HOMEBREW Digest #2407 Tue 29 April 1997

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	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:
  Princeton's PALE ALES ("Pat Babcock")
  Pseudo-decoction and real decoction (Tuula Pietila)
  Easy removal of boil over "stains" (Scott Dornseif)
  Lemon Beer (James Moncsko)
  Re: $.02 on minikegs (Alex Santic)
  Re: Marris-Otter Problems (Again) (Alex Santic)
  On the oak thread. ("Graham Wheeler")
  Agar, steeping grains ("Graham Wheeler")
  Elderberries!!!!!!!! (Aesoph, Michael)
  Autolysis and O2? (DAVE BRADLEY IC742 6-7932)
  Corny kegs & cleaning ("Moyer, Douglas E")
  Extraction Points and %s ("Barry Wertheimer")
  New Brew Club (Dan Wieleba)
  Re: Yeast Culturing Media Recipe? (Craig Wynn)
  Oats (THaby)
  Fat Tire Amber Ale Recipe? (VJ Mitchell)
  Keg insulation (Mike Spinelli)
  re: slotted manifold / yeast media recipe (Dave Whitman)
  Shelf-Life of Kegged Beer/CO2 Tank in Fridge (Greg_T._Smith)
  Homebrew's quick effect? (Eugene Sonn)
  Cleaning 1/2 Barrel Keg used as a Fermenter (smith57)
  New mash/lauter tun (Loren Crow)
  RE:  Decoction mashing (George De Piro)
  Flat Beer ("Ellery.Samuels")
  The last experiment - double decocted PORTER! (Charles Burns)
  Yeast Culturing (Nymwegen)
  SNPA attempt (John Wilkinson)
  re: beer taxes ("Ted Hull")
  San Diego Beer/Corny Keg Manufacturers ("R. Shreve")
  Wyeast 1056 in barleywines (Dean Larson)
  Lagering Temperatures ("Kelly C. Heflin")
  Info on Coopers Sparkling Ale brewing process (Marshall Muller)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 22:58:32 +500 From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at oeonline.com> Subject: Princeton's PALE ALES Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to you lager... I came. I saw. I left (and was mistaken for the owner of one of the Home Breweries).... Just a quick note to those members of the Princeton And Local Environs Ale and Lager Enjoyment Society who read the HBD: I sat in on your meeting tonight featuring Ron Hartman of LD Carlson. I am intrigued by the guest speakers you manage to attract, and feel that would be a good point of discussion here on the HBD, if there are any of you "in the know" who would like to discuss it with other clubs. All in all, an interesting experience. Having only attended meetings of F.O.R.D. and the AABG, it was kind of neat to see a slice of life elsewhere. And, for others in the vicinity of Princeton, the Triumph Brewing Company on Nassau Street is a must see, and their lovely, hoppy amber ale is a must try! (Don't worry, Rich: I'm still a F.O.R.D. man.) See ya! Pat Babcock pbabcock at oeonline.com BrewBeerd at aol.com And one o' dem digest janitors... See ya! Pat Babcock pbabcock at oeonline.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 00:25:54 +0300 (EET DST) From: Tuula Pietila <tupietil at cc.helsinki.fi> Subject: Pseudo-decoction and real decoction =20 =20 Charlie Scandrett described his pseudo-decoction method in HBD #2399. His method is quite similar to what I have tried a couple of times. What I did is true decoction in the sense that 100% of the grist is boiled. I started experimenting with this method after George De Piro (and somebody else - sorry I forgot your name) asked if anybody knew a way to get the yummy decoction taste without the decoction hassle aka pitching-at-sunrise- syndrome. This was sometime last summer. Sorry for the delay - hard disc crashed, other computer problems, I moved.... I came up with a method very similar to the one Charlie described. The basic difference was that I presumed you have to boil the grains to get the yummy taste and improved gelatinization. So I did. I mashed pilsner malt in a kettle on the stove using a 60-70-100-70 schedule: 1. Beta-amylase rest 60 C 30 mins 2. Extraction of thin mash (liquid) into another container, I extracted about 20-30% of the liquid. Use cup or siphon off the liquid on top of the grains. 3. Main mash alpha-amylase rest 70 C 15 mins 4. Main mash boil 30 mins 5. Cooling of main mash to 70 C in sink filled with cold water. Took about 5-10 mins. You can use an immersion chiller and use the spent water as sparge water. 6. Combine mashes and set temperature to 70 C for 20 mins.=20 7. Mashout, sparging etc. as normal Remember this was just a test to see if the method works, the times and temps and other figures are probably not ideal. The grist was 100% pilsner malt, so you might want to lengthen the saccharification rests if using malt lower in enzymes. I have tried this only two times, primarily because I=EFm an unemployed destitute lazy slob who can=EFt afford an extra fridge and therefore brew ales. This experiment was fermented with Wyeast 1338. Due to lack of experience in tasting and having nothing to compare this beer with I cannot comment on how yummy the results were compared with traditional decoction. I can say that the beer tasted as good as my other ones and was very clear. =20 If you decide to try this method, or Charlie=EFs, you can find an informative set of graphs describing the "Survival of a-amylase and b-amylase in thin mashes held at the constant temperatures shown" in Brewing by Michael J. Lewis and Tom W. Young on page 111. It will help in planning your mash schedule. The figure shows that a-amylase activity does not decline at 60 C and below. If you decide to keep the extracted thin mash at a higher temp during the heating to boiling, boiling and cooling phases of the main mash, you will lose a-amylase activity. According to the figure, if the temp is kept at 66 C, you will have roughly 70% a-amylase activity remaining after 30 mins and 40% after 60 mins. This would make the combining of this method with George Fix=EFs 40-60-70 or 55-60-70 mash schedules very appropriate: at the end of the 60 rest you=20 extract the thin mash and you will be able to save most of the a-amylase in it for later use. Also remember that you need only enough a-amylase to take care of the starch gelatinized in the boil (starch haze), which is not much if you are not using raw adjuncts. I do not think that I need to ramble on about controlling the fermentability of the wort...