HOMEBREW Digest #1030 Thu 10 December 1992
Digest #1029
Digest #1031
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
re: closed fermentations (Michael Galloway)
Baker's yeast conclusions & Alabama brewing (thutt)
re:bigfoot alcohol content (jim busch)
Diversol ("Dean Roy" )
thomas hardy's ale (Tony Babinec)
Lisa St. H ("Rad Equipment")
Re: Artesian well water (Richard Stueven)
More on dry hop anarchy (Paul Yatrou)
citrus flavor from hops (Daniel Ratchen)
MR BELISLE (Jack Schmidling)
RE: Cold Break Process (Mike Leclere)
Temp. Range for Champagne Yeast? (W. Michael Todd)
Archive Help! (J. Fingerle)
Hops, iodophor & yeast from Micah Millspaw ("Bob Jones")
To Russ Wigglesworth (parsons1)
bulk dry malt? ("John L. Isenhour")
profile of Redhook Beers (The Rider) (Michael Fetzer)
profile of Redhook Beers (The Rider) (Michael Fetzer)
Recipe for smooth stout ("Bob Jones")
Homebrew Digest #1029 (December 09, 1992) ("JSDAWS1 at PROFSSR")
sparging (Carl West)
Phosphoric acid (korz)
Digital pH Meters (thomas ciccateriiveno)
beer heaven, beer hell, 1.040 starters, stuck ferment (Brian Bliss)
Cleaning old carboys (Tim LaBerge)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 08:32:56 -0500
From: mgx at solid.ssd.ornl.gov (Michael Galloway)
Subject: re: closed fermentations
In HBD #1029 Richard King asks about closed fermentations:
>[snip] I been using a 5 gallon glass carboy
>for primary fermination and have the problem with the airlock
>blowing out and smacking into the kitchen ceiling (a particularly
>memorable occasion concerned a M&F stout whose blackened spots
>remain to this day above my head). My solution has been to simply
>fill the carboy up with wort only about three-fourths of the way,
>and after fermination has subsided, fill the carboy the rest of
>the way with boiled, cooled water. What do you all think? I haven't
>had any problem, but I wonder if this is simply dilluting good beer
>in an inappropriate manner.
Richard, I do all my fermentations closed, in a 6 1/2 gal carboy. If you
cannot get one of those, try splitting the batch between two 5 gal carboys.
When the primary fermentation activity abates, siphon the two 'splits'
into a single 5 gal carboy and procede as normal.
Richard also asks:
>Also, the water naturally causes a
>bit of splashing, even though I try to keep this to a minimum. Could
>air bubbles from this process be detrimental to the final product
>(which, after all, tastes pretty darn good). I'd be glad to hear
>anyone's opinions about this.
Try siphoning the boiled and cooled water into the carboy.
Michael D. Galloway (mgx at solid.ssd.ornl.gov)
v-(615)574-5785 f-(615)574-4143
Living in the WasteLand (of Beer, that is)
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 92 08:27:52 EST
From: thutt <thutt at mail.casi.nasa.gov>
Subject: Baker's yeast conclusions & Alabama brewing
Thanks to all who responded to my query about baking yeast. The
responses generally said that the two yeast types (baking /
brewing) were physically the same, but cultured to perform
differently. Some people said they had (or knew someone) tried to
use a baking yeast. The results varied on the Baking beer quality.
From: bland, to no better or no worse than Brewer beer.
One respondant wanted to know how to make sourdough starters!
I guess I will give it a try (once I get enough milk jugs to break
my experiment into parts). Can anyone give me the name of a sour
beer so that I can see if I _really_ want to do this.
Alternatively, if you have had a real sour beer, please describe
it. (The sour-est beer I have had is Guiness. I guess you can use
this as a benchmark.)
Finally, I'm getting my father a brewkit for Christmas. He lives
in Huntsville, Alabama. Can anyone tell me if there are brewstores
in the city? What's the closest, if none are in Huntsville.
Thanks again
Taylor
Championing worldwide usage of Oberon-2!
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 9:08:56 EST
From: jim busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com>
Subject: re:bigfoot alcohol content
Thanks to the person who posted the info on Sierra Nevada products.
The information looked acurate up to the Bigfoot entry:
Bigfoot Ale
alcohol content: 10.1% by weight
starting gravity: 23 plato (1.092)
ending gravity: 6 plato
yeast: ale yeast
bittering hops: nugget
finishing hops: cascade
dry hops: centennial and cascade
malts: 2-row barley malt, caramel malt
Either I'm missing something, or the strength of this
beer is not 10.1 by weight. I get 8.77 by volume,
23-6 * .516 = alcohol by volume (very roughly). Maybe
this formula doesnt hold for high gravity??
Jim Busch
Return to table of contents
Date: 9 Dec 92 09:34:51 EST
From: "Dean Roy" <DEAN at alpha.uwindsor.ca>
Subject: Diversol
I recently purchased a Cornelius keg system from an out of town homebrew
supply store (hurray no more bottling!). The guy at the store gave me a
packet of "Diversol" which he said to use to clean the kegs with. He told me
that this was a detergent used in the dairy business to clean vessels.
