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


Contents:
  Good ale (Roy Rudebusch)
  too dark to be pale (Rob Bradley)
  RE: growing hops (Ed Westemeier)
  Brewing supplies source in France??? (Steven Tollefsrud)
  New Brewery opening in Austin, Texas. (Dewey Coffman)
  DMS and boiling (Martin Wilde)
  Pellet mush (J. Fingerle)
  Toronto area mailing list? (Nick Zentena)
  sucre candi a.k.a. candy sugar (Pierre Jelenc)
  need help keeping yeast alive (Lance Encell)
  Re: Suspended Animation/single- vs. two-stage fermentation (korz)
  Phil and Barry (G.A.Cooper)
  RE: Air Stat (Michael R. Kenny)
  BRF -- MS-Dos Beer Recipe Calculator (Darren Hanson)
  Liquid yeast (dbreiden)


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Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 09:33:00 -0500
From: roy.rudebusch at travel.com (Roy Rudebusch)
Subject: Good ale

From: roy.rudebusch at travel.com

A friend of mine, (Tom Leith) brewed this:

Brown Ale
5 gal 1052
7# Bgm 2-row
1# Bgm Cara-Munich
1# Bgm Cara-Vienne
1# M&F Dark Crystal
6 oz Chocolate
6.3 HBUs Tett 60 min.
2.1 HBUs Tett 10 min
W-1028

A definite Pete's Wicked Ale clone.

Just brew it.

 * OLX 2.2 * on a clear disk you can seek forever


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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 09:14:10 -0500
From: bradley at adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley)
Subject: too dark to be pale

Here's a question for you judges/style gurus.  I just bottled a
beer which I had intended to be a pale ale.  I often add 1/2 to
1 pound of crystal to a pale.  I attempted to get the same color
by using 2 ounces of chocolate malt.  I now know that <= 1 ounce
is the correct amount.  So I now have what I consider to be a very
fine beer, true to pale ale style in every respect but that the
colour is a dark amber (actually, it's kind of an orange colour!).
Suppose I was entering it in a competition (I'm not); what category
would achieve best results?

       NOT-SO-PALE ALE

       8  lb Munton & Fison 2-row pale malt
       2  oz U. S. Chocolate malt
       1  oz Northern Brewer pellets (60 min. boil)
     1/2  oz Willamette flowers (30 min. boil)
     1/2  oz Herrsbrucker plug (15 min. boil)
     1/2 tsp Irish Moss
     1/2  oz Herrsbrucker plug (add at end of the boil; steep 15 min.)
             WYeast 1098 (Whitbread)
             Gelatine finings
     1/2  oz Herrsbrucker plug (dry hops, last 5 days in secondary)

     OG  1045    3 days in primary
     SG  1016    at racking
     FG  1012    11 days in secondary
                   finings and dry hops added after day 6.

Infusion mash for 75 minutes at 150-155 F.

Cheers,

Rob (bradley at adx.adelphi.edu)

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Date: 23 Nov 1992 10:35:45 -0500 (EST)
From: homebrew at tso.uc.EDU (Ed Westemeier)
Subject: RE: growing hops

Aaron Birenboim writes in HBD #1018:
> I just got a street lamp installed in front of my house.
> I was wonderingI  could i grow hops up this pole? or
> do they > need something thinner like a string to
> twine up?
>
>  the pole is pine, not metal.


You're on the right track.  I've had pronounced lack of success even using
rough-textured wooden poles an inch in diameter.  The hop vines really
want that twine to hold onto.

Why not see if you can throw a ball of twine over the crossbar (holding
onto one end, of course) and anchor an end of the twine to the ground on
each side of the pole?  Then you could let the vines grow up the twine.
Two or three vines per twine would normally be the max (they get pretty
heavy after a rain in August or September).

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 17:04:57 +0100
From: steve_T at fleurie.compass.fr (Steven Tollefsrud)
Subject: Brewing supplies source in France???


I'm an expatriate American brewing (and living) in the
South of France. I've been ordering supplies from a
shop in England for the past year, but the shipping
costs and the approx. 20% customs tax are taking the
fun out of it.

