---

	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@ brew.oeonline.com
		Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of 
		Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
				URL: http://www.oeonline.com


Contents:
  Brewing with the Family, part 1 (DAVE BRADLEY IC742 6-7932)
  various (BAYEROSPACE)
  summary of temperature control advice (Randy Reed) ("Reed,Randy")
  GAzBF homebrew competition ("RICHARD DRAKE")
  AHA Announcement ("Houseman, David L")
  Dave's Family Brewing, Part 2 (DAVE BRADLEY IC742 6-7932)
  Filemaker Pro Brewing Software (Steve Zabarnick)
  WY 1968 success ("Frederick L. Pauly")
  Remove (K F Chow)
  Please include your location (Jeff Renner)
  Boil volume ("David R. Burley")
  NHC Rules (cathy)
  Re: Sieving hot wort, (Spencer W Thomas)
  wort density at boiling/siphon start (BAYEROSPACE)
  wort evaporation (Dave Whitman)
  Siphoning hot wort... ("Kris Jacobs")
  rehydration temperature (korz)
  party pig ("Don Leone")
  Thermonuclear fermentation (Bruce Baker)
  Siphoning Technique (Mark Riley)
  Various replies ("Graham Wheeler")


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


Date: Tue, 04 Mar 1997 18:09:42 +0000 (GMT)
From: DAVE BRADLEY IC742 6-7932 <BRADLEY_DAVID_A at Lilly.com>
Subject: Brewing with the Family, part 1


Here's a funny, true story, especially humorous to those of you who
are brewing Mom's and Dad's.  No, not fermenting your folks, rather
you are a parent!  Its long, so I'll send it on two Digests.  If you
aren't a parent with parental duties, you might find this interesting
just because of the brewing 'technique.'

PART 1:  I had Big Plans to squeeze in a brew day,
my first one of the year (!), this past weekend.  "Hurrah," I thought!
The handy-dandy yeast cake from the last batch was a question mark,
given the month it had sat since being fed, so I decanted, tasted the
starter beer, and did a water wash.  Tasted OK, looked OK...let's Brew!

Trouble: my (non-fermenting) Mom and Dad were having an overdue birthday
party for my bro Scott...on Saturday evening!  With Brew Day in limbo,
I immediately thought, "Overnight Mash!"  Dandy!  Soooo, Friday after
work, after feeding and playing with my 1 & 1/2 year old, after putting
her down to bed, this journey began.  Rather, it was a sojourn, I'd say!

Weighed out the grain bill for this yummy Oatmeal Stout I'd been hoping
to get to...using a wopping 20% oatmeal (trouble ahead???)...then I
ground the 20+ pounds of grain, fired up the Bradley Basement Brewery,
and, "Let the Strike Begin!"  After a lengthy anti-glutin rest, I headed
up to a target 156F mash.  Oops...make that a 160F mash!!!!  And some
scorching too...converted kegs don't heat as evenly as my aluminum does!
Wrapped that mash up with some bubbled foil insulation, and at Midnight,
Hit the Hay!!!  "Joy of joys!  I'm brewing while I sleep!"

Then it was 7AM, and the kid was waking up.  Mom headed off for her weekly
Sanity Break (tennis) at 8AM, and me and the kid played and romped around,
all the while, "I'm brewin'!"  After a quick shower, Mom packs up kid's
clothes and they head off on the 1HR trek to my parent's place.  The Plan:
I'd finish up the brewing and just meet them there, before the dinner party.

OK then, its 10:45AM, and I'm back into the Brewery!  "Joy!"
The mash is at only 120F...hmmm, better insulation next time.
Smells a little vegetative, but a little souring is OK in a stout:)
Heated that puppy back to mash-out at 175F, not so much scorching
in this thinner mash...must have been a few m Eq of enzymes left.

Then, the Nearly-Never-Ending Lauter began.  Hooked my pump up to the
outlet, recirculating back into the keg, and let my sweet wort clarify!
And clarify, and clarify!  "Wow, this flow rate is ridiculously slow!"
Sooooo, I headed out and talked with one of the neighbors for a bit.
Came back, still kinda cloudy.  "He-dbl-toothpicks" with it: let's
collect that sparge!  Its now 2pm.  Hmmm.  I have to leave by 5pm?
Slooooooooow (not stuck) sparge.  At least I had plenty of time to
get my sparge water heated!
And to pack for the overnight at my parents.
And to make up a re-energizing yeast starter.
And to go out and install a subwoofer in my truck.  Seriously.

With the ending gravity of 1.010 reached, I had 13 gallons of sweet wort
collected, but it was 5PM: time to leave.  "What the he-'', might as well
make this a three-day brewing session!"  Sooooo, more insulation wrapped
up my two collection pots, and I was Off!.........to be continued....


Dave in Indy
Home of the 3-B Brewery, (v.) Ltd.