Can anyone tell me exactly what this stuff is? It is bright pink powder
and the instructions say to mix it up at a rate of 2 ounces per gallon of
water. They also state that this solution is reusable.
Any information on this stuff would be greatly appreciated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dean Roy | Email: DEAN at UWINDSOR.CA |
| Systems Programmer | Voice: (519)253-4232 Ext 2763 |
| University of Windsor | Fax : (519)973-7083 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 9:20:07 CST
From: tony at spss.com (Tony Babinec)
Subject: thomas hardy's ale
Roger Protz of CAMRA has a nice description of Thomas Hardy's Ale
in his "European Beer Almanac":
alcohol by volume: 12%
degrees plato: 31
original gravity: 1125
Ingredients: Maris Otter pale ale malt and crystal malt. Fuggles,
Goldings, and Styrian hops. 60-70 units of bitterness. Top
fermenting yeast.
Tasting Notes.
Nose: 'Brisk as a volcano.' (quote from Hardy's "The Mayor of
Casterbridge.")
Palate: 'Full in body; piquant, yet without a twang; free from
streakiness.'
Comments: Thomas Hardy wrote with evident enthusiasm about the
beer of 'Casterbridge' (Dorchester) in his Wessex novels. Eldridge
Pope have repaid the compliment with their classic bottle-
conditioned beer named in his honor. It was brewed first in 1968
to mark the 40th anniversary of the writer's death but interest and
demand has meant that it is now brewed on a regular basis. It is
dry-hopped and warm-conditioned for 3 months and is pitched 3 times
with yeast, twice during fermentation and then during conditioning.
It continues to condition in the small nip bottle and the brewery
recommends that it is laid down for 5 years. A new vintage is
brewed annually and each bottle is individually numbered. When
opened there is a rich sherry or Madeira note beneath the intense
peppery hop aroma. It is a remarkable example of British craft
brewing.
Michael Jackson states that some vintages have been aged in sherry
wood. He gives the beer 4 stars.
Return to table of contents
Date: 9 Dec 92 08:50:07 U
From: "Rad Equipment" <rad_equipment at radmac1.cgl.ucsf.edu>
Subject: Lisa St. H
Subject: Lisa St. H Time:8:45 AM Date:12/9/92
Sorry to take up space here with this but direct E-mail isn't working.
Lisa, please contact me via voice when you arrive at either of the phone
numbers below.
RW...
Russ Wigglesworth CI$: 72300,61
|~~| UCSF Medical Center Internet: Rad Equipment at RadMac1.ucsf.edu
|HB|\ Dept. of Radiology, Rm. C-324 Voice: 415-476-3668 / 474-8126 (H)
|__|/ San Francisco, CA 94143-0628
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 10:03:21 PST
From: gak at wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: Artesian well water
mlh at cygnus.ta52.lanl.gov (Michael L. Hall) sez:
>
>Chuck Coronella writes:
>
>> Do any of you use artesian well water for brewing? [...] Something like
>> "well, I dunno, it's just better water." The water tastes the same as
>> regular tap water to me. Maybe it's harder/softer than usual tap
>> water?
>
>Artesian wells are wells that pump themselves because thay are below the
>water table level.
This used to be a big selling point for Olympia beer, and they promoted
their Artesian Well Water on their labels. "It's the water, and a lot
more." (Yeah, right..."it's the water, and that's about all.")
Anyway, I guess they figured that nobody knew what an Artesian well
was, therefore it must make their beer better. (Sort of like "Cold
Filtering".)
have fun
gak
107/H/3&4
P.S. Maybe they still do...I haven't had an Oly in maybe fifteen years...
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 13:18:33 -0500 (EST)
From: YATROU at INRS-TELECOM.UQUEBEC.CA (Paul Yatrou)
Subject: More on dry hop anarchy
Thanks to all who replied on dry hop anarchy. So, there are two possible
effects when you dry hop:
First, the immediate liberation of CO2 due to nucleation. If you don't
want too much of a mess make sure you have enough head space in your
secondary so the froth doesn't invade your airlock. Or, if you like
to kepp the carboy topped off, rack to another carboy which contains
the hops.
Second, the re-awakening of dormant yeast. I'm not sure what causes
this, but I guess it depends on the amount of fermentables left in
the carboy when dry hops are introduced. Maybe the CO2 scrubs away
enough of the yeast-toxic higher alcohols so that the little buggers
wake up, who knows?
Paul Yatrou
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 10:20:15 PST
From: dratchen at std.MENTORG.COM (Daniel Ratchen)
Subject: citrus flavor from hops
Are there any hop experts out there? I am trying to identify
what type of hop can be used to impart a citrusy aroma and
character to a brew. I have tasted this in several Northwest
micro-brews and I am curious what the brewers did to get this
flavor.
