HOMEBREW Digest #1352 Fri 18 February 1994
Digest #1351
Digest #1353
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
atlantic brewpubs, straining wort (Mark Bunster)
BAA & Valentine chocolate ("Valente Andrew ")
Unsuscribe (Habeeb.Mohammad)
MaltMillMotor ("Dan Z. Johnson")
Ginger Beer ("Dan Z. Johnson")
AA% (Glen Tinseth)
beer tasting review (dan_fox)
Re: Cheap airlocks (David M. Berman)
(jowagar)
Re: Brewing in barrels (Charles A. Anderson)
My $0.02 at the HBD (yeebot)
Getting Good Head ;-) with Chili beer. (yeebot)
Floating thermometer suggestion (Kelvin Kapteyn)
Boil Off Rate (WKODAMA)
Targeting OGs & FGs (lyons)
denatured alcohol (EAJOHNS)
Alpha Accuracy (Jeff Frane)
Re: The sex gap in homebrewing? (Cathy Cullen (N3311))
message (Jim Overstreet)
Bass clone (LLDSC)
Munich Helles & Decoction Q's (Mike Dix)
BJCP exam studying (Martin Wilde)
Wyeast Special London Yeast (Martin Wilde)
Be Happy (jerryb7595)
Less oxygen (gasp!)/Refrig. controls (Jack Skeels)
re: Sweetening meads (Dick Dunn)
Wheat Malt Extract question (cg0scs)
Re: DMS - Correction (Bill Szymczak)
Glatt malt mill (Jim Griggers)
Liquid Yeast Cultures (GNT_TOX_)
Rambling notes... (W. Mark Witherspoon)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 14:38:12 EST
From: mbunster at hibbs.vcu.edu (Mark Bunster)
Subject: atlantic brewpubs, straining wort
* From: "Dana S. Cummings" <dcumming at moose.uvm.edu>
* Subject: MICRO/PUB BREWS
*
* I am going to be traveling in March and would like to plan my route
* around fine local brews. I intend to travel through central NY and PA,
* Eastern VA/ DC, with my destination in NC. If there's a brewpub or craft
* brewer in your area I'd appreciate hearing about them. Many thanks in
* advance.
*
I hope this is of wide enough interest, but I thought I would post my
mini-travelogue of 4 places on this route. Flames to irate at angry.bugged...
*
In DC proper, check out the brickskeller, which offers over 500 beers in
bottles, and a few on tap (they may have more these days). Pricey, but very
thorough. Just about any beer you wanted to try from around the world is at
your disposal if it comes in bottles. (Not literally, I suppose.)
In Arlington VA (city of the Nat'l Cemetary, Pentagon, and shopping mecca
Crystal City), you will find the Bardo Rodeo, a huge beer-hall like place
built in a barely renovated ford dealership service area. Over 100 taps (not
all different though) and I believe some house brews (went there just as
they'd opened and they were only selling others', but I think that's
changed.) You can get stuff by the pitcher, which is nice, and they play a
very 20something alternative mix of music. The choice of the WASP masses of
the NoVa area, but worth the trouble.
Wasteland exists until Richmond Va, where you will find
Richbrau in Schockoe Slip. 4 ales at the moment (IPA, straight golden ale
used as an introductory beer, thick porter, and right now a good strong
barleywine.) and a small collection of other beers. the IPA is my favorite,
but others dig the porter too.
Don't know if anything new has developed in Norfolk--I doubt it. Sailors like
Bud.
Both Durham and Manteo (near Nags Head on the Outer Banks) have
brewpub/bavarian restaurants called the Weeping Radish. Great atmosphere (at
least at the Manteo one) and good beer available in full liter glasses ala
any respectable bavarian bier garten.
* The problem I encountered is that after the boil, the
* finings (irish moss), hot and cold break didn't settle
* after chilling, presumably due to the high gravity of the
* boil (I used 6# of DME with about 2 1/4# of grain). After
* chilling I tried straining but the strainer cloged so rather
* than muck around with chilled wort I just dumped the whole
* mess in the primary with the rest of the water. Diluting to
* five gallons allwed the trub to settle and fermentation was
* vigorous. Racking to secondary got rid of most of the crud.
*
We've done it two ways, both of which have pros:
1) Strain as best you can (with properly clean equipment of course)
immediately after the boil. Don't sweat what remains, and after chilling
quickly, splash the wort into your primary to infuse with oxygen before
pitching. Rack to secondary after initial fermentation slows (minimizing
splashing this time) and you should leave any appreciable trub in the
primary.
2)Chill to pitching temperature with everything still in the wort. Clean a
small saucepan and a strainer. With your first saucepanful, get a sizeable
amount of hops and grain. Pour into the strainer (6 inch is the best size) so
that maybe it's half full of grains and hops. subsequent panfuls can now be
mostly liquid, and the dreck in the strainer will filter out most of what
smaller particles are remaining. This way, the stuff that's too small to be
blocked by the strainer holes is instead blocked by the stuff in the
strainer.
