HOMEBREW Digest #1260 Mon 01 November 1993
Digest #1259
Digest #1261
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
YACFC, Yet Another Counter Flow Chiller. ("Stephen E. Hansen")
Beer Drinks (Eric Wade)
Immersion chillers / Brewkit ingredients (Bart Thielges)
Re: #2(2) Homebrew Digest #12... (edwards100)
What do 'phor' mean? (Cree-ee-py Boy)
Re: Belgian Special B (Matthew Rowley) (Brian Smithey)
Spruce essence (LLDSC)
You can't judge a beer... (mike.keller)
CO2-purging/HBD topics (korz)
Re: Going all-grain (Jim Grady)
Maiden Voyage + gadget help (COCKERHAM_SANDRA_L)
airlines, porter, brewbup, Sheath and Vine (/R=HERLVX/R=AM/U=KLIGERMAN/FFN=KLIGERMAN/)
re: Oysters and sports (Scott Benton)
Beer hunting in Belgium: Part 7 (General information) ("Phillip Seitz")
Re: Filth in brewing (Dennis J. Templeton)
Judging specialties (was Nut Beer) (Spencer.W.Thomas)
Re: PitchTiming (c-amb)
Re: homebrew club gone stale! oxidation? (Jason Goldman)
Clarifying in Cornelius Kegs (Cisco)
Hops FAQ, Part 4/5 (npyle)
Trip Report (Tim Anderson)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 11:37:01 -0700
From: "Stephen E. Hansen" <hansen at Sierra.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: YACFC, Yet Another Counter Flow Chiller.
Last week I decided to build a counterflow chiller (I had been
using an immersion unit previously). I debated whether to use a garden
hose or a piece of large diameter PVC pipe to enclose the copper tubing
and went with the hose for simplicity's sake. I have seen one or two
commercial versions of counterflow chillers that use something that
looks like coiled copper in a section of PVC pipe but I couldn't find
end caps that looked like they would work without more work than I
wanted to put in.
What I did was buy a 50' 5/8" ID garden hose and 50' of 3/8" OD
copper tubing. In addition I bought two hose end replacement connectors,
one male and one female, and two of those Y hose connectors with the
the built in ball shutoff on each leg of the Y.
I took the hose and cut it in two with 30' left on the piece with
the male connector. I slid the copper tubing through the hose from the
cut-off end until about 12" stuck through past the other end. Then I
cut the copper tubing leaving about 12" on both ends. The male hose
repair connector went on the cut end. Getting the last ten feet or so
of tubing through the hose took some elbow grease but persistence paid
off.
Next I took the Y adapters and slid the copper tubing up the trunk
of the Y and out through one of the legs until I could screw the Y onto
the hose end. This was a bit tricky but if you counter-twist the hose
before mating the ends it works pretty well. The hard part was getting
the copper tubing past the ball valves in the Y. One fit perfectly but
the other had to be drilled out with a 3/8" bit. The fit of the copper
tubing in the Y is essentially watertight on one of the connectors but
the other leaks a bit. I'll probably put some silicone sealer in that
one. Once the Y connectors were on tight I just recoiled hose to about
a 12" diameter and loosely tied the coils together.
As for the female replacement connector. That goes on the cut off
end of the 20' piece. giving me a short hose with two female connectors
on each end. You need this to connect to the inlet of the chiller.
The remaining copper got turned into a siphon cane and an aerator.
The aerator was build from the description by Spencer Thomas in HBD 1081
and it works great.
The next day I made an IPAR (an IPA with Rye) and the chiller
worked like a champ. Compared to my immersion chiller this is MUCH
easier and faster. The wort outflow wasn't much warmer, if any, than
the tap water inflow. The tap water flow rate is your temperature
adjustment in this setup and I was able to use a fairly slow flow of
water. Obviously, with my current water temperature I could have
gotten away with a shorter chiller but the water temp will warm up a
bit in the summer.
I siphoned the hot wort off the hops and hot break material in the
kettle and into a plastic bucket with a tap valve at the bottom. The
copper scruber in a mesh bag tied to the end of the copper siphon wand
did a good job of keeping things clear. I took the bucket full of hot
wort and set it on top of the washing machine. The chiller sat just
below it on a stool, a 5 gallon carboy sat on the floor. Plastic
tubing went from the outlet of the tap valve to the inlet of the
chiller. More plastic tubing went from the outflow to the aerator wand
stuck in the carboy.
Stephen Hansen
Homebrewer, Archivist
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Stephen E. Hansen - hansen at sierra.Stanford.EDU | "The church is near,
Electrical Engineering Computer Facility | but the road is icy.
Applied Electronics Laboratory, Room 218 | The bar is far away,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4055 | but I will walk carefully."
Phone: +1-415-723-1058 Fax: +1-415-723-1294 | -- Russian Proverb
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 12:35:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Wade <ericwade at CLASS.ORG>
Subject: Beer Drinks
Mark Stickler describes a Rocky Mountain Oyster Cocktail (Coors, raw
oyster, etc.). I always thought Rocky Mountain Oysters were what was left
over after you removed the steer from the bull. Don't know how they go
with beer though.
