HOMEBREW Digest #2430 Fri 30 May 1997
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of
Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
URL: http://www.oeonline.com
Contents:
BTUs and Burners (David Pickett)
Alternate brews (PAUL W HAAF JR)
dry yeast follow-up (Tim Plummer)
Kegging Supplies (mmckinstry)
RE: Sweetening fruit beer / Flat lager (George De Piro)
Chillin' (PAUL W HAAF JR)
Starch ("Kirk Harralson")
dented cornie kegs/dirty disconnects/soda pumps (Barrowman)
Low-Alcohol Brewing Report / COntrolling Fermentation Temperature (KennyEddy)
Fermentation Temp Control (Jim Martin)
chest freezer problems. ("Bryan L. Gros")
Fermentation Times, Primaries, Secondaries, And Gelatin (Rob Kienle)
Soda???????? (Aesoph, Michael)
Clear Weizen??? (MARK WOOD)
eugene at dreamscape.com (Dave Whitman)
Too Clear Beer, salt and cornies, grafted yeast ("David R. Burley")
Out of Africa - In to Corneys (Bob.Sutton)
Pot/Hops (Rick Olivo)
Air Temps (Chris Carolan)
marijuana in beer (Volt Computer)" <a-branro at MICROSOFT.com>
Gelatine versus Polyclar ("Rob Moline")
Re: Weizen -has it to be cloudy? ("Hubert Hanghofer")
Widmer Kolsch (Volt Computer)" <a-branro at MICROSOFT.com>
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 09:08:57 +0100
From: David Pickett <dave.pickett at zetnet.co.uk>
Subject: BTUs and Burners
>Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 09:01:31 -0700 (PDT)
>From: palmer at San-Jose.ate.slb.com (Eric Palmer)
>Subject: burners and BTU
>If I were to look for a propane burner that can handle a 5 gal
>boil with ease, what kind of BTUs should I look for and what
>price should I expect to pay?
Sorry I cant help with the price Eric but here are my calcs for
energy requirements. (Ala Graham Wheeler)
To find the amount of energy in kilowatts required to raise n litres
of water by n degrees centigrade in n minutes:
KW = (litres x temp rise in degrees C) / (14.3 x minutes)
To find the times taken to raise n litres of water by n degrees
centigrade using n kilowatts of energy:
Minutes = (litres x temp rise in degrees C) / (14.4 x KW)
1 BTU = 0.2520 kilocalories = 0.2931 Watt/hours
(1 kilowatt will evaporate roughly 1.6 litres per hour)
Dave....
- --
Dave Pickett
NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS LTD
--THE SUN--THE NEWS OF THE WORLD--THE TIMES--THE SUNDAY TIMES--QVC--
Facilities Management Department
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 08:50:08 EDT
From: haafbrau1 at juno.com (PAUL W HAAF JR)
Subject: Alternate brews
This is for the HBer that wanted to brew with marijuana. Have you
considered putting Hops in your bong instead? Just a thought.
I drink therefore I am.- Monty Python
Paul Haaf
haafbrau1 at juno.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 08:51:10 -0700
From: Tim Plummer <plummer at brick.purchase.edu>
Subject: dry yeast follow-up
Hi,
A couple days ago, I sought advice about my rapid dry yeast
fermentation. Thanks to everyone who replied. I now have a follow-up.
The general concensus from the replies that I received was, "Bet that
your fermentation is complete, take a S.G. and find out. Dry yeast is
like that." So, I followed that advice, and got an S.G. of 1.019. This
beer started at 1.050, and I'd like to get a few more points out of it.
Soooo... should I do something to try and jump-start things? Is it
likely that dry yeast is slow to finish, and if I let it sit for another
week, i might get an S.G. of 1.014 or so? (I'm hoping for
1.011-1.014.) Or, do I chalk this up to experience, bottle it up and
brew more beer? (Twist my arm!)
Thanks again for everyone's helpfulness.
Tim Plummer (Port Chester, NY)
plummer at brick.purchase.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 7:51:00 -0600
From: mmckinstry at paraengr.com
Subject: Kegging Supplies
I am looking for good sources for kegging equipment (new or used) in=20
the Houston Area. Please respond by private e-mail.
=20
Thanks in advance,
=20
Matt McKinstry
Houston, TX
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 08:38:12 -0700
From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com (George De Piro)
Subject: RE: Sweetening fruit beer / Flat lager
Hi all,
Eugene ponders how to sweeten a fruit beer, and wonders if honey can
be used. This seems to be a common misconception amongst some people
I talk to, so I'll comment on it here.
Honey cannot be used to sweeten beer, nor can maple syrup, cane sugar,
candi sugar, etc. They are all either entirely (or almost entirely)
fermentable. The effect of adding them to the beer will actually be
the opposite of sweetening: it will dry the beer out!
