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


Contents:
  Currency symbols (gbgg5tt5)
  hot wort siphoning- (thanks George Tempel)
  Re: THE BEER MACHINE (Geoffrey Burd)
  Mash Temp, Batch Size (Jack Schmidling)
  quality under twist-top (Chip Hitchcock)
  Kriek/Sour Mash (LPD1002%NYSHESCV.bitnet)
  Re: Suggestion for Dion's inexpensive label software (Dion Hollenbeck)
  Re: Greenplug (Steve D. Gabrio)
  brewing small batches (Gary Meier)
  Beer Labels (Dion Hollenbeck)
  flame (Ulick Stafford)
  New Pub Info/Censor this baby! (COYOTE)
  Beer labels (and soon other stuff) in the "Web" (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Geary's Hampshire Special Ale (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  No Pot Scrubber (Jeff Frane)
  Wort aeration, again...  (Andrew D. Kailhofer)
  books (Carl Howes)
  Making Mead (Davin Slade)
  Albuquerque.  (J. Michael Diehl)


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

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 04:45:49 EST
From: gbgg5tt5 at ibmmail.COM
Subject: Currency symbols                                                 

- ----------------------- Mail item text follows ---------------

To: I1010141--IBMMAIL  Homebrew Digest su

From: Paul Slater
Subject: Currency symbols
>Title:        Home Brewing, The CAMRA guide
>Author:       Graham Wheeler
>Publisher:    ALMA books, a subsidiary of CAMRA UK (CAMpaign for Real Ale)
>ISBN:         1-85249-107-8
>Pages:        180
>Price:        64.99 (pounds sterling) (1991 price)
>              *****
>
>Oh no it's not| I got one and I certainly wouldn't have paid that for it|
>Question: Is it the 4 or the 6 that is the mistype?

Should have been 4.99 pounds.
Sorry for any character confusion, my system is ebcidically disadvantaged.
Paul Slater
gbgg5tt5 at ibmmail.com


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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 09:34:08 +0000 (U)
From: George Tempel <tempel at MONMOUTH-ETDL1.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: hot wort siphoning- thanks

                      hot wort siphoning: thanks
Thanks for those who helped out with my siphon and chilling
questions.

I didn't really mean how to siphon boiling wort (ouch), but just how to
siphon from the pot into the primary....i ended up just pouring it into the
bucket. I'll rack into a secondary in a little bit.

brew count down begins!

Thanks all!
george



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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 08:55:56 EST
From: aa680 at freenet.carleton.ca (Geoffrey Burd)
Subject: Re: THE BEER MACHINE

    
taylor at e5sf.hweng.syr.ge.com (taylor) asks:
    "Has anyone tried or heard off  "THE BEER MACHINE"??"
    
They were sold in many stores around here last Christmas (I don't know
how well they sold--the local hardware store still has a couple gathering
dust: I'm waiting for them to be sold off half price!).  I inspected one
and it looked pretty sturdy: it looks like a small barrel on its side 
made of brown rigid plastic. It consists of a top and bottom half which 
clamp together, and so would be easy to clean.  There is a tap on the front
that looks like the tap on a coffee urn, and a lid on top for adding
ingredients.  During fermentation you attach a pressure regulator which 
maintains enough pressure to allow natural carbonation.  For dispensing you
replace it with a CO2 cartridge.

I agree with you that I wouldn't use it as intended since the beer would end
up sitting on the trub, but it would make a great little dispensing keg
provided that it could retain pressure and not leak.

I did try the malt extract that they sell to use with it: it comes in 3
styles in about a 4 pound can.  You're supposed to pour it into the machine, 
top up to 10 liters (2.5 USG) with water and pitch the yeast. I tried the
same procedure in my carboy using the dark ale extract.  
It was dreadful: the extract was thin and watery and smelled like prune juice. 
 Guess what! The resulting beer was thin and watery and tasted like prune 
juice.  It's the only batch I've made that even I wouldn't drink! 

I still, though, would give the keg a try if I could get it at a good price.
    
