Homebrew Digest Wednesday, 11 September 1996 Number 2184

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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:
  Force Carbonating / Siphon starting ((George De Piro))
  Re:  Czech Pils schedule ((Bill Giffin))
  copper tubing ("k. sprague")
  Keg Carbonation (Tim.Watkins at analog.com)
  My Balls are Always Bouncing (RUSt1d?)
  Re: SPAMMING on HBD (John DeCarlo)
  Acetaminophen and Alcohol (Mike Adams)
  High temp fermentation nasties. Responses (Dave Mercer)
  Re: old yeast ((Ed J. Basgall))
  Re: Dreaded Starch Haze ((Mike Uchima))
  RE: Lagering under pressure / alcohol effects ((George De Piro))
  Starch haze (Hugh Graham)
  Help, 10Gal Gott too small ("MacRae Kevin J")
  Isnt it ironic / Hop NOSE! ((John (The Coyote) Wyllie))
  Re: really good lauter system (Mike Demers)
  bottling and starters (David MCconnell Higdon)
  Irish Moss (again) ((Bob Wysong))
  Mouse Lambic ((Bill Giffin))
  Corning factory outlet? (Bruce Herron)
  Bad beer options, hangovers, mis (eric fouch)
  bad beer contest (m.bryson2 at genie.com)
  Re: aeration of sweet liquor (Mike Demers)
  [none] (casty at klink.com.ph)
  Scouring SS kegs-thread ("Val J. Lipscomb")
  Chocolate Malt in a Dunkel? (Brad Anesi)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com (George De Piro) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 07:50:14 -0700 Subject: Force Carbonating / Siphon starting Hi! In the last digest there is a nice discussion on how to force carbonate a keg of beer by shaking it while applying CO2 pressure. All the instructions in the post were good, but I would add one precautionary measure: keep the CO2 tank above the level of the CO2 inlet on the keg. This is to keep beer out of your gas line and regulator. Once the beer is carbonated there will be no pressure difference between the keg and the line, and beer can flow freely into it. Quite messy. ---------------------- While on the subject of gas, I'd like to share my siphon starting technique. Many of you probably already know it, but for those who don't: If you have a CO2 canister it is easy to start a siphon. Simply obtain one of those orange carboy caps, the kind with two openings. Put the cap on the carboy. Put the racking cane through one hole. Set your CO2 regulator for ~10 psi, turn on the gas and hold the gas line against the other hole in the carboy cap. Sometimes you have to press down on the cap a bit to obtain a good seal, but the beer will start to flow quickly and cleanly. You can, of course, let go of the gas line and turn off the CO2 once the liquid is flowing. No need to suck on hoses, blow into your carboy, fill the hose with pre-boiled water, etc. I even use this technique for obtaining samples from my fermenters. It doesn't matter if the carboy cap doesn't fit the fermenter perfectly; just press down on it and raise the gas pressure a bit to get the beer flowing. Have Fun! George De Piro (Nyack, NY) Return to table of contents
From: bill-giffin at juno.com (Bill Giffin) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 08:31:04 cst Subject: Re: Czech Pils schedule Good morning all, John M. Posing's mash schedule appear to provide a mash that will be far to thin to provide the proper characteristics for a Czech Pils. A quart of cold to mash in with then raising the temperature to 95F with 150F water with give you a mash with 1.5 to 2 quart of water per pound of grain and that is too mush considering he has another addition of hot water with the first decoction. Bill Return to table of contents
From: "k. sprague" <homebrew at ix15.ix.netcom.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 06:42:12 -0700 Subject: copper tubing Just a quick question, all the information I have gathered suggests using copper for boil kettle racking canes, wort chillers, fittings, etc. However, in between beer batches, my copper wort chiller sits on the shelving unit and oxidizes. Then, I put in the boil kettle for 15 mins to sanitize and when I pull it out at the end, the chiller is bright, i.e. no oxidization. Does this not contribute to off flavors in the beer????? Anyone else noticed this???? I ask because my last two batches of beer (since inception of my wort chiller) have tasted awfull. Anyone care to comment? TIA. K. Sprague Return to table of contents
From: Tim.Watkins at analog.com Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 10:06:59 EDT Subject: Keg Carbonation I'm wondering if it is better to force carbonate in the keg, or prime the keg and let it naturally carbonate? I'm sure there's advantages and disadvantages to both, but I'm looking for comments out there. TIA, Tim Return to table of contents