I've checked the telephone directories in Paris and Nice
but haven't been able to locate a brewing materials supplier.

Does anybody have any information regarding such a
shop or supplier in France?

If so, please e-mail to: vlsisj!madiran!steve_t at decwrl.dec.com

Steve Tollefsrud

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 11:02:29 CUT
From: ibmpa!vpdbox.austin.ibm.com!dewey at ibminet.awdpa.ibm.com (Dewey Coffman)
Subject: New Brewery opening in Austin, Texas.

>From Austin American Statesman, Business Section 11/23/92

"Brewery is planned at bottling plant site."

East Austin's old R.C. Cola Bottling plant soon may be bubbling with
activity again.
        Hill Country Brewing and Bottling Co. plans to begin operations at
the facility by the end of the year.
        The company hopes to find its niche in the cutom brew market, with
plans to produce small quantities of beer for individual contractors.
        Hill Country, headed by president Michael McHone, is expected to
brew about 1,000 cases each month. The first beers will be available in
draft only.
        McHone said the brewery now is completing it licensing work. About
five jobs will be created with Hill Country's opening.

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 17:39:01 GMT
From: Martin Wilde <martin at gamma.intel.com>
Subject: DMS and boiling

While at a brewery this past weekend, I was watching a brewer making a batch
of beer and I noticed that after the boil, the flame was turned off and the
wort left to "steep" for about 45 minutes.  I first asked the brewer about
the problems of DMS forming since the temperature of the wort had fallen
below 212 degrees.

The brewer said they had never noticed a problem and he thought the DMS thing
was a bit over hiped...  The reason for the 45 minute "steep" was to allow
further settlement of the hot break before they chilled the wort.  They
believed too much cold break in the fermenter would cause the yeast to be
slower taking off (since the yeast could get buried in all the cold break in
the bottom of the fermenter and inhibit its ability to rise up.  Yes we know
that ale yeasts are top fermenting, but they do fall to the bottom before
rising to the top...).

Anyone care to comment?


Martin Wilde                 |  So many beers...
martin at gamma.hf.intel.com    |  So little time...
uunet!intelhf!gamma!martin   |


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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 12:48:11 EST
From: fingerle at NADC.NAVY.MIL (J. Fingerle)
Subject: Pellet mush



Hello, everyone.  A quick beginner question.  I recently brewed my
third batch using whole hops and had no problem straining them from
the wort.   I then used hop pellets in my fourth batch.  When I
tried to strain the boiling hop pellets out, all I had was a "mush"
at the bottom of the pot, and this "mush" went right through the
strainer.  The best I could improvise was to remove the wort from
the heat and let it settle, then carefully pour the wort out, leaving
most of the mush behind.

Are these pellets supposed to dissolve in this manner?  Do I need
a "finer" strainer? And, more importantly, if I left some hops
behind in the wort, will they "over-hop" my brew?  Will they settle
in the muck so that I might leave the excess behind when I rack to
the secondary?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks in advance.

- --
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
name:  Jimmy                               Nothing kills a good arguement
email: fingerle at NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL       like someone looking up the facts.
 -or-   fingerle at NADC.NAVY.MIL                       -Bill Lyon
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

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Date:   Mon, 23 Nov 1992 13:22:36 -0500
From: Nick Zentena <zen%hophead at canrem.com>
Subject: Toronto area mailing list?

Hi,
        I was wondering if anybody was interesting in a
        mailing list dealing with local Toronto issues? Things like
        sources of supplies,local micros/brewpubs and clubs?

        If you are interested drop me a note.
        Nick

*****************************************************************************
I drink Beer I don't collect cute bottles!
zen%hophead at canrem.com
*****************************************************************************

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 14:32:01 EST
From: Pierre Jelenc at cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
Subject: sucre candi a.k.a. candy sugar

The following is a paraphrase of my recent article on the same subject on
Compuserve.

