Smithey asks: > On a trip to Boston a couple of years ago I had some Sam Adam's Boston > Ale on tap at a restaurant. At the time I was told that it wasn't bottled, > only available in kegs; . . . > . . . Has anybody seen SA Ale in bottles, particularly out > on the West coast? I drink Anchor Steam when on the left coast so I don't know if Sam Adams Boston Ale has made it there, but it is available in bottles in most decent beer stores in the Baltimore/D.C. area. We also see a decent variety of their limited edition beers, such as Wheat, Doppelbock, and Oktoberfest, at various times of the year. And thanks to everyone who replied to my (feeble) idea to cut bottle washing time by popping your rinsed bottles into the microwave. Many folks pointed out that you can't heat a dry bottle (or a dry anything) with a microwave. Darryl Steve Russell Richman had further good advice: > Nuking bottles *may* be a good idea. But nuking dry bottles is not, as this > will burn out your magnetron bulb. My hope was that, though the bottles are dry, the microbes which would infect the beer would have enough water to be scorched to harmlessness in very little time. My sundry siblings with PhD's in biochemistry and botany said this would be true for active bacteria and wild yeasts, but that spores don't have enough water in them to be acted on by microwaves; and spores are the primary source of infection. They recommended cooking the bottles at 500 F for 45 minutes. They're used to lab glassware so they couldn't say what that would do to a beer bottle. Btw, thanks to Father Barleywine for the repitching idea. My partner and I brewed a pumpkin ale using Bavarian Ale yeast, then poured the wort for an Oktoberfest beer onto the yeast cake. Fermentation was extremely vigorous within five hours (at 75 F). We're glad we used a gallon jug on the receiving end of our blow-off tube. Jim Buchman buchman at marva1.enet.dec.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 91 12:05:14 EDT From: GARY MASON - I/V/V PCU - 603-884[DTN264]1503 06-Oct-1991 1158 <mason at habs11.ENET.DEC.COM> Subject: Anchor... I am not certain about the origins of the name for Fritz Maytag's place, but there is an Anchor Brewery in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It brews under the name of Gibbs Mew PLC. I did not have a chance to sample them this trip (next time!), but they have several bitters and a barley wine in their suite. Just looking at the place makes me think it may be older than the US version. Cheers...Gary Return to table of contents
Date: 7 Oct 91 10:54 -0700 From: Doug Latornell <latornel at unixg.ubc.ca> Subject: UK Brews and Pubs The recent spate of messages about UK brews brought back fond memories of my trip to the UK and Austria in August and I just can't resist posting something about the brews and pubs I enjoyed. A week on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland, was rather unimpressive for ale, probably because the region is still strongly dominated by prohibition sentiments. However, our lst night in Scotland was in Glasgow where we stumbled upon a wonderful pub, The Halt, just around the corner from the youth hostel. A free house, they had 8 brews on tap; 2 were "specials" which change regularly (the signs on the taps were hand written). That night the specials were Old Peculiar and "Cask #3 Ale". The former astounded me with its richness and mouth-feel; I had only previously had it bottled -- what a difference!. Didn't try the ale. Also available were Murphy's Irish Stout, Guinness, McEwan's Bitter and Lager, Harp Lager and one other lager. All of this served up to the sounds of a very good jazz quartet (Wednesday's are jazz, Thrusdays are a folk jam). The Halt is no tourist trap; we were rubbing shoulders at the bar with folks who clearly had it as their local. Later in the trip we were in Cambridge where I got hooked on Greene King Abbot Ale, the definitive heavy duty ale, IMHO! It was particularly enjoyably served with lunch at The Zebra. Honourable mention to The Royal Oaks in Barrington, a pleasant bank holiday afternoon's cycle ride outside Cambridge. Also worth a sip is Greene King IPA. In Austria the August heat of continental summer caused me to revise my opinion of lager, particularly the hoppy Styrian varieties (from south-eastern Austria) served ice cold. I also very much enjoyed my first opportunity to try weissebier. The Styrian stiftbier and Wiener dunkelbier are dark, rich beers with little hoppiness and an almost molasses-like taste that took a little getting used to. Travelling sure is a pleasant way to expand one's beer horizons... ================= Doug Latornell CAM/Robotics Lab --- Mech. Eng. Dept. University of British Columbia <latornel at unixg.ubc.ca> Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1991 13:59 EDT From: KENYON%MOE.ERE-NET.COM at pucc.PRINCETON.EDU Subject: Cork Caps / Bulk DME Prices? / Kegging Presssure 1) I recall seeing bottle caps in a friends garage that were cork lined. The box they were in looked pretty old (from the 50's or 60's rings a bell). Has anybody ever seen or heard of these before, and if so are they still obtainable? 