Commercial brewers seem to be on a honey kick. I attribute this to
two things: 1. It sounds cool on the label .2. It lightens the
flavor, making an "easy" training-wheels type of brew.
Yes, I know that there are some very respectable brews that are made
with honey and sugar, etc., but many just seem to be working towards
micro-bland beer.
If you want to sweeten a beer, the following things can be done:
1. Use a high mash temp (single step infusion at 158-160F (70C)).
You'll be amazed at how high your final gravity will be.
2. Add lactose (milk sugar) to the beer (it is unfermentable). Note,
however, that some people are lactose intolerant.
3. Use a yeast that emphasizes malt, like Wyeast 1338 (European ale).
4. Keep your hop rates REALLY LOW. I'm talking 2 AAU for 5 gallons
of beer. Without hop bitterness, sweetness dominates the palate. You
could also do what the Belgians do when making Lambics: use really old
hops that have lost most of their bittering potential.
5. Add sugar in some form, and arrest fermentation by pasteurizing or
somesuch. This is beyond the scope of most homebrewers, but is an
option.
------------------------------------
Braam asks why his lager is flat. He lagered it at near freezing for
2 weeks before bottling. Well, as I've said here before, bottle
conditioning is NOT the best way to finish a lager. Despite the fact
that some people report satisfactory results, the odds are quite high
that you will knock the yeast out of the game with very cold lagering.
I must admit that I wouldn't think that two weeks of lagering would
shut the yeast down completely, but it could have if the temperature
was lowered very quickly (obviously, the yeast did slow down to a near
stop, and what I would think is wrong!).
The beer may eventually carbonate; the reduced number of weakened
yeast may someday finish the job. In the future, keg and force
carbonate your cold-lagered beers.
If Braam is really impatient (or the beer just isn't going anywhere in
another few weeks), he could:
1. Open each bottle and add a bit of fresh yeast (not fun).
2. Pour all the bottles into a keg, add some fresh yeast to consume
your primings (also not fun, but possibly not as unfun as number 1).
In both cases, sanitation is key (of course).
Have fun!
George De Piro (Nyack, NY)
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 10:15:16 EDT
From: haafbrau1 at juno.com (PAUL W HAAF JR)
Subject: Chillin'
When I brew in the summer the cheap method I use for regulating the temp
is to use a "gunk bucket". It holds about 19? gallons, and doesn't take
up too much space. They are also great at parties for holding ice &
beverages &/or kegs. I then wrap this with insulated blankets, including
a 'lid' to seal in the cold. Since cold temp sinks, I recommend wrapping
the bottom. To maintain the cold, I use standard ice packs or 1l plactic
bottles 3/4 filled with water and frozen. By rotating 3 or 4 in the
freezer (depending on outside temp), and using a floating thermometer in
the bath, I'm able to regulate the temp fairly well. Before I had a gunk
bucket (stupid brand name)(no affil, yadda, yadda), I used an old utility
that was not hooked up. This method does work, but you need to check on
the temp at least 3-4 times a day. Good Luck!
Will Work for Beer
Paul Haaf
haafbrau1 at juno.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 97 09:16:15 EST
From: "Kirk Harralson" <kwh at smtpgwy.roadnet.ups.com>
Subject: Starch
George De Piro wrote:
> Aside from being ugly, starch is bad to have in beer because of the
> microbiological instability it causes. Brewers yeast does not
> metabolize starch. Some other microbes can. No matter how careful
> you are, there will be some other bugs in your homebrew. The idea is
> to not give them an easy food source (i.e., starch). With no starch
> present, and a healthy pitching of yeast, the unwanted microbes won't
> fair very well. If they have access to food with no competition, they
> will flourish.
> Starchy beer will only get worse with age, because of the likelihood
> of a progressing infection. Drink it quickly!
I certainly agree with this logic, and I think it is a good tip to follow.
However, I don't understand the difference between this and, for example,
adding lactose at bottling time for sweet stouts, etc.. Lactose is not
fermentable by beer yeast as well, but it is fermented by certain nasties
(for lack of a better word). Is the population of starch-loving nasties
just a bigger potential threat? Also, when I review my brewing notes of 5
- 10 years ago, I *know* I made a lot of mistakes that put starch in my
beer (meticulous notes can be painful some times). I would routinely put a
grain bag filled with 2 or 3 pounds of pale or munich malt in water at
sach. temps for an hour, drain and *squeeze* the bag into my kettle with
extracts, etc.. I thought I was a beer making fool! But the funny thing
is, most of those beers came out fairly decent; and, I've never had a
bottle grenade (knock on wood). Maybe it was just blind luck.
