HOMEBREW Digest #1844 Fri 29 September 1995

Digest #1843 Digest #1845


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


Contents:
  Keg Insulator Recap (JJBrewer)
  RE: Legal drinking age (Costello #1842) (Michael Genito)
  (U)Cigars & Brews (rich.byrnes)
  Natural Gas Burners? (Paul Sovcik)
  Wort Chiller Schematic (paragraph form) (Kenneth K Goodrow)
  re: Brewing/Drinking Age. (Kenneth K Goodrow)
  Petitioning to repeal laws against homebrewing... (Kenneth K Goodrow)
  Brains Special Bitter (C JOHN MARE)
  re:Homebrew Digest #1842 (September 27, 1995) ("Matthew W. Bryson")
  Famous Urban Knaves of Grain competition (Stephen T. McKenna)
  RIMS (Algis R Korzonas)
  "Oversparging" during RIMS (CHARLIE SCANDRETT)
  RE bottling yeast (Tim Fields)
  US PLASTICS INFO ("Dave Bradley::IC742::6-2556")
  green beer (Andy Walsh)
  Little "Boinks". (CHARLIE SCANDRETT)
  HBD for AOLers (PatrickM50)
  lotsa questions from a lurker (Andy Walsh)
  Medieval Beers (Fred Hardy)
  Yeast for bread? (Marla Korchmar)
  drinking and candling (Pierre Jelenc)
  Signatures, please? (Spencer W Thomas)
  (U)Organic Beers (rich.byrnes)
  Crusader Update (that Nazi stuff) (Russell Mast)
  Low alcohol cream ale recipe (Jeff Renner)
  Even heating (Jim Busch)
  RE: PID temp control (David Pike)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 15:14:51 -0400 From: JJBrewer at aol.com Subject: Keg Insulator Recap HBD Crowd -- Many thanks to all that replied to my question on insulating 15.5 gal ss kegs for use in a RIMS system. Sorry for the long response time, but I been traveling, busy etc. etc. The responses were varied but included: A) Insulators are not really necessary. Jim Overstreet ran a little experiment - 12 gallons of sparge water while doing a 12 hour decoction. The sparge water in a 15 gallon keg lost only 2 degrees in over 3 hours. The temp was at 170. B) Fabricate a metal shield (chimney like) or box of sorts that would "reflect" the heat in towards the keg. C) Buy a keg jacket (similar to water heater jacket?) from a resturant supply store (flamability still in question) D) Aluminized mylar acoustical foam in the Grainger catalog that says it meets the Flame Retardant Tests UL-94 & ASTM E1692-76 with temp limits from 20F to 120F continuous. It's a 54" x 10' roll that's $97 bucks. Obviously not resistant enough for king, cajun, camp etc. cookers with alot of flame"spillover." Expensive too. E) Jim Merrill's method - "A simple solution I use, yet not flame proof, is some insulation I bought from home depot, a local harware chain. It's metalic on both sides with some air space in the middle, about 1/2" thick in all and very flexible. I got some self stick velcro and put a strap on the top and bottom in front. It works great for me. I use cajan burners but I can control the flame enough to raise the temp 1 degree / min if I choose. The flame is so low it doesn't damage the jacket. I have cranked up the flame before and the jacket shrinks/melts a little along the bottom. The stuff was about $15 for a small roll. It fits the keg size very well. I've been using the same jacket for a year now." F) Carl Steven writes -"You could try one of the water heater blankets, though the covering might burn. You could also make one that was non flamable by using fiberglass insulation. Take off the backing and replace it with a fiberglass cloth. A bi-directional weave cloth might be a good choice. (It is what I use for parts of my airplane.) You could sew all of this together with fiberglass strands or try and keep it attached via stainless wire." None of these suggestions are my own, but they do present some interesting possibilities. Certaintly for a RIMS system I don't need to be overly concerned with the type of insulation on the mash tun, but as for the hot liquor tank and kettle.............. I think the type of "cooker" will make a difference in terms of how well the flame can be controlled. I think some personal experimentation is in order too since there is no such thing as a standard 1/2 barrel brewing system. Perhaps keg insulation is something Dion Hollenbeck's RIMS book will address. I think I will wind up trying more than one of these ideas. If anyone has addtional ideas or questions, please feel free to post here or email me. Good Brewing Jamey Johns (JJBrewer at aol.com) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 16:00:14 -0400 From: genitom at nyslgti.gen.ny.us (Michael Genito) Subject: RE: Legal drinking age (Costello #1842) In #1842, Andrew Costello wrote: >Does anyone out there know if there is a legal age attached to hombrewing? New York State requires the same age limit (21) for homebrewing as it does for any other public alcohol purchase or consumption. >Does it vary from state to state ? Some recent HBD postings suggest homebrewing at any age is illegal in some states. This would seem to suggest that states may make individual rulings based or not on the legal drinking age of 21. BTW, all states now require 21 for drinking or purchasing. >I am also interested to find out your thoughts on the 21 year old drinking age. If the govt considers you mature enough at 18 to be drafted and sacrifice your life, they should consider you mature enough to drink. If car accidents are the problem, set the minimum age of 21 for driving, not drinking. In any case, dont punish the vast majority of mature adults for the irresponsible actions of a few. Drinking of alcohol across various countries and various ages has differed, and you will not find the paranoia among those raised in households where wine or beer was a common table drink because the water couldnt be trusted. The paranoia exists, as it always has, in extreme right wing tea totallers who cannot tolerate any culture or enjoyment different than their own. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 16:05:07 EDT From: rich.byrnes at e-mail.com Subject: (U)Cigars & Brews THIS IS A CORPORATE DOCUMENT - AS IF ANY OF YOU PEOPLE REALLY CARE! FROM: Rich Byrnes Subject: (U)Cigars & Brews The subject says it all, sort of. A local cigar fanciers club has invited our club to help coordinate a combimation cigar/beer tasting. I know Fred Ekhardt has written a good article on this subject and I was sure I had it, but couldn't put my finger on it yesterday. If anyone can help me with the issue of the magazine this article appears in, please contact me. Even if there's no interest from our club in this event (Meeting tonight, I'll find out then....) I would like to help this club put together a tasting. Please don't turn this into an anti-smoking thread because we as a club prohibit smoking during all tastings/competitions at meetings, and the members that do smoke go to a neutral area (and please no pro-smokers spouting off about smoking discrimination, sheesh!). If this does generate some bandwidth about cigars and beer, great, I'm curious what other people have experienced. TIA!! Rich Byrnes Founder of Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen Ignore the next few lines, I often do! Regards,_Rich Byrnes Jr B&AO Pre-Production Color Unit \\\|/// phone #(313)323-2613, fax #390-4520 (.) (.) Rich.Byrnes at E-mail.com_____________________o000__(_)__000o Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 95 15:54:45 CDT From: Paul Sovcik <U18183 at UICVM.CC.UIC.EDU> Subject: Natural Gas Burners? I have recently moved and my new house has a nifty heated garage (a nice touch for Chicago winters...) that uses natural gas as a heating source. I have a gas line that runs thru the garage that would be very easy to tap into and have a nice brewing set-up that will allow me to brew in the garage all winter without the wife complaining about the smell. My question is: what type of burner can I use for this setup? I know King Kookers etc. are popular, but these seem to run off propane, and I thought they are not suitable for NG. Anyone have suggestions as to what type and how powerful a burner I will need? I will probably be brewing 5-10 gallon batches. I also have access to a bunch of free (food grade) pumps. Im trying to come up wiht ideas of how to use these in my setup (extract/partial mash). Any ideas? -Paul Sovcik PJS at uic.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 16:19:06 -0500 (CDT) From: Kenneth K Goodrow <goodrow at orion.etsu.edu> Subject: Wort Chiller Schematic (paragraph form) Well, for all of you who asked for "my" plans for self-made wort chillers, they are as follows. Mind you others have made many more than I have and I made my first last week, so this is from a greenhorn chiller maker who just knows it works: Purchase... 1. 20 feet of 3/8" diameter copper tubing from hardware store. Usually comes in a coil. Bend this stuff to look like other wort chillers you've seen in catalogs. Don't worry if the rings arent straight. Just make sure they fit into your wort. 2. 2 pieces of 6 feet of plastic tubing with 3/8" internal diameter. Make sure this fits easily over each end of the copper tubing. These will be the "to" and "from" hoses to the chiller (copper tubing) and from the sink. 3. 3 hose clamps. These will be placed on the plastic-to-copper tube connections (two of these), and one on the plastic-tube-to-sink-adapter connection. 4. Something to adapt one end of the plastic tube to the faucet/spigot, etc (this will probably entail 2 pieces of hardware). This is what I did: Used my adapter that made my bottle washer fit my sink. This made it so I could screw on a garden hose to my sink spigot (if I wanted to -- just noting this here for description). From here you want to purchase something to screw onto the adapter and this something should have the plastic hose connected to it. Get the picture? This something might also be called a hose connector/etc. Just talk to the hardware person and he/she'll probably know what you mean. After you buy all the above, put it together. Clamp each piece of the plstic tubing to an end of the copper tubing. Then clamp the hardware for sink-fitting to one of the plastic tubing ends. One end of the plastic tube will take water from the sink through the copper and out to the other plastic tube and drain into the sink (or onto the floor, but I would suggest the sink). I tried to make this overly simplistic for the non-technical types, so those of you at NASA/other overly-technical-places, please don't take this as an insult to your techtelligence. Hope this helps those of you who asked for the plans. It really is easy. Just make sure the parts slide together easily. I would suggest fitting, clamping, screwing the pieces together in the store so you know the sizes are right. Cheers, Kenn Goodrow East Texas State University, which will be Texas A&M University - Commerce, in 