2) Does anyone know of any mail-order shops that have reasonable discount prices on bulk purchases of DME (55# sack), Laaglander in particular? 3) At what pressure should 5 gallon soda kegs be conditioned/served? Thanks in advance ... Chuck Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 11:02:47 -0700 From: kensiski at nas.nasa.gov (David L. Kensiski) Subject: Samuel Adams availability and Octoberfest In HBD #739, John Reed in Waltham, MA mentions that Samuel Adams... > ...is bottled and available, at least here in the Boston area. > I would think that it should be available out there on the left > coast, too. I can attest to the fact that it is, in fact, available over here on the left coast. In fact, it's all over the place. I've seen it in supermarkets (Lucky) and liquor stores - heck, even Pizzeria Uno restaurants here in Sillycon Valley have the beer on tap. > Has anyone tried this year's S.A. Octoberfest? I just happened to pick up a six pack last week while I was at a conference in San Diego, of all places. (Can't get much further from Boston than San Diego and still be in the conterminous 48 states!) The Octoberfest is quite a good beer with all the flavor and possibly even more body than found in Samuel Adams regular brew. It comes highly reccomended, at least by me! - --Dave ________________________________________________________________________ David L. Kensiski [KB6HCN] Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation kensiski at nas.nasa.gov NASA Ames Research Center, M/S 258-6 (415)604-4417 Moffett Field, California 94035-1000 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 11:20:04 EDT From: cjh at vallance.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Chip Hitchcock) Subject: more on uwave bottle sanitizing >Dry, clean bottles wouldn't have any reason to heat up; the question >still remains, would it disrupt the microbes? I don't know. In theory, it would; microbes, like most living organisms, are mostly water. However, the problem is hitting something that small with a microwave in a reasonable amount of time. Think of microbes as kernels of popcorn you're trying to pop, and consider that there are always unpopped kernels in microwave[d] popcorn, even the prepackaged stuff with the special bag. Skipping a technical explanation [read: I've forgotten most of it], the odds of hitting something the size of a kernel with a microwave (whose wavelength is probably larger than the kernel) is small; you can pop corn only by putting so many kernels together that a wave going through that neighborhood \has/ to hit one or another of them. If you nuked a dry bottle long enough (hours? days?) you'd probably get the microbe population low enough for safety---but in the meantime, as Darryl points out, you'd burn out the microwave generator (because 99.99...% of the energy it's putting out isn't getting absorbed). Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 09:05 CDT From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) Subject: NUKING To: Homebrew Digest Fm: Jack Schmidling From: greg at cemax.com (Greg Wageman) Subject: Re: Express bottle washing Jim Buchman writes: >Is there any reason that microwaving the bottles for a couple minutes at. >high power wouldn't do the trick equally well? This would fry the little >nasty contaminants directly and not unduly heat the glass ( I would >imagine). It would be faster than heating /cooling in the dishwasher >or oven, and you wouldn't have to worry about annealing the glass. <It's my understanding that microwave energy requires moisture to generate heat (those bi-polar water molecules oscillating in the field, you know). We have discussed this subject under sterilizing petri dishes and yeast culture stuff but the same applies here. Although, I have not done the double blind experiments, it appears that a few drops of water and one minute does the trick. I have been sterilizing a hummingbird feeder bottle for several years by nuking it for one min with a few drops of water in it. It was regularly turning to vinigar before I started this procedure. However, I believe that water is unnecessary because living organisms contain water and because micro-organisms