HOMEBREW Digest #1330 Fri 21 January 1994
Digest #1329
Digest #1331
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
HWBTA Style Guideline, 1 of 3 (Rick Garvin (703-761-6630))
Calculating OG, Plastic, Unix code ("Palmer.John")
Bluebonnet Brew-off Update (Darrell Simon)
Rank newbie question (Daniel Neil Roberts)
Beer-Of-The-Month Clubs (thomas ciccateri)
Surplus Equipment (Evan Kraus)
Wine Making (GNT_TOX_)
RE: lager yeasts at warm temps (Jim Dipalma)
Briess Color Test (npyle)
Improved Brew Kettle Performance (Dave Smucker)
Dry Lager Yeast (George J Fix)
twice-a-day HBD (and cancellation) (Spencer.W.Thomas)
Ovens and Foil caps (Domenick Venezia)
The Diatom Conspiracy (Tim Anderson)
Bottle Cappers (WESTERMAN)
Re: Microwave for Sterilization (cole)
Refill cycle for bottles (Aaron Morris)
Re: Pressurized Cargo Compartments (Jeff Berton)
Bleach substitutes, etc (Richard Nantel)
Missing HBD entries (Richard Nantel)
style/long HBDs (LLAPV)
Hop Rhizomes (Mark Garetz)
contest result return lag (btalk)
Restraint (Ulick Stafford)
Ithaca Homebrew Competition (bickham)
Sam Adams bashing (Jim Doyle)
Clogged Drains at The Digest (Jeff Frane)
KEG&TAP PARTS??? (Timothy Sixberry)
U-Brew ("DEV::SJK")
Irradiation of small things ("DEV::SJK")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 10:16:31 EST
From: rgarvin at btg.com (Rick Garvin (703-761-6630))
Subject: HWBTA Style Guideline, 1 of 3
Home Wine and Beer Trade Association (HWBTA)
1994 National Homebrew Competition
Style Guidelines Part 1 of 3
Part 1) Ales
Part 2) Lagers
Part 3) Mixed, Meads, Sponsors
Ales:
1. BARLEY WINE (award sponsored by EDME, LTD., ESSEX, ENGLAND)
a. Copper to medium brown. Malty sweetness. Fruity/estery. Medium
to high bitterness. Hop aroma and flavor OK. Alcoholic taste. Low
to medium diacetyl OK. OG 1.090-1.120 IBU 50-100 SRM 14-22
2. BELGIAN STYLE (award sponsored by VANBERG & DeWULF,
COOPERSTOWN, NY)
a. FLANDERS BROWN - Deep copper to brown. Slight sourness and
spiciness. Fruity/estery. Low to medium bitterness. No hop aroma
or flavor. Low diacetyl OK. OG 1.045-1.056 IBU 15-25 SRM 10-20.
b. DUBBEL - Dark amber to brown. Sweet malty, nutty aroma. Low
bitterness. Faint hop aroma OK. Medium to full body. Low diacetyl
OK. OG 1.050-1.070 IBU 18-25 SRM 10-14.
c. TRIPPEL - Light/pale color. Light malty and hop aroma. Neutral
hop/malt balance. Finish may be sweet. Medium to full body.
Alcoholic (but best examples do not taste strongly of alcohol. OG
1.070-1.095 IBU 20-25 SRM 3.5-5.5.
d. BELGIAN ALE - Pale color. Bitterness subdued. Light to medium
body. Low malt aroma. Slight acidity OK. Low diacetyl OK. OG
1.044-1.054 IBU 20-30 SRM 3.5-12.
e. BELGIAN STRONG ALE - Pale to dark brown. Alcoholic. Can be
vinous. Darker beers are colored with candy sugar and not so much
dark malt. Full body. OG 1.063-1.095 IBU 20-50 SRM 3.5-20.
f. LAMBIC - intensely and cleanly sour. No hop bitterness, flavor
or aroma. Effervescent. Fruity/estery and uniquely aromatic.
Malted barley and unmalted wheat. Stale, old hops used. Cloudiness
OK. OG 1.040-1.072 IBU 11-21 SRM 6-15.
g. WHITE - Unmalted wheat and malted barley. Oats OK. May be
spiced with coriander seed, orange peel. Hop flavor and aroma
"noble-type" desired. Low to medium bitterness. Low to medium
body. Dry. Low diacetyl OK. Low to medium esters. OG 1.044-1.050
IBU 15-25 SRM 2-4.
3. BROWN ALE (award sponsored by THE CELLAR, SEATTLE, WA)
a. ENGLISH BROWN - Medium to dark brown. Sweet and malty. Low
bitterness. Hop flavor and aroma low. Some fruitiness and esters.
Medium body. Low diacetyl OK. OG 1.040-1.050 IBU 15-25 SRM 15-22.
b. ENGLISH MILD - Medium to very dark brown. Low alcohol. Low hop
bitterness, flavor and aroma. Mild maltiness. Light body. Low
esters. OG 1.032-1.036 IBU 2.5-3.6 SRM 17-34.
c. AMERICAN BROWN - Medium to dark brown. High hop bitterness,
flavor and aroma. Medium maltiness and body. Low diacetyl OK. OG
1.040-1.055 IBU 25-60 SRM 15-22.