=20 Also remember that the thicker the main mash, the faster it is to heat it to boiling and to cool it because grain needs less energy to heat than water (sorry, I could be more specific but I don=EFt know the tech terms in English). My main mash started boiling in 5-10 mins, compared with the 45-60 mins it takes for the wort to start boiling. Almost all of the advantages of Charlie=EFs method apply to this method: time and manual labor saved compared with triple decoction, Maillard products and other flavor additions usually achieved in normal decoction mashing and improved gelatinization of starch, especially when using under-modified malt or raw adjuncts. I know it is hard to get so under-modified malt from commercial maltsters these days that decoction mashing is needed to get an acceptable yield, but some have tried to malt their own grains. This method of decoction might also facilitate the use of this lower quality malt. This method has better control over the process than traditional decoction methods, which suffer from overlong rests of the main mash when it is waiting for the decoction to finish boiling. This is a problem especially in triple decoction. You also get less HSA and burnt skin, which are problems associated with transfering and mixing boiling parts of the mash. Because you boil the whole mash excluding 10-30% of the thin mash, you can try cutting the wort boil time down to 60 mins.=20 Charlie mentioned the advantage of a hotter and more permeable grain bed in lautering. With this method, as with normal decoction, the mixing and boiling of the grains makes the bed less permeable and might result in sparging problems. The gooey hot break in the bed does not help either. I had a shallow grain bed and thus no problems. So what it boils down to: Is it necessary to boil the grains to get the decoction taste? I thought you get a Scottish ale type caramel taste with a high gravity or overlong wort boil and a toasted, decoction like taste by boiling the grains. Does the boil extract polyphenols from the grains? And if so, are they bad or do they contribute to the yummy decoction taste? Is there such a thing as yummy harsh decoction taste? If they are bad, can their detrimental effects be taken care of with Polyclar? I use Polyclar to get rid of chill haze and in this batch the sediment seem to be browner than in my infusion-mashed beers. Was the color the result of a= =20 lot of polyphenols (especially oxidized ones)? If so, wouldn=EFt it be a smart idea to mix Polyclar in the lauter: the grain bed would filter out the polyphenols and Polyclar or you could use a Polyback after the lauter... And if you use the no-sparge method, you can mashout at 100 C for improved run-off and there won=EFt be starch haze because you have boiled all the grains...=20 =20 Timo Jukka in Helsinki, Finland Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 17:28:40 -0500 From: Scott Dornseif <roundboy at wwa.com> Subject: Easy removal of boil over "stains" Tired of the Drudgery of scrubbing on those boil over buildups that just WONT come off? NEVERMORE! for an easy answer send me 3 screaming meemies and a SASE. Or just read on. I covered the dry burned on crud with common 3% Hydrogen peroxide soln, after soaking for about an hour, I wiped all of the H2O2 off, leaving only the soln that soaked into the crud. Then I poured straight household bleach, fully covering the affected area, (sounds like a rash). Within 20 mins the crud was almost completely gone. COOL. Scott Dornseif roundboy at wwa.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 23:09:26 -0700 From: James Moncsko <jimsbrew at bellsouth.net> Subject: Lemon Beer Has anyone ever made a lemon beer, sorta in the lines of Petes Summer Brew? Would it be possible to add 'real lemon' lemon juice going into the secondary? How much? Maybe at bottling? Anybody? Thanks in advance, Jim Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 02:44:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com> Subject: Re: $.02 on minikegs I would like to make the point that minikegs do work exactly as advertised. I'm not sure why people overemphasize the problems. You do need good minikegs, bungs and CO2 tap. I personally have experience with the German Fass-Frisch brand which I recommend for all three. Priming should be conservative. The beer should be completely fermented out so that you have full control over the process. Many brews have undetected fermentation problems and will over-carbonate more noticeably in kegs than in bottles as the remaining complex sugars are fermented. Full kegging systems facilitate filtering and artificial carbonation while minikegs do not. If you have ever watched the results of tapping a new keg at a bar, you'll realize that pouring a glass of foam is not an unusual symptom with any keg dispensing system. In a naturally-conditioned beer, this first glass of foam probably contains yeast sediment anyway. However, it is important to always open the