(formerly Volume 02 : Number 008)



Contents:
  Lightstruck wort
  Re: Homebrew Digest V2 #6
  Rice In Beer
  no sparge brewing
  two hole stoppers
  Ovaltine in homebrew
  1997 National Bay Area Brewoff
  Re: No Sparge Stuff
  Michael Beck's "Operation Budvar"
  Brewing 10 Gallon Batche With Gott 10 Gallon Cooler
  Re: No Sparge Brewing
  Two copies
  HBD email addresses for post, subscribe, unsubscribe?????
  re: Measuring Volume in Kettle
  CP Bottle Filler Query
  Newbie...should I or shouldn't I?
  Depressed HomeBrewer
  Re: yeast banking question
  Re:  Belgian Abbey brews
  HBD #7
  Re: Chimay, carbonation
  Belguim Abbey Beers
  re: no sparge
  A question for the Metallurgists
  [No Subject Provided By Sender]
  Decoction mashing in coolers
  Wort Oxygenation - Equipment Availability?
  Re: Wort aeration and final gravity


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

Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 08:49:18 -0500
From: "Kevin Sinn " <skinner at netcore.ca>
Subject: Lightstruck wort

Good morning fellow brewers!

I have a couple of questions:

1.  I am well aware of the "dangers" of exposing a fermenting wort to
light, and I am particulary careful to avoid this during secondary
fermentation, when I cover my carboy with a couple of t-shirts and place it
in a dark spot.  Should I also be concerned about this during primary
fermentation?  I've just purchased a glass carboy to do my primaries, and
light was not a concern when my primary was plastic.

2.  Has anyone ever experienced a high FG when using Bierkeller extracts? 
I recently brewed a brown ale using a Bierkeller dark extract that started
at 1.048 and finished at 1.022.  I'm aware of this occurring with
Laaglander, but have not heard of other extracts that might do the same.

Thanks for your help!

Kevin Sinn
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 08:30:58 -0800
From: Douglas A Moller <damoller at odin.thor.net>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest V2 #6

Graham Stone <gstone at dtuk.demon.co.uk>
> Subject: Yeasty taste
 Graham,
some yeast strains are very stable being used repeatedly(We use ours
over 50 generations). Some need to be recultured after less use. One
thing that wears a culture out is not cooling the beer down before
collecting the yeast slurry even if used directly. This cooling time(2-4
days) helps the yeast build up glycogens(yeast fat) so itcan reproduce
properlly the next batch. Also the recomended pitch rate would be app.
250 ml/5 gal unless the gravity starts at over1.050, if you change the
pitching rate in differant batches would create differant flavor
profiles in each batch. Make a culture of this yeast you like and keep
it healthy(see below). I work in a brewpub and brew at home, I believe
you could reproduce a commercial beer but you ned to be able to
interprete the flavor profil;e and how to produce the same in your
brewey.

From: Robert DeNeefe <rdeneefe at compassnet.com>
Subject: yeast banking question

Robert,
You can keep yeast healthier if you reculture it every 6 months. Just
start a test tube off sterile wort with your yeast(s) you want to keep.
During fermentation of this wort take a sample and add to a new fresh
slant. I have kept yeast for years this way.

as per not mashing specialty malts,
without conversion of the dextrins in the caramel, carapils or crystal
malt the beer would have a high residule sugar/maltiness, I have noticed
that a beer with some of these malts fermented down to lower final
gravitys actually has more maltiness because the sweetness from the
above malts does not interfere with the flavor of the maltiness(malt
flavor and sweetness are not the same or dependent on each other).
Sweetness in beer overrides many fine flavors in beer including
maltiness and hops. I have found though that yeast charcter(such as
esters) become more predominate in a sweeter beer.

as per more grain less sparge,

As to have to make 3.2% alc/weight at work I have tried the more grain
for more maltiness and found it to be inacuratel(I actually have tried
it many times). I can maintain consitancy in the brewing process at work
very well so I am sure this is accurat, but watever tickles your fancy.

