HOMEBREW Digest #1063 Tue 26 January 1993

Digest #1062 Digest #1064


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


Contents:
  diacetyl (Roy Rudebusch)
  HBU -> IBU question (Jim Grady)
  Homebrew Shareware suggestions anyone? (Eugene Zimmerman)
  Beer Survey - anybody seen it? (John Isenhour)
  All grain barley wines - second runnings (Desmond Mottram)
  keg foam fix/weast 3056 (Michael T. Lobo)
  Solder and beer - whats the deal? (smanastasi)
  Brwon ALe style question (MEHTA01)
  hops, nitrosamines (Russ Gelinas)
  Barleywine ("JSDAWS1 at PROFSSR")
  RE: wheat malt, sparge water acidification (James Dipalma)
  RE: PH Adjustments (Darryl Richman)
  Enzymes in malted wheat (Scott Bickham)
  All-Grain Barleywine (Bill Szymczak)
  "ISO-KLEER" ("Wayde Nie, Eng.Phys. II")
  credit cards (Brian Bliss)
  Briess/DeWolf-Cosyns protein levels (korz)
  COPs replies: (Scott Bickham)
  Juice jar starters, squeezing out an extra quart (Rob Bradley)
  hop storage (Peter Maxwell)
  HOW HOMEBREW DIGEST WORKS (Gary Benson)
  Yeast Bank (aguado e)
  Low Pilsner Yield(?), GOTT Cooler Conversion (TiM)
  BREW locations in San Diego, CA (Bill A. Danforth)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Jan 92 20:19:00 -0500 From: roy.rudebusch at travel.com (Roy Rudebusch) Subject: diacetyl From: roy.rudebusch at travel.com Dear Fellow Brewers; I would like to share with you the benefits of single infusion mashing in a picnic cooler mash/lauter tun. Mostly the time savings and not having to handle the mash. You too can "brew beer like the micros"! Typical yield is 28^/#. Good enough. 9:00 AM begin to run water for a 12.5 gal batch, 6 gal for mash and 14 for sparge. 9:05 started to crush 22# of grain, with a motorized Corona Mill. OBTW, blind side-by-side comparisons between grists crushed with a corona mill and a "you know who" rollermill have shown the corona crushed grist to be superior. The Corona Mill produced less flour and smaller starch granules and the husk was left more intact. Analysis was done by several professional brewers and scores of accomplished homebrewers. 9:10 Began to heat mash water to 180F 9:40 Added the 6 gal of 180F mash water to picnic cooler mash/lauter tun. Plastic tubing manifold system. Igloo 36 Qt. 9:45 Doughed in grist when temp of strike water is ~175F. 10:00 Mash temp is 156F. Just right! 11:00 Mash temp now 150F. Began to runoff. 1/2 bbl brewpot is on the burner closest to the tun. 1/2 bbl brewpot (hot liqour tank) with the sparge water is on middle burner. Cloudy wort is diverted to a 5 gal pot on the far burner. 11:20 Recirculated about 4 gal of cloudy wort. Wort running clear. 11:21 Started to collect clear runoff in brewpot. 12:00 Sparged to the 8 gal mark in brewpot, wort now beginning to boil. Added first hop addition. 12:51 Stopped collecting. Collected over ~15 gal of wort ~2 of which has boiled off. 1:05 Added finishing hops, immersion wort chiller. 1:15 Started to chill. 2:45 Finished chilling, ran chilled bitter wort into fermenters through a spigot in the bottom of the brewpot, whole hops seem to filter back the hot and cold break. The hopback is a 1" copper tee with a 12 x 8" piece of copper screen rolled up and inserted through it and then wadded scrap copper screen placed into both ends. Prosit! Roy Rudebusch * OLX 2.2 * Corona Mill  Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 13:41:58 EST From: Jim Grady <jimg at hpwarga.wal.hp.com> Subject: HBU -> IBU question I realize that this has been discussed before but could someone please e-mail or post the calculation for IBUs as a function of alpha acids, s.g., boiling time and anything else I might need to know? I am trying to compare two recipes for a Pilsener. The first is in the Traditional Beer styles issue of Zymurgy and the second is in Dave Miller's "Brewing the World's Great Beers." The first recipe calls for: 5.75 HBU Chinook at 60 min. + 3.5 HBU Saaz at 15 min + finishing hops and dry hopping The second recipe calls for 10 HBU (pellets) or 12 HBU (whole) Hallertau or Tettnanger at 30 min. + finishing hops Both recipes are extract based. My question is, are these hopping rates roughly equivalent given the different boiling times? Thanks! - -- Jim Grady |"Talent imitates, genius steals." Internet: jimg at wal.hp.com | Phone: (617) 290-3409 | T. S. Eliot Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 16:32:17 CST From: Eugene Zimmerman <ezimmerm at hp.uwsuper.edu> Subject: Homebrew Shareware suggestions anyone? Salutations! I'm a comp sci major and am learning the fine art