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

Contents:
  Re: Dave Barry article in #176 (a.e.mossberg)
  take me off the group list (Kuang-Shih Yeh)
  Response to items in # 176 (JOHN L. ISENHOUR)
  Fruit Beers, Mead and the AHA National Conference (rogerl)
  Homebrew Mailing List Circulation (rdg)
  bad smell while making lager (Dan Crocker)

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Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 10:01:05 EDT
From: aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg)
Subject: Re: Dave Barry article in #176

In HOMEBREW Digest #176 Steve Anthony quotes (without permission) Dave
Barry's Homebrew article:

>So for many years I had no hobby.  When I would fill out questionaires and
>they would ask what my hobbies were, I would put ``narcotics'', which was
>of course a totally false humorous joke.  And then one day, my editor took
>me to a store where they sell beer-makeing equipment. Other writers, they
>have editors who inspire them to new heights of literary achievement, but
>the two major contributions my editor has made to my artistic development
>are (1) teaching me to juggle and (2) taking me to his beer-making store
>where a person named Craig gave me free samples until he could get a hold
>of my Visa card.

The shop in question is Wine & Brew By You, in South Miami. The Craig
also in question is Craig McTyre, co-owner of said store (along with Sandy
Morgan - Hi guys!).

Dave Barry wrote the article shortly after moving to South Florida permanently
(he had been writing a column for the Tropic Magazine in the Miami Herald
for awhile "long-distance").  I also had the good/mis fortune to see a video 
with Dave Barry and Craig Mctyre wherein they attempted to show how to make
beer (it was a segment on a local tv show).

aem
-- 
a.e.mossberg - aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu - aem at miavax.SPAN - aem at umiami.BITNET 
Oh I saw you yelling, but I just couldn't hear. So I screamed back at ya 
"Honey keep the beer!" 				- Debbie Harry

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Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 10:14:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Kuang-Shih Yeh <ky05+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: take me off the group list

Please take me off the newsgroup list.  Thanks.

Kuang Shih Yeh
ky05 at andrew.cmu.edu

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Date:     Wed, 14 Jun 89 12:28 EDT
From: <LLUG_JI%DENISON.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> (JOHN L. ISENHOUR)
Subject:  Response to items in # 176

RE:brewing with fruit

This concerns experience with BLACK raspberries
I do not add fruit to the boil, this will set the pectins
creating a haze, I usually do it after the boil and let them
steep for about 5-8 min. or if I am doing a big batch, I
pasteurize them separately.  I always freeze them first to break
up the cell structure and let the juice out, I then sparge into
the wort, as I do single stage ferments and this stuff will clog
the blow off tube.  I generally use a wheat malt extract with
this so as to emulate Lambic Frambozen.  I have used up to about
a pound per gallon.  I was talking to Papazian last week (at the
brewing conference) and he was saying go for 1.5 to 2.0 lbs per
gallon, this would be pretty good for a mead, in my opinion.  The
raspberries are pretty acidic, and take a while to age in the
brew, unfortunately the aromatics tend to get lost early on, the
Belgians add the fruit to create a secondary ferment.  Try a
Lindimanns 'Framboise' to see what you are shooting for, they use
unmalted wheat in their brew.

There is an article on fruit beers in the summer 87 Zymurgy.
It recommends  apple, pineapple, cranberry and raspberry in
grocery liquid form. The basic recipe is as follows.

1 4-lb. can Alexanders pale malt extract
1/2-lb. light dry malt extract
Hops to HBU=10  (Homebrew Bittering Units = Alpha acid content times ounces)
                (divide by gallons to get HBU <as I understand it>)
1/4 irish moss (add at last 15 min of boil)
2 gallons of the above fruit juice.

Fred Eckhardt has a pineapple 'training beer', after a taste of
that, I will probably not experiment with that fruit.

Dave Sheehy was asking about shipping homebrew.  I do it every
year to the nationals competition, Zymurgy says its legal, if
they ask its NON-PERISHABLE FOOD IN GLASS, but well packed and
double boxed (dbl boxing is a good idea).  Also Papazian's world
famous Prickly Pear Cactus Mead (Dave Spauldings 1986 Arizona
State grand prize winner recipe) is as follows

to make 5 gallons
20 lbs. Mesquite honey   (!)
75-100 ripe Prickly Pear Cactus fruits
2 packs dried sherry wine yeast

O.G. 1.158
F.G. 1.050
Age when judged - 5 months (!)
Its age at winning the prize,

Zymurgy has a book called Brewing Mead ($9.95) and, Wine and
Beers of Old New England ($5.95), which has birch, spruce, maple
and ivy recipes.

John Isenhour - LLUG_JI.DENISON.BITNET

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Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 16:46:35 EDT
From: rogerl at Think.COM
Subject: Fruit Beers, Mead and the AHA National Conference

Well, it has been a while since I've participated in this great forum.
Now that the world has settled down to a dull roar and I'm back from
the AHA Nation Conference (more on that later) it's time for me to add
my $.02 to all of this brew-ha-ha >|-)

   From: bryan%tekgen.bv.tek.com at RELAY.CS.NET
   Subject: Brewing with Fruit.
   [...]
   How much fruit do I use and when do I add it to the boil? The liquid yeasts
   I have access to are the W'yeast products. Which yeast should I use? Anything
   special I need to do to brew with fruit?