Douglas Alan Moller

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Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 21:52:18 -0800
From: Dan Jeska <djeska at sojourn.com>
Subject: Rice In Beer

Paul Fierra wrote:
>Subject: Wife Ale / Mashing Rice
>  Here's the recipe I'm
>planning to use:
>
>WIFE ALE
>5 lbs American Pale malt
>2 lbs Uncle Bens Converted Rice
>0.5 oz EKG whole hops (6.6 alpha) (60min)
>0.5 oz EKG whole hops (6.6 alpha) ( 5min)
>Wyeast American Ale yeast
>       (recipe for 5 US gallons)
>.
>
>My first question:  What do I do with the rice?
>Some Ideas I've picked up from back issues of HBD,
>  (and a few of my own):
>       a) Just include it uncooked in the mash
>       b) boil it first, until just tender
>       c) boil it until it's well overcooked
>       d) eat it for dinner and put something
>               else in the beer.
>My Second Question: Is Uncle Ben's Converted an
>       appropriate rice to use? I chose it only
>       because it's the rice we typically have
>       around the house.
>My last question: Any comments on this recipe
>       which might improve it would be greatly
>       appreciated.

I have brewed a beer similar to the above recipe called Un-American Light 
Beer from Papazian's New Complete Joy of Homebrewing.

I run medium grain white rice (not the converted kind like Uncle Ben's) 
through the grain mill to break each grain up into three of four pieces. 
I cook one pound of rice (dry weight) for approximately 30 minutes or 
until appears to be a white, gelatinous mass.

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 09:57:13 -0800
From: Douglas A Moller <damoller at odin.thor.net>
Subject: no sparge brewing

more fermentables would come from first
> runnings, and one can see why the results might taste different.
> 
> Rob Parker

>     John>   The
>     John> only thing I can think of is that sparging washes out a
>     John> higher proportion of fermentable sugars than are in the
>     John> first runnings,
> 
> Alternatively, a higher proportion of the "malty" flavor compounds
> come out in the first runnings than in the spargings

Again this comes up. This is a good hypothese(unless one is using poor
quality brewing water) No sparging should not produce more maltiness
than sparging except if the beer attenuated more. This could is caused
by the first runnings being more fermentable(see my previous post), the
fermentable (beta enzymes) are more soulable and tend to work in the
liquid portion of the mash wereas the dextrin producing(alpha amalyze)
are active in the thickest part of the mash. Again there should be no
differance other than the above given everthing is controlled the same.
Now if you are having water problems or are producing a lot of HSA you
will diminish the maltiness, this is due to not following proper brewing
procedures.

Douglas Alan Moller.

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 11:47:46 -0500
From: Annetmark at aol.com
Subject: two hole stoppers

Mark Bayer writes -

>question : do rubber stoppers exist with 2 holes?  i checked my hb store
last
>weekend but they didn't have any 2-hole stoppers.  i'd like to put the gas
>in one hole and keep an airlock in the other so i could see the bubbling and
>have some sort of idea of the volume of gas i'm putting in.

I haven't seen any rubber stoppers with 2 holes (although it seems like a
logical item - so they probably do exist) - but I have seen a carboy cap with
2 holes. The one I saw was an orange cap that had two short spouts. I believe
one was for the airlock and the other for a blow off tube. It seemed like a
small opening for a blow off tube, but it might just do the trick for your
application.

Mark Tumarkin
The Brewery in the Jungle

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 13:51:12 -0500
From: PVanslyke at aol.com
Subject: Ovaltine in homebrew

Hi all

I just picked up a jar of _Ovaltine_ at the store and was wondering if anyone
had previous experience using this product in homebrew.

Paul >>> brewin' and relaxin' in Deposit,NY

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 11:31:35 -0800
From: Bob Jones <bjones at bdt.com>
Subject: 1997 National Bay Area Brewoff

The Draught Board Homebrew Club is proud to present 
the 1997 National Bay Area Brew-Off on February 1, 1997. 
 
First, second, and third place awards (great ribbons, cash, and prizes) 
will be given in eight style categories in this AHA recognized event. 
 
Categories for judging are: 
 
Dry Stout 
Bock 
Porter 
Pale Ale 
India Pale Ale 
Barleywine/Wheatwine 
Holiday 
Mead 
 
Start brewin now!!! 
 
For additional information.... 
 
http://www.bdt.com/home/bjones/babo97.html 

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 15:02:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com>
Subject: Re: No Sparge Stuff

This is in reply to Ken Schwartz' interesting post in #7 regarding how to
calculate efficiency if you just take the first runnings from the mash. 