4. ENGLISH-STYLE PALE ALE (award sponsored by L.D.CARLSON CO.,
KENT, OH)
a. CLASSIC ENGLISH PALE ALE - Pale to deep amber/copper. Low to
medium maltiness. High hop bitterness. Medium hop flavor and
aroma. Use of English hops such as Goldings, Fuggles, etc.
Fruity/estery. Low diacetyl OK. Medium body. OG 1.044-1.056 IBU
20-40 SRM 4-11.
b. INDIA PALE ALE - Pale to deep amber/copper. Medium body. Medium
maltiness. High hop bitterness. Hop flavor and aroma medium to
high. Fruity/estery. Alcoholic strength evident. Low diacetyl OK.
OG 1.050-1.065 IBU 40-65 SRM 8-14.
5. AMERICAN STYLE ALE (award sponsored by CHASE INSTRUMENTS,
COLLEGE POINT, NY)
a. AMERICAN PALE ALE - Pale to deep amber/red/copper. Low to
medium maltiness. High hop bitterness. Medium hop flavor and
aroma. Use of American hops such as Cascade, Willamette,
Centennial (CFJ-90), etc. Fruity/estery. Low diacetyl OK. Medium
body. OG 1.044-1.056 IBU 20-40 SRM 4-11.
b. AMERICAN WHEAT - Pale to amber. Light to medium body. Low to
medium bitterness. Malt and hop flavor and aroma OK. Low to medium
fruitiness and esters. Low diacetyl OK. Lager yeast OK. OG 1.030-
1.050 IBU 5-17 SRM 2-8.
6. ENGLISH BITTER (award sponsored by G.W.KENT, INC., ANN ARBOR,
MI)
a. ENGLISH ORDINARY - Gold to copper. Low carbonation. Medium
bitterness. May or may not have hop flavor or aroma. Low to medium
maltiness. Light to medium body. Low to medium diacetyl OK.
Fruitiness/esters OK. OG 1.035-1.038 IBU 20-25 SRM 8-12.
b. ENGLISH SPECIAL - Same as English Ordinary but maltiness more
evident and increased hop character. OG 1.038-1.042 IBU 25-30 SRM
12-14.
c. ENGLISH EXTRA SPECIAL - Same as English Ordinary but maltiness
evident. Hop bitterness balanced with malt sweetness. OG 1.040-
1.050 IBU 30-35 SRM 12-14.
7. SCOTTISH ALE (award sponsored by THE BREW BY YOU, SHELTON, WA)
a. SCOTTISH LIGHT - Gold to amber. Low carbonation. Low
bitterness. May or may not have hop flavor and aroma. Medium
maltiness. Medium body. Low to medium diacetyl OK.
Fruitiness/esters OK. Faint smoky chaacter OK. OG 1.030-1.035 IBU
9-15 SRM 8-17.
b. SCOTTISH HEAVY - Gold to amber to dark brown. Low carbonation.
Low bitterness. May or may not have hop flavor and aroma. Medium
to high maltiness. Medium body. Low to medium diacetyl OK.
Fruitiness/esters OK. Faint smoky character OK. OG 1.035-1.040 IBU
12-17 SRM 10-19.
c. SCOTTISH EXPORT - Gold to amber to dark brown. Low carbonation.
Low to medium bitterness. May or may not have hop flavor and
aroma. High maltiness. Medium to high body. Low to medium diacetyl
OK. Fruitiness/esters OK. Faint smoky character OK. OG 1.040-
1.050 IBU 15-20 SRM 10-19.
8. PORTER (award sponsored by E-Z CAP BOTTLE DISTRIBUTORS,
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA)
a. ROBUST PORTER - Black. No roast barley character. Sharp
bitterness of black malt, without high burnt-charcoal-like flavor.
Medium to full bodied. Malty sweet. Hop bitterness medium to high.
Hop flavor and aroma: none to medium. Fruitiness/esters OK. Low
diacetyl OK. OG 1.044-1.060 IBU 25-40 SRM 30+.
b. BROWN PORTER - Medium to dark brown. No roast barley or strong
burnt malt character. Light to medium body. Low to medium malt
sweetness. Medium hop bitterness. Hop flavor and aroma: none to
medium. Fruitiness/esters OK. Low diacetyl OK. OG 1.040-1.050 IBU
20-30 SRM 20-35.
9. ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH STRONG ALE (award sponsored by BREW
AMERICA, VIENNA, VA)
a. ENGLISH OLD ALE/STRONG ALE - Light amber to deep amber/copper.
Medium to full body. Malty. Hop bitterness apparent but not
agressive. Flavor and aroma can be assertive. Fruitiness/esters
high. Alcoholic strength recognizable. Low diacetyl OK. OG 1.060-
1.075 IBU 30-40 SRM 10-16.
b. STRONG "SCOTCH" ALE - Similar to English Old/Strong Ale.
Stronger, malty character. Deep copper to very black. Hop
bitterness low. Diacetyl medium to high. OG 1.072-1.085 IBU 25-35
SRM 10-47.