From: RUSt1d? <rust1d at li.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 10:15:41 -0400 (EDT) Subject: My Balls are Always Bouncing I was looking through an old zymurgy ('90) and saw an ad for a product called the "Batch Latch" that allow one to re-use 5 gallon party balls. I called the number but no luck. Can anyone tell me if this type of product is available today? Is there any advantage to adding a lager yeast to my ale before cold conditioning it at 32F? Will it reduce any off flavors produced from high fermentation temps? The ale will be at 32F for about a month for the day I take the plunge. I recently brewed a porter on a friday that had finished and cleared by tuesday morning (1056 at 75F), so tuesday evening I kegged it, co2 injected it, and tossed it in a freezer at 32f till the following saturday. That 8 day old ale was pretty tasty and gone fast. John Varady Boneyard Brewing Co. "Ale today, Gone tomorrow" Return to table of contents
From: John DeCarlo <jdecarlo at juno.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 10:21:31 -0400 Subject: Re: SPAMMING on HBD I agree conceptually with the idea of limiting posts to subscribers, and in fact contribute to other lists with that limit. However, this is not necessarily straightforward. Lots of people get a generic address (jdecarlo at erols.com or jdecarlo at aob.org or somesuch) that they like to use when subscribing to lists. However, they may have a *real* address that is subject to change (jdecarlo at mail5.erols.com or somesuch) that their mailer uses. Those people have to learn special tricks to post messages or they have to subscribe and unsubscribe many times as the "real" address changes (one month it is at mail4.x.com and the next at pop3.x.com). I know on one list I got the listmanager to subscribe both my "real" and my "generic" (with the "real" one set to not receive mail). Anyway, this is long and sort-of off-topic, but it just points out that there are quite a few people whose preferred reply-to email address is different from the one their email program puts on as From. John DeCarlo, jdecarlo at juno.com, Arlington, VA Return to table of contents
From: Mike Adams <mike at telesph.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 08:37:16 -0400 Subject: Acetaminophen and Alcohol George De Piro writes: (George_De_Piro at berlex.com) >Also, people should be aware of a study published last year which suggested that >acetaminophen, a.k.a. Tylenol, might cause liver damage in some people, >especially when taken with alcohol. Quite true. The tylenol I bought this morning carries a specific warning about not taking tylenol if you've already consumed or plan to consume alcoholic beverages. Return to table of contents
From: Dave Mercer <dmercer at path.org> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 05:15:30 -0700 Subject: High temp fermentation nasties. Responses Thanks to all who responded to my questions regarding bad alcoholic off-flavors that I surmised resulted from fermenting 1056 at >=74F. I was surprised by the number of people who said they had had exact same problem (but then, I doubt there are too many unique brewing problems). Most everybody agreed that high temp was the culprit, rather than infection, but opinion was mixed 50-50 on whether the beer would get better with time. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out. One private e-mail response said that 1056 "has a very nasty flavor while the yeast is still in suspension. Give the beer at least three weeks in the bottle before sampling." I have never heard this before. In fact, I've always thought it was supposed to be fairly neutral. But as I said in my original post, I rarely use it, preferring 1098 as my general pale ale yeast. Comments? Return to table of contents
From: edb at chem.psu.edu (Ed J. Basgall) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 11:55:52 -0400 Subject: Re: old yeast <From: phust at unlinfo.unl.edu (patricia hust) <Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 10:36:15 -0500 (CDT) <Subject: Re: Old yeast <I have not brewed since spring, too busy, kind of warm for fermenting, <etc. I saved some yeast then by washing the dregs from the bottom and <putting in sterile mason jars. The "yeast" has been in the <refrigerator since March or April. How do I know if it is good? I <assume I shold make a starter and if it begins action I am O.K.? Is <there a way to know? Smell, taste? Thanx for any help. <Jim Hust Jim: I have many bottles of old yeast dregs, some at least a year old in my refrig. I make a starter and once it has started bubbling, I take a drop of slurry and inspect it under a microscope. You can tell if the yeast look healthy (ovoid and budding) or mutated (long and skinny). Bacteria, which are smaller should be absent. If you see little rods ~1/10 the size of yeast or strings of what look like beaded chains (cocci) you have a bacterial infection. Toss the starter. BTW I use a sterile gauze pad and rubberband over the top of my starter (1/2 gal jug with approx 12-16oz aerated liquid) instead of an airlock because I want to make more yeast (aerobically) and not beer (anaerobically), at this point. I check for activity by swirling the contents, if it foams up nicely, they're off and running. Good Luck Cheers Ed Basgall SCUM (State College Underground Maltsters) Return to table of contents