Kirk Harralson
Bel Air, Maryland
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Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 10:25:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Barrowman at aol.com
Subject: dented cornie kegs/dirty disconnects/soda pumps
As a result of the wonderful draft system my father picked up at a garage
sale:
I have a couple of cornie kegs that are dented around the top preventing a
good seal around the oval lid. I have tried scads of keg lube with no luck.
Does anyone have any advice on how to straighten these out?
With these poor abused kegs came equally abused lids. The wire handles have
been bent to the point of not contacting and sealing properly. The bung
itself is in good condition. Anyone?
I have some old ball-lock disconnects. They are hugely dirty and gunked up
with old soda. I am certain they have been out of use for many years. Can I
dismantle them and clean them? Are there any gaskets to replace?
I have two pumps, one of which was used to mix CO2 with syrup and is called a
Carbonator. The other pump is similar but doesn't have the gadgetry to deal
with the CO2. The pump heads are brass with 3/8" NPT inlet & outlet. The
plate lists Procon (models 1504 & 1304) as the manufacturer. They are very
similar to Teel rotary vane pumps (re: Grainger). My problem is resuscitation
and maintenance. How do I clean them? Replace bearings? Does anyone out there
have experience with these little beasts? What good are they?
I will post a summary.
Thanks,
Laura
Charlotte NC
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Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 11:03:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: KennyEddy at aol.com
Subject: Low-Alcohol Brewing Report / COntrolling Fermentation Temperature
Last week I kegged another low-alcohol brew and I thought I'd share the
results with you. If you followed the LA/NA thread a couple weeks ago, you
might recall that I made a decent porter at 2% abv; the main flaw was that
malt character was noticibly weak. One thought I had was to use (more)
munich malt as the base, to take advantage of the higher melanoidin content
to boost maltiness.
The new brew used 5 lb munich and 1 lb carapils (and a couple ounces of roast
barley for added color). Mash was single-infusion at 160F; OG was 1.030; FG
was 1.012 (2.3% abv). I think the munich had a noticibly positive impact on
the malt character, though the post-boil hop steep gave it an aggressive hop
flavor that competes with (rather than complementing) the malt. I'll
probably try pressure-cooking a couple quarts of first runnings from a
pale-malt based recipe next time.
The following observations are made:
* Using munich as the base malt in a 1.030 OG brew adds noticible malitness
to create a satisfying low-alcohol brew;
* Think twice about your hopping. Note that I didn't say "back off", but
standard-strength recipes which use large amounts of hops *might* need to be
toned down a bit to avoid imbalance from the lower malt sweetness. The
porter was made with "normal" hopping and turned out just fine.
*****
Robert Marshall asks how to keep his fermentation temperature under control
in his 65 - 74 degree basement.
Since you're not far off from the "ideal" temperature you're after, you may
not have to work very hard at this. Get a large plastic tub (they're getting
cheaper these days --<$6 for a 20-gallon last I checked). Place the carboy
in the tub and fill the tub with water. The water acts as a "heat shock
absorber" and will tend to hold everything near the basement's *average*
temperature, which would probably be in the high 60's in your case. Adding
some "blue ice" packs will pull the temperature down as desired (refreeze &
replace as needed).
You can also place the carboy on the floor (contact with which helps keep the
carboy cooler), and cover it with a styrofoam "shell" (homemade). This works
in a similar fashion to the tub.
If your basement air is relatively dry (house is air conditioned or humidity
is already low), fill the tub only slightly (~25%), put a t-shirt over the
carboy and contacting the water, and aim a fan at the shirt. The water
wicked up by the shirt and dried off by the fan will provide some evaporative
cooling. You should be able to get the few degrees drop you're after this
way.
Finally, if you're DIY-inclined, see the plans for my "Fermentation Chiller"
on my web page (URL in sig line). It's a homemade ice-powered
thermostat-regulated "refrigerator" you can make yourself.
*****
Ken Schwartz
El Paso, TX
KennyEddy at aol.com
http://members.aol.com/kennyeddy
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 07:18:07 -0700
From: Jim Martin <fermntap at concentric.net>
Subject: Fermentation Temp Control
Greetings All, In response to a post from Robert, I'd like to share
my method with y'all
Several years ago I built a sort of storage closet in my garage out of
foam insulation. I live in a area where temps reach 110 F in the summer,
yet by setting a small bucket of Ice ( about 1 gallon ) inside, the temps
remain a steady 68F . Usually no ice is needed at all on most days. The
3.5 inch thick walls keep it a steady temp. no noticeable change. (but
my eyes ain't what they used to be) I can set the ice directly on
the carboy (inverted) to lower the fermentation temp. below that of the
surrounding carboys.(fermenting carboy is 64F, the cabinet temp 68F)
Size of this box is 5'X5'X2'. It has a shelf across the middle. I can
keep about 6 carboys and several corny's on the upper shelf, and cases
of bottles underneath. The concrete helps act as a " thermal flywheel"
It is important to seal the box well. I used a can of liquid foam
to seal all gaps and it acts as an adhesive when cured. I made the door
out of foam also. use a length of rubber gasket from a garage door around
the perimeter to seal the access. I made the entire front of the cabinet
removeable for easy and quick access.