tap flat-out unless you want to continue pouring glasses of foam. And don't apply CO2 pressure until the initial keg pressure is released. On the down side, minikegs are fragile and kind of a pain to clean. Less so than bottles, but more so than full kegging systems. The CO2 cartridges are indeed somewhat expensive. However, contrary to what has been suggested, they are easy to acquire. The most likely place is the vedor who sold you the minikegs. Alex Santic NYC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 02:58:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com> Subject: Re: Marris-Otter Problems (Again) "Michael Dowd" <mikedowd at geocities.com> asks: >Does anyone else out there have any experience with using an EasyMasher >and Marris-Otter malt? I can't explain why your friend had a stuck sparge, but I can confirm that I use Beeston Marris-Otter with an EasyMasher and have not experienced this problem. Alex Santic NYC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 11:45:17 +0100 From: "Graham Wheeler" <Graham.Wheeler at btinternet.com> Subject: On the oak thread. It was said in an earlier digest that Michael Jackson stated that only English oak was good enough for casks. I am afraid that I must, belatedly, disagree with my countryman here. From at least the early 1700s onwards, English oak was rarely if ever used for casks. All English oak was protected and belonged to the Royal Navy for building ships (still is I think!). Certainly it was illegal for English oak to be exported in any form, so all British export beer would have been supplied in foreign (usually Baltic) oak. The early Burton brewers of the 1700s, before the pale ale revolution of the 1830s, were purely export brewers -- it was hard to get Burton beer in Britain. These Burton brewers bartered beer with Russia and other Baltic ports for commodities that could be sold in Britain for a profit. These incoming shipments seemed in the main to be Baltic oak and pig-iron, which was sold to other breweries. Presumably the pig-iron made the cask hoops. There is an interesting account of cask making at the Bass brewery in Alfred Barnard's "Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland", (1887). It is far to long to reproduce here, but a few edited highlights might be of interest. "The staves as they are received from the Baltic and elsewhere [note the elsewhere] are stacked at Shobnall in large piles which cover as many as twenty-five acres of ground. They are protected from the sun's rays by matting, and, when required for use, are sent in railway trucks to the steam cooperage..." "...are four iron-roofed sheds where staves are stored, after being sawn to the required lengths, to be seasoned..." "... Our guide first led the way to the steeping tanks, which are constructed of brick and sunk into the ground. There are nine of them of immense size, and the water therein is heated by exhaust steam from the engine. Here the staves for making the casks are steeped for a considerable time [shame he wasn't more specific] to extract the tannin, which, if allowed to remain, would injure the ale. When the staves are sufficiently steeped they are sent in trucks to the Shobnall stores and stacked for drying; after a year or more, as the case may be, they are sufficiently seasoned, and are then returned to the steam cooperage..." "...The porus pegs are made of red American oak and the hard pegs made of Memel. The casks are then run-in by steaming them and then filling them with water at 190 degrees and leaving for several hours. I thought I had read somewhere that the Bass casks were charred on the inside by a gas flame, but I can't find that in Barnard's book, so perhaps I read it elsewhere or I may be mistaken. Anyway, it would seem that the type of oak used for casks is not particularly important, as long as it is a hard oak (American red oak would presumably leak like a false bottom), but cask making for beer is a long and involved process, which I doubt if modern casks that are generally available would be subjected to. Graham Wheeler High Wycombe England Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 13:17:04 +0100 From: "Graham Wheeler" <Graham.Wheeler at btinternet.com> Subject: Agar, steeping grains In reply to George Schamel Yes you certainly do need some malt extract in your culture medium for it to work, but if Brewer's Resource call their product wort agar, then the wort, or the malt extract, should already have been in it! I bet you a pint they forgot to put it in. Pure microbiologists' agar on its own contains no nutrients, and certainly contains no carbon source. An appropriate carbon source has to be added by someone somewhere. Microbiologists like this state of affairs because it enables them to produce selective media, which helps to identify different organisms. The amount of extract required is fairly small. 20 grams per litre of water is more than enough, but I am usually more generous than that. Don't use yeast nutrients, they are not necessary and could cause more problems than they solve. For streaking petri-dishes, a cheap and perfectly adequate alternative to agar from scientific supply houses is the vegetarian alternative to gelatine sold in health food shops. In England the stuff is called Gelozone, and is made from carrageen (Irish moss), locust bean gum, maltodextrin, and guar gum. It is not nutrient free, so it would be unsuitable for selective media, and its melting point may be too high for slants, but it's great stuff for streaking petri-dishes. Add malt extract to it, just as you would with agar. The equivalent stuff available in the USA may not perform as well for this application as the Gelozone available here, so an experimental type of person might have to try it first and post the results. I like it because it sets quickly, has a high melting point once set, and is a bloody sight easier to get hold of locally than agar. - ------------------------------- In reply to Jim Wallace If you are doing a full mash, there is no need to do a separate steep of your other grains. Just bung it all into your grist, well mixed, and mash the lot together. Steeping evolved by homebrewers to deal with malt extract brews, where there is no mash. Graham Wheeler High Wycombe England Return to table of contents