Friends of mine who frequent Barclay's pub in Oakland, CA (28 taps of micros,
regionals, and imports only) have been experimenting with topping various
brews with a few ounces of Old Foghorn, e.g., Foggy Night in Dublin
(Guiness & Old Foghorn), etc.
Eric
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 13:09:51 PDT
From: nexgen!bart at olivea.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Bart Thielges)
Subject: Immersion chillers / Brewkit ingredients
For those of you using immersion chillers out there, here's a way to get
much higher performance. Stirring the hot wort periodically REALLY
speeds the chilling. If you have enough clearance between the chiller coil
and the sides of the brewpot, you can stir the wort simply by grasping the
ends of the chiller and swishing the wort around. You will notice that
you'll feel the outflow pipe suddenly get warmer : a sure sign that you've
increased heat transfer.
If you leave the chiller sitting in the bottom of a still brewpot, the
wort will tend to stratify into hot and cold layers. Since a large
part if not all of the chiller rests on the bottom, convection does not
aid in chilling. Conduction is the primary mechanism for transferring
heat from the upper layers of wort to the lower coil, and that is sloooow.
I've found that a couple of seconds of swishing once a minute is more than
enough.
Here's a question that's been bothering me for a while. I have two cans
of hopped malt extract from England (Geordie and Boots). On the
list of ingredients, both of them list "Barley and Malt extract" as the
first two ingredients. I thought that "malt extract" was made from
barley. Why are they listed as two different ingredients ? Is there
some other fermentable in the can that didn't come from barley ?
Thanks for all of the advice on hot priming. I used this technique on my
last batch and have yet to recieve the court summons. The bottles seem
to be carbonating well.
Bart
(Brewing equipment destroyed while hot priming : 0)
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 17:29:57 EDT
From: edwards100 at aol.com
Subject: Re: #2(2) Homebrew Digest #12...
I recently converted a 15.5 gall. SS keg with a ball valve spigot. The end
of the SS nipple with 90 Deg. elbow inside the keg ends about 2 inches away
from the center of the keg.Will the trub that is formed by whirlpooling be
likely sucked out of the drain because of it's location?What is the proper
way to whirlpool? Alternately, would it be easier to remove trub by adjusting
the 90 Deg. elbow so that it's is just above the settled trub layer if not
whirlpooling?COMMENTS APPRECIATED.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 17:10:46 -0500 (CDT)
From: Cree-ee-py Boy <BIRMINGH at FNALV.FNAL.GOV>
Subject: What do 'phor' mean?
>Question: Someone posted something regarding IODOPHOR in this or a
>previous HBD: what does the -phor designate in the name IODOPHOR? I
>have used BTF iodophor which doesn't contain phosphoric acid and I have
>recently obtained an iodine sanitizing solution that *does* contain
>phos. acid. What gives?
My best guess was that it comes from the Greek root '-phoros' for
'to bear' so that iodophor is a substance that bears iodine. My
dictionary seems to confirm that.
I'm not sure what the hell they put phosphoric acid in it phor
(snicker.) Probably it's to act as a surfactant, as it is an ingredient
in some soaps and detergents.
ObDiane'sSig: Not to pile on Mr. Lyons or anything, but I got no
problem with Diane's .sig. I mean, 'orgasm' comes from a Greek word; it
HAS to be respectable. :-)
ObMashoutJihad: For the most part, I'm with Imam Campanelli on
this issue. My only exception (so far) is for oatmeal stout; skip the
mashout when so brewing and the Great Satan known as Set Mash (*ptui*)
will plague you for hours.
Later...
- --
Phillip J. "Noah Webster" Birmingham birmingham at fne683.fnal.gov
Just bought a pound of '93 Cascade.. almost never got my head outta
that bag
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 17:01:15 +0700
From: Brian.Smithey at Central.Sun.COM (Brian Smithey)
Subject: Re: Belgian Special B (Matthew Rowley)
>>>>> ROWLEY at kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
Matt> I've just snagged some Belgian Special B to use in an Irish
Matt> red. This will be the first time I've ever worked with the
Matt> stuff, but look forward to it. Does anyone have any experience
Matt> using Special B? I thought that I might put some into my next
Matt> porter or stout, but would like to hear from you if you've any
Matt> suggestions on how/how not to handle this grain: Temperatures,
Matt> proportions, that sort of thing.
Matt> Matt Rowley
Matt> rowley at kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
A while back I bought some Special B to "experiment" with. I took
an old Anchor Steam clone recpie and replaced 1.5# 40L domestic
crystal malt with 1# Special B. The resulting beer is roughly the
color of a typical brown ale, and the contribution of the Special B
is pretty apparent -- a sweet toffee flavor, not at all the "burnt"
flavor of darker roasted malts (chocolate, black). This beer is
probably more like a Scotch ale than a Steam beer, but the big load
of Northern Brewer hops are pretty evident too (note that I haven't
yet used the words "pleasant" or "balanced" to describe this beer :-)
I think a full pound of this stuff would be a great way to get started
on a Scotch ale recipe, but for just about any other style I'd scale
it way back, and I can't think of a reason to EVER use more than a
pound in 5 gal. I'm planning a sweetish Brown ale next, and expect to
use about 3 oz special B in that one.