Jim Stockton,CA http://www.concentric.net/~fermntap
Return to table of contents
Date-warning: Date header was inserted by ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu
From: "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl at ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu>
Subject: chest freezer problems.
Recently bought a chest freezer in which to ferment and serve.
I know many other people use chest freezers without a problem.
I noticed when fermenting my lagers (48-50F) that there was a lot
of condensation near the top of the freezer. This tends to make little
puddles in the bottom, yielding big rust stains under my CO2 bottle.
No problem there, I could either leave the drain open and put a pan
underneath, or put a towel under the tank. I did both.
Now after about six weeks at 50F, I started to lower the temp. Well,
the freezer never got colder than about 44F, even when the compressor
runs all the time. Thought maybe my controller was off, so I plugged
the freezer into the wall directly. Still only 44F. Called the repair guy.
Anyone else have a problem with their freezer? I was wondering
if you get any kind of condensation in the motor area or anything
since they weren't designed to go so warm. I'll see what the
repair guy says tomorrow, but I don't want him to try to void
my warranty since I was bypassing the thermostat.
- Bryan
grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
Nashville, TN
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 10:30:29 -0500
From: Rob Kienle <rkienle at interaccess.com>
Subject: Fermentation Times, Primaries, Secondaries, And Gelatin
Some of the talk lately about the use of gelatin and/or polyclar has
gotten me re-examining the length of time I use for primary/secondary
fermentation.
My own procedure, with ales, has been to rack to the secondary after
about 2 weeks of fermentation. Fermentation generally continues, in the
secondary, for about another week or two before the beer is really ready
to be kegged (or bottled).
My question, then, is why would it be appropriate to add a clarifying
agent when going to the secondary, if fermentation itself is not yet
complete? Waiting longer to go to a secondary fermenter doesn't seem
appropriate to me since that would seem to prolong the new beer's
exposure to the trub/initial spent yeast to an undesireable degree.
I realize the answer may be to rack off the trub, etc., to a "second"
primary a few days after brewing, and just let it ferment until complete
before going to a "real" secondary (however many weeks that takes), but
I had several stuck fermentations when I first started brewing years ago
that always seemed to occur when I racked too early.
- --
Cheers4beers,
Rob Kienle
Chicago, IL
rkienle at interaccess.com
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Date: 29 May 97 12:40:06 EDT
From: aesoph at ncemt1.ctc.com (Aesoph, Michael)
Subject: Soda????????
Dear Collective:
I am looking for some home made soda recipes using natural ingredients,
not kits. I know I've posted this request before, but didn't get any
responses, sorry about the repeat.
===============================================
Michael D. Aesoph Mechanical Engineer
Concurrent Technologies Corp. Phone: (814) 269-2758
211 Industrial Park Road FAX: (814) 269-4458
Johnstown, PA 15904 EMail: aesoph at ctc.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:16:27 -0400
From: MARK_WOOD at ed.gov (MARK WOOD)
Subject: Clear Weizen???
This is a Mime message, which your current mail reader
may not understand. Parts of the message will appear as
text. To process the remainder, you will need to use a Mime
compatible mail reader. Contact your vendor for details.
- --IMA.Boundary.811629468
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Description: cc:Mail note part
"Paul A. Hausman" <paul at lion> wrote . .
<< 1. It's supposed to be cloudy. (Pick up a bottle of Hacker-Pshorr
in the local booze supply.) I usually leave it in the secondary for
about 2 weeks (after a 5-7 day primary). If it's not clear,
bottle anyhow. Then gloat 'cause you've got the style right.
A clear weizen may taste great, but it's not to style. (Sorry
Woody, If you offer me a bottle, I won't turn it down.) ;-) >>
Doh! Well, I know cloudy is right for the style but both of my
batches are relatively clear. That's clear by plain ole homebrew
standards. It's not as clear as filter macro-brews and I never use
finings on any style, so it has a bit of chill haze, etc. It tastes
great, which is all that I really care about.
<< Bavarian Weisse is often called "Hefe Weisse". Hefe is german for
yeast. The idea is that you drink that too. If you haven't tried,
be bold, turn the bottle up hard and let all the yeast mix in.