Date: 28 Apr 97 09:01:04 EDT From: aesoph at ncemt1.ctc.com (Aesoph, Michael) Subject: Elderberries!!!!!!!! Dear All: I currently live in Western PA and only have access to Elderberries once a year at best and they are very hard to come by. I currently have two idle fermenters and I would like to fill at least one of them with some Elderberry wine. I was wondering if Elderberries were in season somewhere in the country and if I could buy 10 pounds or so through someone out there. Please respond via direct EMail (aesoph at ctc.com) as my access to this list is somewhat limited. ================================================== Michael D. Aesoph Associate Engineer ================================================== Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 12:55:52 +0000 (GMT) From: DAVE BRADLEY IC742 6-7932 <BRADLEY_DAVID_A at LILLY.COM> Subject: Autolysis and O2? I want to relay an observation I've had in my brewing, and to ask for any yeast metabolism explanations the Collective might have. Background: I ferment in a conical vessel, ca. 12gal per batch. After 3 days I skim the krausen, drain any residual cold break from the btm valve. After 2 weeks, I usually harvest the yeast cake via the btm valve...sometimes its several more weeks before this happens. I can clearly taste and smell autolysis when collecting my yeasts. This is with Wyeast London Ale and Thames Valley and with Yeast Labs Alt strain, encompassing 6-8 batches of beer. The severity of the taste and smell increase over time but are clearly present beginning at 2-4 weeks from pitching. FYI the modest taste in the beer does fade over 1-2mo but that can be a long time when you want to find out how your batch really came out! Why? Is this a physical result of the layers of yeast in the cone being deprived of soluble lipids from the beer? O2 is available in my open fermenter, perhaps just not to the compacted yeast. What do you think, you metabolism gurus? Dave in Indy Home of the 3-B Brewery, v. Ltd. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 9:28:36 -0400 From: "Moyer, Douglas E" <moyer-de at salem.ge.com> Subject: Corny kegs & cleaning Collective soul, (As a pre-question apology, I did try to search through the archives, but perhaps my searching abilities leave something to be desired...) I recently completed converting an 8 cu. ft. chest freezer to a beer cooler. I replaced the thermostat with one from an old fridge, with a remarkable range. I drilled holes in the side to pass through the beer lines and the gas line. I fixed the hot side refrigerant line that I nicked. (Hard lesson learned there!) My beer lines each go from a quick disconnect on the keg to a shank through the wall via about 3' of 3/16" flexible hose. On the outside of the fridge, I run about 20" of 3/16" hose from the shank to the picnic tap. (It will have a three tap beer tower in the final design.) The shank has the same inside diameter as those beer faucets you mount on the door of an upright fridge. Two weeks ago, I force-carbonated a corny keg of nut brown ale (very tasty!), and connected it to my new system. When I poured my first (and subsequent) glasses of beer, it was about 80% foam, which of course meant that the beer felt somewhat flat to the mouth. (All the C02 released in the lines.) I also noticed that, when I poured several glasses at a time, the latter ones had less of a problem. I poured the final pint on Saturday, and had to hold the tap away from the glass just to get a head on the beer. The bubbles seemed to start forming a few inches after the quick disconnect. I tried each of my three beer lines with similar results. I dispensed at about 8 psi. My question then is whence came all this foam? There seem to be several possibilities: over-carbonated; beer-lines too long; transition from flexible hose to the shank and back is too severe; and a rough surface in my dip tube or hose. If I've over carbonated, then why would it get better for multiple glasses poured at a time? (Same question for dirty lines.) If it is the transition going through the shank, what can I do? If it is dirty lines, how can I best clean them? (I currently run a solution of warm water and One-Step cleanser through the lines, let it set for a few days, and then run it dry.) Also, how do you know that you've correctly force-carbonated the beer? I bumped the pressure to 35 psi, disconnected the gas line, shook the keg until I couldn't hear the beer sloshing, reconnected the gas line, and let it sit at that pressure for several hours, with an occasional re-shake. Help!! Doug Moyer Big Lick Homebrewing Collective "Everyone needs a Big Lick!" Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 10:09:35 EST From: "Barry Wertheimer" <wertheim at LIBRA.LAW.UTK.EDU> Subject: Extraction Points and %s Ray Estrella wrote: [snipped useful info about extraction, etc.] > Different mashing techniques will give > different numbers also. I brewed last week with some friends, and we used > a Sabco with a false bottom for 18 gal. of Pils, and got a 92% extraction > rate. Then used a cooler mash/lauter tun for 20 gal. of Belgian Wit and > only got 75%. The implication here is that the different mash/lauter tun systems led to the different results in efficiency. That is a possible explanation. It is also possible that the different grain bills contributed to the different result. The lowest extraction efficiency I have experienced in my system was brewing a Begian Wit with a large % of unmalted wheat. Barry Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 10:13:50 -0700 From: Dan Wieleba <wieleba at pce.net> Subject: New Brew Club We are starting a new brew club in the western New York area. Anyone interested should contact Dan - wieleba at pce.net or Terry - terry at brewfellows.com. - -- http://www.pce.net/wieleba/beerlink.htm Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 13:26:23 GMT From: cwynn at sawyer.ndak.net (Craig Wynn) Subject: Re: Yeast Culturing Media Recipe? quote pg 4.5 "First Steps In Yeast Culture" The ratio of agar to wort The first step consists in mixing the agar with water in the right proportion suitable for yeast and general microbiological work. A ratio of 12 grams of agar in one leter of liquid will generally give excellent results. This will produce one leter of solidified liquid when set. Prcision in weighing is very important. A good quality precision scale is a necessity. Adjustments may be required, depending on the source of the argar. Of course even a one liter bottle of solid media is too much for any but a large laboratory. later in this section.... Once you have weighed the agar, the next step is to measure the quanitity of liquid. There are two ways to do this. If you have a graduated cyclinder or a any greducated measuring vessel, you can measure the volume directly....... When weighing , wort variations caused by different specific gravity wil have to be considered. However , wort at 12=B0P 1.048 SG can be assumbed toweigh 100 grams per 100 ml. Exact precision is recommended, but in this case is not an absolute necessity. end quote. I recommend this book by Pierre Rajotte. It gave me the confidence to pick up the basic skills for culturing my own yeast.=20 craig Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 9:24:17 CDT From: THaby at swri.edu Subject: Oats Hello Brewers, I'm getting ready to brew an oatmeal stout and some recipies call for "rolled" oats and some call for "steel cut" oats. Whats the difference between the two, and can they be interchanged and produce the same results? Tim Haby Rio Medina, TX N5YEB thaby at swri.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 07:48:05 -0700 From: VJ Mitchell <VJMitchell at asu.edu> Subject: Fat Tire Amber Ale Recipe? Hello all, Has anyone developed, or even seen, a recipe ( all-grain, partial-mash, or extract) for this fine rocky mountain brew? For that matter any good amber recipe would be greatly appriciated! Thanks!! Personal E-mail would be great, I don't know how many of you all would be interested. Vince Mitchell VJMitchell at asu.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 10:45:09 est From: paa3983 at dpsc.dla.mil (Mike Spinelli) Subject: Keg insulation HBDers, Someone asked how best to insulate a keg for mashing, etc. My rig seems about as bulletproof as you can get, and IMO eliminates the usefullness of any GOTT type plastic cooler for mashing. First go to a Heating, Air Conditioning supply store and ask for 16" OD rigid stove pipe. It comes in a 3 ft. length and costs about 11 bucks. It's got a slot up the side that snaps together. It's made of sheet metal (might be galvanized, not sure though). This will act as a sleeve that you can slip on and off the keg. You'll need to make a vertical slot at the bottom to accomadate the ball valve and allow the sleeve to go all the way to the botto m of the keg. Next call an industrial insulation company and get 2" thick rigid fiberglass ins ulation that's 16" Inside diameter. Costs about 35 bucks. It comes in a 3 ft. length also. This stuff is rated at around 800 degress F. The inside is raw fiberglass and the outside is aluminum faced. This fiberglass slips over the metal sleeve and permanently secured with aluminum duct tape along the top and bottom of the sleeve. When all is said and done, you'll have a solid metal sleeve that slips off and on the keg, with the fiberglass on the outside of the sleeve. Forget the bubble wrap and forget the Gotts. This thing will last a lifetime. I'm now making one up to slip over my 60 gallon tank (24" OD) not for mashing purposes but to extend the sleeve a foot below the double burners when I'm boiling to get better heat efficiency. This should act as a jacket to trap the heat. Having mashed in 5 and 10 gallon Gotts and now 15.5 gallon kegs, the keg seems like the only way to go. With the sleeve, I would bet that it's as insulated as a Gott if not more so, and you have the ability to mash over 40 pounds of grain. All you need is a perf. plate, J tube and ball valve. As far as a lid, I found that ironically, the 10 gal. Gott lid fits perfectly inside the top of the sleeve. Mike Spinelli Cherry Hill NJ Home of Mikey's Monster Brew Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 11:56:53 From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at rohmhaas.com> Subject: re: slotted manifold / yeast media recipe In HBD#2406, Laura <Barrowman at