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


Contents:
  Alchohol Spray/Steeping Special Malts (maitlandf)
  results of question on Brettanomyces (Joel Birkeland)
  question on mailing (BILL FUHRMANN)
  WORLD-WIDE BREW CLUB LIST (Brian Schlueter)
  Problems with. . . (MAJ TJ CREAMER)
  Reinheitsgebot/High Altitude Brewing (npyle)
  hydrometers, nerds, and antiquity (philosophy ramble) (Laura E Conrad)
  Iodine; 10 gallon batches (AYLSWRTH)
  re nerds/antiquity (Chip Hitchcock)
  rheinheitsgebot (sp?) (James Clark)
  Bock im Stein bottles (Cree-ee-py Boy)
  MICROMASHER (Jack Schmidling)
  Isinglass (George Kavanagh O/o)
  Re: old coffee machine auto-spargers (Ed Hitchcock)
  Bride's Ale (PFLUGER)
  root beer (Sean Rooney)
  drilling (SCHREMPP_MIKE/HP4200_42)
  Plastic Buckets/B-Brite/Ice Beer/James Page Kit Esters (korz)
  information ("Eric J. Wickham")
  Wyeast 3056 (Wolfe)
  Sierra Nevada Porter/Chestnut Brown Ale (Jack Skeels)
  nitrogen/CO2 mix (Brian Bliss)
  Even cheaper carboys (snystrom)
  Shelf Life (Paul Merrifield)
  carbonation & 3 other questions (RADAMSON)


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Please don't send me requests for back issues - you will be silently ignored.
For "Cat's Meow" information, send mail to lutzen at novell.physics.umr.edu



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


Date: Fri, 25 Feb 94 17:11:10 EST
From: maitlandf at aol.com
Subject: Alchohol Spray/Steeping Special Malts

Ok, two questions-
first- someone was talking about alchohol spray for sterilizing.  Why do you
dilute the alchohol in the first place?  And as well, do you have to use
sterile water?

Second-I have been reading about brewing with specialty malts.  Papazian says
to mix with cold water and bring to a boil, but other people say to steep for
various amounts of time at about 150 degrees.  What's the difference here? 
If you were mashing, you would boil the malt.  Why the difference with malt
extract brewing?

Thanks, Mait
MaitlandF at aol.com

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Date: Fri, 25 Feb 94 17:22:11 MST
From: birkelan at adtaz.sps.mot.com (Joel Birkeland)
Subject: results of question on Brettanomyces


I would like to thank everyone who responded to my questions about the 
Brettanomyces Bruxellensis culture available from Wyeast.  Several people
took a lot of time to give lengthy and very informative responses; too
lengthy to include here, actually.  I would like to try and summarize,
hoping that I do not introduce too much distortion:

1) To make a p-Lambic, many suggested using a Wyeast ale culture, a Wyeast
Brett. culture, and a GW Kent Pedio. culture.  The details are summarized
in the Lambic Digest FAQ.

2) Use Brett. in the secondary for an old ale or porter.

3) The taste has been described as sweaty horse blanket.

4) Fermentation times are long, of the order of 1 year.

Finally, I didn't mean to sound petulant when I said that I had asked
earlier and got no responses.

Thanks for all of the help,

Joel Birkeland

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Date: Fri, 25 Feb 1994 12:19:00 GMT
From: BILL.FUHRMANN at tstation.mn.org (BILL FUHRMANN)
Subject: question on mailing

TO: homebrew-request@ hpfcmi.fc.hp.com

Is it possible to get the digest sent out un-digested?  That is,
is it possible to get the individual messages mailed out.

The sysop of the BBS I use has set up a conference that captures the
HBD for all of us who are interested.  However, since the mail system
here only handles messages up to 100 lines in length, it breaks up
the digest at random points into shorter messages.  The system here
handles individual messages very well for reading and it would be nicer
to have the HBD that way.

 * QMPro 1.0 41-6621 * Assaulting expired equines

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 1994 18:05:36 +0000 (JST)
From: Brian Schlueter <schluetb at emh.kadena.af.mil>
Subject: WORLD-WIDE BREW CLUB LIST



                    WORLD-WIDE BREW CLUB LIST

            
              Just a reminder the time is ticking away!



                Have you entered your brew club?
                --------------------------------

     We need the following info to make the list complete!