Ken, I suspect this calculation, or some refinement of it, is very useful. 
For the benefit of the people who are interested but still scratching
their heads, let me summarize as concisely as possible: 

All the extract in the mash is dissolved in the water, which is of uniform
density throughout the mash, assuming time to reach equilibrium after any
infusions. The amount of this liquid you'll collect is the total mash
water minus about .55 qts. per lb of grain. Divide this figure by the
total amount of mash water to anticipate what fraction of the extract
you're getting in the first runnings, then multiply by the number of
points efficiency you normally get, and that's the system efficiency you
can expect from the first runnings (based on whatever mash thickness you
normally use). 

This approach, unlike mine, allows you to use whatever mash thickness you
prefer. Bear in mind that you will still have to tweak it after you try
it. That's because the "normal efficiency" figure we're using is based on
both mash and lauter efficiency. The mash efficiency (based on crush,
water chemistry, temperature program, etc.) doesn't change in this
scenario, but Ken astutely observes that the lautering procedure is
different and will distort the calculation somewhat. Also, by dividing a
volume of wort by a volume of water, we aren't taking into account the
volume that the dissolved sugar adds to the liquid. 

That latter point worries me a little, as illustrated at the end of your
post where you calculate the weight of sugar in your wort. If you think
about it, you'll realize that your figure of 2.55 lbs of sugar in 5
gallons of 1.061 SG wort can't possibly be right. SG is a weight-to-volume
scale and you didn't take account of the water displaced by the dissolved
sugar. 

One straightforward way to arrive at an estimate is to figure out the
weight of the wort based on SG as you did, then convert the SG to about 15
Plato. That gives us .15 * 44.32 = 6.65 lbs sugar as sucrose. That number 
is a bit high if wort sugars are anything like sucrose, but it's in the 
ballpark. 

- --
Alex Santic - alex at salley.com
Silicon Alley Connections, LLC
527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107
http://www.salley.com

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 15:53:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com>
Subject: Michael Beck's "Operation Budvar"

Michael writes:

>According to Noonan's Brewing Lager Beer book, I'm in a little trouble. 
>He doesn't seem to care for mashing in coolers, and when it comes to
>decoctions I can understand why. Any help available from the collective
>on how to do this with my existing equipment? 

Since you can't heat the mash-tun, make sure you you err on the high side
in the volume of your decoction.  Add the decoction back to the main mash
gradually until you reach your rest temp, then allow any excess to cool
down before adding it back. You could keep a little water on the boil for
insurance if you want...won't hurt anything if you undershoot your temp
and have to use some. 

- --
Alex Santic - alex at salley.com
Silicon Alley Connections, LLC
527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107
http://www.salley.com

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 15:15:29 +0000
From: Larry Combs <combsl at infogo.com>
Subject: Brewing 10 Gallon Batche With Gott 10 Gallon Cooler

I am about to embark on all grain brewing and would like to brew 10
gallon batches since the process is so time intensive. Do I need to use
2 10 gallon Gott coolers? If not tell me how to do it. 

Thanks!

Larry Combs combsl at infogo.com

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 16:35:56 -0500 (EST)
From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com>
Subject: Re: No Sparge Brewing

Spencer Thomas writes:

>Alternatively, a higher proportion of the "malty" flavor compounds
>come out in the first runnings than in the spargings.

That's what I originally concluded. Later I realized that there was no 
logical reason why this should be the case. Since the wort sugars are 
fully soluble, why wouldn't extraction of sugar and these malty flavor 
compounds be proportional?

Steve Alexander suggested that the sparge might be masking or causing a 
change in these compounds...maybe he's onto something. Frankly this
might be a good thing to ask George Fix...doubtless he's considered it.

- --
Alex Santic - alex at salley.com
Silicon Alley Connections, LLC
527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107
http://www.salley.com

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 19:43:43 -0500
From: shane at cais.cais.com
Subject: Two copies

Could the owner/operator just send me one copy, I'm getting two which I don't 
need. Thank you very much.
	
	Shane Saylor, Eccentric Bard

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 96 02:49:29 UT
From: "Don Van Valkenburg" <DONVANV at msn.com>
Subject: HBD email addresses for post, subscribe, unsubscribe?????

What is the new email addresses?
Would be nice to have it in the header like the old HBD.

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 13:58:00 GMT
From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at rohmhaas.com>
Subject: re: Measuring Volume in Kettle

In HBD#6, Barry Wertheimer resurrects the thread on calibrating brew
pot volumes, and asks about safe and easy ways to mark levels on a
keg.

I have not found a method of marking that is both durable and legible,
but I found an alternate approach that works very well for me and
gives more accurate results.