While we're on the subject, I just received an order of DeWolf-Cosyns
malts (hi Al!), and would like to hear what others have found with
the other specialty grains -- I'm planning on "kitchen sinking" the
brown ale with some of the buiscit malt, aromatic malt, and chocolate
malt on top of the base pale ale malt and Special B. Any suggestions?
Brian
- --
Brian Smithey / Sun Microsystems / Colorado Springs, CO
smithey at rmtc.Central.Sun.COM
Return to table of contents
Date: Wednesday, 27 October 93 21:00:20 CST
From: LLDSC at utxdp.dp.utexas.edu
Subject: Spruce essence
I made a spruce beer not too long ago. It was a honey/spruce ale,
going off the recipe in TNCJOH will a few modifications. I was all
set to buy my bottle of spruce essence at my local homebrew shop (It
was a two ounce bottle-I don't remember the brand) when my friendly
homebrew guy told me that I didn't need the whole thing. He said to
ignore what TNCJOH said because it just came out way too powerful.
Being a friendly homebrew guy, he put just a few drops of essence into
a plastic bag and sold that to me (saving me some bucks in the process).
I put the essence in my wort, adding it at the end of the boil (I think).
After brewing, I took a tour of the Celis brewery and, well, to put it
frankly, imbibed a bit that evening. I was a little under the weather
the next day and all I can remember smelling was that damn spruce
essence. Everytime I had one of those damn beers it made my head ache.
My friends, however, seem to enjoy the beers. They didn't think there was
too much spruce in them. So I guess my point is that just a few drops
should do the trick. At least that's my experience.
P.S. I made a Wheat beer with the Wyeast and it came out great.
P.P.S. Our first brewpubs are opening up late this month/early next
Keep on truckin'
Scott, UT AUSTIN
LLDSC at UTXDP.DP.UTEXAS.EDU
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 02:53:00 BST
From: mike.keller at genie.geis.com
Subject: You can't judge a beer...
||It seems to me that there would be an excellent market for ||
||custom packaging supplies for the home brewer such as high ||
||quality, custom screen labeled bottles, caps, and quality ||
||wooden cases. The same ||
In the latest _Barleycorn_ (a bimonthly tabloid for brewing, micros
and brewpubs in the Mid Atlantic states), there is an ad for Graphik
Conspiracy for color labels.
"We will make labels to your specifications, with any design, theme
or lettering...Custom-designed, full color labels start at $90 for
quantities of 150 or more."
Graphik Conspiracy, PO Box 2332, Centreville, VA 22020, 703-222-8492.
I present this for information only. Please note the price quoted is
for "custom-designed," if you have your own design ready to go, it
should be a lot cheaper, but then you could prolly visit any decent
print shop and get good work. Color labels would generally be spot
color, not four color seps work. A brewing friend had a label
designed by a mutual friend who is a printmaker, and had the the
labels (black and grey halftone, no color) printed at a local shop.
Looks nice.
Mike Keller, Beer Sysop, GEnie
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 13:00 CDT
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: CO2-purging/HBD topics
Rob writes:
>I have found that the food grade containers that deli's use are good
>for storage of grains. I think the square mayonnaise containers work
>best. They are the easy to clean and the lids are fairly easy to
>attach and remove. I recommend filling them to the top and purging
>with CO2 to keep the grain as dry as possible.
I had thought about purging my grain buckets with CO2 also, but before
I did, I filled a empty bucket with CO2, threw in a humidity meter and
sealed the bucket. After 15 minutes, it read about 55% humidity. Granted,
this was a cheap, dimestore humidity meter, but it convinced me that CO2
is not dry. Instead, I've purchased some, reusable, dessicant canisters
(about $8.00 each from a lab supply place) and put one in the bucket
just after pouring in the grain. I've measured the humidity inside the
bucket after a day with the dessicant and it was around 25-28%
********************************
Lately, there have been a lot of articles posted on fringe topics.
I suggest that we try to restrain ourselves and try to concentrate
on homebrewing, especially when the digest begins to slow down as it
has recently. Fast turnaround for questions is rather important since
sometimes many posters are tempted to answer a question when they
notice it hasn't been answered for a while and then suddenly, two
days later, there are ten responses.
Al.
