HOMEBREW Digest #899 Wed 10 June 1992

Digest #898 Digest #900


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


Contents:
  Stoudt's Beer Festival (GC Woods)
  Thumper blues (Russ Gelinas)
  Supercomm/ICC in Chicago (adietz)
  Question on V/M/Okt. for Dr. Fix (florianb)
  Adamstown PA Beerfest (Peter Kester)
  Sign me up (HANNA)
  Fruit Flavored Beers (lee_menegoni)
  Technique (Ruth Mazo Karras)
   (CW06GST)
  Starters and Krauesen ("John Cotterill")
  Evil water jugs. (Tim P McNerney)
  novice questions (Brad Walker)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 9 Jun 92 09:26:58 EDT (Tue) From: GC Woods <gcw at garage.att.com> Subject: Stoudt's Beer Festival The following is a post from rec.food.drink: >June 13: Great Eastern Invitational Microbrewery Festival >1-5pm Stoudt's Brewery Hall > Route 272 > Adamstown, PA > "Participating breweries: Wild Goose (MD), Oldenberg (KY), > New England (CT), Brasal (PQ), Old Dominion (VA), > Buffalo (NY), Pennsylvania (PA), Otter Creek (VT), > Samuel Adams (PA), Vermont Pub (VT), Boston Beer (MA), > New Haven (CT), Niagra Falls (NY)" > Admission: $15 (includes wurst buffet & beer samples) > Info: (215)484-4387 [Stoudt's Black Angus] We received our tickets around a month ago and 700 out of 1000 had already been sold. One of the stipulations Stoudt's placed was that all the beer had to meet the Reinheitsgebot standard, so if the above list is correct I wonder what Oldenberg makes that would pass this test - certainly not Little Kings. I would guess that the Pennsylvania brew is (hopefully) Dock Street and of course Stoudt's has been left of the list. Also what the hell is Brasal (PQ)? If the Best of the Wurst buffet is anything like what is served at the Black Angus it should be excellent. The Black Angus features steak and a great raw bar - but watch out enties are around $20, but well worth it. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1992 10:17:14 -0400 (EDT) From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas) Subject: Thumper blues Just got word that I almost had 2 bottles of Ringwood Old Thumper, from Hampshire (?) England. Almost, because my friends son dropped them just before they got on the plane, and they broke. ARGHHH!! I've never heard of OT before, anyone have any info on it? Russ Return to table of contents
Date: 9 Jun 1992 10:58 EDT From: afd at hera.cc.bellcore.com (adietz) Subject: Supercomm/ICC in Chicago I'm heading to the Supercomm/ICC '92 conference in Chicago next week. Naturally (need you even wonder?) the Goose Island brewery is on the schedule. Any digest readers are welcome to join us - get ahold of me via e-mail so we can coordinate stuff. No no - I couldn't swing vacation days to do the AHA conference, then Supercomm. I tried, I really tried, though. -A Dietz Bellcore, Morristown afd at hera.cc.bellcore.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 92 08:31:27 PDT From: florianb at chip.cna.tek.com Subject: Question on V/M/Okt. for Dr. Fix I have been enjoying reading Vienna/Maerzen/Oktoberfest. Having lived in Southern Germany for 1.5 years, I learned to appreciate the infinity of variations of southern German lagers, including the festbiers. I have attempted this style at home with good results, but I have much to learn. Particularly in the area of fermentation, packaging, and lagering I have a distance to go. In reading the book, I was intrigued by your mention of the use of Cornelius kegs to lager the beer. I too have used Cornelius kegs for lagering recently. Having made my own refrigerator controller, I can maintain +/- 2 deg F quite easily. In the book, you do not mention the use of priming sugar. Did you in fact use a priming method, and if so what? Is it possible to charge the keg with CO2 periodically during the lagering stage and obtain a good carbonation or is it necessary to prime the beer first? I have never tried not priming and would be delighted to see whether this step can be skipped in order to preserve the clarity and quality of the beer which has completed secondary fermentation. I posted here so that your comments might be of assistance to others on the hbd. Thanks. Florian Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 12:46:56 -0400 From: Peter Kester <pkester at hooville.mitre.org> Subject: Adamstown PA Beerfest Stoudts Brewery in Adamstown, PA is holding