HOMEBREW Digest #2766 Mon 13 July 1998

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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:
  Re: Fining in the kettle with Irish moss (Alan Edwards)
  More fridge, sanitation (AllDey)
  RE:Fresh Hops ("Marc Battreall")
  The New Brewer (Some Guy)
  Door heaters & defrosting (fridge)
  Chlorine (AJ)
  Wyeast 3068 - LONG Fermentation (Mike Beatty)
  Food Grade O-Ring for Keg Lid or "What's That Taste" ("Arthur McGregor")
  A thank you (WALT.CROWDER)
  Re:  Paul Gatza ("Mark Nelson")
  Re: BREW DAY FROM HELL (Cookie Monster)
  Pat's Observations ("Mike Allred")
  Diacetyl in Sam Smiths / Diastatic cost / Unknowns at AHA (George_De_Piro)
  percentage by extract, not weight (Michael Rose)
  maple syrup (Dan McLaughlin & Christine Griffith)
  Re: cerveza y limon ("Tidmarsh Major")
  Re: (Lou Heavner)
  Re: New AHA Nameless/Faceless Figurehead Announced! (ThE GrEaT BrEwHoLiO)
  Correction... (ThE GrEaT BrEwHoLiO)
  Safe aeration; AHA administrator; chlorine; chilling; starters (Samuel Mize)
  Re: hot weather wort chilling (David Cato)
  AB Infomercial/ Redundant/ Worms ("RANDY ERICKSON")
  REPORT: LoDo Beer, Wine, Food & Fun Fest (BrewsTraveler)
  Who is this man? ("Schroeder, Curt")
  Using Slaked lime - Where do I find it ? (James Tomlinson)
  RE: Recipe comments ("Rich, Charles")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 14:50:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Edwards <ale at cisco.com> Subject: Re: Fining in the kettle with Irish moss | Dave Humes writes: | | The last time I used Irish moss in the kettle I swore I'd never use | | it again. Now I remember why. I made an America Pale Ale this | | weekend and used 4 tsp of Irish moss in an 11 gallon batch. | I replied: | That is probably too much. I use 1.5 tsp for a five gallon batch. But | I'm not sure what using "too much" does besides wasting some of your | Irish moss. DOH!! Math error! 4tsp for 11 gallons should be fine, not too much. 1.5 * 11/5 = 3.3 -Alan Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 22:29:25 EDT From: AllDey at aol.com Subject: More fridge, sanitation I asked about my fridge running constantly Forrest Duddles - FridgeGuy Responded > Keep in mind when shopping for a used fridge that one more than >10 years old will probably cost enough more in energy cost to pay >monthly payments on a new fridge. Dave Hinrichs added >Also don't forget to contact your local utility to see if they have rebates >for replacing old fridges and incentives for purchasing a high efficiency >replacement. Many also will come and take your old fridge away for >recycling, for free The local rumor I've heard is that you must pay to dispose of a fridge around these parts. But I'll try the local utility (seems they'd want me to keep it as I'm putting somebodies' kids through college with all the kW hrs I must be burning). I like the idea of getting a new fridge - no frets about unknown leaks in a new used unit and better efficiency. I've a new one upstairs and another 10+ yr old lagering fridge in addition to the mad humming monster cradling my ales. Before acting harshly and making my wife cringe by drilling holes for faucets and gas line in a brand new fridge, someone please help me with some math to help sell the idea. As I sit here, the fridge is running about 2-3 minutes off and 2-3 minutes on. Its maintaining a temp of 47 via an external temp controller with a 1 degree window. Ambient is 78. The fridge thermostat is set as cold as it goes. Looking on the motor I see a number 150AT which may suggest 150 amps. Is this enough info to estimate monthly energy consumption? For the curious, my total electric use (all household appliances, etc.) was 784 KWH in June and 690 KWH in May. To reduce evaporation, I also fairly recently switched to veg. oil in the cup in which the ext. temp controller probe resides. Seems like a red herring, but Sam Mize in personal communication suggests this may have an influence. Thoughts? - --------------------------------------------------------- Hmmm, beer stuff. Oh, the remarks about sanitation goofs not resulting in discernible effects. My own experience backs up the remarks on probability I believe Al made. I brewed 48 batches without infection notes of any kind. I became more and more lazy. I moved to a new place. The environment here didn't allow that sort of laziness and I had several infections I've since traced to multiple sources (mostly starters). After correcting these, my infection odds per batch have gone way down and I've brewed another 300+ gallons without infection (except for a recent "experiment" in which I pitched half a batch with an obviously infected starter). Also, a lot of the problems I hear about in beers on this forum sound like infections and I've judged numerous beers that were in the early stages or throes (ughh) of infection. It often truly is the difference between a score in the high 20's and something much better (at least for a beer that was only midly infected early or is in the early stages of a wild yeast infection). So, don't be ashamed of those rituals you go through to feel comfortable that you're beating back the microflora. Parenthetically, Paul (in Cheyenne) p.s. what to do with 4.5 gal. of lactic infected cal. common? I'm not about to make 100 g of Guiness Stout or traditional porter to mix. Ain't never dumped, won't start now. Suggestions? Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 01:21:01 -0400 From: "Marc Battreall" <batman at terranova.net> Subject: RE:Fresh Hops Fred asks in HBD2762 about his hops for an IPA: >O.K. I'm getting ready to brew that great IPA, I open my nitrogen >purged 02 barrier bag of whole flower cascade that I bought after >hearing raves about this supplier, I stick my nose in for that >big cascade aroma but... it's not there. I open my little plastic >bag of cascade pellets bought from the local homebrew shop 6 >months ago... now that's aroma. >What should I do? Is the great aroma hiding in those whole hops? >Should I use them or the pellets? Fred, Don't know where you got the hops or who your supplier is but that's not important now because you "have them". Sorry that the aroma was not what you expected. I get my hops (the whole ones anyway) from HopTech (not affiliated) and I have yet to be disappointed. The last batch of Cascades that I got from them were superlative! As far as your aroma "hiding" in the hops I doubt that is the case. Hops are pretty much like any other flower as far as aroma is concerned. If its not there when its fresh, it probably won't appear later. The alpha acids are a different story. Chances are that the needed acids for bittering are still present in your hops and I would use them for sure if I were you. maybe for your own peace of mind, switch the schedule and use the whole hops for bittering and the pellets for finishing aroma hops. That's what I would do. Good Luck Marc ======================= Captain Marc Battreall Backcountry Brewhouse Islamorada, Florida batman at terranova.net captainbrew at hotmail.com Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 02:17:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Some Guy <pbabcock at oeonline.com> Subject: The New Brewer No, I mean literally; not the magazine! Kenneth Gerard Babcock was was hired by the Drinkur Purdee Pico Brewery at 11:12 pm 7/9/98. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 3 ozs and is 21 inches long! Both mom and future brewmaster are doing fine! Watch http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/kenny for pictures some time today! See ya! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at oeonline.com Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/brew.html "Just a cyber-shadow of his former brewing self..." Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 06:05:46 -0400 From: fridge at Imbecile.kzoo.edu Subject: Door heaters & defrosting Greetings folks, Randy Miner asks about removing the center divider in his side-by-side fridge, among other things... Although it should be no trouble to remove the divider, It seems advantageous to leave it if you wish to ferment and serve in the same fridge. There are indeed strip heaters behind the door gaskets in many fridges to prevent condensation in humid environments, (like central Florida :-)). It may be possible to disable them, and have no condensation problems when the fridge is set for higher than normal cabinet temperatures. Drilling through a heater is not a good idea. They are generally made of high resistance wire with a rubber insulation, and run on 120v. Defrosting may or may not be needed when running the fridge at elevated temps. You will need to experiment with this. Operating costs can be significant. I once had a 14 cu.ft.Tappan that cost $80 per month to run - indoors. I replaced it with a new (in 1988) 20 cu. ft. Amana that costs about $15 per month to run. Adding rigid insulation may help significantly, but will not make up for other system efficiency problems. Add insulation to the exterior for the best results, but be careful not to block any air vents, grilles, etc. You'll have an ugly monster, but it'll cost less to run. Hope this helps! Forrest Duddles - FridgeGuy in Kalamazoo fridge at Imbecile.kzoo.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:09:38 -0400 From: AJ <ajdel at mindspring.com> Subject: Chlorine Mr. Sammy wrote: >I recently found out that my town's water supply does not add chlorine to >the water. What effect, if any, does this have on a homebrew? I would think >that this is a positive. The devil you know may be better than the devil you don't know. If chlorine is not being used it is likely that chloramine is. Find this out. While evidence continues to mount that chloramine can, at least in some cases, be removed by boiling it does not seem to escape by aeration as fast as chlorine. Does the water smell of chlorine? Chloramines actually have a stronger chlorine odor than chlorine so if they are present you should know it. It is unlikely that the water is put into distribution unprotected from organisms i.e. if chlorine isn't being used I'd expect that something else is. