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


Contents:
  need help with water chem (Carlo Fusco)
  Beer in Kuwait? ("Mark S. Nelson")
  siphoning hot wort? (George Tempel)
  Beer Dandruff (fjdobner)
  Re: Adding spices to beer (REGINAH)
  Dry Hopping BUs??? (npyle)
  Propane, natural gas, and toxic fumes. (Andrew Baird) (andrewb6)
  Head Retention problems ("Dennis Lewis")
  Inadvertent Lambic ("Dennis Lewis")
  Insulating a keg boiler ("Dennis Lewis")
  Re: Nasty Brews (Julie Kangas)
  Plugging Your Homegrown (Alan Edwards)
  zymurgy recipe correction (WESTEMEIER)
  A Primer on Czech Beers (C.R. Saikley)
  Changes at Pilsner Urquell (C.R. Saikley)
  re: BREWING ORGANS (Mike Peckar  10-Nov-1993 0909)
  Ithaca Brewpubs (bickham)
  Old beer recipes in Zymurgy (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  sm-ALL Grain/  Sake (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Grolsch Tops and Ithica  (laewell)
  More on labels (Paul deArmond)
  wasting water (Tom Tomazin)
  Re: Greenplug (Dion Hollenbeck)
  multi-strain brew ("Daniel F McConnell")
  Grant's IPA Clone? (Steve Zabarnick)
  RE: Nasty Brews (Part 1) ("/R=FDACB/R=A1/U=RIDGELY/O=HFM-400/TN=FTS
   402-1521/FFN=Bill Ridgely/")
  signoff homebrew ("R.A.Lewis")
  Priming / concise $.02 (Carl Howes)
  Counter Pressure Fillers and Foam (Gary S. Kuyat)
  Responses to college brewers (esonn1)
  b&t (Mark Bunster)
  Hunter Airstat modifications (snystrom)


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

Date:   Tue, 9 Nov 1993 11:08:00 -0500
From: carlo.fusco at canrem.com (Carlo Fusco)
Subject: need help with water chem


Hello Everyone,

After reading someone elses post about water chemistry I decided to look
into my own water supply and it generated 2 questions. I am now hoping
that net wisdom will shed some light on how to fix my problems.

Water parameters
York Region, Ontario, Canada

hardness   160
pH         8.0
Ca   38 ppm
Cl   4  ppm
Mg   16 ppm
K    1  ppm
SiO2 13 ppm
Na   22 ppm
Fe   1  ppm
They could not provide me with Bi/carbonate levels only hardness measured
as calcium carbonate. Everything else is in trace levels.

Question #1

Is 1 ppm Fe to high? Miller states that it gives a metallic flavour, adds
haze and hampers yeast activity. I have noticed that since I moved and
switched to LabYeast from Wyeast that my fermentations are considerably
longer and less vigourous, sometimes 4X longer.
[note: Wyeast is no longer available where I am.]

Miller states that Iron is not wanted in brew water. How do I remove
excess Iron?

Question #2

Since they could not provide me with the bi/carbonate concentrations, I
would have to figure them out. Using standard analytical methods I can
calulate how much hardness is contributed by Ca, Mg, Fe, and Mn [the key
contributers of hardnes]. Did I figure this out correctly?

hardness = 38 ppm Ca * 2.497 + 16 ppm Mg * 4.116 + 1 ppm Fe * 1.792
               + 0 ppm Mn * 1.822

Ca contributes 94.89 ppm hardness as Calcium Carbonate
Mg contributes 65.86 ppm hardness as Calcium Carbonate
Fe contributes 1.792 ppm hardness as Calcium Carbonate
Total calculated hardness is 162.5 ppm, which is pretty close to the 160
ppm reported.

Now assuming that all bi/carbonate is only associated with Ca and it is
all removed by boiling as outlined in Miller. I should then have 0 ppm Ca
left in the water and about 67 ppm bi/carbonate left in the brew water.

Will the addition of Gypsum prior to boiling remove the remaining
bi/carbonate and reintroduce Ca to the brew water? How much Gypsum? Will
the sulfate and sodium conflict and cause a harshness described by Miller?

Will Mg and Fe react like Ca and percipitate out after boiling? If so,
will my Iron/hard water problem be fixed my simply boiling all brew water
before using it.

Thanks for your help
Carlo  <carlo.fusco at canrem.com>


- ---
 * Freddie 1.2.5 * The first full-featured QWK reader for the Mac.

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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1993 09:46:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "Mark S. Nelson" <mnelson at eis.calstate.edu>
Subject: Beer in Kuwait?

I didn't know they allowed beer in Kuwait, or do they?  My suggestion is
to go across to Bahrain.  The beer prices and selection aren't the
greatest, but it's legal.

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused.