Return to table of contents


Date:     Tue, 4 Mar 1997 12:31 -0600
From: M257876 at sl1001.mdc.com (BAYEROSPACE)
Subject:  various

dr wrote:

> Air lock clogged up with hop
>crap and blew.  After waking the next morning, I cleaned and sanitized the
>stopper and air lock and replaced.  Bubbling resumed almost immediately.
>Aside from the obvious exposure to oxygen for 8 hours or so, what other
>risks am I taking with this batch.  Is it salvagable?

if it was fermenting hard, there would have been a continuous evolution of 
co2 out the top of the carboy.  airborne microbes outside would have had a 
tougher time than usual getting into the carboy, due to this "outflow" of 
gas (which they, by the way, cannot survive in if they are aerobes).

lots of people ferment in open fermentors.  i guess the big question is: what's 
in your closet?  as long as there's not a lot of raw sewage or other highly
desirable (to bacteria/yeast/etc.) substances, your beer will probably be fine.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
mike marshburn wrote:



>    I remember reading about souring a beer with lactic acid, but I 
>can't seem to find a recipe with any amounts. I have 5 gals of wheat 
>beer I wish to sour this way, but I don't want to just plunge in without 
>some idea of what I'm getting in to. If any of you have done this I 
>would really like to hear from you as to the amount you used and what 
>were the results.


i have no experience with souring a beer after it's fermented, but......

you can easily make a sour mash beer by mashing in 10% or so of the grist bill
a few days before you brew.  take it through a saccharification rest, and
then lower the temp. to around 120 or so, toss in a handful of uncrushed 
pale malt, stir, press any air entrained in the mash out (if necessary), 
cover the mash tightly with plastic wrap or something else to 
minimize contact with the air, and insulate.  after 24 to 72 hours, the 
bacteria lactobacillus delbrueckii will have created enough lactic acid to
give your beer a definite lactic flavor contribution.  this sour mash will
yank your mash pH down, due to its acidity.  it's optimal if you can keep
the mash from falling below about 105 degrees fahrenheit.  if it gets much
lower than this for a long enough time, there's a risk that other microbes
will have significant activity and start spoiling the mash.  despite this, 
i've had good success with the method using a regular thermos-type canister
wrapped in a blanket.

greg noonan wrote a good article on sour mashing a few years ago in zymurgy.

btw, 10% of the grist bill will have a very noticeable impact at sour mash
durations of 48 to 72 hours.  as the beer matures, particularly if lagering,
the sour flavor mellows and blends with the other flavor components to make
a smooth profile.  weizenbiers stand up to this amount (10%) pretty 
well.  in my experience a pilsner benefits from no more than 5%; this is all
subjective, though. 


- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
michael newman wrote:

>The Ld is in the fermenter doing its stuff. I did not oxygenate the wort in
>order to give the bacteria a good start. Should I oxygenate at the time of
>pitching the yeast? Or should I not oxygenate and let it battle it out with
>the bacteria.


i would recommend oxygenating at pitching.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
chris brown wrote:


>As soon as I boil my wort, I pour it through a strainer (I use whole
>hops) into a 5 gallon bucket w/ a spigot. 

is the wort hot at this point? does it splash and get aerated when you pour
it through the strainer?  if so, your beer may suffer from hot side aeration,
which can cause it to stale quicker and give it an oxidized flavor.

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
aaron herrick wrote:

>I almost decided not to post this to HBD, because it is pure and simple
>heresy among homebrewers to say that AB makes a good product.

wouldn't it be great (for beer-lovers) if anheuser and the other megabreweries
let the *brewers* decide how to brew the beer, and not the cost accountants?
(mark, wake up, ... wake up mark, ...you're dreaming.....).


brew hard,


mark bayer


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Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 15:59:00 -0500
From: "Reed,Randy" <rreed at foxboro.com>
Subject: summary of temperature control advice (Randy Reed)

I recently posted that during the coldest part of the year my basement
temperature drops below optimal primary ferment temperatures. I asked
the collective for advice for keeping the fermenters WARM enough inside
my temperature controlled fermentation fridge. The fridge has a
controller for the fridge to go on if too warm, but nothing to warm it
if too cool.

Replies from many people came in. Thanks to all. They were all practical
and some were very simple. I like simple and will start with that.

1) Wire the existing fridge bulb to stay on, but be sure to cover the
carboys or cover the bulb so that light does not effect the wort. (This
approach is cheap and will answer, once and for all, the question: "Does
the refrigerator light stay on when I close the door?" ;^)

2) Add a separate light of low wattage. Experiment with the wattage
until you find one that warms enough, but does not make the fridge cycle
on too often. An additional thermostat can be wired to this light so
that it only comes on when the temp goes too low. Place the light in a
large coffee can to shield the wort from the light. Punch holes in the
can for ventilation.

3) Place the fermenters in a bucket or bin of water. Use an aquarium
heater (at least 100 watts) with built in temperature scale (about $25)
to warm the water to the desired temperature. (This was in the "Z"
magazine, you know, the one from that non-profit organization) A number
of replies raved about this. One person mentioned putting a tiny amount
of bleach in the water to control the bacteria, as long as you are using
closed fermentation.