1996 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 16:39:58 -0500 (CDT) From: Kenneth K Goodrow <goodrow at orion.etsu.edu> Subject: re: Brewing/Drinking Age. Well, let me start by saying that I will let my son brew as soon as he gains interest, if so. Laws create artificial barriers and often create problems/beliefs that problems exist when they don't. Laws often distract individuals and collude thinking. Am I trully safer if I drive 55 than 56 (no flames from statisticians, please. ha ha)? I think many people have been conditioned to feel wrong about responsible "underage" or "over-the-speed-limit" behaviors. I am not meaning to say that sex with minors is o.k., but in the case of drinking age laws there needs to be some rethinking going on. Many adolescents find drinkin exciting because it "is" and adult thing to do, adult defined by 18 or 21. What a crock of bologna (and other nasty words). More later. Kenn Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 16:22:56 -0500 (CDT) From: Kenneth K Goodrow <goodrow at orion.etsu.edu> Subject: Petitioning to repeal laws against homebrewing... For anyone who was/did mail me about this, I just suggested that an Email petition be started by anyone who would be interested and happens to live in a state which outlaws homebrewing. I did not say that I am doing this personally. In fact, my state (Texas) goes legal on homebrewing. FYI, Kenn Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 14:59:05 -0700 (MST) From: C JOHN MARE <MARE at vetsci.agpharm.arizona.edu> Subject: Brains Special Bitter On my recent (June, 1995) visit to Wales I visited several breweries, but not Brains in Cardiff. However I did taste the Brains spectrum of beers but no "Special Ale". The most widely available Brains Ale in the OG 1041-1042 range is the "SA Best Bitter" at OG 1042. Since you were asking about ingredients, here goes (ie. for the "SA"). All the Brains ales are based on two-row pale malt with the addition of crystal malt, glucose, and invert sugar. In their dark beer ("Red Dragon Dark") the crystal malt is replaced with chocolate malt. They use Fuggles and Goldings whole hops in all their ales. I hope this helps you brew a credible "lookalike". I personally prefer the Felinfoel ales and have based my Welsh Ales on them. Happy brewing, John Mare, The Stables Brewery & John's Alehouse Tucson, AZ. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 95 19:08:21 CDT From: "Matthew W. Bryson" <MWBryson at LANMAIL.RMC.COM> Subject: re:Homebrew Digest #1842 (September 27, 1995) Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that one must be 21 years old to homebrew( legally) anywhere in the U.S.. As to the other question... well, I was one of the last people in my state( by birthday) that could legally drink beer at age 18. I don't think that extortion by the federal government was necessary or morally correct; it is certainly illegal for ME to hold states hostage by threat of monetary loss. I wish that states could be allowed to make their own decision in this regard. Back to brewing, Matthew Bryson Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 95 18:28:50 CDT From: stmckenna at amoco.com (Stephen T. McKenna) Subject: Famous Urban Knaves of Grain competition CALL FOR ENTRIES, JUDGES, AND STEWARDS The Famous Urban Knaves of Grain Homebrew Competition presented by the Urban Knaves of Grain and Famous Liquors an AHA-sanctioned competition Saturday October 21, 1995, 10:30am Famous Liquors 105 E. Roosevelt Rd. Lombard, IL 60148 ENTRIES: All styles are welcome. Ribbons will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category judged; and for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best of show. Entries are due between Oct. 9 and Oct. 17 at Famous Liquors. The entry fee is $5 per entry (if entering 1 to 3 beers) or $4 per entry (if entering 4 or more beers). Please contact Steve McKenna (stmckenna at amoco.com, 708-961-7846) for complete details and entry forms. JUDGES AND STEWARDS: We need volunteers! Interested in learning to judge, but haven't taken the exam yet? No problem--we will pair you with BJCP judges. This is a great way to gain experience in judging. To volunteer to judge or steward, please contact Chris Campanelli (akcs.chrisc at vpnet.chi.il.us, 708-304-6355 days, 708-668-8081 evenings). Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 95 16:08:13 CDT From: korz at pubs.ih.att.com (Algis R Korzonas) Subject: RIMS Keith writes: >First, what *exactly* is a RIMS? and >I plan on building a system that simply heats the wort with my propane >cooker under the kettle and recirculates it to the top with a pump. >No heating element, no computer chips. But it does (R)ecirculate, >and it is an (I)nfusion (M)ashing (S)ystem, but is it a RIMS? Rodney Morris's RIMS was basically a system consisting of a mash/laeuter tun that had a pump that would take runnings, heat them with an electronically-controlled electric element and then put them back in to the tun. I suppose that the heat could come from direct heat on a metal tun, but part of the wonderfullness of Rodney's system was that the heat was electronically controlled. I would like to have a system that would allow me to dial-up a mash schedule and I sit back and drink a homebrew, but I have two concerns regarding a RIMS in the style of Rodney's: 1) the small heating area (as Charlie pointed out) and 2) over-recirculation (see the article in Zymurgy by Bob Jones and Micah Millspaw a few years ago). I don't, however, believe that tannin extraction is an issue. Indeed, as another poster (sorry) pointed out, there should be no more tannin extraction if you stir than if you recirculate. As long as the pH if the mash is not too high, tannins should not be a problem. Now, regarding the name "RIMS," I must throw some cold water. Neither Rodney's design nor Keith's proposed modification are (I)nfusion systems. Infusion mashing is the heating of the mash with additions of boiling water... period, end paragraph. A lot of books and magazines incorrectly label non-infusion mashing procedures as infusion mashing, upward-infusion or step-infusion procedures. They are simply wrong. There is no consensus on the terminology if you heat the mash with the application of heat directly to the tun. I tend to call it "temperature-controlled mashing" or "kettle mashing." Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 20:48:14 +1000 From: CHARLIE SCANDRETT <merino at ozemail.com.au> Subject: "Oversparging" during RIMS Dion Hollen wrties, >How about it Charlie, like to re-evaluate your comments in light of >this? Were you maybe extending characteristics of over-sparging to >recirculation which are not there because of the very different >chemical makeup of the wort during recirc from that during sparging? >I am not baiting you (no bait taken Dion, CS), I actually would like to know about specifics >that you feel are a down side of the recirc. I just feel that the >chemical environment is very different in the two cases; different >enough for me to not believe in the problems you seem to think exist. >If you have hard evidence, I am open to it. And in fact, would >welcome it and want to test it out. You've stumped me on this Dion, I assumed that the dissolving of phenols by the world's best all round solvent (water) was a function of contact time/volume and that the alkalinity was a symptom. The possibility of remaining sugars protecting the phenols is intriguing, but wouldn't any recirculation remove sugars? George Fix says "extraction tends to be proportional to the *ammount* of sparge water used. Since pH of the runnings increases with extraction, maximal levels of sparge water can be checked by pH measurement." He goes on to state the increasing pH itself stimulates extraction, as do temperatures over ~75C. I repeat here my suggestion of putting a pH strip in a clear plastic hose inline with the RIMS. Anyone want to do the experiment? I don't have RIMS. Personally I set up a little winnower to remove >80% of husks from my grain to combat this very problem. They are added to the mash in a bag and removed before lauter. What's in my lauter tun to replace them as filters? Bleached, boiled panty hose! Charlie (Brisbane Australia) "How long is a piece of string? Have you seen a HBD thread!" CS Return to table of contents
Date: 28 Sep 95 07:14:19 EDT From: Tim Fields <74247.551 at compuserve.com> Subject: RE bottling yeast > From: Kris Thomas Messenger <kmesseng at slonet.org> > Subject: Re-pitching at bottling time > Not wanting to have cloudy beer, I am wondering how much yeast I should add > at bottling time to accomplish this. The Belgian FAQ (available via lambic digest archives) suggests using the slurry from a 1 pint starter for a 5 gallon batch. -Tim timf at relay.com "How 'Bout Them TERPS!" "Reeb!" Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 07:06:14 -0500 (EST) From: "Dave Bradley::IC742::6-2556" <BRADLEY_DAVID_A at Lilly.com> Subject: US PLASTICS INFO Here is some info on some of the useful plastic fittings offered by US Plastics (800-537-9724). I thought it would be of general interest. I have two types of fittings I use with my Gotts. The material I chose is polypropylene (NSF rated, -30 to +215 F temp range), though other materials are available. One type is a "bulkhead union", the other a "tank fitting". Both types have straight (non-tapered aka not pipe) threads. BULKHEAD UNIONS = like a threaded nipple w/ a nut in the middle, with a lock nut which sandwiches your cooler wall. Includes 2 hose (compression- style) fittings for the ends for plastic tubing. #61123 ($1.58ea) "For 3/8" Tubing" Has 3/8" threads. Fits *perfectly* in cooler with Gott's rubber bushing and O-ring! #61124 ($2.10ea) "For 1/2" Tubing" Threads are 1/2". Fits through hole in cooler w/o stock bushing/O-ring. Usable but need a way to seal it w/cooler. TANK FITTING = like a large, short bolt & nut, w/ hole bored through the bolt which is threaded to make it a female socket. Includes 2 neoprene* seals. * - neoprene is rated incompatible w/beer (70F) by US Plastics. #16422 ($5.65) ID=3/8", OD=3/4" Gott easily bored to accept this larger size. Note this IRREVERSIBLY makes it brewing equipment! #16423 ($7.65) ID=1/2", OD=??7/8"?? (not sure, maybe 1") I have one, but its too big to use for anything (yet!) #16421 ($5.48) ID=1/4", OD=??5/8"?? Don't have this one, but OD estimated by sizes I do have. Pretty small to be useful. So the point: using #61123 you can add a valve and have a reversibly modified lauter tun or hot liquor tank. Very easy. With #16422, and drilling out the cooler to 3/4", a larger fitting is easily adaptable. FWIW, I'm just a VERY satisfied customer. Good luck! Dave in Indy From: BRADLEY DAVID A (MCVAX0::RC65036) To: VMS MAIL ADDRESSEE (IN::"homebrew at hpfcmgw.fc.hp.com") cc: BRADLEY DAVID A (MCVAX0::RC65036) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 23:08:28 +1000 From: awalsh at crl.com.au (Andy Walsh) Subject: green beer I've got 2 theories about green beer: 1) If it is green nobody will want to drink it. (last St. Pat's (BTW out of the 10001 homebrew shops in the world, why is so much written about this shop?) day, a club member served us a green weizen. It was not too bad, but nobody would drink it because it was green). 