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


Contents:
  Re: Blindness/Hot Break/Wyeast 1028 (korz)
  micro equipment? (ROB THOMAS)
  Campden tablets and fruit (Dennis J. Templeton)
  Acronyms (Elaine Boris)
  Stainless Steel kettles & coffee pots & half-barrels (David Hinz)
  Wyeast London Ale Yeast (cole)
  Question on PET bottling. (LYONS)
  Lallemand Nottingham & Windsor? (LYONS)
  American Beers in Germany (shane)
  Adding fruit to the secondary (shane)
  Quasi-Turbinado (Paul dArmond)
  Echoes of COPS (Paul dArmond)
  Re: Yeast  (Drew Lynch)
  step culturing ("John L. Isenhour")
  Put the label on the cap (David Pike)
  Re: brown sugar and bitter (Riccardo Cristadoro)
  Variuos (Jim Busch)
  Yet more Sam Adams junk (Kieran O'Connor)
  Belgian Malts (David Wright)
  that pesky Anchor temperature dial (Frank Tutzauer)
  Invitation to Speak at 1993 Dixie Cup (Sean C. Lamb 335-6669 Loral)


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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 May 93 14:48 CDT
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: Re: Blindness/Hot Break/Wyeast 1028

Jack writes:
>The "going blind" momily has nothing to do with making beer or even with
>distilling white lightn'n.

>It has to do with the fact that, in the good old days,  unscrupulous
>producers, middlemen and even a well meaning friend would add commercial
>alcohol to booz to streatch his fermented/distilled mash.  If he used the
>wrong kind of alcohol, either methanol or denatured ethanol, the result was
>poison and one of the symptoms could be blindness.    There is no way you can
>make anything that will cause blindlness by mashing, fermenting and
>distilling the kind of stuff normally used in beer and whiskey.

Well, I doubt the well-meaning friend part because what's the point in
stretching your inexpensive, home-made shine with expensive, whiskey --
no, I believe the unscrupulus producers adding cheap methanol, but it
may also be from trying to ferment something other than mashed grain.
I recently heard about many people in India going blind or dying from
some cheap alcoholic beverage a *commercial* producer was making --
it appears that in the interest of increased profits, the manufacturer
was fermenting garbage!  Yes, that's right, city-dump-type garbage!

I agree that we're safe as long as we stick to sugars for fermentables.

>I have always been a bit disappointed with the sleazy little bits of
>coagulated protein in my brew kettle.  I boil on my aluminum melting furnace
>for at least 90 minutes in a 16 gal kettle.  I can bring 10 gal to a furious
>boil in about 15 minutes.

>The result was a "boil" that I would describe more as a circulation and I do
>not recall seeing a single bubble break the surface.

>In spite of this, I evaporated the six gallons down to 5 and had coagulated
>protein floating around that I could have made lasagna with.

>So it would seem that if one wants "great hot-break", ease up on the heat.

I suggest that the quality of the break may not necessarly be measured by
the size of the break particles.  The amount of break is probably the
same, but your vigorous boil causes the larger pieces to break up into
smaller pieces of coagulated protein.  Therefore, I feel that you probably
get no worse a hot break from a rolling boil than from a simmer.

On the other hand, a rolling boil is important for two other reasons:

1. Better hop utilization -- I've noticed a much better hop utilization
from my rolling boils on my new, 12,000 BTU gas cooktop than with my old,
under-powered electric cooktop.

2. When your wort is above 140F, S-methyl-methionine (SMM) is being
hydrolyzed to Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS).  DMS smells like cooked corn --
if you can get a hold of G. Heileman's Old Style, you can smell DMS for
yourself.  You can also smell it by boiling a few tablespoons of malt
extract in a cup of water and letting that cool overnight (I made this
mistake when I recently switched-over to Erlenmyer flasks for my starters).

If you have a vigorous boil, you either boil-off or oxidize to Dimethyl
Sulfoxide (DMSO) any DMS that gets produced.  A weak boil or if you boil
with the cover completely on the kettle will increase the amount of DMS
that remains in your wort.  Much of this will be scrubbed out of your beer
with a vigorous ferment, but if you create too much of it, enough will
remain in your beer to be detectable.

