Homebrew Digest Thursday, 18 July 1996 Number 2112
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Shawn Steele, Digest Janitor
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Priming amounts ("Dave Draper")
Re: Old Frothingslosh (John Keane)
To: homebrew at aob.org (Home Brew Digest) (Edward J. Steinkamp)
Breckenridge IPA ((Lin Harper))
Refrigerator vs. Upright Freezer (Jay Williams)
Re: You've been removed from the homebrew-digest ((Shawn Steele))
Re: Gunness Ice Cream ("Roger Deschner ")
Open Fermentors ("Roger Deschner ")
RE: "Large" Fermenters ((J. Matthew Saunders))
Gelatin (Daniel Louis Lanicek)
Brew Pubs or Breweries in Atlanta ("Michel J. Brown")
Fridge for Kegging ("John Lifer, Jr")
RE: Large Fermenters ("Keith Royster")
Too Much HBD (Wallinger)
pH Meters (Todd Kirby)
[none] (DAVE_SAPSIS at fire.ca.gov)
Brewing an ORVAL-/DUVEL-taste-alike ((Oystein Reiersen))
Draft Box/Mash/Lauter Tun/Brew Cactus (Dale Wiemer)
RE: Pre-Gelatinized Wheat? (Bill Ridgely FTS 827-1391)
Gott conversion ("Bryan L. Gros")
[none] (Marc Zapf)
pH and % acidity ("Kirk Harralson")
ginger (Douglas Thomas)
Lambic Article in Scientific American ((Art Steinmetz))
Hop Side Shoots ("Palmer.John")
Large Fermenters ((LaBorde, Ronald))
fill levels & carbonation (Steve Alexander)
Raw wheat and Wit beers ("Jim Hodge")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Dave Draper" <ddraper at laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 07:56:40 +10
Subject: Priming amounts
Dear Friends,
Now that I am finally caught up with the last 10 HBDs I'd like to
toot my own horn slightly to remind readers that there is an article
on calculating priming amounts written by myself and Mark Hibberd,
available on my web page and slated to appear in the next issue of
BT. I don't claim it to be the last word by any means but most of
the issues regarding how much carbonation one can expect for a given
amount of glucose and sucrose are covered; in addition, I report some
experimental data showing that water adsorption increases the weight
of sugar by wholly trivial amounts, so that weight *is* better than
volume-- and these trials were done here in Sydney where it is
Bleedin' humid during the summer too.
Beer page url is:
http://audio.apana.org.au/ddraper/beer.html
Cheers, Dave in Sydney
"I can't be bought for a mere $3.50." ---Jeff Renner
- ---
***************************************************************************
David S. Draper, Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW Australia
ddraper at laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au http://audio.apana.org.au/ddraper/home.html
...I'm not from here, I just live here...
Return to table of contents
From: John Keane <keane at cs.rutgers.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:19:06 -0400
Subject: Re: Old Frothingslosh
O.F. was a truly great beer (so long as you didn't drink it) from
Pittsburgh Brewing. Their motto:
"The pale stale ale with the foam on the bottom"
_John_
"a Pittsburgher by birth"
Return to table of contents
From: Edward J. Steinkamp <ejs0742 at dop.fse.ca.boeing.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 96 15:22:06 PDT
Subject: To: homebrew at aob.org (Home Brew Digest)
remove
Return to table of contents
From: lin2 at ix.netcom.com (Lin Harper)
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 15:47:17 -0700
Subject: Breckenridge IPA
I would like to clone Breckenridge IPA. I have enjoyed this beer on
many occasions but it is really hard to find with any regularity in
these parts. I am new to homebrewing, having brewed two batches with
Coopers kits. I think my time would be better spent looking for a
recipe than looking for the beer. If anyone can help out it would be
greatly appreciated.
Lin
Return to table of contents
From: Jay Williams <jayw7 at airmail.net>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 17:57:30 -0500
Subject: Refrigerator vs. Upright Freezer
Maxwell McDaniel asks:
Which is better, refrigerator or freezer? And if it's a freezer, do I
go for upright of the other kind (coffin style)?
Can anyone give me guidance on how to hook up taps and CO2 lines without
disturbing any freon coils?
Reply:
Since I own both an upright freezer, and a refrigerator for brewing purposes,
I will give you the pros and cons as I see them.