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 8:31:24 EDT
From: Jim Grady <grady at hpangrt.an.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Going all-grain
Ed Wolfe asks about all grain equipment in HBD #1254 (sorry to take so
long, I'm behind in my reading :-( ):
I just recently went all-grain and have tried 2 approaches for an
insulated mash/lauter tun. One was a Coleman 40 qt. rectangular cooler
and the other was a 5 gal SS stockpot in an insulated box. I found that
over a 90 min mash, the cooler lost ~5 F degrees. The insulated box
lost 0 F degrees. I am sticking with the insulated box! The other
advantage of the insulated box is that I can take the pot out to raise
the temp (say to go from protein rest to sacchrification rest). Here is
how I built mine:
1. Buy a Hewlett-Packard 700 series workstation. Throw out the
workstation and keep the box. (Note 1)
2. Get some styrofoam sheets from your local building supply store. I
got 2"x2'x8' sheets and some 1"x2'x8' sheets.
3. Cut the styrofoam to put a 7" layer of styrofoam on the bottom of
the box. I found a wallboard saw worked best for cutting the
styrofoam (especially the 2" stuff!).
4. The next section is for the pot. Put down enough 2" layers to cover
the depth of the pot. Then cut a hole in the middle that just fits
your mash tun. Cut the hole a little tight and use a propane torch
to "seal" the edge so you are not plagued with little styrofoam
balls every time you put the pot in/out. My hole is a little
off-center but the minimum wall thickness is 3".
5. Cut the styrofoam so there is a 7" layer for the top.
6. Tape the layers that make up the top together so you don't go crazy
trying to take the top off. BTW, I also taped the "pot" section
together so that the layers don't come apart when I take the pot
out.
Note 1: OF COURSE I have a financial interest in Hewlett-Packard! How
do you think I got my box?
Second of all, I would recommend getting the stuff to allow 10 gal
batches right away if you expect to go that route. If you build an
insulated box as I described above, you might need to build that over as
well as buying lots of new pots. I don't think that 7.5 gal will be
enough for a mash tun for a 10 gal batch though. With my 5 gal
stockpot, 8# of grain & 8 qts of water (which is a rather thick mash)
takes up about 4 - 4.5 gal.
- --
Jim Grady |"Root beer burps don't have to be said 'Excuse me'."
grady at hp-mpg.an.hp.com | Robert Grady, age 4.75
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 08:17:17 -0500 (EST)
From: COCKERHAM_SANDRA_L at Lilly.com
Subject: Maiden Voyage + gadget help
Last night I brewed a mild and used my new wort chiller for the
first time. In my usual fashion, I didn't make sure of details
ahead of time. I was going to hook up to the laundry faucet in
the basement, but had leaks. Ended up going outside and hooking up to
my garden hose. Sooo, one of those neat kitchen faucet adaptors is
in order... BUT I have to say, these things are great! If you
don't have one, get one! BTW, mine is called Phyllis (groan..).
I am modifying a Rubbermaid/Gott 5 gallon water jug for mashing.
I bought a spigot at my local homebrew shop to put on it (twist
to leave open). I had to enlarge the hole to fit this spigot.
The SAD thing is....the threaded part is too short and
doesn't go all the way through. I need a longer one! Does
anyone know where to get these? Has anyone else had this problem
and come up with a good solution?
Thanks,
Sandy C.
From: COCKERHAM SANDRA L (MCVAX0::RX31852)
To: VMS MAIL ADDRESSEE (IN::"homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com")
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 09:23:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: /R=HERLVX/R=AM/U=KLIGERMAN/FFN=KLIGERMAN/ at mr.rtpnc.epa.gov
Subject: airlines, porter, brewbup, Sheath and Vine
Just a few interesting tidbits:
Yesterday my wife tried to take 4 homebrews on American airlines
out of Raleigh-Durham and was stopped at security. Although the
bottles were capped, since they had no label she was not allowed to bring
them into the passenger cabin. They said they could be stowed in the luggage
but we declined, fearing depressurization problems.
On the DIscovery channel last night (Oct.27), they had a small piece
on salvaging 1825 Flagg Porter from a sunken ship off the coast of
England, saving the yeast, bringing it up to "health" for 6 months,
and culturing a true porter using a Victorian era recipe.
Re: Swan V. Taylor's request for info on brewpubs in the Chapel
Hill area. There are none in Chapel Hill, one in Raleigh (Greenshields),
and one in the Winston-Salem area (Lagerhead or Loggerhead?) that I know
of. the one in Durham (aka:Weeping Radish,etc.) bit the big one!
Also sorry to hear Al's mailorder is shutting down.
Andy Kligerman
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 09:52:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Scott Benton <sbenton at telerama.pgh.pa.us>
Subject: re: Oysters and sports
In HBD1256 Mark Stickler Internet Mail Name <mstickle at lvh.com> said:
>Just remembered a beer drink I had once. I think it was called a "Rocky
>Mountain Oyster Cocktail". You take a Pilsner glass, drop a tablespoon
>of cocktail sauce in the bottom, drop a raw oyster on top and then fill
>with a can of Coors. The idea is to then chug the whole thing without
>getting sick. The oyster usually travels down the side of the glass
>rather slowly and into your mouth. Not for the faint of heart or queesy.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This applies to drinking Coors, oyster or no.