- --
Mark Bunster |I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
Survey Research Lab--VCU |
Richmond, VA 23284 |
mbunster at hibbs.vcu.edu |
(804) 367-8813/353-1731 |
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Date: 15 Feb 94 19:42:16 UT
From: "Valente Andrew "
Subject: BAA & Valentine chocolate
Hi folks!
I'm in a terrible quandry. My first month gift subscription to Beer
Across America arrived the same day my Valentine's porter was
ready. Relax, don't worry -- I had a homebrew! (incidentally - its
Papazian's Sparrowhawk porter with 6 oz of Hershey's unsweetened
baker's chocolate in the boil - a true Valentine's treat -- lots of
sludge in the boil pot and primary, but easily cleaned and WELL
worth the end result!
Anyway - for those who care - BAA offers 2 6-packs of microbrew
delivered to your doorstep each month for $23. My wife was under
the impression that they made a specific attempt to bring you beer
that was not available in your area. This is not true. My first
shipment was Geary's Pale Ale, which is avalable everywhere in the
Boston area (it was one of the beers I served at our wedding- the
caterer's didn't want to deal with homebrew!!). I can get this beer
for $6.50 or $7 a 6-pack, so I was a little annoyed.
Good news - I called BAA and they said they were sorry, but it is
unusual to hit a local on the first month (which is clearly not true -
all beer, like all politics, is local to someone). They did say,
however, that if you call before the 15th of the month, they can tell
you what they are shipping on the 20th, and if its not interesting to
you, you can defer until the next month. It is a great, albeit
somewhat expensive, gift.
BTW - Feb's beers are Columbus Ohio (1492 ale?) and something
from Oregon - name escapes me.
Insert your favorite usual clever disclaimer - a not-yet-but-
hopefully-soon-to-be satisfied customer -- if it were my business
it would be run differently...
Sergio...
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 12:58:59 -0700
From: Habeeb.Mohammad at m.cc.utah.edu
Subject: Unsuscribe
Please remove me from your mailing list.
****************************************************************************
**
* "If I'm going to die, * -Yokoshima from
*
* at least let me die between your breasts!" * Ghost Sweeper Mikami
*
****************************************************************************
**
* "A life of debauchery, I was born for it!" * -Ataru from Urusei Yatsura
*
* * Movie 1: Only You
*
****************************************************************************
**
* "I Just beat the shit out of a seriously * -Bill Pullman from Malice
*
* disturbed serial rapist." *
*
****************************************************************************
**
Return to table of contents
Date: 15 Feb 94 15:17:58 EST
From: "Dan Z. Johnson" <75430.3532 at CompuServe.COM>
Subject: MaltMillMotor
"Dave Suurballe" <suurb at farallon.com> continues the MaltMill
discussion by saying that he altered the hopper on his motorized
MM to widen the feed slot.
Did you just cut the two side pieces out? Do you see a change in
the grind? I'd assume that you may get an even better grind doing
that. How is your MM motorized? Thanks!
-Z
Return to table of contents
Date: 15 Feb 94 15:17:53 EST
From: "Dan Z. Johnson" <75430.3532 at CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Ginger Beer
bgros at sensitivity.berkeley.edu (Bryan L. Gros) asks about ginger amounts:
I've been making ginger beers for about six years now, and the only gem of
advice I can offer is this: The longer the boil, the less "heat" you get from
ginger. When added at the very end of the brew (no boil, 30 min. steep) you get
a good sharp, hot flavor. After a 60 min boil, the flavor is changed to that of
a gingersnap cookie, deep, rich and rounded. So the thing to do is to balence
out the timing of ginger additions to take advantage of both flavors. My last
ginger beer read like this:
Z's Back To The Garden Ginger Ale
(to make 10 gal)
15# 2-row Pils malt
2# Caravienne
1# 40l Crystal
Infusion mashed at 151f for 60 min.
2# Clover Honey (full boil)
300gr. Ginger root, fresh, grated. (100 gr. full boil, 200 gr last 5 min)
10gr. Nutmeg, fresh ground. Last 5 min.
10gr. Cinnamon, fresh ground. Last 5 min
1.5gr Vanilla bean, split open and crushed. Last 5 min.
4oz Saaz at 4.3 AA, 60 min
1oz. Saaz, 10 min
1oz. Saaz, steep 30 min, no boil
OG: 1.051
To Make 5 gal extract:
Use 6.6# light extract (Alexander's works best)
Steep 1# Crystal malt, crushed, in clean water at 160f for 30-45 min, strain off
grain.
Cut all other amounts in half
Use Wyeast American or German or whatever you have going. High attenuation and
clean flavors are what I go for on this one, so as not to mask the spices. A dry
finish on this beer is best for summer drinking. A real thirst quencher.
-Z
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 12:36:26 -0800
From: glent at falstaff.cache.tek.com (Glen Tinseth)
Subject: AA%
Just need to clarify Mark Garetz's post re: alpha acid% reliability.