4) Other thoughtful replies included using a radiant heating panel and a
terrarium warming stone normally used to warm reptiles, as well as
placing a couple of gallons of warm water in the fridge each morning to
keep things warmer.

Thanks to all for the great replies. The water bath has advantages. Once
you buy the aquarium heater, you can primary in the water bin and your
fridge is free for other (lager) things. There is no inherent problem
with light. Also, you do not have your fridge working to keep the bulb
you placed in it from heating too much.

This reminds me of a joke by comedian Stephen Wright. To paraphrase his
deadpan humor, "I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier for my birthday. I
put them both in the closet and let them battle it out."

Thanks to Adam Fisher, Dion Hollenbeck, Will Fields, Hal Davis, John
Schnupp, John Wilkinson, Kevin Imel, Geoffrey A. McNally, and Tom Pope.

Is this a great forum or what?

 - Randy Reed
Not a member of the AHA, I already gave at the office.

Deadline for entries in the Second Annual South Shore Brewoff is March
15th!
=====================================================
If tuns are outlawed, only outlaws will have tuns...
====================================================
    +-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
     + The Local Brewing Company +
      +   ESBITTER at AOL.COM     +       Surfing the
           + Randy Reed +                             Information
         + BJCP Recognized                    SuperBikePath
	Beer Judge/Potscrubber +            &
      +   South Shore Brew Club    +         Web Wired
     +  (Boston, MA Area - South)  +             World
Visit SSBC at http://members.aol.com/brewclub/
  +-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-+

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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 97 01:42:48 UT
From: "RICHARD DRAKE" <HARDROCKENGR at msn.com>
Subject: GAzBF homebrew competition


Want to enter have your beer evaluated by BJCP qualified judges before 
entering the AHA nationals?  Our competition is for you.

The Fourth Annual Great Arizona Beerfest Homebrew Competition is scheduled for 
April 4, 5 & 6. All AHA categories will be accepted, including meads and 
ciders. Every entry will be judged by at least one BJCP qualified judge. We 
are expecting over 300 entries in this years' event, so the competition will 
be stiff. 

Besides good feedback prior to the Nationals, the  1st, 2nd, &3rd place 
finishers will receive medals and a small gift. The BOS will receive a 
handsome trophy and a $100.00 gift certificate from The Homebrewery in Sierra 
Vista, AZ ( yes, they do mail order). In addition, a Brewers' Choice award 
will be awarded to the most commercially viable entry in the BOS round as 
judged by a select group of local commercial brewers. The winner will receive 
the right to brew the winner at a local brewpub.

So don't delay. Direct your requests for Entry forms and guidelines to:

Rick Drake
5325 W. Willow Ave. 
Glendale, AZ 85304-1368
602-843-3420
hardrockengr at msn.com


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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 09:07:47 -0500
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: AHA Announcement

Since the announcement below was released on March 3rd, I'd expected to
see it on the HBD, but since it's not here today, I'll forward this to
the collective; hopefully it won't be repetitious with similar postings.
 I'm sure it won't please everyone but it's a very good start.