               1) Brew Club Name or Sponsor
               2) Snail Mail Address
               3) # of Members
               4) Do you want a copy ?
     (NEW)     5) Information on club meetings..When?, Where?, What?
     (NEW)     6) Your sources


            Send to: schluetb at emh.kadena.af.mil

If you do not belong to a club, personals will be accepted, We got to
know who's out there to get you intouch with a your local club!


     TO PROMOTE THE SACRED ART OF ZYMURGY.......We All Must BREW-ON!

Thank you for your prompt response!

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Date: Sat Feb 26 06:13:08 1994
From: ht6141 at eecs1.eecs.usma.edu (MAJ TJ CREAMER)
Subject: Problems with. . .

>. . .(now how to say this delicately?). . .not being able to burp!

     Let me explain, a freshly brewed malt extract (Midlands Brown Ale from 
James Paige Brewing Co.) produces this effect in the two tasters thus far:

          There tends to be this increasing pressure feeling either between the
shoulder blades or right about where people get the feeling they want to burp, 
but can't!!!


Anybody ever have a batch that results in this prob?  Is this an infection of 
sorts (even though my bottles/brew appear to be crystal clear)?

This is such an annoyance, that I am about to trash the whole brew, and start 
over.


                                                  TJ

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 94 9:56:45 MST
From: npyle at n33.stortek.com
Subject: Reinheitsgebot/High Altitude Brewing

Dave Smucker writes:

>In HBD #1355 Dan Z. Johnson comments about " Reinheitsgebot "
>and how there are good beers in countries without it.  True,
>but have you ever had a BAD beer in Germany? Have you ever had
>a BAD BAD beer in the good old USA?  Yep!!  Enough said.

This is meaningless to the homebrewer.  Abiding with Reinheitsgebot, you can
make an absolutely undrinkable beer.  You can also make a classic.  Ignoring
it, you can make an absolutely worthless beer.  You can also make a classic.
Is this disputable?  I don't think so.  My conclusion:  Reinheitsgebot is not
the determining factor in making fine beer, therefore it is not meaningful to
me.  It is worthy of a foonote, for curiosity sake.  People love to bash
Charlie Papazian in this forum, but he has taught me that making good beer
requires very few rules.  No, this is not "enough said", but it is for now.

**

Don Put mentions that high altitudes affect hop utilization.  I presume this
is correct due to the lower boiling point of water, but he does not say.  I
brew at around 5000 feet, so I'd be interested more information in this
area.

Norm

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 1994 12:59:02 -0500
From: lconrad at world.std.com (Laura E Conrad)
Subject: hydrometers, nerds, and antiquity (philosophy ramble)

I think it is exactly such intuitive processes as you describe that
cookbooks are intended to "teach" beginners. 

My grandmother (who grew up on a farm in Poland) never used a cookbook
in her life, and we have essentially lost some of her recipes, because
she wasn't able to describe them in cookbook terms, and she also
wasn't good at teaching in person.  (If you weren't doing something
right, she would come and do it for you.)  (It didn't help that she
lived in a different state all the time I was growing up.)

But the people who write cookbooks have done some thinking about how
you describe these things to beginners who are in a different state
from their mothers and grandmothers, or are doing something their
families didn't do.  Some of this thinking is better than others. The
soft ball stage for when to stop cooking fudge is nothing like as good
as a thermometer.  But the people who wrote that fudge recipe were
thinking that having to buy a thermometer might really be a barrier to
someone who wanted to see what making fudge was like.  If we want to
expand the brewing community, we need to at least try to figure out
what the barriers to TRYING it are, and how we can make it easier,
even if it involves some compromises with the way a really committed
brewer would brew.

			Laura

lconrad at world.std.com		
lconrad at epoch.com

 ...
   Moreover, it's true that people made beer for centuries (millenia, even)
   without any fancy aids, but it's also the case that brewing used to be a
   normal home activity.  Everyone was exposed to it from youth on, so they
   had day-to-day experience with the process.  They didn't suddenly wake up
   in their early 20's to the realization that they could make beer, and have
   to start from scratch.  (You can think of what we're doing in HBD as over-
   coming cultural deprivation.:-)  Moreover, they had a lot more bad beer
   back then than we want to deal with now!