First of all, both Dave Wills (Freshops) and I (The Hop Source)
moniter our alpha acid levels. We feel this is important for
different reasons. Dave likes to check midseason because of
inevitable drops in aa%, in order to ensure that the homebrewer
gets accurate numbers. I agree. I also do not trust the numbers
from the brokers very much. This is not because of dishonesty
on anyone's part but because of "the way things are."
In most cases, only 1 in 10, 20, or even 50 bales is sampled. Not
only are the hops in each bale inconsistent but the bale to bale
differences are not negligible. So there can be wide differences
in the number you see on your bag of hops, and the actual aa%
of your particular hop sample. There are two things you can do
to account for this:
1) Don't worry about it since the bag number is
probably within 10% of the correct value.
2) Test the hops to be certain.
I like to keep an eye on my alphas just to make sure my
customers are getting what they are paying for. In my own
brewing I am more likely to be satisfied with plus or minus 10%
accuracy than to insist on more. Anyway there are more than
10% uncertainties in the BU calculations, but that's another
story. Just be suspicious of books that specifiy BUs to the
hundredth of a unit (even if they are written by someone
famous). I think Dave Miller's note on this subject in the latest
Brewing Techniques is right on the money - taste is the final
judge, or at least should be.
Take home message: get your hops from a reliable source and
add "plus or minus 10%" to the alpha acid rating and you'll be in
the ballpark.
Cheers,
Glenn
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 15:39:33 EST
From: dan_fox at ccmail.GSFC.NASA.GOV
Subject: beer tasting review
In HBD 1348, I wrote:
>Last night (2/9) I attended the annual Strong Beer Tasting at the
>Brickskellar in Washington DC.
>On another list, I am in the habit of posting short, informal reviews
>of concerts I attend, and thought y'all might appreciate some of the
>same treatment here.
Well, it's out and the offer still stands.
>Since this is the _Homebrew Digest_ and not the _Beer Enjoyer's
>Digest_ I thought I'd do it off line. If you want a copy, email me and
>I'll return one to you. I would also appreciate quick messages along
>the lines of "Post it, you fool!" or "Thanks for not wasting my
>bandwidth."
>If I get a lot of "Post-It Notes" (sorry) I will do so. If there are
>more requests than I care to deal with I will also post it.
I got 30+ requests for it, 3 in favor of posting, and 2 against. I was
looking for something like 5-to-1 in favor, so bandwidth is conserved
(except for this message, I suppose). :-)
Is there a beer gourmet list or newsgroup somewhere? Does the world need
one? I am _not_ volunteering.
- --Dan Fox
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 12:47:37 -0800 (PST)
From: eyeball at netcom.com (David M. Berman)
Subject: Re: Cheap airlocks
I routinely use a blow-by setup instead of an airlock. Connect a hose
to the air outlet of your carboy, and tie the other end of the hose to
a rock submerged in a bucket full of dilute bleach. I have found no
problems leaving the setup as is for several weeks.
David Berman
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 15:54:01 EST
From: jowagar at cosi.stockton.edu
Subject:
I am an aspiring homebrewer and am wondering how I can subscibe to this list
or conference. If you have any other info about homebrewing please send it
to me.
Thank You
Jon Wagar
jowagar at cosi.stockton.edu
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Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 10:33:35 -0600 (CST)
From: caa at vtdev.mn.org (Charles A. Anderson)
Subject: Re: Brewing in barrels
In HOMEBREW Digest #1347 Jack Schmidling writes:
>
> Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 16:14:34 -0600 (CST)
> From: arf at mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
>
> Perhaps the real answer is even simpler. It has been my understanding that
> barrels used for beer were coated with tar to prevent evaporation. If this
> is true, one could get the "charasteristic" by coating a glass carboy with
> tar or even pouring some in the beer. Not as far fetched as it sounds.
> Just ponder the Greek, retsina wine.
>
> js
Not tar, brewers pitch. It looks an awful lot like tar though. I was
trying to locate some a few years ago, but didn't have much luck.
I have drank out of leather mugs that were lined with the stuff, and
it doesn't seem to impart much taste to whatever beverage is in the mug,
however I'm sure ageing in a cask coated with the stuff would have more
time to pull out some sort of flavor. Without the pitch coating I doubt
you could get a barrel to hold enough pressure to carbonate well, and
would end up with a flat brew.
-Charlie
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 16:28:48 EST
From: yeebot at aol.com
Subject: My $0.02 at the HBD
I'm sorry I have to increase the Noise to Signal ratio on the digest but I
figured I had to put in my $0.02.
Several people, a few issues ago, wrote in complaining about the amount of
non-Hombrewing, unprofessional noise that's in the HBD these days. While I
can't completely disagree with this sentiment, I have to defend the right for
members to write in posts like the "Cannabis in beer" thread. I'm not into it
but it was interesting to read, nonetheless. I don't have any specific
"guidelines" for posts, and I don't think there should be. But given the size
of the digest these days and given that many members actually PAY for their
Net access time I think that a few considerations are necessary.