>THE NEW AHA UNVEILED
>More Benefits, More Responsive, Same Mission to Serve the Homebrewing
>Community
>
>Boulder, March 3, 1997--The curtain is ready to be raised as the
>American Homebrewers Association (AHA) unveils a "new AHA" to the
>organizations more than 23,000 members. Based on input from members and
>the homebrewing community, the AHA has added new membership benefits
>designed to appeal to a wider variety of homebrewers and improved
>responsiveness to members with new programs and operating procedures.
>
> "Were excited about what the AHA has to offer homebrewers and have
>worked hard to deliver a membership-based organization that is more
>relevant for todays homebrewing community," said Cathy Ewing,
>Association of Brewers vice president. "Our membership has grown
>significantly over the past 19 years, and their needs have become both
>more diverse and sophisticated. The AHA has put together a great
>line-up
>of new membership benefits designed to better address those needs while
>building on the successful programs and benefits already in place. If
>youre interested in homebrewing, I would encourage you to take a look
>at what the AHA has to offer. There is truly more AHA now than every
>before!"
>
>More Benefits
>Now members are getting even more for their membership. In addition to
>the current AHA benefits offered, six new programs have been added to
>further enhance the benefits package.
>
> TechTalk is a members-only e-mail forum dedicated to technical talk on
>homebrewing and nothing else. TechTalk is divided into two moderated
>forums, addressing both all-grain brewers and extract and partial mash
>brewers. Industry guest stars will be a regular feature on the TechTalk
>forums. 
>							 
> Maps On Tap are colorful, customized maps to help members plan their
>next beer destination. Members can create custom maps through the AHAs
>Web site (http://beertown.org) or order maps directly from the AHA.
>
> Brew Bucks provides members with coupons and special discounts from
>brewpubs and homebrew suppliers across the country.
>
> Beer Enthusiast News & Notes is a three-times-a-year newsletter
>designed to update members on AHA activities. The newsletter is packed
>with seasonal homebrew recipes and the latest in brewing news.
>
> More Book Discounts have been added to save members more on a wider
>selection of the best books on beer and brewing.
>
> Brew U, the long awaited beer evaluation program, is approaching
>roll-out! A complete class schedule and in-depth self-study course will
>be available in April 1997.
>
>The AHA is also updating and enhancing existing programs and benefits.
>Members can look forward to regular updates on new AHA activities in
>each issue of Zymurgy magazine and on the AHAs Web site.
>
>More Responsive
>AHA members will now have the opportunity to formally offer their
>opinions and advice five times a year. Beginning with the Fall 1997
>Issue of Zymurgy, a one page survey will be included with each issue.
>Survey questions will address AHA benefits, programs and issues facing
>the home-brewing community. Results and responses will be included in
>future issues so members can track the AHAs progress. Member surveys
>and results will also be posted on the AHAs Web site.
>
>Representation has also been addressed. In an effort to better
>represent
>the membership as a whole, the AHA Board of Advisers has expanded from
>12 to 15 members. The Boards role has also been expanded allowing Board
>members more opportunities to provide input and become directly
>involved
>with programs. A new Board subcommittee structure will also be adopted.
>In addition, a new Association of Brewers (AOB) Board of Directors
>liaison position has been created. A member of the AOB Board of
>Directors will be actively involved with the AHA Board of Advisers,
>giving AHA members a direct link to the AOB governing Board.
>
>Same Mission to Serve
>Amidst all the changes, one thing has not changed and that is the AHAs
>commitment to serve the informational needs of the AHA membership and
>the homebrewing community at large.
>
> "Were building for the future to serve homebrewers even better," said
>Charlie Papazian, AHA founder and Association of Brewers president. "I
>started the AHA 19 years ago to promote the greatest hobby in the world
>and to provide homebrewers everywhere with the best information on beer
>and brewing available. That was our mission then and its our mission
>now. And with the continued support of our members the next 19 years
>will be the best yet."
>								 
>Founded in 1978, the AHA is dedicated to providing the best in
>homebrewing information to its more than 23,000 members and the general
>public. The AHA is a division of the Association of Brewers, a
>nonprofit
>educational organization.
>
>-- 
>Sheri Winter
>Marketing Director
>Association of Brewers            (303) 447-0816 x 106   (voice)
>736 Pearl Street                  (303) 447-2825         (fax)
>PO Box 1679                       sheri at aob.org          (e-mail)
>Boulder, CO  80306-1679           info at aob.org           (aob info)
>U.S.A.                            http://www.aob.org/aob (web)
>

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Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 14:08:16 +0000 (GMT)
From: DAVE BRADLEY IC742 6-7932 <BRADLEY_DAVID_A at Lilly.com>
Subject: Dave's Family Brewing, Part 2

PART 2 of Dave's "funny but true" story about squeezing in brewing
to an otherwise busy Family Life....sorry if the first part bored
you, but at least you can Page Down through this final installation!
Continuing from where I left off, after the sparge....

With the ending gravity of 1.010 reached, I had 13 gallons of sweet wort
collected, but it was 5PM.  "What the he-'', might as well make this
a three day brewing session!"  Sooooo, more insulation wrapped up my
two collection pots, and I was Off!  Dinner, party, fun w/kid.  When I
got to my parents' place, my brothers were in the kitchen formulating
some froo-froo fruit-n-booze drink in the blender.  So I grabbed a beer!

NOW, its the third day.  I hang out with the family for a few hours,
help feed/decorate the kid with lunch, chase her (my child) around,
then head back to the Brewery.  Its 3PM.  Hmmm, the sweet wort is
a bacteria-friendly 95F.  Smells a little more 'unusual' and tastes,
well kinda like a sweet-n-sour soy sauce (c'mon, you wouldn't grimace
so if you were cooking with it!!).  Malty though;)  Hey, that yeast
starter is looking un-fermented!  Oh well, maybe the yeast are shocked.
I know I am.

After cleaning out the keg form the mash, in went the wort.  Heated up,
boiled with the hops, added a can of Black Treacle just for kicks,
sanitized the 15gal conical fermenter, tho' I'm not sure why, and all
went well.  Pumped the bitter wort up to the fermenter, spraying it for
some O2'n.  Pitched in the sluggish-but-going yeast starter, and cleaned
out the equipment.  Boom, its 9:30PM on Sunday night, a "beer" is forming
in the fermenter, and I'm goin' to bed so I can really 'work' Monday.

Monday 6AM, the yeast ain't done much, and I drain off a bit of trub.
Monday 6PM, ditto plus a bit, and I read the gravity: 1.053 for a 
whopping 14% attenuation.  Why should I care if another step of this
"beer" is going abnormally?  OK, let's stir this puppy up, maybe the
yeast didn't mix well.....  Temp is fine at 62F, right were I
left it from chilling.

