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


Contents:
  NDN: Homebrew Digest #1588 (November 25, 1994) (Gateway)
  Re: Raspberry ale disaster (Gary Bell)
  Blowoff, proteins, head retent. (ALKinchen)
  Mashing Technique (MikeB10468)
  re: hop propagation (Caleb Slater)
  Re: blow-off (Dion Hollenbeck)
  Pectic Enzymes (Ward Weathers)



******************************************************************
* NEW POLICY NOTE: Due to the incredible volume of bouncing mail,
* I am going to have to start removing addresses from the list
* that cause ongoing problems. In particular, if your mailbox
* is full or your account over quota, and this results in bounced
* mail, your address will be removed from the list after a few days.
* 
* If you use a 'vacation' program, please be sure that it only
* sends a automated reply to homebrew-request *once*. If I get
* more than one, then I'll delete your address from the list.
******************************************************************
 
Send articles for __publication_only__ to homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
  (Articles are published in the order they are received.)
Send UNSUBSCRIBE and all other requests, ie, address change, etc.,
  to homebrew-request@ hpfcmi.fc.hp.com, BUT PLEASE NOTE that if
  you subscribed via the BITNET listserver (BEER-L at UA1VM.UA.EDU),
  then you MUST unsubscribe the same way! 
If your account is being deleted, please be courteous and unsubscribe first.
FAQs, archives and other files are available via anonymous ftp from 
  sierra.stanford.edu. (Those without ftp access may retrieve files via 
  mail from listserv at sierra.stanford.edu.  Send HELP as the body of a 
  message to that address to receive listserver instructions.) 
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: 25 Nov 1994 01:33:14 -0000
From: Gateway at foxmail.gfc.edu (Gateway)
Subject: NDN: Homebrew Digest #1588 (November 25, 1994)

Sorry. Your message could not be delivered to:

ymoriya,George Fox College (The name was not found at the remote site. Check
that the name has been entered correctly.)


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 09:38:29 -0800
From: gbell at ix.netcom.com (Gary Bell)
Subject: Re: Raspberry ale disaster



- -- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary Bell                   "Quis dolor cui dolium?"
Lake Elsinore, CA                
(909) 674-3637 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 13:50:24 -0500
From: ALKinchen at aol.com
Subject: Blowoff, proteins, head retent.

The proteins that form the head foam are denatured (retain their chemical
composition, but change shape) during foam formation. That is, they are only
free to form foam once.

That said, krausen head has already used whatever head forming proteins it
had and it doesn't matter whether it falls back or is blown off, it is useless
 for later foam forming in the glass.

Al Kinchen
ALKinchen at AOL.com

Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 17:28:26 -0500
From: MikeB10468 at aol.com
Subject: Mashing Technique

Hello all!

Just made my first all-grain brew last week after about 2 years of extract
brewing and I have a couple of questions about my  mashing technique. 

To start with, I am using the 5 gal. picnic cooler mash/lautering system with
the Phil's Phalse bottom and sparge arm arrangement. (No affiliation, just a
happy customer of course). Anyway, to make my first run as simple as
possible, I decided to make a pale ale using a highly modified grain so I
could use a one-step infusion mash. Used 10 lbs. Klage's malt along with a
pound of Cara-Pils Dextrine malt for the mash along with 3 gallons of 175F
water treated with 1 tsp. gypsum. I alternately added the water and grist to
the cooler and the temperature settled down at about 156F. I thought this
might be a little too high so I added a quart of tap water and that dropped
the temp to 152F. After 1 hr. the iodine test showed some purplish black
color so I continued to let it go a bit longer. Well, it didn't show complete
conversion until over 90 minutes. pH was recorded at 5.0-5.5 during the mash.
I then began to sparge with water at 175F, (4-5 gals. total), and this took
about 50 minutes to accomplish with no problems along the way. By the way, I
did not do a mash-out at 168-170F for this batch but plan to in future
batches. I then proceded with  the boil the usual way.

My questions are:
     1) Should the mash have taken this long to convert to sugars using such
a highly modified malt? Was expecting 45-60 mins.
     2) Should I have mashed at the higher temperature, 156F, initially instea
d of lowering it to 150-152F?
     3) Would I have gained anything by doing a 2 step mash with a protein res
t for this grain?
     4) Is Klage's malt an American 2-Row or British 2-row pale malt?
     5) Using the picnic cooler method, would it be preferable to add boiling
water to the cooler achieve mash-out or should I remove some of  the sweet
wort, bring it to a boil and return to the cooler to accomplish mash-out?

For this first all-grain batch, it took me about 6 hours from start to finish
compared to the usual 4 hours for extract brewing. Despite the extra time
involved, I found all-grain brewing quite fun and hope this brew will be
rewarding when finally done.

TIA for any help in improving my technique for future all-grain batches.

 -=/\/\ike B.=-                   MikeB10468 at aol.com                    Mike
Branigan/East Greenwich, RI


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 15:10:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Caleb Slater <slaterc at ucs.orst.edu>
Subject: re: hop propagation


	I have been growing my own hops for about five years now and have 
given root cuttings to all of my brewing friends.  All you have to do is 
dig around and find some good sized roots, cut them off and plant them 
elsewhere.  Late winter (Feb. Mar.) is the recomended time of year, but 
Charlie Papazian recomends that you wait until year two or three before 
you start cutting at the roots.  I don't think it will be a problem as 
long as growth is good in your part of the world.  I live in Oregon's 
Willamette Valley, home of many commercial hop growers, and needles to 
say it grows well here.  I don't think I could kill my plants if I 
tried.  Every year more and more shoots apear.  I end up cutting back 
over 90%.  I leave only 3 shoots per plant (thats what the commercial 
folks do) and cut back the rest.  The real secret is to let each shoot 
climb as high as possible.  The commercial growers use 20' telephone 
poles with wires in between, kind of like a grape arbor but much taller.
Good luck.
Caleb Salter
Corvallis, OR


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 25 Nov 94 18:45:15 PST
From: hollen at megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Re: blow-off

>>>>> "Allan" == Allan Rubinoff <rubinoff at BBN.COM> writes:

Allan> Some commercial brewers apparently use blow-offs.  (I can't cite
Allan> specific brewers, but people have seen these on brewery tours.)  But I
Allan> suspect that even those brewers who do use blow-offs don't allow the
Allan> krausen to be blown off (unlike homebrewers).  This is just a guess --
Allan> anybody know for sure?

The two local microbreweries I am familiar with use blowoff hoses (2"
diam.) attached to the very top of the fermenter.  It goes down into a
trash can of bleach solution.  And yes, the krausen does get blown off
and sometimes overflows the trash can which causes some very blue
words from the brewer.  I have even stepped in it, so I know of what I
speak.

dion

Dion Hollenbeck (619)675-4000x2814     Email: hollen at megatek.com
Staff Software Engineer     Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California

Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 23:00:58 -0800 (PST)
From: Ward Weathers <psu01739 at odin.cc.pdx.edu>
Subject: Pectic Enzymes

Does anyone know from where pectic enzymes are derived?  
I have a fruit ale in mind, but I like to know _exactly_ 
what I am putting in my beer.  TIA

Ward Weathers

Return to table of contents

End of HOMEBREW Digest #1589, 11/26/94