---

	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:
  SPAM<SPAM<SPAM<SPAM ("Eric J Fouch")
  converting kegs (jgibbens)
  generic water formula (jgibbens)
  Re: My Mash Mixer experience (RobertJ)
  AHA regional results ("BERNER,ROBERT A.")
  CAP (Nathan Kanous)
  Stirrer Motor, Another possibility ("Peter J. Calinski")
  Got any Italian beer recipes? ("Kelly")
  Acidity, INventory file. (Dave Burley)
  Disappointment with results of first time all grain. (Edward Seymour)
  Biere in Montreal ("Charles T. Major")
  degermination ("Keith Menefy")
  PUB Pages on-line... (wyldecat)
  Nottingham Yeast (JerryConn)
  Quick question for the chemists (Harlan Bauer)


* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!

* 2000 MCAB Qualifier: Buzz-Off! Competition 6/26/99 
* (http://www.voicenet.com/~rpmattie/buzzoff)

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


Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 00:15:55 -0700
From: "Eric J Fouch" <fouches at iserv.net>
Subject: SPAM<SPAM<SPAM<SPAM

HBD-
Rather than sending a rash of notes to the HBD regarding the spam that
slipped through (nobody is 100% vigilant) in HBD 3061 do what I do:  Send a
note to the webmaster along with a a copy of the spam:


To: webmaster at thespark.com
Regarding: Spam

Don't want this spam.  Please make sure I get no more.


Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 23:15:21 -0500From: "Victor" <klooy at thespark.com>
Subject: A Collectors Dream**A Collectors Dream**
Own a World class series at 10 centson the dollar.  A 25 Year labor of love
and extra ordinary talent brought together this beautifulART OF THE STATES
Collector servies limited editionby internationally aclaimed artist

Most ISP's do not want to have anything to do with spammers.  If we bring it
to their attention (especially a few THOUSAND of us), we can help them stop
it from their end.

This will help us help the janitors to keep the HBD spam resistant.

Here are excerpts I received from the webmaster at bigfoot.com:

Thank you for contacting Bigfoot's Webmaster.

We have received your mail and will be getting to it as soon as possible,
Due to the incredibly high volume of messages we receive, however, we might
suggest contacting one of the addresses below in order to expedite a
response from us.


Reporting Unsolicited Mail - Abuse at bigfoot.com

Bigfoot hates spam.  If you know of a spammer, or have received mail from
someone improperly using a Bigfoot address in the RETURN ADDRESS field (a
common tactic of spammers), please send a copy of the mail, including full
headers, to abuse at bigfoot.com.  If the message does indeed indicate an
infraction of our conditions of use, we will terminate the misused account,
contact the offending party's ISP for removal on their end, and pursue legal
action if possible.

If you would like to pursue a "spam" issue further, please feel free to send
mail to spamhater at bigfoot.com.  You will receive an automated reply
containing a list of e-mail address pertaining to the US government and
various Internet monitoring groups that might be able to help you.


Getting Help from Bigfoot - Help at bigfoot.com

If you are a Bigfoot user and require assistance with your Bigfoot services,
please send mail to help at bigfoot.com.  You should receive a response within
24 hours, although weekend mail is answered on Mondays.


Reporting Technical Problems - Webmaster at bigfoot.com

You've come to the right place!!!


Getting Information Regarding Bigfoot Services - Info at bigfoot.com

The best way to get information on our site is to actually go there and have
a look around.  We are located at http://www.bigfoot.com.  If this proves
problematic, feel free to send a message to info at bigfoot.com.  You will then
receive an auto-message telling you a bit about our company and our
services.


Advertising on Bigfoot - AdMgr at bigfoot.com

Quite simply, anything to do with advertising should be directed to
admgr at bigfoot.com.  You will be contacted quickly with regards to any
questions you might have.

Eric Fouch
Bent Dick YocotBrewery and Spam Nemesis
Kentwood MI





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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 00:21:52 -0500 (CDT)
From: jgibbens at umr.edu
Subject: converting kegs

Hello all,

Just wanted to share some of my experiences with converting 15 gallon 
kegs into mash tuns, brewing pots, and fermenters.  I've done some 
cutting with a dremel tool and also with an 8" abrasive cut-off blade for 
a circular saw.  A plasma torch was also used for a few of the cuts.  The 
best results were with the 8" abrasive wheel.  It was over 10X faster 
than using a dremel tool and the cut was much smoother than the plasma 
torch cut.

Does anyone have any advice on the best (cheepest is also good) way to 
install a dial thermometer into a mash tun?  I'm limited on stainless 
steel fittings and pipe, so the best I can come up with is to buy an 
industrial grade thermometer with 1/4" male pipe thread behind the dial.  
Then I could just drill a hole in the keg, place an O-ring behind the 
dial and clamp it to the keg with a 1/4" female coupling.  Possible 
problems are damaging the thermometer from the pressure of the fit, and 
the thermometer would be exposed to dammage from stirring even if pipe 
surrounded the stem.