My interest is not entirely academic. When I tasted my latest
brew, on the way from the primary to secondary, I was astonished
to note that a citrusy flavor dominated. I cannot identify for
sure where this came from, because I used 3 varieties and an
ungodly amount of hops in the finish. The brew was intended to
be dubbed 'Hop Bag Ale'. I enjoy the variety of flavors that
hops can provide, but this latest development was truly unexpected.
I have looked in all my brew books for the aromatic qualities of
various hops and cannot find 'citrusy' listed for any of them. If
any of you have run across this scrap of information in your beer
travels, please tell.
Thanks!
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 09:20 CST
From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: MR BELISLE
Every once in awhile (even I, the World's Greatest Brewer) do something
really stupid. Someone named Belisle ordered a MM and I entered his name on
the shipping schedule. Now it is time to ship and I can't find his address
and I suspect he will be very unhappy if he never receives his mill.
If you are lurking out there or if anyone knows him, please contact me with
shipping instructions.
P.S. We just shipped #300 but I wouldn't dream of constipating the Digest
again by giving away another one :)
js
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 10:46:50 PST
From: Mike Leclere <msl at orca.rose.hp.com>
Subject: RE: Cold Break Process
In response to Brian Bliss' post in HBD #1025...
I have been using a technique for some time which combines whirling, settling,
and syphoning the cooled wort with a secondary settling after syphoning into
a temporary container (a plastic fermenter) for 2 to 4 hours (depending on
the recipe). In other words, my process is:
1) cool the wort to near room temperature (I use a wort cooler which takes
my boiled wort down to about 85F in about 45 minutes)
2) remove wort cooler and whirl wort (with a sterile, plastic oar of course)
3) let settle for about 30 minutes (covered in the boiling vat)
4) syphon into temporary container (sterile, closed plastic fermenter)
5) let settle for 2 to 4 hours (I do this in the same place and ambient
temperature where the yeast starter is running - which is also where
the actual ferment will take place. This I feel minimizes the
thermal shock to the starter when I pitch.)
6) syphon into primary fermenter (7 gallon glass carboy) and pitch started
yeast
Perhaps this is overkill, but I have been concerned in the past
with the off flavors I seem to get when ANY significant amount of the trube
gets into my primary fermenter. Of course, the beers in which this occurred
could have had some other cause at fault, but since I have been doing this
the problems I had attributed to trube in the primary seem to have gone away.
As you can see I have opted for a very thorough trube elimination process, but
the down side is I have a relatively long period (2 - 5 hours) between when
the wort is cooled and when I pitch the yeast. You see, I am also concerned
about disturbing the yeast by syphoning after it is pitched, so I don't pitch
until the cold break settling and final syphon into the primary is completed.
I rationalize this by doing a good job with starting the yeast, and I usually
see the end of the lag phase about 6 to 8 hours after I pitch.
Any comments or feedback on this method? I have been brewing all grain
ales and lagers like this for about two years now, and I seem to get
consistently good results, or at least my friends and I find the results
acceptable. Still, if there is a good reason to change this - for example
I realize I may be optomizing the wrong part of the process - I'm interested
in suggestions. I will be starting my favorite (and most familiar) Nut Brown
Ale recipe this weekend, so experimentation is likely...
Mike Leclere
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 13:59:46 -0500 (EST)
From: miketodd at coos.dartmouth.edu (W. Michael Todd)
Subject: Temp. Range for Champagne Yeast?
Just a simple question. What is the optimum temp range for champagne yeast?
I am using it to carbonate home-made soft drinks but it isn't carbonating
very well. I am a college student living off-campus and we don't really turn
our heat on so the house is probably between 50-60 degrees. Thanks.
Michael Todd
Dartmouth College
miketodd at coos.dartmouth.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 14:28:42 EST
From: fingerle at NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL (J. Fingerle)
Subject: Archive Help!
I have been unable to "uncrack" the file "brew.recipes.shar"
in the archives in dir pub/homebrew. I read the message at the
top of this file, did what it said, ie., copy to a second file
then use the command "sh file" where 'file' is the name of the
second file.
What happens is there is about a 10 second pause, then, the message
temp: syntax error at line 966: `end of file' unexpected
(temp is the name of the second file I created that was identical
to what I got from the ftp.)
1. First, are these recipes in Cat's Meow II? If so, I have
that, and I won't bother with this.
2. If not, and out of curiosity, can anyone out there lend
me some ideas? Please write to me privately, and in
Unix-impaired simlplistic terms. Muchas Gracias.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 12:29:06 PST
From: "Bob Jones" <bjones at novax.llnl.gov>
Subject: Hops, iodophor & yeast from Micah Millspaw
>I've seen a theory advanced that the above assumptions are false. That the
>bitterness derived from high AA hops has a different characteristic than
>the same IBU derived from, say, noble hops.