>I also made believe I didn't own a wort chiller and let it cool naturally to
>pitching temp and, after cleaning and sterilizing the kettle, did the primary
>ferment in it.

I suspect this batch will have some serious DMS problems.  As I said before,
when the wort is above 140F, DMS is being created.  This is true also as
the wort cools from boiling down to below 140F.  A chiller decreases this
lag period and reduces the opportunity for wort-spoiling bacteria to give
your beer vegetive aromas.

Al Richer writes:
>and good. Now comes the funny bit...
>
> It fermented for 4 weeks...
>
> I have never had a situation like this happen with any of my beers. It
>seemed like the yeast went super-attenuative, as the FG stopped at around
>1.008. The stuff it produced is drinkable, but hellaciously alcoholic and
>with a pronounced particulate haze that seems to be yeast.
>
> There are two possibilities here. The first is that I am just not used to
>using domestic malts (I've used Brirish malts up till now). The second is
>that the 1028 did something wierd.

Respectfully, I would like to suggest that perhaps you left out a possibility,
namely that a wild yeast or a bacteria from your brewery got into the batch.
You did not mention the temperatures of the starter and wort at pitching
time -- I've found that lag times can be significanlty increased when there
is a 10 or 15 degree difference between the starter and the wort.  36 hours
is not too bad, but I've had (and others have reported) lag times less than
12 hours using Wyeast with a starter.

Insufficient aeration and a temperature shock are possible culprits for
the long ferment.  I had a really long ferment once (Wyeast 1056) when
I accidentally dropped the temperature quite suddenly down to around 60F
from 72F.  The brew took 5 weeks to ferment out and was not too high
an original gravity (1051).

I've brewed two batches recently with Wyeast 1028 and had no problems in
either of them -- everything seemed normal and the resulting beer tasted
as expected.  One of them was a super-heavy Imperial Stout -- started at
1120 and finished at 1050.  Granted, this is not what I had hoped for and
in retrospect, I realize that I should have pitched some more-alcohol-
tolerant yeast when the 1028 pooped-out from the alcohol, but my point
for mentioning this is that it is just the opposite of Al Richer's
super-attenuated, high-alcohol batch.  The other batch was a more-
conventional gravitied IPA, which came out as expected.  Just two more
data points.

Al.

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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 11:31:22 MET DST
From: ROB THOMAS <THOMASR at EZRZ1.vmsmail.ethz.ch>
Subject: micro equipment?

hello all, I tried emailing Bruce Kiley directly to ask him if he got
the list of microbrewery equipment he asked for in hbd 1138, but the
note bounced. So, Bruce what's the scoop? (direct email would be nice if
you got anything). Also, I remember seeing a book on starting your own
microbrewery while I was in the States. Does anyone have the info (author,
title, publisher) on this?
Rob Thomas.

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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 09:11:00 -0400
From: djt2 at po.CWRU.Edu (Dennis J. Templeton)
Subject: Campden tablets and fruit



Frank asks about experience with Campden tablets...

I made a nice Raspberry ale last fall and for similar reasons used Campden
tablets to disinfect the crushed berries.  As I reported here then, I was
aghast to watch the beautiful ruby color of the fruit fade to a piss
yellow, which never really returned.

About side tastes, etc... there was a definite sulfur odor that came out of
the airlock, and I let it sit in secondary for 2 months before bottling. 
The finished product has no discernable sulfur taste or smell, but it is a
trace acid.

Others have suggested steeping the fruit in the hot wort, just as it
begins to cool.  Raspberries have so little pectin to begin with that
extraction of pectin into the hot wort should be little problem.  This is
less true for many other fruits though.

good luck, 

dennis


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Date:         Thu, 13 May 93 09:50:49 EDT
From: Elaine Boris <EBORIS at UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Acronyms

In HBD1137 May 10, Lou Casagrane ins his reply to Jay refers to recipes
from TNCJOHB.  Please what does that stand for?  Can I get these recipes?
I am new to the list and the acronyms  are not making sense.  Is there
a list of acronyms and their meanings someone can send me or post to the
list?   TIA (there is at least one I know), Elaine

Elaine Boris                                  Student Information Systems
Computer Services Specialist                  University of Georgia
706 542-0484                                  Athens  Georgia

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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 09:06:25 CDT
From: hinz at memphis.med.ge.com (David Hinz)
Subject: Stainless Steel kettles & coffee pots & half-barrels