Mark S. Nelson      nelsonm at axe.humboldt.edu      mnelson at eis.calstate.edu



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Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1993 14:31:05 +0000 (U)
From: George Tempel <tempel at MONMOUTH-ETDL1.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: siphoning hot wort?

                      siphoning hot wort?
This may be a FAQ, but the title says it all: how does one
siphon hot wort into the primary?

my first brew starts this weekend...

george
908/544-2673



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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 13:02 CST
From: fjdobner at ihlpa.att.com
Subject: Beer Dandruff

I remember about a half year ago someone posted their experience in using
a starter for their yeast and finding rice-like size pieces of something
at the bottom of their starter vessle after the fermentation ceased. Can
whomever posted that please contact me with their experiences? I have witnessed
the same thing and would like to know what I am up against. I am using the
Yeast Lab Bavarian Lager yeast. The taste of the fermented liquid decanted from
the starter tasted a bit winey. That could be because it is a lager yeast
and the temperature for the starter is about 66-68F.

Any answers?


Frank Dobner

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Date:          Tue, 9 Nov 1993 14:31:20 EST5EDT
From: REGINAH at SOCIOLOGY.Lan.McGill.CA
Subject:       Re: Adding spices to beer

Hello out there--
    I just brewed a Christmas Porter loosely based on Papazian's Goat
Scrotum Ale recipe (if anybody's offended, blame him not me), using
cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.  In trying to figure out the
amounts of each, I reviewed both Papazian's other spiced beer recipes
and his section on spices.  I found a confusing discrepancy.  All the
recipes direct the brewer to add the spices at the beginning of the
boil, but the spice section says to add them 15 minutes before the
end.  I added all of mine at the beginning, figuring that for a
Christmas beer, the more time the merrier, but am still wondering
about this point.  Any opinions?

Regina Harrison
MA student
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec

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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 14:11:34 MST
From: npyle at n33.stortek.com
Subject: Dry Hopping BUs???

I was reading the 1990 Zymurgy Hops and Beer Special Issue today and an issue
came up that I haven't seen addressed directly.  From the article, "Matching
Hops with Beer Styles", Quentin B. Smith mentions "Occasionally I will dry hop
using Byron Burch's formula for figuring total bittering units".  Earlier in
the article he mentions Burch's book "Brewing Quality Beers", which I assume is
his source for this formula.

Does anyone have Burch's book?  He is certainly an award winning homebrewer but
I've never heard any authoritative word on IBUs from dry hopping.  We have
discussed the perception here in the HBD, but I don't think we have come to
any conclusions.  What exactly does Byron say about this?

Norm

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Date: Tue, 09 Nov 93 16:28:00 EST
From: andrewb6 at aol.com
Subject: Propane, natural gas, and toxic fumes. (Andrew Baird)

I recently built a burner for brewing.  I built it for (and tested it with)
natural gas.  I've been reading literature on similar *propane* cookers and
they all say for outdoor use only.  I assume this is because toxic levels of
haxardous combustion products are produced, and I'm guessing that carbon
monoxide is the main culprit.  My questions are as follows:

1.  Is CO the ONLY gas/ byproduct I should be worrying about?

2.  Is this a problem with both propane and natural gas?

3.  When they say OUTDOORS ONLY, do I take that literally, or does an open
garage qualify.

I've yet to use this burner for other than testing purposes, and I've been
thinking about buying a CO detector before I brew, but if CO is not the main
culprit, I may be wasting my time.

Incidentally, the burner can heat two kettles at once.  Each unit produces 70
little blue flames that can be controlled so that the flame height ranges
form approx. 1/8" to 1 1/8".  I'm not sure how many BTU's it puts out, but
I'm considering re-jetting it for propane and measuring output (it's too hard
to weigh natural gas).

Any insight to these questions is welcome via HBD or private e-mail.

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Date:         Tue, 9 Nov 1993 16:31:08 CDT
From: "Dennis Lewis" <DLEWIS%jscdo6 at jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject:      Head Retention problems

Has anyone else experience head retention problems when using malt
extract as a primer? The one beer I primed with DME has no head on
it at all! And it's a single decoction wheat beer! It should have
loads of foam. I keep thinking that something in the extract may
have goofed up the foaming. I've noticed some slight, oily-looking
stuff on some of the un-hopped boils that I do for unhopped yeast
starters. At any rate, I'm going to stick to corn sugar or reserved,
sterile wort from the same batch.


Dennis Lewis                    <dlewis%jscdo6 at jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Homebrew, The Final Frontier.

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Date:         Tue, 9 Nov 1993 16:39:30 CDT
From: "Dennis Lewis" <DLEWIS%jscdo6 at jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject:      Inadvertent Lambic

I made a batch of aborted vienna lager and the brew turned out to be
infected from the new fermenter I was using (used keg). In the
process of washing out the goo, some flat, ropy-looking stuff came
washing out. It was the color of trub, sort of an off-beige and very
stringy. I examined a piece of it and it was quite resilient with a
faint acidy smell. Any ideas what that might be? I've heard of a
pellicle forming on lambic beers...this stuff looks like it would
form a covering on the ferment.  By the way, the brew wasn't too bad
and was salvaged by mixing with an over-hopped brew and dryhopping
to freshen the taste.

Dennis Lewis                    <dlewis%jscdo6 at jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Homebrew, The Final Frontier.