2) stout with green food colouring will look just like stout. ( notice how stouts have a white head unless they are really strong? This is due to the diffraction effect bubbles have on light. ie. all heads are white. I guess it *might* have some greenish tinges, especially around the base of the head. If anybody actually wants to make "green stout" I'd really like to hear how it ends up looking.) Andy W. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 23:18:18 +1000 From: CHARLIE SCANDRETT <merino at ozemail.com.au> Subject: Little "Boinks". Yes folks, I was talking about serious kegs. 20, 58 and 117 litres. We don't have 5 litre minis here in the antipodes. The principle is the same. All pressure vessels have a rated safe working pressure which is about 0.2 their calculated failure pressure. Now yeast can generate pressures well in excess of 100psi (6 ATM). It depends on the 1/ Ammount of fermentables left. (possibly after stuck fermentation?) 2/ The headspace left in the keg. (Boyles Law PV=constant) 3/ The tolerance of your yeast to high levels of disolved CO2. Champagne yeast just keeps going. If the mini kegs are designed to handle 100 psi+, their calculated failure rate would be 500 psi. The wall thickness would have to be 0.66 mm for a 200mm diameter vessel. Are they that thick? Basically if you "boink" anything (and some people will!) then you are well over half way to catastrophic failure, I just don't want to be in the room. Charlie (Brisbane, Australia) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 09:43:10 -0400 From: PatrickM50 at aol.com Subject: HBD for AOLers To Tom F and other AOLers who have noticed they are no longer getting the entire HBD in their mailbox: AOL recently made it possible for you to attach a file to your email and send it across the gateway to other online service customers (Compuserve, Prodigy, etc) as well as to anyone with Internet email access. It also allows you to receive an attached file now as well - seems to use the MIME "translator" if that means anything to you. UNFORTUNATELY for us HBD devotees however, if the HBD is longer than about 25K, the entire issue is sent as a file and automatically dumped into your normal AOL download directory in its entirety - only the first 25K is readable as regular email. I use the HBD Browser by Don Hatlestad (hbdbrow1.zip - available free from the ftp.stanford.edu archives) to read each issue. Great program - use the down arrow to read or skip each submission and the mouse activated scrolling "thumbwheel" on the right side of screen to read each one. The Windows program was written to search for keywords in single HBDs. Searches across multiple HBDs will hopefully be in next version, according to the author. BTW, AOL is aware of our problem and says it will fix the situation in the next release. Pat Maloney Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 00:14:29 +1000 From: awalsh at crl.com.au (Andy Walsh) Subject: lotsa questions from a lurker Kenny Eddy asks: > Or is it so hopelessly complicated and dependent >on the phase of the moon that we can never hope to nail that IBU rating on >the money? > I suggest you buy a tide calendar. IBU rating is hopelessly inexact. Tinseth's numbers seem to be well regarded but give high bitterness in my setup so I use Rager's numbers. I think the reason there are so many different numbers is that there are too many variables in each system. Use the ones that give best results for you. >But: how much of that OG is actually fermentable? There are no real numbers because fermentabilty depends upon too many factors. eg. yeast strain (many don't agree with me here) wort composition (ie. glucose\dextrin ratio) If you want dry beer mash low or use dextrose etc. malty beer mash high or use dextrin high adjuncts cider use lots of sucrose! This is what separates one good brewer from another and comes only from experience. Experiment! >On sorta the same topic, I would think that roasting grains would destroy >some to all of the starch's conversion capability, yet I see malts like >chocolate or even black patent listed with extractions not much different >that pale malts. Dark malts cannot convert themselves and rely upon enzymes from pale malt to be converted to fermentable sugars. This should not *greatly* affect possible extraction (yeah, yeah, I know it does to some extent). ie. mash it with a pale malt and you'll be OK. >(3) Force Carbonation: Now that I'm kegging, I'm enjoying the convenience of >sediment-free beer-on-demand. I'm also enjoying variable and unpredicatable >carbonation levels. My current approach is to add pressure immediately after >racking, according to temperature/volumes tables, then tossing the >unconnected keg into the fridge. This buys a little time by pushing CO2 into >the