<warning: geek mode activated>
Any time I get a new pot or carboy, I  add water 1 gallon at a time,
and measure the height of the liquid either from the floor (for
carboys) or from the rim (for wide mouthed vessels like pots).  If you
plot this data, you get a nice straight line.=20

Least squares fit of this line gives an equation that can be used to
convert between liquid level and volume, with more accuracy than you
could get visually estimating between marks.

In planning my batch, I use the equation to calculate desired levels
at various states in my process: strike water: 167 mm from top of mash
tun, sparge water: 72 mm from top of boil pot, etc.  I can then
monitor and control everything in process by just measuring heights
with a tape measure.




- ---
Dave Whitman   dwhitman at rohmhaas.xxx      =20
(Email replies: please change "xxx" to "com" or mail will bounce.)=20
"The opinions expressed are those of the author, not Rohm & Haas Co."

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 09:08:17 -0500
From: William D Gladden <W_GLADDEN at Mail.Co.Chester.PA.US>
Subject: CP Bottle Filler Query

Posting for an internet challenged brewer and myself, we need
help locating information on the pros and cons of various CP
bottle fillers.  With the mechanical aptitude of Curly and Moe we
need to buy one already assembled.  As usual, cost is a key
factor, as is ease of use - cleaning, and overall performance. 
Any information on net sites, archives, articles in magazines
(i.e. "CP Fillers road tested" kinda of stuff), satisfied or ...
ticked off, can't believe I wasted my money on this one,
experiences would be appreciated.  I don't know how much of a
variable bottle size capacity is, but we would like one that can
handle anything from 7 oz. ponies to Champagne bottles.  Thanks
in advance. 

PS. Many thanks to Jim Busch for his advice on wheat beer
brewing.  Mine didn't quite come out like the Victory Brewing
Comapny's but it was surprisingly close and mighty tasty.  

Bill Gladden
(Downingtown, PA)
<W_GLADDEN at Mail.Co.Chester.PA.US>

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 09:43:00 +0500 (EST)
From: macher at telerama.lm.com
Subject: Newbie...should I or shouldn't I?

Hello all!

I'm about to move batch 6 from the primary to the secondary. 

All previous batches have blown out about 2 quarts of foam/liquid from the 
carboy primary. When racking to the secondary, I am left with probably 3 
quarts of air space, which up to now I have just left as is. The beers 
have all turned out great, but...

Should I top off the secondary with water(boiled and cooled stuff)?  I 
see the advantage as getting a little more final product, and also 
eliminating air that may be in the air space. Negatives, possibly a 
diluted brew?

I really do not know which way to go on this, and will probably not add 
the water...except maybe if I am making a light ale, or something.

Really appreciate some advice on this simple question!

Second Question...

I have stepped right into kegging, since I had a draft system already. 
The first four brews I force carbonated with good results. #5 is my first 
attempt at natural carbonation. 1/3 cup of corn sugar in probably 4.5 
gal. beer. Now sitting in the living room, since last Wednesday. How long 
should I wait until I move it to the basement, where it is probably 40 
degrees F? I figure after 10 days in the living room, taking it to a 
cooler location should be ok. But I am not sure...

Grateful for any advice!

Bill

When climbing slowly, with 90 LB of bike and gear
Or flying down the other side, sailing through the air
There is no question; in MY mind it's clear
I am both the turtle, AND the hare! 

Bill Macher   macher at telerama.lm.com  Pittsburgh Pa. USA

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Date: 16 Dec 96  9:42:14 EDT
From: Bob Bessette/PicTel <Bob_Bessette at smtpnotes.pictel.com>
Subject: Depressed HomeBrewer

Fellow HBDers,
 I am becoming increasingly depressed due to a number of "infected" batches I 
have had recently. The thing is that they are fine up until about 3 weeks in 
the bottle and then they start going downhill. My past brew is a Pale Ale that 
was in the bottle for about 2 weeks and was glorious. I thought it would turn 
out to be one of my better brews. Then it happened. Small white spots started 
appearing in the bottle on top of the beer. They aren't real noticeable but 
they are there. What the symptoms are now is that the beer, when poured, foams 
up a little more than usual and there is a slight off aroma. When drinking the 
beer it is extremely carbonated, almost tingly in your mouth. Kind of like the 
feel of ginger ale. And the taste goes downhill. This is the second brew in a 
row that this has happened to. And in the last 10 brews I have made I would say 
that 75% have been contaminated in this manner. 
 