I believe that the variety of bittering hops used can have a dramatic
taste\flavour effect in the finished beer. I can personaly taste the
differences in beers and often can identify the type of hop, some are
good some offencive.
======================================================================
>Does anyone have a good recipe for Thomas Hardy Ale that is all or
>mostly grain based? I have the Dave Line recipe for a 2 gallon batch
>but it is based on English pale malt whereas I am using American 2-row
>lager malt. I am thinking I will need to add some crystal malt to make
>up for the lighter roast in the lager malt, but I see that Jackson
>says Thomas Hardy Ale is made without any colored malts.
I have been told that Thomas Hardy's is made from Maris Otter pale malt
only.
======================================================================
> Iodophor Disinfectants
>Can anyone advise me on the use of iodophor as disinfectant for brewing
>equipment?
Iodophors will be totally effect at 12.5 ppm with a two min. soak time.
No rinse is needed. I think that 12.5 ppm is 1oz\5gallons.
=============================================================================
> related subject, does anybody have any suggestions for a yeast
>for my proposed Psycho-weizen? OG 1090-1100, 50% malt, 50% wheat,
>the color of American porter. Sorry to waste bandwidth by asking
>a second time, but I got no replies last time. There must be some
>barleywine brewers out there.
I say use Whitbread Ale yeast, it works great in Barleywines.
micah
12/9/92
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 15:55:01 -0500
From: parsons1 at husc.harvard.edu
Subject: To Russ Wigglesworth
Sorry to send a private letter to the mailing list, but I can't get a letter
through to russ.
Russ - Thank you for your response to my question the other day. If you're
interested, as alternatives to very high mash temperatures, S. Thomas
recommended adding crystal only in the mash-out rest, so the big sugars
don't get reduced; T. Babinec and B. Gillott advocate Wyeast European as
low-attenuation strains.
Actually, I guess that is a sort of public letter. Thanks again all who
responded
Jed parsons1 at husc.harvard.edu
(scribebam apud aedificium ad cerevisiam coquendam exstructum)
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1992 14:57:52 CST
From: "John L. Isenhour" <isenhour at lambic.fnal.gov>
Subject: bulk dry malt?
I want to buy some bulk dry malt extract for my yeast culture work:) I usually
use M&F or Laaglander 55lb boxes. Does anyone know of another good malt
available in bulk? I have heard about Breiss but have not tried it. Any
suggestions about the best price for quality dry malt appreciated.
John, The Hop Devil
home: john at hopduvel.UUCP work: brewmaster at lambic.fnal.gov
"More Malt, More Hops" -me
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 13:02:47 -0800
From: mfetzer at ucsd.edu (The Rider) (Michael Fetzer)
Subject: profile of Redhook Beers
So I'm sitting here, contemplating working on that neverending thesis
project. But no! I have a better idea!
Enjoy.
The Redhook Ale Brewery
3400 Phinney Ave North
Seattle WA 98103
(206) 548-8000
They give tours at, what was it, 3pm? Every day. The sampling at the end of
the tour is quite reasonable, and they have a pub attached to the brewery,
so you can wait for the tour to start.
The tour in itself isn't too impressive, what you see is a state of the art
brewery imported straight from Germany. The labels on the machinery are
still in German. You can apparently operate 90% of everything from a single
control panel that looks like it ought to belong into a nuclear power
plant. Ya know, the kind Homer Simpson sits behind? They stress that their
process is not computer controlled, but hey, imagine being able to push a
button that says 'mash out'. :)
(This is straight off their flyer except for my opionions)
name: Redhook ESB
malt: 2-row Klages, Caramel 60L (they mean crystal, really!!!)
hops: Willamette, Tettnang
yeast: top fermenting english
available: year round
flavor: rich, round, toasted malt with pleasant finishing sweetness
food: all manner of fowl, great with game and cheese
color: copper
area: west coast
formats: bottle, keg, cask conditioned
since: 1987
alcohol: 4.3%
SG: 1.054
additives: none
IMNSHO: Excellent. True to the flavor profile they suggest. Maybe
a bit flowery for a bitter?
name: Ballard Bitter
malt: 2-row Klages, Caramel 40L
hops: eroica, willamette, cascade
yeast: top fermenting english
available: year round
flavor: aggressively hopped, dry crips finish
food: seafoods, highly spiced entrees
color: brass
area: west coast
formats: bottle, keg
since: 1984
alcohol: 3.8%
SG: 1.0445
additives: none
IMNSHO: I had a hard time deciding that I liked the ESB better.