beer as it cools. Now I suspect two things should be happening here. > One, the free CO2 will reduce in pressure due to the cooling temperatures. > Two, the cooling beer would allow more CO2 to dissolve in (or would it...?). > But I should end up with a pressure at final temperature euqla to that in >the chart for the same CO2 volume I was originally after. Right? > Wrong! The charts tell you what pressure you should carbonate your beer if you leave the same pressure and temperature on until things equalise ( a few days). If you pull the hose off (as I do) you should whack on a much higher pressure (eg. 3 times more). You must keep on adding extra gas periodically until you reach the pressure in the chart for that temperature. I find this simpler than keeping the pressure on constantly (who cares about gas line leaks). The gas just dissolves in the beer as you go. >Next question: I don't really understand this. Just drop the pressure off a little via the blowoff valve to minimise the head foaming and you'll be OK. Be sure to re-apply gas after you finish drinking for the night to maintain carbonation for later on. Great stuff about your box but I have 3 fridges and 2 heaters! Andy W. > Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 10:20:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Fred Hardy <fcmbh at access.digex.net> Subject: Medieval Beers Carl Etnier posted Jeff Renner's comments on his (Jeff's) impression of what English Beer must have been like at the time of Henry VIII. IHO, "English ale back then was typically much stronger in OG than now (>1.080), probably cloudy with yeast and suspended starch and protein from poor mashing and sparging techniques, sweeter (higher FG) and unhopped. Carl goes on to add "and flat". Carl posts that he didn't know when pressure vessels and thereby the possibility for carbonation were introduced for beer, but he suspects they didn't exist then. Perhaps I can shed some light on several of these areas. As for carbonation, the Celts and Brits had the same pressure vessels as did the Burton brewers who shipped IPA around the world. They are called "Barrels", and the coopers' art was well established in the British Isles before the Roman Invasion. It had not been forgotten during Henry's time (The Renaissance), since it was the vessel of choice of both the Burton brewers of IPA as well as the modern day Real Ale advocates of CAMRA. The carbonation was less than Bud, but equal to today's real ale served in England. For a killer head the Norse (and probably more than a few Brits and Celts) would plunge a hot poker into the mug to release dissolved CO2 and produce accompanying foam. At a time when central heating was unknown, the alcohol and actual warmth of the drink were probably welcomed. OG of medieval beers would have been at least 1.070 to insure a reasonable shelf life. Spoilage was delayed by the higher alcoholic content. FG could not have been much higher than what we would have today from such a beer, or the preservation effect would have been nullified. Please note that guidelines for a number of today's brews (barley wine, English old ale, Scotch ale, imperial stout, several Belgian ales, bock, doppelbock) may have an OG which exceeds that of the Medieval brews. As for flavors, the Medieval brewer did not have any black malts or crystal malts. The black malts were not available before 1817. Colored malts resulted from uneven heat control which would have produced pale, amber and brown malts in the same batch, and likely in random distributions. Brown malt was also intentionally produced to reclaim slack malt. Whether the Medieval beers were cloudy is open for debate. Young beers would have had a higher degree of cloudiness than beers which had been aged, just as today. An aged ale commanded a higher price during the middle ages. By the standards of AB (St. Louis, MO) probably most real ales are cloudy. Try to pour a crystal clear glass of Th. Hardy's ale. Not until glass became the common drinking vessel did beer clarity become much of an issue. Most English ales brewed before the 16th century would have been unhopped. It is hard to say with any certainty that none were. Hops were introduced into England by the Romans who valued them as food. Since all manners of herbs and spices have found their way into beer, who can say that someone in Medieval England did not use hops in theirs? Documentation identifies sweet gale, marsh rosemary and millfoil as herbs used as gruit in Medieval beer. That is about as complete as saying only pale barley malt, ale yeast, Cascade hops and water are used in modern beer. Certainly ginger, cloves, cinnamon, ground ivy, nutmeg, mace, honey, fennel, mint and a host of other additives were available to the Medieval brewer. They ranged from common to rare and expensive. Some imported ingredients were probably unknown in areas of the English countryside, but available in coastal cities. Every age is arrogant, and we are no different. We assume that no one before ourselves knew how to do anything well. In fact, brewers throughout the Middle Ages produced excellent beer. During the high Middle Ages (1000-1400) English beer was widely exported and said to rival wine in clarity, color and strength. It was even presented to foreign kings as a prized gift. Sparging did not even become feasible until the introduction