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Date:         Tue, 9 Nov 1993 16:44:09 CDT
From: "Dennis Lewis" <DLEWIS%jscdo6 at jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject:      Insulating a keg boiler

Has anyone out there in net-land insulated a 15.5 gal keg boiler?
I'm using a propane cooker and it comes to a boil fairly quick, but
I'd like to insulate it to improve the efficiency. I've heard of
people wrapping the keg in a hot-water-heater insulating jacket (I
think from this forum). Are these the way to go? Will they withstand
boiling temps? Flame retardent? E-mail is great, if it's not of
general HBD interest. Thanks in advance...


Dennis Lewis                    <dlewis%jscdo6 at jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Homebrew, The Final Frontier.

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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 13:48:32 PST
From: julie at bruno.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Julie Kangas)
Subject: Re: Nasty Brews

Rowley at kuhub.cc.ukans.edu asks about nasty brews, including
drinks fermented with milk...

I know of two such drinks:  kefir from the Caucauses and kumis
from Mongolia.  Kefir is a fizzy milk drink that contains a
yeast and a lactobacilli.  It is slightly sour and very refreshing.
The yeast/bacteria colony forms a large clump that is simply
amazing to behold.

Kumis is fermented mare's milk.  I have never tried it.  The
"standard" method of preparation is to put your mare's milk
in a leather bag and hang it outside your yurt. Whenever you or
anyone else enters/leaves the yurt, you give the bag a good
shaking.

The Romans used to ferment fish (cut up fish and let them
rot (er--ferment)).  This is the ancestor of Worchester sauce.

Charlie Papazian reprints an old recipe that uses a dead
rooster as an important ingredient.

The Aztecs and Mayans drank pulque which is fermented maguay.
Don't know about farther north.  South America has a tradition
of corn beer.

Julie

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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 15:04:55 PST
From: rush at xanadu.llnl.gov (Alan Edwards)
Subject: Plugging Your Homegrown

Tom Kaltenbach writes (in HBD #1264):

| ... Now for my question:  has anybody tried making their own plugs with
| homegrown hops?  It seems like you would just need a press of some sort,
| and a mold to form the hops into a convenient shape (i.e. plugs).  Any
| ideas?

The closest I've come is to cram as much as I can into baby food jars.
I can get 1/2 oz crammed into the smallest ones (2oz) and usually put an
even 1 oz into the large 6oz jars.  It's convenient to have a pre-mesaured
amount on hand.

I start out by measuring an amount of hops and putting them into a large
glass mixing bowl.  Then I stick the jar down in the hops and stuff them
in with my hand.

There's not much room for air in there; and the lids are air-tight.
I keep them in the freezer.

 -Alan

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Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1993 19:25:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: WESTEMEIER at delphi.com
Subject: zymurgy recipe correction

I just received the Special edition of _zymurgy_ and noticed a serious
error in my article.  The article (about reviving old British beers)
is fine.  However, the recipes (on pages 40 and 41) seem to have
suffered from the attentions of a gremlin somewhere between the
translation to American (from the original English) and the final
printing.  Terribly sorry it happened, but the editors are aware of it
and promise to print a correction in the next issue.

All of the recipes list ingredients for making "six US gallons" which
is plainly wrong if you examine the quantities.  In fact, the quantities
shown are for making _one_(UK)_gallon_.

CORRECTION:
To make five US gallons, multiply all quantities by 4.2 (that's close
enough).  This should be obvious, but you never know....

By the way, thanks again to Geoff Cooper for making the article possible
and the opportunity to have the delightful evening I wrote about.

Ed Westemeier
Cincinnati, Ohio
westemeier at delphi.com

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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 20:01:19 PST
From: grumpy!cr at uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: A Primer on Czech Beers


                A Primer on Czech Beers

A fresh Czech Pilsner, like Pilsner Urquell or Budweiser, is a stunning
example of the level of refinement achievable in lager beer. Perfectly clean,
crisp, and sparkling, these beers provide a venue to show off the two main
flavor components of beer - malt and hops -  with emphasis definitely on the
hops. There are no traces of yeastiness, and fermentation by-products are kept
to a minimum. The slow, cool fermentations, and even slower and cooler lagering
produces a full flavored smoothness which can not be realized by any other
means.

The pale lagers are always brilliantly clear and have a rich golden color.
At 4 degrees Lovibond, they are a shade deeper in color than their Western
European counterparts. They are typically served in tall, half-liter glasses,
crowned with a white frothy head which extends well above the lip of the glass.
The aroma, like the flavor, is purely that of malt and hops.

The prized hops of the Zatec region (Saaz in German) of Bohemia are renown
the world over for their noble qualities, and Czech brewers use them
liberally. The flavor profile is decidedly toward the hop end of the spectrum.
The extremely soft waters of Plzen lend themselves to copious hopping rates,
allowing a clean bitterness to come through in the finished product. Hop
aroma is achieved exclusively by late kettle additions; dry hopping is not
employed.

The full bodied character of these 12 degree Balling beers derives from pale
Moravian and Bohemian malts. Some of the malt sugars are carmelized during
the triple decoction mash and lengthy boil, which deepens the color slightly
and adds depth to the beers' character. The only fermentation by-product
present in perceptible amounts is diacetyl. The concentration is low enough
that it is not distinguishable as a buttery note, but instead it gives the
beer a fuller palate. Even though the malt charge is quite substantial, its
role is essentially that of providing a foundation for the expression of hops,
the dominant element of Czech beers.

