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

Contents:
  help for Jim Conroy (BROWN)
  MeV Liquid Yeasts (Mike Fertsch)

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Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com


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Date:     Wed, 29 Mar 89 10:48 EST
From: <BROWN%MSUKBS.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject:  help for Jim Conroy

"I took a step up to using dried extract, crystal malt and hop
"pellets.
"I then boiled for 45 min
"added 1oz Bullion hop pellets for 10 min
"added 1oz Fuggles for 3-5 min.

I may be wrong, but it's my impression that dried extracts are usually
unhopped.  If the one you'r using is unhopped, the 10 min. boil for Bullion
hops is not going to give you adequate bitterness.  You need to boil hops for
bittering (such as Bullions) for 45-60 mins, and save your flavor and aroma
hops (such as Fuggles) for the 10 min and 3-5 min boils.

"At this point with no real way to strain I tried to transfer HOT
"wort to the carboy using a strainer (mess 2).  The HOT wort glubbed out of
"the CARBOY and funnel so very tired I transferd slowly with out straining
"until I got to the bottom, which I strained with a kitchen strainer.
" I cooled the wort added EDME yeast and applied a Blowtube.  It's been very
"active with quite a messy blowtube, and it is very cloudy (I wonder why ha ha)
"The reason I tried to do this beforing cooling is that I did not what to
"leave the Hops in the Wort too long ( I guess that backfired).

I know how you feel, Jim.  Aside from my trusty bottle filler, the best piece
of equipment I ever graduated to was a lauter tun/hop back (i.e. an easy
sparging system).  I used C. Papazian's suggestions in his Complete Joy of
Homebrewing book for a "Zapap lauter tun", consisting of two food grade
plastic 3 gallon containers.  I drilled jillions of little holes in one which
nests inside the second.  The second (and bottom) container has a single hole
drilled into the side.  I just stick a tight fitting plastic tube in this
hole pour my wort into the top and it all magically flows through the end of
the tube, placed strategically inside the carboy.  No kitchen strainer, no
funnel, no muss, no fuss.  Note that if you continue to use hops pellets,
even this set up will not remove all the hops.  If you stay with pellets, you
have to live with some hops in your fermenting vessel.  They will theoretically
effect fermentation, and more drastically may clog your blow off tube if it
is a skinny one.  Let me assure you, this is NO FUN. (It happened to me once
-- never again.)  So get rid of the pellets or make sure your blow-off tube
is clean and has a large diameter!

As far as cloudiness goes, your brew should be cloudy at the active
fermentation stage.  Don't worry, it should clear up significantly when the
yeast converts all the sugar in the wort and begins to fall out.

"Questions 1)  Should I filter when racking? is so how without splashing and
"              introducing air?
"          2)  How bad is this going to be??  any guesses? time will tell.
"          3)  What should I do to prevent this??
"                Use real hops easier to remove.
"                Go with a Sparging system.

(1) I would say no.  After the active fermentation stage, the hops should
also fall to the bottom.  Rack at this point and you should leave most of it
behind.

(2) Who knows.  Think positive.

(3) My opinions are above.

My final recommendation is to get a good and relatively new book which covers
the basics.  I progressed greatly in my brewing after purchasing the Complete
Joy of Homebrewing mentioned above.  It's apparent that some people on the
net dislike its sense of humor, but I liked it. It contains solid information
written in plain English, is entertaining (yes, an important part of
literature)  and has taken me from the first steps of all-malt beers all the
way to all-grain brewing.  Talk to other people and get their opinions on
books. There are many good books around.

Good luck

Jackie Brown (via bitnet:  Brown at msukbs)

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Date: Wed, 29 Mar 89 15:01 EST
From: Mike Fertsch <hplabs!uiucdcs!meccad.RAY.COM!FERTSCH>
Subject: MeV Liquid Yeasts

Jackie Brown writes:

> Having taken the leap to all-grain brewing (for the most part) and
> appreciated the improvement, I'm now ready to switch over to liquid yeast
> cultures.  I ordered 3 different yeasts from a Canadian lab (the nearest to
> me) over 4 weeks ago and have yet to receive anything!  I believe the company
> is called 'MeC', or something similar (I'm at work).  Has anyone out there
> dealt with this company?

I and several of our club members have dealt with MeV, with mixed success.   
These yeasts come in little vials which must be started in a sterile wort
solution.  A couple of years ago we ordered around 10 yeasts; we received
around 6 of them.  Apparently they do not usually stock all the yeasts in 
their catalog.  They wait for enough orders to come in, and then they 
culture up a batch.  This guarantees fresh yeast.

My first experience was with their Alt Beer Yeast.  My batch turned sour;
so did other club members who used this yeast.  We suspect contamination. I
think they solved their problem; later batches with other strains were
superb.  My latest batch is a Wheat Beer - it has a terrific 'clove/spicy'
character I am unable to get with other yeasts.  Overall, I am pleased with
MeV.  Expect delays in delivery. 

I have also used Wyeast products.  They are convenient, and give good
results.  I use a starter solution for Wyeast.  I really like Wyeast #1056
(Sierra Nevada) Ale. 

Mike Fertsch

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