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


Contents:
  Frequently asked questions and better beer ("Lee Bussy")
  Rhino Chasers Amber Ale... (Bob Bessette)
  The Outlaw's Brewing Woes (Andrew Patrick)
  RE: Better Sparger? (Rich Lenihan)
  Zymurgy Holiday Spiced Ale (MYETTE)
  Rhino Chasers Amber Ale... (Bob Bessette)
  high gravity (MicahM1269)



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


Date:          Sat, 24 Dec 1994 08:42:24 +0000
From: "Lee Bussy" <leeb at southwind.net>
Subject:       Frequently asked questions and better beer

I was laying in bed this morning musing some of the recent posts and 
conversations I have had in E-mail with those who have asked for 
help.  It is beyond me why someone would ask for help then argue.  
Here's my new "FAQ" and take it for what it's worth.

Q.  Do I have to do a full boil?  So and so says I don't.

A.  No, as a matter of fact, the extract was boiled once, that's 
enough, just pour it in the fermenter swirl it around with your arm 
and let'er rip.


Q.  Is liquid yeast really better?  A guy in my club says it doesn't 
matter.

A.  Nah, use that yeast under the cap.  Yeast is yeast right?  
Fleishman's bread yeast works well too.


Q.  Should I worry about my pH in the mash?  Jo Bob Swillmaker 
doesn't.

A.  RDWHAHB!  Tap water is fine.  You don't even need to check the 
temp.  Or do like CP and add 2 teaspoons of Gypsum to everything.  
I'm sure that will work.


Q.  Does it matter what type of mash I do for my Doppelbock?

A.  No.  A single temp infusion at whatever temperature you can get 
the grain to in your one gallon pot on the stove will work fine.  


Q.  Should I use dry Lager yeast?  It's cheaper.

A.  By all means! (Sorry George!)  Just throw that packet in there 
and give it a swirl.  Don't even have to worry about the fermentation 
temp!


Q.  Can I make an American Light Lager from a kit?

A.  Sure, don't worry about pesky things like yeast, adjuncts, color 
and such.  Those are just technicalities.


And by all means compete with these beers.  You probably have just 
as much a chance of winning as the person entering his triple 
decocted, all grain, lagered for two years doppelbock!  Those people 
are just show-offs anyway!

I now don my flame proof suit.  I don't really care how a person 
brews as long as he enjoys his beer.  That's the great thing about 
being a homebrewer.  I just get tired of seeing people ask questions 
then argue with the person that is trying to help.

Man!  I can hear them flames a coming! :)


 -Lee Bussy           |   The Homebrew Television Workshop Presents:         |
 leeb at southwind.net  |   The 4 Basic Foodgroups... Salt, Fat, Beer & Women  |
 Wichita, Kansas     |   A Special Documentary on Proper Diet.  This Week   |
 Super Brewer!       |   On your local PBS Station.  Check local listings.  |


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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1994 10:46:02 EST
From: Bob Bessette <bessette at amigo.uicc.com>
Subject: Rhino Chasers Amber Ale...

Fellow HBDers,
 I think I have a new favorite store-bought brew. It is called Rhino Chasers 
Amber Ale. It is made by Wiliam & Scott Co. Nowhere does it mention what hops 
are used but it does specify on the label that it is "Brewed in strict 
accordance with the German purity-law of 1516". Does anyone out there have an 
all-grain recipe for this ale? I heard this brew mentioned in the HBD and am 
very grateful to whoever recommended it. If you haven't had the opportunity I 
highly recommend it...


Bob Bessette (all-grainer and proud of it...)
bessette at uicc.com
Systems Analyst
Unitrode Integrated Circuits
Merrimack, NH 03087


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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1994 12:04:31 -0600 (CST)
From: Andrew Patrick <andnator at mcs.com>
Subject: The Outlaw's Brewing Woes

Dear Outlaw,

First of all, I'd say you are paying way to much attention to Charlie's 
book.  Except for the parts where he says "Relax, Don't, Worry, and Have 
a Homebrew".  Usually, I think people should worry a bit more, but you 
are overdoing it.

Your beer is probably going to turn out fine.  So you forgot to adjust 
your sparge water's acidity, and you left out the Irish moss.  Big deal.  
I have brewed beer without either of these things - and it _was_ rather 
cloudy, but it sure tasted good.

BTW, you didnt say what your water is like, but just chucking a bunch of 
gypsum into your sparge water never achieved the desired result in my 
experience.  We now use a _very_ dilute solution of phosphoric acid, and 
check it with a digital pH meter.  We know from experience that we need 
about 1.5 teaspoons of our acid solution to adjust the Libertyville, IL 
public water supply to a pH of 5.7 or so.  (It starts pretty high, at 
around 8.7).  Get a free analysis of your municipality's water from your 
local water authority, if you have not done so already.

We DO use gypsum for certain styles where a high carbonate water is 
desirable, but _only_ for those styles.  And dont chuck in 8 tablespoons 
of the stuff, you are making BEER, not CHALK, for Pete's sake!!