From: uchima at fncrd8.fnal.gov (Mike Uchima) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 11:43:47 -0500 Subject: Re: Dreaded Starch Haze sharrington at CCGATE.HAC.COM wrote: > [snip] > The grain bill was 10lbs of Klages, with a lb of crystal. Our water > here in the South Bay is super hard, so I have an RO system. I use RO > water for the mash. The pH of the water is pretty high (7-8 I am > told). > > Upon hearing comments on the HBD that a protein rest was only > necessary for lagers, I decided to shorten my brew and just do a mash > then mash-out. I typically mash for an hour, but this day I had to go > to Home Depot to get curtain rods, so the mash went on for about 2.5 > hours. I then did a mashout and brewed as normal. When I racked to > the primary, it looked really cloudy, and has stayed that way all the > way to bottling. I assume that this is the dreaded starch haze. > [snip] Is it possible you're actually seeing some sort of *protein* haze? I've seen conflicting opinions on whether a protein rest is necessary with Klages malt or not. I don't think the protein rest is a lager vs. ale thing -- I think it depends on whether you're using lager or ale *malt*. Comments, anyone? - -- Mike Uchima - -- uchima at fncrd8.fnal.gov Return to table of contents
From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com (George De Piro) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:49:43 -0700 Subject: RE: Lagering under pressure / alcohol effects Hello! Tom asks about using a sealed keg as a secondary for lagering. It does work fine, but you shouldn't put the beer in while it's still fermenting. The reason is that many lager yeasts, especially the German strains, produce nasty smelling sulfurous gasses (like H2S) that need to be allowed to leave the beer. During the long, slow fermentation in a carboy these gasses have a chance to be purged by the CO2, leaving the beer clean smelling. In my experience, this can take 2 or 3 weeks at 45F. Only after the beer smells clean do I keg it for lagering. I force carbonate as soon as it is kegged. In this way you don't have to disturb the beer as much after the lagering period. I don't want to stir up all the haze and yeast that have crashed to the bottom of the keg after waiting so patiently! You could force carbonate by just hooking the tank up to the keg without agitation, but I prefer the speed of force carbonating with agitation (I only have one CO2 tank, and many kegs). If you keg the beer before the H2S has been purged, it may be possible to purge it by venting the keg periodically, then repressurizing with CO2 (note: that's CO2, not Co2, which would be diatomic cobalt; don't want to give David B. a headache!). That seems like a pain, though. --------------------- On that alcohol thread, I too have noticed that beer in a "party" atmosphere seems to affect me more than one quietly enjoyed at home. Sometimes I attribute this to a lack of food in my stomach, but that's not always the case. I guess your state of mind does influence your body tremendously, hence the practice of testing new drugs against placebos. Have Fun! George De Piro (Nyack, NY) Return to table of contents
From: Hugh Graham <hugh at lamar.ColoState.EDU> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 11:15:18 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Starch haze Stephen Harrington writes about cloudy beer: Did you recycle the first runnings until the wort ran clear? This process helps to establish the grain bed filter. Different lauter tuns and grain grinds mean that the amount of recycling required to achieve clarity is difficult to predict, but up to a couple of gallons may need to be recycled. This recycling can increase color, flavor and sugar extraction too, so it's a Good Thing. But simple recycling can lead to undesirable cooling of the mash. To overcome this, you could reheat each pint or so of the runnings for ~30 secs on the stove before adding it back to the mash, if you can be bothered. This external heating can be used to achieve mash out temps too. Then it's only a hop step and jump to RIMS type mashing... BTW, it sounds like a little gypsum or Burton salts in your RO water might help the mash proceed, or maybe just use 1 gallon or so of your hard local water blended with the RO variety. Hugh in Ft Collins CO. (population: ~100k, breweries: 9...) Return to table of contents