a beer festival this Saturday, June 13th with over 50 microbreweries promised to be in attendance. Admission includes the "Best of the Wursts Buffet". The bad news is that the festival is sold out, so if you don't have a ticket or don't have a way of getting a ticket, you're out of luck. The phone number for the brewery is (215) 484-4387. The good news if you live near Washington, DC or Baltimore, MD is that the DC area homebrew club BURP (Brewers United for Real Potables) is running a bus up to the festival and there are still some seats left! The price for the bus is $25 per person which includes a ticket to the festival. The bus will be leaving from the New Carolton Metro stop near DC and will also be making a quick stop just north of Baltimore. We have exactly one ticket for each bus seat. Because we need to almost completely fill the bus to break even, BURP will not sell the tickets separately. For more information or to reserve a space on the bus, contact Peter Kester at pkester at mitre.org or (703) 849-9475. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1992 10:50 PST From: HANNA%UCLACH.BITNET at CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu Subject: Sign me up Dear Homebrew Guys, Please sign me up to receive the digest. I am at Hanna at uclach.edu thanks Stephen Hanna HANNA at UCLACH.EDU Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 12:49:33 EDT From: lee_menegoni at ptltd.com Subject: Fruit Flavored Beers I recently tasted two fruit flavored beers, Rasberry Ale and Blueberry Ale, at the Boston Beer Works, not to be confused with the Boston Beer Company, and found them to be quite good , a hint of fruit flavor without sweetness. My friend Elise remarked "why can't you brew something like that?" Hence this posting: I would be intersted in recipes but more importantly process. Must I use fresh fruit? How much for a 5 gallon batch? I have noticed that some wine/beer shops sell "fruit flavor" and "fruit concentrtate" can I use these? How much for a 5 gallon batch? When do you add the fruit, flavor or concentrate ? Color is not that important the ales at BBW were light golden colored. I will post a compilation of responses. Return to table of contents
Date: 09 Jun 92 16:06:21 EST From: Ruth Mazo Karras <RKARRAS at PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU> Subject: Technique After reading the Digest for some time, I thought I should solicit advice on what I might do next to improve my technique. In short, there are a number of thing that I plan to do sometime, but I should like your thoughts on what will give me the best return. First, this is what I now do: the day or more before brewing I start Wyeast and eventually make a 750 ml starter with light dry malt extract (or sometimes I repitch from the secondary and avoid the starter) and I also boil 1.5 to 2.0 gallons of cold tap water (it's quite soft in Philadelphia) and then freeze in a block; on the brewing day I bring about 4.5 gallons of water to around 170x F., turn off the heat, add 6.6 lbs. NW malt extract syrup, stir to dissolve, start heating again and bring to a boil, add hops at one or more times, and boil for 60 to 90 minutes or until volume falls to about 3.5 gallons, cool from 212x F. to about 170x F. by putting the pot in a sink of cold water and then cool to yeast pitching temperature by adding the 1.5 to 2.0 gallon block of ice, pitch yeast into the pot and let stand one to two hours, rack wort off of the settled trub into a carboy or plastic fermenter while waving the siphon hose to aerate the wort, fit a fermentation lock, ferment two to three days until kreusen falls and then rack to a carboy for a one to three week secondary fermentation, rack to a plastic fermenter with priming sugar (preboiled corn sugar), and then bottle. Sometimes I bring crystal malt or other specialty grains to 170x F. in the brewing pot and then skim it out before adding the malt extract syrup. Sometimes I treat my brewing water after the boil with Burton water salts (for pale ales) and sometimes I add .5 tsp. of Irish Moss at the end of the boil. Among the things I have considered doing to improve this technique are: (i) use an immersion wort chiller so that I could do a full boil instead of using the block of ice (this will help when I get ready for all grain, too), (ii) use a bottle of oxygen to aerate