As for the amount of fruit to use, that is pretty much up to the
palate of the drinker/brewer.  I've seen as little as 1/2lb.  per
gallon of wort to as much as 2lbs. per gallon of wort.  As an example
'Kreik' (pronounced 'creek') a Belgium cherry brew uses almost 7lbs of
cherries per 5 gallons (based on by calculations).  It is very sweet
and wonderful as an aperitif to a meal.  I've also hear of currents,
raspberries and plums being used.  As for the condition of the
berries, mushy makes no difference as long as they are not bad.  The
fresher the fruit the better, obviously.  Boiling them in the wort is
the safest.  I've also heard and seen where the fruit is added about
the second or third day of the ferment.  By putting it in later you
can get a full fruit flavor without worrying about infecting the brew.
This has to do with the microbiology of the ferment.  I'll save that
for another discussion.  By all means try fruit in the brew it makes a
great change and in a light brew is really refreshing.

As for yeast type, most of the good yeasts will do fine.  You'll want
to use a yeast that leaves a clean flavor.  Edme is a good dry yeast
the Wyeast is also very good liquid but it is expensive.  If that cost
is not an issue try the Alt yeast or I believe they have a Belgium Ale
yeast, either of these would be great.

Go for it Bryan, you won't regret it!

   From: Dave Sheehy <dbs at hprnd>
   Subject: Mead et al.
   Full-Name: Dave Sheehy
   [...]

The Papazian recipe for mead does make a dry almost wine like mead.  I
made mine with cranberries and orange, thinking it would last until
Thanksgiving, I don't think it'll make it.  Oh well.  Other mead
recipies that I have range is honey usage from the 1.5lbs per gallon
as in the Papazian recipe to 5lbs to 5lbs per gallon from the Brewing
Mead book, available from the AHA.  The more honey the more alcohol
and the sweeter the mead will be.

   >which were boiled for an hour.  I used champagne yeast and clover/wildflower
   >honey from a friend's bees.  

Some recipes I've read do not boil the 'must' at all.  To sterilize
the 'must' metabisulfite (?spelling) is used to control wild
yeast/bacteria growth.  Raw honey will yield more flavor that
pre-pasturized honey like the kind you buy at the local grocer.
Getting honey right from the hive is wonderful and I would suggest the
non-boiled method of processing to minimize loss of allthose subtle
flavors that boiling the 'must' would kill.

   As I said before, half of my batch is basic and the other half has some 
   cinnamon in it. Although it's only 6 months old I wouldn't describe it as
   undrinkable. It will be interesting to see what another 6 months aging does
   for the flavor. I sampled a bottle of each and must say that I probably didn't
   put enough cinnamon into the second half of the batch.

Cinnamon might be a bit harsh of a spice to use. (at least for my
taste.)  Clove, nutmeg or the other sweeter spices might do better.
Again this is a personal decission.  I suspect that at 12 months your
mead will be extremely drinkable and enjoyable.  

Now for the Conference report.  (the Reader's Digest version) Yes, it
was a lot of money.  Yes it was in a wierd place, (but Kentucky is
really beutiful this time of year).  But boy was it a good time.
There was tremendous amount of information transfered during the
conference from what makes an Ale an Ale to How to build a 70bbl a
year microbrewery on a shoestring budget.  To how to culture yeast,
what to look for when formulating recipes and on and on.  Hops growing
and analysis, producing clear beer, a pig roast for club night....
The preceeding that will be published will be well worth the cost of
the book.  And then there was the infomation exchanged with all of the
other home brewers there.  It was 3 1/2 days of tasting homebrew from
around the states, sharing of ideas and techniques, and generally a
great time.  All you west Coast folks will be happy to hear that the
conference will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area next year and
all you in the NorthEast it's our turn in 1991. (or so they are
planning at this time)

Since it was held a the Oldenberg brewery in Fort Mitchell, KY there
was several activities held at the brewery.  Complete with as many
homebrewers that could get up at 6am the morning after the awards
ceremony.  This turned out to be one of the highlights.  Us
homebrewers were able to actually 'run' the brewery and help in the
production of 2 batches of their premium lager.  Everyone there has a
great time.  I could spend pages writing about, but I've been a bit
windy already.  So I'll stop for now if you have further interest drop
me a message and I can continue.

RDWHAHB!
Roger Locniskar

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Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 16:00:17 MDT
From: rdg at hpfcmi
Subject: Homebrew Mailing List Circulation
Full-Name: 	Rob Gardner	

The number of subscribers to the list hit 400 today! 

Thanks everyone for your contributions; Many people
have told me that this mailing list is one of the best
around.

Rob

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Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 16:07:21 PDT
From: dwc at olivey.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Dan Crocker)
Subject: bad smell while making lager

Hi there fellow home brewers.  I just found out about this mailgroup so
I decided to give it a test.  I had a question about making lagers.  A friend
of mine and I have made about four batches of pretty standard looking
lagers.  While they were fermenting, they smelled alot like rotten garbage
(a really offensive smell anyway).  However, the ales I have made don't
smell anything like that.  I heard that this meant that the fermentation
temperature of the lager was too high.  The funny thing is that it 
doesn't seem to affect the taste to any great degree.  However, I have 
always wondered whether or not the smelll indicates improper fermentation 
and hence causes the taste to be subtly affected.  Anyone experience 
something similar?  Did it affect the taste?  How did you solve it?
Thanks in advance for your responses.

dan

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #177, 06/15/89

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