 At first I thought it was dry hopping I had been doing with hop flowers. So I 
started doing a hop tea (boiling the hops in water prior to adding them to the 
secondary). Now I am starting to think it is my water. We have well water. I 
haven't had it checked in about a year or 2 but in my first 2 years of brewing 
I did not get one infected batch. Now almost every batch gets infected. I am 
thinking of going out and buying bottled water for my brewing. I assume that I 
will need at least 10 gallons which will add money to the price of brewing. I 
think the first thing I will do is have my water checked. This has to be done. 
And I will make it a point to do a test batch with store-bought water (assuming 
this is also safe). All I know is that a hobby that was always so enjoyable to 
me is becoming a very depressing experience.

 Does anyone have any words of wisdom?  I want to remain in this hobby but I am 
finding that all my time and energy and money is turning out to be a waste. I 
would appreciate private email to bbessett at pictel.com...

Cheers (wish I could hoist one of my own),
Bob Bessette 

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 11:15:55 -0400
From: bourdouj at ERE.UMontreal.CA (Jacques Bourdouxhe)
Subject: Re: yeast banking question

>From: Robert DeNeefe <rdeneefe at compassnet.com>
>Subject: yeast banking question
>
>I'm getting interested in yeast banking and I have a question that I
>can't find an answer to.  How long can one maintain a specific culture?
> The Brewtek kit  mentions that yeast on slants
>will remain stable for 9 to 12 months.  What do you do after that?  Do
>you buy a pure strain to culture from or can you reculture from your
>slants that are reaching maturity?

Robert, you can reculture from your slants. From the old slant I inoculate
about 30ml of STERILE wort. When the wort is fermenting ( after 48 hours )
I dip one transfer loop in it and inoculate a fresh slant. When the yeast
starts to grow on the new slant, store it in the fridge. I  reculture every
4 months. It works for me: I bought some Irish Ale yeast 4 years ago and
it's still going well. I never tried to transfer directly from an old slant
to a fresh slant, maybe some brave soul does it?
Anyway I would strongly suggest you check The Brewery on the web, they have
a technical library with an outstanding yest FAQ.

Jacques

*************************************************
* Oh beer! O Hodgson, Guiness, Allsop, Bass!    *
* Names that should be on every infant's tongue *
* ( Charles Stuart Calverley )                  *
*************************************************

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 08:33:59 -0800
From: Kelly Jones <kejones at ptdcs2.intel.com>
Subject: Re:  Belgian Abbey brews

smurman wrote:

>  Adding the liquid sugar to
> a pot of boiling wort is even more fun.  Basically, the wort doesn't
> want anything to do with the sugar, and spits it back at you.

Oooh, not a good idea.  The carmelized sugar is heated up way past the boiling
point of your wort.  When you add it, the wort it touches instantly vaporizes,
spitting hot wort and sticky sugar all over.  You'd be much better off waiting
for the sugar to cool before adding it to the kettle.

Kelly

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 08:37:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com>
Subject: HBD #7

In HBD #7 Cuchulain Libby wrote:

> LIGHTEN THE FUCK UP

Perhaps Cuchulain should take its own advice. 

And this:

> In HBD #2280 some dickless idiot wrote:

And this:

> Now go back to back to work suckling at the public teat, making over
> priced weapons for wars that will never be fought

First, I can swear with the best of them, but profanity and personal
attacks are resorted to by the infantile, small minded, and illiterate. 

Second, I propose that the coming HBD filter for profanity and summarily
and without notice unsubcribe those resorting to it. 

Third, this childish behavior reminds me of why I unsubscribed to the
last incarnation of the HBD.  I bid you all adieu, again.

Domenick Venezia
Computer Resources
ZymoGenetics, Inc.
Seattle, WA
venezia at zgi.com

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Date: 16 Dec 96 11:54:40 EST
From: "David R. Burley" <103164.3202 at CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Re: Chimay, carbonation

Brewsters:

S. Murman asks about my  Chimay yeast fermentation.:

> Dave Burley had posted that he
> was fermenting with this yeast at 75F for nearly two weeks, and I
> personally can't see how this could be very tasty unless the phenol
> production of this yeast doesn't vary much with temperature, or there
> was some type of under-oxygenation or under-pitching effect.  Dave,
> have you brewed with this yeast since?