    

- --
Geoffrey Burd
aa680 at freenet.carleton.ca

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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 08:03 CST
From: arf at mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: Mash Temp, Batch Size

 
 
 >From: Mike Peckar  10-Nov-1993 0909 <m_peckar at cscma.enet.dec.com>
 
 >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....
 
 Shoulder is the word.  On outdoor hose connections, they are round and 
 prevent the spigot from being pushed through the wall from outside.  
 Unfortunately, they only come in sizes too large for homebrew applications.  
 The shoulder on the air cock is hex shaped so a wrench can be applied to 
 tighten it.  It presses tightly against the outside of the kettle to provide 
 a leak proof fit.
 
 >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.
 
 Good argument for mashout.  For those who can not or do not want to mashout, 
 there is another approach to the problem.  I typically get thrashed for 
 suggesting the use of boiling water for sparging because the books recommend 
 a temperature of 170F.  However, sparging with very hot water on a cool mash 
 will only serve to maintain the mash at a manageable level and at most, raise 
 it a few degrees which will cause no harm at all.
 
 >From: WESTEMEIER at delphi.com
 >Subject: zymurgy recipe correction
 
 >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_.
 
 After reading it several times, I was going to write to you and see if you 
 would do a testimonial to the fact that those fantastic extract rates were 
 the result of using a MM.  It would have made a great ad.
 
 >From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
 
 >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..... lousy hop utilization, lousy extraction.....
 
 Not sure why any of the above need be but what seems to have been left out of 
 the discussion is the presumption that one is making 5 gallon batches.
 
 As far as extraction is concerned, I get the same yield in one gallon test 
 batches as I do in ten gallon  batches.  There is no reason why batches 
 smaller that 5 gallons can not be made successfully.  You will find a number 
 of them in the "Winners Circle" from the last International.
 
 >From: snystrom at aol.com
 >Subject: Hunter Airstat modifications  NOW I'm looking for someone who would 
 be kind enough to repost the instructions that will allow xthe Airstate chill 
 below 40 degrees. ...it may have been a 10K ohm resistor in series with thex
 thermistor/sensor, but he didn't save the posting.
 
 I saved only the hard copy and I am not about to retype it but he used a 180K 
 in series with the sensor.  This got him (Mike Kenny) down to 35F.  I used a 
 130K but I was only trying to get the readout to agree with the actual liquid 
 temp instead of the air temp.
 
 js
 

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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 10:05:36 EST
From: cjh at diaspar.HQ.ileaf.com (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: quality under twist-top

pgillman at pomona.edu asks whether twist tops affect the quality of the
commercial beer underneath.

<enter prejudice mode>

The standard rap on this is "twist tops take special cappers"---i.e.,
homebrewers can't get a tight seal but commercial brewers can. The
difference in beer quality is probably a matter not of connection but of
parallelism: only swill is drunk in such haste that a twist-off top is a
significant selling point.

I have no data, but I suspect that swill actually averages less time
between brewing and drinking than good stuff, due to the amount of swill
sold (higher turnover). There's also the fact that swill is often brewed
closer to the retail seller than good beer is; e.g., if I drank Bud or
Michelob it would have been brewed in Nashua (~50 minutes drive ~north of
Boston); my mother in DC would get it from near Williamsburg VA; my late
grandfather in Jacksonville FL would get it from Tampa FL; in all cases
the beer would have left the brewery the same day it hit the stores. If we
wanted Anchor or Fuller's it would come from CA (taking a few days,
probably in an unrefrigerated truck) or UK (taking several weeks on
ship---except that you can now get draft Fuller's in at least one pub in
Orlando). Both of these factors would reduce any ill effects from
twist-tops---the beer would have less time to oxidize. (It would also have
less time exposed to fluorescent lights, which is a problem in many beer
stores.)

<exit prejudice mode>

The above assumes that beers are shipped when they're ready to drink
and/or that there's no improvement in the bottle (as there often is for
homebrew, due to (among other factors) bottling on-the-yeast and
when-it-stops-bubbling.