   Taking another angle on this:  I've brewed now and then for about 15 years.
   I use some recipes and about an average number of gadgets.  But when I bake
   bread, the only things I really measure are yeast if I use pre-measured
   packets, and oven temperature.  Ingredient measures really are "this much
   in the hand" of salt and "a glop like this" of oil, "yo much" water, and
   so on.  Now, several points about this, relevant to brewing:
     * I've been making bread for 35 years.  Along the way, it's gotten to
       where I don't need to measure ingredients, use a thermometer on the
       liquid for the yeast, time the rising, etc.  That doesn't mean these
       factors aren't checked; it just means I have enough experience to know
       them without a measuring device.  And yes, I screwed up enough along
       the way...as often as not even *with* recipes.
 ... 
    * I can't teach anyone to make bread effectively, because by now so much
       of the process is intuitive that I don't know what to describe.  It
       would be a lot easier if I were less sure of myself.  You may work
       intuitively, but you can't teach intuition.
   - ---
   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: Sat, 26 Feb 94 13:18:23 EST
From: AYLSWRTH at MANVM2.VNET.IBM.COM
Subject: Iodine; 10 gallon batches

I was in a local homebrew supply shop yesterday and they had a
sanitizer (can't remember the brandname - Iodosphor or something?)
whose active ingredient is based on iodine.  The owner claims that
he uses is himself and that it does not require rinsing.  I have
been using bleach and rinsing well with hot water afterwards and
never had problems.  But, the idea of using something that does
not require rinsing is appealing.  So, my question is, does anyone
out there use this stuff?  What do you think of it?  Do you rinse?
My main concern would be that it might add off-flavors to the beer,
is this a real concern?

Also, I have been looking to move up to 10 gallon batches.  Since
I like to boil all my wort, I would like suggestions from people
on what they are using to boil 10 gallons.  I am currently living
in an apartment with an electric stove, that actually does quite
well for 5 gallons - better than electric stoves I have used.
Next month I will be moving into a house with a gas stove (my
main requirement when looking to buy a house!).  Will the gas
stove be able to bring 11.5 gallons of wort to a boil reasonably
quickly, and keep a good rolling boil going for an hour?  Or
should I invest in one of these King Cooker things?  Also, how
much should I expect to pay for a 12-15 gallon stainless steel
pot?  Any other suggestions or recommendations from 10 gallon
batch brewers?

Thanks,


Thomas Aylesworth
Dept. PX8/Space Processor Software Engineering
Federal Systems Company, Manassas, VA
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet: aylswrth at manvm2.vnet.ibm.com  |  PROFS: AYLSWRTH at MANVM2
Phone:    (703) 367-6171                |  T/L:   725-6171

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 94 14:27:24 EST
From: cjh at diaspar.HQ.ileaf.com (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: re nerds/antiquity

Good points, but are you aware of the old German regulation that actually
did use the seat of the pants? A little of the beer was to be poured out
and sat in by the inspector (wearing leather pants, according to both
sources I've read); the quality was measured by whether the pants stuck to
the surface for a moment when the inspector stood up. I'm not making this
up(*), and the two sources I got it from would be impeccable if it weren't
that they disagreed about the calibration: one says that pants sticking
meant the beer hadn't fermented out, and the other said pants not sticking
meant the beer was too watery.

Can anyone authoritatively support/debunk this story? Reply to cjh at ileaf.com
and I'll summarize (if I get anything).

* visualize Anna Russell, in the middle of trying to explain Wagner's DER
RING DES NIBELUNGEN, saying "I'm not making this up, you know!" while the
audience has hysterics....

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 1994 11:53:55 -0500
From: jeclark at bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu (James Clark)
Subject: rheinheitsgebot (sp?)

and to think that i took five years of german and am not sure of the spelling!
anyways, i only caught the tail end of this thread, so if my $0.02 is
irrelivant to what was actually being discussed...oh well:

a friend of mine introduced me to anderson valley's oatmeal stout.  it was
the most heavenly beer i had ever tasted (at the time).  i was so excited
that i told a german friend of mine about it.  much to my surprise he went
absolutely ape s%#t.  he told me that oatmeal had no place in beer and that
real beer only had malt, hops, water, blah, blah.  
i guess what i'm trying to say is that the rheinheitsgebot is not
neccessarily a bad thing, but a lot of people take it way too seriously,
and i have a hard time accepting this kind of extremist mentality. 
here's an example (although not from germany):  has anyone out there tasted
"winterhook ale"  (brewed by seatle brewing co. i think?).  this beer had
only hops, water, barley and yeast, but it had no flavor, no body and was
thoroughly uninteresting and even a little unpleasant to drink (imho).  
i think good beer involves a lot more that just following a strict set of
guidelines.