How 'bout a few:
-Please use great care when writing in the Subject field. Many members only
have time to scan the Table of Contents on their breaks from saving the
universe.
-Since there are no "editors" in the traditional sense, members should
exercise restraint when writing their posts. Please keep it short and
concise.
-Beginners(All are welcome!) should at the least read Burch's "Brewing
Quality Beers"($5) or Papazian's "Compete Joy of Homebrewing"($11) before
posting to the HBD. No one wants to answer a post like "What is Malt?",
anyway. Hey, isn't there a Beginner's FAQ?
-And a Personal Pet Peeve: People who re-post entire letters (sometimes
entire threads) when all they're doing is making a single useless witty
comment. thankyouverymuch.
It's rather unfortunate that we may have lost experienced, knowledgable
people who were offended or turned off by a single post. But to those I say:
Please remember that this is basically a DAILY digest that literally,
THOUSANDS of people read and that one Dork's opinion is his own, NOT the
HBD's. Also, while hard information and facts are what actually drives this
Digest, I feel the anecdotes and jovial speculations are necessary to make
the digest complete. Finally, when in doubt I think we should just keep those
immortal words in mind:
****RELAX!****, and have a homebrew.
Viva la HBD!
Michael
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 16:29:01 EST
From: yeebot at aol.com
Subject: Getting Good Head ;-) with Chili beer.
I recently read an article about Ed Chilleen's Cave Creek Chili beer. (Hot
stuff!) The article states that Ed has developed a way to retain a foamy head
even though the oil from the chili pepper would usually destroy any formation
of a head. He states he uses no presevatives or additives. So, does anyone
have any ideas on how he accomplishes this? (A pact with the devil?) TIA.
Mike Yee
Angst Brewing Co.
yeebot at aol.com
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 16:25:42 -0500
From: Kelvin Kapteyn <kelvink at mtu.edu>
Subject: Floating thermometer suggestion
Laura Conrad posted a nice design for a floating thermometer in hbd 1350.
My immediate thought though was a possible improvement (IMHO). I would
go to the hardware store and buy a rubber grommet that would just fit
the thermometer. That way you could remove the thermometer and use it
for other things without much hassle. It would also solve the problem
Laura had with the putty getting too soft at high temperatures. Heck,
even if the thing leaks a little, it isn't too much work to pour it back
out. I would be careful to get a snug fit between the thermometer and
the grommet so you could still adjust the height of the thermometer.
Thanks for the nice idea in the first place. I have never liked my floating
dairy thermometer because it reacts slow and doesn't seem to be as accurate
as my dial thermometer. Some day I'll get one of those nice digital ones.
-Kelvin (kelvink at mtu.edu)
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 16:29:40 -0500
From: WKODAMA at aba.com
Subject: Boil Off Rate
Pardon me if this is a repeat request. Is there any kind of
matrix out there that shows the rate of boil-off evaporation per
quantity of wort per specific gravity of wort? In other words,
if I start off with 10 gallons of water and my SG is 1.040, how
much water will I boil off during a 60 minute boil, etc.?
Much TIA,
Wesman
wkodama at aba.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 16:52:27 EST
From: lyons at adc1
Subject: Targeting OGs & FGs
I had a few responses to my last posting suggesting using Laaglander
to help target OGs & FGs with extract recipes. Thought I'd post a replyt
here for all to read.
...
I'm not great at giving directions, so please do not get discouraged
if what I write seems confusing. It's probably just me.
Let's start with a typical recipe that's made with 6lbs of M&F. M&F has an
extraction potential of 42(pts-gals/lb) and an apparent attenuation of 78%
(i.e. 78% will be converted to alcohol, and 22% will not ferment)
Therefore;
Original Gravity = OG = 42(pts-gal/lb)*6(lb)/5(gal) = 50.4 pts.
Final Gravity = FG = OG*(1-AA) = 50.4*(1-0.78) = 50.4*(0.22) = 11.09
% alcohol = (OG-FG)/7.5 (close approximation) = (50.4-11.09)/7.5 = 5.2%
Now lets try to formulate a recipe that gives the same OG, FG, & %Alc
using just Laaglander and corn sugar (the corn sugar will not contribute
to the FG since it is 100% fermentable). First lets calculate the lbs of
Laaglander needed to get an FG of 11.09:
FG = 11.09 = OG*(1-AA) = [(46*X)/5]*(1-0.55) ==> X = 2.7lbs Laaglander.
Now lets calculate how much sugar will be needed to bring the OG up to
50.4:
OG = 50.4 = (46*2.7/5) + (45*X/5) ==> X = 2.8lbs corn sugar.
Therefore 2.7lbs of Laaglander + 2.8lbs of corn sugar gives the same OG,
FG, & %alc as 6lbs of M&F (guess which recipe is cheaper!).
By the way, I'm not recommending using this much sugar. Personally I like
to aim for an FG of 16 and a %alc of 4.2-to-4.8.