of C programming. Not that you really care about my education, but I am embarking on a new adventure. I'm going to be programming and then releasing in the form of Shareware a homebrew program. I would lieke suggestions from anyone who has any suggestions on it's content. So far, I'm thinking of including a database of previous brews, a DB of beer styles, DB of hops (wich will be user alterable for specific tastes) and a brewing calculator/recipehelper. This recipe thing will be able to import data from the other databases so you could work off of the classic style of say a Bock and then 'tweek' it a tad if you wish. Once declaring what kind of style you wish to emluate, the program would import the recipe for you to alter. You could also import pervious brews. I'm thinking it would calculate out the specific grav, HBUs as well as IBU's and other things. What I need from the brewing community is suggestions as I am but one brewer and together we are many, with many needs and wishes when it comes to brewing aids. So, if you would please reply to me at : ezimmerm at hp.uwsuper.edu it would be greatly appreciated. I plan on finishing the first version by spring(living in Duluth, this means late May ). Gene in Duluth Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 21:35:16 CST From: hopduvel!john at linac.fnal.gov (John Isenhour) Subject: Beer Survey - anybody seen it? This saturday I got a beer survey - the envelope was designed like a foaming mug (the color of american pilsner) boldly stating "We'd like to tap into your thoughts on beer". Inside was a form stating 'pour out your thoughts on beer' with a bunch-o-beer mugs you were supposed use to indicate that your favorite beer was bud, bud light, miller, coors, samual adams (the contract brewer with all the lawyers), etc. I wonder if anyone else has seen this as I too got a copy of 'The Brewspaper' (not impressed if I have to pay) and I'm wondering where all this came from. BTW I circled the 'other' beer catagory and indicated Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for what this scientific study called 'most often brand'. - -- John Isenhour renaissance scientist and AHA/HWBTA (soon to be recognized as certified) National Beer Judge Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 12:51:50 GMT From: des at pandora.swindon.ingr.com (Desmond Mottram) Subject: All grain barley wines - second runnings Joseph Hall (amongst others) makes some good points about making barley wines. First the waste of grain if you only use the first runnings, secondly that you can make very good beer with the second runnings: > While it may seem ghastly to some (including me) to get only 15 or > less points of extract per pound of grain ... > Second runnings can make very good beer. ... > uunet!joebloe!joseph (609) 273-8200 day joseph%joebloe at uunet.uu.net I agree totally and have successfully done it. I mashed 10# (possibly more?) pale malt in 3+ gallons of water and ran off 2 gallons without sparging at 1085 to make the barley wine. I then sparged the rest with about 4 gallons of water. This gave 5 gallons of 1040 wort and made a very good beer. The only problems I encountered were (a) the difficulty of getting the hop rate right for only two gallons of 1085 wort, and (b) racking the wort off the trub after boiling, as it threw a huge quantity. More exact details can be supplied on request. The barley wine was utterly revolting and undrinkable for at least six months, but carries a punch like a heavyweight boxer. I've had it now for a year and it has improved only slowly. I suspect it won't be at its best for years. Maybe I wasn't so successful after all? Rgds, Desmond Mottram des at pandora.swindon.ingr.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 09:02:18 EST From: mlobo at sentry.foxboro.com (Michael T. Lobo) Subject: keg foam fix/weast 3056 A few months ago I brewed my first batch of weizen beer using Wyeast 3056..here are my results... The Wyeast was 3 months old, but swelled almost to the bursting pt. w/in 24 hrs. I used a starter and pitched the next day. After the usual primary wait, I kegged this and let it sit in 60 deg. for 1 month. I tapped the keg Saturday, and after tasting it was VERY happy - nice flavor ( just like a "real Weizen.. who would have guessed ;^) Up until now, I have had some foaming problems with my kegs. I force carbonate and the problem was that it took about 1/3 of the keg for the foam to subside enough so I could get a properly carbonated beer( that 1/3 keg usually ended up in the keg cooler..major