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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 08:26:17 -0700
From: LPD1002%NYSHESCV.bitnet at UACSC2.ALBANY.EDU
Subject:  Kriek/Sour Mash

First, I would like to thank those who responded to my
question of whether or not the p-Lambic recipe in TNCJOHB was
worth the effort.  Unfortunately the responses I got were not
first hand.  1 said they knew someone who brewed it and thought
it was great.  Another said that they had heard just the
opposite.  Another repsonse I got included a catalog for Sheaf
& Vine which had 3 Belgian yeasts for $18.  This would make this
a rather expensive experiment.  I think that unless I hear from
someone who has tried this first hand or has had a good homemade
p-Lambic, I will hold off on this endeavor.
Again, if anyone has tried one of these, please let me know.

    Steve Septer
    LPD1002 at NYSHESCV.BITNET at UACS2.ALBANY.EDU


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Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 07:29:52 PST
From: megatek!hollen at uunet.UU.NET (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Re: Suggestion for Dion's inexpensive label software

Thanks for the follow up on this.  So far, I have been using xfig for
X Windows and placing every character by hand along a curve.  This got
me my initial run of labels, but leaves me needing my computer at work
and having no capabilities at home.  I will look into Harvard
Graphics.

dion

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: Fri, 12 Nov 93 05:31:34 PST
From: gabrio at tc.fluke.COM (Steve D. Gabrio)
Subject: Re: Greenplug


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

>From the November issue of Consumer Reports about the GreenPlug and the
Energy Buster:

The controllers didn't even come close to a saving of 25 percent a year.
The Green Plug turned in the greater saving of the two - 8.6 percent on
the antique, 3.5 percent on one of the middle-aged refrigerators.  At the
national average electricity rate, those savings amount to about $20 and
$4 a year, respectively. Savings with the Energy Buster amounted to 4.7
percent (about $11 a year) at best.  Both controllers actually increased
running cost by a few dollars on the brand-new refrigerator and on one
middle-aged model.

- -------------------------------------------------
They who drink beer will think beer.
                  Washington Irving (1783-1859)
                  American author
- -------------------------------------------------


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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 12:05:41 -0600
From: gmeier at ncsa.uiuc.edu (Gary Meier)
Subject: brewing small batches

Todd Carlson asked about brewing batches smaller than 5 gallons in order to
save time and permit more experimentation.  I can't address the first
question, since I have only brewed in 5 gallon batches, but I get my fill
of experimentation by trying things after the primary fermentation is
finished.  When I select a recipe I start thinking about modifications that
might work well with that style, and I generally divert a gallon or so
(after brewing) for the experiment.  Must be all that chemistry training
during my misspent youth.  I've had good luck with bottling part of a batch
into bottles each containing a sanitized jalepeno pepper while bottling the
rest normally--two styles of beer with virtually no additional work.  More
typically I'll siphon a gallon or two from the primary into gallon glass
jugs while putting the rest into my usual secondary fermenter.  Most of the
batch finishes normally, while in each of the one gallon secondary
fermenters I'll add fruit (made a killer rasberry ale recently), spices (my
Christmas Ale is coming along nicely) or experiment with things like dry
hopping, all depending on the style of my starting brew.  Transfers,
bottling, etc are done at the same time for everything, so almost no
additional work is required, but I end up with several distinct styles of
beer when it is all over.  Only investment was a couple of extra airlocks
and the time spent drinking the apple juice that came in my gallon jugs.

Gary Meier, Meier's Femtobrewery and Woodshop
(The Boston (tm) Beer (tm) Co. spills more beer in a day than I make in a year).



Gary Meier
FMC Corporation, Agricultural Chemical Group
Box 8
Princeton, NJ 08543                             (609) 951-3448



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Date: Thu, 11 Nov 93 14:25:55 PST
From: hp-sdd.sdd.hp.com!ucsd!megatek!hollen (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Beer Labels 

>>>>> On Thu, 11 Nov 93 15:25:21 EST, uunet!icad.COM!dougy ( Doug Lethin) said:


Doug> For beer labels, I also suggest a program called
Doug> KeyDrawPLUS for windows. I paid $28.00 for it.