Kelly Jones asks:

- ---
My question is, is this <coffee> pot worth the money? I've no doubt that I could
remove the spots with a steel wool pad and some elbow grease, however,
does the fact that it is spotted indicate that the SS steel may be an
inferior grade, unsuitable for wort boiling?  Are there types of SS
which one would not want to use for brewing?
- ---

I just made myself a 15 gallon, heated kettle, for about $20.00.  I found a
half-barrel (grade 304 SS, I beleive) from the early 60's, with Miller
Brewing stamped in the top.  This is the keg-shaped type.  It also has the
nifty feature of the "Diamond" type tapping system, where you would put the
CO2 in the top & draw the beer off the bottom.  So, it has TWO valves,
one on top, one on the side of the bottom.  (would that be bottom of the
side?  Whatever....)  Deposit on the 1/2bbl was $10.00.

Anyway, I used a Sawzall and about 7 blades to cut the top off of the keg,
but I'm going to use an abrasive saw blade next time in my circle saw.  The
valves are held in with a threaded ring, that comes out easily, and with
a bit of lathe work I turned one of the valves into a couple of
washers.  I used a 2500 watt water heater element through the bottom hole in
the half-barrel, used one of the washers to seal between that and the
barrel's rubber seal, and clamped it in there with the threaded retaining ring.
(Water heater element was about another $10.00)

The whole thing cleaned up very nicely, inside and out, with Soft Scrub <TM>
with bleach, and a washcloth.  It will be pretty easy to add a spigot to the
thing for my future (near future) tower system, and possibly a RIMS.

I guess my point here is that _I_ would rather mess around for a few hours and
cobble something useful together than to spend real money to buy something
already made up.  The fact that you're a homebrewer indicates you like the
"do it yourself" type of stuff, and it's really not too much work.


Does anyone know if modern "keg" type 1/2bbls have the bottom hole in them,
or did I find something unusual here?


Dave Hinz


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Date:    Thu, 13 May 93 07:07:21 PDT
From: cole%nevis.hepnet at Lbl.Gov
Subject: Wyeast London Ale Yeast

Regarding Alan's experience with the Wyeast London Ale yeast:

>
> Recently I made a generic stout using Wyeast London Ale yeast, rather
>than my usual Irish Ale yeast. The recipe is (from memory) as follows:
[stuff deleted]
> It fermented for 4 weeks...
> I have never had a situation like this happen with any of my beers. It
>seemed like the yeast went super-attenuative, as the FG stopped at around
>1.008. The stuff it produced is drinkable, but hellaciously alcoholic and
>with a pronounced particulate haze that seems to be yeast.
>

I have a Scottish Ale (OG 1.040) that I bottled 3 weeks ago that was made
using the Wyeast London Ale Yeast. I don't have my notes handy but the grain 
bill was something like:

8# British Pale Malt
1# British Crystal (~30 L)
1/8# Chocolate Malt

I used a single-step infusion mash for everything except the chocolate 
malt which I added just before mash-out.

Hops: 12 IBU's (mostly fuggles) boil
I also added 1/4# succanat during the boil.

I pitched at a temp of 68 degrees from a starter I had made the day before.
The lag time was ~ 10-14 hours which is what I have come to expect using
Wyeast ale yeasts with my starter preparation procedures. I would guess 
that over the whole fermentation period the average temperature was ~58 degree.

This batch fermented the fastest of my last 5-10 batches finishing in 10
days. It spent 1 week in the primary, 1 week in the secondary, but had 
completely cleared after 3 days in the secondary. The FG was 1.010. I am
pretty happy with the result. This was my first attempt at a Scottish Ale
and since I have little experience with the real thing, I'm not sure how
true to style it is. In spite of the crystal and the succanat it is not
especially sweet (as the FG would suggest). It has a rather complex flavor
with the succanat providing a detectable but not overpowering molasses-
type undertone. I was surprised that even with the low hopping rate, the
hop bitterness really comes through. I don't know if this is a
characteristic of the London Ale yeast or not. 