happy brewing (and drinking)

- --james


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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 1994 14:58:46 -0600 (CST)
From: Cree-ee-py Boy <BIRMINGH at FNALV.FNAL.GOV>
Subject: Bock im Stein bottles

Carl Howes asks about Bock im Stein bottles:

>    Is there anyone
>    out  there who has tried this or has enough knowledge about stoneware
>    who  can tell me if these can be reasonably sanitized?  i.e. will my
>    standard  bleach solution do the trick, or should I use heat, or just
>    toss the idea?   TIA.

         I busted one of these bottles open with a hammer once, and they
    are glazed on the inside. They ought to do just fine with the standard
    bleach solution, but you have to be meticulous about keeping them
    clean, because you can never know whether or not they are dirty
    otherwise. 

                                                     Phillip Birmingham

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 94 18:20 CST
From: arf at mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: MICROMASHER

 
 Not sure just what to call it but a scaled UP version of the EASYMASHER is 
 now available for the bold and adventuresome microbrewery or brew pub 
 operator.  I know of no reason why it will not work as well as the homebrew 
 version but I have no way of proving it here.  I am looking for a micro 
 operator willing to give it a try.  Like the homebrew version, it is all 
 brass, stainless and copper and requires only a drill and a wrench to install 
 it.
 
 It seems to me that it would appeal most to the extract brewer who wants to 
 get into all grain but doesn't have $5000 to spend on a mash/lauter tun.  The 
 same kettle used to boil the wort can be used to mash and lauter.
 
 For more info email or phone,
 
 Jack Schmidling    (312) 685 1878
 
 

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Date: 27 Feb 1994 09:57:17
From: George Kavanagh O/o <George.Kavanagh at omail.wang.com>
Subject: Isinglass

Can anyone relate the merits, problems, and methods of use of isinglass
finings?  I have read TNCJOHB entry, but am curious for more info.
I have a boottle of a liquid preparation of "Isinglass Finings" packaged
by Wines, Inc. of Akron, OH.  Label sez to use 1 tsp per gallon of beer.
When?  Just before bottling, or should I let it rest awhile between
adding the finings & bottling?
 
Thanks!
 -gk

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 11:19:52 -0400
From: Ed Hitchcock <ECH at ac.dal.ca>
Subject: Re: old coffee machine auto-spargers

My fellow countryman Glenn Anderson has taken up the challenge of building 
a SPARGATRON 6000 (The name is tongue in cheek, yes).  However, there is 
one aspect of coffee-maker physics that I had better re-explain.
	The way a coffee maker works is that water expands in the element, 
and is forced out (to your coffee grounds) because there is a check valve 
preventing backflow to the reservoir.  Thus for homebrewing purposes, the 
reservoir and the element NEED NOT BE ABOVE THE MASH TUN.  They all sit side 
by side on the counter.  I'm glad Glenn got his to work as a flow-through 
heater, and that is how he probably got higher temps.  But for me, the real 
fun is that I don't have to have three fifferent levels for reservoir-   
lauter tun- boiler, since the reservoir and lauter tun sit on the 
same counter.
	Also, the SPARGATRON 6000 behaves like a coffee maker in that it  
burbles and spits in little bursts, which drives my dog nuts.

			    /=======\
	|	|	    |	|   	|
	|	|	    |	|	|
	|	|	    |	|	|
	|	|	____|_	|	|
	|_______|=======|____|  |_______|
	reservoir      sparger   lautertun
____________   
Ed Hitchcock	ech at ac.dal.ca	| Oxymoron:  Draft beer in bottles. |
Anatomy & Neurobiology		| Pleonasm:  Draft beer on tap.     |
Dalhousie University, Halifax	|___________________________________|


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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 12:02:07 -0500 (EST)
From: PFLUGER at delphi.com
Subject: Bride's Ale



A few months ago, I read somewhere about an interesting colonial tradition.
It seems it was customary to brew a special ale for wedding celebrations.
The article claimed this "bride's ale" was eventually shortened to "bridal,"
and was the origin of the modern word.