Actually, side by side, I had a hard time figuring out
which is which? It's sligtly more bitter, but then
Americans seem to think 'Bitter' implies 'bitter' which
it most certainly does not.
name: Blackhook Porter
malt: 2-row klages, caramel 40L, black malt (chocolate???)
roasted barley (in a porter!!!???)
hops: willamette, eroica, cascade
yeast: top fermenting english
available: year round
flavor: highly roasted chocolate malt character balanced by
lively hopping
food: charred and grilled meats, oysters
color: garnet (*chuckle*)
area: northwest
formats: bottle, keg dry hopped
since: 1983
alcohol: 3.9%
SG: 1.047
additives: none
IMNSHO: I'll drink this as an ok dark beer. Don't serve it to me
as porter, tho. I'm not sure what to call it. I recall it
being underhopped? It's been 8 weeks since the tasting,
sorry.
name: Red Hook Ale
malt: 2-row klages, caramel 40L, black malt
hops: cluster, willamette, eroica, cascade, yakima, hallertau
yeast: top fermenting belgian (yeah, right... see below)
available: once in a while (good!)
flavor: nutty and spicy, long full malt flavors
food: savory pastries, cheese
color: amber-red
area: washington state
formats: bottle, cask conditioned
since: 1982
alcohol: 4.5%
SG: 1.05
additives: none
IMNSHO: Ahehem. (gets a soap box) Now at least they have the
guts to print a banana right on the label! In the years
past, when I lived in that part of the country, (82-86)
I would every once in a while buy this beer, take a sip
and go... 'what the hell is it!' My theory is that they
used to have a nasty nasty infection in their beer.
They stopped making it when, gosh, they moved to a brand
new state of the art brewery, with decent sanitation.
Now they're producing it again, but I'm sure they had to
go scrape the floor of their former brewery to find that
yeast strain again! Or is it really a yeast? Hmm...
At any rate, the banana esthers are undeniable, and you
really must buy a bottle of this and read the label. They
have quotes from papers, magazines, etc., some are along
the lines of what is this amazing stuff! Others... what
*is* this stuff!!! Amazing! And then there's Michael
Jackson giving it I think a 4 star rating. Must have been
the guy with the glove...
name: Winterhook Ale
malt: different every year ('92 recipe not available yet)
hops:
yeast: top fermenting english
available: fall and winter
flavor:
food: roasted chestnuts, thanksgiving and xmas dinner
color:
area: washington state
formats: bottle, keg cask conditioned
since: 1987
alcohol: 4.8%
SG: 1.0575
additives: none
IMNSHO: Usually an excellent brew, tho I'ven not had it in several
years.
name: Wheathook Ale
malt: 2-row klages, malted english wheat
hops: tettnang, hersbrucker, german hallertau (are there others?)
yeast: top fermenting english (Hm...)
available: year round
flavor: delicate mild hopping, distinct wheat in finish
food: soups, lightly seasoned entrees, corn based dishes, polenta
color: straw
area: northwest
formats: bottle, keg cask conditioned
since: 1989
alcohol: 3.7%
SG: 1.034
additives: none
IMNSHO: not what you would call one of your finer wheat beers.
I don't know what style they are trying to emulate...
Certainly not a trace of delbruckii, but then they never
claimed that, either.
Questions: What the hell is 'polenta'?
Does anyone else think their food suggestions are weird?
Cheers,
Mike
______________
Michael Fetzer
Internet: mfetzer at ucsd.edu uucp: ...!ucsd!mfetzer
Bitnet: FETZERM at SDSC
HEPnet/SPAN: SDSC::FETZERM or 27.1::FETZERM
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 13:06:06 -0800
From: mfetzer at ucsd.edu (The Rider) (Michael Fetzer)
Subject: profile of Redhook Beers
So I'm sitting here, contemplating working on that neverending thesis
project. But no! I have a better idea!
Enjoy.
#The Redhook Ale Brewery
#3400 Phinney Ave North
#Seattle WA 98103
#(206) 548-8000
They give tours at, what was it, 3pm? Every day. The sampling at the end of
the tour is quite reasonable, and they have a pub attached to the brewery,
so you can wait for the tour to start.
The tour in itself isn't too impressive, what you see is a state of the art
brewery imported straight from Germany. The labels on the machinery are
still in German. You can apparently operate 90% of everything from a single
control panel that looks like it ought to belong into a nuclear power
plant. Ya know, the kind Homer Simpson sits behind? They stress that their
process is not computer controlled, but hey, imagine being able to push a
button that says 'mash out'. :)
(This is straight off their flyer except for my opionions)
name: Redhook ESB
malt: 2-row Klages, Caramel 60L (they mean crystal, really!!!)
hops: Willamette, Tettnang
yeast: top fermenting english
available: year round
flavor: rich, round, toasted malt with pleasant finishing sweetness
food: all manner of fowl, great with game and cheese
color: copper
area: west coast
formats: bottle, keg, cask conditioned
since: 1987
alcohol: 4.3%
SG: 1.054
additives: none
IMNSHO: Excellent. True to the flavor profile they suggest. Maybe
a bit flowery for a bitter?
name: Ballard Bitter
malt: 2-row Klages, Caramel 40L
hops: eroica, willamette, cascade
yeast: top fermenting english
available: year round
flavor: aggressively hopped, dry crips finish
food: seafoods, highly spiced entrees
color: brass
area: west coast
formats: bottle, keg
since: 1984
alcohol: 3.8%
SG: 1.0445
additives: none
IMNSHO: I had a hard time deciding that I liked the ESB better.