I looked up the characteristics of this yeast in the Zymurgy yeast issue
last night. The description was something like: produces a complex, woody,
characteristic, medium attenuation and flocculation (from memory). I agree
100% with the complex/woody description. I found the attenuation to be
rather normal given the OG of 1.040. I disagree with the flocculation
description though. Having watched other batches clear very slowly (> 1
week) with several stages of yeast precipitation, I was surprised to see
this beer clear in 2 days. When I bottled, I found that the yeast cake was
basically glued to the bottom of the carboy, and when I had finished racking, 
I was able to pour out the last 1/2 cup of beer without disturbing the yeast
at all. The last 1/2 cup was nearly as clear as the beer that had been
racked. This behavior may be partially attributed to the cool
fermentation temperatures and is reminiscent of the three lager batches 
that I have done.

In summary: I found the attenuation of the London ale yeast to be
reasonable and the flocculation to be extremely good at the temperatures
I used. I am pretty happy with the results I obtained using this yeast.

Brian Cole

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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 08:45 EST
From: LYONS at adc1.adc.ray.com
Subject: Question on PET bottling.

Question for those how have experience using PET bottles.

What is the procedure at bottling.  For glass bottles I fill to 
approx. 1/2 to 1 inch of the rim and then cap.  With PET bottles I 
imagine there would be some expansion during carbonation.  Do you 
fill the PET bottles less, partially squeeze the PET bottles before 
capping, or treat the PET bottles the same as glass bottles?

Thanks,
Chris
LYONS at ADC3.ADC.RAY.COM

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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 09:01 EST
From: LYONS at adc1.adc.ray.com
Subject: Lallemand Nottingham & Windsor?

In George Fix's HBD #1140 post he mentioned that the Whitbread yeast 
manufactored by Lallemand was "completely unacceptable" due to low 
viable cell count.  Since Lallemand also produces Nottingham and 
Windsor dry yeasts, is their any reason to expect that these yeasts 
are acceptable?  From my on experience, and also from comments of 
many others from this HBD, both Nottingham and Windsor have rather 
long lag times.  On my last batch with Nottingham I used to packages 
of yeast and the lag time was 48 hours.  Could this be due to a low 
percentage of viable yeast cells?

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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 07:55 PDT
From: shane <DEICHMAN at perch.nosc.mil>
Subject: American Beers in Germany

> 
> From: lawson at acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
> 
> > From STROUD%GAIA at leia.polaroid.com ()
> 
> > Oh, BTW, the Sam Adams that is sold in Germany is supposed to be
> > contract-brewed IN Germany.  I don't know the name of the brewery.
> 
> Another ping against the ad campaigns. I guess they imported the
> _name_.  (Sort of like claiming that Big Macs are imported into 
> France).
> 

  I know for a fact that Sam Adams is NOT the only American 
beer imported into the Bundesrepublik der Deutschland.  While 
in Bonn last October, after visiting the Beethovenhaus in the 
old town, I noticed a restaurant across the street called (I 
kid you not) "The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory."  On their menu, 
I was appalled to not only find that scourge of American 
zymurgy, Budweiser, but to also discover that it was more than 
TWICE the price of fine local brews like Bitburger (it was 
DM6.90 a glass, about $4.00!)  My friend Eberhard explained 
that the locals sometimes like to pretend they're Americans...

 -shane
<deichman at perch.nosc.mil>


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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 07:57 PDT
From: shane <DEICHMAN at perch.nosc.mil>
Subject: Adding fruit to the secondary


  There has been some traffic regarding adding fruit to the 
secondary.  Aside from concerns over bacteria and wild yeasts, 
I would caution against adding anything acidic (like the 
citrous fruits), because it will kill your yeast and give you 
a flat brew.  In one of my earlier batches, I added a bit of 
orange peel to "liven up" the end product.  Complete failure...

 -shane
<deichman at perch.nosc.mil>


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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 07:47:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul dArmond <paulf at henson.cc.wwu.edu>
Subject: Quasi-Turbinado

I just found some C & H "Washed Raw Sugar" at the grocery store.  The
package describes it as "turbinado-style".  It is formed as very regular
short cylinders (i.e. not crystalized).  I brewed several batches of light
and dark ales with 1/2 to 1# in the various batches.  It adds to the
alcohol level, doesn't give a cidery taste, and at the 1# level leaves a
yummy sweet *aftertaste* if the hop level is not too high.  This sugar
seems very similar to the "Sugar in the Raw" that I sometimes find in
restaurants.