In HBD1257 COYOTE <SLK6P at cc.usu.edu> said:
>About the sig. line re: Orgasms and baseball.
^^^^^^^^
Actually, it was basketball, but baseball would likely be more difficult to
fake an interest in. Perhaps, since we're enhancing our sensitivity here,
Diane would like to rank some of her least favorite sports.
Scott D. Benton sbenton at telerama.pgh.pa.us
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 09:40:44 -0400
From: "Phillip Seitz" <p00644 at psilink.com>
Subject: Beer hunting in Belgium: Part 7 (General information)
(My apologies if this gets posted twice--with a 4 day wait between
posting and appearance I forget. Must be getting a cold...)
Beer Hunting in Belgium: Part 7 of 7
General Information
(by Phil Seitz)
The following information is offered for anybody considering
travel to Belgium. These are the bars we like, sources we found
useful, and a few additional places we went that you might not
find in the guidebooks.
Cafes:
L'Eblouissant. 27, rue Armee Grouchy, Namur. 081/73.71.39.
A small cafe run by a very particular publican. Extensive
beer selection, well cared for. Good meals during lunch, with
food also available during dinner. Frequent concerts of Irish
music. Previously called one of Belgium's best cafes by CAMRA,
now relocated due to high rents but still very comfortable.
Closed Sundays.
Musee de la Biere (The Beer Museum). 19, rue de la Gare B/2,
Lustin, on Route #947. 081/41.11.02
A funky place in a small town. Until last year nobody I
know in the area had ever been there, though everybody knew about
it. The reason is that is looks a bit weird from the outside.
The exterior has hand-painted signs advertising over 1,000
Belgian beer glasses on exhibit, and God knows how many bottles,
some of them dating from the 19th century. Looks a little like
those roadside attractions advertising plaster-of-Paris dinosaurs
and two-headed cows. Admission is 35 francs, which can be
applied to a purchase in the, er, gift shop. The gift shop
features 11 beers on tap (including the formidable Liefmans'
framboise), as well as a good 100-200 in bottles. The interior
is crammed with shelves of bottles and glasses, and many of these
will actually be of substantial interest to beer geeks. Overall,
a very pleasant atmosphere.
If you speak French, the woman who runs the place is famous
for being talkative and very well informed with regard to beer
issues and developments in Belgium. The cafe is also home to a
tasting club, the Guilde des Tates-Biere, whose final exam is
rumored to include identification of certain beers by year of
production.
Lustin is south of Namur, on the Meuse river. The museum
is open weekends and student holidays only, but special openings
can be arranged for larger groups.
De Stillegentier. Mechelen.
We did not visit this cafe, but it was recommended to us as
stocking nearly all the lambic and gueuze products currently on
the market. Hey, we had to save something for next time!
Beer stores:
La Cave de Wallonie. 6, rue de la Halle, Namur
Near the Place au marche de legumes. A specialty beer
store run by one of the brewers of the Brasserie Caracole. The
proprietor speaks some English, and if time permits is quite
willing to discuss brewing issues and beers.
Drinks Wets. 209 Steenweg op Halle, St. Genesius-Rode.
02/380.32.27
This one's a whopper. We ran into it when we got lost on
the way to Beersel, and Jim accurately described it as the
Belgian liquor barn. They sell a mind-boggling variety of
Belgian beers and beer glasses, as well as selected imported
beers. (Good: We found Anchor Liberty. Bad: They stock Rolling
Rock.) The proprietors do speak some English, and they take Visa
but no other credit cards. You'll need a car to get there, but a
truck might be better. The gueuze/kriek selection alone ran
along an entire 35-foot wall. Perhaps the most unusual of these
was the Gueuze and Kriek Girardin in polypins. Just the thing
for Mike Sharp's next party!
Some notes: check expiration dates. Some of the old
bottles you'll find are aged; others are just old and out of
date, and taste that way. Keep an eye out for the Hanssens
gueuze products; we considered these a major discovery, and their
mention met with respect from our more knowledgeable Belgian beer
sources. The Wets gueuze products are also available (presumably
the owners of the store are the Wets of lambic blending fame,
though we were told by others that the beer is now made by the
still-formidable Brasserie Girardin).
Other stores
1) Spice stores sometimes sell bitter (curacao) orange peel.
It's hard and white, and bitter tasting. One such store is
L'Herbier in Namur, around the corner from La Cave de Wallonie.
2) Don't forget the ordinary supermarkets. Most of them sell
dark and light candy sugar in 1 lb boxes, and many have
formidable beer selections, including local brews and glassware.
Jereboams (3- liter bottles) are widely available, and the Sarma
Star hypermarket outside of Namur must stock at least 100
beers--and the glasses. Keep in mind that a charge for the
deposit on each bottle will be added at the cash register. On
the other hand, the larger supermarkets take credit cards, so you
can spend now and pay later.