Let's look at another example recipe (I like this one :-) ):
OG FG %Alc
====== ====== ======
2# Laaglander (EP=46/AA=55%): ==> 18.4 8.24 1.35
2# M&F (EP=42/AA=78%): ==> 16.8 3.70 1.75
2# Honey (EP=35/AA=100%): ==> 14.0 0.00 1.87
----- ----- -----
OG=49.2 FG=11.98 %Alc=4.97
I formulated the recipe below to target for an OG of 16 (1.016). I also
like this one.
OG FG %Alc
====== ====== ======
4# Laaglander (EP=46/AA=55%): ==> 36.8 16.56 2.7
1.5# Corn Sugar (EP=45/AA=100%): ==> 13.5 0.00 1.8
----- ----- -----
OG=50.3 FG=16.56 %Alc=4.5
Breaking it down this way makes it easy to see how each component contributes
to the final product. That's about all there is to it. As you can see,
there is more than one way to create beers with particular OGs & FGs.
Hope this helps,
Chris
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 17:04:32 EST
From: EAJOHNS at FLIC.erenj.com
Subject: denatured alcohol
From: Eric A. Johnson
IOSD FP102/F08 (201)765-2519
Subject: denatured alcohol
> A quick and handy technique to prevent unwanted infections during
> racking, pitching etc. Fill a spray bottle (like a windex bottle) with 75%
> ethanol (get 190 proof{95%} and dilute with water). Spray hands, tools
> whatever. Won't affect beer, is mostly safe (but flammable) and keeps
> surfaces clean. If you know a lab nerd, ask 'em to get you some denatured
> absolute ethanol-it is real cheap.
Denatured alcohol is cheap because it contains some additive, such as
benzene, which makes it unfit for human consumption. This also exempts
it from taxation. It's not a good idea to clean your equipment or your
hands with this stuff....
Eric
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 14:05:37 -0800 (PST)
From: gummitch at teleport.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Alpha Accuracy
To Mark Garetz, Glenn Tinseth and all those Digesters enamored with
long, complicated formulas for determining bittering additions (although
Mark & Glenn may not be numbered among them):
Do any of you know the exact sampling procedure used in the formulation
of alpha acid content in hops? That is, have you seen it done and
followed through to completion? In the commercial lab, that is, not in
a hop research station.
Can we assume that there is no variation of alpha acid content
throughout a representative bale -- or batch -- of a given hop? Because
if there is, then the sampling procedure will only result in an
*average* alpha acid content. The average is perfectly fine for
commercial breweries, because they will be using all or a significant
portion of a bale when brewing -- averaging will not be a problem.
However, if there is variation (and having worked in QC and Bacti labs
for a food processor I have every reason to believe there is decided
variation) then there is no way of determining the alpha acid content
for a given 1-, 2-, or 16-ounce sample which itself has not been tested.
And if there is variation, what happens to the formulae?
- --Jeff
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 12:22:25 CST
From: cullen at zeus1.issc.com (Cathy Cullen (N3311))
Subject: Re: The sex gap in homebrewing?
Sorry ahead of time for the bandwidth and the flame but this one
really got me.
Content-Length: 2306
< Whatever reasons people use to justify having a women-only beer
< competition, gender balance is a poor one.
<
< In other words, I can't see a damned thing in policy or practice that
< discourages women from joining in the activities/deals/clubs open to
< men. Therefore, when an event becomes closed to a group of people
< based on their sex I see this as sexist in its own right. This would
< not be sexist if it existed to right injustice, but there are no
< injustices already present in the homebrewing world.
<
< Perhaps a better reason for having this event is to boost female
< brewers' egos. If a number of women enter competitions now and don't
< do well, then cutting off a significant percentage of the brewing
< population gives them less competition. Winning something becomes
< more likely. If this kind of artificial victory helps some woman
< feel more confident in entering another competition (open
< to all), then what's the harm done? Maybe I should come up with some
< set of standards that makes me more likely to win through a restricted
< competition?
My hear goes out to you Greg. The fact that this competition is not open to
you, who are probably a white male, and have never been denied anything
before. It must be a shock, being left behind while the big girls go out
and brew.
This is a very sad commentary. So a group of women are getting
together and having a competition, so what! Even if they were doing it to
boost their egos, So What.
In case you havent noticed, women are a minority in the world of brewing.
Why? probably because in our society females are encouraged to do more
feminine things. When I'm reading this newsgroup and see a womens name
signed, I am usually suprised. It's kind of a male thing, so are most of
the brewing get togethers. Yes maybe women could use some ego boosting in
regards to brewing, as you said in your post 'whats the harm done?' well,
you tell me.
The best thing about this competition in my opinion is the knowing that yes
there are other women out there brewing. Its not just a guy thing.
Now why don't you just go off in the corner and come up with a competition
open only to white men with brown hair and brown eyes or something and
see if that makes you feel better.
Cathy Cullen
Chicago
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Date: 14 Feb 94 14:19:28 -0500
From: Jim.Overstreet at p5.f1.n396.z1.fidonet.org (Jim Overstreet)
Subject: message
Subj: Caramel malt
I was wondering if anyone can suggest a mail order source
for English Caramel Malt (no, not crystal, it's not the same).