I'm really tickled by the lingering sweetness.  My guess is that there are
significant amounts of unfermentable sugars that cause this.  The batch
with 1# in it had a OG of 1.072 and a FG of 1.034!  Carbonation level is
normal, no gushers, so I don't think the fermentation stuck, but haven't
had a chance to try to reproduce it.  This may be a good sugar for
Belgian/Trappist makers.

Paul.


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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 07:56:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul dArmond <paulf at henson.cc.wwu.edu>
Subject: Echoes of COPS

Yesterday a friend told me that I should be very careful about my
homebrewed beer, since she had seen a TV program that described the
dangers of homebrew made by desperate criminals who were poisoning people
with it.  I asked her the name of the show and she said, "COPS"....

When I finished my tantrum....

It seems that those bozos are now into the rerun cycle.  They ran the same
piece of trash without any attempt to correct the misinformation.  As the
Situationalists point out, "It may still be possible to take advantage of
the fact that TV stations are not yet guarded by troops."  Destroy your TV
today, it may not be too late to save Western Civilization (an oxymoron if
I ever heard of one)...

in disgust---- Paul.


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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 08:40:41 -0700
From: Drew Lynch <drew at chronologic.com>
Subject: Re: Yeast 


>    2. Very rigorous sterilization is needed for everything used in the
>  hydration process. I now do this with a pressure cooker, using 10 mins.
>  at 15 psi. I screwed up a perfectly good beer by being casual about this
>  in one batch. The finished beer had a measured diacetyl level of .175 mg/l,
>  which is above the threshold of .1 mg/l. Subsequent brews have indicated
>  the error was mine and it occurred during hydration.

George,
  How does one measure the level of Dicetyl?  I have had undesirable
levels (judging by taste alone) in several batches.  I had always
assumed that the diacetly production was a product of fermenting the
yeast outside of it's preferred temperature zone.  My brew closet
stays around 65-72F this time of year.  Is it possible that my
methodology for using liquid yeast or yeast from slants is actually to
blame for the level of diacetyl, or is your observation only
pertinant to dried yeast users?

I use two sources of yeast:

1) Wyeast packages:  Usually, I will pitch the contents of the swollen
package into a 500ml starter of 1.040 bitter wort that I have canned.

2) Yeast stored on a slant: I use a flame sterilized nichrome wire loop
to pick up a pinhead of yeast from the slant, and then wash this into
~50ml of 1.040 canned bitter wort.  This is then stepped to 500ml just
after high krausen.
Note:  The slants I used are bitter wort/agar slants produced at home,
and the yeast usually originates from a Wyeast package.

With either method, I pitch the 500ml starter into 5.5-6.0 gallons of
80F bitter wort.  I usually see activity in 12-24 hours.

  I use ehrlemeyer flasks, plastic airlocks, and rubber stoppers for
my starter vessels, and sanitize in ~1/8 cup houshold bleach in 2-3
gallons of water for 5-10 minutes.

 Thanks very much for your time and postings to the digest.

		Drew

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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 11:50:26 CDT
From: "John L. Isenhour" <isenhour at lambic.fnal.gov>
Subject: step culturing

Hal writes:

>I see a lot of references to "step-culturing" yeast to increase the
>population of yeast cells.  Why is it desirable or necessary to do this
>in steps?

>I've been pitching my yeast into one quart of sterile wort for a starter, but
>it still seems to have a 1 1/2 to 2 day lag time before the primary
>fermenter's airlock starts to bubble.

The lag time is the reason for step culturing.  The longer it takes for the
yeast to take over the better the chances of infection.  If you *really* trust
your technique, I wouldnt be too concerned about stretching the volumes.  My
big pressure cooker can hold one gallon glass jugs with a glass airlocks, and
I've done wyeast packet to 2 quart starters in those with no problem.  I do my
transfers (via sterile syringe) in a hood, and I'm pretty sure theres nobody
(bug wise) around to get into the wort.

 -john

The Hop Devil and (recently) National Beer Judge!
home: john at hopduvel.UUCP
work: isenhour at lambic.fnal.gov


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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 9:02:51 PDT
From: davep at cirrus.com (David Pike)
Subject: Put the label on the cap


Where it is easy to read while in a case or 6pack. 