My former brewing partner is getting married soon, and I want to brew a
special bride's ale for the occasion.  Unfortunately, the article I read did
not say what, if anything, was unique about a bride's ale.  

Does anyone know of this tradition, and specifically how to make a bride's
ale?  Recipes would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if anyone doesn't know of the tradition, but has a recipe they think
would lend itself to a wedding celebration, send it along.

********************************************
**  Greg Pfluger  **  PFLUGER at DELPHI.COM  **
********************************************
 

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 11:14:30 -0600
From: Sean.Rooney at uic.edu (Sean Rooney)
Subject: root beer

Does anyone have a recipe for making root beer from scratch, i.e. using
roots and herbs rather than root beer extract?

TIA


Sean Rooney
University of Illinois at Chicago
Department of Genetics
U33388 at uicvm.uic.edu



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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 94 17:59:00 +0000
From: SCHREMPP_MIKE/HP4200_42 at ptp.hp.com
Subject: drilling

Here's two tips for drilling metal (stainless or not).

1. Drill a pilot hole. I always drill a small hole (about 1/16") before going
   for anything bigger. This way the larger bit gets a better bite. Take a look
   at the business end of your larger bits, they usually have a "flat" spot
   where the two cutting edges meet. Without the pilot hole, this part has to
   cut metal, and it doesn't do this very well. For holes bigger than 1/4"
   I usually make two pilot holes, first 1/16, then 1/4. Try it, you'll like it.

2. When I took a machine shop class way back when, I learned a rule for cutting
   metal...  ...FEED, NOT SPEED. What this means, is that to cut metal faster,
   increase the rate at which the cutting surface is pushed into the metal. This
   means pushing harder on a drill, or pushing a saw harder along the cut path.
   The NOT SPEED half means don't go to higher RPM on a drill or faster up and
   down on the saw. This only generates more heat, which will take the temper
   out of the cutting edge and leave you with a dull balde or bit.

3. (I lied about just two tips). The bigger the bit, the slower the RMP on the
   drill. There is an optimum speed for cutting. This is the speed the cutting
   edge of the drill bit goes around the hole, and is the RPM times the radius
   from the center of the bit to where the cuttung edge is working. Find the
   best speed by watching the shavings coming off the drill bit. They should be
   long and curly, not little pieces. In general, USE LOWER RPM (See tip #2).
   For a 1/2" bit, you should be to down around 60 RPM. That's one revolution
   per second. With this low speed, its important to have that pilot hole (see
   tip #1) because the center of the bit is now going way to slow to cut much
   of anything.


Mike Schrempp

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 94 12:18 CST
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: Plastic Buckets/B-Brite/Ice Beer/James Page Kit Esters

OWEN writes:
>Derek Sheehan wrote to ask what was so awful about using plastic buckets 
>for primary fermentation, and went on to say that he had excellent 
>results from plastic. So do I. Some oxygen probably does diffuse through 
>the sides, but not enough to matter, and in any case the wort is 
>saturated with CO2 and can't take up much oxygen.

Some oxygen does diffuse through the sides of a plastic fermenter, but
it's not correct to say that "the wort is saturated with CO2 and can't
take up much oxygen."  I'm afraid that's not how gasses and liquids
work.  Leaving your beer in a plastic fermenter for a short amount of
time (1 to 2 weeks) won't harm the beer too much, and actually, there's
quite a bit more danger of oxygen effect on finished beer than on fermenting
beer -- the oxygen will combine with the alcohol in the finished beer to
create aldehydes which are rather unwelcome flavors/aromas in beer.

>Camden tablets and 
>citric acid seem to do an adequate job of disinfecting. Boiling water 
>works well too, and is quite safe on polypropylene.

Campden tablets will sanitize the water (or juice or whatever) they are
put into, but the liquid is not a very good sanitizer.  Using citric
acid is a new one on me, but I suspect that the concentration you need
for sanitizing is too high to make citric acid economically feasable
as a sanitizer.  Indeed, boiling water is a good sanitizer, but most
(not all) plastic fermenters in the US are polyethylene and not
polypropylene (not that this means you cannot use boiling water to
sanitize them -- it's just that HDPE tends to get very soft at boiling
water temperatures).

