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

Contents:
  Crushing Malts and Grains (Stanley Dunn)
  Re:  Charlie Papazian's Science (Mike Fertsch)
  grain crushing (iwtio!korz)
  RE: Homebrew Digest #196 (July 07, 1989) ("Paranoia means never having to say you're surprised.")

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Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 08:09:23 EDT
From: smd at occlusal.rutgers.edu (Stanley Dunn)
Subject: Crushing Malts and Grains

Marc San Soucie writes:
	
	Gordon Hester asks about "well crushed" grains:
	
	> How do I go about crushing it? How crushed does it need to be?
	> When do I add it to the wort?
	
:I buy some of
:my crystal malt pre-crushed, and crush the rest by hand with a heavy glass in
:a mixing bowl. 

I, too, buy my crystal malt pre-crushed from the local brew shop.
	
:Other grains, such as black malt or roasted barley, can be treated more like
:the little red peppers in Szechuan food - more crushing for more flavor, less
:for less. 

I first started trying to crush the grain with a rolling pin, but this got
old real quick.  The local brew shop used to have a grain mill that was
owned by the local brew club - when the club disappeared, the grain mill 
went with it.  I decided to try our variable speed food processor with
the bread kneading attachment on it.  The attachement is plastic and at
a slow speed will not cut the grain, just crush it.  This is alot easier
that the rolling pin and believe it or not, my wife does not mind me using
the food processor for crushing grains!
	
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Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 10:32 EDT
From: Mike Fertsch <FERTSCH at adc1.RAY.COM>
Subject: Re:  Charlie Papazian's Science

> What I'm wondering is how good is his (Papazian's) science?  I'm aware that
> he writes for the layperson, and naturally wouldn't go into quite as much
> detail as he might otherwise. 

Homebrewers fall into two camps - the first tries to measure and control
everything with the thought that if they get everything right, they will
get perfect beer.  The second camp just wants to keep things simple, and
make good beer.  The second camp doesn't want to know WHY, just give them
good beer.  Making beer can either be a science or an art.  I think most of
the readers on this net are of the 'scientist' group;  most of us have
technical backgrounds and we were trained to MEASURE, CONTROL, and DOCUMENT
our experiments.

Charlie P's book gives more science than other books (Burch's and Reese's
give little info on WHY things are done), and is good for people to get 
started in brewing.  He tries to serve both the artist and the scientist.

I think Charlie's science is quite good; if you talk to him he really DOES 
know a lot about the science of beer and brewing.  He just tries to make 
brewing palatable (potable?) to those with non-technical background. 

Biographical note: (I hope I got this right, and I'm sure some facts are 
wrong!)
Charlie P was educated as an engineer.  He received a degree in Nuclear
Engineering from The University of Virginia.  On leaving school, he decided
that engineering was not the way to go (can't relax and drink beer at a
nuke power station), so went into teaching.  That didn't work out, and 
decided to promote homebrewing full-time.

mike fertsch

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Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 10:03:44 mdt
From: att!iwtio!korz at hplabs.HP.COM
Subject: grain crushing

What I said about not boiling crystal malt in digest #196,
also goes for any other grains.  THEY SHOULD NOT BE BOILED,
unless you like the taste of tannic acid (everyone has their
own taste).  The pulverized grains that Marc San Soucie
adds to his brew, definately are impossible to remove from the
wort and subsequently add tannins to the final product.

Erik Asphaug writes:
>the brew fizzes excessively and then foams all over the place
>when poured, and raises somewhat of a stink.

This sounds to me like a bacterial infection.  Re-evaluate your
sanitation proceedures or drink faster before the nasties get
a chance to turn your beers into what's commonly known as "gushers."

Al.

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Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 21:01 CDT
From: "Paranoia means never having to say you're surprised."
Subject: RE: Homebrew Digest #196 (July 07, 1989)

I'm looking for mail order places, because the only place in town that I
can get stuff is from the local health food store (and they're a bit expensive).

So email me addresses, opinions, and sample price lists (say for malts, hops,
and yeasts).

- Ted
---
Patrick T. Garvin
in the Society: Padraig Cosfhota o Ulad / Barony of Namron, Ansteorra
ptgarvin at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu / ptgarvin at uokmax.UUCP
Disclaimer:  This message has no disclaimer.

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #197, 07/08/89

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