Actually, side by side, I had a hard time figuring out
which is which? It's sligtly more bitter, but then
Americans seem to think 'Bitter' implies 'bitter' which
it most certainly does not.
name: Blackhook Porter
malt: 2-row klages, caramel 40L, black malt (chocolate???)
roasted barley (in a porter!!!???)
hops: willamette, eroica, cascade
yeast: top fermenting english
available: year round
flavor: highly roasted chocolate malt character balanced by
lively hopping
food: charred and grilled meats, oysters
color: garnet (*chuckle*)
area: northwest
formats: bottle, keg dry hopped
since: 1983
alcohol: 3.9%
SG: 1.047
additives: none
IMNSHO: I'll drink this as an ok dark beer. Don't serve it to me
as porter, tho. I'm not sure what to call it. I recall it
being underhopped? It's been 8 weeks since the tasting,
sorry.
name: Red Hook Ale
malt: 2-row klages, caramel 40L, black malt
hops: cluster, willamette, eroica, cascade, yakima, hallertau
yeast: top fermenting belgian (yeah, right... see below)
available: once in a while (good!)
flavor: nutty and spicy, long full malt flavors
food: savory pastries, cheese
color: amber-red
area: washington state
formats: bottle, cask conditioned
since: 1982
alcohol: 4.5%
SG: 1.05
additives: none
IMNSHO: Ahehem. (gets a soap box) Now at least they have the
guts to print a banana right on the label! In the years
past, when I lived in that part of the country, (82-86)
I would every once in a while buy this beer, take a sip
and go... 'what the hell is it!' My theory is that they
used to have a nasty nasty infection in their beer.
They stopped making it when, gosh, they moved to a brand
new state of the art brewery, with decent sanitation.
Now they're producing it again, but I'm sure they had to
go scrape the floor of their former brewery to find that
yeast strain again! Or is it really a yeast? Hmm...
At any rate, the banana esthers are undeniable, and you
really must buy a bottle of this and read the label. They
have quotes from papers, magazines, etc., some are along
the lines of what is this amazing stuff! Others... what
*is* this stuff!!! Amazing! And then there's Michael
Jackson giving it I think a 4 star rating. Must have been
the guy with the glove...
name: Winterhook Ale
malt: different every year ('92 recipe not available yet)
hops:
yeast: top fermenting english
available: fall and winter
flavor:
food: roasted chestnuts, thanksgiving and xmas dinner
color:
area: washington state
formats: bottle, keg cask conditioned
since: 1987
alcohol: 4.8%
SG: 1.0575
additives: none
IMNSHO: Usually an excellent brew, tho I'ven not had it in several
years.
name: Wheathook Ale
malt: 2-row klages, malted english wheat
hops: tettnang, hersbrucker, german hallertau (are there others?)
yeast: top fermenting english (Hm...)
available: year round
flavor: delicate mild hopping, distinct wheat in finish
food: soups, lightly seasoned entrees, corn based dishes, polenta
color: straw
area: northwest
formats: bottle, keg cask conditioned
since: 1989
alcohol: 3.7%
SG: 1.034
additives: none
IMNSHO: not what you would call one of your finer wheat beers.
I don't know what style they are trying to emulate...
Certainly not a trace of delbruckii, but then they never
claimed that, either.
Questions: What the hell is 'polenta'?
Does anyone else think their food suggestions are weird?
Cheers,
Mike
______________
Michael Fetzer
Internet: mfetzer at ucsd.edu uucp: ...!ucsd!mfetzer
Bitnet: FETZERM at SDSC
HEPnet/SPAN: SDSC::FETZERM or 27.1::FETZERM
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 13:11:53 PST
From: "Bob Jones" <bjones at novax.llnl.gov>
Subject: Recipe for smooth stout
Ok, for those that ask, here is the recipe for a Stout I made recently.
This is the Stout that was drinkable at 1 week old. I believe several
things make this smoothness possible; adding roasted grains to the mashout,
keeping black patent malt quantities small, adding some calcium carbonate
and adjusting sparge water ph.