I have tried software sellers without luck.  Would you be able to
supply a source for this program, or any more information like author,
so that I can find it?

thanks,
dion

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: Fri, 12 Nov 93 12:36:58 EST
From: Ulick Stafford <ulick at stravinsky.helios.nd.edu>
Subject: flame

Sorry that the content of this is pure flame, and takes up valuable bandwidth,
but that is partly the reason I am posting it.  I started to notice last 
week when hbd was backed up that some people are seriously adicted to
posting, and while much of the information posted is useful some is not.
One poster in particular who I have decided to question is Al Korzanos (sorry
if this is wrong, but it would be nice and professional if posters identified
themselves properly). 
Anyway, some of the information this expert posted in 1270 really got my
goat.  He stated that there were fewer errors (well actually, his disagreements)
in Papazian's book.  While this may be true, I don't know that Miller has
disseminated the massive clangers Papazian has.  I don't know how often
the meaning of kraeusening has to corrected - and gypsum in every
water supply, and the now famous pouring of hot wort into cold water in
a carboy.  Papazian's book is a good starter for the nervous, but for anyone
who has brewed before and wants to get a good handle on water treatment and
all-grain, Miller is a better choice.  Noonan is not for beginners, and while
riddled with errors, the people to whom it's aimed can usually work it out.

In his second posting, Mr. Korzanos, advocated the handling of hops with 
sanitized surgical gloves, based on the notion that there are more
bacteria on hands than in the mouth - hardly a scientific determination,
and considering the antibacterial properties of hops, I doubt if many bacteria
would survive - and what would they eat?  I imagine stored hops are too acid
for bacteria.  I wonder why someone like me who dry hops by stuffing hops
with by bare hands through carboy openings has never had an infected batch
attributable to dry-hopping?

He then admits he is primarily an ale brewer and does not have much recent 
lager experience, but nevertheless responds to someone enquiring about
pitching fresh yeast when bottling a lager (a correct procedure),
DON'T CHANGE YEASTS AT BOTTLING TIME!!!
because his home perm solution carbonated OK.  I can say categorically that 
I have made several strong beers, (Ales, actuallY) that have not
carbonated satisfactorily because I failed to add fresh yeast.
The reason Mr Korzanos gives is 'glass grenades', especially for lagers -
those beers with which he is so intimately familiar, without any examples
at all - just his vague suspicion.

Also, I considered the crabtree effect a good reason to abandon corn
sugar, but of course there are other good reasons to stick with it.
One must balance everything.  Some people are quite happy carbonating with
sterile wort or kraeusen, and for lager there is no topping the latter
method (IMHO).  Even Anheuser-Busch do it!!

Of then he really gets on his hobby horse - "unprofessional language" in
HBD.  This self-proclaimed expert and HBD police man was the single complainant
that led me to bleepify my sig.  Somehow it is unprofessional to use a 
little colourful language, but giving bad information as a self-proclaimed
expert is not?  Yes, it is terrible that the "world class brewing knowledge"
is mixed up with some colour.  Mr. Korzanos, hbd is not a professionally
written magazine.  If it were most of your postings wouldn't get past
a junior editor.  It is a computer bulletin board, that occasionally has
great info, mixed up with anecdotal advice such as yours and other 
subjects not directly homebrew related, and is meant to be more current,
and lively.  I wish you lived by your rule of thumb 
 'My rule of thumb is,
 "does this sound appropriate for a magazine article or a book?"'
and didn't make postings with statements like your
DON'T CHANGE YEASTS AT BOTTLING TIME!!! in bold caps, before you criticise  
the unprofesssional postings of others.
__________________________________________________________________________
 'Heineken!?! ... F#$% that s at &* ...  | Ulick Stafford, Dept of Chem. Eng.  
    Pabst Blue Ribbon!'               | Notre Dame IN 46556
                                      |    ulick at darwin.cc.nd.edu   


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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 10:50:10 -0600 (MDT)
From: COYOTE <SLK6P at cc.usu.edu>
Subject: New Pub Info/Censor this baby!

Dave Benrardi
wants to start a Brewpub in Penncilvaniae
 ....         in Vowinkle, PA.
                ^^^^^^^^^
      You sure this is a place and not a cartoon character?