From: "MacRae Kevin J" <kmacrae at UF2269P01.PeachtreeCityGA.NCR.COM> Date: Wed Sep 11 14:02 EDT 1996 Subject: Help, 10Gal Gott too small My current setup is a half barrel for boiling(no screen or spigot) and a 10Gallon Gott with a plastic screen. I've brewed 5 and light 10 gallon batches (up to 16.5 lbs of grain) and until now standard procedures worked fine. I decided to brew a 10 gallon batch of Marzen/Octoberfest and the total mashable grain is 22lbs with an additional 2lbs of crystal. With a quart of water at 133F for a 122F protein rest then about another quart per lb of boiling water for a rest at 158F, I've already overshot the Gotts 10 gallon capacity, without counting the volume of grain and any additional water for a mashout at 165F. I'd really like to make a 10 gallon batch. I know I can remove some grain and liquid heat it to the target temp, but have no experience doing so. How much to pull, assuming I have to add additional boiling water to hit the target temp of 158F, what is the desired ratio of water to grain at 158F. I'm assuming I can't heat all my initial 6gal H2O and 22lb grain to 158F. If I can heat the whole mash to 158 should I just do all my heating and rests in the keg and when its done gently transfer to the Gott? I'll eventually the upgrade the keg with a spigot and screen but it won't be before this weekends brew session. I'd appreciate helpful advice, experiences or pointers to info. Sorry if this is basic kids stuff, has been gone over before, or just not interesting. Thanks for all the great info so far, I don't know what I'd do without the HBD. Kevin MacRae Return to table of contents
From: ccoyote at sunrem.com (John (The Coyote) Wyllie) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 13:07:06 -0600 Subject: Isnt it ironic / Hop NOSE! >From: Jeff Stampes <jeff.stampes at xilinx.com> >Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:40:44 -0600 >Subject: Spam and Exclusivity/Barleywine Starter/CO2 levels > >If you'll remember, this spam came from someone at "juno.com". >I received a snail mail brochure form this company last week >as well. Who are they? They are a company providing FREE e-mail >access to anyone with a computer and a modem. You ask for it, >they give you the software to run, access #'s, and all the >e-mail you can handle, with all costs being footed by their >advertisers. I actually signed up for a Juno account. Shees its free why not? (ccoyote at juno.com if you wanna test it out, PC only, baaaaah! I dont check it often lets just say...but go ahead, test it out) Funny thing is- the free aspect of it is due to the fact that you are inundated with ads while using their software. It takes up 10meg of hard disk space for an e-mail only account. Hmmmm sez I. My Netscape 3.0gold with java doesnt take up THAT much space! You are requested to give all kinds of intimate details about yourself and your interests when you sign on. I haven't checked back to see if I've gotten lots of spam/junk mail from the advertisers yet. but I cant say much has hit my snailmailbox. So do you really think that advertisers will be drawn to an account to be subject to advertisement? maybe. sure we'll get more free-loaders, but hell, hasn't every college campus in america done that to us already (hey- you freshman in the back row, stop cowering, I'm not gonna throw any chalk atchya). Look at how many worthless "home-pages" there are. (this is my dorm room, there's my poster of Cindy Crawford wearing Pepsi<tm> stuff, theres my poster of Cindy NOT wearing Pepsi<tm> stuff...) I say- welcome them aboard. Teach them how to behave (by example?) then when that doesnt work use some of Domenicks tactics and inundate their mailbox with all the pictures from alt.nasty.sex.with.animals :) Now if they like it...then ...well... you're screwed, so to speak. But FWIW I agree fully with the proposal that we limit posts to subscribed users. Usenet works that way doesnt it? It works there doesnt it? :( It would allow an element of control such that if contributors get disruptive (nomakeeeeee) they can be booted. Lets just never have a public vote about who should stay and who should go...thats total crap! *** Since I hate to post posts that contain NO brewing related merit, here's my quick save attempt: While tiptoeing on the very top step of my rickety old wooden ladder (you know, the step that (b4 all the paint wore off) says- "NOT A STEP") and sticking my head out over/through the top of my hop pergola