The pros of an upright freezer:
With an appropriate add-on temperature controller, you get a better range of
temperature control than with a refrigerator. There is no wasted space as in
contrast to a refrigerater, which has the freezer space above, which is not
really usable.
The cons of an upright freezer:
The upright freezer owned is a not a frost free freezer. This means that
that during the hot and humid days of summer in Texas, you have an
unreasonable amount of condensation that accumulates on the freon coils that
are under each shelf. Anything in the freezer made of something that will
mildew, will do so. You cannot store six-pax holders in the freezer for
this reason, and the bottle lables will end up less than pristine for the
same reason. However, if you store your fine cigars in a ziplock baggy on
the upper shelf, the freezer makes a reasonably good approximation of a
humidor, at least during the summer months :-) Once the heat breaks in
October, condensation is usually not a problem. The shelves on a
non-frostfree freezer are fixed because they have coils underneath them. I
have read, in the Homebrew Digest, about people bending the coils and
shelves down to make for more headspace, but each time I decide to attempt
this project, tommorrow always looks like a better day to start this. I was
unable to find a freezer that would allow room for anything except for
plastic brewing bucket, so at least on a non-frost free freezer, you will
have to re-engineer to accept upright Corny Kegs.
An upright frost-free freezer eliminates most of the problems mention
above. While I do not own one, it is believed that the shelves are
adjustable. For this reason, your Corny kegs will easily fit. You have no
condensation problems. You have the extended temperature range that
refrigerators do not allow. Unfortunately, they are generally more
expensive.
Chest type freezers would be a problem for me because bending over at the
waist to lift 5 gallon containers out would cause back problems.
The pros of a refrigerator:
Almost all of the used ones left on the used market, are are frost free.
Unless you wish to lager below say 40 F, extended temperature range is not a
problem. They are cheap.
The cons of a refrigerator:
The freezer space is wasted.
Conclusion:
Buy a frost free upright freezer, that has adjustable shelves. You will pay
more, but you will have a more versatile brewing apparatus. In fact, I
would buy one for myself, but my wife is currently watching my homebrewing
budget very closely :-)
Hoppy Brewing,
Jay Williams
Return to table of contents
From: shawn at aob.org (Shawn Steele)
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 16:59:46 -0600
Subject: Re: You've been removed from the homebrew-digest
The last HBD had a posting like this that some of you may have seen:
Subject: You've been removed from the homebrew-digest
This was an error message being bounced back to the posting address.
You have not really been removed.
- - shawn
Digest Janitor
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From: "Roger Deschner " <U52983 at UICVM.UIC.EDU>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:10:05 CDT
Subject: Re: Gunness Ice Cream
I don't know about Gunness Ice Cream, but you can make a really wonderful
float out of Guinness and vanilla ice cream. (Please try it BEFORE you
write and flame me!) Perhaps that's what was meant.
Roger Deschner University of Illinois at Chicago rogerd at uic.edu
Aliases: u52983 at uicvm.uic.edu R.Deschner at uic.edu USUICZ3P at IBMMAIL
=============== "Civilization was CAUSED by beer." =====================
Return to table of contents
From: "Roger Deschner " <U52983 at UICVM.UIC.EDU>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:22:20 CDT
Subject: Open Fermentors
Al, you forgot an obvious one:
ANCHOR. (Flash-pasteurized only AFTER long lagering,) Note that, like
Altbier, California Common is a mixed style, with a warm primary and
cold secondary fermentation. The warm primary fermentors at Anchor are
open, and rather shallow.
Roger Deschner University of Illinois at Chicago rogerd at uic.edu
Aliases: u52983 at uicvm.uic.edu R.Deschner at uic.edu USUICZ3P at IBMMAIL
=============== "Civilization was CAUSED by beer." =====================
Return to table of contents
From: saunderm at vt.edu (J. Matthew Saunders)
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 19:43:39 -0400
Subject: RE: "Large" Fermenters
aesoph at ncemt1.ctc.com (Aesoph, Michael) wrote:
>Doe sanyone out there know where one can locate large, food grade,
>plastic containers that could be used as a fermenter? By large I mean
>10-20 gallons or so
I got a 20 gallon food grade Rubbermaid (tm) 'garbage' can from a
restaurant supply store a few years back. I use it for all sorts of things
including soaking bottles. I had intended to make a 20 gal batch of beer
with it...never happened tho. Hope this helps.