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:00:17 +0000 From: Mike Beatty <mbeatty at ols.net> Subject: Wyeast 3068 - LONG Fermentation Hello all- I pitched a package of Wyeast 3068 into a 6 gal batch of wheat beer. I had let the package incubate as per instructions - it took about 2 days to kick in, but was bubbling away by 6/20/98. It worked feverishly for about a week, then slowed. As of today (7/10), it is still working - but very slowly. I don't know how to gauge a fermentation rate, but a bubble passes through the airlock about every 5 minutes. Should I let the fermentation continue? Should I stop it and go ahead and rack? This is the first time that I have used a top fermenting yeast (that I remember) - is this a trait of the top fermenting yeasts? Any other advice? I want to get this stuff ready to drink before the end of the summer... Thanks! - -- Mike Beatty Intelligent Business Solutions ________________________________________________ Adopt a Collie! Check out: <http://www.collie.net/~pcc> ________________________________________________ Do you believe in Macintosh? <http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/> Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:06:08 -0400 From: "Arthur McGregor" <MCGREGAP at acq.osd.mil> Subject: Food Grade O-Ring for Keg Lid or "What's That Taste" Hi All, Been a long time since my last post, so I'll try to keep it brief. I just bought some o-rings (mail order) for my Keg lids of my Cornelius Kegs. They are advertised as slightly larger, and softer than those normally used on corney kegs, so they need less pressure to get a good seal. Well when they arrived, I became suspicious that they were not food grade due to their appearance, and slight rubber smell. So I licked one to see if they had any taste, and it did! YUCK ! Next I cleaned one of the o-rings with dish detergent, and a nylon scrubby pad, rinsed, and repeated. Next I soaked the o-ring in iodophors for 15 minutes, rinsed, and put in a container of tap water over night, and tasted it the next day after work. The water tasted like rubber ! Naturally I'm concerned that my beer will pick up that same taste. I know my keg o-ring will not normally be in direct, continuous contact with the beer, since the keg stands upright, but I still concerned, and would hate to waste a batch of beer to find out. Any comments, or experience. (BTW, the o-rings came from the homebrew mail order store in California with the Bears on the cover. No affiliation, yada yada ya). TIA Hoppy Brewing :^) Art McGregor Lorton, Virginia (near D.C.) day: mcgregap at acq.osd.mil night: apmcgregor at digizen.net Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:00:18 -0400 From: WALT.CROWDER at gsnetworks.gensig.com Subject: A thank you Hello to the collective, I want to thank Geoffrey McNally, Monika Schultz, Greg Lorton, and Gary (NAZELROD) for answers to my softened water question. Having read this for as long as I have now, I should have known to check the archives (I did last night). I will be using the pre softened water (boiled before use) and have that same water tested. Then I'll be back for some input on my water profile. Many thanks! Walt Crowder Southern New Jersey Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 09:22:45 -0400 From: "Mark Nelson" <menelson at mindspring.com> Subject: Re: Paul Gatza Some Guy Named pbabcock wrote in with: >I have but one question: Who the hell is Paul Gatza? How is it that the >AHA always manages to find these faceless, nameless people to take the >scapegoat - er - "directorship"? (OK, sorry: that was actually two >questions...) Another similar question comes to mind: Why doesn't the AHA get someone who has experience running large organizations and has good management skills. As opposed to a retail shop owner who wins medals and writes for Zymurgy. I would suggest that the skills needed to be director of the AHA and the skills needed to be a good shop owner/homebrewer are vastly different, and further that the AHA is setting itself up for more trouble. That being said, I don't know Paul's background and skills, and hope that he is very successful in his new post. Paul if you see this: Congratulations and Good Luck. I'm pulling for you despite the questions my post asks. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:42:47 -0500 (CDT) From: Cookie Monster <snewton at io.com> Subject: Re: BREW DAY FROM HELL >Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 14:04:26 -0400 >From: "Thomas Kramer" <tkramer at monad.net> >glass carboy, carried down to the basement, and I was shacking it up with a >solid rubber stopper in. My worst night mare happen it slipped right out of >my hands, in the few seconds as my would be beer and carboy headed towards A carboy fits quite snugly in a milk crate, which you can acquire either by buying them at your local storage equipment superstore or from friends graduating from college and throwing away their 'furniture'. You can often see them sitting on the loading docks of stores and dairies, but at least in Texas they are all printed with a large note indicating that they are private property and unauthorized use can result in a fine of up to $200. How much did that hospital visit cost you? cm - -- The world is so full Of a number of things I'm sure they will all Pass away like smoke rings. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:00:00 -0700 From: "Mike Allred" <mike.allred at malnove.com> Subject: Pat's Observations >I have but one question: Who the hell is Paul Gatza? How is it that the >AHA always manages to find these faceless, nameless people to take the >scapegoat - er - "directorship"? (OK, sorry: that was actually two >questions...) I do believe that Paul Gatza is the mystery man that has been brewing Charlie's beer for him lately. P.S. you made a mistake dictatorship is not spelled that way ;) Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:12:10 -0700 From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com Subject: Diacetyl in Sam Smiths / Diastatic cost / Unknowns at AHA Hi all, Fred talks a bit about the character of Sam Smiths beers, noting the large diacetyl (buttery) component. He wonders how they get it, and if it has anything to do with the famous Yorkshire Squares they ferment in. While the fermenter geometry may play a role in yeast behavior, the strain they use and how they treat it are probably more critical. Specifically, they use a yeast that flocculates so well that they feel it needs to be roused during the fermentation. They accomplish this by pumping the fermenting beer from the bottom of the fermenter up into the air (a fountain of sorts). This treatment aerates the heck out of the young beer. This causes a large increase in the diacetyl level in the finished beer. An unwanted side effect of this process is the dramatic decrease in the beer's shelf life. Sam Smiths beers don't make the trip across the ocean very well. ------------------------------------ Charles Rich writes about English ales, and talks about the use of certain ingredients in them: "Make sure your Crystal+Maize amounts to less than 15% of your base grain by weight so it'll convert. I wouldn't add wheat, your head will be fine and you can use the diastatic cost in more flavorful adjuncts." I take exception to some of this. You can brew with over 50% nondiastatic adjuncts when using high-enzyme malts. The megabrewers do this regularly (without having to add extra amylase; reference Siebel Short Course notes, Paul Smith lecture on cereal adjuncts). Good pale malts, especially 6-row varieties, will be able to convert a lot of starch. The comment about wheat is odd, too. Some homebrewing books (notably Dave Miller's _Complete Handbook of Homebrewing_) do imply that wheat malt is diastatically feeble. This is far from true. Fermentable worts can be produced from 100% wheat malt. Bavarian-style Weizen is expected to be brewed with at least 50% wheat malt, and sometimes more is used. -------------------------------------- Our esteemed janitor, Pat, composed the following: "Who the hell is Paul Gatza? How is it that the AHA always manages to find these faceless, nameless people to take the scapegoat - er - "directorship"?" While I cannot answer the first question, I can comment about the second. He has a name. It is Paul. I bet he has a face, too (unless he was laughing at Charlie X...) More seriously, what well-known brewing authority would take a job for less than $25K per year? I can't imagine that one could live very well in Boulder for so little. Have fun! George De Piro (Nyack, NY) Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 07:34:33 -0700 From: Michael Rose <mrose at ucr.campus.mci.net> Subject: percentage by extract, not weight > Jeff writes (quoting me and was kind enough to Cc: me): > > >>Unless otherwise specified, recipes specify the percentages of the >grist > >>by the weight of the malt. I orginally posted this question and shortly after posting found the answer in Ray Danials book DGB---It's by the extract, not the weight. Don't have the book in front of me so I can't quote it. Michael Rose Riverside, CA mrose at ucr.campus.mci.net Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:21:10 -0400 From: Dan McLaughlin & Christine Griffith <danchris.mcl at erols.com> Subject: maple syrup >hey now, > >i'm getting ready to do an all grain 11 gallon batch of maple porter...any >ideas on how much real vermont maple syrup to use? i've got 1 gallon in the >fridge...i'm thinking of using it all. what i'm looking for is a good maple >flavor but not a dominating one. i've seached the web and cat's meow but >haven't really found a definitive answer. i'm looking for something along the >line of Saranac's maple porter. Jonathan, I have also searched around about the use of maple syrup, the real stuff, in beer and have found virtually none. I've been making a maple porter myself for a few years and have managed some decent results. The light smokiness of the syrup works wonderfully with a porter but it will take some experimentation fto find what you like. My process is to use about 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup per 5 gallon batch of porter. I would add this in place of some of the priming sugar. An extra 1/4 of DME or corn sugar makes up the rest. I've tried adding the maple syrup in to the wort and boiling but I find that it tends to disappear and leave no detectable residual flavor or aroma. If you force carbonate, you could try boiling a 1/2 cup of maple syrup in a pint of water for 15 minutes and then adding that to the wort prior to or even shortly after pitching the yeast and see what happens. (I haven't tried this yet. Maybe next time) So, my suggestion would be to try a full cup of maple syrup with your 11? gallon batch and see if it comes out as strongly/prominently as you like and adjust from there. Good luck and please, post your results of your brew. I'd like to hear what you tried and the results. Dan Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:22:11 +0000 From: "Tidmarsh Major" <tidmarsh at pop.mindspring.com> Subject: Re: cerveza y limon