10. STOUT (award sponsored by F.H.STEINBART CO., PORTLAND, OR)
a. CLASSIC DRY STOUT - Black opaque. Light to medium body. Medium
to high hop bitterness. Roasted barley character required. Sweet
maltiness and caramel malt [crystal] evident. No hop flavor or
aroma. Slight acidity/sourness OK. Low to medium alcohol. Diacetyl
low to medium. OG 1.038-1.072 IBU 30-60 SRM 40+.
b. SWEET STOUT - Black opaque. Overall character sweet. Medium to
full body. Hop bitterness low. Roasted barley character mild. No
hop flavor or aroma. Sweet malty and caramel evident. Low to
medium alcohol. Low diacetyl OK. OG 1.045-1.056 IBU 15-25 SRM
40+.
c. IMPERIAL STOUT - Dark copper to black. Hop bitterness, flavor
and aroma medium to high. Alcohol strength evident. Rich
maltiness. Fruitiness/esters OK. Full bodied. Low diacetyl OK. OG
1.075-1.095 IBU 50-80 SRM 20+.
Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Jan 1994 14:32:27 U
From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com>
Subject: Calculating OG, Plastic, Unix code
Hello Group,
First Topic is calculating a rough OG: The first issue of Brewing Techniques
(may/june 92) had an article by Karl King on a Recipe Formulation Spreadsheet.
He provided these numbers for typical extracted points/lb, YMMV.
Malt Type Points
DME 44
LME 35
Pale Malt 29
Dextrin 20
Crystal 20 15
Crystal 40 13 These numbers probably assume an
Crystal 60 10 infusion mash, and are up for debate.
Wheat 25
Vienna 24
Munich Lt 20
Munich Dark 18
Cara Pils 20
Cara Vienna 15
Chocolate 3
Roasted Barley 1
Black Patent 0
He also gave numbers for Color in Lovibond. The calculations are merely adding
up the amount of each used (lbs) multiplied by the Points, divided by the
recipe volume. You will get a number like (45) which is divided by 1000 and
added to one to be the OG (1.045).
**
The Plastic Carboy discussion has me wondering if everyone is talking the same
animal. Clear Polycarbonate water bottles versus Polyurethane? Opague Plastic
Buckets. Maybe our Canadian friends are able to purchase
other-than-ploycarbonate water bottles. I don't know much about polymers so I
can't comment futher.
**
For those of you trying to download image files from Sierra and getting garbled
text files, I will let you in on the secret. Its Unix UUcode. It allows the
posting to the Net of images as UUencoded text and decoding back to the image.
For Macs, a great program is UUlite which I downloaded from one of the software
archives at Umich, Sumex, or Wuarchives.
**
John J. Palmer - MDA-SSD M&P palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men* are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Home Brewing, Women**, and the Pursuit of Science."
* intended at this time to be nonspecific; ** personal preference.
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 18:00:38 CST
From: Darrell Simon <d_simon at fallout.lonestar.org>
Subject: Bluebonnet Brew-off Update
This note is to update the information I sent in a previous posting.
The 1994 Bluebonnet Brew-off will be held March 11 & 12, 1994. Entry Fees
will be $10 per entry, with a $3 discount for entries received before 1PM on
26 Feb 1994. No entries will be accepted after March 5, 1994 at 1PM. Beer
Label Competition Entries are $2. All Categories listed in the Winter 1993
issue of Zymurgy will be supported if an adequate number of entries per
category are received. First prize in each category will be a wonderful
stein! Participants who place will earn points good toward the 1994 Gulf
Coast Homebrewer of The Year Award. Check your local CLUB or Brew Supply
store for more information. If they do not have a copy of our mailing, I
can forward you a copy via e-mail.
For those of you who can attend, we are expecting guest speakers Dr. George
Fix, Dr. Paul Farnsworth, Dr. Sam Atkinson, Master Judge Scott Birdwell,
and a warm body from the Southwest Brew News. Also note: the Dallas area
is expecting its first brewpub to be open a month before the Bluebonnet,
so anyone attending the Brew-off will have an opportunity to visit our
brewpub, also!
Darrell Simon
1994 Bluebonnet Brew-off Committee
North Texas Home Brewer Association
d_simon at fallout.lonestar.org
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 20:33:42 -0800 (PST)
From: neilr at netcom.com (Daniel Neil Roberts)
Subject: Rank newbie question
Hi all! Under the influence of a couple (well, maybe several) excellent
ales and stouts that I received from my _two_ beer-of-the-month Xmas
gifts, a friend and I decided that we should make our own beer. To prove
to ourselves that it wasn't the beer talking, we went down to our local
brewery (Goose Island, Chicago) and asked where to get a kit. Long story
short, they directed us to one at a local liquor supermarket type place
and we took a shot at making beer on Jan 16. We followed the directions
with the kit as closely as possible, kept everything as sanitary as we
could, and all seemed to go pretty well. We decided to keep the plastic
fermenter (I hear you all saying "Glass! Glass!"; what did we know, it
was in the kit) in an interior room that we though would stay warm enough
(the directions say 70-80 degrees F).
Our luck- we get temperatures in the high negative 20's this week, and my
buddy's apartment apparently isn't staying as warm as usual. The valve on
top of the fermenting bucket isn't doing squat: no bubbles, nothin'.
After reading some of the back issues from here, I realized that was the
only thing that didn't seem to be going right- It appears to be not
fermenting.
My questions (finally)
-Will cold temperatures prevent the yeast from beginning to
ferment the wort?
-Will moving the fermenter nearer a radiator possibly start the
fermentation?
-Do we have to pitch the whole mess and start over?
Thanks for any input, e-mail is ok if these are truly dumb questions.