While the beers of the Czech Republic may not be as diverse as those of other
brewing nations, the beers that are produced there are classics. They are the
most imitated beers in the world, but most imitators pale by comparison.
There are no finer Pilsners to be found anywhere.

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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 20:00:55 PST
From: grumpy!cr at uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: Changes at Pilsner Urquell

Greetings Brewers,

I hesitated before sending this, since it's not strictly about brewing, and
since the Digest is so crowded these days. But people have generally
responded favorably to my travel stories in the past, so here goes...

Enjoy,
CR

************************************************************************

                Change is Brewing at Pilsner Urquell

These are tumultuous times in Eastern Europe. Communism is practically dead,
the lines on the map have been redrawn, and some nations have plunged into
bloody civil war. The former nation of Czechoslovakia is now split into two
separate countries : the Czech Republic in the west, and the Slovak Republic
in the east. Along with the change in government is an attendant change in
philosophy; the people are opening up to the ideas of the west. Capitalism is
taking hold, and there is a great deal of investment and rebuilding going on.
Even though these are difficult times, a general sense of optimism toward the
future prevails.

There are big changes at Pilsner Urquell as well, but that's getting ahead of
the story. First, a little history. The story of brewing in Plzen goes back
to at least the 13th century, when the burgers of the town were granted
brewing rights by King Wenceslas. The breweries were typically large
homebreweries, and for several centuries, the beer produced was pretty
wretched. During the 19th century great advances in brewing technology took
place in Munich, Vienna, and Copenhagen, and the citizens of Plzen set out
to imitate the beers of Munich. In 1842, the new brewery was established, and
although the beer produced there was not what was expected, it proved to be
very popular. By 1870 the beers of Plzen were exported to Vienna, Paris,
London and Moscow. The rapid growth continued, and by 1913, the brewery's
output exceeded 1 million hectoliters, making it the largest brewery in Europe.

The 20th century has not been so kind to the brewers at Plzen. The first
world war brought an end to their rapid growth, and the time between the
wars was one of stagnation. The second world war put the Soviets in charge of
Czechoslovakia, and separated Eastern Europe from the west. During most of
this century, the brewery's output has remained a constant 1.3 million
hectoliters. The export sales of Pilsner Urquell generated a good deal of
hard currency, but this was siphoned off by the communists. The brewery was
unable to expand or modernize.

The Velvet Revolution of 1989 brought big changes to the nation and to the
brewery. As capitalism was introduced, new ways of thinking were required.
Suddenly they had to be concerned with capitalist concepts such as profit
and efficiency. However, old habits die hard, and some of the old guard
were unable to adapt. There was a lingering attitude that it was easier to
cover oneself by writing lengthy excuse letters rather than solving a given
problem. Unfortunately, the first true taste of capitalism that some employees
experienced was being layed off!

A more positive aspect of the transition is that the brewery is now able to
modernize and expand production, and they have tremendous plans for very
carefully doing so. There is substantial investment in Plzen, most of it
coming from bank loans that the brewery has taken on. They have installed 104
new stainless fermenters ranging in size from 800 to 3600 hectoliters,
which more than doubles their fermentation capacity. To match this equipment,
a new four story complex is under construction which will house modern
filtration, kegging, and bottling equipment. This will be followed by a new
brewhouse. Production projections call for 1.5 million hectoliters this
year, going up to 2 million next year. Interestingly, all of this increase in
production is aimed at the Czech market, which comprises the bulk of their
sales.

All over the country, the larger breweries are investing and expanding, which
of course means that we'll see a shake out of the smaller Czech and Slovak
operations. Already, Pilsner Urquell has gobbled up the nearby Gambrinus,
Domazlice, Cheb, and Karlovy Vary breweries. Undoubtedly more consolidation
will follow.

This may not be as bad as it sounds. Even though it's always a shame to see
smaller enterprises consumed by the big guys, at least the large Czech
breweries have remained true to their traditions. Consequently, Czech brewing
heritage does not have the large discontinuity that we find in America.
Indeed, the American drinker would be surprised to learn that for the most
part, the largest Czech breweries make the best beer.

Amidst all of this change, the brewers in Plzen are committed to keeping one
thing constant, Pilsner Urquell itself. They fully recognize the value of their
150 year old reputation, and would do nothing to compromise it. To this end,
extensive experiments have been undertaken to determine exactly which parts of
the old process must be retained to preserve the character of their world
renown brew. In side by side comparisons, their expert panel of tasters has
found that there are no detectable differences between beer lagered in wood
versus stainless steel. However, they have found that the primary fermentation
must take place in the traditional open wooden barrels, or the character of the
beer is changed. Thus the shiny new fermentation facility is reserved for some
of their other products, but not for the original. Further investigation led to
an interesting experiment with a surprising result.