are so small, they would be instantaneously exploded with a very short exposure to micro waves. I do not know about the moisture content of spores but as it takes one hour of steam at 10 psi to destroy Botulism spores, normal sterilization used by brewers would not affect them anyway. My guess is that wild yeasts and the "normal" spoilage bacteria found in homebrew, could be killed in a microwave oven without ever warming the bottle or harming the magnetron. If it makes you feel better, put a cup of water in the oven, not in the bottles. However, all it will do is absorb energy that would otherwise zap the microbes and increase the time proportionately. I will try to devise an experiment to determine the validity of this hypothesis. jack NEVERMIND!!!!!!!!! Since typing this up, I did some experiments. the most telling is... I placed .2 grams of dried yeast (Fleishman's baking) in each of (3) 10 ml glass bottles. # 1 control # 2 nuked for 10 seconds # 3 nuked for 30 seconds Added 5 ml of sterilized sugar water to each and screwed on plastic caps. One hour later they all appeared to fermenting vigorously and gas escaped when the caps were loosened. .............. Apparently, dormant dry yeast is dry enough to make it immune to microwave energy. So, it appears that sterilizing bottles in a microwave requires enough water to generate steam and enough time to heat the bottle thouroughly. This makes it totally uneconomical for anything outher than a couple of bottles or petri dishes and lab samples. jack schmidling Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 11:59:38 PDT From: Greg Roody - dtn 237-7122 <roody at necsc.enet.dec.com> Subject: Shameless ad's - this is too much Now before "ARF" gets bent all out of shape, this is not a flame. Can I call for a vote on how many people found the ad for Jacks video to be too commercial for the purposes of this file? It took up a lot of space in an otherwise very busy file, and I fear that if we don't police ourselves we will be reading more ad's than we can stand. So, how many people would like to see (even "non-profit") ads limited to either 5 lines maximum or banned outright? I really don't want to get into the debate over using the internet for commercial gain, I just want to address signal to noise issues. /greg Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1991 15:30:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Ivan Adam Schneider <is0f+ at andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: A Few Brew Questions Hi folks. I'm interested in finding out what it takes to set up a brewing operation, but I have a few concerns and questions. Here we go. What is the production limit for an individual in Pennsylvania? Can more than one individual pool funds to purchase production apparatus, and then combine their individual limits? To what extent is the sale of the ingredients regulated, and is the purchase of raw ingredients considered the same as purchasing alcohol under the law? After the initial capital outlay, about how much does beer cost, per gallon? Where can I find out about how to start brewing? A little more than curious, Ivan Schneider Carnegie Mellon University is0f at andrew.cmu.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 13:04:58 PDT From: greeley at kermit.boeing.com (Scott P. Greeley ) Subject: Samuel Adams Samuel Adams is readily available in bottles in the Pacific Northwest. I heard that it is coming from Henry Weinhardt's Brewery in Portland, OR where it is contract brewed but I don't know that for certain. Scott Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 18:22:59 -0400 From: jxs58 at po.CWRU.Edu (John Stepp) Subject: Sam Adams Octoberfest In reply to John Reed's inquiry about this year's S.A. Octoberfest, it's excellent as usual. I moved to Cleveland recently (from the Boston area) and luckily have found an excellent pub on the east side called "Cantebury Ale's" that serves all the S.A. seasonal brews as well as the lager on tap (last spring they had the doulbe bock on tap...YUM!). If memory serves, this years is a bit more quaffable than last year's. Very smooth...highly recommended. DS - -- _______________ Dave Stepp Case Western Reserve University Cleveland OH Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 18:28:03 -0400 From: jxs58 at po.CWRU.Edu (John Stepp) Subject: Re: Airlock cap John DeCarlo asked about the function of the red thing on the top of the airlock...I believe it is just to keep out various crap that might fall into the lock, potentially getting into the brew (a good idea). I`ve never had a problem with it sealing the lock up since mine have little nubs to keep a space between it