Candy sugar, known in French as "sucre candi", is pure sucrose that has been
made to crystallize slowly into large crystals. The Encyclopedia Britannica
defines it as "very large white sugar crystals, obtained by slow crystalli-
zation from very high purity liquor; it is used mainly by the brewing industry."

(The liquor in question is a syrup obtained as an intermediate in the sugar
refining process).

The word "candi" in French and Italian comes from the Arabic "qandi", which
simply means sugarcane. The verb "to candy", "candir" in French, is a back-
formation from "candi/y" and has come to mean "to treat or cover with sugar".

The reason why candy sugar was used originally by the brewing industry is that
at the time brewers were beginning to put strange things in their beers,
candy sugar was the _purest_available_sucrose_ on the market. The alternatives
were sugarloaf sugar, a less purified product that did not crystallize well,
and brown sugar or molasses, even less pure products that impart a pronounced
taste of their own. The point of candy sugar is that it was the _most_neutral_
_tasting_ sugar available.

Pierre



Pierre Jelenc                        pcj1 at cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
                                    Columbia University, New York

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 13:16:14 CST
From: lencell at unmc.edu (Lance Encell)
Subject: need help keeping yeast alive

Is there anyone out there who might offer suggestions about keeping
some liquid yeast alive?  I received a yeast starter kit from William's
Brewery Co.  The package was removed from the refridgerator and the inner
seal containing the yeast was broken.  After 7 days the yeast was still
not activated, so William's replaced it for free and determined that the
original yeast was bad.  A few days later the original package started
to swell.  Now it is activated and has been placed back in the fridge.
I'd like to do something with this yeast rather than throw it out.  Please
e-mail any suggestions.  Thanks,
lance
lencell at molecular.unmc.edu

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 16:36 CST
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: Re: Suspended Animation/single- vs. two-stage fermentation

Phil writes:
>Here's the question:  Suppose I start a package 3 days before I
>brew (assuming 2 days incubation time) and the package swells to
>bursting after 1 day.  Am I better off pitching the package into my
>starter and letting it sit there for 2 days (so that I end up
>pitching the starter into the carboy after high krauesen) OR is it
>possible to chuck a swollen package of Wyeast back into the fridge
>for a day and then pitch it into my starter 1 day before brewing
>like usual?

I would not put it back in the fridge, although it has been used with
success by some.  I would pitch it into a starte, but only fill the
starter bottle half-full.  One day before brewing, add the other 1/2 of
the starter volume and the next day your starter will be at high
kraeusen -- which is when you ideally want to pitch.

For example:  Two fridays ago, I took out two bottles of my homebrew,
made with 1st generation Wyeast #1028, drank them, added 6 ounces of
1020 wort to each and affixed an airlock.  Sunday, they would have
been ready to pitch, but I was not ready to brew, so I let them
ferment out (they were at 70F).  This last saturday, I was going
to brew in the evening, so at 3pm, I made some more 1020 wort and added
4 more ounces to each starter bottle.  By midnight (pitching time), they
were going again.  Sunday morning, at 9am, the batch was already
producing blowoff.  Less than a 9 hour lag time... I'm happy with that.

*****************

Jonathan writes:
>I'm wondering about comments I have seen with posted recipes in this forum
>and in brewing books as well which say something like, "this recipe lends
>itself to single-stage fermentation."
>
>Such statements lead me to the following questions.
>
>(1) I've noticed that the darker brews seem to have this said about the more
>frequently.  Is secondary fermentation then of importance primarily (sorry
>about the pun (:)  for clarification of lighter colored brews?
>
>(2) Or, do some types of brew ferment more quickly than others?
>
>(3) Or, is secondary fermentation always desirable, but the benefits less
>noticeable with certain types of brew (i.e. you can get away with single-
>stage fermentation more easily).

In my opinion, it's mostly (2) and (3).  I feel that beer will clear just
as quickly in the primary as if it was racked to a secondary, maybe faster.
Of course ales ferment faster than lagers because of the fermentation
temperatures.  I use a secondary only for lagers -- I brew all my ales
(except my pseudo-lambik) in single-stage, glass, 5 gallon primaries with
blowoff hoses.  Whether to use single- or two-stage is a game of benefits
vs. drawbacks.  All beers benefit somewhat from two-stage, but if you will
be keeping the beer in the carboy less than two (or three) weeks, I'd use
single-stage.  The added risk of infection and oxidation are not worth it,
IMHO.