A standard batch of Pilsner Urquell was brewed and fermented in the normal
fashion, while across town at the Gambrinus brewery, a standard batch of the
similar Gambrinus was brewed and fermented in its usual fashion. Then both
test batches were transferred across town for lagering in stainless at the
other brewery. Upon maturation and tasting, the panel was able to detect
these beers as different from the normal beers. In effect two new beers were
created, somewhere in between the originals. Thus it was concluded that
the convenience of being able to lager Pilsner Urquell at either facility
must be sacrificed for the sake of the beer's quality.

Every aspect of the modernization effort is being scrutinized very carefully.
The brewers rightly feel they are compelled to modernize, but must proceed
with utmost caution. They are simultaneously faced with the challenges of an
unknown world, and a future that is wide open. Let's hope that the stagnation
of the 20th century is over, and that Pilsner Urquell moves into a new era of
growth and prosperity.

The author wishes to thank Mr. Jaroslav Rous, Technical Director of Pilsner
Urquell, for his warmth and hospitality.  His assistance in writing this
article has been invaluable.

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 09:28:29 EST
From: Mike Peckar 10-Nov-1993 0909 <m_peckar at cscma.enet.dec.com>
Subject: re: BREWING ORGANS


in reference to Jack Schmidlings response to my long post on SS kegs...

1. Air Cock, yes. thanks. I also disn't use the proper plumbing jargon to
   describe what I refered to in my article as a "stand off". Its called
   something else, I forget what. Again, its a one foot copper pipe with
   a molded end which a 1/2" brass compresssion ring fits over and a one
   inch flare to 5/8" I.D on the other side. Most hardware stores only
   carry these in PVC anymore, but better ones will have the copper type.

2. The "lower temps" I had trouble at were under 154 degrees. In later
   batches, when I would raise the temp at the end of the mash (Mashout),
   flow would increase significantly with my version of the screen sparger.
   Any batches where the mash temps did not exceed this, it'd get stuck.

3. Yes, my design was very different than what you describe. I can see how
   the easymasher's copper tube provides support for the screen and a
   better clamping surface. Mine was simpler yet that that, though, being
   just a wrap or two of screen clamped to a 1/2" nipple. it was 3/4" in
   diameter and 9 inches long. Too long and too flimsy. It was easy, though.


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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 09:32:09 -0500 (EST)
From: bickham at msc.cornell.edu
Subject: Ithaca Brewpubs

Bill Gorman writes:

>Date: Tue, 09 Nov 93 11:46:59 EST
>From: gorman at aol.com
>Subject: Brewpubs in/near Ithaca, NY
>
>Any info on brewpubs in or near Ithaca, NY?

Funny that you ask - I was going to post a notice today about the
recent renovations at the Chapter House Brewpub.  Well it hasn't
really been a brewpub for the past few years.  The owners used to
brew the beer at the Vernon Valley, NJ location and bring kegs here
to sell, but for a number of reasons I won't discuss, they stopped
brewing there a few years ago.  They did have the equipment to produce
smaller volumes at their building here, but had decided to brew all of
their beers in New Jersey due to economies of scale.  In the meantime,
their license to brew here had expired and the renewal was held up in
the beauracracy in Albany until recently.

Now for the good news.  The Chapter House brewing equipment was refitted
to brew lagers, and at the same time, the number of taps was increased to
a total of 30.  At the moment, there are 14 commercial beers on tap,
including Sierra Nevada (Pale Ale, Celebration Ale, Stout), Sam Adams
(Lager, Ale, Winter), Fullers ESB, Watney's Cream Stout, and Paulaner
Hefeweizen.  Woodpecker and Woodchuck cider are also available, as well
as several of the Yeungling and Catamount products.  The house brews
are gradually coming on line.  Last night I tasted the porter (which
was being carbonated) and thought it was very nice - it was a little
hoppy for my taste, but it had some body and maltiness.  By the end of
the week, there will be a Maerzen (which I tasted while it was conditioning
and found to be a little light in color and maltiness) and an Amber.
I think the Clements are also planning to brew the Blond Double Bock
which was popular when it was brewed in Vernon Valley.

The Chapter House is located on Stewart Avenue ( the one paved with bricks),
one block North of Buffalo Street (where there is a flashing yellow/red
light) .  It lies in between Cornell and the downtown area, so it shouldn't
be too hard to find.  On the other hand, there is street parking only, so
you might have to park a few blocks away :-(

Have fun!
        Scott


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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 09:45:29 EST
From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
Subject: Old beer recipes in Zymurgy

I was reading the latest Zymurgy last night, and happened upon the old
English beer recipes.  (From the Durbin Park club??)  Anyway, the
quantities in these recipes are surely off (1.060 from <3lbs of grain
in 6 gallons???).  If anyone has the correct numbers for these
recipes, could you please post them in this forum?  Thanks.

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 09:52:38 EST
From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
Subject: sm-ALL Grain/  Sake

You CAN make moderate gravity beers with a small boiler.  Sure, it's
not recommended, and you leave a lot of sugar behind, but it can be
done.  Example: mash 10 lbs of grain in about 3.5 gallons of water,
drain 2.5 gallons of "first runnings" at about 1.090.  Boil down to 2
gallons, then dilute to 5 gallons at 1.045.