On the subject of Mexican beer and lime, from _Jane Butel's Tex-Mex Cookbook_, New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1980: Native beer is generally drunk icy cold. For a switch, try a technique from Guadalajara as served in Mariachi Square. There, icy cold cans of beer (_cerveza fria_) are popularly garnished with a half of lime and coarse salt. Generally the lime has been squeezed around the rim of the can and the salt dusted on top. THe flavor combination is somewhat similar to a Margarita. In fact, I've often called them a "poor man's Margarita." Tidmarsh Major, Birmingham, Alabama tidmarsh at mindspring.com "Bot we must drynk as we brew, And that is bot reson." -The Wakefield Master, Second Shepherds' Play Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 09:34:28 -0500 From: lheavner at tcmail.frco.com (Lou Heavner) Subject: Re: From: Randy Miner <rdm07993 at pegasus.cc.ucf.edu> {snip} Last question: Any suggestions on chilling when the tap water is 82F ? Maybe a chiller in an ice bath then into the wort? Not a problem now with extract as I put my small boil volume into a carboy half full of icey water. What can I do when I start all-grain batches though? Personally, I would rather not let it sit all night (and don't want that thread started again). Ice bath isn't an option with a 3 tier system is it? Ice water in the HLT and run through chiller in wort? Would need a recirc. pump too this for long enough time... What do other people with hot tap water do? Randy, When I made my wort chiller, I got 50' of copper tubing at the Home Depot. I cut it into 2 pieces - 30' for the wort and 20' for an icebath. They are connected with 6' or so of siphon tubing. I use my old enameled kettle as my ice bath. I put the coil in and pack with ice. In the beginning of the chill, your warm tap water will be sufficient for cooling. Also, the ice and copper transfer heat poorly until the ice begins to melt. So towards the end of your cooling, the melting ice really begins to have more of an affect. I usually use an 8# bag of ice and still have a few unmelted pieces floating when the chilling is done. I normally drop my wort to about 65 DegF. Takes about 45 min unattended. I can do better if I move the wort chiller in the wort. I'm thinking of attaching some kind of vibrator to enhance cooling with minimal attention. In a typical brewday, I feed/bathe the kids while the wort is chilling. Helps me maintain a healthy stock of beer bullets. Also, Kyle asks about the flavor contribution of starters. I have also wondered about this. Now that I build up a starter in more than one stage, I cool and decant the last stage. Then I add and swirl a little wort to stir up the settled yeast and pitch. With a 1 Pt starter, I really never noticed much of a problem with dumping the whole starter into the wort. Cheers! Lou - Austin where the forecast is 101 DegF and clear skies Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:31:45 -0500 From: ThE GrEaT BrEwHoLiO <skotrat at wwa.com> Subject: Re: New AHA Nameless/Faceless Figurehead Announced! >"We are very excited to have Paul Joining the AHA team," says Cathy Ewing, >vice president of the AHA's parent organization, the Association of Brewers. and in two months she will be saying: "We are sorry to see Paul go but he wanted a pay check for working here and we are just a small organization that can't afford to pay everyone" >"Paul brings a unique combination of non-profit experience, homebrew retailing >experience and award-winning homebrewing experience with him. He will be an >excellent ambassador for the hobby because he understands brewing and has >worked with homebrewers for many years." Doesn't this really mean that he will work really long thankless hours for no pay while cathy and charlie take home all the profits from the so called Member-based Organization? Doesn't this really mean. He will do whatever cathy tells him and if he doesn't then he will be replaced like all the others that have been before him? Doesn't this really mean that he will take all the heat from all the homebrewers while cathy and charlie p sit back and laugh and make excuses? Doesn't this mean that yet again the aha has hired someone that no one has ever heard of? >In other AHA news, fans of Zymurgy magazine will be glad to hear it's going >bimonthly. Perhaps zymurgy should just accept advertisements at this point and stop publishing articles all together. I took a look at some zymurgies from '92 they are jammed with articles and useful info... these days they are just full of bottle openers, ads and crap! The good articles and far and few between and there are just not enough articles about the Spice Girls or Hanson (My 9 year old daughter was quick to poin that out). >I have but one question: Who the hell is Paul Gatza? Hmmm Someone that no one will miss when the AHA cans his ass the first time he tries to make a real change. Someone that will scurry about under the mighty facist dictator like cathy ewing doing all of her little deeds to help the poor helpless under educated home brewers that she has been qouted saying "Would be no where with Charles books". >How is it that the >AHA always manages to find these faceless, nameless people to take the >scapegoat - er - "directorship"? (OK, sorry: that was actually two >questions...) Come