Although my discussions of my Chimay yeast encounter were perhaps a little
convoluted, as I now understand it, the majority of the fermentation was over in
a few days, based on the disappearance of the yellowish head and the appearance
of a bright white, fine grained head.  The majority of the fermentation,
therefore, was carried out at near 70F and increased to about 75F plus when I
was convinced the fermentation was going to shut down, like the starter had, at
about 2% sugar left.  It continued to slowly ferment in a secondary for about
two weeks as do many high gravity beers.

My wife's comments on my Belgian Strong ale using the Chimay were. " MMMM that's
different and  interesting. What is it ? brown ale?"   I admit it has a lot of
similarity in taste to the old time, high alcohol (unlike today) Newcastle Brown
I used to drink years ago in Britain, but I didn't recognize it since I was busy
tasting for the components.  She liked it and so do I.  But it is different.
It is more phenolic than banana, but has a range of  ester flavors that develop
during the tasting.  I haven't tried a second go round yet, but look forward to
it after the holidays.  Since the Chimay yeast's taste reminded me of some of
the yeasts I got from backwater breweries in Britain and  I used at the
beginning of my brewing activities in Britain, I'm going to try it with some of
the ol'timey ale recipes on the theory that these yeasts have not been
"improved" by technology and will give an old-time ale taste.  I may even try a
brown ale.
- --------------------------------------------------
Chris Redlack is unhappy with the carbonation level of his two lastest brews
using a micro brewery yeast.

>"The yeast from the brewery works great except for this one problem. I'd love
>to keep using it, but I also like me beer carbonated. Any insight would be
>greatly appreciated.

The yeast may be highly attenuative and flocculant having come from ideal
fermentation conditions.  You may therefore have a low yeast content in your
bottles.  Try making up a krausen from 3/4 cup of sugar ( I vary from 4 oz in a
Cornie to 10 oz in high carbonated Belgian Ales and US lagers), a tablespoon of
malt extract and some yeast from the bottom of your secondary.  At first sight
of krausen ( about twelve hours usually) bottle your beer with this.  For your
current bottled brews, add yeast from a starter or make up a "krausen" from just
a tablespoon of malt extract, at the appearance of fermentation, uncap your
bottles, add this and recap.  
- --------------------------------------------------

Keep on brewin'


Dave Burley
Kinnelon, NJ 07405
103164.3202 at compuserve.com
Voice e-mail OK

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 12:13:55 -0500 (EST)
From: "Gerald J. Ginty" <ginty at salve5.salve.edu>
Subject: Belguim Abbey Beers

Does anyone have good recipes to share. I have done a few searches of the 
Web, but I am sure that there are more available....

Cheers.....

*******************************************************************
* Gerry Ginty                    Internet: ginty at salve5.salve.edu *
* Computer Operations Manager 
* Information Systems Dept.      Work:     (401)847-6650 ext 2177 *
* Salve Regina University        Home:     (401)847-7912                      
* Newport, RI 02840  USA        

                                 A Brit                                      
                        =========================
                        *  *        *        *  *
                        *       *   *    *      *  	
                        * * * * * * * * * * * * *     
                        *       *   *    *      *  
                        *  *        *        *  *    
                        =========================
                            and Proud of It      
                  
               Secretary of The St. Columba's Cricket Club                 
              http://www.salve.edu/~ginty/cricket/sccc.html 

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 14:52:52 cst
From: Bill Giffin <bill-giffin at juno.com>
Subject: re: no sparge

Good afternoon,

With all this talk of no sparge the Scotch part of my heritage rebels. 
What, waste sugar and fermentables. I don't think so.

With proper sparging it is my opinion that you can still get the
wonderful malty character for the style you are brewing.  When a no
sparge brew was done in the past they then made a small beer that was
indeed sparged from the mash that gave up the big beer.

First of all there is no great savings in the amount of time that it
takes to sparge.  Second,  you waste grain for  no good purpose.  Third
if you don't have the time to do it correctly why do you bother to brew
at all.  If all you are looking for is alcohol then go and buy a cheap
jug wine.  If you want a touch more then that then it is cheaper to buy a
bottle of Irish whiskey or some Jack Daniel's.

The no sparge method of brewing was given up a long time ago as it
provided no real benefit over sparging and it costs more.  I have found
that if you can emulate the commercial brewers of renown then you will
make good beer.  

Bill

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 11:43:51 -0800
From: "Fritz, Kent" <Kent.Fritz at aspect.com>
Subject: A question for the Metallurgists

First, the question:
Will a 50 liter pot made of thin 304 stainless change (significantly) in
volume over temperature?