If you don't like it, go back to decanting; but you probably
will.>>
Tried it both ways . . . mmmmm. Delicious!
<< It's a great summer beer. It likes to ferment at 68-70 oF; It's
quite refreshing on a summer day; and it can go from malt to
perfect for drinking in only 5-6 weeks (I figure 1 week primary,
2 weeks secondary and 2-3 weeks in the bottle). >>
The quick turn around is yet another reason that this will become one
of my staples. Consider the following: it ferments at ale temps, is
simple to make, doesn't take much bottle conditioning, is as
refreshing as nearly any lager. Wow! A near perfect combination for
the homebrewer who doesn't have a lot of time. It's also a great beer
to hand one of your friends who claims not to like homebrew because he
thinks it's all "bitter" and "dark."
Now if I can just make it cloudy . . .
- --IMA.Boundary.811629468--
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:20:39
From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at rohmhaas.com>
Subject: eugene at dreamscape.com
In HBD#2429, Eugene Sonn <eugene at dreamscape.com> asks:
>A friend of mine wants to make a fruit beer with a tart berry (I
>forget which kind of berry). I've already checked the archives and don't
>see recipes for fruit beers which don't use sweet berries. How should my
>friend balance the tart flavor, with honey? If so, how much for a 5
>gallon batch?
Sweet berries are sweet because they contain simple sugars that are totally
consumed during fermentation, so they end up being tart anyways. As such,
I don't think that using a tart berry will present any special problems or
require a recipe modification.
Assuming constant SG, replacing malt by honey would make a beer less sweet,
again because honey is mostly simple sugars that are totally fermentable.
If your friend wants to sweeten the brew, they could try:
1. mashing at a higher temperature to get more unfermentable sugars
2. using a malt extract with more unfermentables (Laaglander, etc)
3. Adding an unfermentable sugar like lactose
4. add some crystal malt or maltodextrine powder
Alternatively, he could just enjoy a refreshingly tart fruit beer!
How much fruit to use depends on whether you want a subtle aroma or a
strong, noticable taste. It also depends on the intensity of flavors in
the particular fruit you're using. I've used 1 lb of raspberrys per gallon
of beer to give a pronounced aroma and flavor. I think you need to use
more strawberrys per gallon to get a similar intensity because the flavor
isn't as strong.
- ---
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: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:46:54 -0400
From: "David R. Burley" <Dave_Burley at CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Too Clear Beer, salt and cornies, grafted yeast
Brewsters:
Braam Greyling asks if his beer's failure to carbonate is due to his two
week storage near freezing, and he comments that his beer is the clearest=
it has ever been. Yep not enough yeasts and likely dormant besides in an=
environment stripped of some nutrients with alcohol to boot. It is
unlikely it will ever carbonate this way. I suggest you make up a yeast
starter with the minimal amount of malt extract and recharge all your
bottles or leg with this starter. Even better, take a small amount of
beer, add a small amount of malt extract and get the yeast started in thi=
s
mixture, remove a constant known amount of beer from each bottle (say wit=
h
a disinfected baster), add this to the fermenting starter and then pour
this back into each bottle, recap and condition. With kegs just add the
starter.
- ------------------------------------------
Braam also indicates his plans to go hunting in Namibia (formerly Southwe=
st
Africa) where you can pick up diamonds from the beaches - if you don't ge=
t
shot by the miners! Interesting place - I would like to tag along. =
Braam, I would not put the salted, vinegary meat into the SS Cornies
directly, as the chloride will corrode the walls, may form stress cracks
and weaken the cornies to pressure. You may get schrapnel some time in th=
e
future. Get some drum liners
( try ICI or Anglo). Drum or packaging suppliers to pharmaceutical
manufacturers supply these heavy plastic bags in food-grade quality. =
Instead of protecting the contents from the container walls this is just
the opposite. Let us know how it works. =
- -----------------------------------------------
I thought the collective would enjoy the following article I scanned from=
Chemical and Engineering News April 14, 1997:
Arming yeast with cell-surface catalysts
A yeast that expresses the starch-hydrolyzing enzyme glucoamylase on its
cell sur- face has been engineered by researchers in Japan. The feat pave=
s
the way for novel biocatalysts made from enzyme-coated yeast cells [Appl
Environ. Microbiol, 63, 1362
(1997]. led by professor Atsuo Tanaka in the department of synthetic
chemistry and biological chemistry at Kyoto University, the team introduc=
ed
into Saccharomyces cerevesiae a plasmid containing the gene for
glucoamylase fused to a segment of the gene for the yeast cell-wall prote=
in
alpha-agglutinin. The fusion protein containing the extracellular enzyme =
is
co-valently bound to the cell wall. The recombinant yeast, unlike the wil=
d
type, can grow on starch, but this abIlity "has no industrial purpose,"
comments Peter J. Reilly, professor of chemical engineering at Iowa State=
University of Science & Technology, Ames-noting that glucoamylase is
available in drum quantities. Rather, the work is a predecessor to future=
industrial techniques. "Now you can attach other enzymes to alpha
-agglutinin and use them in cells that are so easy to grow and so nice to=
work with," he says.