the wort before pitching, (iii) use a 7 gallon carboy instead of a plastic fermenter for primary fermentation (where can one get a 7 gallon carboy?), (iv) use kegs of some sort rather than bottles (this would make life easier, I think, but shouldn't improve the beer) and (v) use a larger volume of starter, say one liter. What of these items would you do, and in what order? Is there something else that I should do? Perhaps wait longer before racking the wort off the trub into the primary fermenter? You may answer to the list, or directly to me at RKarras at PennSAS.UPenn.edu, as you choose. I will summarize to the list useful comments. Thanks! Chris Karrasº Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 92 16:37:00 EDT From: CW06GST <CW06GST%SJUMUSIC.bitnet at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Hello to all of you Homebrewers, I have recently become interested in making my own beer and figured that this would be a good place to start. I have read a few issues of HBD abd I can tell that there are quite a number of knowledgable brewers out there. What I am looking for right now is a way to get started. Many of you are mentioning terms that I am not familiar with even though I have been a beer _drinker_ since I was 12. (That's 105 in dog years) Anyway I think the best place for me to start would be with a couple of good books, so if anyone could suggest some reading material for the novice brewer, it would be greatly appreciated. Recently I was in England and spent as much time as possible going into the local pubs of each town I was in. I tended to like the bitter much more than ales and lagers, so if you could steer me in that direction that would be great. Also, if anyone knows of any commercial beers that would be similar to the great bitters of England, I would be very inter- ested in finding and drinking those. I found a "pub" in NYC called "The Slaughtered Lamb" and they serve an ale there called "Full Moon" that was quite what I was looking for, but it is only available on tap in their bar. Unless you think that there are other novices out there like me you can send any information to my e-mail address. Erik Zenhausern CW06GST at SJUVM.BITNET Thanks for any and all help| "I don't drink milk| Milk is for babies. I drink BEER|||" - Arnold Schwarzeneger Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 13:51:59 PDT From: "John Cotterill" <johnc at hprpcd.rose.hp.com> Subject: Starters and Krauesen Full-Name: "John Cotterill" Whenever I use Wyeast, I prepare a 12oz starter. Timing when to pitch a starter has always been a mystery to me. The general recommendation is to pitch at high krauesen. The trouble is determining when high krauesen occurs. With my starters, I am lucky to get 1/8 inch of foam on top, and that is a best case! What sort of krauesen do you get, and at what point do you pitch the starter? John johnc at hprpcd.rose.hp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 15:12:20 PDT From: tpm%wdl58 at wdl1.wdl.loral.com (Tim P McNerney) Subject: Evil water jugs. I have had a number of replies to my posting yesterday warning of the danger of using the plastic water jugs for fermentation. I had heard these also (which is why I asked about it), but I haven't received any information more specific than that it was bad. Does anyone know what these jugs are made of? Any specific references to articles/warnings against using them? I've seen similar containers which contain orange juice, which would lead me to believe that it isn't the pH of the beer that is bad. I would guess then that the alcohol could act as a solvent which could cause problems. But one would expect that only innocuous additives to the resin would be allowed if it were used in any type a food packaging. If anyone can shed some light on the subject, it would be greatly appreciated. ________________________________ - --Tim McNerney - --Loral Western Development Labs - --(408) 473-4748 - --tpm at wdl1.wdl.loral.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 17:47:17 EDT From: bwalker at auratek.com (Brad Walker) Subject: novice questions I've just recently started getting interested in homebrewing. Could you please tell me about starter kits. Also, where in the Boston area do I get supplies? Thanks very much. -brad w. Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #899, 06/10/92