Cheers!
Matthew.
http://dogstar.bevd.blacksburg.va.us
http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/S/saunderm/index.html/page_1.html.
**********
"Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change."
H O M E P A G E
http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/S/saunderm/index.html/page_1.html
J. Matthew Saunders
saunderm at vt.edu
I N D E X P A G E
http://dogstar.bevd.blacksburg.va.us
**********
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From: Daniel Louis Lanicek <dll0001 at jove.acs.unt.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 19:45:43 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Gelatin
Homebrewers,
I recently read in BYOB that by adding gelatin to secondary
fermentation you can increase the clarity of the beer. The directions say
to boil 1/2 to 3/4 of a packet of unflavored gelatin in a cup of water,
then add it to the carboy. Does this work? Is it worth it?
I recently tried this with a stout I brewed, but it's a little
difficult to see if it worked with a dark stout.
Thanks in advance,
Daniel Lanicek
dll0001 at jove.acs.unt.edu
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From: "Michel J. Brown" <mjbrown at teleport.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 09:47:55 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Brew Pubs or Breweries in Atlanta
Hi all! My wife and I will be going to Atlanta for the Olympics next week.
We were curious what the microbrew scene was like down there. Coming from
Portland, Oregon, we're use to having lots of brew pubs around, and would
like to try out some of the more interesting ones in Atlanta. If anyone has
any suggestions, please e-mail me if you would be so kind. Thanks everybody,
and WASSAILS!
Dr. Michel J. Brown, D.C.
mjbrown at teleport.com http://www.teleport.com/~mjbrown
Brewer, Patriot, Physician, Husband, and Father
Return to table of contents
From: "John Lifer, Jr" <jliferjr at felix.TECLink.Net>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 21:33:47 +0000
Subject: Fridge for Kegging
Ok guys, I am planning to convert to kegs in the near future. SO is having
major fit about the bottles that are filling the house and wishes me to rid
our house of these **** things. Little does she know that kegs will take up
more room if you include the refrig.
Well, I would like any info/ suggestions on how to cool the kegs. I would
like to build a bar on one end of my living room to house the fridge and
kegs along with glasses and other beverages. Would not like an upright
fridge in this area, just something small enough for say, three kegs. Has
anyone built such a beast? Have seen the advert for a "beer home" which
looks about like an old Ice box with the taps on top. Would you tear the
guts out of an old fridge and build a new cooler for this application.
Com'on fess up, someone is smarter than me, tell me about it...Please?
John in Mississippi 'nother Brew'n Fool!
Return to table of contents
From: "Keith Royster" <keith.royster at ponyexpress.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 22:51:08 +0500
Subject: RE: Large Fermenters
aesoph at ncemt1.ctc.com (Aesoph, Michael) asks about sources for large
(10-20 gallon) plasstic food-grade containers for use as fermenters.
Back in May I had a discussion Guy McConnell (guym at exabyte.com)
about this. He sent me the following info
> St. Patrick's of Texas has a 15 gallon food grade HDPE (I think)
> drum that they get bulk liquid extract in for $2.00! I just
> ordered one and will probably get another later. They have a 2"
> and a 3/4" threaded opening and take a #5.5 drilled stopper if you
> are so inclined. They come with plugs screwed into the openings.
> I am going to use mine for a primary since I am moving to 10 gallon
> batches almost exclusively. Shipping is around $15.00 to us (NC)
> because the size of the drum requires them to charge the 30 pound
> rate but they are going to put all the stuff I ordered into a box
> to try and lower the cost a bit.
Guy also spoke highly of their prices and service, but I have not
ordered from them. If you are interested, here is how you can contact
them:
St. Patrick's of Texas: 800-448-4224
http://www.internetnow.com:80/stpats
(Hey Guy! When we gonna brew a batch together?)
Keith Royster - keith.royster at ponyexpress.com
Mooresville, North Carolina
at your.service - http://dezines.com/ at your.service
Carolina BrewMasters - http://dezines.com/ at your.service/cbm
My RIMS page - http://dezines.com/ at your.service/RIMS
Return to table of contents
From: Wallinger <wawa at datasync.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 22:12:52 -0500
Subject: Too Much HBD
OK, so we'll waste gobs of bandwith decrying the length
of the HBD.