bummer!). I always allow the excess pressure to bleed off via the CO2 connector on the keg before trying to draw the first few beers, because of the high pressure. Well, the first glass of Weizen looked like airport runway foam, and I was not about to go through the 1/3 keg ritual with this one. I could see the beer leaving the keg ok, but about 5" into the hose, the foam was starting and by the cobra tap - foam-a-rama. The hose was ~24" long. I cut my hose with the cobra tap so it was only 2 inches long, and viola! no more foam! Needless to say, this really made my weekend...so much, that we tapped a second keg ( an IPA ) on Sunday to see if it was a fluke, and it also poured great from the start... IMHO, the keg should be allowed to settle for at least 24 hrs before tapping. This has helped my keg pressures considerably. Also, the colder the keg when you force carbonate, the easier it is to do (for the weizen I needed alot!). enjoy, Michael T. Lobo 508 549 2487 Foxboro Co. mlobo at foxboro.com "I Love beer, beer loves me; when I drink too much, my beer speaks for me" -Monty Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 10:04:55 CDT From: smanastasi at mmm.com Subject: Solder and beer - whats the deal? I've been following the thread on solder and beer. I recently made a lauter/mash tun using the slotted copper coil design (and had fun doing it). I used lead-free solder for all my joints. Is there a valid concern with exposing lead-free solder to a liquid (wort) with PH down to 5.1 or so? Since there is some solder on the exposed surfaces of joints, my wort will come in contact with the solder (as well as smaller amounts of solder on the interior of each joint). I realize that there is tin in the solder but I did not think that that a mild acid such as wort would cause any problem, especially since the exposure time is only a couple hours or so - albeit at elevated temperatures. Maybe in another article, I will post my advice on making the slotted copper coil. I learned a few things. - -- Steve Anastasi St. Paul, MN smanastasi at mmm.com (612) 733-6970 Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 20:59:31 -0600 (CST) From: MEHTA01 at SWMED.EDU Subject: Brwon ALe style question i am going to try and make an English style brown ale and would like to hear some of you experienced (AHA certified) judges, what you think the characteristics of the style are i am thinking of using: 4 lb Light Liq Extract (Alexander's) 2 lb English 2 row malt 1/4 lb chocolate malt 1/4 lb black patent malt 1 - 3/2 lb light brown sugar 1 oz. GOlding boiling 1/2 oz Cascade boiling hops and finishing Ferment with ale yeast. i would like to hear from others who have tried to make a similar beer on their ingredients and results. i have been making all kinds of arbit(rary) beers like Pumpkin ale (from a recipe on HBD) and getting very good results, but i would really like to try and see if i can get close to a good style of established beer. (and i personally like brwon ales...) SO please send me all kinds of warnings or suggestions:- i would like to hear about other's experiences in making this style of beer.. CIao Shreefal Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 11:20:47 -0500 (EST) From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas) Subject: hops, nitrosamines For all my recent batches, I've pulled apart the finishing hops to expose more of the good stuff at the core. Yesterday I used a coffee grinder, and the results were spectacular! Loosely load whole hops into the grinder, give it a few spins, and out comes chopped hops, with an incredible aroma. A bonus is a sort of hops-hash (for lack of a better term) that collects on the edge of the grinder. Scrape that into a vial with vodka....hops oil! Another bonus for those using immersion chillers is that the chopped hops don't cling to the copper as much as whole hops do; cleaning is easier. Ok, so malt must be < 5ppm nitrosamines. Any nutritionists out there, or cancer specialists, with the number on grilled meat? If not, I'll find the time to look it up myself; my gut (ha!) feeling is that the quantity in malt is minute compared to that in grilled beef. And, for the record, it *is* possible to get a stuck sparge with a 10-gallon cooler/strainer lauter tun...too fine a crush, too long a settling stage (2+ hours vs. the usual 30 minutes). It was nice to have a Zapap tun to fall back to. Russ Return to table of contents
