---

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

Contents:
  Homebrew Digest #125 (April 12, 1989) (Steve Anthony)
  Homebrew & Compuserve (Greg Wageman)
  Texas Homebrew Law Problem (But I'm feeling MUCH better now)
  Bock ales? (Bryan Hilterbrand)

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


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

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 89 10:40:28 EDT
From: Steve Anthony <steveo at Think.COM>
Subject: Homebrew Digest #125 (April 12, 1989)

   Date: Wed, 12 Apr 89 02:00:04 est
   From: homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hp-sde.sde.hp.com (Are you SURE you want to send it HERE?)
   Apparently-To: realhomebrew%hpfcmr at hp-sde.sde.hp.com

   HOMEBREW Digest #125		             Wed 12 April 1989

   Date: Tue, 11 Apr 89 08:17:17 PDT
   From: dsbaer at EBay.Sun.COM (David Baer)
   Subject: The beer continuum

   >>I understand that bock is the season's dregs,<<

   I have a different understanding of bock.  Without my pocket
   guide I don't have an exact definition, but I think bock beers
   are usually brewed in the fall for consumption in the spring, 
   they have relatively high starting gravities: ie 1055-1065(dopplebocks
   are 1070-1080) and are called bock beer because the original bock
   was brewed in Einbeck, Germany. The reason many bock beers have a goat 
   as their mascot is "bock" is goat in German. I don't speak German and 
   can't verify my last statement at this moment, but I think its true. 

As far a I know, basically correct.  Another possible cause for the name is
that it is traditionally served around the Xmas-New Years-Epiphanny time
frame, which is under the astrological sign of Capricorn; the goat.

Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 12 Apr 89 08:57:12 PDT
From: sjsca4!greg at uunet.UU.NET (Greg Wageman)
Subject: Homebrew & Compuserve

Rob Gardner writes:

>Consider that out of the tens (or perhaps hundreds) of thousands of
>people who have access to Usenet/BitNet/CSnet/Arpanet/etcnet, only
>about 350 have elected to subscribe to the Homebrew Digest. Out of
>those 350, there are only around 5 or 10 people who contribute articles
>regularly, and only about 30 or 40 who ever contribute. (Diclaimer:
>these numbers are the purest shimmering wild assed guesses.) 

Compuserve has just celebrated their "500,000th user".  Don't ask me whether
that's 500,000 *active* accounts, or they've just issued their 500,000th account
in their history.  In any even, they rival Usenet in number of potential
readers.  And unlike usenet, there is an organization behind them which
publishes a magazine which does features on things like a homebrew forum to
attract members.

>Now, let's look at the people who will subscribe to the compuserve
>homebrewing discussion. They are a similar group, but with one
>important difference: they will have to be loaded with money. For in
>order to access compuserve, you must own a modem, and a terminal or a
>personal computer! You must also have bags of money to pay the connect
>charges. Now, it is true that lots of people brew beer, and lots of
>people have PC's, but how many people are interested in both? I
>predict it will be a pretty small number of people who are willing to
>spend the extra time and money.

Unlike Usenet, Compuserve subscribers represent people who use their own
computers for leisure activities.  The vast majority of Usenetters receive it
at work, or at school.  And very few actually pay for it (that some *do* pay
for it is another argument against the above).  Compuserve subscribers, on the
other hand, pay by the minute.  Thus, they tend, overall, to be an upscale
group.  No one expects the Homebrew forum to attract *new* users; but existing
Compuserve subscribers already have their terminals or PC's and modems, and
presumably some money to spare for homebrewing.  The best thing that could
come out of this would be for Compuserve to introduce more people to
homebrewing.  How is that bad for anyone?

>For most of you out there, the time and money you spend on the Homebrew
>Digest is close to nothing. How many of you would even bother if it
>meant you had to go through a whole electronic ritual just to log in?

Compuserve's machine-specific forums provide free software to automate the
message-reading process.  On my Atari ST, I can double-click an icon
and have the machine 1) dial Compuserve 2) log me in  3) go to the forums and
get new messages from the topics I previously selected 4) log off 5) allow me
to read message threads 6) compose replies and 7) log in, post them, and log
out.  No muss, no fuss, no hexadecimal incantations or slaughtering of goats.

In addition, since Compuserve's forums provide an indexed file-storage area,
lists of (for example) recipes, grouped by beer type, could be kept on-line.
The possibilities are wide open at this point.  In case you haven't figured
it out by now, I am also a Compuserve subscriber.  I gather that Rob isn't;
you should check it out before you write it off.

Greg Wageman			DOMAIN: greg at sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies	UUCP:   ...!uunet!sjsca4!greg
1601 Technology Drive		BIX:    gwage
San Jose, CA 95110-1397		CIS:    74016,352
(408) 437-5198			GEnie:  G.WAGEMAN

Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 12 Apr 89 08:31:20 CDT
From: jmellby at ngstl1.csc.ti.com (But I'm feeling MUCH better now)
Subject: Texas Homebrew Law Problem

I realize this is only locally important, but ...

The Texas Tobacco and Alcohol Board has struck again!
Last fall, just before the Houston Homebrew competition, the TABC
decided the the law allowing homebrewing for personal "use"
meant "use" in you home, only by members of your family.  This meant,
no homebrew competitions, no giving samples to friends, no taking
the homebrew out of the house, etc.  (This also applies to home-made
wine!)

There is a proposed ammendment to the home-brew law pending, which anyone
in Texas, or nearby states, might like to support.
The bill is #2332 (I hope) ammending 109.21 (which allows homebrew)
saying that homebrew may be removed from the home for organized affairs
exhibitions, or competitions ...

Anyone who is willing please contact Texas Representatives and support this
bill.

P.S. BTW, there is also a proposed bill to allow Brewpubs in Texas,
pushed mainly by the nice people at Reinheitsgebot Brewing, here in
Plano.
P.P.S. Any homebrewers traveling through Dallas, there is a monthly
Homebrew Club meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, at 7PM
in the Olla Podrida Shopping Mall (its closed then so enter at the
North-East door).  Visitors are welcome.

Surviving the American Dream
John R. Mellby                       Texas Instruments
jmellby%ngstl1.ti.com                P.O.Box 660246, MS 3645
                                     Dallas Texas, 75266
(214)517-5370                       (214)343-7585
********************************************
* I may be a craven little coward, but     *
* I'm a gre-e-e-edy craven little coward!  *
*                     -- Daffy Duck        *
********************************************

Return to table of contents


Date: 12 Apr 89 12:04:50 PDT (Wed)
From: Bryan Hilterbrand <bryanh%dadla.la.tek.com at RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Bock ales?

Hi everyone,

Stupid novice questions:  since the subject of "bock" beers came up, I
was wondering if a bock ale would taste good?  I am considering making
a bock ale for my second batch of homebrew, and I was hoping someone
had experience with this.

	1) Is this too hard of a brew to make for a second batch?
	
	2) Would it taste okay as an ale (I can't get another
	   refrigerator into my apartment)?
	   
	3) Any specific ale yeast varieties to use/avoid (I'm probably
	   going to use one of the Wyeast liquid yeasts)?

By the way, my thanks go out to everyone for this forum -- it's been a
lot of fun to read and learn from everyone.  (Special thanks to Rob for
keeping the list going!)

Bryanh Hilterbrand
bryanh at dadla.la.tek.com

Return to table of contents

---