- -------------------------------------------------
With his love for S. Cerevisiae he sounds like a homebrewer to me. I can
see it now. In the future we will be able to take barley and mix it with=
variously coated yeast et voila - beer!
Keep on brewin'
Dave Burley
Kinnelon, NJ 07405
103164.3202 at compuserve.com
Dave_Burley at compuserve.com =
Voice e-mail OK =
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Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:32:00 -0400
From: Bob.Sutton at fluordaniel.com
Subject: Out of Africa - In to Corneys
"Braam Greyling"
<braam.greyling at azona.co.za> pondered:
>During July I am going on a hunting trip
>in Namibia. I hope I am not offending
>anyone.
I'm not offended, but terribly disappointed
I wasn't invited ;(
>Anyway, I want to take few kegs of
>beer with me as we will live in the bush
>for a few days and will have no place to
>buy beer from. We have limited space in
>the vehicles so I will have to store some
>of the meat in the empty cornies when we
>are coming back. Traditionally we use
>vinegar and salt and spices to preserve
>the meat.
>What I want to know is will it be safe
>when a mix of vinegar and salt comes
>into contact with the corney`s stainless
>steel or rubber parts.
If you mean good ol' table salt, don't do it.
Your corneys will be severely pitted - I
can't speak for the effect of vinegar - good
or bad, but I doubt it will mitigate the
corrosive activity of the salt.
You might consider using a "trash can" type
bag liner to protect the corney - a "food
grade" plastic would be best, although you
could probably get by with less, as long as
taste isn't affected.
>What will the best method be to clean the
>cornies afterwards.
>Probably caustic soda?
This will work well, assuming the salt hasn't
caused irreparable damage.
BTW - the trip sounds exciting!
Bob
Fruit Fly Brewhaus
Yesterdays' Technology Today
--- __o
------ \<,
----- ( )/ ( )
----------------------------------------------
"We must invent the future, else it will
happen to us and we will not like it" - unk
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Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:35:22 -0500
From: Rick Olivo <ashpress at win.bright.net>
Subject: Pot/Hops
Since the statute of limitations has long past, I thought I'd pass along
some thoughts on the topic of pot beer. First, it tastes awful. Trust
me. They may be related, but hops are a far better bittering and
flavoring agent. Second, as has been noted, the 9 Delta THC molecules
don't go into solution easily, even using everclear in a pressure
cooker, which is a VERY dangerous stunt, by the by. The appropriate
mechanism is a double boiler using a non-flame source of heat. Back in
the early 80's there was a device called an isomerizer which was
putitively used for creating perfume fractions, but in fact was widely
used for creating isomerized "superweed" and hash oil. These devices
were far safer than any home-made gizmos, being purpose built for the
activity. The best results were obtained using ethyl ether, an
incredibly hysterically flamable and explosive substance. Even using an
isomerizer, in a properly ventilated location (Read-OUTSIDE!!! In a
stiff breeze) heating ethyl ether is not a project I would recommend to
the untrained. I hesitate to even mention it, for fear some enthusiastic
but stupid homebrewer will blow themself into kingdom come. However
since everyone here is an adult, and I believe in the free flow of
information, a word to the wise will have to be sufficient. Having said
that, I will close saying, been there, done that. You are far better off
to smoke the doobie, and relax on the hammock with a cold homebrew,
despite Free-Wheeling Frank of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers who
said "Smoking dope and drinking beer is like pissing into the wind..."
Strange Brewer
(Now you know where the name came from...)
Vitae Sine Cervesae Sugat
(Life without Beer Sucks) (With Apologies to Cicero
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:38:44 -0500 (CDT)
From: spiralc at ix.netcom.com (Chris Carolan)
Subject: Air Temps
Robert Marshall writes
>I ferment in a basement which fluctuates between 65-74 degrees
>generally. Can anyone make any suggestions on how I might be able to
>control this better and keep it in the low to mid 60s at most?
>Obviously I could buy a fridge, but I'm looking for a cheaper
>alternative.