Tuesday (today) 6AM....YEEEEEHAAAAH!  There's a 3" krausen over this stuff!
Its finally going....hurrah!!!

So there you go, I hope you found as much humor in this as I DO, now.
This most certainly will be the best beer I've ever brewed, its destiny.
Nothing went as planned, every step was slow, some equipment troubles.
But I DID brew, my wife and kid had a good weekend where Daddy didn't just
disappear into the basement for 12 hours, and if nothing else, I'll have
10+ gallons of awesome brat broiling beer.  That ain't bad!!!!  I'll send
out some follow-up, just in case this turns out to be some fantastic
Belgian-esque beer :)  Maybe I can interest the Boston Brewing Co!!


Dave in Indy
Home of the 3-B Brewery, (v.) Ltd.




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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 09:47:58 -0500
From: Steve Zabarnick <steve at snake.appl.wpafb.af.mil>
Subject: Filemaker Pro Brewing Software

Just when you thought there was enough brewing software available on the net...

I am making available, for free, my Filemaker Pro 3.0 based brewing
software. This is a Filemaker Pro database which can be used to formulate
recipes and keep a log of your brew sessions. Gravity, color, and
bitterness units are calculated and can be compared with style guidelines.
Hop bitterness is calculated using the utilization numbers of Glenn
Tinseth, and color is calculated using the color correction of Martin
Manning.

This is available in both Macintosh (binhex/stuffit) format and Win95 (zip)
format (Win95 version is untested; let me know if it works!). Long
filenames are used so it will not work with Win3.1.

Macintosh version:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/8907/BrewingDatabase.sit.hqx

Win95 version:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/8907/BrewingDatabase.zip

Steve Zabarnick
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/8907



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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 09:58:47 -0500
From: "Frederick L. Pauly" <flp2m at avery.med.virginia.edu>
Subject: WY 1968 success

Just wanted to relate my experience ( 3 batches ) with WYeast
1968 Special London Ale yeast.
My last batch was an Ale made with 16 Lbs. of grain for a 10
gallon batch. OG was 1.043  I transfer my wort from the kettle to
the fermenter with a 1 gallon pail and do my best to splash it
into the tank. When full I aireate for about 30 min. with a
acquarium pump. (Yeast added after 2 gal. in tank).
The beer fermented at 58-60F for 3 days and was done!
Gravity 1.011, I let it sit one more day gravity still 1.011
I could be drinking this one by the weekend!
Anyway I like this yeast, a little fruity but not overly.
I thought about rousing the yeast but did the density reading
first and was happy with the finish point.
I'd be glad to hear any comments (except about my spelling)

Rick Pauly
Charlottesville,VA

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Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 23:08:33 +0800
From: K F Chow <hotline at connections.com.hk>
Subject: Remove

- -- 
****************************************
Who is earning what in Asia? Check the site :

Asian Salary   http://www.connections.com.hk/
****************************************

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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 10:37:21 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Please include your location

It's time for that friendly semi-annual reminder to include your location
in your posts.  It takes only a line, and fosters a sense of community,
helps answer questons that might have a geographic component to the answer
if only we knew where you were, and might even lead to the discovery that
there are other brewers nearby who could actually help you figure out what
that weird smell is, because they can come over and smell your beer instead
of relying on your feeble attempts to describe it.  (That's a hell of a
run-on sentence!)

Jeff
(See, like this)

 -=-=-=-=-
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan c/o nerenner at umich.edu



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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 11:25:01 -0500
From: "David R. Burley" <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com>
Subject: Boil volume

Brewsters:

Tim Fields asks if it makes any difference when he adds water to his wort. 
C. Papazian has an effciciency of hops extraction versus wort concentration
in his book. Message is, the higher the wort concentration the poorer the 
efficiency of hop bitterness extraction. Your wort should be as dilute as
you can make it and still end up with the desired volume after the boil.

As far as it being difficult to get a full volume of wort in the boil with
your setup, I have to believe you are carrying the idea of a full boil to
an extreme.  The term rolling boil is more like what is desired, since all
you want is the hops to be constantly agitated.  I boil about 6.5 gallons
of wort at the beginning in two 4 gallon kettles with a watchful eye for
the first few minutes and I usually end up with about 4.5 to 5 gallons at
the end of an hour with the lids partially covering the boil most of the
time after the initial boilup.
- -------------------------------------------------------
Keep on brewin'


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

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Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 10:29:59 -0800
From: cathy <cathy at aob.org>
Subject: NHC Rules

Boy is our face RED!  Thank you Bill for pointing out the sentence in
the rules related to who owns the recipe.  It was never the intention of
the AHA to own the recipe.  The AHA was trying to provide copyright
protection on the recipe for the brewer and the NHC.  We have recently
had situations where a brewer's recipe is re-printed without contacting
THE BREWER or the NHC for permission and then no credit is given to
either.

We will immediately strike that sentence from the Web page and provide
all entrants a letter stipulating their ownership of their recipe.

As far as Boston Beer Company's Longshot Competition, we haven't
received any confirmation about what their plans are so I can't
enlighten you yet.  We'll post as soon as something happens.