Why I'm asking:
I've had trouble hitting my gravity targets, so I'm trying to improve my
brewing methods for more consistent results.  I calibrated a wooden
dowel dipstick for my brewpot with tap water at ~60F.  I brewed a stout
yesterday:
	7 lbs Hugh Baird pale ale malt
	1 lb flaked barley
	0.75 lb Hugh Baird roasted barley
Mashed in 2.8 gal  at  150F for 2 hours.  Raised to 170F, sparged with 4.4
gal  at  170F (treated with 1 tsp gypsum for good luck.)  Added 1 gallon of
extra water to the boiler.

Near the end of the boil, I turned off the heat and stuck the dipstick
in to measure 5.75 gallons.  After cooling, the gravity was 1.055.
According to my calculations, that comes to a whopping 36 pts/lb/gal.  I
don't believe that I am a mashing God, so I suspect some errors
somewhere.  

And please don't suggest that I stick that bacteria laden wooden dowel
into my cooled wort.  I ain't gonna do it!

Thanks.
Kent Fritz

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 96 12:25 PST
From: Charles Burns <cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us>
Subject: [No Subject Provided By Sender]

Alex and I have been discussing a simple no-sparge technique. I tried it on 
Saturday and reported
back to Alex:

At 10:40 AM 12/15/96 -0500, Alex Santic wrote:
>Hi Charles...how was brew day? Have a champion IPA bubbling?
>

What a disaster. I've been doing 140F rests and boosting to 156-158 without 
problem. This time I
added an extra 4 lbs of pale ale malt and did not go back and redo water 
calculations properly. I
don't know what happened, but I ended up at 150F with the first infusion. I 
then grabbed some cool
water and ended up with half the mash at 130F and the other half at 140F. No 
matter how hard I tried
to stir it up. After fighting that for 15 minutes, I added 2 gallons of 
boiling water. Stirred it up
and ended up with 140F throughout the mash. Added another .5 gallon of 
boiling water (all i had left
in the kettle) and got it up to 145F. The mash was pretty thin by this time 
and I was getting very
frustrated.

Decided to do my first ever decoction. Pulled 1/3 of the mash into the 
kettle, brought it up to
boiling within about 10 minutes and then dumpted it back into the mash tun. 
Mixed it up and came up
with 158F. I closed it up and let it sit for an hour.

I drained the tun into the kettle and got almost exactly 3.5 gallons. Added 
3.5 gallons of fresh
water and started the boil. The gravity of the first runnings was about 
1.074. After dilution it was
about 1.037 - exactly half. After boiling for 80 minutes it was 1.048 - 
exactly on target for the
SNPA clone I was making. It was bubbling within 2 hours of pitching an 
active 1056 starter.

During the boil I stared at my mashtun with all that great sugar I knew was 
still in there. I heated
up 5 gallons of water to 180F and started a sparge. Got almost a full 5 
gallons of wort out of it at
1.045. After the first batch was boiled I put on the second batch, hopped 
the the heck out of it
with N.Brewer, Willamette and East Kent Goldings. So, yes, I did end up with 
an IPA, sort of. One of
the tasks for Saturday was to rack my honey steam from primary to secondary. 
I did that just before
my second batch cooled which allowed me to pitch the IPA into the primary on 
top of a huge chunk of
yeast (California Common) and it too was bubling almost immediately. I guess 
it'll be a "steam IPA".

So, now when I finally get to taste the SNPA, if its malty, I won't know if 
its due to the no-sparge
technique or the decoction technique, both of which have the same goals as 
far as taste is
concerned. I didn't like leaving all that sugar in the malt, goes against 
the grain (pun intended).
The next time I put that much malt in the mashtun, I'll be making a Barleywine.

Charley

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 14:56:05 -0600
From: rlabor at lsumc.edu (LaBorde, Ronald)
Subject: Decoction mashing in coolers

>According to Noonan's Brewing Lager Beer book, I'm in a little trouble. He
>doesn't seem to care for mashing in coolers, and when it comes to
decoctions >I can understand why.  Any help available from the collective on
how to do >this with my existing equipment?

>Michael R. Beck 
>Rothselberg, Germany  

I am not sure why Noonan dosen't care to mash in coolers.  I have been
mashing in my 10 gal. round cooler with the assistance of a second smaller
pot to boil the heavy part of the decoction.  I just add this back to the
waiting cooler to get my step increase and go on from there.  I do not add
it all back at once, I hold a bit back and if the temperature has reached
the point I want, then I wait until the heavy pot contents have cooled to
this temp and add them back at that time.