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 23:11:44 -0700 (MST)
From: thomas ciccateri <tciccate at carina.unm.edu>
Subject: Beer-Of-The-Month Clubs
The current issue of The Celebrator Beer News reviews many of the
Beer-Of-The Month Clubs; Beer Across America, Beers 2 You, Brew To You,
Gourmet Beer Society, International Beer Society, International Beer Club,
Micro Brew Express, and Microbrew To You.
Salud,
Tom Ciccateri
University of New Mexico
Training and Learning Technologies Div.
tciccate at carina.unm.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 6:34:05 EST
From: Evan Kraus <ejk at bselab.BLS.COM>
Subject: Surplus Equipment
Recently I read an article on the use of surplus lab chilling
equipment.
Can anyone give me some sources for items such as lab equipment, pumps,
and chillers. I am continually improving my small basement brewery and
can always use a good source of cheap equipment.
Thanks evan nn
Kraus Brewing Co. Atlanta Georgia (Beer Wasteland)
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 09:26 EST
From: <GNT_TOX_%ALLOY.BITNET at PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Wine Making
I have some winmaking questions. Anyone out there that makes, if you
could E-Mail me, I'd appreciate it very much.
And my beer question: What style are dark beers, like Heineken Dark,
Beck's Dark or St. Pauli Dark?
And last question: I just tried Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer, and
didn't likeit one bit. How true is it to the style? I've never had an
oktoberfest style before to my knowledge.
Andrew Pastuszak
Philadelphia, PA
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 09:33:26 EST
From: dipalma at sky.com (Jim Dipalma)
Subject: RE: lager yeasts at warm temps
Hi All,
Got a couple of quick data points in response to the thread on using
lager yeasts at higher temperatures. At the last Brew Free Or Die meeting,
one of the members had a steam beer he had brewed using Wyeast 2007, and
fermented at ~60F. The beer was very good, it had the same rounded, muddy
phenolic that's characteristic of the 2112 California lager, but it was less
pronounced. Otherwise, the beer was quite clean, there were no other off
flavors normally associated with high temperature lager fermenatations,
esters, etc. So, the 2007 is one yeast that I know works well at higher
temps.
Conversly, one to avoid is 2206, this yeast produces very harsh phenolics
at higher temperatures. I tried this once, the beer had an ammonia-like
smell, very unpleasant.
*****
I have to agree with the comments on .sig files made by Lee Menegoni in
HBD#1328. A few months ago, someone posted a six line article, followed
by a twenty line signature. It's fairly common to see signatures longer than
the article. A name and email address is enough to allow followup discussions,
without the needless waste of increasingly precious bandwidth on the digest.
dipalma at sky.com Jim DiPalma
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 8:36:53 MST
From: npyle at n33.stortek.com
Subject: Briess Color Test
I read with interest the recent article by Dr. Fix regarding beer color. I am
confused, though, about the following from the article:
>PROCEDURE
>1. Clean everything.
>2. De-gas standard and then sample in blender.
>3. Measure in 20 ml of standard beer in export bottle No. 1.
>4. Measure in 20 ml of sample beer in export bottle No. 2.
>5. If colors are different, measure in 10 ml of distilled
> water to bottle No. 1 and 10 ml of sample beer to export
> bottle No. 2.
>6. Continue Step 5 until colors become close. At this
> point the comparisons should be made in the one-inch
> diameter jars. Transfer 25 to 50 ml into these from the
> export bottles and return after comparison. Cut the water
> and sample beer increment from 10 ml to 5 ml.
>7. When a color match is obtained, record the total
> amount of water added. Figure 2 gives the associated degL.
When changing over to the smaller viewing vessel, are you not diluting at a
greater rate? It seems to me that you cannot just add up the total dilution
water if you are discarding part of the sample in the original vessel (the
Miller bottle).
These may be stupid questions, but I have found that stupid questions are far
less harmful than keeping quiet and misunderstanding. This applies to
virtually everything!
Norm
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 09:43:39 -0600 (CST)
From: Dave Smucker <TWF99 at ISUVAX.IASTATE.EDU>
Subject: Improved Brew Kettle Performance
I brew in a converted 15.5 Sanke stainless steel keg on
a high BTU propane burner. While this system has work
very well for me it does use quite a bit of propane
because the heat transfer of the stainless steel is not
very good. It is also to work around the kettle
(keg). Using an idea from Greg Stark in Brew Free or
Die, (Beer and Brewing , Vol 11, 1991, Brewer
Publications) who uses old water heaters as heat
shrouds. I have come up with a heat shroud made from a
common 30 gallon steel drum. I got my drum from
a used drum company for $ 12.00. It was a used but
reconditioned and clean drum. Basically
I used the lower two thirds of the drum. The drum is
used invered or upside down to make the heat shroud.
The figure below shows the general arrangement of the
keg and heat shroud.
----------------
| |
--| |--
| | | | 3 in. dia. vent
| | | | in shroud
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |----------------| |
^ ^
open open
Burner
The hot POC (products of combustion) rise around the
outside of the keg and vent through a 3 inch diameter
hole cut in the "backside" of the heat shroud. Backside
is define as the other side of the keg from the side you
normally stand by. This greatly increases the heating
area of the kettle and makes a marked improvement in the
efficient use of the heat from your burner. I am now
using about one half the propane per batch as before I
made the heat shroud.