Yes, you'll get lousy extraction, yes, you'll get lousy hop
utilization (but this is no different from extract brewing), yes
you'll get some caramelization of the wort sugars.  But it can be
done.

Personally, I wouldn't, though.

=S

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 09:26:21 CST
From: laewell at iastate.edu
Subject: Grolsch Tops and Ithica

To Whom it May Concern,

        Bill Gorman asked about brewepubs in Ithaca.  I went to a
place I beleive was called the Charter House in Ithaca on the
outskirts of the Cornell campus.  I had a few glasses of 'Blond Doppel
Bock' that was OUTSTANDING!

        On a different subject.  I was dismayed to find out that the
tops of Grolsch have recently been changed from ceramic to plastic.  I
find the bottles perfect for homebrewing after an appropriate bleach
soak.  Isn't anything sacred anymore?

        Lars Ewell

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 07:20:03 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul deArmond <paulf at henson.cc.wwu.edu>
Subject: More on labels

Since I am an enthusiastic label maker AND a big fan of appropriate
technology, here are two suggestions for putting curved text on labels:

1) If you have access to a PostScript printer, get the PostScript manuals
that are published by Adobe.  They are known as the Red, Green & Blue
books (clever graphics reference, huh?)  The titles are PostScript
Language Reference Manual (red), PostScript Language Program Design
(green), and PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook (blue).  I've used
straight PS code for doing interesting things that would be impossible
through many application programs.  Also, you might want to look for
CricketDraw, a Mac program.  It was one of the earliest PS code generators
out there.  Used copies (*with* manual) may be cheap or free, since it has
been superseeded by Freehand, CorelDraw, etc.

                   - or -

2) Do what graphic artists have been doing for years, snip out your text
and make a bunch of cuts most of the way through the strip of paper, so
that you can bend it.  This works best if you use a waxer, rather than
glue, paste or rubber cement.

Impressive ASCII figure:

    _______________________________________________
   |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   |_______________________________________________|

      ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^
        snip   snip  snip  snip  snip  snip  snip...

Paul.

ps.  The miscreant in "BATF Outlaws Steam Injection" didn't sign the
release, so we'll have to watch the COPS show with one of those blurry
mosaic fogs over his face...


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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 09:56:29 -0600 (CST)
From: tomt at nano.sps.mot.com (Tom Tomazin)
Subject: wasting water

George Tempel asks:

>Is there another method  that _doesn't_ require gallons
>upon gallons of water running from the tap to cool
>the wort? I'd rather not keep the local water authorities
>in business just to have quickly cooled wort.

I use an immersion chiller and collect the outflow water into a 6 gallon
bucket.  When the bucket is full, I dump it into my washing machine and do
a load of underwear.  No waste!  Incidentally, it takes about ~8 gallons of
Texas tap water to cool 5 gallons to about 90 degrees.  I reaffirm that
giving the wort a gentle stir every minute or so greatly improves the
efficiency of the chiller.






- --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Tomazin                              Parallel Scalable Processor Design
MOTOROLA SPS, Inc.                          (512) 505-8124
505 Barton Springs Rd. Suite 1055           Austin, Texas 78762

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 08:20:59 PST
From: megatek!hollen at uunet.UU.NET (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Re: Greenplug

>>>>> On Fri, 5 Nov 93 13:16:06 EST, Ulick Stafford
>>>>> <ulick at michaelangelo.helios.nd.edu> said:

Ulick> I saw this gadget that may be of interest to homebrewers like
Ulick> me who have many fridges and freezers.  This device uses
Ulick> computer circuitry to work out how much electricity is actually
Ulick> needed to keep a motor running (it cuts up the sine wave in
Ulick> some way - ask an electrical power engineer).  And not only
Ulick> does it save around 25-33% of electricity, the motor runs more
Ulick> smoothly as well

A discussion went on about these in misc.consumers.house a while back.
I had bought one and responded that I did not see a drop in my
electric bill, but my fridge was quieter.  The common consensus seemed
to be that if you have an older fridge (more likely when it is a beer
fridge, than your primary household fridge) you will benefit more from
this device.  Newer, more efficient compressors in fridges now will
not benefit so much.

A couple of months ago, I signed up with my utility company for an
energy monitoring program and last Friday, was loaned a meter.  It has
been hooked up to my fridge for 2 days with the Green Plug and now one
day without.  Definite quantitative results will be forthcoming
tomorrow when the non-Green Plug test period is completed.

Dion Hollenbeck (619)455-5590x2814     Email: hollen at megatek.com
Senior Software Engineer                      megatek!hollen at uunet.uu.net
Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California    ucsd!megatek!hollen

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Date: 10 Nov 1993 10:50:43 -0500
From: "Daniel F McConnell" <Daniel_F_McConnell at mailgw.surg.med.umich.edu>
Subject: multi-strain brew

Subject:  multi-strain brew

Glenn GANDE at slims.attmail.com writes:

>I've been toying with the idea of blending yeast strains to get
>'novel' results.  I have a passion for 1056 and pale ales, but would
>like to introduce another layer of complexity.  My plan is to make a
>starter with both Wyeast 1056 and 1007 (American Ale and German Ale)
> - then brew the house Pale.