I was picking handful after glorious handful of almost too ripe cascade (and I'm not even halfway there!) I had a horrible sneezing fit. Yet there I am, teetering on top, and sneezing and sneezing away, sun beating down, saying, "I gotta pick em, gotta pick em...". Whew- I tell you. It was a BAAAD allergic reaction. I've run into some sniffles before when picking my hops, and have a history of allergies to pollen, but this baby knocked me over....well not quite-luckily. Good thing I built that pergola sturdy! I had to give up the pick-athon, and run for an antihistamine and a box of tissues. Well, next time I'm gonna wear a dust mask. Its getting to the point where I might need to get one of those fancy schmancy space suits like Kirk wore in the Tholean Web, or where Spock and co. got that infection that made em all crazy- Sulu the swashbuckler,,,,oh yeah. Brewing again.... I wear surgical gloves (work well) long sleeves, a cap, glasses, now a dust mask too. My neighbors are REALLY going to start to wonder! Well, my question here is- has anyone else had any adverse reactions while picking hops? I think I may have just been overwhelmed by the overpowering (and wonderful) fresh hop aroma, ... and dust, and pollen, and aphids... But I would seriously hope that I'm not developing some kind of allergy to hops that might even (god forbid) translate to an allergy to hops IN beer. I don't suppose it carries over the way people with reactions to sulphates do??? I doubt it, just wondering if anyone out there has any insight. Enough babbling for now. Sorry for wasted bandwidth (use the scroll Luke...). Brew on good buddies! /////////////////////////////////|||||||||\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ So how is SAT at 2:00 at the T-shirt shop sound for people, HBD GABF Gathering. (as Jim C sed to me) I'll be the guy with the beard, and the brewing-related T-shirt on. (Wow- its like looking in a Mirror! Like a Hall of Mirrors...!) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|||||||||/////////////////////////////////// - --------------------------------------------------------------- /// John- The Cosmic Coyote -Wyllie\\\ ccoyote at sunrem.com 'As long as he's got 8 fingers and toes, he's ok by me!' H.J.S. - --------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
From: Mike Demers <mdemers at ctron.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 15:11:18 -0400 Subject: Re: really good lauter system Rick ( Lambert at tencor.com) wrote: > I am looking to construct a really good lauter system, uupgrading myself from > the simple zapap holes in the bucket/false bottom with clamped hose deal. My > question to you, o great collective of zymurgistic wizardry, your suggestions > on either the evolution of my system, or something else wickedly efficient and > simple.... I would recommend you buy and EASYMASHER (tm JSP). This beautiful little gadget has made my mashing experiences, well, easy. It will never clog and you never have to worry about a silly false bottom floating up on you. You can stir the mash as much as you like during the sparge and you only have to recirculate a few ounces of runnings in order to reset the grain bed. Also, if you boil in a pot with an EM installed, you don't have to use hop bags because after chilling you can just drain the wort out of the pot with the hops acting as filter bed (don't use pellets though). This method also has the advantage of leaving behind the hot and cold break as well. It's the best system in my opinion. I would never use anything else. Check it out at: http://dezines.com/ at your.service/jsp/em.html Mike D. Not affiliated, just a happy customer. Return to table of contents
From: David MCconnell Higdon <dhigdon at wam.umd.edu> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 15:20:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: bottling and starters Just thought I would share some of my latest brewing techniques with everyone. The first would be a batch of wheat beer that I made (partial mash) the came out flat after 4 weeks in the bottle. to carbonate it I dissolved about 1/4 cup suger in a cup of water and opened up each bottle, took out about a tsp or more and replaced it with the suger water. after 2 weeks the beer was more carbonated than before and I tasted no contamination. The second is a yeast starter I got from the bottom of Whitbread Pale ale bottle. It took about 1 week for fermentation at about 78-80 degs it tasted fine and it is fermenting a batch now at about 70 deg. The yeast took off in about 12 hours after i pitched it. Now for my question. Has anyone ever used water filtered with a britta filter? how did it turn out? Return to table of contents