>My beer has improved considerably since I started using a secondary but I
>also started using liquid yeast, and not splashing my hot wort and a few
>other things all around the same time.

I'd say it's mostly the liquid yeast and not splashing hot wort that made
your beers improve -- not to mention added experience and confidence.
For ales in the fermenter less than 3 weeks, the cons outweigh the pros
for two-stage, in my book.

Jack writes:
>Although my bottled beer had adaquate carbonation, it never had much head and
>occassionally it was foam city trying to get a couple litre bottles filled.

>I returned the filler to the producer (MM) and my money was cheerfully
>refunded but upon re-examining the problem, I came very close to sending
>another check to get it back but that would have been a bit too much.  So, I
>put together some bits and pieces and made it work and am now a believer.

>The major problem was making it work through my cold plate as I have no way
>of chilling a keg at will.  One advantage to the cold plate is that I can
>carbonate and bottle at much higher pressures because of the small diameter
>of the flow in the plate.  The final product is slick and simple, with quick
>disconnects for easy cleaning and setup.  I can fill one bottle or a case
>with no foam and no mess.  The bottle goes pffft when I pop the top and the
>head is as thick and creamy as a fresh tapped mug.

I don't understand where the problem was.  Generally speaking, if your beer
has adequate carbonation and adequate amounts of proteins and dextrins,
it should have an adequate head.  Consider industrial lagers.  They are
highly carbonated, yet have no head to speak of.  On the other hand, look
at Orval.  Again, highly carbonated, yet a head that you could float a
bottle on (not just a bottlecap ;^).  Then there's beer's like Bateman's
XXXB, which is low in carbonation, yet also has a good head.  I ensure
a good head on my beers with ample additions of crystal malts and many
of my ales are very low in carbonation.

It's true that the temperatures and pressures need to be correct to get
the right carbonation and it seems that you've found them for the lengths
of lines and diameters you have in your system, Jack, but I still don't
understand where the change was made that would increase head retention.

Al.

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 11:34:04 +0000
From: G.A.Cooper at qmw.ac.uk
Subject: Phil and Barry

From: Phil Hultin:

> G.A. Cooper very nicely  ....

No need to be formal Phil, just call me Geoff.

Also Barry Moore, please accept my thanks via the digest. I couldn't seem
to get mail past sunup.

Geoff


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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 20:14:00 CST
From: kennym at attmail.att.com (Michael R. Kenny)
Subject: RE: Air Stat


>Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 22:26:00 CST
>From: johnf at persoft.com (John Freeborg)
>Subject: Lower Hunter Airstat
>
>
>   Is there a "Hunter Air Stat" thermostat which has a different range
>of temperature control?  I know the Hunter model is from 40 to 90 degrees
>farenheit.  Is there any that go from 30 degrees to 60 or something like
>that?
>
> - John

I called Hunter customer service (901-743-1360) and they said no, the
"Air Stat" was designed for use with a room air conditioner and Hunter
does not manufacture refrigerator thermostats.

There are other devices that will control in the lower ranges but the
less than $30 price tag on the Air Stat was to hard for me to pass up.
So I took the Air Stat apart in search of a method to alter it. As it
turns out, the sensor is a Thermister that appears to function in the
same range as one sold at Radio Shack, 10K ohm at 25 degrees C. You
cannot change the Air Stat range but you can offset the sensor
calibration.  According to the thermister data sheet, at 32 degrees F
the resistance is 27.28K and 22.05K at 41 degrees F. The resistance
decreases as the temperature rises so if you make the air stat think
the sensor is 22k when its really 25k the air stat will say 41 but
the sensor temp will be around 35 degrees F. This is done by simply
putting more resistance in parallel with the sensor. Using ohms law,

-------HBD truncated due to technical malfunction--------------

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1019, 11/24/92