of hops. We use sparging to extract the last bit of sugar because we want to emulate BudMilCoors. It is about economics, not necessarily about good beer. Try doing a Medieval style double mash (mash, draw off the liquid, mash again and draw of the liquid) and you will get two brews. One, a strong ale with OG around 1.075, and a small beer with OG in the mid to upper 1.030s. It is likely that both would have been spiced by the Medieval brewer. The strong ale could be stored and the small beer was for everyday family use. Today we put hops in the small beer and call it English ordinary. We sparge so we can use minimal ingredients and get the same effect as our ancestors got from a second running of their mash. Reproducing Medieval beers is both fascinating and rewarding. I particularly like my first running strong ale from pale and amber malts and spiced with ginger, toasted rosemary and fennel. I also treat the second running as Medieval brewers often did - I add honey to raise OG to over 1.070 and produce braggot. BTW, Wyeast No. 1728 (Scottish ale) works well with both. Yield is about 3 gallons each of two very different beverages from a single mash of 12 pounds of grain. Let your imagination dictate the herbs, methods and uses for your Medieval beers. Our ancestors did. Cheers, Fred ============================================================================== We must invent the future, else it will | <Fred Hardy> happen to us and we will not like it. | [Stafford Beer, "Platform for Change"] | email: fcmbh at access.digex.net Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 10:10:21 -0400 From: Marla Korchmar <marlak at pipeline.com> Subject: Yeast for bread? With all this talk about re-using yeast, I'm inspired to use some of my next batch's leftovers for baking bread. Can any of the bakers reading give me a sense of how much yeast slurry to "pitch" in my bread? (Recipes I have mostly use about 7 cups of flour.) Thanks! Marla Korchmar Brooklyn, NY Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 10:35:28 EDT From: Pierre Jelenc <pcj1 at columbia.edu> Subject: drinking and candling In Homebrew Digest #1843 CGEDEN at NERVM.NERDC.UFL.EDU writes: [ ... ] > Lets face it, 18-yr-olds are adults and deserve the right to drink if they > care to. Some of them will make unwise choices, but so do all of us from > time to time. I can't think of an 18-year old that I would consider an adult. I certainly wasn't one. Anyway, as long as they only kill themselves, fine. I do not consider suicide a crime. But when it comes to others, I would support lowering the drinking age as long as DWI is treated like attempted murder, and vehicular homicide while intoxicated is equated with murder one. > It makes no more sense to deny them this freedom based on > highway statistics than it would to deny drivers licenses to people over > 70 years old. 1/ It's not a "freedom", it is a license to use public resources. As long as you drink, or drive, or both on your own private property, I see no objections. 2/ Many countries, and some states here, do make older drivers retake driving tests periodically, typically every 2 years. Then Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> asks: > So, does anyone know - how much candling is safe? How much will light-strike > my beer? A few seconds, a few days, what? Your flashlight is safe. In order for the skunking reaction to occur, the light has to have a wavelength in the green to near UV range. An ordinary incandescent bulb emits almost exclusively in the yellow to red range. Pierre Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 11:10:21 -0400 From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu> Subject: Signatures, please? Time for the semi-annual request: If you put a short signature line at the end of your posts (see below), then we can all feel more like a community of brewers. It also helps to know where you live when responding to a request about supplies, availability of beer, laws, etc. =Spencer Thomas in Ann Arbor, MI (spencer at umich.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 11:14:49 EDT From: rich.byrnes at e-mail.com Subject: (U)Organic Beers THIS IS A CORPORATE DOCUMENT - As if any of you cared FROM: Rich Byrnes Subject: (U)Organic Beers Short note- A while back someone was asking for advice and help on making an organic beer, for whatever reason (I forgot!) A comment a friend made last night led to a brain-fart, a new AHA style for 100% organic beers, and the classification would be......E.P.A., Enviromental Pale Ales of course! :-> (Boo Hiss) Regards,_Rich Byrnes Jr B&AO Pre-Production Color Unit \\\|/// phone #(313)323-2613, fax #390-4520 (.) (.) Rich.Byrnes at E-mail.com_____________________o000__(_)__000o Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 10:13:05 -0500 From: Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> Subject: Crusader Update (that Nazi stuff) I posted to all my lists about this a few days ago, most of you have probably learned a bit about this by now. Here's what happened: A hacker, on Saturday night, broke into numerous computers and forwarded a racial hate tract to tens or hundreds of thousands of e-mail addresses pulled apparently at random from every newsgroup on the Usenet. Currently, "authorities and security specialists at a local, national, and international level" are looking