Any ideas?

Joe Gibbens


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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 00:36:34 -0500 (CDT)
From: jgibbens at umr.edu
Subject: generic water formula

Given some of the earlier posts on water content, I'm probably stepping 
onto a land mine...
I want to base my beer off of bottled water, so I'm looking for 
information on minerals I should add (if any).

1.  If there's a standard, what is the standard mineral content of 
bottled water?  Calcium content?
2. Beyond calcium  at  50 ppm acidifying the mash to about 5.2 pH, is there 
anything else that needs to be added that wouldn't be present in bottled 
water already?

I'm not trying to copy any regional water styles, just start with water 
that won't negatively affect proteolytic or diastatic enzymes.
Thanks.

Joe Gibbens


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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 08:22:01 -0400
From: RobertJ <pbsys at pbsbeer.com>
Subject: Re: My Mash Mixer experience

Jack Schmidling wrote:

Scorching is a real problem, especially with a false bottom.  I have
told the story many times but that is how and why I invented the EM.
With the blade just clearing the EM and rational control of the heat, there
is no scorching.

- ----
Jack, the original poster never mentioned using a false bottom or scorching
as a problem.

I have used a false bottom for 10 years and have not ever found scorching
to be a problem. The exception would be using a pot with a very thin bottom
(which would also cause scorching during a boil).

Without "rational control of heat" during temperature raises (fast
temperature raise), a false bottom may cause jumps in overall mash
temperature, but not scorching. Temperature jumps are due to temperature
difernetials above and below the FB. To avoid these jumps the brewer can
use Mash Recirculation and/or slower heating of the mash.



Bob
Precision Brewing Systems URL http://www.pbsbeer.com


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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 08:42:28 -0400
From: "BERNER,ROBERT A." <BERNERRA at apci.com>
Subject: AHA regional results

Kim Thomson writes:

It's me again...

Anyone received results from the 1st Round NHC from Kansas?  Two of us
still waiting here in B'ham.
<snip>

We all are waiting. I spoke with Brian Rezac (forgive the spelling) at AHA
headquarters last week and this topic came into our conversation. He said he
hoped to mail out the score sheets from the first round before he left for
Kansas City either today or tomorrow. So we should be getting our results in
the very near future. He also mentioned that the ribbons for those who
placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the regionals have not arrived yet and I do not
recall if he gave me an ETA on them. Brian said that the Belgian categories
were among the largest in this year's competition. I had a strong dark ale
that scored a 35.5 and did not make it to the second round, so don't feel
too badly about not advancing.


Bob Berner  

Your body is a temple, a temple of Bacchus.





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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 07:52:01 -0500
From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu>
Subject: CAP

Keith wasn't impressed with his CAP.  I, for one, can say that CAP can be a
great beer!  I used one of Jeff Renner's original recipes using the 2035
(Schell) yeast.  I kind of mistreated this beer and it came out to be one
of the best I've ever brewed.  It was excellent.  

My regards to Keith...don't give up on this one.  You mentioned that the
head didn't last...did you utilize the infamous "protein rest"?  I rested
the mash at 104 deg F and then went directly to saccharification (as direct
as possible).  No haze and a long lasting head. I also used flaked
maize...I'll use corn grits later this summer.
nathan in madison, wi




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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 09:59:23 -0400
From: "Peter J. Calinski" <PCalinski at iname.com>
Subject: Stirrer Motor, Another possibility

Has anyone ever considered using part of an ice cream maker?  I haven't
been around one in a long time but I seem to remember it consists of a
motor mounted to the cover of the bucket.  It includes a "paddle" of sort
that scrapes the sides of an inner container.  I believe it is designed to
run until the ice cream get thick enough to stall the motor.  

Just an idea to consider.

Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY



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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 10:01:40 -0500
From: "Kelly" <kgrigg at diamonddata.com>
Subject: Got any Italian beer recipes?

Hello all,
Does anyone have recipes to emulate the Italian beers mention in the
previous post...Peroni and Moretti...particularly the 'reddish bock'?  I've
had the light versions and the bock one sounds interesting....

At present, I'm only set up for extract brewing..so, any recipes for this
for extract brewing much appreciated..!!!

Kelly

- ------------------------
"Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 15:41:18 -0700
From: Ted McIrvine <McIrvine at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Itallian Food & Italian Beer

<snip>

I've had three Italian beers: Peroni and Moretti, which make clean light
lagers, and Moretti La Rossa, a reddish bock somewhere between double
bock and May bock.  Moretti La Rossa is the sort of malty sweet beer
that I think goes very well with Italian food.