To make this shroud I cut a 15.875 inch dia. hole in the
bottom of the 30 gallon drum and then cut off the top
one 1/3rd of the drum. To use as shroud you then turn
the drum upside down and slip it over the keg. I also
cut a 3 inch dia hole in the backside at top of the now
inverted drum. The shroud also has a "u" shaped slot
at the bottom to fit over my drain valve. I used a saber
saw with metal cutting blade to do all of the cutting except
for the 3 inch vent and for that I used a large hole saw.
This leaves you with some sharp metal edges that need to
be filed smooth. This heat shroud is light weight and
easy to just drop over you keg. I welded a 1/8 by 1/2
steel hoop around the bottom of my shroud but this is
not easy to do without a TIG welder or you need to be
good with gas welding. The shroud will work just fine
without this bottom hoop.
Dave Smucker Brewing beer, not making jelly !!
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 09:57:28 -0600
From: gjfix at utamat.uta.edu (George J Fix)
Subject: Dry Lager Yeast
I have gotten some private e-mail asking about dry lager strains, and
asking if the Red Star lager strain will be reintroduced. The answer
to the latter question is definitely no.
I have done 12 test brews since last March testing various candidates
for the Red Star lager strain. None were satisfactory. In order to find
out what is going on here, Dr. Foy of Universal Foods sent me two slants
of what he felt was his best lager strain. One was propagated using
the standard Siebel procedure (1.040 hopped wort at 50F), and the other
was propagated using the standard procedure used in the production
of dry yeast. The medium is a dextrose/molasses mixture supplemented
with a nitrogen source and other nutrients. The propagation temperature
used was 85F. Beer made from the latter had all the defects of the
earlier test brews. Strong and slightly rotten sulfury tones that only
weakly attenuated in cold storage was the most notable defect. There were
also some medicinal undertones. Subsequent analysis with staining procedures
showed that serious mutation occurred during propagation.
The beer made from the yeast propagated with the Siebel procedure came out
just fine without any of the above defects. It was slightly sulfury, but this
is not uncommon with many lager strains. I found the effect attractive, and it
added to the overall maltiness of the beer. This is clearly a serious lager
strain, and the defects encountered above came from propagation methods and
not to intrinsic defects in the yeast.
Economic and technological considerations currently make the high temperature
propagation on sugar solutions necessary for dry yeast. Certain strains are
not adversely affected by this procedure. This for example is the case with
Red Star's (Universal Foods) excellent ale and Champagne yeast. It is
not clear to me, however, that there is a lager yeast that can withstand this
type of propagation.
For lagers having a dry and elegant finish, I personally prefer Dr. Maribeth
Raines' Pilsner strain. This is the one Darryl Richman brought back from
Pilsen. Paul Farnworth is also selling a excellent Pilsner strain. For
rounded and malty Bavarian style lagers, there in nothing IMHO than can match
W-34/70. It is available on slants and also from Wyeast.
George Fix
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Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 11:12:26 EST
From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu
Subject: twice-a-day HBD (and cancellation)
Note that Rob has implemented a "cancel article" feature. This lets
you have second thoughts about posting. For example, when you see
there are 80 articles ahead of yours, or when the next days HBD has 5
answers identical to the one you just sent. Or when you need to make
a correction!
=S
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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 18:21:42 -0800 (PST)
From: Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com>
Subject: Ovens and Foil caps
I've been out of town for a couple weeks, and I'm catching up on the HBD.
Chip Hitchcock cautions that with foil caps and oven heating of bottles
air is sucked back into the bottles when they cool, thereby raising the
risk of infection. This is true. May I suggest that one allow the bottles
to cool in the oven which has just been sterilized? Of course as the oven
cools room air is drawn in, so after turning off the oven block the hot air
vent and allow the foil capped bottles to cool that way.
Domenick Venezia
ZymoGenetics, Inc.
Seattle, WA
venezia at zgi.com
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Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 08:34:25 PST
From: tima at wv.MENTORG.COM (Tim Anderson)
Subject: The Diatom Conspiracy
There was a question a few days ago about using diatomaceous earth to
filter beer. I don't know where that thread led, because not having
an interest in filtering out those wonderful little yeasties, I didn't
pay much attention. With apologies to all if this is old news, I
thought I'd mention a commercial application of diatomaceous earth that
was recently brought to my attention.
Last night was Tuesday, therefore I was at Bridgeport Brewpub here in
Bridgeport Brewpub Town. Someone, it may have been me, noticed a
smallish, maybe six or eight foot high, tank-like thing nestled among
the larger tanks in the brewery. Although smaller, it seemed heavier
duty. It had a clamped-on lid like a pressure cooker, was standing on
legs with small wheels, and had a smaller clone of itself attached to
its side. I assumed it was in the budding phase.
Immediately launching a full-scale investigation, I asked the guy making
pizza what it was. He claimed that he didn't know, although he admitted
to being a homebrewer. He was obviously hiding something. Out of the
corner of my eye, I noticed an attractive young woman bussing a table.