on Pat... I have talked to you... passed email back and forth with you.. Got you to save the HBD when cathy and charlie were destroying almost 10 years of a good thing. I know that you are a good brewer and a great friend to home brewing.. You know as well as I do that this new guy is a scapegoat. You know that they (cathy, charlie) manage to find these guys just so they can shove them into the spotlight right before the firing squad starts to shoot.. You know that all these guys they choose are merely decoys to give the american homebrewing public some glimmer of hope that this money oriented so called organization is actually concerned with brewing... I personally can't get the mental picture of Jabba the Hut (charlie) sitting fat and bloated from raping us while that little weazle thing (cathy) scurries about from shoulder to shoulder laughing. C'ya! -Scott "Don't like my post? well then scroll past it" Abene ################################################################ # ThE-HoMe-BrEw-RaT # # Scott Abene <skotrat at wwa.com> # # http://www.wwa.com/~skotrat (the Homebrew "Beer Slut" page) # # # # # # "The More I know About Cathy Ewing, The More The AHA SUCKS" # ################################################################ Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:39:53 -0500 From: ThE GrEaT BrEwHoLiO <skotrat at wwa.com> Subject: Correction... Correction... This line: "Would be no where with Charles books". Should read: "Would be no where without charlies books". Guess I got a little freudian there. -Scott ################################################################ # ThE-HoMe-BrEw-RaT # # Scott Abene <skotrat at wwa.com> # # http://www.wwa.com/~skotrat (the Homebrew "Beer Slut" page) # # # # # # "The More I know About Cathy Ewing, The More The AHA SUCKS" # ################################################################ Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:34:53 -0500 (CDT) From: Samuel Mize <smize at mail.imagin.net> Subject: Safe aeration; AHA administrator; chlorine; chilling; starters Thomas Kramer dropped and busted a carboy, injuring himself and losing 5gal of new beer. Thomas, my great sympathies. Anyone who shakes a carboy to aerate it, I'd strongly suggest that you switch methods. Rocking it is less likely to injure you, but (even on a pad like a folded towel) it can still cause enough stress to crack the carboy. This is just a risk, of course -- you won't break a carboy every time, or every year. When it happens, though, it can send you to the emergency room like Thomas. It could cripple your hands or kill you. If you use a carboy, but not an aeration pump, I'd suggest aerating BEFORE your wort is in the carboy. You can aerate in your kettle (if you chill in the kettle) or transfer through a counter-flow chiller to a plastic food-grade bucket to aerate. With a sanitized pan or pitcher, dip up some (chilled) wort, and pour it back in from a couple of feet up. Repeat until you get a fair head of foam. If you have a good back, you can pour back and forth between two buckets. Also, pouring through a strainer breaks up the flow and aerates it. If you transfer through a counter-flow chiller direct to a glass carboy, you can run it into a strainer set in a funnel, even if you don't need to strain the wort. That should aerate it. I would expect all of these methods to be at LEAST as effective as shaking a carboy, and they're much safer. - - - - - - - - - - Pat passes on a news release, "Paul Gatza Named New AHA Director," and asks > How is it that the > AHA always manages to find these faceless, nameless people to take the > scapegoat - er - "directorship"? If you were hiring someone for a corporate administrative post, would you look for a famous beer expert or a good administrator who also has a knowledge of beer? That's a theory, anyway, let's hope it's true. - - - - - - - - - - > From: "30hollywood" <30hollywood at email.msn.com> > Subject: Chlorine in water > > I recently found out that my town's water supply does not add chlorine to > the water. What effect, if any, does this have on a homebrew? I would think > that this is a positive. I guess that depends on how many microbes live in it, and what kind. I suspect some spoilage organisms won't hurt you to drink. So, your town may not treat for kinds or amounts of bacteria that can grow in your wort and cause off flavors, but would be safe to drink from the tap. I'd find out if they do something else to sanitize the water. If not, I'd boil all the water going into my beer. Where does this info come from? Might your informant have meant that they don't use plain chlorine, they use chloramines? If so, you have to do MORE work, not less, to get rid of the chlorine (activated charcoal filtration). You might double-check with the town water authority. - - - - - - - - - - > From: Randy Miner <rdm07993 at pegasus.cc.ucf.edu> > Subject: Refridgerator, glass airlocks, wort chilling > Last question: Any suggestions on chilling when the tap water is 82F ? > Maybe a chiller in an ice bath then into the wort? Some people do that. I spend a buck on two small bags of ice, and use them to chill my wort. Well, I don't just dump them in -- I float a flat pan on the surface of the wort, put in some ice, and replace it as it melts. (I use a foil roasting pan. I crimped the corners