Cheers
Ted





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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 11:51:32 -0400
From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com>
Subject: Acidity, INventory file.

Brewsters:

Bill Frazier's suggestion to use potassium
bicarbonate for the reduction of acidity in
meads will work, but not as well as in grape
wines where the major acid is tartaric and
potassium bitartrate is unusually
insoluble for an alkalai metal salt. More than
likely the potassium will stay in solution and
in high concentration give a salty taste to
the mead.

Likely, calcium carbonate is more readily
available and  works well in meads as the
solubility of many simple organic acid
calcium salts are of low solubility,
especially at low  T. I guess the major
acids in mead are acetic and lactic, maybe
some citric and tartaric. Anyone know?

Of these, calcium acetate is very soluble
and will not be precipitated easily at low T.
 I do not have a solubility for calcium lactate
or citrate at low T, but presume it is lower
than the acetate in the water alcohol mixture.
Certainly, I suspect, this salt is less soluble
than the potassium salt.

Unlike grape wines which have excellent buffer
systems, mead has virtually none and the
pH needs to be checked as well, especially
in the first days to keep the pH above
around 3.5 or so. This prevents damage to
yeast a low pH will cause and the long slow
incomplete fermentation mead makers often
experience.  If you later decide to adjust the
acidity up, use tartaric acid and then cold
condition it to bring down calcium  tartrates
and any potassium bitartrate. You should
check the acidity afterwards.

What happened to the wine network?
I subscribed ( I think) but haven't heard
anything.
- --------------------------------------
Pat, No association intended between the
HBD Janitors' excelllent service and those
of a Russian Sex Queen.  I will set up a file
to contain my, as yet unpublished, HBD
submission and edit it at a later date.
Just never thought of it as a way of reducing
my infile quickly. I hate to have anything
pending in my infile.
- -------------------------------------  


Keep on Brewin'


Dave Burley

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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 10:42:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Edward Seymour <eseymour at yahoo.com>
Subject: Disappointment with results of first time all grain. 

     After brewing my second batch of extract with specialty grains, my
brewery was served with an eviction notice. Little did my wife know
what she was getting into when she gave me the start up beer kit as a
graduation present.  Stuck with having to move my operation into the
basement, I decided to serf the net to find an acceptable setup for my
little plot of cement.  I found two great sights that the authors made
their all grain breweries out of plastic buckets (thanks Ken Swartz and
C.D. Prichard).  After several trips to Home Depot (no affiliation), I
built my three tiered all grain brewery.  This consists of a 5 gal.
plastic HLT with two 1500 watt elements to heat the water.  A 5 gal.
round cooler with a home-made stop-sign manifold that I slotted 1/2 way
thru the 1/2 inch copper pipe in 1/2 inch intervals with a Dremal tool
(no affiliation) plumbed into the bottom (slots facing down).  A 12
gal. boiler with two 1500 watt elements and a braided stainless steel
manifold. All electricity runs thru GFI protected circuits.

    For father's day, my former landlord and spousal unit gave me the
ingredients for an amber ale as follows: 
10 lbs. Two row pale malt
1 lb. Dextrin (Cara Pils)
 .5 lb. 120 deg. Crystal malt
 .25 lb. Roasted barley 
1 oz. Cascade  7% alpha 90 min. of boil
 .5 oz. Cascade for 30 min
1 tsp. Irish moss for 30 min.
1 oz.  Cascade at end of boil
 .5 oz. Mt. Hood dry hop in secondary.
1 pt. starter of Wyeast 1056 American Ale
OG = 1.064.     FG = 1.008

      Father's day came and I started brewing. The first thing I did
was heat up the water in the HLT and poured the grains into the mash
turn. When the water was hot enough, I strucked  (turned valve)  4 gal.
of water and mixed (temp. 180deg.).  I stirred like mad, and added soda
pop plastic containers filled with ice until the temp. went down to 155
deg.  I placed the top on the cooler and let sit for 90 minutes.  I
opened the cooler, stirred, took temp (150 deg). and recirculated about
2 qt. of wort. There were no husks in any of the runnings collected, so
I took a sample of the wort for a hydrometer test (1.072 at 80 deg)(is
this good?). I then sparged with 5 gal. of 170deg water until boiler
had 7.75 gal. collected (was this too much water?).  Final running was
1.014 at 80 deg. (is this too much sugar left in the lauter?). For
sparging, I had the metal tube poor the water on top of a veggie
steamer that I confiscated from the previous place of residence. 
	I Fired the boiler (flipped a switch), waited until foam subside, and
add hops according to schedule. After boiling for 90 minutes, I cooled
with an immersion cooler until wort was 70 deg.(18 minutes).  The
specific gravity reading at this point was 1.040 at 70 deg., total wort
collected into fermenter was 5 1/2 gal.
	I was sadly disappointed with this figure. I don't know my efficiency
factor, but obviously left sugar in the grain. I read somewhere that
you should stop sparging when the runnings are about 1.008.  How can I
boost my efficiency without ending up with 10 gallons of wort to boil
down to 5 gallons. I figure that this will take about 5-6 hours to boil
down (unacceptable by the spousal unit). I know that I could add some
DME to boost the SG, but I wanted to do this with all grain. 