From: bob at ocs.com (Bob Wysong) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 15:26:25 EDT Subject: Irish Moss (again) Over the weekend I was brewed a batch of Pale Ale. Thinking I had 10 minutes more to go with boiling, I threw in my re-hydrated Irish moss. It was then I realized that I hadn't sanitized my CF chiller (I flush it with boiling water and then steam sanitize). 45 min later, (after adding more water to make up the loss in volume for the time boiling) I was ready to chill. Except now my Irish moss had been boiling for 45 min instead of 10-15. Question is: What difference does it make? Why do all of the reading sources say to throw it in with 10 minutes to go? Why not the entire boil? Just Curious. - -Bob Wysong Return to table of contents
From: bill-giffin at juno.com (Bill Giffin) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 13:16:48 cst Subject: Mouse Lambic It was truly wonderful. Waste not want not. Remember there are a number of recipes for Cock (Roster) ale, where a roster you know a male chicken was put into the mash. Why not a mouse?? Bill Return to table of contents
From: Bruce Herron <herron at wadsworth.org> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 15:25:53 -0400 Subject: Corning factory outlet? Hello all Let me start by saying thanks to those that answered my last post regerding false bottoms, especially to Dave Burley who has been cranking out the replies to some of the less experienced brewers participating here, we appreciate the time and advice. My next question is about getting a couple more glass carboy's for a reasonable price. I am going up into Bar Harbor Maine at the end of the month for a conference and will be driving there from New York. Sometime ago I heard from someone that there is a corning factory outlet in the south part of Maine, maybe in Kittery? Anyway they also said that you can purchase glass carboys there for $10 or so, does this sound at all accurate to anyone out there. __ __ Bruce Herron / \ / \ Developmental Genetics ( _""_ ) David Axelrod Institute - o o - 120 New Scotland Ave. \ / Albany, NY 12208 ===\ /=== Phone (518) 474-3341 O FAX (518) 474-3181 Return to table of contents
From: eric fouch <S=eric_fouch%S=fouch%G=eric%DDA=ID=STC021+pefouch%Steelcase-Inc at mcimail.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 14:38 EST Subject: Bad beer options, hangovers, mis Date: Wednesday, 11 September 1996 2:34pm ET To: STC012.HONLY at STC010.SNADS From: Eric.Fouch at STC001 Subject: Bad beer options, hangovers, mistakes In-Reply-To: Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Baked Beans, Spam, and Spam The Radical Brewer wants to know what to do with his bad, but drinkable beer. The suggestion of combining it with more DME or LME at less than boiling temps has merit. One thing comes to mind: You will lose alcohol content due to heating. P'raps "dumping" the bad beer (BAD Beer! No biscuit!) into a fermenter- that is, gently pouring, preferably under a CO2 pad- and adding some metabisulfite to "pastuerize" it, then adding about 2 gallons of boiled, unhopped new wort, repitch, and do the Dance of Submissivness to the beer gods.Be sure to give the metabisulfite about 24 hours to dissipate before adding new wort or yeast. - --- My understanding of hangovers, due to indepth field studies, is due to the combination of dehydration, vasoconstriction of brain bound blood vessles, and vitamin B depletion, all due to alcohol and the ketones and aldehydes that are byproducts of fermentation and distillation (of liquors) processes. In my experience, homebrew does NOT give me a hangover. I once quaffed copius amounts of my Coffee House Porter (10%) and after a night of stumbling around, giggling and sleeping in the dog house, I felt great the next day. Scary. It also works (for me anyway, FTROYG) if before an evening of planned overindulgence, like bowling night, to take a Tbs of brewers yeast, mix it into a glass of Orange Juice, and chase it with a glass of IPA. The next day you will be able to tell that you should have a hangover, but it's just not manifesting. This is due to brewers yeast being an excellent source of vitamin B. A couple pints of water at bedtime does also help. - --- What is SPAMMING? Spamming is the now defunct sport of throwing a chunk of Spam (Tm.) through a large fan and admiring the resultant patterns on a white washed wall. The practice lost favor to the more popular contest of Barnyard Bingo (Tm.) The spirit of spamming was revived when one of the developers of the modern internet re-coined the phrase to mean splattering newsgroups with shotgunned advertisments in hopes of stirring up interest in the product or subject being "spammed". I hope I've answered your question. E-man Return to table of contents