for greater strength, five batches and no visible weakening.) Since I'm cooling the top layer, convection carries the warmer wort up to the floating pan (as with a planispiral immersion chiller). This chills five gallons to about 90F within an hour. Also, the floating pan blocks air access, so I believe this reduces HSA during cooling [1]. If you prefer to use more water to gain some speed, you could use an immersion chiller to drop the temperature to about 120, then use the floating ice pan to drop down to 80/90F. [1] No triangle-tested statisticially analyzed six-sigma supporting experimental data, it just makes sense to me. - - - - - - - - - - > From: Kyle Druey <druey at ibm.net> > Subject: Yeast Starter > We are admonished to make large starters, up to 1 gallon at times, then > pitch this into the wort. Maybe your starter's are different, but my > starters taste like [bleep] I generally let a starter settle and pour off the liquid. This may cause me to pitch at less-than-optimum glyco-whatsit levels but it seems to be a good compromise: lots of yeast, very little yucky starter fluid. Best, Sam Mize - -- Samuel Mize -- smize at imagin.net (home email) -- Team Ada Fight Spam: see http://www.cauce.org/ \\\ Smert Spamonam Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 12:02:42 -0500 From: David Cato <dcato at peter.bmc.com> Subject: Re: hot weather wort chilling In HBD 2764, Randy Miner asks: > Last question: Any suggestions on chilling when the tap water is 82F ? > Maybe a chiller in an ice bath then into the wort? Like you, my tap water in the summer is over 80F, which makes it hard to sufficiently chill the wort. I don't want to even think about how long it would take for 5 gallons of hot wort to cool down on its own when the nighttime temps hover near 80F. I use an immersion chiller and augmented it with a pre chiller in an ice bath for several batches. It helped to drop the wort temp to around 75F, which is a definite improvement over what the tap water alone could do. To improve the chilling, I switched to running ice water thru the chiller. This makes it much easier to drop the wort temperature quickly. My procedure is to use tap water until the wort drops to around 100F. While the hot wort chills down, I fill my 10 gallon Gott cooler to the 4 or 5 gallon mark with ice (after dumping out the mash, obviously), put it on a ladder to get it above the boil kettle, and top up with water. Once the wort temp drops to about 100F, I switch the chiller's input from the garden hose to the cooler to finish chilling the wort. I can usually drop the wort to the mid 50's (I've gotten as low as 45F in cooler weather, but 2 weeks ago I only managed 62F) allowing me to chill my lagers close to fermenting temps. The first time I tried this, I attempted to use a sump pump I had but the restriction of the 3/8 inch chiller tubing was too great and the pump wouldn't run for more than a few minutes before it overheated. A lower flow pump would certainly work better, but I've decided to stick with the gravity feed setup for now. - -- David Cato Houston, TX Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:25:11 -0700 From: "RANDY ERICKSON" <RANDYE at MID.ORG> Subject: AB Infomercial/ Redundant/ Worms Gotta get this into the queue before Burley catches up on reading and starts posting: Jethro Sez.... While one wonders at the career development of Mr. Cheskin, it seems a fair bet that the AB program will air, sooner or later.<snip) I heard about this on a satellite TV/radio program last Friday: As I recall, the program will still air this weekend, but will be in the wee hours. Check local listings, and set the VCR. I can't remember if it was supposed to be on TLC or sister-network Discovery, so check around. ****************************************************** Pat Babcock passes on this gem from Cruella, er Cathy Ewing: "Paul brings a unique combination of non-profit experience [and] homebrew retailing experience [snip]": Isn't that redundant? And damn ironic coming from an organization hell-bent on making sure it is! ******************************************************* And from Dave in Indy: I don't know about the rest of you, but I wish Charlie lived somewhere closer to me than CA....Charlie, you must be fun to talk/do brewing with!! How about a 60g (more?) batch of worm ale?? I've brewed once with Charley (and dozens more, 200+ gallons on National HB Day) and I've got dibs on that earthworm batch. I wish Charley lived closer too, even though his house is only 100 miles away and work is perhaps 50 from me. He's a heck of a guy and is indeed a lot of fun (and a dead ringer for Colin Hay, IMO). He's a pretty good brewer too, despite some of his ingredients, as evidenced by his BOS Dopplebock at the '98 California State Fair. I judged with a guy last night who judged this beer at State Fair who confirmed its greatness. Good job, Charley! Randy in Modesto Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:48:58 -0600 (MDT) From: BrewsTraveler at adamsco-inc.com Subject: REPORT: LoDo Beer, Wine, Food & Fun Fest The LoDo Beer, Wine, Food, & Fun Fest This is the fourth version of the original, each having their own different name and each attempting to better the previous. Attending the festival with members of Broomfield's Keg Ran Out Club, I enjoyed a Belgian