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

Contents:
  Re: TREACLE (a.e.mossberg)
  Culturing SN yeast (Robert Virzi)
  re: yeast odors (Darryl Richman)
  Barley Tea Beer (Erik Asphaug)
  Chicago micro's (BROWN)
  Boring subject lines (")
  Re: Ginger Beer (Dr. T. Andrews)


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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 9:36:49 EDT
From: aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg)
Subject: Re: TREACLE

In HOMEBREW Digest #225, Mike Fertsch <FERTSCH at adc1.RAY.COM> asks:

>Does anyone have experience with priming with molasses?  What is the
>correct amount?  I plan on using Grandma's molasses, from the grocery
>store.  I also have Demarara (sp?) sugar in my cupboard;  what is it, and
>can I substitute this for either the brown sugar or the molasses? 

I've used molasses to prime my Double Plus Stout - I used a cup for five 
gallons (kegged).  It worked very well. Note that there are two "Grandma's
Molasses"'s -- Sulphured and Unsulphered.  The sulphured one is much
stronger in flavor, but harder to find.

-- 
a.e.mossberg - aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu/aem at umiami.BITNET - Pahayokee Bioregion

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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 10:11:37 EDT
From: Robert Virzi <rv01 at gte.com>
Subject: Culturing SN yeast

Last weekend I tried an experiment with Sierra Nevada Ale.
As I drank each bottle, I carefully dumped the bottom of the
bottle sediment into a mixture of table sugar and water.
Over the course of two days, I did this for all six bottles
in the sixpack.  By the end, there was about a pint of water
and 8-10 Tbl. sugar in the mix.

Before you jump all over me, I was not planning to actually
use this yeast culture for anything, I just wanted to see
if the SN yeast would grow.

Anyway, there seemed to be sporadic signs of life -- small
accumulations of bubbles on the side of the container, very
light growth of cells on the surface, and nice smell.  However,
after 3 days, there all signs of life had dropped off, and I
ended up throwing the whole thing out.

So, did I hopelessly botch the experiment or is SN pasteurized
after conditioning in the bottle?  Is three days too short a 
period of time?  I didn't expect full blown fermentation, but I
expected clearly visible signs of life after three days.

I ask because I have a bottle of Orval I am dying to try, but I
would like to culture the yeasties from it for homebrew use.  I
want to make sure I have a reliable way of doing this before I
crack the bottle.

Has anyone been able to get an active, pitchable quantity of yeast
going from a commercial brew?  What was your procedure? (details
please)  Could it be done from the sediment in a single bottle?
It seems to me that (if it can be done) this is a great source of
nice yeast strains at a bargain rate.  Thanks in advance!

Bob Virzi
rv01 at gte.com

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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 07:39:39 PDT
From: Darryl Richman <darryl at ism780c.isc.com>
Subject: re: yeast odors

Each yeast strain works through slightly different pathways and
produces differing sets of by products.  I am convinced that the yeast
strain in use can make at least as significant a contribution to flavor
and aroma as the raw materials.

During fermentation, and especially a vigorous one, lots of these by
products are blown off.  This is often considered to be a good thing.
Often lager beers end up with a sulfury aroma.  Ales almost never have
this.  I attribute this to the cold fermenatation that a lager
undergoes not being vigorous enough to blow off the sulfur compounds.
American lagers, which don't (usually) have this character, are often
fermented at the warm end of the lager range (low 50s).

		--Darryl Richman

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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 10:44:55 MST
From: asphaug at hiips.lpl.arizona.edu (Erik Asphaug)
Subject: Barley Tea Beer

We would like to report the unexpected success of adding hot barley tea 
(of the kind you buy in a Korean market) to the wort during the early
stages of cooking up an ale. Prior to bottling, the beer smelled and 
tasted somewhat sweeter than would normally be desirable; the barley
tea has a rather pungent smell on its own. But the second fermentation
in the bottle changed the flavor substantially, resulting in a surpri-
singly dry and smooth product, with a slight hint of the tea flavor.

I would be very interested in hearing of other experiments in this 
direction. 

By the way, all you 2-liter and champagne bottle brewers who live near
Mexico:  Go down for a week and drink all the Pacifico Ballenas you can,
and return with the robust, brown, cappable 1-liter "Whales" across the
border.  I'm sure other beers come in this type of bottle as well, but
the Pacifico bottlers seem to make the most massive and pleasantly
curvaceous vessels for their product.  I'm not sure what the limit is for
bringing full bottles into Estados Unidos, but it's probably ridiculously
low.

By the way, what is it that makes even the lousy Mexican beers taste a
million times better when slightly warm than their American counterparts?
Ever enjoy slamming a nice tepid Pabst?

					- Erik Asphaug

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Date:     Fri, 11 Aug 89 17:37 EST
From: <BROWN%MSUKBS.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject:  Chicago micro's

I thought I'd relate my latest experience with a Chicago microbrewery.  My
brother works at a pub at the University of Chicago and wanted to sample a
keg of Sieben's (a Chicago microbrewery) Pilsner that they just acquired.  He
told me they had to send back 2 kegs before this one which were spoiled
(sour).  We bought a pitcher and only got through one glass apiece before
giving up.  Not only was there a distinct flavor of lactobacillus infection
(I've had the same problem before), but the beer was completely without
character. Very little hops bitterness and no aroma.  I've had their products
before at the brewery, and for the most part they've been good quality if
conservative (the exception being a nut brown ale I had over a year ago --
delicious!).  I'm surprised that they let this stuff out of the brewery!
I was also told that pitchers of beer at Siebens cost more than $10 now.  Oh
for the brewpubs of California (some expensive, but at least the beer's good).
My brother tells me the place is packed with people despite the prices.  What's
a graduate student to do?  Just relax, etc., I guess.

Have another homebrew.  At least it's cheap, and you know what you're getting.

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Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 20:05 CDT
From: "What do you mean, what flavor is it? It's a bloody albatross!"
Subject: Boring subject lines

Greetings, home-brewers:

I've received one response to my query about ginger and honey in beer which 
suggests, common-sensically, that ginger is more noticible in lighter malt
extracts.  

When substituting honey for corn sugar (Papiazan's Vagabond Gingered Ale
calls for 1 lb corn sugar and I want to substitute honey), how much should
one substitute?  One for one or some other ratio?

One of his recipes calls for 4 oz of fresh spruce needles.  I live in Oklahoma,
where spruce is rare, but I have this bottle of spruce extract.  How much do
I put in to make the equivalent of 4 oz of spruce needles?

When using honey, what kind is best?  The kind with the combs in it or the
kind that comes in a squeeze bottle?  What special measures need to be taken
to strain out honey "scum"?

- Ted
---
Patrick T. Garvin   ptgarvin at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu / ptgarvin at uokmax.UUCP

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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 6:35:06 EDT
From: Dr. T. Andrews <ki4pv!tanner at bikini.cis.ufl.edu>
Subject: Re: Ginger Beer

In this morning's digest, we have questions about adding ginger
and/or honey to assorted extracts to product more interesting beer.

I have made a honey beer here, but I used pale malt do it, rather
than a kit.  The honey is rather subtle and would, I think, get lost
in a darker beer.  I'd add a pound or two of honey to a very light
beer, and expect it to require a little longer in the bottles before
the flavour is right.

I've never added ginger to real beer, though I have made much fine
ginger beer (non-alcoholic).
-- 
...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner  ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner
or...  {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #226, 08/12/89

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