Thanks again Bill!

Cathy
- -- 
Cathy Ewing
Vice President
Association of Brewers            (303) 447-0816 x 120   (voice)
736 Pearl Street                  (303) 447-2825         (fax)
PO Box 1679                       cathy at aob.org          (e-mail)
Boulder, CO  80306-1679           info at aob.org           (aob info)
U.S.A.                            http://beertown.org/aob (web)

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Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 12:23:58 -0500
From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Sieving hot wort, 

Dave Burley writes:

    Dave> Stop right there.  Take your wort *directly* to the
    Dave> counterflow chiller ...  I use standard
    Dave> clear tubing from the hardware store and it holds up nicely
    Dave> and doesn't seem to impart any unusual flavor to the beer.

I sought out and bought silicone tubing after ruining two batches (I'm
a slow learner) by siphoning hot wort through new vinyl tubing.  It
imparted a very obvious and disgusting plastic flavor to the beer.
It is clear (well, slightly cloudy), and has a rated working
temperature range up to about 400F, so I can even autoclave it or bake
it in the oven to sterilize it, if I so desire.

Unfortunately, in small quantities, it's quite expensive ($2-$4/ft).
I engineered a bulk buy via the HBD and ended up getting 150 feet (in
50 ft units) at a total cost, including reshipping, of about $1.25/ft.

I love it.


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Date:     Wed, 5 Mar 1997 12:02 -0600
From: M257876 at sl1001.mdc.com (BAYEROSPACE)
Subject:  wort density at boiling/siphon start

collective homebrew conscience:


charley wrote:

> Yesterday I decided to run a little extra sparge water (like 1.5 
>gallons) through the mash tun while I started the initial boil.

wow.  did you check the pH and gravity of these runnings before adding to the
kettle?  when sparging, you will increasingly, gradually extract undesirable 
things (like tannins) from the husks.  this is why some brewers recommend
that you stop sparging after the pH rises above about 6 *or* the specific
gravity falls below 1.010.  

also, tim fields wrote:


>The recent thread re kettle evaporation has me wondering if it matters at 
>all when I add water to bring my wort volume up to a target volume of 5 
>gals.<snip> Are there any kettle reaction-related reasons to add 
>the water during the boil vs adding it to the cooled wort in the 
>fermenter?

hop utilization is decreased by increasing gravity of the wort.  some of the
formulas to calculate (predict) ibu's recommend an adjustment factor if the
gravity of the wort is above 1.050.  i believe you get more caramelization
(wort darkening, etc.) in higher gravity worts, also.  i would strongly 
suspect that protein coagulation is somehow related to wort density during the
boil. 

i normally add boiling hot brewing water (pH adjusted) to the kettle a 
couple times during the boil to keep the wort volume above 5 gallons.  i find
it necessary because i use a 38 quart enamel pot and it doesn't have enough
"headspace" to enable me to start out with 7.5 gallons and get a good 
kicking boil without making a mess. 

daniel goodale wrote:

>This whole trub removal thread has got me slightly concerned.   My
>standard procedure is to dump wort, hot break, cold break, hop crud into
>my carboy and rack it off after a good fermentation gets going.<snip> When I
>get back, my barley wine will have 2 months sitting on all that nasty stuff.

everything i've read indicates that hot break is a lot worse than cold break
in terms of flavor impact and stability.  yeast, during fermentation, will
produce bad flavors if excessive hot break is hanging around in the wort.
plus, i think i remember reading that it will cause the beer to go stale
quicker.  cold break is more debatable, and many brewers don't bother to remove
it. in my experience, the advantage of removing cold break is that it seems my 
beers are easier to clarify.
             

>Just when does autolysis kick in?

i have had ales sit around for 4-6 weeks in the primary, at temperatures in
the low to mid 60's fahrenheit, and never had autolysis.  it's dependent on 
a number of things, including yeast strain, yeast health, and what you've done
to the yeast (temperature, wort density, pitching rate, etc.).

brew hard,

mark bayer
                                                                   

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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 13:16:04 -0500
From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at rohmhaas.com>
Subject: wort evaporation

In HBD #2366, Mike Spinelli asks:

>Can someone give me an estimate on much wort will evaporate in say, an hours
>boiling time in a 60 gallon tank with a diameter of 24" and a height of about
>36".  If I wanted to make say 20 gallons of beer, would I need to start
the >boil with 24 ?
>
>My quess is the bigger the vessel the more evaporation occurs..

MY best guess is that main factors influencing the evaporation rate are the
output rating of the heat source, transfer efficiency of the heat to the
wort and heat loss from the tank.

Surface area of the wort surface and air flow over the wort surface will
affect the evaporation rate a little bit, but I suspect these will be
relatively minor effects compared to those listed above.