While I have gained much knowledge from Noonan's book, I do not plan to brew
exactly as he describes in that book.  Also, I noticed he seems to be in
love with the Corona mill. That mill picture is in two of his books, with no
mention of any roller type homebrew mills. So I guess the idea here is to
listen to what he says and consider it good advice, but not gospel.

Happy Hollidays,

Ron

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 14:05:14 -0800
From: Barry Browne <bbrowne at golder.com>
Subject: Wort Oxygenation - Equipment Availability?

     Recent discussions about DO in wort have got me searching for 
     oxygenation equipment. I've decided to scrap the fish pump method 
     (takes WAY too long and wastes beer) for the real thing, pure O2.  
     However, a brand new setup is big bucks so I am hoping that folks 
     experienced in this area can help me locate used equipment; 
     specifically a REFILLABLE O2 cylinder and regulator.  The liquid bread 
     system uses disposable microcylinders and I'm not interested in that.
     All help is greatly appreciated.
     
     Barry Browne
     Atlanta, GA

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 12:59:57 -0600
From: Jim Priebe <jmp at wavefront.com>
Subject: Re: Wort aeration and final gravity

In the HBD V2 #7, Eric Palmer explains his method to attain a lower FG from
extract brews:

  >This was achieved simply by an extended period of pouring the
  >cooled wort back and forth between the fermenting bucket and
  >the boiling pot over a period of about an hour. This is done
  >by holding one container as high as possible (I'm 6'5" which
  >helps) and pouring with great vigor into the other container,
  >then repeating the process until the froth on the fermenting
  >bucket extends to the top. For me, this took about 3-4 cycles.
  >I then laid the bucket lid on the bucket (without snapping it
  >down) just to keep out debris or dust, and went about the 
  >normal weekend chores. After about 15 min. when the froth had
  >settled a few inches, I repeated the process, perhaps
  >4-5 times.  This was all done after adding the yeast, by the
  >way.

While this method would indeed aerate the wort, it is only by the luck 'o
the brewing gods that he hasn't experienced a nasty infection in his beer. 
Some may say that I'm retentive about sanitation, but then I've never had
an infected brew.  I find the comment about putting the bucket lid on to
"keep out debris or dust" interesting, in light of the fact that he just
got done repeatedly pouring the wort through about 6 feet of airborne dust
and debris.  On the next sunny day, close your curtains so just a shaft of
light enters the room.  Just look at all the stuff floating through the
beam of light and you'll know what I mean.

Looking back at my brewing notes, many of my extract brews had "higher"
FG's, which I assume is from the higher unfermentables in the extracts I
was using.  Since switching to all-grain, where I control (or at least have
the illusion of control) the fermentables, my beers consistently finish in
the 08-12 range  (fairly potent ales considering OG's of 50-60).  Another
factor is the yeast, and how much of it.  Use a fresh liquid yeast in a
starter (I've been pitching 3-4 cups of yeast slurry per 5 gal. batch).

Regarding aeration, in 20+ batches, I have NEVER shook my primary
fermentor, nor have I used an air stone or other means of adding oxygen.  I
find it interesting reading about it, but have never discovered the need to
use other methods than what I have always done.  When I transfer my
immersion-chiller cooled wort to my primary bucket, I pass the wort through
a sanitized fine mesh SS strainer located near the top of my primary (with
the lid covering 90% of the top of the primary).  I get lots of bubbles in
the wort this way, as well as strain out any stray hops and trub that don't
settle out and cone in the pot.  My yeast has always started active
fermentation within 12 hours (6 hours now using a larger yeast starter).

As usual, YMMV.  If you cherish the thought of potentially having to dump 5
gallons or more of infected brew (as well as having to clean up sticky wort
splatters all over the kitchen floor and cabinets), the "Waterfall
Aeration" technique is a good choice.  If not, I'd recommend a more
conservative approach.

Brew Hard & Brew Often,

Jim
Real Country Brewery
"You cant be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airlineit helps
 if  you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at
 the very least you need a BEER." - Frank Zappa
  _______________________________________________
 |                                               |
 |             James Priebe, O.T.R.              | 
 |              WorkAble Solutions               |
 | "New Perspectives in Controlling Work Injury" |
 |St. Paul, MN *(612)432-9175* jmp at wavefront.com |
 |_______________________________________________|
 

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #2288