I have looked in all my catalogs with no luck. Would like
to find both 20 and 120 degree lovibond, preferably malted by
Archer, Arc-Royal or Maris Otter. Thanks.
- ---
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Date: Tuesday, 15 February 94 16:52:11 CST
From: LLDSC at utxdp.dp.utexas.edu
Subject: Bass clone
I had no idea that cannabis beer thing was going to start such a
controversy. I was just trying to see if anyone remembered what
someone else had posted about the subject. It's too bad the stuff
is illegal, otherwise I sure would like to make a beer out of it ;-).
Moving on to other things. I just finished a bitter. It's in the bottles
right now. Thanks for the info. What I want to start on now is something
along the lines of a Bass ale. Anybody have any (Help me!!I can't spell
recipe! What is the plural?!--I'm an English major) experience with this?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a batch of LSD brew that I'm going to
go unload on some junior high kids.
Keep on truckin in the free world,
Scott LLDSC at utxdp.dp.utexas.edu
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 17:22:48 "PST
From: Mike Dix <mdix at dcssc.sj.hp.com>
Subject: Munich Helles & Decoction Q's
bwg/hc Feb 15, 1994
In the attempt to brew a Munich helles I have switched to all-grain brewing,
but I still cannot get the malty flavor I want. It is tasty, and it is only
mildly hopped, but I just cannot fool my tastebuds into thinking I am in a
bierstube in Munich. I am following the recipe in Miller's "World's Great
Beers" book. Here are some specifics:
Base malt: Great Western two row
Special malts: DeWolf-Cosyns
Hops: San Jose backyard Hallertauer cones (assumed to be 4% AA)
Mash: two-step stove-top infusion
Yeast: Wyeast Bavarian
Single stage fermentation: 13 days at 55-60F in a 25l carboy, then lagered in
the bottle at 35F.
One possibility is that only a German base malt will produce an authentic
flavor. The other, which was brought up by Jeff Michalski, is that perhaps
only decoction mashing will produce the authentic flavor. Comments?
I too would like to hear from the net's decoction doctors what procedures
they follow, and if relatively short mash times are possible. Noonan's 5-6
hour mash times seems excessive, but they correspond to those in Hennies'
Brauerhandbuch, copyright 1967, that a friend picked up for me on a trip to
Germany. Yet the fellow who wrote German Wheat Beers, a recent
Weihenstephan graduate, quotes mash times of 180 minutes. An extra hour
spent mashing would be tolerable if the flavor were right.
A less-important effect I would also like to achieve is the creamy head that
stands on its own. From browsing through the archives I note this may be
related to dispense techniques.
Mike Dix
By the way, I think malted wheat meets the Reinheitsgebot because it is
malt. Note that unmalted barley is still uncool.
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 16:40:05 PST
From: Martin Wilde <Martin_Wilde at ccm.hf.intel.com>
Subject: BJCP exam studying
Text item: Text_1
There is an upcoming BJCP exam in Portland, OR April 10th. In my
preparation for the exam I was wondering if I need to memorize all of
the gravities and IBU numbers for all of the beer styles. This is such
a brain cramp. I noticed the recent AHA style guidelines for this years
National competition does not list gravities and IBU numbers, just
relative terms (ie. medium gravity, high bitterness). Does the BJCP
exam still require you to memorize all of those (ridiculus) numbers or
is it more of a compare and contrast like "this style is medium gravity
and medium to high bitterness with residual diacetyl okay....".
Thanks
martin (a future judge (hopefully))
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 16:45:16 PST
From: Martin Wilde <Martin_Wilde at ccm.hf.intel.com>
Subject: Wyeast Special London Yeast
Text item: Text_1
Is anyone tried using the Wyeast New Special London yeast?
What is the apparent attenuation of this yeast? Logsdon does not
mention it in his flier. Does the rich malty flavor come from low
attenuation (65%) or does it just accentuate malt and have a normal
attenuation factor (75%).
Thanks
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 20:14:48 EST
From: jerryb7595 at aol.com
Subject: Be Happy
I was sitting here, reading my backlog of HBD, drinking a beer made of
cannabis and Laaglander extract which was brewed by a woman for a contest,
and I said to myself, "Life doesn't get any better than this."
Let's all acquire a sense of humor.
Jerry (jerryb7595 at aol.com)
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 17:27 EST
From: Jack Skeels <0004310587 at mcimail.com>
Subject: Less oxygen (gasp!)/Refrig. controls
Thanks to Mark Garetz for the Red Tail yeast info.
**
I'm a somewhat novice extract brewer, and am trying to reduce the oxidated
flavor in my brews. Having read as much as I can in the FAQ's, Papzian
(found zip), Miller (a bit better), and some back HBD's I am planning to do
the following:
1) Cool my wort to room temp, rather than 120 before
pouring through strainer into primary. I cool the
pot in a sink with cold running water (approx 20 min.)