In general though, I think Charlie makes all grain brewing sound WAY 
harder than it has to be.  We dont bother measuring the gravity of our 
runoff unless we are curious for some reason, we never bother with the 
starch conversion test ("if you mash it right, it will convert!!"), and we 
make great beers.  Check out Dave Miller's book - it was the one I relied 
on most heavily when getting into all-grain procedures.

Hope that helps.

Andy Patrick (andnator at mcs.com)
Certified Beer Judge;  Brewing Instructor-College of DuPage County,IL
Founder, HomeBrew U BBS Network:
Chicago 708-705-7263, Houston 713-923-6418, Milwaukee 414-238-9074

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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1994 14:02:20 -0500
From: rich at lenihan.iii.net (Rich Lenihan)
Subject: RE: Better Sparger?

>From: Jeff Bonner <t3345 at fel1.nfuel.com>
>Subject: Better Sparger?
>
>I use two picnic coolers in my all grain brewery.  One is used as the mash tun,
>the other is my lauter tun.  I sparge by opening and closing the cooler
value to
>regulate flow.  The sparge water streams out and I mix as appropiate.  The
>sparging process is SLOW!  It takes about 1 hour to sparge.  Does anyone have
>a better way to sparge without using high temperature pumps?

I'm working on a tower system myself.  The heart of it will be a Gott cooler
that will do double-duty as mash/lauter tun.  I don't see any reason to perform
the two functions in separate vessels - it sort of defeats one of the main
advantages of mashing in a cooler - not having to transfer the mash.  What I
envision is this:

        1.  Heat mash water in boiling vessel.
        2.  Mix water and grains in Gott cooler mash/lauter tun.
        3.  Heat more water for sparging in boiler.
        4.  Transfer water from boiler to second cooler via gravity.
        5.  Lift second cooler _physically_ (perhaps with some kind of
            pulley arrangement) to a height greater than mash/lauter tun.
        6.  Sparge from second cooler (sparge tank) to lauter tun via gravity.
        7.  Run wort from mash tun to boiler

The advantage to this system (that I see) is that I don't have to worry about
the expense and potential heat loss of a pump.  The disadvantages I see
are the risks involved in moving a large volume of near-boiling water and the
potential heat loss in the sparge tank.  I'll report next year on how I make
out.

Hope this helps...

 -Rich


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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1994 22:34:31 -0500 (EST)
From: MYETTE at delphi.com
Subject: Zymurgy Holiday Spiced Ale

If any of you have seen the Zymurgy Special Issue that has the Holiday Spiced
Ale, using Vanilla beans and Nutmeg, and Mace, the recipe mentions use of "Ale 
Yeast", but which Ale Yeast to use? 

There are a bunch of Liquid ones out there, does anyone have any good ones to
try with this recipe. Also would anyone modify this recipe and if so how?


Please tell me soon, I want to make it next week.

Myette at delphi.com

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Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 11:06:17 EST
From: Bob Bessette <bessette at hawk.uicc.com>
Subject: Rhino Chasers Amber Ale...


Fellow HBDers,
 I think I have a new favorite store-bought brew. It is called Rhino Chasers 
Amber Ale. It is made by William & Scott Co. Nowhere does it mention what hops 
are used but it does specify on the label that it is "Brewed in strict 
accordance with the German purity-law of 1516". Does anyone out there have an 
all-grain recipe for this ale? I heard this brew mentioned in the HBD and am 
very grateful to whoever recommended it. If you haven't had the opportunity I 
highly recommend it...


Bob Bessette (all-grainer and proud of it...)
bessette at uicc.com
Systems Analyst
Unitrode Integrated Circuits
Merrimack, NH 03087


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Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 20:55:25 -0500
From: MicahM1269 at aol.com
Subject: high gravity

I noticed some discussion of high gravity brewing lately and thought I'd
tell what I know about the commercial practice of it. ( Forgive if this is
a dead subject as I have been out on holiday) High gravity wort and
 fermentation is practiced by several of the large commercial breweries
Their most compelling reason for doing this is the lack of cellaring
capacity. Since the big US brewers do lagers they have beer setting
around for quite a while, taking up tank space. While many of these
 breweries have literly millions of gallons of capacity it is still
not enough. It is far too costly to add fermenters, so high gravity
brewing looks pretty good. The interesting part for home brewers is that
high gravity to budmilcors is only 16 P and this is mind boggling high
to them. Then high wort is fermented, cellared, and filtered and is
( re)hydrated on its way to packaging. On the scale that the big boys
operate this is very practical. It also requires a great deal of care
and control to have good reasults. There are also compromises along the
line as well. This is a practice that homebrewers could use but I
would not bother. I would hope that hbers would use high gravity worts
to make barleywines and such and not try to copy icelightdraft.

micah millspaw - brewer at large




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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1614, 12/26/94