Under intense questioning, she admitted that she knew what it was, "A
filter," she said. She pretended to stumble over the pronunciation of
"diatomaceous", but the act was easy to see through. I kept the pressure
on. Finally, she broke down and spilled the whole story, "It's a
diatomaceous earth filter", she blurted, her voice starting to quiver,
"They use it to filter out the yeast. Now if you don't mind, I have work
to do." But there was one more thing I needed to know. Did they filter
all of their beer? "Everything but the cask-conditioned," she muttered,
unable to conceal her quick glance at my pint of cask-conditioned porter.
Satisfied that I had gotten to the bottom of the story, I sat and sipped,
and looking around, felt a bond of brotherhood with the other yeast
eaters and sense of smug superiority over the ignorant masses with their
sparkling pints of carbonated, crystal-clear, filtered, tap beer.
At least that's how I remember it.
tim
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 10:49:42 -0600 (CST)
From: WESTERMAN at smsd.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Bottle Cappers
I have just finished bottling my third batch of beer.
I use a black beauty Italian two handle capper.
I had three broken bottles during the capping process (these
were Amstel bottl
es).
My questions are: Was it the bottles or should I invest in a
different style capper?
Also can someone recommend (from actual usage) a good benchtop
(or other style capper)?
Please reply via HBD or privately to my e-mail address at
"westerman at newton.jsc.nasa.gov"
Thanks for the help,
Robert
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 10:56:37 -0500
From: cole at nevism.nevis.columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Microwave for Sterilization
In HBD 1328 Bill King discusses microwaves and microbe size:
>
>I'm not a physics person, but I do know that living objects below a
>certain size can happily mill about in a very strong microwave field, such as
>flys, ants and a the like (don't ask me how I know this), so certainly a
>microscopic pathogen would be practically invisible to such an energy field.
>It is almost analagous to a trying to receive a long wave radio signal with a
>stubby antenna, you simply do not have enough length/area to efficiently couple
>radio energy to your radio.
To which I have to respond (regarding microwave OVENS):
Heating by microwave radiation does not work like reception of radio waves
with an antenna. I have a physics PhD but little practical experience with
low energy radiation like microwaves. Nonetheless, my understanding is that
microwave ovens heat by stimulating transitions in water molecules
(vibrational transitions I believe). The wavelength for such transitions is
set by the difference in energies of the pertinent molecular states (quantum
mechanics in action). The water molecules absorb energy through these
transitions and lose it to surrounding molecules that they collide with. The
internal excitation energy of the water molecules is converted to kinetic
energy of the molecules in these collisions. Thus, the absorption of microwave
energy leads to an increase in the kinetic energy of the water molecules, which
means that the temperature rises.
The details of this process have important ramifications:
* Microwaves will NOT heat if whatever you're heating contains NO water.
A corollary - the less water something contains, the less a microwave
oven will do to it.
* The electromagnetic field strength in a microwave oven is significantly
reduced when water is present in any significant amounts inside the
oven. In simpler terms, this means that if there's lot's of water
localized in the oven, most of the heating will take place there.
Microwaves can only put out a limited amount of power and it doesn't
take much water to suck up this power. This is the reason you get
hot and cold spots when heating food in a microwave.
So I would hazard a guess that putting your equipment in the micro
along with a cup of water will do very little. The water gets hot, nothing
else does.
I would not trust a microwave to sanitize anything that is not in contact
with water. I have used my microwave to sanitize bottles for yeast starters
etc. by filling them partway with water and "nuking" them for ~5 min. The
combination of the boiling water inside the bottles and the escaping steam
seems to work well for sanitizing these bottles. I have also sterilized
stoppers by immersing them in a glass bowl of water and heating the water
to the boiling point in a microwave oven.
Microbes certainly have water in them, and I would guess that microwave ovens
could IN PRINCIPLE kill them, but there's the problem that any sources of
water nearby will likely be much more efficient at absorbing microwaves than
the bacteria or yeast you really want to get at.
You might ask if the above is true, why does Bill observe that ants etc
survive in strong microwave fields. My guess is that he works with microwaves
in the communications industry. The microwaves they use are not "tuned"
to a frequency which excites water-molecule transitions (if they did,
they'd hardly be useful for communication) which means these bugs
don't get cooked. Now strong EM fields can do damage in ways that have
nothing to do with vibrational transitions in water, and in this case the
size of the beast being exposed to said EM radiation may matter.
I hope this contributes to the discussion. If you have any problems
with the above, feel free to e-mail me though I won't be around to
respond for the next week.
Cheers,
Brian Cole
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 13:22:31 EST
From: Aaron Morris <SYSAM at ALBANY.ALBANY.EDU>
Subject: Refill cycle for bottles
In a recent digest reference was made to the refill cycle of bottles.
What is the average refill cycle for an average bottle? How does one
know when their bottles are nearing their life expectancy? Hopefully
there is a better way than waiting for the bottles to fail. Does the
refill cycle differ for Grolsh bottles?
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 13:30:51 -0500 (EST)
From: jeff344 at voodoo.lerc.nasa.gov (Jeff Berton)
Subject: Re: Pressurized Cargo Compartments
Chris writes:
> Ooh, I can't resist a story...A friend of a friend who used to work for
> an air shipping company tells of a plane that arrived with a dead dog
> because it was placed in the wrong (unheated, unpressurized) baggage
> compartment.
...
> So on commercial planes at least, the animal storage baggage
> compartments are separate from the regular baggage compartment.
> Apparently in modern passenger planes all the compartments are
> pressurized and heated to roughly the same degree as the cabin, but
> older planes may not be so kind.