and the lock. DS - -- _______________ Dave Stepp Case Western Reserve University Cleveland OH Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 18:33:25 -0400 From: jxs58 at po.CWRU.Edu (John Stepp) Subject: Re: Bagging Hops Chris Shenton questioned the use of a hop bag in the wort. I've been using a bag for my hops for quite some time. I`ve noticed no deleterious effects, and the convenience can't be beat. I've actually brewed the same beer with and without the bag (several months apart) and loved the beer both times. If anyone has had a bad experience with bagging hops, I'd like to hear it. DS - -- _______________ Dave Stepp Case Western Reserve University Cleveland OH Return to table of contents
Date: 07 Oct 91 19:01:48 EDT From: Jeff Frane <70670.2067 at compuserve.com> Subject: On #738 & 739 In Digest #738/To Ron Carlson: First thing you should do is brew another batch of beer; get over this weirdness about warnings from the brewing gods. Without knowing anything about your beer but that it was a "scotch ale", I'm necessarily guessing, but I would suggest that the "liver" was protein. This past spring I brewed a wheat beer with a very high proportion of wheat malt, and discovered great grey pads of latex floating in my boil. I suspected they didn't belong there, since I'd never seen such a thing before, so I fished them out. The beer was fine. It's possible that some failure in the mash resulted in your wort containing some unhydrolizable protein. Some of this probably scorched on your heating element, as well. To Dave Ballard: Do you rack your beer to a secondary fermenter? I started doing this a long time ago, partly to resolve the very problem you're describing. This process leaves a lot of mung back in the first carboy; when it comes time to rack from the secondary to the bottling bucket, there's very little yeast left to carry over. The little red thang works just fine then. To Brian Bliss: The idea of adding amylase *at all* is fairly bizarre; certainly I can think of no earthly reason to add it in the boil. The WYeast product is a weizenbier strain but I have found it difficult to consistently reproduce the clove flavor associated with these beers. Best result was when Dave used a combination of the weizenbier and a lager yeast with a relatively warm ferment (60^?). Purty good. To Darryl: We got ex-editors, too. Namely me, ex-editor of the OBC. Pleased as punch, by the bye, to hear that you're moving to the Northwest. Good choice. Under our new laws, of course, you'll need to find someone willing to *leave* when you arrive. Who have you chosen? To Jack Schmidling: I'm not concerned that you list me as a source, I'm concerned that you describe the transcription of my notes on a five-minute telephone conversation as "research." I'm also somewhat nonplussed to hear that you've never tasted anyone else's homebrew. Howcum? The guy who suggested your beer would taste "cidery" because of oxidation has got it wrong. Oxidized beer generally tastes remarkably like cardboard, although in extreme cases the oxidation apparently imparts a sherry-like quality (haven't run across this enough to personally verify it). I was fortunate enough to taste a beer a long-time homebrewer brought into Steinbart's once. He'd been culturing his own yeast for 40 years, and made a remarkably clean beer from Blue Ribbon extract and lots of sugar. It was actually pretty tasty--if you like 7-UP; didn't taste much like beer. The cidery quality comes from an excessive amount of non-malt sugar. To Steve Carter: Like you, I've had to take beer in and out of the fridge many times; never had a problem. To Brian Smithey: Samuel Adams Boston Ale is available in Portland, OR. I believe that it is brewed in Boston rather than here at the Blitz Weinhard Brewery as the West Coast SA Lager is. Not sure about their specialty beers. We never did see the SA Wheat Beer that I kept hearing about on the CompuServe Forum. Their Oktoberfest should be out; last year's was really yummy. On #739/To Brian Kush: You're serving your beer too damn cold! The beer should last fine, just periodically (every time you change the keg) clean the lines and the tap thoroughly. A local supply store should have the proper cleaners. And to respond to a request for recipes, here is my current version of House Ale. Very simple and received with universal acclaim: For 5 gallons British ale malt 9# British crystal 1/2# Flaked barley 2 oz. Mash with 3-1/2 gals. of water at 155^F (our water is very soft; I add 4 gr gypsum and .25 g epsom salts in mash; double that in the sparge water) for 90 minutes (sometimes much less; check with iodine at 45 min.). Sparge to 6 gallons, boil 90 minutes. After 15 minutes, add 3/4 oz. Eroica. At end-boil, add 1 ounce Mt. Hood hops. Ferment at 65^F with WYeast American Ale yeast (in starter). Bottle two weeks later, drink one week later. Yummy. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Oct 91 20:59:06 -0400 From: gonzalez at BBN.COM Subject: Papazian Book-Signing in Boston With all the newsletters, newsgroups, magazines and mailing lists I've been through (lots of time to read while batch #1 readies for bottling :-), I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned. I apologize if it has. The only forum I _know_ to have mention of this is _Yankee_Brew_News_ (free at Modern Brewer, Barleymalt & Vine, etc.). Barleymalt & Vine, a local homebrew supplier, is hosting a visit by Charlie Papazian, who will be signing copies of the new edition of his _Complete_Joy_Of_Homebrewing_. He'll be at the Framingham store (280 Worcester Road == Route 9) from 10am to 2pm, and at the West Roxbury store (4 Corey Street, just off the VFW Parkway) from 2:30pm to 6pm. A dinner and beer-tasting is to follow at the Boston Fencing Club. tickets for the dinner are $30 (for $37 they throw in a copy of the book), and reservations may be made by calling the Framingham store at 508-820-3392. -Jim. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Oct 91 21:37:12 -0400 From: gonzalez at BBN.COM Subject: Neophyte's Impressions Of Boston-Area Suppliers As we prepare to bottle our first batch, I thought I'd take time out to offer my observations on several local suppliers. I visited their stores as we prepared to get into this hobby, and at various times since. Barleymalt & Vine 280 Worcester Rd. Framingham 508-820-3392 The Framingham store (in the basement of a store for collectors of records and baseball cards) is reportedly new; the original, which I've not visited, is in West Roxbury. Fairly extensive inventory of extracts, including Munton & Fison in bulk. Standard array of tools and books. The place looks sparse, but is actually well-stocked. Prices consistent with other shops. Ad says prices recently dropped, but cashier said prices actually went up a bit recently. Boston Brewin' 75 Maple Street Danvers 01923 508-777-2337. Homebrew and darts. Not as many extracts as other shops, but he picked the key ones. Prices compare favorably, except for the True-Brew kit, which is about $15 higher than elsewhere. Definitely worth a visit when you don't care to drive into town. Modern Brewer 2034 Mass. Av. Cambridge 02140 617-868-5580 My favorite, so far, and right around the corner from work. Second most-extensive selection of canned extracts, and one of only two selling bulk that I know of. Best selection of books and all the Zymurgy special issues. Lots o' yeast (two refrigerators - no waiting :-). Prices acceptable (better deals on gadgets than raw material), particularly on equipment kits (this is where we got our gear). Wine and Beer Hobby 180 New Boston St. Woburn 01801 617-662-0872 Helpful hint: this is in the Woburn industrial park near the mall. The town fathers apparently decided to cut it off from the rest of New Boston Street, which is residential. Don't try to pick it up near the Purity Supreme and head north; get off at the Washington Street exit and head south. Most extensive selection of canned extracts and chemicals, with slightly higher prices. Fair selection of books. Equipment kits priced a bit steep. Prices on new bottles highest of the four stores. Worth the trip to see the hot-tub-sized winemaking vats. Hope this is of some use. Off to the kitchen now :-). -Jim. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1991 09:41:00 -0400 From: MIKE LIGAS <LIGAS at SSCvax.CIS.McMaster.CA> Subject: Last Chance for Cat's Meow A while back I posted a request for an uncompressed version of the Cat's Meow recipe book with the promise to forward copies to readers who do not have access to FTP or who do not have a unix based machine. The response was overwhelming and I sent out a copy to every reader who requested one from me. I hope everyone got theirs. If you didn't it's not my fault. I have had to use a friend's E-mail account to do this because of a limited quota allotment in my own account. Well, it's coming to the time when I must hand control of the account back to its rightful owner. Therefore I am writing to notify HDers that my offer to send uncompressed copies will stand until this Friday, October 11th, 1991. If you need a copy let me know ASAP. Mike Ligas ligas at sscvax.cis.mcmaster.ca Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #740, 10/08/91 ************************************* -------
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