Date: 25 Jan 1993 08:55:08 PST From: "JSDAWS1 at PROFSSR" <JSDAWS1 at PB1.PacBell.COM> Subject: Barleywine *** Resending note of 12/30/92 09:24 I've recently read comments by Bob Jones (thank again...) for this barleywine recipe named "blind squirrel barleywine" which took a first place at the California State comps at Stern grove, SF this fall, and just recently won the AHA's Barleywine is Fine (I think) comp. I call it blind squirrel because, it's the first brew I've ever done which has won anything.... which proves only that even a blind squirrel sometimes finds the acorn :) Cheers. Jack jsdaws1 at pb1.pacbell.com OK - as far as I can recall from the extensive records I've kept :) Batch size: 5 gal. Extract: 6 lbs. Williams light Australian syrup 5 lbs. Williams light Australian dry Grain: 1 lb. 10-L crystal steeped 1 lb. 40-L crystal steeped Hops: 3 oz Chinook pellets aa%13 (60 min) 1/2 oz CFJ-90 pellets aa%9 (5 min) 1/2 oz CFJ-90 " " (dry-hopped in 2ndary) Water 1 tsp gypsum at start of boil 1 tsp irish moss (30 min) Yeast: 14 g. Whitbread dry Primary fermentation - glass for 5 days at 65' 2ndary fermentation - glass for 16 days at 65' Bottled: June 15, 1991 Note: Wort was boiled in 4 gal. pot (3 1/2 volume) with 2 gal. water added to primary fermenter. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 12:13:23 EST From: dipalma at banshee.sw.stratus.com (James Dipalma) Subject: RE: wheat malt, sparge water acidification Hi All, In HBD #1062, Scott Bickham writes: >So the Munich malt not only converted itself, but also the >5 lbs. of malted wheat. I read somewhere that wheat malt itself contains sufficient enzymes for conversion. Does anyone know if it does or not?? *************************************************************** Also in HBD #1062, John Francisco writes: > Last weekend I was brewing an all grain stout and following Miller's >suggestion of a ph of 5 to 5.6 for the mash - no problem with the >hard water I have. But I couldn't lower my sparge water to 6.5 from >8.1 using gypsum. After dumping in a teaspoon at a time and taking >reading with a digital ph meter, I could only get the ph down to >7.6 after I used up the entire one ounce package of gypsum. The ph >seemed to drop down to 7.6 after the addition of 1/2 ounce of gypsum >but any further addition didn't seem to lower it any further. >Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can use to lower my >sparge water ph to 6.5????? Acidification of sparge water was discussed at some length in this forum about a month ago. The consensus (huh? on HBD?? :-)) was that not every brewer needs to acidify the sparge water, and that even those who do so should be careful not to overacidify. I have very hard water as well, and had the same difficulty lowering the pH of the sparge water adequately. The symptom was a very distinct taste of tannin in the runoff when the gravity was still over 1.020. A pale lager I brewed was noticeably astringent. I started using acidblend, which I understand to be a mixture of citric, malic, and tartaric acid, to acidify 4 gallons of sparge water from ~7 to ~5.5. This required only 1/4 teaspoon of acidblend, as a little goes a long way. Several others pointed out the danger of making the wort *too* acidic, i.e., lack of a good hot break. So the moral is, *if* you have this problem with your brewing water, use a "food grade" acid like citric or tartaric, and be very careful. You want to deliver wort of about 5.5 - 5.7 pH to the boiler. Cheers, Jim Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 09:08:15 PST From: Darryl Richman <darrylri at microsoft.com> Subject: RE: PH Adjustments Cisco <FRANCISCO at lan.ccit.arizona.edu> writes: > Last weekend I was brewing an all grain stout and following Miller's > suggestion of a ph of 5 to 5.6 for the mash - no problem with the > hard water I have. But I couldn't lower my sparge water to 6.5 from > 8.1 using gypsum. After dumping in a teaspoon at a time and taking > reading with a digital ph meter, I could only get the ph down to > 7.6 after I used up the entire one ounce package of gypsum. The ph > seemed to drop down to 7.6 after the addition of 1/2 ounce of gypsum > but any further addition didn't seem to lower it any further. > Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can use to lower my > sparge water ph to 6.5????? Clearly, this bears repeating. You *can't* lower your *sparge water* pH appreciably by adding gypsum. The goal of water treatment is to allow your *mash*, not your *water*, to reach optimum pH. The reason for treating sparge water is that as you remove the wort from your mash, you are removing most of the acidifying