White with Cheyenne Mountain's brewer Alan Stiles, saw some old beer drinking companions, and chatted with a beer lover from abroad. The weather was less than perfect but we managed to have a good time despite the conditions and sampled fine Colorado brews. Unfortunately someone in charge of the festival should ask the brewers to bring someone different from year-to-year. Each brewery is only allowed to bring a single entry (why I dunno) and many of the breweries bring the same beer from year-to-year and festival-to-festival. Many of the beers I tried this year were good beers but trying to find a new beer that is better than the rest is what the festival is all about. This year my personal Best-of-Show goes to Cheyenne Mountain's White Ale, a Belgian-style Wit that was very satisfying if not slightly over the top. John "The Brews Traveler" Adams http://www.adamsco-inc.com/BrewsTraveler ----- Fool's Gold Ale (2.5/4) Tommyknockers Brewery & Pub Correctly named, not a true Golden Ale but more of a Pyrite Ale. Basically a middle of the road drink. Slightly bitter, clean, and finishes a little dry and hoppy tasting. Not a bad beer but good enough to be a everyday brew. Pinstripe Red Ale (3/4) Ska Brewing Company A very nice and pleasant Red (we all know there is no such style) Ale. Slightly hoppy, malty, and very drinkable. Stylistically very close to a English Special Bitter. Cheyenne Mountain White Ale (3.5/4--Best of Show) Cheyenne Mountain Brewing Company A very nice Coriander and Orange peel aroma first greets you (actually probably too much for the style but it was pleasant never-the-less). Finishes fresh and floral. A very well made Belgian White that is, in my honest opinion, a must buy for Wit lovers. Birdman Brown (2/4) Alcatraz Brewing Company Nothing interesting, somewhat dry and a good malt balance but I am picking up what is possibly a sanitation problem. Blue Paddle Pilsner (3/4) New Belgium Brewery A very clean and satisfying drink, Jeff Lebesch crafts excellent beers and this is another fine example. Reminds me more of a German Hefe-trub (a German unfiltered Pils) than a Belgian beer. Very well balanced and real refreshing. Denver Pale Ale (2.5/4) Great Divide Brewing Company English ESB-style ale. Hoppy, clean, and spicy finish. The hops have an old musty taste, maybe this beer is past it prime. - --- Brews Traveler(tm) Copyright 1998 by John Adams Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 12:18:10 -0600 From: "Schroeder, Curt" <cschroed at ball.com> Subject: Who is this man? SomeGuy Wrote "I have but one question: Who the hell is Paul Gatza? How is it that the AHA always manages to find these faceless, nameless people to take the scapegoat - er - "directorship"? (OK, sorry: that was actually two questions...)" I can assure you that Paul has a name and a face (I have seen both). He is well known in the Boulder County area and has been helping homebrewers, since the early 90's, at What's Brewing (an excellent homebrew supply store). He is knowledgeable, generous, humble and very well connected to the homebrew community in these parts. I'm sure he'll do well. Last year he brought a KEG of mighty fine blackberry mead to the AHA Homebrew Day party. I'll miss Paul at What's Brewing, and wish him well at the AHA. Curt Schroeder Longmont, Colorado Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 15:24:41 -0400 From: James Tomlinson <red_beards at compuserve.com> Subject: Using Slaked lime - Where do I find it ? In all the talk about use of slaked lime for reduction of carbonates no one gave a source for the lime. Is the standard stuff from the hardware store acceptable or must I find a chemically pure version ? Other common names ? I have extremely hard water and have carbonates so I'd love a way to preciptate these without boiling. - -- James Tomlinson Give a man a beer, and he wastes an hour. But teach a man how to brew, and he wastes a lifetime! Muddy Waters Brewery Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 12:22:05 -0700 From: "Rich, Charles" <CRich at filenet.com> Subject: RE: Recipe comments Recently Geore DePiro noted: > You can brew with over 50% nondiastatic adjuncts when using high-enzyme malts. > Fermentable worts can be produced from 100% wheat malt. Thanks for keeping me honest George, I had made assumptions that weren't spelled out. Richard Parker had specified Maris Otter Pale in his recipe and is brewing in the UK so I assumed UK malts, which I wouldn't load above 15%. North American 6-row sure, I'd go 50%, NA 2-row I'd go 30-35% but UK malts, not more than 15%. Just rules of thumb, only the batch spec sheet tells for certain. You're right re: wheat malt, I'd overlooked his calling that out, and assumed unmalted, torrified. The beer Richard is pursuing has an intriguing character, in his private description it sounds like an American West Coast Style Pale Ale but in a British context. Over here in Western Washington-Oregon our waters are very different from York's, our mountain runoff has little mineral content I'd like to know what all you hardwater brewers out there run into when a recipe calls out a big hop load? Problems? I know what the books say, but anecdotes really bring it to life. Cheers, Charles Rich (Bothell, Washington) Return to table of contents
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