I tried this a few years ago in a misguided (read non-controlled)
experiment, back when I was doing more *open* fermentations.
Misguided for two reasons 1) The ENTIRE batch was fermented
with all three strains and 2) I made a pale ale that was WELL hopped.
I used Chico, Whitbread and Whiteshield strains simultaneously pitched.
The beer was good, but since I did not split the batch and taste each
strain individually, obvious differences in taste due to the triple
strain were not apparent. In addition, since I hopped to about 40 IBU,
most of the flavor came from hops, and the subtle yeast nuances were
lost.  OK, maybe I wasn't so smart, but you can learn from my errors.
BTW I repitched this after top cropping and later went back to single strains.

I would recommend that you use either 1056 OR 1007 and another yeast with
MORE character. For instance the combinations 1056/1028, 1007/1028,
1056/1098 or 1007/1098 might be interesting.  BUT be sure to due a pure
culture ferment for each strain as well so you can do a three point taste
comparison. As unpalatable as it might seem, try to keep the hop rate and
dark grain contribution to a minimum.

Consistency in brewing has never been one of my strong suits (way too much
tinkering going on at my house), but if you "brew the house pale" consistently
and reproducibly maybe you can get a handle on the multiple strain effect
without control experiments.

Please post re the results.

DanMcC



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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 11:50:54 EST
From: Steve Zabarnick <steve at snake.appl.wpafb.af.mil>
Subject: Grant's IPA Clone?

I recently tasted a bottle of Grant's IPA and was amazed by its being a
dead-ringer for an extract Pale Ale that I brewed this summer (my last extract
before moving to all-grain). My recipe was based on an attempt at an Anchor
Liberty clone posted by someone to HBD previously. Here is the recipe.

6 lbs. Light M&F DME
1 lb. Crystal Malt (unknow Lovibond)
2 oz. Northern Brewer (7.1 AA) for 60 mins.
1 oz. Cascades (5.7 AA) for 10 mins.
1 oz. Cascades (dry hopped in secondary for two weeks)
Wyeast 1056

OG= 1.054
FG=1.011

I'm curious about which ingredients cause these two brews to taste and look so
similar. Does Grant's use Wyeast 1056? Do they use Northern Brewer for
bittering? Do they dry hop? The only difference I could detect was a slighty
different hop aroma; perhaps they don't dry hop with Cascades. I calculate
almost 60 IBU's for my brew (this was a full wort boil); is this similar to
Grant's IPA?

Steve Zabarnick

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 11:59:00 EST
From: "/R=FDACB/R=A1/U=RIDGELY/O=HFM-400/TN=FTS 402-1521/FFN=Bill
 Ridgely/" at mr.cber.fda.gov
Subject: RE: Nasty Brews (Part 1)

          In HBD #1267, Matt Rowley writes:

               >I'm taking a course now on the genetics of human behavior,
               >and we got around to alcoholism last Thursday. It's a four
               >hour seminar, so we sometimes drift around the topic of the
               >week. One of us mentioned the in-escapability of drinking
               >alcohol in the field (anthropologists we are), even when what
               >the locals drink may be foul beyond words.

          Ah, now you're speaking my language :-) Actually, not all of those
          beverages are "foul beyond words", although many are unusual by
          western standards.

               >I ventured that I'd drink most anything "homebrewed." Tales
               >from the field then included fermented milk and cream from
               >no-longer Soviet Georgia.

          Fermented milk is not so unusual. I'm sure you've eaten cheese and
          yogurt, the most common examples (although these are bacterial
          fermentations for the most part and contain little or no alcohol).

          The specific beverage you're referring to is "kefir", a fermented
          milk which originated in the Caucasian mountains. Milk from sheep,
          goats, and cows is used in its preparation. Fermentation is
          accomplished by lactic acid bacteria and yeast, and the resulting
          beverage contains about 1% alcohol. A similar drink called
          "koumiss" is brewed from mares' milk by Mongol tribes of the
          Asiatic steppes.

               >What about fish? I've heard tell that various Eskimo people
               >bury fish for months, then return to eat it.

          I'm not sure about the Eskimos (who, along with the Australian
          aborigines, are thought to be the only known cultures without a
          history of alcoholic beverages), but the people of Southeast Asia
          have been fermenting fish and shrimp for centuries to create salty
          sauces and pastes. The fermentations are bacterial in nature and
          are controlled by the use of large quantities of salt.

               >Native Americans are said not have had any alcohol ( I find
               >this hard to believe since natural fermentation is so common:

          Fermented beverages were not widely used by native Americans, but
          examples did exist. The Apaches brewed a rather nasty concoction
          called "tiswin" from germinated corn, wheat, and jimson weedd
          (sometimes referred to as "Loco Weed", a poisonous plant of the
          nightshade family). Tiswin's rather potent effects resulted in its
          being outlawed by the federal government in the 1880's.