Batch size=10 gals
21# Pale malt (GW)
2# Roasted Barley (added at mashout)
5# Black Patent (added at mashout)
10oz Chocolate malt (added at mashout)
2# Cara pils
2# British crystal malt (80l)
2t Gypsum (in mash)
1t non-iodized salt (in kettle)
2t calcium carbonate (in kettle)
14grams Whitbread dry yeast (rehydrate in 100f water for 15 min)
Hops -
2oz Perle (AA7.6)
1oz cascade (AA6.7)
Brewing details -
* Single temp infusion mash at 154f for 60min
* mashin with 7.8 gals water at 171f
* add specialty grains noted above and mashout at 170f for 10 mins
* sparge with 9 gals 168f water to collect 13 gals wort (sparge water
treated with lactic acid to ph 5.7)
* Boil 90 mins
* Boil Perle for 75 mins
* Boil Cascade for 60 mins
* Total IBU approx 40
* ferment at 68f for 1 week, rack to keg, CO2 to 2.6 volumes
OG = 1068 FG = 1023
Enjoy,
Bob Jones
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Date: 09 Dec 92 13:51:18 PST
From: "JSDAWS1 at PROFSSR" <JSDAWS1 at PB1.PacBell.COM>
Subject: Homebrew Digest #1029 (December 09, 1992)
*** Reply to note of 12/09/92 00:57
------------------------------
Several comments
1. re: carboy fermentation
> From: RKING at VUNET.VINU.EDU
> Subject: Addr: carboy
> I brew about five gallons of beer a month and I have a question
> maybe someone can answer. I been using a 5 gallon glass carboy
> for primary fermination and have the problem with the airlock
> blowing out and smacking into the kitchen ceiling (a particularly
> memorable occasion concerned a M&F stout whose blackened spots
> remain to this day above my head). My solution has been to simply
> fill the carboy up with wort only about three-fourths of the way,
> and after fermination has subsided, fill the carboy the rest of
> the way with boiled, cooled water. What do you all think? I haven't
First off, I think you're lucky you didn't have a 5-gallon beer
grenade go off in your kitchen. Seems like a more reasonable solution
is get a 7 gal. acid jug, which is what I use for a primary fermenter.
Many HB shops sell them for about $20 and they take a no. 7 stopper.
This allows me to ferment the full 5.5 gal with a fermentation lock.
Only once, with a barleywine, did the krauisen head reach the airlock.
| There's a light at the end of the tunnel.. |
| If it gets any brighter, get off the tracks. |
|____________ JSDAWS1 - JACK DAWSON - 545-0299 _____________|
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 15:40:52 EST
From: eisen at kopf.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Carl West)
Subject: sparging
Jack suggested:
> one could mash with 8 gallons of water and drain it all off.
which reminded me of a post from florian who said in #720:
- -------------------------------------
>From time to time, I read and note various techniques for settling the
mash and sparging. The usual technique mentioned in the books involves
spraying or sprinkling 178 F water over the mash to sparge. In former
times, I did this, but was always unhappy with the results, which were
cloudy finished beer. In the last year, I have been using a different
technique suggested by my brother-in-law. Its success in my case has
been born out by 20-30 batches of beer. It is the following:
The mash is performed in a picnic cooler of the rectangular variety,
large enough to hold all of the mash and all of the sparge water.
After the mash is complete, I add all the sparge water at once, at the
temperature 178 F. Then, I stir it to evenly distribute the grain
slurry throughout the water. I then let it sit for a "long time",
usually 1/2 to 1 hour. When I can open the lid and see that the
mixture appears clear on top, I begin to draw off wort from the tap
at the bottom of the picnic cooler. This initial runoff (about 1-2 gallons)
is poured back into the top of the cooler, making damn sure that the
contents of the cooler are not violently disturbed. After that, the
wort is allowed to run out at whatever rate it wants to into the boiler
pot. I don't pay any attention to how fast it comes out. My only
objective is to get it out. As soon as I have half of it run out, I
begin to heat it on the stove, using a second pot to catch the second
half of the runoff. By the time it is all run out, there is only
a little while left before the boil begins.
This technique differs from the usual in that I don't use fresh
sparge water to rinse the "end" of the grains. Noting once more that
my conversion efficiencies come out close to the theoretical values
and also that the clarity of my final beers has improved, I must
conclude that this33/1399 technique is better. It certainly makes mashing
more enjoyable for me, since I don't have to let the runoff go at some
attenuated rate in order to improve sparging efficiency. Being an
impatient person, I hated that part anyway.
Explanation? Perhaps the "long time" sitting in the coole allows the
water to fully dissolve the available sugars, so that longer runoff
times are not needed. In any case, it sure works for me!
Florian
- -----------------------------------
Which all makes me think that it might work well to perform your
favorite kind of mash, drain off the first runnings, _then_ dump in all
of your sparge water, let it set for `a long time', then drain it off
as florian describes.
Just an idea, maybe I'll try it someday.
Carl
When I stop learning, bury me.
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 15:30 CST
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: Phosphoric acid
I checked Noonan's "Brewing Lager Beer" again last night and my
memory did not fail me this time. In the chapter on Sanititation,
he has sections on each type of equipment material (Stainless, glass,
wood, plastic, etc) and then on each type of sanitizer or cleaner
(chlorine bleach, sodium metabisulphite, sodium hydroxide, etc.)
Under "Glass and Glazed porcelain," he says you can use virtually any
cleaner and virtually any sanitizer, but specifically says not to
use Phosphoric acid. He could have meant just for glazed porcelain,
but he was not specific.
Later, under "Phosphoric acid," he says specifically to not use it
on glazed porcelain, and did not mention glass.