But really.  Contact the AHA 303-447-0816 in Boulder CO.  They have some
info you can buy$ regarding the "how to's" of starting a brewery.  I haven't
seen any of 'em me-self.

Look for magazines for the Brewery Industry,  
    
    e.g.  American Brewer, the business of beer.  (510) 538-9500 mornings.
    $5 for a sample issue, $18/yr (in '92). (no connections and all that crap)

They have lost of ads on equipment and supplies for breweries. A bit out
of scale for the average homebrewer.  But I seem to be quoting my one issue
of it a hell of a lot. ;-&     Zymurgy (AHA) commonly has ads for larger
scale brewing gadgets.  Also articles on why you should or shouldn't
start a brewery.  It's quite an ordeal from what I understand.  I'd love 
to start a real one here in Loga UT, but I'd hate to be stuck making 3.2
beer  :(

So... you looking for brewpartners??  :)'
I originated in Penn State alooooong time ago.

*******
Al Korz...  sez:
>  How much respect might we have for Malting and Brewing Science if Hough
et. al. had stuck the occasional four-letter-word? My rule of thumb is,
"does this sound appropriate for a magazine article or a book?" 

Or a radio station?  A local country station just canned a dj for saying
the big three letter word......yes that's right...while doing a live on 
site broadcast from a local fast food restaraunt Lewis Collins exclaimed,

                "God, even I could afford that!"

Can you tell which three letter word the "good" employers objected to?
Yes that's right.  The owner of the station couldn't even tell the
reporter exactly WHAT word the dj had said. 
 
    That's the kind of thing local customs and restrictions can put on
actions and language!  The poor dj was new here, from CA, and didn't know
that use of THAT word was offensive to some. It's not like they gave him
a list of words that were ok, and which weren't. Amazing the think the name
of the Lord has become a swear word in this state.  Hmmmmm......

I wouldn't want that to happen on the holy ground of the HBD.  I do agree
some personal cencorship is valid.  We should curb "ourselves", but is the
hbd to set out a mandade of what is suitable/not?  Make a new faq. 8-`
How about we say- anything that would be acceptable on daytime tv...
nightime...? .....cable....?  Different people will be offended by dif. 
words/phrases/inuendoes (sp?).  How far into our cheeks can we stick our
tongues!  (oops - that sounds nasty...)  I mean we are a bunch of beer
swilling, pretzel snarfing, quaffing bagaboos.  I'm sure more than one of
you has posted to the hbd after tying on a bit of a buzz...hic*...
and well...I've generally noticed people to be sillier when they type
than they might be inclined to be when talking. 

    So....what's the point of all this blabber...as always...
Lets save bw to a reasonable respect for brew talk, and lets keep it fun...
but reasonable.  Each to their own definition/  w/in general agreement.
So now that I've wasted all this bw blabbering about bw....BREW ON!

*****

Hey- anyone have an address/phone for a supplier carrying the new
Wyeasts.  The Tube yeasts-  no nutrient, just cells. Require starters.

I haven't seen a post on them here yet, but they were listed on the bf.
I'd be intersted in trying that Scottish Ale yeast.

******
NEW QUOTE:
            "You've fallen through the cracks of our quick fix,
             one hour photo, instant oatmeal society.   Lisa S.

*** Uuuurp. Coffee Burp.  Excuse me. *** J (Coyote) W SLK6P at cc.usu.edu ***

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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 14:16:48 EST
From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
Subject: Beer labels (and soon other stuff) in the "Web"

If you've got Internet access, and are running on a Mac, PC, or Unix
box, you should check out Mosaic, from NCSA.  It gives access to
on-line information via the "World Wide Web", which subsumes gopher,
anonymous FTP, and lots of other stuff. I am putting together a
beer-oriented Web site, and have started with a nice point-and-click
interface to the beer label & coaster images at Sierra.  Open
URL http://guraldi.itn.med.umich.edu/Beer.