into the issue. lan at panix.com (to the best of my knowledge not one of the above "authorities") writes : > I will be tracking the search for this person on > http://www.panix.com/~lan/crusader -- if you have any relevant > information for the web page, please email it to me. Please do not clog any innappropriate mailing lists or newsgroups with this discussion. I apologize for this use of bandwidth, this is the last I will post of it. If you have any questions that aren't answered in this post, please send them to me via _personal_ e-mail, or check with the newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.misc. Thanks, -Russell Mast Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 11:31:09 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Low alcohol cream ale recipe I just posted this recipe to r.c.b. in response to a request and thought it might be of interest to HBD readers. > I'm looking for a Cream Ale recipe. Something that would come out like > a Sleeman's or Hart Cream Ale. Full grain or mash-extract. I'm not familiar with those brands, but I grew up in Cincinnati, home of Schoenling Little Kings, argueably the Ur-typ cream ale, although it really is of fairly recent origin (post WWII, if I am not mistaken). A good cream ale should have the fermentation flavors of an ale due to the use of ale yeasts at ale fermentation temperatures, and smoothness from lagering; some residual sweetness from a relatively high FG, and maybe a little DMS from 6-row malt. Here is a recipe that I made last winter that did well in competitions. The judges did not realize it was low alcohol (~2% ABV). I made it for my son and his fraternity brothers, who like "lite" beers (that is, his brothers do; he likes good beer). I called it "Isaac Newton Cream Ale," because it's "so light it defies gravity." It turned out quite nicely - better than I anticipated. My intent was to make a low alcohol beer with decent body and taste. To acomplish this, I designed for low OG (1.032) and high FG (1.016) via crystal and carapils malts and corn and a 50-60-70 mash schedule, with 30 minutes at 50C, only 15 minutes at 60C, and 45 minutes at 70C. It started out a bit phenolic from over sparging, but this diminished with lagering. I'd stop sparging earlier next time and dilute for full volume, probably after fermentation, so as to get more complex flavors from higher gravity fermentation. For some reason that I can't remember (probably because it was for fraternity guys with no taste buds), I used some old, dry Whitbread yeast (I always use liquid yeast). It would have been better with a nice fruity liquid yeast that didn't accent hops too much. Maybe YeastLab Canadian. As I recall, I hopped to a target of upper teens IBUs, which was about where it ended up. Grist bill for 7-3/4 gallons (1/4 bbl): 6.25 lb. US 6-row malt 0.5 lb. Carapils 0.25 lb 50L crystal (Baird) 1.25 lb. flaked maize Nine gallons well water boiled & decanted to reduce hardness and alkalinity, then added 3/4 tsp CaCl2. Mashed 50-60-70 as above, hops: 1 oz. Liberty plugs at 5.5% aa., 90 minutes 1/2 oz. Styrian goldings plug at 5.2%, 15 minutes 1/2 oz ditto, 15 minute settling steep Fermented ~2 weeks mid 60sF, lagered six weeks at 33F. Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan c/o nerenner at umich.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 11:51:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Jim Busch <busch at eosdev2.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: Even heating Ken writes about even heating: <Jim Bush and Dion Hollen argue about which systems are better for even <temp distibution in the mash tun. Correction, we were not arguing, really! <I measured virutally every quadrant if <the mash tun and found, after stirring, no more than a 2 degree delta. That <is to say, if one section was 68C the other sections would be no less than <67C and no section would be more than 68C. I see about the same deltas, maybe closer to 3F but I dont measure the very bottom. This is workable. It equilizes very fast. <So, how even is even? Also does "even" include the heating process and if so, how even is even? I think the goal is to not overshoot too much. The enzymes dont instantly deactivate but you dont want to push it either. A 1-2C overshoot and then equilizing at the rest temp is fine by me. <My wife and I both believe that the uneveness (especically when heating)of <our system and proceedures actually help create beers full of different <characters. You might be altering the enzyme action in small regions of the mash but the overall effects would seem to me to be minimal. Then again if you find the beer tastes better I wouldnt change a thing! Good brewing, Jim Busch Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 09:09:09 -0700 From: David Pike <davep at cirrus.com> Subject: RE: PID temp control > Harry Bush asks the unavoidable question, >What is PID (other than something really bad that happens only to >women), and is it something I should get? And Charlie answers: Here goes?... etc,etc... But Charlie did not answer the implied question(s), ie: where did you get it, who made it, how much did it cost? OR, if you made it: what is the design, and how much did the parts cost, and if you made more, how much would you charge? Dave Pike Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1844, 09/29/95