From: m.bryson2 at genie.com Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 18:34:00 GMT Subject: bad beer contest Don't know if this is available where you are, but Red, White and Blue could possibly be the worst beer ever; tastes like it's been filtered through a large horse. It makes the mega-brews you mentioned taste like champagne. Blech Matthew Bryson Return to table of contents
From: Mike Demers <mdemers at ctron.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 16:18:09 -0400 Subject: Re: aeration of sweet liquor Peter T. (VanFunk at aol.com) wrote: > Zymurgists- > got a quick question for the honorable collective. I installed a JSP > easymasher (I know, I know) in my Vollrath 10 gal kettle a couple of months > ago, and thus far I am very happy with its extraction efficiency. However, > that rackin' frackin' spigot gets me swearing at my mother every time I try > to attach a piece of hose to it. The seal is such that I have to clamp it > about 10 times to prevent it from sucking air into the sweet wort during the > lauter. (snip) First off, you shouldn't swear at you mother, swear at Jack!! ;-) Second, I have brewed probably 20 or so batches with an EM and I too get that air sucking into the hose. I really don't think it's anything to worry about, I let the air suck in all it wants and I never have any off-flavors in my beer (at least not ones that could be associated with HSA). I've always been of the opinion that it really doesn't matter if the sweet liquor gets aerated during the sparge because you boil off all of the oxygen anyway. I'm not sure if this theory is correct or not, but like I said, I have no problems with HSA as far as I can tell. Another data point: When I brew over my buddy's house we let the sweet liquor fall about 3 or 4 feet into the kettle. This certainly results in pretty well aerated sweet liquor and again, no problems. I remember the first time we did this I expressed concern that we were aerating the sweet liquor but we really didn't have any way of preventing it so we relaxed, didn't worry, and drank several homebrews. I was pleasanltly surprised when the batch came out really well. I haven't given it a second thought since. Mike D. Return to table of contents
From: casty at klink.com.ph Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 03:58:09 +0800 Subject: [none] - ------------------------------ Return to table of contents
From: "Val J. Lipscomb" <valjay at netxpress.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 16:40:23 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Scouring SS kegs-thread I have always used green Scotch pads to clean the inside and outside, for that matter, of my brewing kettle (a former SS keg). In my exper- ience, the pads do come in several degrees of coarseness. I just looked and the ones I use are marked "Tough Kitchen Cleaning". The reason I started using them, knowing that they would scratch, is that in "Brewing Lager Beer", in the section on Cleaning and Sterilizing, Greg Noonan says, "Brew Kettles of Copper, Stainless Steel or Aluminum: Articles of this construction are the only ones used in brewing upon which an abrasive should be used. In fact, they benefit from its employ- ment. The abrasives not only scour away calcified deposits but pitting and etching of the kettle surface improves heat transfer and protein coagulation during wort boiling." IMHO, if Noonan says it, it's good enough for me. Cuchulain Libby, fellow San Antonian, please note the reference to "calcified deposits", that applies strongly to our water. All that said I emphatically agree with those against using abrasive pads on plastics, fermenters, etc. Brew On! Val Lipscomb Return to table of contents
From: Brad Anesi <BANESI at novell.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 17:20:39 -0600 Subject: Chocolate Malt in a Dunkel? Mark Bayer wrote... >...let me make a recommendation if any of you are looking to brew a >dunkel (i'm taking this advice myself this year): use as little chocolate >and crystal malts as you're comfortable with if you want to try and get >the munich dark beer malt profile correct. i have a strong feeling that >the chocolate needs to be eliminated from the recipe, and perhaps even >the crystal cut back a bit. Mark, your advice is correct - in fact, if brewed true to German style, a dunkel should have NO chocolate malt used whatsoever. Of course, I recently made a Chocolate Lager which has been regarded by many as the finest beer I have ever created, and it had more chocolate malt than most American Brown Ales! I think I've created a new style - or should I just go the Pete's Wicked approach and call my Lager an Ale? Regards, Brad Return to table of contents