>Stainless steel looks 
>good and is probably easier to clean, but for home brewing in 4-gallon 
>lots, plastic is fine. Just make sure it's food grade and doesn't have 
>nasty toxic plasticizers that can leach out into your beer. 

Overally, I agree that if you don't keep the beer in them too long,
plastic fermenters are fine and use a 20 gallon one for my big batches,
but am very concious to not scratch it and rack the beer into glass
secondaries or kegs as soon as primary fermentation is over.

*****
Ken writes:
>I am using B-Brite for the first time instead of bleach.  Should I let it
>dry or rinse it?  I have a batch of stout in my secondary that I cleaned
>with B-Brite.  The outside has a few milky stains where I didn't wipe it
>off.  I did thoroughly rinse the carboy, but I have something similiar
>INSIDE the carboy.  It's even below the level of the beer.  It's a ribbed
>carboy and it's right below both ribs and it'a definately on the inside.  Is
>this from the B-brite? 

Yes, the milky stains are carbonates.  Personally, I rinse when I sanitize
with B-Brite or One-Step sanitizers, but in the wintertime, my water has
proven to be virtually microbiologically inactive.  If you have bacteria
in your water, you may want to use boiled, cooled water or cheap industrial
beer.  I use One-Step (virtually the same as B-Brite), but limit contact
time to 5-10 minutes, then I rinse a lot.  If you leave the stuff in the
container for a while, I think that might be where the problems arise.
 
***********
Several people wrote about ice beer.  From my conversation with a person
from Anheuser-Busch (just some sap giving out samples at a beer show), the
beer is filtered after being chilled to below freezing and some of the
ice is thus removed.  He said that they put back most of the water however,
but that this (in addition to their using corn instead of rice) makes the
beer smoother.  I reluctantly tasted it, and recall that it had less flavor
than their regular beer (which, in the case of Bud, is a good thing), but
that I would rather drink water.

In no way should the new NorthAmerican Ice Beers be confused with true
Eisbocks from Germany (I have not had the opportunity to try Niagra's,
so I will withold judgement).  Bottom line (in my book): american ice
beers are just one more fad.  A recent trend by the majors that includes
such entries as Miller Velvet Stout, on the other hand, I feel are a
"good thing" since they are a stepping stone for swill-drinkers to reach
for real beer flavor such as Sierra Nevada, Youngs, Chimay, etc.

********
BUCK writes:
	**** I HAVE BREWED A FEW OF JAMES PAGE KITS.  EASY TO USE. GREAT 
	EASY TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS FOR A NEW HOMEBREWER.  I DISLIKED THE PALE
	ALE THEY HAVE IN KIT FORM.  THE BEER HAD EXTREME FRUITY ESTERS.  WAS
	THIS DUE TO THE YEAST SUPPLIED BY JAMES PAGE OR WAS IT TO WARM IN THE
	HOUSE WHILE FERMENTATION WAS UNDERWAY?

Could be both.  Higher fermentation temperatures will increase ester
production of any yeast.  Some yeasts produce lots of esters even at 63F,
others produce few esters at temperatures as high as 70F.

Al.

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Date:         Sun, 27 Feb 94 14:01:20 EST
From: "Eric J. Wickham" <34R7ENG at CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      information

I'm considering purchasing a brewing kit to brew beer.  At what temperarures
must it be kept at?  Does it need to be heated or refridgeratered?

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Date: 27 Feb 94 13:15 CST
From: Wolfe at act-12-po.act.org
Subject: Wyeast 3056

     I've brewed 2 batches of wheat beer with the Wyeast 3056.  Niether has
had much of a banana or clove taste to it.  The first had a very slight
amount of clove esters (I fermented it at around 65F).  The second had
virtually no esters (I fermented it around 58F like the yeast FAQ
suggested).  Could anyone who has used a different wheat yeast and had
better results give me a suggestion?  What about temperatures for the other
yeasts described in the yeast FAQ?  Does anyone have data points for
good/bad results with other wheat yeasts?

Ed Wolfe
Iowa City, Iowa

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 94 14:20 EST
From: Jack Skeels <0004310587 at mcimail.com>
Subject: Sierra Nevada Porter/Chestnut Brown Ale

Greetings Homebrewers,

A big thanks to Tony Babinec for the great SNPA recipe he posted in early
Feb, which I converted to Extract-based (6 lbs Alexander's LME, O.G.=1.050).
Looks and smells like a great batch! (Dave Shaver will you ever send the
three of us (awaiting) your recipe?)