I emailed Mike asking about the output of his burner, and he replied:

>my heat source will be a twin 170K btu ring burner, so total BTUs will be
340K

Assumptions: burners running full speed, efficient transfer of heat from
the burner to the wort, no heat loss from the boiler other than via
evaporation.  The resulting number will be an upper limit - reducing the
output, inefficient transfer of heat or heat loss would all reduce the
evaporation rate.  We're also assuming pure water; concentrated wort will
probably evaporate more slowly.

Water has a heat of vaporization of 9.72 kcal/mol.  Converting from kcal to
BTU, then moles H2O to gallons, I get 8100 BTU needed to evaporate 1 gallon.  

Burner rating   gal/hour evaporated     Comment
35 kBTU              4.3                my burner, for reality check
170 kBTU            21                  one of your burners
340 kBTU            42                  both of your burners

Reality check: on 6.5 gallon boils using my 35 kBTU burner, after getting
up to boiling temperature, I throttle back to get an evaporation rate of
about 1 gallon / hour.  I have no way of measuring just how far back I'm
throttling it, but my best guess is that I'm at 50% output.  That in turn
suggests about a 50% efficiency for using burner output to evaporate water.

If these calculations are reasonable, they suggest that 340 kBTU is
overkill for a 20 gallon batch!  The high output will help you get to the
boiling point faster, but then I'd cut it WAY back.  

Caviet: An engineer could undoubtedly give a better analysis.

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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 13:42:51 +0000
From: "Kris Jacobs" <jtsnake at serv01.net-link.net>
Subject: Siphoning hot wort...

Dave Burley mentioned:

There are some mechanical starters on the market, but I have never
tried them.
- --------------------------------------------

I use Phil's Psiphon Starter, it works great!
It is a simple little one-way ball valve that attaches to the end of 
your racking cane.  You can start your siphon by simply jacking the 
cane up and down with the low end in your beer/wort OR (so I found 
with my most recent batch) you can take little "tokes" ;) on the low 
end of your hose -- each little toke you take on the end of the 
hose will draw a little more beer/wort into the siphon, and it will 
NOT fall back, 'cause of the nifty little gadget at the bottom of the 
racking cane.  I would think that this would afford quite a bit more 
of a safety factor when siphoning hot wort.   Cool, huh?  8)

- --Kris Jacobs
- --Kalamazoo, MI

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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 13:28:36 -0600 (CST)
From: korz at xnet.com
Subject: rehydration temperature

Dave writes:
>You should always boil and cool your rehydration water before
>sprinkling the yeast on its surface without  agitation, wait ten minutes or
>until it is all wet out and then stir. Add it to the wort or your starter
>solution.  If this tap water pH persists after boiling and cooling to 70F
>and you still suspect it is a yeast killer, then just sprinkle the yeast

Dave is absolutely right about not stirring till the yeast has rehydrated.
You are verly likely to kill *zillions* of yeast if you smoosh them around
with a spoon while they are all stuck together in a glob (technical terms,
email me for translations ;^).  What alarmed me was Dave's implication 
(possibly accidental) that 70F water should be used for rehydration.

In a newsletter published by Lallemand (a very large yeast mfg), they
said that dry yeast should be rehydrated in 90 to 110F water.  I suggest
that the water be boiled, poured off the sedimented calcium carbonate
(that's probably where the really high pH comes from) and cooled only
to that 90-110F range.  There's more info (although no mention of
rehydration temperature, alas, other than saying that you don't want
to dump yeast that has been rehydrating at 104F into cool wort) on the
Lallemand Web page: http://www.lallemand.com/ .  See Jim's Fermentation
Hints.  Also, it's important to point out that water and not wort should
be used for rehydration (mentioned on that web page).

Al.

Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL
korz at xnet.com


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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 14:14:24 -0500
From: "Don Leone"<DLeone at gw.stlnet.com>
Subject: party pig





hey fellow brewskis!
thinking of getting a party pig.  found a pig faq web site plus the company
site.  really wanted to hear from other owners to get their opinions. i've
heard two complaints thus far: lack of carbonation and slow pouring.  if
anybody cares to add anything or elaborate on those two, that would be
great.  thanks in advance.
"love animals, don?t eat them"
don leone
dleone at pd.stlnet.com
http://home.stlnet.com/~dleone/index.html



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Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 10:40:14 +1300
From: Bruce Baker <Bruce.E.Baker at tsy.treasury.govt.nz>
Subject: Thermonuclear fermentation

G'day,

Down here in New Zealand, on the periphery of the homebrewing universe, we 
don't have a choice of 10,000 varieties of Wyeast.  Our choice is between 
Gervin's lager yeast or Gervin's ale yeast.  Vanilla or chocolate.

On my last visit to the homebrew shop, they were out of lager yeast (pathetic 
bastards), so I used a yeast packet from a Cooper's Lager beer kit in my latest 
batch of pils.  The results were, shall we say, explosive.  

I pitched the yeast before going to bed, and in the morning I found foam all 
over the floor.  I pulled out the foam covered airlock only to get a bath of 
green hop residue all over my nice white shirt. It appears that Cooper's lager 
kits use a top-fermenting yeast, with an unusual hunger for pils wort.