material. If you have water with carbonates in it, it will drive the remaining material into an alkaline state. You should only be concerned with the pH of your mash, not your water. The reason that gypsum tends to lower pH is that it dissolves and dissociates into Ca and SO4. The calcium will then combine with malt components to form a weak organic acid. If nothing else intervenes, this settles the pH of the mash at a good point. However, carbonate is somewhat basic and can overcome the acidity of this weak acid. Especially when much of the acid is removed, as it is during sparging. --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 13:50:53 EST From: bickham at msc2.msc.cornell.edu (Scott Bickham) Subject: Enzymes in malted wheat Yesterday, I wrote: "Munich malt not only converted itself, but also the 5 lbs. of malted wheat." Before I get flamed too badly, let me admit my mistake - I confused the malted wheat in the Weizen with the unmalted barley in my last batch - a Belgian White. Maybe someday I'll learn my lesson about posting without reviewing the facts ;-) John Francisco wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can use to lower my sparge water ph to 6.5?????" I recommend investing in some food grade lactic acid, which you should be able to order from a pharmacy in your area. I found a pint bottle for $23, and it should last many years since it only takes 1/4 tsp. to lower the pH of a gallon of sparge water from 8 to 5.5. Rob Bradley asked about culturing Sierra Nevada dregs. Isn't there three different strains involved in the fermentation, as well as three initially in the Wyeast 1056 pouch? The first strain starts rapidly, but isn't tolerant to ethanol and settles out rapidly, and then a second strain takes over. The third strain starts very slowly, but is responsible for the bottle conditioning. I have heard of very slooow fermentations from yeast cultured from SNPA dregs, so maybe only the third strain is viable at that time. Any comments? Scott Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 13:58:23 EST From: bszymcz%ulysses at relay.nswc.navy.mil (Bill Szymczak) Subject: All-Grain Barleywine In the last two issues there have been a lot of comments on the feasability of all-grain barleywines. I recently bottled an all-grain batch of barleywine which had an initial gravity of 1.100 using my rather primitive (Zap-Pap lauter tun) equipment. To get a higher initial gravity I split the mashing of 22 lbs of pale ale malt and 2 lbs of crystal malt using 2 kettles. (Actually I needed 3 pots since my two 4 gallon pots were filled to the brim with mash). The mash was relatively stiff at 1 quart per pound of grain. Two separate sparges were done where I collected the first runnings plus enough wort to make 3 1/2 gallons from each sparge for a total of 7 gallons. I didn't have the time nor the equipment to use the rest of the runnings so I simplly dumped the partially sparged mash into my compost pile. I use a ten gallon stainless steel pot for boiling, and boiled the wort down to 6 1/2 gallons in the first half hour and down to about 5 3/4 gallons the next hour. The pre-boil gravity was 1.082, and post boil gravity was 1.100 (which is consistent) and yields 82*7/24 or 100*5.75/24 or about 24 pts/lb/gal. Normally I get about 27-28 pts/lb/gal with a regular strength beer. The wort was fermented using a 3 quart starter of The Yeast Culture Kit A1 yeast (a close relative of Wyeast 1056) which took the gravity down to 1.030 in four days. I then racked to secondary, after which there was very little activity. After one week dry hopped with 1/2 oz of Kent Goldings pellets and stirred. I didn't want to pitch more yeast since my secondary (a 5 gallon carboy) was filled to within 2 inches of the brim, so I decided 1.029 was good enough and bottled after two weeks in secondary. The beer was very clear with a deep amber color, had a nice warm alcohol taste but was a little sweet (next time a little more bittering hops). I'll wait a few months to see how it ages before posting the recipe in detail. Bill Szymczak bszymcz at ulysses.nswc.navy.mil Return to table of contents