It takes quite an effort to design an unpressurized cargo compartment in an
airplane with a pressurized fuselage. Some bombers, for example, have bomb
bays that must open to air at altitude and maintain an inside cabin pressure at
the same time. There is a lot of complicated, heavy structure required to seal
these compartments from the rest of the fuselage. On a commercial airliner at
cruising altitude, everything between the fore and aft pressure bulkheads is
pressurized to about 11 psi; that which you'd find at about 8000 feet.
- --
Jeff Berton, Aeropropulsion Analysis Office, NASA Lewis Research Center
jeff344 at voodoo.lerc.nasa.gov
Return to table of contents
Date: 19 Jan 94 13:05:49 EST
From: Richard Nantel <72704.3003 at CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Bleach substitutes, etc
How about someone out there putting together a FAQ about more
environmentally- friendly methods of sanitizing our equipment? I'm sure I'm
not alone in wanting to phase out the use of bleach altogether. There have
been great tips about this on HBD lately (sanitizing bottles in the oven,
sanitizing carboys using boiling water, etc.). There seems to be great
interest in this area.
Richard Nantel
Montreal Quebec
Canada
Return to table of contents
Date: 19 Jan 94 12:55:23 EST
From: Richard Nantel <72704.3003 at CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Missing HBD entries
I've just realized that my copy of yesterday's HBD is missing the last 7
entries. The file size was 34k. I then downloaded the same issue of HBD
from Compuserve's wine forum. That file is 47k and includes my missing
entries.
I receive HBD using Compuserve's Internet gateway. Before downloading the
second version from the wine forum, I assumed the problem was the 50k file
size limit on Compuserve's Internet gateway and that yesterdays' HBD
exceeded that amount. I now see it did not. In fact, I see that the HBD is
always smaller than 50k. What's up? Are there solutions to this? IMHO, HBD
is good to the last byte. Why am I only getting half a cup?
Richard Nantel
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
Return to table of contents
Date: Wednesday, 19 January 94 13:23:08 CST
From: LLAPV at utxdp.dp.utexas.edu
Subject: style/long HBDs
Howdy,
I see some stuff starting up about style definitions & competitions, & I
would like to bring up an issue or two about non-defined styles, especially
in AHA categories. Whereas I can see having certains guidelines defining
what, say, a pale ale is, it makes it frustrating for those who want to
experiment with styles & then enter them in competitions. For instance, I
decide that I want to make a beer with characteristics that aren't in any
category. If it tastes good, I'll want to enter it into a competition, but
it'll get poor scores if I enter it into some category, & would not meet the
specifications for specialty beers. What can you do? To me, it limits one of
the very purposes of homebrewing: innovation. By dictating what a style
should be, & by allowing only defined styles, the AHA is allowing outlets for
only recognized existing styles. There needs to be a forum for new style
development in homebrewing, & the AHA needs to foster it.
About long HBDs: I agree, be concise, & stop the long signatures.
Happy brewing,
Alan of Austin
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 12:35:46 PST
From: Mark Garetz <mgaretz at hoptech.com>
Subject: Hop Rhizomes
Marc L. Goldfarb writes:
>Someone asked a few days ago for info on growing hops.
>From the ads I've seen in Zymurgy, HopTech looks like
>the place to go for info.
Thanks for thinking of us Marc, but we don't carry rhizomes.
I always refer those who want to purchase rhizomes to Dave
Wills of Freshops in Oregon. Dave is probably the most
knowledgable person on growing hops that caters to the
homebrew trade. I just talked to Dave last night, and he
won't be selling rhizomes until March - those that call
now get put on a list and will be sent the rhizome availability
list in March.
Unusual disclaimer: Not only do I have no affiliation with
Freshops, they are in most instances a competitor (but a
friendly one). Dave and I are personal friends, and Dave is
in fact writing a chapter for my book on Growing Hops.
Mark
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 11:36:57 EST
From: btalk at aol.com
Subject: contest result return lag
In April of 1992 I entered my first contest. Judges sheets finally came in
August 1992. I got a 2nd and a 3rd, earning two certificates and two cans of
malt extract.
I called the person whose name was on the cover letter and he assured me the
cert's and malt would be forthcoming.
After another month or so passed I emailed one of the sponsoring clubs
members to ask about the delay...
No response.
In November of 1992,I met a member of the sponsoring club at a contest that I
was stewarding at. He wrote down my name,etc, assuring me he would have it
taken care of.
ANYHOW,here it is almost 2 YEARS later and still nothing.
Its not the awards, but the lack of follow through that irks me.
I don't enter their contests anymore and for some reason they do not use my
local brew supply shop as a contest drop off any more.
The topper is that this club has been chosen as a judging site for one of
the 'club only' AHA contests this year!!
It seems that timely response should be a criteria for AHA sanctioned
contests.
Regards, Bob Talkiewicz, Binghamton, NY
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 11:35:52 EST
From: ulick at mozart.helios.nd.edu (Ulick Stafford)
Subject: Restraint
I heartily agree with Jonathon Knight in 1328 when he said that 2 postings
a day is not on. Restaint is important, especially now when many people are
brewing. A lot of what I have read lately has been of relatively little
help. I have read descriptions of inefficient bottling procedures, detailed
accounts of brewing batches, and the usual number of uninformative or
factually incorrect ressponses. For instance Liebfraumilch, the totally
uninspired German white wine translates as Lover'smilk - not mother's milk.