aol.com> asks whether to put the slots facing up or down on a slotted manifold. My opinion: put'em on the bottom. That way you can transfer the maximum amount of liquid before the siphon breaks. The gap between the bottom of the tun and the manifold is on average at least as wide as the slot gaps, so it's not like putting them on the bottom would make it hard to draw liquid off. In the same issue, George Schamel asks about culture media for yeast. I don't know the make up of the two commercial media you're using but here's a recipe that works very well for me. Use enough water to make up the volume of media you want, then based on the weight of the water, add: 10% dry malt extract 2% agar (cheap food grade from a chinese grocery store) 0.25% diammonium phosphate ("yeast energizer" from brew shop) 0.25% yeast extract ("Marmite" toast spread from English specialty shop) Thus a 20 ml batch of media would use 20 ml water (= 20 grams), 2 g DME, 0.4 g agar, 0.05 g each of DAP and Marmite. For starters, just leave out the agar. You could probably get by without the DAP and Marmite, but my starters seem much more vigorous since I started adding them to my recipe, and I figure what's good for the starter is probably good for slants and plates. - --- Dave Whitman "The opinions expressed are those of the author, and not dwhitman at rohmhaas.com Rohm and Haas Co." Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 11:10:33 EDT From: Greg_T._Smith at notes.pw.com Subject: Shelf-Life of Kegged Beer/CO2 Tank in Fridge Greetings all, I have a few batches kegged in cornies, and I was wondering how long they will last (I know, only as long as it takes to drink them). What is the shelf-life of a kegged batch of homebrew? How about a batch that's already been tapped (and kept cold)? Speaking of keeping things cold... is it okay to put your CO2 tank in the fridge with the kegs, or do I have to tap a hole in the fridge to keep the CO2 out of the cold? Replying here or private e-mail are both fine. TIA, Greg Smith 'BarnBrew Brewery' Claryville, NY Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 12:10:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Eugene Sonn <eugene at dreamscape.com> Subject: Homebrew's quick effect? Fellow HBDers, I've been brewing for over 5 years and one thing continues to surprise me about homebrew is how quickly you may feel its alcohol affecting your system. I've been drinking homebrew long enough that I know this isn't just a coincidence with the times I haven't eaten a lot or gotten a lot of sleep. Homebrew does seem to affect my system more quickly than commercial beer. Are there any explanations for this? Is the alcohol in homebrew more easily metabolized than in commercial beer? Hoping you folk will have some answers. Eugene eugene at nova.dreamscape.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 09:57:11 -0700 From: smith57 at sprynet.com Subject: Cleaning 1/2 Barrel Keg used as a Fermenter Greetings HBDers, I am looking for guidance on cleaning a 1/2 barrel Sankey Keg that will shortly finish serving as a primary fermenter. I will rack in the next few days. I had planned on using washing soda (sodium carbonate) in warm water, fill it to the top, and let it sit overnight; then rinse with water and a weak acid solution. Will this get out the organic deposits? I obviously can't physically reach into the keg through the #11 size stopper hole so I have to count on the cleaning agent to do all the work. Any recommendations on how much washing soda to use in 15 1/2 gallons of water? Do you think it will get the job done, or should I step right up to something else like TSP or NaOH? Incidently, I found the keg in good shape and still holding pressure and beer at the scrapyard. After releasing the pressure and extracting the valve assembly, I dumped the beer out and rinsed it well. It seemed to come pretty clean so I wasn't concerned with this beforehand. I sanitized it by boiling water in it before using as the primary. The samples of the fermented wort smell and taste fine. TIA for any advice. -Jack in West Point Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 12:12:45 -0500 From: crowld at rapidramp.com (Loren Crow) Subject: New mash/lauter tun Hello all, Thanks to everyone who helped me with my question on HSA during recirculation of the runnings. I decided to build a mash/lauter tun out of a picnic cooler and some copper pipe. It worked like a charm, almost doubling my efficiency from the false bottom approach I had been using. It seems to me that perhaps the most important advantage of this system is the fact that the grain bed is relatively thin, therefore reducing the chance of compacting during the sparge. It also seems to clarify much better and more quickly. Despite the fact that I had 11# of grain in yesterday's mash, I got very little hot or cold break material (but with a very syrupy wort) and an OG of 1.080 (including 1# of honey and 2# of brown sugar) I bought the cooler--an Igloo--at Wal-Mart for $19 (they're on sale this week), got 10' of copper pipe and fittings (T-joints and elbows), soldering compound, and vinyl tubing, and made the manifold. I used my Dremel tool rather than a hacksaw for the slits because the Dremel tool makes thinner slits. To the hole in the cooler I attached a pvc ball valve with a tube running down into the boiler. It really was quite easy to build, and not particularly expensive, either. And it was *much* easier to clean up than the false bottom method. Loren ========================================================================== # Loren