Books
We really only used two books and a map as constant reference
materials. One book was Michael Jackson's Beers of Belgium,
which is available from a variety of sources. The other books
was Peter Crombecq's Bier Yaarboek, which is not easy to find
(check better bookstores in Brussels and Flanders). The former
provided us with general information in a language we could read,
and proved to be reasonably comprehensive in scope, if not always
providing the obsessive depth we craved. The Crombecq comes in
handy here, with detailed information on the breweries (in
Flemish), as well as lists of all their products and the names
these are sold under. This is extremely useful information that
beer hunters can draw upon to make sure they don't unwittingly
buy ten bottles of the same beer.
CAMRA now has a good beer guide to Belgium and Holland,
which lists much of the above information and includes reviews of
cafes. As far as I know copies are only available in England,
L'Eblouissant had one.
THATS ALL FOLKS!
This concludes our Belgian series. If you have any questions we
hope you'll let us know; Jim [BUSCH at DAACDEV1.STX.COM] may be
better for the technical brewing ones, and me for the ones on
Belgium in general.
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 10:21:53 -0400
From: djt2 at po.cwru.edu (Dennis J. Templeton)
Subject: Re: Filth in brewing
Re: Liquid male extract
>>>LME (liquid male extract), and about 1.029 for speciality grains.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
<del>
>I guess this must be from a recipe for Smegmabrau.
Hey! Don't you know kids read this group!
Keep it clean! (and then you won't have this problem)
(Dedicated to Diane "Double Dribble" Palme)
dennis
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Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 10:57:17 EDT
From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
Subject: Judging specialties (was Nut Beer)
r.mcglew3 at genie.geis.com writes:
> For anyone that enters a specialty beer in a contest, be aware that the
> judges in that category are subjected to a lot of widely varying beers and
> have a hard time picking the right one, the judges' taste preferences
> really are the major factor.
Speaking as one who recently judged specialty beers in a competition,
I have to mildly disagree with this statement. We tried hard to
evaluate each beer on its merits, according to the "style" it said it
was supposed to be. Thus, a "Vanilla Ale" would be expected to have
evident vanilla flavor, blending nicely with some malt, and almost
certainly low hop flavor (this is where my personal taste may come in,
as I can't see vanilla and hops going too well together, although I'm
willing to be conviced otherwise -- send bottles!) And, of course, it
should be a well-made beer.
Still, the two of us ended up having to negotiate on the top three in
the category (as I recall, the first place was "obvious", but there
were three beers in contention for the next two places).
And, there were beers that were really hard, because we didn't know
what the specialty ingredients "should" taste like. One example was a
really nice "wild ginger" beer. It didn't taste anything like ginger,
but neither of us knew what "wild ginger" should taste like. In any
case, it was a good, well-made, very drinkable beer, that ended up
taking fourth place (out of 12).
=Spencer
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Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 09:14:05 -0600
From: c-amb at csc-sun.math.utah.edu
Subject: Re: PitchTiming
> >What I refered to here as the 'stationary phase' is really
> >the very beginning of the dormant phase. In other words,
> >let you starter ferment out _then_ pitch it. Don't let
> >it sit too long or you'll have other problems.
> >
O.K. I'll bite. What are these other problems. I find that the only
way I can effecively use liquid yeast in my schedule is to pitch it
into a starter in advance and then brew the moment I have the time.
Sometimes it is just after Krausen but other times it is several days
after the yeast has fermented out.
-Thanks,
Mark Alston
c-amb at math.utah.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 9:41:24 MDT
From: Jason Goldman <jason at gibson.sde.hp.com>
Subject: Re: homebrew club gone stale! oxidation?
> From: /R=HERLVX/R=AM/U=KLIGERMAN/FFN=KLIGERMAN/ at mr.rtpnc.epa.gov
> Subject: homebrew club gone stale! oxidation?
>
> As a member, former vice president and president, and treasurer of
> our local homebrew club over the past half dozen years or so, I have
> been disappointed in the direction the club has gone presently. It
> has turned into more of a socializing and drinking club. Not to be
> too negative, I would like to address this problem in our club newsletter.
> I'm thus asking for input from people on the HBD to share with me if they have
> had similar experiences in their clubs, and possible ways to remedy this
> situation. In particular, I would hope some could share with me some
> of the activities that they partake of at their club meetings besides
> drinking homebrew. Specifically, where are meeting held, do they
> rotate from house to house or restaurant to restaurant? Are experiments
> done on a club basis? Etc. Since this may be of general interest to other
> clubs, a reply by digest would seem appropriate. However, responses can
> be e-mailed to : kligerman%am%herlvx at mr.rtpnc.epa.gov
I am familiar with a number of homebrew clubs, each with varying degrees
of formality. The least formal of these would meet in a different
member's house each month, had an occasional presentation (every 3rd
month or so), and mostly drank and *critiqued* beer and socialized.
Other more formal clubs have a specific meeting place, follow a clear
agenda for each meeting, always have presentations, and treat
socializing as what you do *after* the meeting.
My own club, the Mash Tongues (Ft. Collins) is somewhere in the middle.