Therefore, I guess based on this and all the posts by those more
knowledgable in chemistry than I, my fears were unwarranted.
I did know about hydrofluoric acid. I know that before modern
plastic, they used to store it in quartz containers -- it was in
quartz bottles in my grammar school chem lab (we didn't get to
touch anything -- the teacher (Mrs. Rudner) did the experiments
at the "podium").
Thanks to all.
Al.
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 15:42:37 MST
From: thomas ciccateriiveno <tciccate at carina.unm.edu>
Subject: Digital pH Meters
Does anyone have firsthand experience with Digital pH meters such as the one Williams sells for $41 ?
tom
tom ciccateri -> tciccate at carina.unm.edu
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Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 16:38:35 CST
From: bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: beer heaven, beer hell, 1.040 starters, stuck ferment
sherpa2!CCASTELL.UNIX11%mailsrv2 at sunup.West.Sun.COM (what an address!) writes:
>There have been a couple of questions concerning commercially
>available Christmas/Holiday beers. The following beers are
>currently available in the Seattle area:
>
>Jubelale - Deschuttes Brewery
>Winter Welcome - Samuel Smith
>Winterhook - Redhook
>Wassail Winter Ale - Hood River
>Celebration Ale - Sierra Nevada
>Snow Cap Ale - Hart Brewing Co. (Pyramid)
>Cold Cock - Big Rock
>WinterBru - Thomas Kemper
>Festival Ale - Felinfoel
>Christmas Ale - North Coast Brewing Company
>Aass Winter - Aass
>Grant's Spiced Ale - Yakima Brewing Company
>Winterfest - Coors
>Winter Lager - Samuel Adams
>
>So far, I still haven't seen Wasatch Winter Ale, Young's Winter Ale,
>and Anchor's Special Ale.
Well, Naneenanena-na. We actually get Young's winter ale here in
Champaign, IL, and also Anchor's christmas ale (same as special ale?).
It only serves us right, since the only other beers on your list that
we get are Sam Smith WW, SN Celebration Ale (excellent, btw), and Coor's
Winterfest :-). (I'm envious)
To my palate, Anchor's christmas ale is spiced with cinnamon and
nutmeg, and possibly coriander. per chance, I made a similar
tasting ale 2 months ago spiced with 4 tbsp coriander, 1 cinammon
stick, and peel from 1 fresh orange. they taste quite similar, but
mine had 2 lb turbinado sugar in it and was fermented with Wyeast Belgian;
OG 1.085, FG 1.017 => anchor's pretty light by comparison.
(btw, no banana in this one)
Young's Winter Ale has that distinctive Young's lip-smacking sweet
diacetyl character to it, multiplied by 1000. Some say it's oxidized
(I for one); my friend loves it.
- ------------------------------
bradley at adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley) writes:
>Three years I've lived in this country and I only just this weekend
>finally got around to trying Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine.
sob. sob. sniff. we don't get bigfoot, either.
Oh well, it could be worse. Dad likes Paulaner hefeweizen, so when I
visited recently, I searched every liquor store in Galesburg and came
up empty. "Sure, we have all the imports: Heineken, St. Pauli light & Dark,
Corona, and Mooshead, too!", I was told all too often.
>WOW! This is what tiggers _really_ like :-)
You're a tigger, too? I thought I was the only one. hmmm...
- ------------------------------
>In 1026, Al Korz twice recommends 1 oz. (by weight) of DME
>in a 1 cup (8 fl. oz.) starter.
...
>Now doesn't DME give about 40 points per pound?
>So this sounds like a recipe for a 1040 starter to me.
A 1.020 starter may be best for your yeast, but it tastes watery
and should the starter get infected, you may not be able to discern
the off flavors from the yeasty taste (until you've pitched it (in the
fermenter, not the wastebasket)) A higher SG starter fermented out
longer may not be the best for your yeast, but at least you can detect
infection easier and pitch it (in the wastebacket, not the fermenter).
I throw out about a third of my wyeast starters...
- ------------------------------
>I just tried downloading the publist.Z in the HBD archives. I can't unzip
>them...that is what the Z stands for isn't it?
try "uncompress" (opposite of "compress")
- ------------------------------
smanastasi at mmm.com (steve anastasi) writes of a stuck fermentation.
Try adding oak chips - for some reason, they seem to rouse a stuck ferment.
If you don't want the oak flavor, then boil & rinse them repeatedly before
adding to the fermenter.
bb
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Date: 09 Dec 1992 18:51:11 -0600 (CST)
From: Tim LaBerge <LABERGE at kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: Cleaning old carboys
I've come across an old carboy which is in good condition other for
an unidentified stain on the bottom. I have tried everything short
of nitric acid to remove it, with no success. Is this thing safe to
brew in, or should I make a terrarium out of it? Any other ideas about
removing the mysterious deposits?
Tim LaBerge
Mathematician for Hire
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1030, 12/10/92