Date: 25 Jan 1993 14:22:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "Wayde Nie, Eng.Phys. II" <9106857 at SSCvax.CIS.McMaster.CA> Subject: "ISO-KLEER" Hi all, I have a quick qestion, Has anyone ever hear of a product for clearing brew called "ISO-KLEER"? I inherited a couple of bottles and have no idea what it is or how it's used (except that it is a clearing agent -- I assume from the name!) This stuff comes in small (about 100mL) bottles and is a clear liquid. The bottle is blank except for a "5" in a circle with "ISO-KLEER" under it, stamped on in black ink. If anyone has ever used/heard of this stuff, I'd like to know what it is and how is it used. (Do you have to boil it, dilute it, how much do you use, etc...) Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Wayde. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 11:24:09 CST From: bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss) Subject: credit cards I cite myself: >As for Zymurgy giving them a list of subscribers (if this is indeed >what happened), I think you have a legitimate bitch here, but in the >chance that receive something useful from their distributing my >address I am grateful. As long as I don't start recieving a bunch >of "BREWCARD" credit card* (which may be used at any of my favotive >mail-order shops) offers with a 21% interest rate, I will be happy. Looks like I spoke too soon. I just got 3 lbs of anti-oxidation bottle caps from the AHA today, and an application for guess what was included. Only 13.9% though. It doesn't annoy me as much as it epitomizes the American economy. bb Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 13:37 CST From: korz at iepubj.att.com Subject: Briess/DeWolf-Cosyns protein levels I wrote: >I was at a microbrewing seminar back in 1989, at which Briess Malting Co. >did a talk. Included was a brochure which listed the analysis of all their >malts. Strangely enough, both the Briess 2-row and their 6-row had reported >protein levels of 14%! Elsewhere in the literature that I got from Briess at the seminar, I found different protein levels listed. Their 6-row was 13.5% and the 2-row was 13.0% protein. On the other hand, the DeWolf-Cosyns Belgian malts are between 8.94 and 10.63 for all but the Aromatic, Chocolate, Roasted Barley and Roasted Malt, which are in the 10.75 to 11.22 range. Even their wheat malt is only 10.61% protein! Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 14:56:14 EST From: bickham at msc2.msc.cornell.edu (Scott Bickham) Subject: COPs replies: Soon after the COPS incident was discussed here, I sent a letter to the local FOX station and the producers of COPS explaining that I thought homebrewing had been misrepresented. Today, I received the following reply: - ---------------- Dear Mr. Bickham, Thank you for your letter regarding the homebrewing episode of COPS. Please realize that COPS is a video verite show, flimed without a script, rehearsals, narration or whatever. What we see while accompanying the police is what you see -- right or wrong. In the episode you question, the officer does make the point that home brewing is legal, and nowhere is there any mention of beer. The suspect was, in fact, supposedly making tequila and whiskey. We have however brought your complaint to the attention of the police, and we truly regret any misinterpretation -- which was not our intent. COPS has never professed to do anything other than reflect actual incidents while following our nation's police departments in carrying out their duties. Sincerely, Malcolm Barbour Executive Producer - ------------------ It appears that COPS is aware of our feeling about this incident, and judging from this, may even respond to similar letters the receive from other homebrewers. I don't think they should be held blameless, since there is obviously a large audience for this type of journalism, but they shouldn't be held responsible for the ignorance the law enforcement officers display on camera. Scott Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 15:25:20 -0500 From: bradley at adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley) Subject: Juice jar starters, squeezing out an extra quart In hbd #1062, Tony Babinec wrote about making starters from Wyeast: >...American Science Center, for example, has 250, 500, >and 1000 ml flasks that can be fitted with a stopper and fermentation lock. >... >...If you don't have flasks, use a 12 oz beer bottle! In most supermarket, you can buy 48 and 64 ounce juices in dark brown bottles. Their wide mouths accept #8 and #8 1/2 stoppers. You can make a quart-sized starter in either of these bottles; almost 1/2 gallon in the larger size. Misers (like me) will appreciate the following feature of this system: leave a few drops behind in the juice bottle when when you pitch the yeast and fill it up with trub from your cooling/settling vessel. It will settle and you'll get an extra quart or more of beer which, in my limited experience, is hardly more raunchy than the good stuff. [I came up with this idea in early December after reading the experiences of a clever person whose name escapes me. He used a 2 l. pop bottle.] Cheers, Rob (bradley at adx.adelphi.