A question. In a long account of brewing a Vienna John Robinson mentions
using 4.25 cups of malt per pound. I have always found this to be one
of the worst bubu's in Noonan (the other being that enameled steel pots are
useless). Miller's 3.3 figure is what I get - or are there different sized
cup (8 oz.) measures? And what is the great timesaving Viniator in Al K's
speedy bottling technique (takes twice as long as my method of dunking
bottles in a laundery sink) that require 20 sqirts per bottle? Inquirering
minds want to know.
__________________________________________________________________________
'Heineken!?! ... F#$% that s at &* ... | Ulick Stafford, Dept of Chem. Eng.
Pabst Blue Ribbon!' | Notre Dame IN 46556
| ulick at darwin.cc.nd.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 16:58:09 -0500 (EST)
From: bickham at msc.cornell.edu
Subject: Ithaca Homebrew Competition
The Ithaca Brewers Union will be having another homebrew competition
on March 12th. Judging will be done in a closed session at the
Chapter House Brewpub in Ithaca, New York. It'll be open format,
which means that all AHA styles are accepted, but entries will be
grouped in sets of 7 to 12 for judging and awards. The entry deadline
is March 9th, and you can e-mail me for more details.
Scott Bickham
bickham at msc.cornell.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 14:16:29 -0700
From: Jim Doyle <jgdoyle at uci.edu>
Subject: Sam Adams bashing
I have only recently subscribed to the "Homebrew Digest", and have noticed
a distinctly negative "flavor" to the comments about Sam Adams, and it's
founder. I am curious as to why. Anybody who would like to address this
issue can send me a message at (jgdoyle at uci.edu). Thanks in advance...
J."Chance" Doyle
- ----
"Familiarity breeds contempt-and children." S.Clemons
--
Jim Doyle
P.S. Purchasing Office
Ph. (714) 856-6047
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 15:01:57 -0800 (PST)
From: gummitch at teleport.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Clogged Drains at The Digest
I've noticed that not only is the digest very busy these days, but that
there is a high (what's the term, computer nerds?) signal to noise
ratio. I find myself skimming a lot and reading very little. Actually,
it was kind of nice over the holidays; not many people posting, so we
got to do some useful back and forth for a change.
Suggestion: without even faintly suggesting any sort of censorship
(heaven forfend!), it would be nice if people exerted a little
self-control. If you haven't a *real* answer to someone's question,
back off. (Danger signals in your posting are "I think", "I'm pretty
sure", "I read somewhere" -- not that a lack of Certainty can't be a
fine personal quality, mind you...)
Certain members of the group seem to have a compulsion to answer
*everything* posted, and every day (sometimes twice a day!). Hey, you
know who you are: give it a rest! Let other people demonstrate *their*
wisdom. Sheesh.
On which note, I will fold my tent...
- --Jeff
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 15:33:00 PST
From: Timothy Sixberry <tsixber at msrapid.kla.com>
Subject: KEG&TAP PARTS???
Hello fellow brewers,
Could some kind person out there tell me where I can get my hands on korney
keg parts and some beer taps that go through the fridge door. My local brew
shop has some stuff, but at prices I can't believe. I would like to run two
or three kegs to the fridge door and to the CO2 tank, and I can't find the
stuff to do it anywere.
Thanks in advance for any help, BREW LONG AND PROSPER SPOCK
Return to table of contents
Date: 19 Jan 94 11:33:00 CST
From: "DEV::SJK" <SJK%DEV.decnet at mdcgwy.mdc.com>
Subject: U-Brew
Marc Goldfarb wonders if U-Brew stores are viable in the US. One of these
things just opened in Redondo (Manhattan?) Beach, CA. The newspaper
article said they were doing well so far. I'll betcha that they will
attract people who are only curious who will then either buy the equipment
and do it at home or will do it the one time and forget about it.
Scott
sjk%c17fcs.decnet at mdcgwy.mdc.com
Return to table of contents
Date: 19 Jan 94 11:19:00 CST
From: "DEV::SJK" <SJK%DEV.decnet at mdcgwy.mdc.com>
Subject: Irradiation of small things
Bill King writes in HBD #1328 that "flies, ants, and the like can happily
mill about in a very strong microwave field" and therefore microbes would
be immune to microwave sterilization.
I don't know about "microscopic pathogens", but when I was in high school,
my biology teacher forced us to think a little bit and come up with an end-
of-term project. A friend of mine exposed fruit flys, which are tiny, to
different levels and durations of microwaves, then bred them. He found
that about 20 seconds on "upper-medium" produced little mortality and many
more obvious mutations than anticipated. This produced flies in the first
generation with unusual coloring in the wings and/or body and/or eyes, 6
wings, absent or shriveled wings and/or legs, etc. 15-20 seconds on "high"
caused the poor little guys to burst. Just some empirical evidence...
I thought UV was a very effective way to sanitize things (such as bottled
water). I would *guess* that microwaves, being even higher than UV in
frequency, would be even more effective as longer wavelengths are the ones
that tend to not hit anything (ala sunsets).
Scott
sjk%c17fcs.decnet at mdcgwy.mdc.com
Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1330, 01/21/94