---

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

Contents:
  Re: Reynolds Aluminum Tapper (dw)
  Re: Corn sugar cidery? (John D. Polstra)
  Lager question (florianb)
  Re: cidery taste and " DRY!!! and, Aging" (florianb)

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com


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

Date: 18 Jul 89 08:24:48 EDT (Tuesday)
From: dw <Wegeng.Henr at Xerox.COM>
Subject: Re: Reynolds Aluminum Tapper

>I just received a Reynolds Alumunum Tapper keg from a friend.  It held
2&1/4 
>gallons of Falstaff Draft Beer and says to return for deposit...
>It does not have any 
>provision for putting hoses on it, so it must be pre-pressurized in the
>brewery.

As I recall (it's been about ten years), these type of kegs are gravity
feed. The beer tends to oxidize and go flat very quickyly. I wouldn't use
one for homebrew unless I expected to drink the entire contents in one day.

/Don

Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 08:08:43 PDT
From: polstra!jdp at uunet.UU.NET (John D. Polstra)
Subject: Re: Corn sugar cidery?

In HOMEBREW Digest #203, aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg) writes:
> It's cane sugar that adds a cidery taste, not corn sugar.

Corn sugar most certainly *does* add a cidery flavor.  It may be true that
cane sugar is worse (I've never used cane sugar in beer).  But the cider
flavor from corn sugar is unmistakable and quite objectionable.  It ages
out partially after 3-4 months, but even then it can still be noticed.

-- John Polstra               jdp at polstra.UUCP
   Polstra & Co., Inc.        ...{uunet,sun}!practic!polstra!jdp
   Seattle, WA                (206) 932-6482

Return to table of contents


Date: 18 Jul 89 12:37:53 PDT (Tue)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: Lager question

Here's one for the lager experts.  Recently, I rigged up an old          
refridgerator for use in making lager. I made up a batch of pilsner
and used the two-stage fermentation process.  Using Red Star lager
yeast (I know, I know), the krausen fell after three days, and 
I transferred it to the secondary.  The og=1.040.  Upon transfer,
the sg=1.012.  The fermentation has fallen to a low, low rate,
with bubbles every 100 seconds, almost no visible bubbles rising
in the brew, and the sg=1.010 after three days in the secondary.

It was my understanding that lagers should sit in the carboy for
at least a month.  This brew, however, looks as if it's ready to
bottle and age.  I have noticed a quick fermentation in the past
using Red Star lager yeast for steam beer.  The product was quite
good however.

What would you recommend--bottling or further aging in the carboy?
Thanks.

[Florian Bell, Boonesborough, Oregon]

Return to table of contents


Date: 18 Jul 89 12:28:55 PDT (Tue)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: Re: cidery taste and " DRY!!! and, Aging"

In HB.DIG #203, aem says:

>It's cane sugar that adds a cidery taste, not corn sugar.

I disagree, and I've done batches to investigate it.  Corn sugar will 
produce a dry, cidery taste in beers when amounts as little as one
pound have been used in a five-gallon batch.  As "Al" pointed out in
Digest #202, substitution of normalized amounts of dry malt extract
should correct the problem.

Martin A. Lodahl writes:

>I too have produced a beer
>that leaves me thirsty!  The recipe, from memory:
>...
>I used the "small scale mash" procedure in Miller's "CHoHB", and was
>careful about the temperatures.  My sparging procedure could very
>well be at fault, though:  my improvised lauter tun consists of a

My procedure is similar to yours for partial mashing.  I don't think
there is a large danger in extracting tannins in your procedure.

>The largest change from that batch was
>the yeast:  that time, I used Red Star Ale yeast, which was
>altogether too fruity for my taste.  This seems to be the opposite!
>I can't taste the malt at all!  I've previously only used Edme with
>dark beers, and have gotten results I liked.  Is it too attenuative
>for the light malts I was using?
>
>Another possible culprit is the heat:  in the 70's at pitching,
>rising rapidly into the 90's through primary fermentation (ambient
>room temp.  The carboy was swathed in wet towels in a tub of cold

I'm going to guess that the problem is a combination of more attenuative
yeast acting at a higher temperature.

[Florian Bell, Boonesborough, Oregon]

Return to table of contents


End of HOMEBREW Digest #204, 07/19/89

---