          Native Americans in the southwest also brewed versions of "pulque"
          and "mezcal" from the stems and core (respectively) of the Agave
          or Century Plant, as well as "tesguino" from germinated corn and
          corn stalk juice. [To Be Continued]



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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 17:56:45 GMT
From: "R.A.Lewis" <R.A.Lewis at chemistry.hull.ac.uk>
Subject: signoff homebrew


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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 14:19:46 EST
From: sdlsb.dnet!73410%sdlcc at swlvx2.msd.ray.com (Carl Howes)
Subject: Priming / concise $.02

I plan to bottle my first lager over Thanksgiving weekend.  Particulars since
my post in #1240: Primary at 45F for 3 weeks, secondary at 45F since.  Am I
likely to need more yeast (after Wyeast #2007) for conditioning and, if yes,
what type(s) are least likely to affect the character of the beer?

Also on priming, has anyone else heard of or have more info on the "Crabtree
effect" described by Troy Howard in #1264?  Sounds like a good reason to
abandon use of corn sugar for priming on the face of it.

Private email please, given enough responses I will summarize to save
bandwidth.

$.02 - Humor: laugh or ignore it, "all business" is not a realistic
expectation.  Offensiveness: eschew self righteousness.  js: sarcasm fails in
print for those of us (most?) who don't know you offline.

Carl    Simple address: 73410 at sdlcc.msd.ray.com


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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 14:47:29 "EST
From: Gary S. Kuyat <gsk at sagan.bellcore.com>
Subject: Counter Pressure Fillers and Foam
Full-Name: Gary S. Kuyat

After drinking litres of flat beer (you didn't expect me to THROW AWAY that
foam?!?) and having beer colored walls, I have come to the conclusion that
LESS is MORE when it comes to counter pressure bottling.  I find that
pressurizing over 25 lbs. at 40 degrees is too much carbonation, and too much
foam.  I had a tough time getting it through my head, that 20 lbs. at 40 is
fine.  I bottle at 10 lbs. or so after letting the beer "stablize" at 5-6 lbs.
for an hour.  If you can't tap a pint with a reasonable head, you won't be
able to fill bottles without tons 'o foam.  If I remember my Braukunst, their
catalogue had a nice table refering to pressure, temperature and volume of CO2
dissolved.  My tendency was, "The keg is rated to 160!  Heh! Heh!  Pump up the
volumes!"  But this is totally wrong.  If only I had a counter pressure filling
room!

- --
 -Gary Kuyat
  gsk at sagan.bellcore.com
  (908)699-8422

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 11:23:42 -0500
From: esonn1 at cc.swarthmore.edu
Subject: Responses to college brewers

Hello brewers,
I have been inundated with messages in response to my post "College
Brewers" (but would welcome more responses).  Many have warned about either
drawing attention to the possibility of exposing underage brewers and thus
spoiling it for them.  Believe me, I do not plan to write an article about
underage brewers, especially since a majority of the responses I received
were from graduate students.  I could easily write a story which only
included student brewers who are 21+.  It seems that the best thing I could
do is write an article and post it to the HBD, thus we can all benefit
without causing undue alarm outside of the homebrewing community.  I have
already received several funny stories about college brewing experiences.
If the digest's collective wisdom (?!) believes that any article would be
harmful to homebrewing's image etc, I may just keep all these stories to
myself. Sorry for the bandwidth, but since questions were posted to the
digest instead of being mailed to me directly, I thought it was
appropriate.

Eugene   esonn1 at cc.swarthmore.edu


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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 15:04:51 EST
From: Mark Bunster <mbunster at hibbs.vcu.edu>
Subject: b&t

Two notes on black and tan--

The one that I always see around town is Yeungling Black and Tan. Yeungling
is out of Pottsville PA, and claims to be the oldest brewery in America
(continually brewing I suppose). Anyway, it's a mix of their porter (not bad
but nothing special, although $3.99 a six for it is reasonable) and their
lager (pretty smooth, and again decent for the money). They also make a light
(better than Swiller Lite, but what isn't). around here it must be pretty
popular, for you can get it on draft in at least 5 places i can think of
offhand.

This will likely completely destroy any chances I have of gaining a good rep
as a beer drinker, but I've found that a surprisingly drinkable B&T you can
make yourself uses Guinness and.....


Pabst Blue Ribbon. Call it a Black and Blue if you like.

No, honestly!

- --
Mark Bunster                      |Exchange conversation if you dare--
Survey Research Lab--VCU          |Share an empty thought or a laugh.
Richmond, VA 23220                |
mbunster at hibbs.vcu.edu            |
(804) 367-8813/353-1731           |                          -edFROM

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Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 12:10:57 EST
From: snystrom at aol.com
Subject: Hunter Airstat modifications

A few editions ago, Mark Garetz reported that Hunter will be discontinuting
their airstat thermistor/sensor.
Like many, I raced out and purchased one. NOW I'm looking for someone who
would be kind enough to repost the instructions that will allow xthe Airstate
chill below 40 degrees. They appeared in a b
ack issue of the digest.
According to Mark, it may have been a 10K ohm resistor in series with thex
thermistor/sensor, but he didn't save the posting.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Scott Nystrom
snystrom at aol.com

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1269, 11/11/93