D. Crow, Ph.D. ++ Office Phone: (903) 927-3219 # # Department of Religion ++ Fax: (903) 938-8100 # # Wiley College ++ # # 711 Wiley Avenue ++ Email: crowld at rapidramp.com # # Marshall, TX 75670 ++ WWW: http://www.rapidramp.com/Users/crowld # ========================================================================== The unexamined life is not worth living. - Socrates Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 13:41:54 -0700 From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com (George De Piro) Subject: RE: Decoction mashing Hi all, My mailer doesn't, so I haven't been able to receive the HBD regularly. If anybody out there has written me and not received a reply, please understand that I am not ignoring you! Anyhow, Charles has been wondering the best place to park his main mash while performing a decoction. His experiment demonstrated that significant starch conversion does occur at 130-135F (~56C). He is now planning on holding the main mash at 145F (62.7C), because he believes this temp to be "pretty harmless." Actually, if you want a dextrin-rich beer, this temp will be far from harmless. At 130-135F, you got significant conversion in only one hour. At 145F, you'll get even faster beta-amylase activity. You'll convert most of the starch into fermentables in your main mash. You will not release all that much unconverted starch in the decoction step, so you will not have a dextrin-rich wort. Not only does this make sense on paper (or screen), but I use a similar mash schedule to produce dry beers. You can rest at 130F and get some starch conversion, but not a lot. If you are really paranoid about degrading proteins and starches without wanting to, rest the main mash at ~100F (39C). The proteases and amylases won't work too quickly then, although you'll probably have to add heat in some way to get the mash to the next step (if it's to far above 100F, you'd need a ridiculously large decoct to hit it). Have fun! George De Piro (Nyack, NY) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 14:56:14 EDT From: "Ellery.Samuels" <esamuel at mvsb.nycenet.edu> Subject: Flat Beer I recently made an IPA using extract with specialty grains. Followed procedure that I've successfully used for 8 other batches. This time the beer came out flat (minimal carbonation) and there was NO head in glass when pored. Any suggestions as to what happened? The beer has been in the bottle for wo weeks now and I plan on leaving a while longer to see if there is some improvement. Do you think that will help? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 11:48 PDT From: cburns at egusd.k12.ca.us (Charles Burns) Subject: The last experiment - double decocted PORTER! I just had to try it. So, I added a couple of pounds of munich to my normal porter recipe, rested it at 145F (dropped to 140F after 30 minutes), immediately pulled 1/3 to the kettle, added 2 quarts of water, brought to 158F for 15 minutes, boiled it for 15 minutes, then back to the rest mash. I overshot the temp up to 165F and instantly tossed in a quart of cold water. Bam, temp down to 150F. I quickly boiled a gallon and dumped it in. Raised in only to 154F. Pulled a gallon of mash, boiled it and returned it to the mash and finally got to 160F. Left it there for an hour. Exhausted. This is the last decoction on purpose that I do until I get better equipment. It should be a nice robust porter, IF it has any body left. George thinks it might not since it spent so much time at low temps (140-150F). We'll know in a couple of weeks boys and girls. Charley (giving up decoction for now) in N. Calif. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 15:04:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Nymwegen at aol.com Subject: Yeast Culturing I'm planning to start culturing my own pure yeast strains and would appreciate any sharing of step-by-step procedures from those who are already doing this. I've purchased the sterile test tubes for the slants, a 500ml flask, petri dishes, the agar and yeast nutriet, etc. and read a basic primer on the subject. I have a Yeast Lab Australian Ale strain that I was going to experiment with (it expired in Feb 97 and I got it cheap - read free - from the brew supply house where I sometimes work). I had planned to use my canning pressure cooker for this and have already made up a batch of sterile wort in quart and 1/2 pint jars. I have some 190 proof grain alcohol for sanitizing as well. The book I read on the subject doesn't mention the use of petri dishes - are these unnecessary or are they an alternative to the test tube slants? Also the petri dishes are plastic and although the William's Brewing catalog said they were sterile I seriously doubt that they are as they came in one plastic bag rather than being individually packaged like the test tubes. My question on the plastic petri dishes is whether anyone knows if they can be sterilized in the pressure cooker (250 F) or will they melt? I do not intend to resterilize the test tubes in the pressure cooker as they are also plastic. Any tips or advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance - Nymwegen Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 14:19:09 CDT From: jwilkins at imtn.tpd.dsccc.com (John Wilkinson) Subject: SNPA attempt My nephew is a lover of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and I like it myself. I told him I would attempt a batch of that type. Does anyone have any suggestions as to malts, hops, and hopping schedules? I assume the hops would be Cascade, at least for flavor and aroma but what about the rest? I brew all grain, by the way. I have plenty of Cascade, Columbus, and I think Williamette on hand. The Williamette I have had a while but it is in the freezer in what is supposed to be an air tight bag. I am currently growing some Wyeast 1056 yeast for the batch. I have various grains in stock but can always pick up anything I don't have if needed. I suppose American grains would be appropriate but 2 row or 6 row? Thanks for any help, John Wilkinson - Grapevine, Texas - imtn.dsccc.