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


Contents:
  Barrel Conversion (WattsBrew)
  Hot break dumplings! (Jeff Renner)
  Re: #1(2) Homebrew Digest #1772 (July 04, 1995) (RobHaiber)
  Laaglander (Pierre Jelenc)
  NH & VT homebrewers attn: (Richard Brewer)
  Great Britain Beer Festival (David Oliver)



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Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 08:18:19 -0400
From: WattsBrew at aol.com
Subject: Barrel Conversion

Hi folks,

I would like to try my hand at all grain and have been collecting the
necessary bits for about 3 months now.  I must now modify a 1/2 barrel to
boil in.  My question is, should I use all stainless steel fittings or is it
ok to use brass.  If it is ok then are there any problems welding brass to
stainless.  I have gone to all my local plumbing outlets and no one sells
stainless pipe or fittings.

Private or public responses would be appreciated. TIA

Bill Watt,  Wattsbrew at aol.com


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Date: Tue, 4 Jul 95 09:59:18 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Hot break dumplings!

I've just had the most incredible hot break I've ever seen or heard of.
Sometimes I get nearly no visible break in the boil, other times it gets
pretty incredible, and looks like egg drop soup with long strings of
coagulated protein.  Often, it seems correlated with pH, and since my
darker beers seem to be around pH 5.2, and the paler ones a bit higher,
it correlates with color, too, with less break at lower pH and darker
worts.

I made a ginger/coriander/grains-of-paradise/cardamom wit (wort tastes
great!) yesterday with 50% American 2-row pale malt, 45% soft white
winter wheat and 5% rolled oats.  Water was boiled and decanted well
water plus CaCl2.  Mash was 30 minutes each at 50, 60 and 70C, with
10-15 minutes transitions between rests.  The pH started out around 5.8
and dropped to 5.5 during the boil.

The break started as flakes, then strings, then cottage cheese like
curds.  By the time I added spices and flavor hops (after one hour), I
had dumplings!  I fished out one, drained it, and it measured 1-5/8" x
2" x 1/2" and weighed 15 grams!  It looks like soft tofu.

I suppose that this could be wheat gluten, but gluten is supposed to be
water insoluble.  Has anyone ever seen this phenomenon?  I certainly
hope I have protein left for good head retention.

Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan c/o nerenner at umich.edu


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Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 07:40:37 -0700
From: RobHaiber at eworld.com
Subject: Re: #1(2) Homebrew Digest #1772 (July 04, 1995)

In re Lee Allison's Q about cold-break removal when using a counter-flow wort
chiller:
I have a Stolting system, with which I am happy...
I simply run the entire output through a v fine mesh monofilament screen that
fits across the top of my fermenter. I am consistently pleased with the
amount of grey crap and hop leaves it catches (even with the slotted false
bottom in the copper (boiler)). I'd rather have it there, caught in the mesh,
than it remain in the wort. This saves me having to rack it off. I check
gravity, temperature, aerate it, then pitch yeast, and away it goes (to
paraphrase Jackie Gleason).
My beers are consistently bright.
BTW, that grey crap is the most bitter substance I've ever experienced!
Yukka!

Hope this helps,
Rob Haiber, Beer & Brewing Central sysop/admin

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Date: Tue, 4 Jul 95 11:10:10 EDT
From: Pierre Jelenc <pcj1 at columbia.edu>
Subject: Laaglander

In HBD 1772 Tim Fields <timf at relay.com> asks about the use of Laaglander 
malt extract.

I use Laaglander, which is high in unfermentable higher sugars, to give
body to a low alcohol beer. It is essentially the opposite of using sugar
to reduce the body of a high alcohol beer. 

By playing with these ingredients, one can fine tune the beer, getting
sweeter/thicker or dryer/thinner products than what can be achieved with
"average" extracts.  This is the same result that is obtained in all-grain
brewing with a careful mashing schedule to favor alpha or beta amylase. 

Pierre




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Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 11:25:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Richard Brewer <rbrewer at cyberportal.net>
Subject: NH & VT homebrewers attn:

I'm giving up homebrewing; my wife can't stand the mess, I've gotten too 
fat, and besides, people keep making fun of my last name :)

I have several items that might be of interest to local brewers who can 
drive over to my residence:

2-five gallon cornelius kegs with fittings
1-5gal glass carboy
3-5gal platic buckets
about 20 lbs. grain, several ounces in hops, yeasts, sugar
themometer, grains bags
lots of clear Corona bottles
a super capper

in other words, the whole setup.  I'm going to give all of this stuff to 
brewing friends unless someone makes a reasonable offer - like 20% retail 
for the hardware and take the rest of it off my hands for free.

If you are not in the area then shiiping will be too much of a hassle.

I'm going to look at this stuff for about another week, then out the door 
it goes.

evening phone 603-863-9077

in Newport, NH (20 minutes from I-91 near Claremont)

Richard Brewer

rbrewer at cyberportal.net

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Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 22:48:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Oliver <dwo at slip.net>
Subject: Great Britain Beer Festival

Hello all,
  My girlfriend is going to Europe this August and unfortunately I'm not 
able to go. But I am pointing her in the direction of some classic beer 
areas and I'm wondering were the Great Britain Beer Festival is this 
year, does anybody know!  I think it's in the beginning of August and I 
believe it's in a different city each year.  Anyhow, If somebody knows 
any info on this I'd be grateful. Private e-mail is fine
  Dave O

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1773, 07/05/95