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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Re: possible trouble with priming step (Jerry Godes)
  Anybody at EDUCOM,  brewerys in Ann Arbor? (Spencer W. Thomas)
  Re: sterilising and priming (Patrick Stirling [Sun Consulting Services Mtn View])
  Hop Sediment ("Allen J. Hainer")
  # 280 Re: possible problem with priming (florianb)
  Re: possible trouble with priming step (Wayne Hamilton)
  Bottling (man)


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Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 02:29:50 PDT
From: Jerry Godes <jerryg at apple.com>
Subject: Re: possible trouble with priming step

Here goes for my first time posting to this newsletter...

Although I'm still a beginner in the home-brewing arena, I think I
understand what's going on with the yeasties and bottling.  The sludge
at the bottom of the fermentor (pardon me for not using the technical
name for it), is just excess yeast.  There is plenty of yeast suspended
in the beer itself, just waiting for some more sugar to start gobbling.
These yeasties in solution, then have a field-day, and reproduce some
more, causing another sedimentation layer to form in the bottom of the
bottles.

So, as I understand it, you  don't want to get any of the sludge from
the bottom of the fermentor into the bottles (of course not getting any
doesn't really work in practice, but you get the drift).

Hope that helps.  I'm sure if I've made any mistakes in my description,
someone more knowing will correct me...

Jerry Godes
CommToolbox Janitor
Communications Product Development
Apple Computer, Inc.


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Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 11:46:51 EDT
From: spencer at crim.eecs.umich.edu (Spencer W. Thomas)
Subject: Anybody at EDUCOM,  brewerys in Ann Arbor?

I have not brewed recently, and I'm not really plugged into the local
HB scene.  There is a HB club in AA, I don't have the info at work,
though.  But I am here.  Dunno about getting together.

There is a micro-brewery in Kalamazoo that makes good stuff.  You can
usually get something from there on tap at the Del Rio (on Washington
and Ashley), and various other bars may have it in bottles.  Some
names you may see: Bell's Beer, Great Lakes Amber Ale, Third Coast
Beer, ... my mind has gone blank.  He makes a couple of stouts (one is
called Expedition Stout, and there is a cherry stout), a Porter, some
more Ales (one is called Brown Ale or something like that), and
probably others I can't remember. You can also buy it in bottles or
six packs at various establishments.  I know that Partners in Wine at
Kerrytown (between north 4th and 5th at Kingsley) has them, probably
the Village Corner (South University at Forest) does too.

=Spencer (spencer at eecs.umich.edu)

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Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 08:54:11 PDT
From: pms at Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling [Sun Consulting Services Mtn View])
Subject: Re: sterilising and priming

Well, the old sterilising topic again. I guess every alias and news
group has it's old faithfuls! (old faithsful?). However I'm always
willing to ramble on about what's possibly the single most important
part of brewing.  when I started (back in the dawn of time about a year
ago), I soaked everything in a weak (a couple of tablespoons per 5
gallons of water) bleach solution for about 30 mins. Then I switched to
a bottle squirter, with disastrous results: 3 batches went bad after
about 3months in the bottles.  So I've returned to the soaking method.
I've used sodium metabisulfite and it seems to work OK, but it's not
nice stuff! Notice the 'weak' in the bleach solution - if it feels
slippery it's too strong!

On to priming. I don't think you need to worry about not having enough
yeast in the bottles. I used a 2 stage ferment: 2-3 days in a 5gal bin
then rack to a glass carboy. Leave fro a couple of weeks and then rack
back into the bin for priming. So there is no sediment in the bin
before bottling. After a week or so in the bottle I get a fine (0.5mm
or less) sediment in each bottle. I've never had a problem with
carbonation. I think that even after a couple of weeks there's still
plenty of yeast in suspension.  

I must say, the more I brew and read this alias, the truer Papazians
famous phrase becomes: "Don't worry, relax, have a homebrew"! Actually,
of course it was true all along, it's just me that's changing!

And here's a question to finish up with: what problems, other than
sanitation (or lack thereof) have you had with brews? So far I've only
had one: pitching the yeast at too high a temperature (>90F) seems to
result in incomplete fermentation (i.e. a high final gravity).

patrick

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Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 10:15:46 EDT
From: "Allen J. Hainer" <ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu>
Subject: Hop Sediment

I started my second stout last week, I racked it yesterday and it's already
better than any stout I have ever tasted!  I have one question though:

I used pelletized hops (5 oz.) and when I racked it, there was a HUGE amount
of sediment.  This was not sediment in the normal sense, it was mostly beer 
with hops floating in it, but it was still too thick to go through the
siphen.  I left a good three inches in the primary.  Is it best to just
to just throw this out like I did and not worry about the loss, or should
I have left it in the primary for another week to let it settle a bit better?
 
I would like to thank Marc San Soucie for his posting on stout in HBD#219
from which I created my recipe.