Does anyone have an extract (or otherwise) recipe for SN Porter?  I've just
fallen in love with this beer.

Also, I attended the recent Karnival of Beers in Fullerton (CA), and enjoyed
the wonderful selection of beers. Digressing for a moment, it was a decent
event, the food looked greasy and dismal, but they gave each person about 50
tasting coupons -- did anybody use them all up??  But,... there was a
wonderful beer there called "Chestnut Brown Ale", with a great light-nut
flavor to it.  Unfortunately I don't remember the brewery's name.  Does
anyone have a recipe for this or something like it?  Recommendations from
the Cat's Meow??

Thanks for being there!

Jack Skeels
JSKEELS at MCIMAIL.COM
        "HBD --> My favorite Rest Area on the Information Superhighway"

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 14:44:03 -0600
From: bliss at pixel.convex.com (Brian Bliss)
Subject: nitrogen/CO2 mix


what is the proper storage/dispensing pressure for Guinness
when using a N2/CO2 mix?  is it different from the "normal"
10-15 psi used to store other brews at, and if so, is this
because of the gas mixture or just a Guinness pecularity?

bb


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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 94 17:56:25 EST
From: snystrom at aol.com
Subject: Even cheaper carboys

In HBD 1343 Michael D. Hansen states he found  5 gallon carboys for $10.99 at
Waccamaw in Rolling Meadows. 
I don't know about the rest of the country, but my source of even cheaper
carboys is Corning-Revere Factory stores, when the going price is 8.99, a
savings of . . . $2*!!!!!

Standard disclaimers apply

Happy carboy hunting!

Scott

*A product of Mexico

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Date: 	Sun, 27 Feb 1994 14:03:00 -0500
From: paul.merrifield at onlinesys.com (Paul Merrifield)
Subject: Shelf Life

Why is it that the beer brewed at U-BREWS have such a short shelf life
of about three months yet if I brew the same extract beer at home it
takes that long to age let alone keep for a year or so?
Sure one is primed and the other forced corbonated but is this the
answer and why? Is it the poorer sanitary conditions at U-BREWS?
I would like some thoughts on this.
paul.merrifield at onlinesys.com London Ont. Canada

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 19:40:18 -0500 (EST)
From: RADAMSON at delphi.com
Subject: carbonation & 3 other questions

A brew friend of mine has a problem. He's 5 ale-batches along and
every one is becoming over-carbonated at about the
2-month-in-bottle stage. He has tried varying his headspace from
 .5" to 2" within the same batch; regularly primes with corn sugar 
 at  5/8 cup to each _6 Gal_ batch.  All are extract ales with some
partial mashes (a lb or 2 extra grain).  His secondary goes from 2
to 3 weeks and SG stays put for 3-4 days, usually around 1.014-8.
And all still the same result. Even his temperatures are normal
(69F for 5 days after bottling and then to the 58F basement for
storage).

He's getting concerned that he can't keep any batch of beers longer 
than 3 months, and what will he do for the summer?! (I told him to 
keep brewing).

I've suggested longer periods in secondary (mine are known to go
around 8), or cut down on priming sugar (I prefer lessor carbs
too).  Oh, this might matter - he does concentrated wort boils and 
adds about 3 gal cold water to make 6 gal.  (I'm just trying to add
the things he does differently than I - since mine are
"under-carb'd").

"Isn't anybody gonna help this poor man?" "Quiet, Harriet - That's a
sho-nuff way to get him killed."

Man, the things we have to worry about...!

Thanks,

Rick Adamson;  Brewer, Patriot, and '94 Steelers Fan (stuck in LongIsland).
RADAMSON at delphi.com

P.S. I had a couple questions for myself:

  1)  If I've forgotten to take a final SG reading at bottling time,
       can I get a valid one from a 'finished' bottle - you know - 
       later, when I pour one to enjoy?
       
  2)  When, in the brewing process, would one add fruit extract 
      to, say, a stout?       

  3)  And, when (as above) would one add malto-dextrin (not grain) to,
      say, a stout?

Thanks, again.            

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1360, 02/28/94