I for one second this motion, and have decided to be
hypocritical and waste your time and mine to get some
issues off of my chest. The fate of my prior message to
the 'janitor' is unknown, so I offer these comments to all.
I was gone for two weeks and it took me two weeks to
catch up by one of those two weeks. After two weeks of
saving each and every HBD I decided to jump ahead to
see if Al and Dave (and Steve and Tracy) were still at it.
This is like watching a soap opera - if you miss watching
a few days you find that you really haven't missed
anything.
One reader advises that this forum is like a newspaper,
just page down through items that are not of interest.
Unfortunately, journalism isn't what it used to be. That
advice takes the heat off of the contributor to make a
useful contribution. I say bring back the days of limited
throughput so people who submit comments have to
THINK about what they are saying before saying it.
By the way, I have trouble picking up my newspaper
anymore because so-called journalists have more
political crap to offer than real news.
Where does this leave us? Well, I for one am beginning
to question the value of the HBD. After all, I may have time
to tackle reading all of the reference books on brewing
in the time I would otherwise spend on this dribble. That
way I would have more confidence in the information I was
receiving than much of the heresay that is published here.
I can only suggest that folks show a bit more restraint
and thought when they post publicly. I personally trust you
all to work through your differences of opinion (and
observation) privately so that you can reach concensus
(or an agreement to disagree), followed up with a summary
of the pertinent facts, issues, opinions, datapoints, etc that
you raised with each other prior to the public post.
And now I must apologize for this. Yes, this was extremely
hypocritical of me. But I offer these comments in the best
interest of the HBD, and I remain,
Wade Wallinger
Pascagoula MS
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From: Todd Kirby <mkirby at bgsm.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 23:18:42 -0700
Subject: pH Meters
In reference to Esbitter at aol.com questions regarding pH meters, it would
probably be a good idea to store the electrode in a buffer with a pH as
close to the middle of the range you typically measure as possible. Don't
store the electrode in dH2O, especially if it is the membrane type. You
might try Fisher Scientific as one source. Obviously, make sure the
solution is non-toxic, and rinse well with dH2O before using. If your
meter can be calibrated, it's probably a good idea to keep some around
anyway to insure your instrument is working properly.
OK, I guess everyone can get back to such relevant brewing discussions as
Beer in Spaace. (Geesh, and people are complaining about HBD being too
long).
TK
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From: DAVE_SAPSIS at fire.ca.gov
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 96 20:18 PDT
Subject: [none]
>From DAVE_SAPSIS Tue Jul 16 08:21:18 0700 1996 remote from fire.ca.gov
Received: from fire.ca.gov by forest.fire.ca.gov; Wed, 17 Jul 1996 20:18 PDT
Received: from ccMail by ccgate.fire.ca.gov
(IMA Internet Exchange v1.04a) id 1ebb5b90; Tue, 16 Jul 96 08:31:05 -0700
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 08:21:18 -0700
Message-ID: <1ebb5b90 at fire.ca.gov>
From: DAVE_SAPSIS at fire.ca.gov (DAVE SAPSIS)
Subject: spontaneous hops
To: homebrew at aob.org
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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Jeff Frane quite accurately states:
>>>>>
The critical factor in any process is that hops be adequately
dried, which means *very* low numbers on moisture level (check
Garetz/Wills and other sources for the numbers). If the hops are
not thoroughly dried,
they will rapidly mold (believe me!) and spoil.
Hops apparently gain in quality from a period of storage; as I
recall, oxidation in the bale is a necessary step in producing
good flavor (once again, check a good text, but this was garnered
from conversations
with hop growers in the Willamette Valley). There may be good,
non-obvious reasons why hops are still dried instead of being
frozen.
>>>>>>
In addition to mold decomposition, poor levels of hop oasting can
also result in that (rapid, rabid?) other form of oxidation --
combustion. Hops have quite a high redox potential (read:
signifcant stored energy), and microbial decomposition has been
known to lead to smoldering combustion, which then leads to
flaming combustion, which then leads to end of warehouse. I
beleive HopUnion has lost two hop storage facilities to this
evil. Also seems that this process is effectively eliminated
below 10% moisture content (dry weight basis). Hop bales are
routinely cored and checked, and if 10% or higher they are broken
down. Ideal storage moisture is around 6-8% if memory serves,
which is unlikley. It is, however, below ten percent.