       Any comments, recommendations, suggestions will be graciously
accepted. Please keep it simple, I'm not a chemist but a business
major, and this is my third batch made (2 extract, one all grain). If
you want to kick my dog, don't worry she just got a bath so your shoes
won't get dirty (her mouth does move as fast as a cobra though).

Regards,
Ed Seymour
Brewer, Bottle washer. 
Hamden, Ct.  (Only 2 inches from anywhere in the world according to my
pocket atlas.)


_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free  at yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com



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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 15:01:01 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
From: "Charles T. Major" <ctmajor at samford.edu>
Subject: Biere in Montreal

Salutations, all!

I'm travelling to Montreal soon, and I'looking for some 
beer information, specifically about Unibroue.  I've 
checked several travel guides, I've noted the Montreal 
recommendations at http://www.pubcrawler.com, and I've 
visited Unibroue's website at http://www.unibroue.com, but 
I haven't found where the brewery is located or whether 
they allow visitors or give tours.  Can anyone in the know 
provide some information, either about Unibroue or about 
other must-see sights, bars, or restaurants in Montreal?

Regards,
Tidmarsh Major
Birmingham, Alabama



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Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 09:14:24 +1200
From: "Keith Menefy" <kmenefy at ihug.co.nz>
Subject: degermination

G'day

Thanks to Jeff Renner and Dave Burley for responding to degermination.
I was a wee bit light on the brewing details.
The maize I used is stock feed quality maize, very dusty. I put it through
the grain crusher, same setting as the barley. The crusher grumbles about it
a bit but eventually does the job. Thinking that the germ at the seed tip
looked a bit tender I tried tumbling it in my gizmo for getting the rootlets
off malted barley. It got rid of a lot of the dusty rubbish but the tip
stayed.


>Brewing texts say that low oil content is necessary to avoid rancid
flavors,

I never noticed any off flavours at all, just bland.

>Bourbon whiskey is made from 70%+ whole corn meal - the oil floats
on top of the fermenting mash like a blood red oil slick.

Would it be possible to boil the maize prior to brew day and skim the oil
off when it has cooled down a bit?

I use a decoction system for brewing, the maize goes in when the first
decoction is just coming to the boil, and is boiled for about 30 mins. I had
expected heading problems, and was curious if there would be any other
effects from the oil content.

>I have found that often beers which are cloudy with starch also have a head
problem and do not have very good mouth feel.

I have never bothered checking for starch (iodine test), I have just assumed
that with a 4hr mash everything is converted. May try the test sometime but
I do like to keep it fairly easy. Use the KISS (keep it simple stupid)
principle.

Another question.

I use a big (200 litre) container for the boil.
It is posible to put a lid on with just an inch pipe outlet for the steam.
If I restrict this outlet a bit more would it increase the temperature at
all, and by how much. Is the steam coming off the same temp as the water
being boiled?
I am after the Maillard reaction for colouring/carmelising the sugars.
How do Guinness achieve their black colour? I have never got better than a
dark brown even with using burnt barley.


Cheers
Keith Menefy
Hukerenui
New Zealand








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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 99 19:17:27 +0000
From: wyldecat at slip.net
Subject: PUB Pages on-line...


</lurk_mode = off>

Greetings collective - 

I just wanted to take a moment and let y'all know that I 
have finally gotten my website and on-line recipe formulator
up and going.  

http://www.pub-sf.com

If y'all wouldn't mind taking a look at it and letting me
know what you think, I'd appreciate it.  

TTFN!
Jamie

</lurk>



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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 22:59:49 EDT
From: JerryConn at aol.com
Subject: Nottingham Yeast

I am relatively new to this hobby but have read and absorbed as much as 
possible.  I have read several posts recently about the slow starts with 
Nottingham and Lallemand yeast.  My question will most likely show how little 
I kow about brewing after slightly over a year of messing with this hobby.  
Why can a person not, after hydrating the dry yeast, pitch the slurry in a 
yeast starter?  This would get a good start with the dry yeast, build up the 
cell count and eliminate problems when pitched to the wort?  There must a 
simple answer to this but as of yet I do not know it.  TIA Jerry Conner
Star City Brewers Guild, Roanoke, Va.


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Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 23:09:52 -0500
From: Harlan Bauer <blacksab at midwest.net>
Subject: Quick question for the chemists

I need to make a 0.1N solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). What would be
the recipe? I have a scale and volumetric flasks. 

TIA,
Harlan


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