2) Put a bottling tap on one of my plastic buckets
so that I don't get that spray from the plastic
spring valve.
3) Oxygen-absorbing bottle caps.
4) Purge the headspace in my secondary with CO2.
Am I doing the right things? Most important, is there something REALLY
effective that I've left out? Any other ideas? Also, is my hot extract
wort more immune to HSA than the thinner all-grain worts that you veterans
use?
Also, I'd like to do a PU-style lager, but lack the proper temperature
control on my fridge. Several brewshops have told me that there was a
controller on the market, but that it has been discontinued. Does anyone
know of an alternate source?? Was there an HBD thread on this??
TIA and good brews to all!
Jack Skeels (JSKEELS at MCIMAIL.COM)
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Date: 15 Feb 94 23:33:07 MST (Tue)
From: rcd at raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Subject: re: Sweetening meads
Tony Quinn offers some suggestions for sweet meads, to which I'll add my
own notes...
> Add boiled/pasteurized honey/water mixture on a recurring basis
> until such time as the little yeastie beasties keel over and stop
> fermenting - sort of liking madeira.
This is the standard way to approach sweet meads. Start off with a normal
must (somewhere in the 1.100- SG range) and as it ferments down, top it up
with new honey. A good time to do this is each time you rack the mead...
that way you top it up and keep the carboy headspace small.
I would suggest that when you consider the mead finished, you still use
potassium sorbate to stabilize it, against the possibility of the yeast
waking up and fermenting some more. Yes, this suggestion is based on
empirical results! I had a mead that I was *sure* had finished--it was
sweet; it seemed still; it hadn't done anything in a couple months. I
bottled it, and a couple months later, with some samples in the interim
showing carbonation, I noticed some bulging bottlecaps. So...carefully
open everything, back to the carboy, try to dissipate the CO2, stabilize,
re-bottle. (If you like cleaning bottles twice for one batch, you'll like
this approach. Otherwise, I don't recommend it:-)
> Use a less alcohol tolerant yeast - i.e. a white wine vice a
> champagne yeast.
This works, but it (obviously) limits the alcohol content...which takes
away some control. If you're aiming for a fairly sweet mead, you may want
the alcohol content to balance it.
> Treat with potassium sorbate and add sugar. Theoretically, at
> least, if the potassium sorbate is added to a completed fermentation
> and then additional sugar is added, no further fermemtations will
> start.
I suggest that any time you add sugar (or honey or xyzzy fermentable) you
use potassium sorbate. The vexing problem is that you don't know when the
yeast are *really* done...and it's an unpleasant surprise when they wake up
and start fermenting again.
> Add lactose?
Based on what I've done with beers, this will add some body and a little
sweetness, but it's the wrong sort of body and not enough sweetness. I'd
like to hear from folks who feel otherwise, but my past experience isn't
encouraging.
> Start the fermentation in the ranges where no hydrometer has ever
> gone before. <over 3lbs honey per gallon????>
I don't recommend this. If you're going to push the SG way up, do it in
the gradual way Tony suggested at the top. Yeast don't like going straight
into a very-high-SG must...what happens is that (if all goes well) you get
to the same end result as starting at a moderate SG and adding honey a bit
at a time, but the fermentation takes *much* longer. Mead takes long
enough as it is.
To be sure we're on the same terms, I assume that when Tony says "3lbs
honey per gallon" he means 3 lb per gallon of must (not 3 lb honey per
gallon of water). That's well up there.
I suggest starting with no more than a gallon of honey in a five-gallon
batch. In US measure (oops), it works out thus: The SG of honey is
slightly under 1.5, so a gallon is about 12 lb. That gives you 2.4 lb
honey per gallon of must, which will put your starting gravity at about
1.090. That's comfortable to work with, even if you've got other fer-
mentable material (such as fruit) in the must.
Whenever you're pushing the yeast, be sure there's enough nutrient, and
give a thought to pH of the must.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd at eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado USA
...Mr Natural says, "Get the right tool for the job!"
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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 10:40:03 +0000 (GMT)
From: cg0scs <G.A.Cooper at greenwich.ac.uk>
Subject: Wheat Malt Extract question
Strange as it may seem, although wheat malt extract is produced in the UK
it is not available over here. Munton & Fisons response was 'We only
produce that for the US market - there is no demand for it in the UK'.
Fortunately, I have a helpful homebrew shop nearby and she arranged for
Muntons to send her 6 cans. To my surprise, the label tells me that it
is a blend of 45% barley malt and 55% wheat malt.
The question: when you publish recipes which contain wheat malt extract
are you meaning 100% wheat malt extract, or this blend. I am assuming
the former.
TIA
Geoff
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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 94 08:31:44 EST
From: bszymcz%ulysses at relay.nswc.navy.mil (Bill Szymczak)
Subject: Re: DMS - Correction
Recently, I wrote (in response to a comment Al Korzonas wrote about DMS
production)
>I remember hearing or reading somewhere that ales are less
>suseptible to DMS primarily due to the higher kilning
>temperatures of pale ale malt which ``drives off'' some of the
>sulphur compounds which are precursors to DMS. Pilsener or lager
>malts are generally kilned at lower temperatures and DMS is more
>of a problem.