Homebrewers needn't worry much about this though, as baling
appears to be a requirement for creating microsites capable of
spontaneous combustion (a process that is quite poorly understood
from a fire research point of view). So if you aren't baling
them things, dry them well anyway and watch for mold. Interested
parties are encouraged to search past HBD (late summer 1994) for
a study of dryhopping fresh vs. dry homegrown hops. In this
instance, the dried materials were judged a superior form, albeit
with some obvious control variable differences other than
moisture content possibly confounding the (percieved) effects.
cheers,
- --dave Dave_Sapsis at fire.ca.gov
"Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?"
- --Sundance
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From: ore at bibsent.no (Oystein Reiersen)
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 11:07:01 -0500
Subject: Brewing an ORVAL-/DUVEL-taste-alike
Although I haven't had time to read this outstanding magazine much lately,
I'm frivolous enough to put forward a question. I spent 10 days in Belgium a
couple of weeks ago, and tasted over 50 different beers. Most of them are
not available in Norway, where I live.
I took a special liking in the hoppy trappist ORVAL (I brought with me a
few), and would like to brew something close. Another hoppy belgian beer I
would like to imitate is DUVEL. Any recipies?
I'm an extract/specialty grain brewer, and have produced 7 or 8 batches so
far, most of them good.
BTW, Belgium is really Beer Heaven. Great beers, great cafes.
Thanks in advance,
Oystein Reiersen
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Oystein Reiersen,Biblioteksentralen(The Norwegian Library Bureau)
Tel: +47 22 08 34 17 Fax: +47 22 19 64 43 Email: ore at bibsent.no
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
"Whenever on a spree, go the whole hog, including the postage."
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Return to table of contents
From: Dale Wiemer <dwiemer at STLMPE-4.ARMY.MIL>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 7:14:49 CDT
Subject: Draft Box/Mash/Lauter Tun/Brew Cactus
Greeting everyone,
In this month's copy of the Grew Your Own magazine (August 1996 Vol. 2,
No.8), there are three different articles on building different
homebrewing components.
The first is on Draft Box, Keg Jacket and Tombstone Tower.
The second is on Mash/Lauter Tun.
And the third is on a Brew Cactus.
I have read the first two so fore but I haven't got to the third
article yet.
Dale Wiemer
I don't know which is better BASE jumping or Brewing!!
Return to table of contents
From: Bill Ridgely FTS 827-1391 <RIDGELY at A1.CBER.FDA.GOV>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 09:21:35 EST
Subject: RE: Pre-Gelatinized Wheat?
In HBD #2111, the subject of unmalted wheat in witbier was
discussed:
>John Varady writes:
>Unmalted wheat should be boiled for a couple of hours
>prior to mashing, and it will take all your strength to
>mill it!
Scott Bridges replied:
>Is this correct? Does anyone else pre-gelatinize
>unmalted wheat for a Wit? I've read that unmalted grain
>adjuncts need to be pre-gelatinized before mashing for
>other styles. However, I've made a number of Wits and
>I've never seen gelatinizing as a requirement in any Wit
>recipe.
My brewing partner Wendy Aaronson and I had gotten several
different opinions on this subject when we planned our witbier.
We finally decided to pre-boil the unmalted wheat and steel-cut
oats in the hope that it would help with lautering. These grains
were boiled for about 20 minutes and then added to the mash tun
along with the requisite pilsner malt.
We also used a 45 minute protein rest at 120 degrees F per the
recommendations in Phil Seitz's excellent Zymurgy article on
Belgian brewing.
The result? The wort lautered without a hitch, and the finished
beer turned out crystal clear! For most other styles, this would
have been a welcome result, but for an intentionally cloudy beer
like a wit, it was a bit disconcerting.
Nonetheless, the beer was extremely tasty and ended up taking 1st
place in Belgian Ales (and 4th Best of Show) at this year's
Spirit of Free Beer competition (beating out Jim Busch's
illustrious Esprit de Boire by a hair).
Next time we brew a wit, we'll skip the pre-boiling step and just
go with a long protein rest.