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:27:58 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Maxwell <peterm at aoraki.dtc.hp.com> Subject: hop storage Al gives us some interesting figures for hop storage which apply for, I presume, whole hops. I'm wondering what the figures would be for hop pellets stored at -18C (i.e. in the freezer). In fact, is storing pellets in the freezer a good idea? Is any harm likely to come to them? Peter Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 14:12:39 PST From: inc at tc.fluke.COM (Gary Benson) Subject: HOW HOMEBREW DIGEST WORKS Please, if this article has made it to the HomeBrew Digest, would Rob Gardner or whoever is now moderating the list send me a mail message giving your correct email address? I have been trying since last Friday to reach Rob, and I am not sure that the addresses at the top of each digest are correct. Thank you very much. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 20:37:58 PST From: engebret at steer.sdsu.edu (aguado e) Subject: Yeast Bank With the selection of dry yeasts being small and the choices of liquid thinning the wallet, I am looking into culturing my own yeast. Miller mentions the "Yeast Bank." This sounds like an easy way to propagate yeast, however, I don't knoe anyone who has used this product. Has anyone tried using a "Yeast Bank," or "freeze shield?" Thanks, Mark Engebretson /*\ /***\ /*\ /***\ Mark Engebretson /* *\ /* *\ /*\ /* *\ /* *\ Dept. of Geography /* /* *\/* *\ /* *\ San Diego State U. /* /* *\ *\ /* *\ ENGEBRET at UCSVAX Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 00:12:38 -0500 From: TiM at world.std.com Subject: Low Pilsner Yield(?), GOTT Cooler Conversion This year (the second year I've been brewing) I decided to try a lager since I now have a new unheated area below an addition to the house which keeps an ambient 40-45 degree temperature during the winter. (I'm in the market for a used fridge...just haven't got one yet). My question is: I bought 'Pilsner' malt, and according several sources including the calculations in Darryl Richmond's (c) shareware spreadsheet, for brew 1 I should have received a 1.044 O.G. However I ended up with 1.038 (pilsner light?). For brew 2 I compensated and 'aimed' for 1.052 and ended up with 1.043. Both times I rested at 130 degrees for 45 minutes, then through a combination of adding some boiling water and heating existing mash brought the temperature to 156. I mash using a GOTT water 'cooler' which tends to lose only about a degree in 30 minutes (after which I heat a little of the mash and bring it back to proper temperature). I mashed for 90 minutes, then poured the mash into a kettle, broke at 168, poured the mash into my sparging setup and did about a 45-50 minute sparge with 168-170 degree water. I guess my question is: Is Pilsner grain typically low-yeild? Did I do something wrong (this is my first attempt at lagering). Just for the detail, the first beer used Danish Lager Wyeast. The second used Wyeast #2206. Every other all-grain brew I've made to date (15) hit the O.G. within .02, except both these using Pilsner malt (from the same homebrew supply shop). Also, does anyone have info regarding converting the water-outlet in a GOTT cooler painlessly into a grommet-and-hose assembly for a combo mash/sparge bucket? The false bottom from my Phils unit fits PERFECTLY into the GOTT cooler...can I get away with simply using a big grommet to seal a piece of tubing (I've never had the problem experienced by some people on this BBS of mash crimping the plastic tubing coming from the top of the false bottom)? Thanks. ******************************************************************* Fortunatly, The Second To Last Bug Has Been Fixed. Tim Roaix, at TiM.world.std.com. *Prodigy JXRW77A (until my one-month free trial is over on this piece-o-crap excuse for an online network). Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 22:53:53 PST From: danforth at trinity.llnl.gov (Bill A. Danforth) Subject: BREW locations in San Diego, CA Hello all, I am in San Diego this week, and am wondering about brew locations (brewpubs and/or locales with great selections). Any pointers?? Thanks in advance, A Beerman without a beer- Bill Danforth Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1063, 01/26/93