Over the last year or so, the number of presentations has dropped off a
little bit and the club has lost alot of focus. So what did we do?
Well, a number of us who wanted to see more things happen ran for office
and are doing something about that. We've been fairly successful at
getting the members to contribute ideas and add to our planning sessions
so that the club meetings are more interesting. Here are some of the
ideas that we've talked about/started:
* presentations aimed at beginning brewers
Many of our members are just getting started, so presentations on
general extract brewing techniques and ingredients are valuable.
* presentations aimed at sophisticated brewers
Among the more experienced brewers, there is an interest in
subjects like decoction mashing and yeast culturing.
* beer judging sessions
These sessions teach members about flavor/aroma perception and the
judging forms, etc.
* club-only beer selection
We set up a panel to judge which beer should represent our club in
the nationals.
* beer tastings
Some of the beer drinking at our meetings takes place somewhat
formally, where a majority of the club members can all taste the
beer and offer opinions and feedback.
* presentations by local (professional) brewers
Here in Ft. Collins, we have a great resource with the multitude
of local brewers.
Other presentation ideas include brewing gadgets, cooking with beer,
beer styles, a yeast experiment, etc. Until recently, we've been
meeting in the back of a local bar (which isn't very good) and before
that, we met at the local breweries. We've finally found space with the
local homebrew shop so we can meet there regularly starting in January.
I think that drinking beer and socializing are an important part of what
I want from my club, but certainly not the only thing.
Jason "That's *Mr* Prez" Goldman
jason at gibson.sde.hp,com
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 08:43:36 -0700 (MST)
From: Cisco <FRANCISCO at osmo.CCIT.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Clarifying in Cornelius Kegs
> Bob Sweeny asks:
> From: SWEENERB at msuvx2.memst.edu
>
> Have any of you kegger types tried to add clarifiers directly into the
> keg and what kind of results/problems can I expect, particularly with respect
> to the use of gelatin? Thanks in advance folks.
>
I used to clarify in my kegs using gelatin. It works fine but leaves
a lot of sediment on the bottom that the pickup tube draws upon
giving very cloudy beer for quite a while. My cornelius kegs have
tapered bottoms so the yeast sediment just kept being drawn to the
pickup tube. My solution was to cut one inch off the pickup tube and
that cured a lot of the problem. Now I clarify in a glass carboy with
gelatin and then transfer after a week to the keg just because it
leaves a lot less sludge in the keg. I still cut off an inch on the
pickup tubes on any new (used actually) kegs I acquire, that way any
amount of sludge stays on the bottom where it belongs, not in your
beer (this only wastes about a cup of beer when you've finished the
keg). You'll also notice that if you keep your keg cold that any
slight appearance of protein haze will settle out after a week and the
beer will be sparkling clear, just another great benefit of kegging!
May your beer give you great head!!!!
Cisco (John Francisco)
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 9:47:54 MDT
From: npyle at n33.stortek.com
Subject: Hops FAQ, Part 4/5
Hops FAQ, Part 4/5:
- --
Q: What is dry-hopping? How do I do it? How much do I use? What type? What
form of hops?
A: Dry hopping can be defined as adding hops to a cooled wort at sometime
during the fermentation process. It adds a fresh hops aroma/flavor to the beer
which cannot be matched with hop additions into hot wort. It is not to be
confused with finish/aroma hopping, which is done on the hot wort while still
in the kettle. The use of a hop-back, where hot wort is passed through the
hops, is another form of finish hopping; it is not dry hopping. Dry hopping
gives little or no alpha acids to the wort, so it contributes little or no
bitterness to the final product.
There are several ways to dry hop, if one considers the variations of making
hop teas, etc. The best time to dry hop is generally considered to be after
primary fermentation has slowed and little CO2 is being driven off the wort.
Dry hopping earlier than this point is inefficient as the volatile hop oils
are scrubbed away by the exiting CO2. Also, if using pellets, dry hopping
early in the fermentation phase may result in the hops (which will sink to the
bottom) being covered with yeast and inefficient extraction of aroma.
The proper length of time for dry hopping is dependent on the temperature. At
ale temperatures, 7-14 days of contact time is widely used. At lager
temperatures, although little data is available, it seems obvious that longer
contact times, on the order of 14-21 days, are called for. It is common to use
0.5 - 2.0 oz. or more in a 5 gallon batch, but as always it is up the
individual's preferences.
Fuggles, Northern Brewer, Saaz, Cascades, all Hallertau variants, and many
other hops have been used successfully. It should be noted that the aroma of
the beer greatly influences the profile, and that the "correct" aroma hop should
be used to match the style (i.e. English hops for English ales, German hops for
German lagers, etc.). American brewers have traditionally used hops from all
over the globe so European hops, for example, can be used without much fear of
an ungodly mismatch.