Not quite. According to Miller, its the length of the kilning of English
pale ale malt that leaves little s-methyl methionin (SMM) and dimethyl
sulfoxide (DSMO)- two chemical compounds, which, upon heating are converted into
DMS. German Pilsener malts are kilned at approximately the same temp
(178F) as Pale ale malts. Of course, with respect to extract brews, it
is often not known which type of malt was used, so some caution is well
advised.
Bill Szymczak
bszymcz at ulysses.nswc.navy.mil
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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 08:48:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Jim Griggers <brew at devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
Subject: Glatt malt mill
I would like to get in touch with people that have bought or used the
Glatt malt mill. I am having trouble with grain feeding properly, and
was wondering if this was a universal problem. The first mills shipped
had wide horizontal grooves. Glatt changed this to a knurled pattern, which
supposedly had a higher throughput. When my mill was new it worked great,
but now grain will not feed unless I apply pressure on the grain in the
feed hopper.
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
|\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/|
|Jim Griggers jdg at devine.columbiasc.ncr.com Columbia, SC|
|______________________________________________________________|
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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 94 09:17 EST
From: <GNT_TOX_%ALLOY.BITNET at PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Liquid Yeast Cultures
Further questions on liquid cultures. How good are Brewtek cultures?
Are they available in a "smack pack" or do they have to have a
starter? How about Yeast Labs? The YEAST.FAQ doesn't address this
issue.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 09:43:26 +0500
From: mwithers at hannibal.atl.ge.com (W. Mark Witherspoon)
Subject: Rambling notes...
Eugene Sonn <eugene at sccs.swarthmore.edu> asks about airlocks...
Eugene,
I hate to tell you this but even the most expensive
airlock availiable will do the same thing. Use either a larger
primary fermenter (mine is 7.5 gallons) or use a blowoff
tube for the first couple of days.
bjones at novax.llnl.gov (Bob Jones) asks about sterility...
cocci and pediococcus are airborn, ususally setteling with dust
on surfaces. Keeping the area as dust free as possible will
eliminate most of those bugs. Streaking plates and pulling just
the colonies off that you want and putting them into as sanitized
as possible starter cultures will help in elimiating the bacteria
that can infect your wort.
Lessard_Michael/HP-Exeter_s2 at om2.ch.apollo.hp.com asks about B&T's
Black and Tan is a term of a type of beer. It is actually 2 beers
in one, a Light/Amber lager and a Stout/Porter. The two types
that I have tried, Micheal Shea's and Sarnac's, are both excellent.
Notes:
Has anyone in the Rochester NY area found out if the Genesee Brewery
extended it's license out the the Genesee Country Village?? To those
who do not know, the Genesee Brewery setup an authentic late 1800
country brewery at that living museum. It has the capability of
600 gallons of brew (3 200 gallon vats) at a time. The people who
run that building are either homebrewers themselves or are the
brew-meisers for Genesee Brewery. They do go into quite a detail
on how it was done:
1. Water was pumped either from the well at the bottom of
the building or from the cistern, to the boiler near the top of the
building (2 stories tall).
2. When the water reached near boiling it was laddled by
the bucket full to the mash tun (300 gallon capciity), where it was
mixed with the malted grain (crushed at the local flour mill, not
ground to flour, just crushed).
3. After about 3-4 hours the plug at the bottom of the tun
was removed and the screen held back the grain and the grain was
sparged (they said rinsed) with more heated water. The wort was
channed to another tun for holding (about 300 gallons again).
4. The boiler with its 50 gallon capacity was then filled
with the wort from the holding tun and boiled for about an hour.
5. Then it was laddled down into a hop back filled with
hop cones and clean(!!) hay to strain out the hops.
6. The wort was then channeled down to the first floor to
the 200 gallon fermenters, yeast added and coverd with canvas (to
keep out the dust).
7. After it had finished fermenting, the ale/lager was then
put into casks in the basement and set there for aging. Once
properly aged, it was sent to the local taverns for sale.
The hop back was of interest to me, the design was this: a tray about
5-6 inches deep, set at about a 10 degree slant with a screen at the
end. The hay was set at the end with the screen and the hops above that.
The entire length was about 8 feet, with the hay taking up about 6
inches of space. The hopped wort was then channeled thru several trays set
at about 15 to 20 degrees for about 30-50 feet. The brewer said that this
was to help to cool the wort down.
Thanks for your time..
************************************************************************
|\ /| W. Mark Witherspoon | The opions expressed are of my
| |\ /| mwithers at hannibal.ATL.GE.COM | own not of my employer...
| | ATL (609)866-6676 | This sig will self destruct...*
I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's
a knob called "brightness", but it doesn't work.
-- Gallagher
It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by
twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
-- R. Serling (creator of the Twilight Zone)
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1352, 02/18/94