I ferment in an unfinished, walkout basement in Georgia. The ambient
temps range from 62F in Jan. to 75F in the Summer. I was impressed
with Ken Schwartz' chiller design, but I do not have the spare freezer
space to make enough ice. Instead, I used those same construction
techniques (2 inch Styrofoam attached with adhesive and doweling, then
caulked) to make a three-sided (top and two sides) box that fits
against the concrete corner wall of the dugout side of my basement. I
put an indoor/outdoor thermometer on the outside of the box with the
'outdoor' probe in the inside. The box edges that come in contact with
the concrete are lined with weather stripping. Besides being cheap, the
box is entirely passive, no motors, ice, towels, fans etc. Obviously
each time I open it, the air inside returns to ambient temps. In the
heat of Summer, I'll have to limit the frequency of my "brew gazing."
The box shaves three to five degrees off the temperature. Earlier this
week was its first real test. The ambient temp in the basement reached
72F, the temp inside the box was 67F, and the strip on the primary
fermenter read 69F. In July and August, I expect to be brewing at the
upper end of acceptable temps. Yet, that will be an improvement over
last Summer when I didn't brew at all.
Chris
"If I ever get around to brewing that dopplebock, I'll name it
'Procrastinator'."
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:20:17 -0700
From: "Brander Roullett (Volt Computer)" <a-branro at MICROSOFT.com>
Subject: marijuana in beer
From: "Grant W. Knechtel" <GWK at hartcrowser.com>
acceptable. I guess one could make an extract with vodka, maybe even
pressure
cook in Everclear, but why bother? If someone wanted to pursue it
further, the
bookstore was Borders in Tacoma, WA. The book was about a hundred
pages,
paperback with (I think) a green cover.
the way i have been told by someone who made it once for a freind, was
exactly that, soak the leaves in vodka for a while, and then strain it
out, and add the vodka to the beer. Not that i would do anything like
that, i can't stand the stuff myself, but i keep little tidbits of
useless information around for party discussions. :)
my freind who made it said he soaked an ouce or so of bud in vodka for a
while (unspecified time) and when he split a bottle with his freind, he
said he was feeling effects (hardcore effects) for 2 days. Boy, that
sounds like fun. (NOT)
this information is presented for educational use only.
Brander (Badger) Roullett badger at nwlink.com a-branro at microsoft.com
Homepage: http://www.nwlink.com/~badger
Brewing: http://www.nwlink.com/~badger/badgbeer.html
Resume: http://www.nwlink.com/~badger/resume.html
- ----------------------In The SCA----------------------
Lord Frederick Badger of Amberhaven, TWIT, Squire to Sir Nicholaus
Red Tree Pursuivant-Madrone, An Tir Marshal-College of St Bunstable
"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a
big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and
electrical tin openers. Choose sitting on the couch watching
mindnumbing, spirit crushing game shows.
People think its all about misery and desperation and death and
all the sh** which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the
pleasure of it. Other wise we wouldn't do it. After all, we're not
f***ing stupid."
- Renton from Trainspotting
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 97 10:39:09 PDT
From: "Rob Moline" <brewer at kansas.net>
Subject: Gelatine versus Polyclar
The Jethro Gump Report
John Sullivan wrote....
>I would not recommend using this procedure unless I am sure that the >haze
>is from yeast. If I am unsure, I would use the same procedure described
>above but also add two tablespoons of polyclar to the gelatin solution.
>Polyclar dissolves as well as the gelatin. This method works well for
>me.
John points out a way to use gelatine. But it is my understanding that
yeasts have a negative ionic charge and that gelatine and isinglas finings
have a positive charge. As similar charges repel each other, so do opposite
charges attract. Hence, when one adds gelatine, the positive charges of the
gelatine molecules repel each other, helping to distribute them evenly
throughout the solution, where they can do that which we expect them to,
namely attract a yeast molecule, and fall to the bottom of the vessel.
OTOH, haze causing proteins have a positive charge, hence polyclar and
other haze reduction agents have a negative charge, such that they may act
similarly to the yeast fining agents, that is, attract their opposite and
flocc out.
While I always bristle at others telling me that what I see occurring in
my practice is not scientifically sound and "can't possibly work," I would
suggest that you will be more effective in the fining game if you allow one
agent at a time to act, then use the other. As it is, this reminds me of
the brewpub brewer (not me, I had Russ Levitt of Bloomington Brewing as a
guide in this application of isinglas) who couldn't figure out why his
beers weren't clearing, as he used both a haze reducer and a yeast fining
agent at the same time. Turned out, that the agents were flocc'ing each
other out in his mixing bucket, neutralizing their respective
effectiveness, and leaving the yeast and haze behind. Once he started
allowing a few days for his collagen based agents (isinglas and gelatine)
to do their stuff and then hitting the wort with polyclar, his beers became
brilliant. And his boss thought the same thing about him! In John's case,
I would suggest that he is using more gelatine than ployclar, thus leaving
a dose of still effective gelatine, even though some is combining with the
polyclar.