The first and foremost way to dry hop is to simply put the hops into the
fermenter. The most common worry with this method is about infecting a beer
which is nearly ready to bottle/keg. Hops are natural preservatives, and
infections from this method are unheard of. If loose hops or plugs are used,
they will float, and many use a sanitized hop bag and marbles to sink the hops
for maximum contact. If pellets are used they will sink, but may be difficult
to avoid when bottling/kegging. Also, the pellet hops can be easily covered by
yeast falling out of suspension, so they should be added after virtually all
fermentation activity has ceased, and a good amount of the yeast has fallen.
Another method used to dry hop is to steep the hops in a warm white alcohol
(grain, vodka, etc.) and sometimes water solution for hours or days, then pour
this solution into the fermenter. This is a common practice among those who
want to protect against the remote possibility of infection with normal dry
hopping. It should be noted that as the temperature of the alcohol/water/hops
mixture is raised, the effect approaches that of finish hopping, as the most
volatile hop oils are driven off.
Adding hop oil, a product recently introduced to the homebrewing market, is
another way of "dry-hopping". It should be done after primary fermentation has
slowed for the same reasons.
These dry hopping methods, and others, will produce different results, mainly
because the desired compounds are so volatile. The variety of reactions taking
place duration processing and fermentation will affect the results. The "best"
method is the one which gives the desired result to the individual homebrewer.
A final note about dry-hopping: the volatile hop compounds will react quickly
with oxygen. For this reason, extra measures should be taken to avoid mixing
with air during bottling, in order to retain the hop aroma in the bottle for
extended periods of time. These extra measures may include the use of CO2
purging the bottling vessel, very quiet siphoning, oxygen scavenging caps, and
possibly delayed capping (up to one hour). This method allows any CO2 coming
out of solution during the bottling process to push the oxygen out of the
bottle before the caps are secured. This method is used by some homebrewers
but the results are inconclusive. The simplest method is to use the oxygen
scavenging caps, which requires no extra effort and little extra cost. For
further reference, the Summer 1993 Zymurgy contains an article by Mark Garetz
on this subject.
- --
Q: What is a "hop-back"? How is it used?
A: A homebrewer's hop-back is a reservoir connected in-line between the kettle
and counter-flow chiller. It is filled with fresh hops before the flow is
started. The hot wort flows through the fresh hops and is quickly chilled by
the counter-flow before entering the fermenter. Many of the volatile hop aroma
compounds are extracted and brought into the fermenter with this process. It
is generally thought to produce a flavor/aroma profile somewhere between late
kettle additions and dry-hopping.
- --
Q: Can I use fresh hops rather than dried hops? How much do I use?
A: Yes, you can but at best it is a rough guess as to how much. The rule of
thumb is to use 6 times as much (by weight) as you would dry hops. A safer
rule would be to do this and to only use them for finish/dry hopping. This is
because the AA% is unknown, and later additions are less sensitive to AA%. It
should be noted that homebrewers have had mixed results when using fresh hops
(poor AA approximation for bittering, grassy aroma for finishing).
End part 4/5
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 93 08:47:50 PDT
From: tima at wv.MENTORG.COM (Tim Anderson)
Subject: Trip Report
My wife and I just got back from 2 weeks in Belgium and The Netherlands,
mostly Belgium.
Q: Is Belgium beer heaven?
A: Yes.
It wasn't a beer hunt, just vacation, but I'm guessing that I consumed 30 or
40 different beers, mostly in towns and small cities, in whatever tavern or
cafe we happened to be walking past when hunger or thirst happened to strike.
High points:
o They ALWAYS served the beer in the appropriate glass. Not just the right
size and shape, but it also had to have the beer's logo on it.
o Rochefort 8.
o The lady at the desk in our hotel in Leuven was very proud of the fact that
Pierre Celis used to brew beer in her town. She was pleased that I knew of
his beer.
o The coffee.
o Chimay Bleue was about 2 bucks in a bar, a little over a dollar (33 cl
bottle) in the grocery store (about the same as American Bud).
o Budvar in the grocery stores.
o We rented bikes in Oudenaarde and stopped for a breather at a tavern way
out in the sticks. I was sucking on a Liefmanns Oud Bruin, and my frau was
attacking a Liefmanns Kriek, both "van het vat" (on tap). She was the
designated kriek taster; this one turned out to be her favorite. The beer
delivery guy dropped off a couple of kegs, proceeded to sit down to the bar
and down a couple, hopped back in his truck and was off to his next stop.
o Bartenders are mostly quite knowledgeable about the beer they serve. And
they drink it while serving.
o Maastricht.
o On schedule trains.
o Domus, a brewpub in Leuven.
o Brand Imperator.
Low points:
o Belle Vue anything.
o Most Belgians drink Jupiler (the country's industrial swill) or Stella
Artois (a regional industrial swill).
o Amsterdam.
Q: Is Heineken better in The Netherlands?
A: I'd probably have to be there at least a month before I could work my way
down to a Heineken. Although I did try their Tarwebock, and it didn't suck.
I'll submit my impressions of Amsterdam in alt.sex.drugs.rock.and.roll.
tim
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1260, 11/01/93