Try this: Being computer geeks, get access to a lase printer(not too hard).
Then, go down to the local label or paper store, and get 3/4 inch stick on 
labels mounted on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Then, get your favorite postscript,
drawing, or text layout program and print onto these labels with the 
lase printer.

We print the batch #, the name(up to 3 lines, approx. 6 words) and the 
bottling date on each label. They are easy to stick on, and even easier to
remove(they come off with the cap). 

Get creaive. Even though we havent done it yet, We've envisioned even printing
the data in a spiral format to get more info on the label.


Cheers!

Dave


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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 11:01:41 PDT
From: rcristad at weber.ucsd.edu (Riccardo Cristadoro)
Subject: Re: brown sugar and bitter

I am trying to put together a bitter that reminds me of the
delightful brews I drank last year in England.  I want to get that
fruity, sweet taste that works so well under the Kent Goldings.  I
have thought about using some brown sugar.  \i know that yeast will
have much to say about the the final qualities of the brew so I am
going to use wyeast British ale.  So, I would appreciate it if the
bitter experts could share their secrets.
P.S.  has anybody tried oak chips in the secondary to capture the
"cask matured" taste???
Thanks in advance
Steve Boxer at UCSD

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Date: Thu, 13 May 93 14:35:58 EDT
From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com>
Subject: Variuos

In the last diget, George Fix makes some comments about the Bitter from
Great Lakes Brewing:

<However, the Great Lakes Brewing
<Co. brought some of their Best Bitter to NO which was fermented with this
<yeast. It was IMHO one of the finest examples of this style I have ever
<tasted. The brewer kept apologizing that it was merely a "session beer",
<but what I was tasting was a very clean ale whose malt/hop balance was dead
<on. The finish was soft, but marvelously complex. I have the feeling we are
<going to be hearing a lot more from Cleveland (home of GLB Co.) in the
<future.

I cant agree more! Every time I get a chance to sample the beers from GLB,
it is a worthwhile experience.  I was at the brewery in March and I can 
imagine the brewer apologizing about a session beer.  If this is the Moon
Dog Bitter I had (won in the GABF) it is truely a fine example.  This
"session" beer is 12P (1.048) from a brewery that makes every other beer 
at least 14P!  This is a brewery that likes a big beer.  The Stout was 
19P!  The Dort is also over 14P.  They like hops and malt and it shows.

On another topic: Andy Anderson asks about removing Chlorine by boiling.
I say take the simple an effective approach and use a carbon filter.  The 
pH will be reduced by normal acidification of the mash which is helped by 
the presence of CA+ ions ( a bit of Gypsum will do).

Andy continues:

2nd Item:
               Yesterday I asked what was the purpose behind Home Brew
          competitions.  Well, today I was informed.  A friend who was
          taking a brewery tour while the judging was going on stated
          that based upon the number of times the judges staggered
          into the restrooms, the only real purpose of these contests
          is for the judges to get free beer.
                (Oooh! I can already feel the flames!)

This is not a flame.  I was a judge at this competition.  I do not condone
the concept of free beer.  If a brewer chooses to reward one with beer it
is the brewers choice, not responsibility.  Those of us who think otherwise
are not being serious about the buisness side of brewing.  My friends at the
Old Dominion Brewing Co did not provide free beer, our club bought a keg of
Helles which was not even consumed completely.  Judging beer is not a easy
undertaking.  I judged 18 "Belgium style" ales and I can tell you I did not
do it for "free beer".  In fact, there were many instances where the judge
attempts to be constructive when it is far easier to point to poor brewers
technique.  I am disappointed that the judge who sampled your beer was not
more constructive with comments, but I can see it occurring.

One more thing: Mark Garetz writes about Anchor,

<all these beers are 
<fermented in deep, open top ale tanks with a "traditional" ale yeast, also
<at 55F.

I believe these are "closed" Unitanks/Mueller Conditioning tanks.  I do not 
remember any indication as to open fermentation when I was there. 

Good brewing,
Jim Busch 
 


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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 09:26 EDT
From: Kieran O'Connor <OCONNOR%SNYCORVA.bitnet at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Yet more Sam Adams junk

I've been doing research on Breweries and Brewing in the US.  Some of
you have sent me info and hleped me, thanks!