BTW, I feel the most important variable in brewing a witbier is
the selection of the coriander. There are many grades on the
market, so if you can find high-quality, fresh coriander in your
area, use it instead of the industrial-grade McCormicks brand
found in nearly every grocery store.
Also, be adventurous and use a good ester-forming Belgian yeast.
We used La Chouffe, and the aromatics produced by this yeast
nicely complimented the coriander in the beer.
Bill Ridgely
Alexandria, VA
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From: "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl at ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 08:55:06 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Gott conversion
lconrad at Paragon.COM (Laura Conrad) writes:
>Luke writes:
>
>>I'm currently building a 3-tier system using a 10-gallon Gott cooler...
>> I reattached the valve
>>assembly to the cooler and attached a hose and hose clamp to the
>>plastic spigot. What I can't seem to figure out is how to plug the hole
left
>> by the button/spindle.
>>
>> Has anyone gone through this drill?
>
>I'm sure there are higher-tech ways to do it, but what I did was get a
>drilled rubber stopper of the right size, hacksaw a piece of an old
>racking cane to go through the stopper, and use tubing to connect the
>racking cane to a phalse bottom and a stopcock.
>
>I think the right size rubber stopper is the same one you use for a
>regular beer bottle, so you may already have one.
>
That's what I did too. And Laura is write about the bottle sized
stopper.
I run a 1/4" piece of copper tubing through the stopper, a short
piece of plastic tubing with a hose clamp, which goes into a copper
coil. I've got a bunch of slits drilled in the coiled end with a
Dremel tool. I shove the stopper in the hole in the cooler, shove
the short copper tube through the stopper, fill the cooler with
sparge water, and open the hose clamp slightly. I get sparge water
dripping from my copper coil into the lauter tun.
I'm suprised Phil (TM) or no one has come up with a commercial
solution the the hole in the cooler. There is certainly a market
for something...
- Bryan
grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
Music City Brewers: http://www.theporch.com/~homebrew1/
- Bryan
grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
Nashville, TN
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From: Marc Zapf <marcz at msmailhq.netimage.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 10:25:00 PDT
Subject: [none]
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From: "Kirk Harralson" <kwh at smtpgwy.roadnet.ups.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 10:34:54 EST
Subject: pH and % acidity
Remember the kid who always slept through Chemistry class, and vowed
he would "never use this stuff anyway"??? Well, now he needs help.
How do you convert between pH and %acidity? The reason I'm asking
this is that I need to monitor the acidity of a mead as it ferments,
and I would like to just take a quick pH reading instead of titration.
My references suggest a final pH of about .60%, and that it is best to
save adjustments until bottling to keep the yeast from being shocked
(I'm using ale yeast -- not wine yeast).
Kirk Harralson
Bel Air, Maryland
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From: Douglas Thomas <thomasd at uchastings.edu>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 07:48:08 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: ginger
Once again, this is Doug Thomas home wine/mead maker. For a ginger mead
I made last year (that turned out strong, but mellowed nicely, so you may
want to cut back) I used:
15 oz. fresh chopped ginger root
10 bulbs of lemon grass, fine chopped
2 cups of lemon juice
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
this was for a five gallon batch. Since it took awhile for the ginger to
mellow, like I say, you may want to cut back (unless you want one hell of
a ginger kick)
BTW: my mead came out with a final alcohol content of 7.5% by weight.
Hope this helps all ginger lovers.
Doug
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From: asteinm at nyc.pipeline.com (Art Steinmetz)
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 14:52:32 GMT
Subject: Lambic Article in Scientific American
"The Mystery of Lambic Beer." Jacques De Keersmaecker in Scientific
American, August 1996, pp 74-80.
I haven't read it yet. A short article and I saw nothing HBD denizens don't
already know about but cool nonetheless!
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From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com>
Date: 18 Jul 1996 08:11:13 U
Subject: Hop Side Shoots
Jeremy asked whether he should trim off the side shoots coming from the main
hop vine.
NO! <8-o
Those side shoots are where your cones grow!
Had the same question myself a couple years ago.
Have a good harvest,
John
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From: rlabor at lsumc.edu (LaBorde, Ronald)
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 10:35:06 -0500
Subject: Large Fermenters
>Aesoph, Michael asks:
>Does anyone out there know where one can locate large, food grade,
>plastic containers that could be used as a fermenter? By large I mean
>10-20 gallons or so.. 5 gallons at a time just doesn't cut it anymore -
>especially for wine, which ties up a fermenter for 6 weeks or so.