By the way, the Cooper's yeast was left over from a batch of Cooper's lager I 
made with two cans of Cooper's extract, 25 litres of water, and one package of 
yeast.  (Beer stocks were running dangerously low and I didn't have a free 
weekend for grain brewing.) The resulting beer was double-hopped (an added 
bonus) and very tasty.  

I'm worried about the pils, however.

Bruce  


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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 13:41:35 -0800
From: Mark Riley <mriley at netcom.com>
Subject: Siphoning Technique

Hello HBD,

After seeing a couple posts that mentioned siphoning problems
I thought I'd chime in with a simple technique I just recently 
figured out.  In the past, I'd try to start a siphon (using a
racking cane) but for some reason or another it wouldn't take
and I'd have this gravity assisted column of beer/wort shooting
back into the carboy which, of course, would bore a hole into
the trub and basicly create a little cloud of the stuff that I
had so patiently waited weeks to sediment out in the first place
(grumble).  Another problem I had was that once I had the siphon
going there would inevitably be this air bubble (many inches long)
located just after the curve in the racking cane - the AR part
of me couldn't help but think that that bubble was unnecessarily
aerating my finished beer (just great).

So the first thing I did was lop off that curve in the racking
cane - so now I have a racking *tube*.  I used a sharp knife
(watch the fingers) so the cut was clean and didn't have any
scratches that bacteria might find a home in (AR, I know).
I now affix my racking hose and use the curved piece of the
racking cane as a mouthpiece so I don't contaminate the end
of the hose with germs or whatever.  

Now, with the racking cane in a carboy (at kitchen counter height)
and the mouthpiece in my mouth, I grasp the middle of the hose
and elevate it above my head so that the hose forms an inverted "V"
(shaped like a teepee).  Ever so gently I suck on the mouthpiece
(how would YOU phrase that? ;-) and allow the column of beer
to rise to just below the apex of the inverted "V".  In one
fluid motion (no pun), I bring the hand grasping the hose down so
that the hose now forms a right side up "V" (you want to open your
mouth and release the suction as your hand reaches chest level,
just hold the mouthpiece with your teeth.)

If everything has gone well (and it always has for me), the hose
is now full of beer and none has spilled out since your mouth
is (or should be) above the level of the beer in the carboy.
I can then liesurely affix a bottle filler or pinch the tube
and stuff it in another carboy if I'm racking.

Works every time and no air bubbles in the line!


BTW, a neat trick to free up a hand when racking (or bottling) is
to  put a drilled stopper on the racking tube so that it holds
the tip of the racking tube above the sediment in the bottom
of the carboy.  Of course, you need to drill another hole
so air can get in (not as easy as it sounds).  You also need
to put a short stiff straw in the drilled out hole, otherwise,
the stopper sorta reclaims the hole you just drilled.  When using
this method I always start with the carboy tilted with a book
and the racking tube several inches above the sediment so none
is sucked up - as I near the bottom I slow down the siphon
by placing my finger over the air inlet and moving the racking
tube closer to the sediment.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I 
put a bend in the racking tube (by heating it) so it can reach
the bottom corner of the carboy.  I suppose this works sorta like
the orange caps with two holes - just a little bit less expensive. 


Sorry for the length of this post (on what appears to be 
such a mundane topic), but I know there are those of you
out there who grumble (like I did) when it comes time to
siphon...

Cheers,

Mark Riley
Sacramento, CA


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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 21:53:02 -0000
From: "Graham Wheeler" <Graham.Wheeler at btinternet.com>
Subject: Various replies


Various replies

********

Reply to Harlan Bauer #2365

Can't talk about Wyeast 1968, but the genuine Fuller's London ESB yeast was
originally a three strain variety, but has now been selected down to a
single strain. Don't know when the change occured, but probably several
years ago. I suspect your yeast has mutated. This is quite likely under
commercial propagation. The likelihood of this happening depends upon how
often Wyeast re-inocculate their propagators with a fresh dose from the
donor brewery. 

********

Reply to "phil" #2366

Not too sure what your question is. If you wish to darken a beer that you
have already brewed, you are going need to use an awful lot of chocolate
malt to get it to Guinness colour (200EBC, app 196SRM). Guinness use 10%
roast barley in their grist. The best bet I would think, would be to boil
up some roast barley (13-14oz per US 5 gall) in a minimal amount of water
and add this water to your cask. You can prime at the same time if you wish
to. There is no need to mash either roast barley or black malt. Not much
point in mashing choc malt either, although there is a bit of fermentable
extract that can be obtained from it.

If you are talking about brewing a different Guinness clone, then you need
to get closer to the Guinness grist which is typically 10% roast barley,
20-30% flaked barley (depending on type of Guinness) the rest is 60-70% of
something like mild ale malt or any relatively high protein malt. The
higher protein malt will have more enzymes to attack the flaked barley, and
a protein haze isn't going to matter in a beer that's jet black. 



Graham Wheeler
High Wycombe
UK

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