And for those of you who are interested:

4 kg (8.8#) Unhopped Dark Malt Extract
500 g (1#) Roasted Barley
500 g (1#) Wheat Malt
250 g (1/2#) Black Patent Malt
250 g (1/2#) Chocolate Malt
100 g (4 oz) Bullion (30 min. boil)
25 g (1 oz) Cascade (2 min. boil)

10-10 SG 1.075
10-16 racked, 1.035 and still going

-al (ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu)

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Date: 17 Oct 89 10:07:22 PDT (Tue)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: # 280 Re: possible problem with priming

Stuart Crawford sez:

>before bottling, I siphoned the wort into a clean container. 
>In order to
>minimize the amount of sediment that I transferred to this container,
>I let the
>first cup or so flow into a bottle that I later discarded.
>I am now worried
>that I did not transfer enough yeast to allow carbonation to occur.

There are zillions and zillions of yeasties in your brew producing
carbonation at this very minute.  Relax, don't worry and have a brew.

On a side note:  if one could so easily isolate yeast by siphoning,
microbiology could have been developed about 500 years earlier.
And we could all have yeast labs in our basements.

[Florian Bell--ale season is over in Central Oregon]




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Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 14:08:19 -0500
From: Wayne Hamilton <hamilton at osiris.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: possible trouble with priming step

Stuart Crawford write:

> I'm using a single fermentation system and, immediately before bottling,
> I siphoned the wort into a clean container. ... I am now worried that I
> did not transfer enough yeast to allow carbonation to occur.  Is there
> any way, short of waiting for a week and opening a bottle, to determine
> if carbonation is occuring?

i've been using a similar system for the last few batches, and i haven't
had any problem getting enough suspended yeast for carbonation.  i've
been making ales tho; i don't know about extended lagering.  i've also
been experimenting with a few 1-liter pop bottles, and i use one
clear-glass bottle per batch to monitor color and to keep as a souvenir.
with the plastic bottle, you can "feel" the carbonation: CO2 pressure
makes it less "squeezable".  with the clear bottle, and to a lesser
degree with brown ones, you can usually see yeast settled on the bottom
to prove that further fermentation took place.

previously, i used my primary as a mixing vessel for bottling.  recently
i've latched onto a source of free 5-gallon cubitainers (the local blood
bank's lab gets saline in them).  they come with nice removable spigots
that work well with 3/8" ID syphon tubing.  i cut a hole in the face
opposite the spigot, and mounted the whole thing in a plastic milk crate
to facilitate carrying it and to allow the spigot to hang free below.  i
have easy access to the inside to clean it or mix the priming solution, i
can use gravity instead of syphoning to feed the flow to the bottle
filler, and i don't have to worry about the syphon leaving any beer
behind.  the only problem i have is that the cubitainer in the bucket
configuration no longer holds a full 5 gallons without a bit of
spillage.  i cook and bottle in the kitchen, but i ferment in the
bathroom where it's cooler to begin with and i can use a water bath in
the tub to cool the carboy further.  so i have to carry the brew about
50' to bottle it.  i may switch to carrying the carboy to the kitchen
instead.  i want to avoid disturbing the sediment, so i'll have to give
it time to re-settle.

when i start doing whole-grain brews, i'll probably use a cubitainer
(possibly with added thermal insulation) to hold pre-heated sparge
water.

i use another cubitainer to hold chlorine bleach solution so i always have
some already made up.  do i need to worry about it losing potency with
prolonged storage?  should i always make it up fresh?  i've been relying
on smell to verify that it's still lethal to the bad guys.

while i'm at it, let me plug the mail-order place where i've been getting
much of my ingredients lately (tell mark i sent ya):

	The Basement Brewmaster
	4280 N 160th ST
	Brookfield WI 53005
	(414)781-BREW (aka -2739)

a free catalog is available.  it's not a large outfit - mark literally
runs it out of his basement - so the inventory is rather small, but he
carries a few unique items and his prices are good.  i like his wheat
and barley (65%/35%) extract syrup ("bavarian weizen").  his location is
handy for us in IL: low shipping costs and no sales tax.

	wayne hamilton
	U of Il and US Army Corps of Engineers CERL
UUCP:	{att,iuvax,uunet}!uiucuxc!osiris!hamilton
I'net:	hamilton at osiris.cso.uiuc.edu
Lowtek:	Box 476, Urbana, IL 61801; (217)384-4310

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Date: 17 Oct 89 17:05:00 EDT (Tue)
From: man at granjon.att.com
Subject: Bottling

A few weeks ago I reported on a Steam Beer that seemed to resume fermenting
after it was taken out of the fridge.  I got replies that said it was probably
just disolved CO2 escaping and I should bottle it.  Well, I waited a while 
before bottling, but it turned out good anyway (or in spite of me).  A recent
batch reacted the same although it was never put in the fridge.  On this batch,
I used a syringe to remove some beer and use the hydrometer on.  The readings
were thefor three days, so I bottled, but I do have some questions.  The
airlock was releasing a bubble every minute or so for 5 days before I took
my first reading.  This rate continued until I bottled it.  Could this be
CO2 escaping ?  It seems like an awful lot to me.  With all this CO2 escaping,
isn't there a danger of exploding bottles?  The real question is what determines
bottling time: a stable FG or lack of bubbles ?  I know the answer will be
a stable FG, but what about that CO2 ?  I'm not concerned about my batches
since I have 200 Grolsch bottles.  The rubber gaskets allow excess pressure
to leak out.

Mark Nevar
(201)580-4414
(arpa|att)!kato!man

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #281, 10/18/89
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