I would try using a large plastic bag in any container that will hold the
bag. After filling, pitching, and aerating, I would place a sterile cotton
ball up top and gather the bag around it and tie it closed so that the
carbon dioxide can escape through the cotton ball. To rack, I would punch
or cut a small hole in the bag, insert racking cane, etc.. This would
minimize any disturbance to the grunge from fermentation. Might be able to
use a rubber stopper and airlock for the secondary fermenter if you can rig
up some way to hold it upright. Don't know how sterile the new bags are but
I read somewhere that they are considered fairly sterile. Would just try it
and see how it goes.
The main thing going here is CHEAP and easy. Also no cleaning needed, just
toss when done. No - wait, do not toss yet, use for trash, fill, then toss!
Ron
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From: Steve Alexander <stevea at clv.mcd.mot.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 11:40:27 -0400
Subject: fill levels & carbonation
Brad wrote ...
>I've also done some experiments with fill level in 12 oz. bottles,
...
>Slightly lower carbonation was observed in the 1/2 full bottles.
That half filled bottles undercarbonate is no mystery, the added gas
from priming fermentation will only half the gas per unit volume to a
half filled bottle. (See the brewery web site pages on Priming -
really good technical detail from Mark Hibberd and Dave Draper).
>No significant difference was observed (via mouthfeel) in any of the
>more 'normal' fill levels (1.5 inch to nearly zero head space),
>either in carbonation time, or amount.
This doesn't correspond w/ my lager experiment posted here around the
beginning of the year. I, and later AlK, found that very full bottles
carbonate much more slowly than normal or underfilled bottles. Note
that I'm NOT saying your wrong, just that we have three experiments w/
different results. Al determined that overfilled bottles
undercarbonate. I strongly suspect that my final carbonation was a bit
low in overfilled bottles, but not by a very obvious amount.
That overfilled bottles can undercarbonate and carbonate slowly *may*
be attributable to poor yeast growth at higher pressures. A known
effect. Need more experiments here guys. Perhaps the yeast strain
used has an effect. I used Wyeast 2308.. Al ? Brad ?
>Bottom line for me; I now leave almost no head space (easy to do with
...
>reducing oxidation potential. This has worked well for me for the
I doubt the oxidation potential is a big issue with normal fill levels
and bottle conditioning (I do attempt to eliminate headspace air).
>From experience, bottle conditioned beer just doesn't oxidise much.
I suspect that yeast drive the redox potential of the beer toward the
reduced state, and consume some free oxygen along the way. How much
oxygen might yeast reasonably consume in primed beer bottle ? Tracy ?
OTOH bottles filled from kegs w/ various filler apparati do have the
potential for serious oxidation problems, and I've experienced
substantial oxidation in such bottles after as little as 4 weeks in a
fridge.
Commercial breweries back in the 1940-1960 era used to go to great
lengths to try to eliminate oxygen including adding .25 to .5 Units of
glucose-oxidase enzyme per ounce of beer. I suspect HB fillers are no
better, probably worse than these old bottlers. Modern commercial
bottling equipment is more than an order of magnitude better at
eliminating included oxygen.
Steve Alexander
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From: "Jim Hodge" <Jim_Hodge at ilsc.com>
Date: 18 Jul 1996 09:20:48 -0500
Subject: Raw wheat and Wit beers
Raw wheat and Wit beers
A quick comment on whether or not to boil/gelatinize wheat for a wit beer.
Others have commented that it is not necessary and this is correct. Among
adjunct grains, wheat is relatively unique in that its gelatinization
temperature is sufficiently low that it will gelatinize at normal mashing
temperatures. There is a table that indicates this in de Clerck's book (or it
may be the Practical Brewer, I'm playing hooky from work as I write this and
don't have my books with me).
One other point, the wheat pretty much does turn into cream o' wheat during the
mash and lautering can be a tedious and painful experience. A way to help this
out is to add a few handfuls of rice hulls at mash out. I now use this as part
of
my SOP when I brew with wheat and it works great.
Jim Hodge
jim_hodge at ilsc.com
==================================
....And what is good, Phaedrus?
And what is not good?
Need we have anyone tell us these things?
==================================
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