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 7:48:20 EDT From: "Ted Hull" <THull at brwncald.com> Subject: re: beer taxes Thanks to Raymond Estrella for his post. My apologies to those not participating from the USA. One additional comment: Is there any way of ensuring that a tax reduction would be passed on to consumers rather than stay in the pockets of breweries, *distributors*, etc.? When the airline ticket tax wasn't renewed, prices didn't drop with the 10% tax temporarily gone. And an unrelated analogy is that Ticketmaster continues to determine service charges based on what the market will bear. If we already pay the higher price for beer, who's to say we won't continue to do so? Ted Hull Atlanta, GA Just so you know, the views expressed here are not those of my employer. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 16:30:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "R. Shreve" <rashreve at interpath.com> Subject: San Diego Beer/Corny Keg Manufacturers I will be making a trip to San Diego next month, my first trip to the west coast. Can anyone recommend any "not to be missed" brewpubs, etc. in the San Diego area? Does anyone have a name and phone number for a manufacturer of corny kegs? I'm interested in getting a price for a custom-made size (if that's possible). Thanks! Randy Shreve Salisbury, North Carolina Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 15:33:27 -0700 From: Dean Larson <Dean.Larson at gonzaga.edu> Subject: Wyeast 1056 in barleywines Mark asks: >I've got a batch of American Amber Ale in the primary now, it's real >hoppy & looking pretty good. I used Wyeast 1056 in it. I was planning on >putting a batch of porter onto the yeast from it when I move it into the >secondary this weekend. Now I'm thinking about turning the porter into a >barleywine. I haven't done a barleywine yet. I'm wondering if 1056 is a good >choice to stand up to the high alcohol of the barleywine. If it's not a good >choice, what would you suggest? Thanks in advance, I've done two barleywines in which I've pitched with about 1 cup of slurry from the primary of a batch fermented with Wyeast 1056. Both turned out fine. One had OG of 1.095 and FG 1.025, the other OG 1.100 and FG 1.028. Both fermentations went well. My experience is that 1056 makes a fine barleywine. Skol, Dean Larson Spokane, WA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 19:21:35 -0700 From: "Kelly C. Heflin" <kheflin at monmouth.com> Subject: Lagering Temperatures Just wondering what the opinion is for a good lagering temperature. My fermenter stops bubbling not long after putting it in the fridge. The highest temp I can get is about 45 deg. Is this too cold for the second day of fermentation, I usually go the first day at normal room temp. Eventually ending up at about 34 deg. for the last 4 weeks. Oh, and is the fact that the airlock is not bubling, mean that the yeast have gone dormant. Or are they still working. and what effect will warming it up to 50 deg. and giving it a shake to help it start again have. thanks kelly - -- Kelly C. Heflin Kheflin at monmouth.com - -- Kelly C. Heflin Kheflin at monmouth.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 10:08:47 +0930 From: Marshall Muller <Marshall.Muller at dsto.defence.gov.au> Subject: Info on Coopers Sparkling Ale brewing process Fellow Brewers, In a recent newsletter, Dr Tim Cooper (Brewer and Operations Manager) from Coopers Brewery (Adelaide) wrote an article on Coopers Pale Ale with some references to Coopers Sparkling Ale. Anyway it contained some details which I found interesting and I thought I'd share them with you. Here are some quotes from the article: Pale Ale is an entirely naturally fermented beer brewed the same way as our famous red label Sparkling Ale. Coopers Pale Ale is a very estery and fruity beer (with characteristics of apples, pears and bananas) with a nice dash of hoppy acidity and dryness in the finish. (finishing gravity of 1.1-1.3 degrees P and a bitterness of 24-25 BU) The classic Coopers Sparkling Ale has the same characteristics but with greater intensity. Coopers ales and stouts are fermented with a top fermenting yeast. The fermenation is now in cylindroconical vessels, after which the brew is clarified. A controlled portion of the fermenting beer that has not been clarified is added, along with sugar, prior to bottling or kegging, to promote the secondary fermenation. Ales undergo warm-conditioning in bottles and kegs for 4-6 weeks before they are released. Some consumers cellar the ales for up to 2 years. >From 120 years, Sparkling Ale has been brewed by Coopers using the 500 year old 'Burton-on-Trent' method, which was instituted by Coopers shortly after the brewery was founded in 1862. The Ale yeast is particularly unusual being a mixture of two yeast types which must be maintained in a fine balance. This is necessary because the yeast does not focculate (clump together and settle on the bottom). It remains in suspension and is thus called powdery. Marshall Adelaide, AUSTRALIA Return to table of contents