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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 14:22:59 EST
From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
Subject: Geary's Hampshire Special Ale

Has anyone figured this one out?  Clearly very malty, high OG and FG
(from dark crystal?), LOTS of bittering and finishing hops, doesn't
smell dry-hopped.  I don't recognize the aroma hop (but then, I'm
still working on my hop recognition).  Fantastic stuff, IMHO.

=S

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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 12:09:41 -0800 (PST)
From: gummitch at teleport.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: No Pot Scrubber

I have to post this to relieve Jack's mind.  I know he worries about me,
standing around my kettle with a copper pot scrubber on my siphon hose.
No, no, no, Jack!  I've told you before: I have an uptake copper tubing
that run entirely around the inner perimeter of the kettle, and sits
right on the bottom.  Lots of teeny-tiny holes are drilled in the
underside of this coil.  The mountain of matter is *inside* the coil.
The siphon draws up every last drip of wort (another reason I prefer
pelletized hops, as this process is much easier than with loose hops).

It works very well.  So don't worry, Jack!  I'm fine.  Really.

- --Jeff


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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 9:13:01 CST
From: "Andrew D. Kailhofer" <a907932 at nast0.bdy.wi.ameritech.com>
Subject: Wort aeration, again...

I'm going to start by appologizing to the r.c.b'ers who've seen this
already, but I didn't get much of a bite with this when I posted it
over there (though thanks to the three of you who did respond).
Anyway...

Based on some allegedly good advice, I got an aerator (Whisper 200 air
pump into an good air filter into the wort via an SS tube into a
plastic boilable fish-tank air stone).  I started a brown ale (extract
+ Belgian B, OG ~= 1.048) by pumping about 8 minutes of air through it
in my bucket (Mr.  Carboy is busy with cider---wow! great!) and
pitching with 1 pkg fresh Edme dry yeast rehydrated as usual.

In about 2.5 hours I could detect fermentation (although not very
strong).  That's a little quick, but not too weird.  However, in less
than 12 hours I awakened to find foam oozing from the airlock that
I've been using on my bucket (hey, with 1.7 gal headspace, I figured I
was going to be ok---it's worked for all of the other batches starting
in the bucket).  I rigged up a blow-off tube, and proceeded to observe
the most abbrupt, violent fermentation I've ever seen.  30 hours after
pitching it's pretty much stopped fermenting and ready to rack.

This leads me to believe that aeration is extremely good for the
yeast, but is it good for the beer?  From reading the "Beer & Yeast"
zymurgy (Just got it.  Read the article to the dulcet sounds of my
gurgling blow-off jar.), especially the Guinard, Miranda, and Lewis
article, I see that fermentation in the presense of good O2
concentration may lead to incresed biomass and decreased
flavor/alcohol production.  Does this mean that I just shot myself in
the bucket?  Could someone with a little more experience shed a little
light on this?

< And then a few days later >

Well, after 48 hours my 1.048 OG beer is at 1.012, and I've racked it
off to glass.  It's pretty tasty, too.  If I had to define the taste
(mentally subtracting the yeasty flavors of unclarified beer in the
primary), I would say that it was very straighforward and beery, with
no traces of fuesils---an all-around good flavor.  It's still flat and
yeasty, but it seems quite good.  We'll let it sit for a week in the
secondary and bottle.  So, in about two weeks I'll be able to report
(at least preliminarily) on this power-aeration thing.

I'm going to go back to my original worry, though.  My SG is now such
that it seems "done" according to (my) conventional wisdom.  When one
uses a hydrometer to measure alcohol levels, one is actually measuring
the SG and subtracting potential alcohol levels, right?  To get the
right measurement, aren't we assuming that the yeast does the standard
90%/10% alcohol production/reproductive respiration levels?  Does this
hold true for highly oxygenated wort?  How far to the right does it
shift?  Does it matter (am I misunderstanding some of the
literature?)?  Since it seems to work, I'm more curious than worried,
but...  I really enjoy a little worry---It's part of Science!

< and finally >

It's now Thursday night, and the S.G. is still 1.012, and the yeast
has settled out very nicely.  While it seems a little soon, I expect
to bottle tonight (Friday) so that the beer will be ready during
Wisconsin's gun deer season (my Bambi Blaster Brown :-).  I'm pretty
flabbergasted at how fast it went, and it tastes good, too.