Now--according to the standard text on Brewing: Brewed IN Amrerica, by
Stalney Baron, Sam Adams was never a brewer--only a maltster.  I
really cant find any references in any primary sources about Sam Adams
being a brewer--I have found it in Boston Beer Propaganda and some
secondary sources, but have not been able to find any other
confirmation.  Anyone with a primary source?


Kieran O'Connor

E-Mail Addresses:

Bitnet:  oconnor at snycorva.bitnet
Internet: oconnor at snycorva.cortland.edu

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Date: Thu, 13 May 1993 18:21:10
From: dwright at hammerhead.win.net (David Wright)
Subject: Belgian Malts


I remember seeing some information on Belgian malts (I think
here).  Of course, I didn't pay attention because my local homebrew
shop did not carry them.  Luckily, they now stock them.  Does
anyone have information concerning the various Belgian malts
available?  Color rating and potential use in recipes would be
helpful. 


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Date: 13 May 1993 20:33:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Frank Tutzauer <COMFRANK at ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu>
Subject: that pesky Anchor temperature dial

Thanks to everyone for helping me get my facts straight about Anchor Steam.  I
will collect all the corrections and alter my previous post so that we have an
updated version.  After I revise, I'll post it so that all the information is
in one place.  It's kind of long, though, so I won't post it until the next
slow period on the digest (Memorial Day, maybe?), although if anyone wants it
sooner, let me know. 

I particularly want to thank Mark Garetz for his very knowledgeable comments
yesterday.  My one question concerns the temperature dial on the mash tun. 
Mark writes:

>You are also making the assumption that they were making steam beer when the
>picture was taken.  They could also have been making Liberty, Porter, Wheat,
>or any of their specialty ales.  They all have different mash schedules and
>temperatures.  

Duh... (hand slap to head as obvious fact finally makes its way into dense 
interior).  I was so fixated on their steam beer that this very obvious 
possibility simply didn't occur to me.  You are absolutely correct.  
Still, let us suppose that it is their steam beer they're making.  Then:

>Also, if it's the picture I'm thinking of and the temp dial
>is the one attached to the copper pipe where the water and grain are mixed
>as they flow into the tun, then this dial is measuring the temperature of
>the incoming water/grain mixture.  The real "dial" (actually a digital
>readout) is on the programmed temperature controller, located in another
>room.

You are correct about what dial I was reading:  the one on the pipe where the
water and grain are mixed.  Is it therefore reasonable to assume that this
puts a maximum on the actual rest temperature?

Thanks,
- --frank

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Date: Fri, 14 May 93 01:45:02 CDT
From: Sean C. Lamb 335-6669 Loral <slamb at milp.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Invitation to Speak at 1993 Dixie Cup

 You heard it here first!
 
 This year's Dixie Cup (Houston Foam Rangers AHA/HWBTA/SPCA sanctioned 
 competition and homebrew gathering of the tribes) 
 will be October 15 and 16.  We've got a new site
 (they figured us out at the last place), and we're actually working on the
 thing now.
 
 To the point:
 
 Anyone who is anticipating, planning to, or in general thinking about attending
 this year's only Galactic homebrew weekend, and who may have something lucid
 to say on brewing-related topic(s) for about 45-50 minutes, and actually feels
 like getting up on Saturday morning (after the first round judging and 
 Fredfest the night before) to relate this knowledge to a roomful of smelly
 (oh, sorry, that's just me!), groggy, and  dazed people, 
 is requested to contact me.
 Of course, an abstract of your presentation will be required, in triplicate,
 by next tuesday, with the full text, including color slides, graphs and 
 photos two weeks hence.
 
 Just in case I'm deluged by submissions, we've got 4 or 5 slots for speakers,
 and I'll be the judge of who is IMPORTANT enough (don't forget, it's not
 what you brew, it`s who you know that brews) to speak.
 
 Actually, in all seriousness, the conference is an enjoyable part of the whole
 Dixie Cup experience, and I would appreciate it if anyone who is coming
 and would like to share their knowledge would take the time to speak. 
 Please extend this invitation to anyone
 you meet or know who is planning on coming.

 Sean Lamb  Dixie Cup 1993 Milli-conference Coordinator
 slamb at milp.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 992-5661


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1141, 05/14/93