And of course, it just hit me in the head like a flash! If in theory, the
haze has an opposite charge to the yeast, why don't they flocc each other
out, and eliminate the need for finings of either type? I'll leave this one
to my more learned chemistry oriented colleagues. Any ideas, Al? Once
again, practical brewing defies theory! ?
BTW, my own use of gelatine is done differently than John's method. I put
6 to 10 teaspoons full in about a pint of cold filtered water and allow it
to congeal. Then just before adding it to the wort, I add 3 pints of hot
water to the set jello, and stir it into solution for about 30 seconds,
then add it to the wort. I believe I learned this method from Spencer
Thomas, to give due credit. YMMV.
Cheers!
Jethro Gump
Rob Moline
Little Apple Brewing Company
Manhattan, Kansas
"The More I Know About Beer, The More I Realize I Need To Know More About
Beer!"
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 00:31:41 +0200
From: "Hubert Hanghofer" <hhanghof at netbeer.co.at>
Subject: Re: Weizen -has it to be cloudy?
On 29 May 97 at 0:13, Paul A. Hausman wrote:
> I'm going to be sampling my ninth or tenth weizen batch tonight.
> It's one of my favorites to brew or drink. Particularly in the
> summer. I just couldn't resist commenting on a few details here:
>
> 1. It's supposed to be cloudy. (Pick up a bottle of Hacker-Pshorr in
> the local booze supply.) I usually leave it in the secondary for
> about 2 weeks (after a 5-7 day primary). If it's not clear,
> bottle anyhow. Then gloat 'cause you've got the style right. A
> clear weizen may taste great, but it's not to style. (Sorry
> Woody, If you offer me a bottle, I won't turn it down.) ;-)
Hi fellow homebrewers!
We can't follow Paul here. We'd like to taste both brews, Paul's and
Woody's! Hefe Weizen may be cloudy -in most cases caused by protein
haze rather than yeast. But it maybe nearly clear, too. -The way you
get it from WYEAST 3068, if tuning the mash program (decoction
hopefully?) exactly to the degree of malt modification and if the
wort boil was long enough (90-120 minutes?).
There are plenty of examples for both styles here in Bavaria and
Austria, but you should not derive styleguides from exported
Weizenbier! It's a dangerous matter to ship bottles with living yeast
sediment in it. We won't discuss here, what our big brothers do, to
manage this...
-Just one last conclusion: Only Homebrewers can get their authentic,
traditional Bavarian Hefe Weizen -anywhere around the world!
Please excuse our "German" English!
CHEERS &
sehr zum Wohle!
Ing. Hubert Hanghofer - Salzburg, Austria
Oliver Steiner - Weihenstephan, Bavaria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ARS COQUENDUM http://www.netbeer.co.at/beer/
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 16:46:13 -0700
From: "Brander Roullett (Volt Computer)" <a-branro at MICROSOFT.com>
Subject: Widmer Kolsch
A while back on the HBD someone asked the following about a Widmer beer.
"A few years back, Widmer was making a Kolsch that was outstanding.
They
say they are never going to make it again (not popular enough) and I
have moved
outside of Widmer borders so even if they did I would not have access."
since i had a moment i went to the Widmer site, and posted the question
to him... here is what the brewer said...
- --> Thank you for writing! Find the lightest pale malt you can
(sometimes called
"lager malt" or "Pilsner malt"). Use a nice high mashing temperature to
get
a full bodied beer - AE of 4.0 Plato (1.016). Hop with Czech or Domestic
Saaz or similar to yield a bitterness level of about 45 IBU. We used out
top
fermenting alt yeast. A European lager or pilsner yeast would probably
be
more appropriate, but most importantly get the AE and bitterness right
and
you'll be happy.
Prost! <--
I didn't save the name, so here is it is for the whole list...
Brander (Badger) Roullett badger at nwlink.com a-branro at microsoft.com
Homepage: http://www.nwlink.com/~badger
Brewing: http://www.nwlink.com/~badger/badgbeer.html
Resume: http://www.nwlink.com/~badger/resume.html
- ----------------------In The SCA----------------------
Lord Frederick Badger of Amberhaven, TWIT, Squire to Sir Nicholaus
Red Tree Pursuivant-Madrone, An Tir Marshal-College of St Bunstable
"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a
big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and
electrical tin openers. Choose sitting on the couch watching
mindnumbing, spirit crushing game shows.
People think its all about misery and desperation and death and
all the sh** which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the
pleasure of it. Other wise we wouldn't do it. After all, we're not
f***ing stupid."
- Renton from Trainspotting
Return to table of contents