So, other than asking me to be a little less long winded, and to
refrain from making any comments that might offend anybody who was just
too uptight for words, does anyone have any advice?

Andy

- -----
  Andy Kailhofer              Ameritech Services, Inc.   414/678-7793
  a907932 at nast0.bdy.wi.ameritech.com                FAX: 414/678-6335
  740 N Broadway, Room 430,  Milwaukee, WI  53202  Member: League for
  uwm.edu!gus!a907932  p*stmaster at ameritech.com   Programming Freedom


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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 13:26:48 EST
From: sdlsb.dnet!73410%sdlcc at swlvx2.msd.ray.com (Carl Howes)
Subject: books

Al writes:

> I recently re-read Papazian's "The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing,"
Miller's "The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing" and Noonan's "Brewing Lager
Beer."  While reading, I was scribbling my disagreements with the books in
the margins and dog-earing the corners of these suspect pages.

 ...and later...

>My advice is to buy all three, but read them in the order I listed above.
After reading all three and brewing a dozen batches, you will probably
scribble the same notes in the margins that I did.

My caveat is that trying to critique Miller is not going to be possible
unless a substantial number of those batches are all-grain.  Working from
memory, where Papazian and Miller overlap they tend to contradict each
other.

***************
Brian writes:

>Second, recent batches of mine have taken several hours to cool (1.5
gallons of hot wort added to 3.5 gallons of cold water) to pitching
temperatures, which has made me nervous about possible infection.

I had the same problem when I used that process.  Since learning about
Hot Side Aeration (HSA), I now cool the concentrated wort to pitching temp
before mixing.  Takes 35-45 min by immersing the kettle in cold (45F) tap
water in my kitchen sink with two water changes.  The hot/cold mixing is
a piece of bad advice in Papazian's book which I'm sure Al has marked...

> Are there any disadvantages to reducing the volume of boiled wort?

Decreased hop utilization, increased carmelization.  The first can be
compensated for with more hops, the second is inevitable until you can
switch to a full volume boil.  As I recall, Miller's book has a table
for computing the effect of increased S.G. on utilization.

Carl


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Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1993 09:48:31 GMT+1100
From: Davin Slade <10692851 at eng2.eng.monash.edu.au>
Subject: Making Mead

Can anyone tell me what a good extract to use for making mead.  Is it 
better with a heavier or lighter beer.

Also how much honey should i use for 25 litres of mead.
- ------------------------------------------------------------
Davin Slade, 4th Year Civil Engineering, Monash Uni, Oz
10692851 at eng2.eng.monash.edu.au or
baldrick at yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
- ------------------------------------------------------------
"It was georgiousness and georgosity in the flesh"
Alexander de Large, A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess, 1966, Stanley Kubrik, 1971
- ------------------------------------------------------------

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Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 22:02:43 -0700 (MST)
From: J. Michael Diehl <mdiehl at triton.unm.edu>
Subject: Albuquerque.

     About 2 weeks ago, I posted an article here asking how to make
a Black and Tan.  I got lots of good responses.  But I got one in
particular, from a guy who used to live here in Albuquerque.  If
you are that person, I have lost your address, would you please get
in touch with me.  Thanx in advance.
 
 
 
J. Michael Diehl   ;^)  |*The 2nd Amendment is there in case the 
mdiehl at triton.unm.edu   | Government forgets about the 1st!  <RL>
Mike.Diehl at f29.n301.z1  |*God is a good Physicist, and an even 
    .fidonet.org        | better Mathematician.  <Me>
al945 at cwns9.ins.cwru.edu|*I'm just looking for the opportunity to 
 (505) 299-2282 (voice) | be Politicly Incorrect! <Me>
Can we impeach him yet? |*Protected by 18 USC 2511 and 18 USC 2703. 
PGP Key = 7C06F1 = A6 27 E1 1D 5F B2 F2 F1  12 E7 53 2D 85 A2 10 5D


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1271, 11/13/93