---

	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:
  SHMS (ThomasM923)
   ("Bridges, Scott")
  Oxidized yeast starters ("Alan Meeker")
  More RIMS ideas . . . ("Houseman, David L")
  BJCP Styles Palm Tool, New Recipe App (John Varady)
  what to do with kegs? ("Devon Williams")
  First Wort Hopping and Hot Break removal ("Houseman, David L")
  RE: Oxidation of beer due to starters (Demonick)
  Steam Injection into RIMS (Terry Stinger)
  info correction ("Micah Millspaw")
  Budvar malt, St Pats (Mike Rose)
  RIMS comments (Jeremy Bergsman)
  Corn Meal, Kit Wine ("Jack Schmidling")
  FWH Bitterness Calulations (Eric R Lande)
  Coils in a Can ("Philip J Wilcox")
  Steam injection 212F or 250F? (Mike Rose)
  New Zymurgy Editor (Paul Gatza)
  Grain Mills (JDPils)
  carbonater.. (Regan Pallandi)
  Lubricant ("Dan Kiplinger")
  re: More RIMS ideas (The Holders)
  Re. German Pilsner ("Sean Richens")
  2000 National Bay Area Brew Off Announcement ("Bryan L. Gros")


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


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 01:36:31 EST
From: ThomasM923 at aol.com
Subject: SHMS

In HOMEBREW Digest #3183 Ronald La Borde wrote:

"Would not the penultimate system be one with a mash stirrer, heating coil in
the mash, with heated liquor circulating inside it?"

Perhaps yes. It has already been built by David J. Ludwig, who calls it the 
Soft Heat Mash System. Check it out...

http://www.us.hsanet.net/user/dludwig/webdoc3.htm

Here's another one...

http://home.ptdprolog.net/~jimala/brewery/

I've always been impressed with David's system and am slowly building one 
myself.

Thomas Murray
Maplewood, NJ



Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 08:09:44 -0500 
From: "Bridges, Scott" <ScottBridges at sc.slr.com>
Subject: 


Jack writes:

>I have since cleaned it up and given it a coat of spar varnish but I sold
my
>boat because I got tired of these annual rituals.
>
>js

Jack,
You might want to consider fiberglass (for the boat, not the mailbox...).
It's a great new invention which eliminates those nasty annual varnishing
routines.  Nothing quite like sipping a homebrew watching the sun set on
<insert your favorite body of water here>.

Scott
Frequently aboard the "Deja Voodoo", but not today, I'm at work.


Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 08:09:14 -0500
From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>
Subject: Oxidized yeast starters

A few comments on George DePiro's response to my response to his post on
yeast starters (lets see how many nested levels we can eventually delve
into!)


>Alan Meeker raises the question of the danger of beer oxidation when adding
>oxygenated wort to a fermented starter that is 10% of the total volume of
>the batch.  This used to concern me, too.  In my experience I have found
>that the beer made in such a way does not taste oxidized (even though the
>starter will often have noticeable diacetyl)...

I will have to defer to your experience here George.  Since I don't add the
spent starter wort to my own batches I don't really know that it negatively
impacts the flavor. Still, it seems hard to believe that adding a grossly
oxidized starter which comprises up to 10% of the total batch volume doesn't
have /some/ negative effects on the final beer! I'm not too concerned about
diacetyl as this should be processed by the yeast during the conditioning
phase.

>In further defense of this practice, it has been shown in journals and by
>some HBDers (AJ deLange, I think) that oxygen is very quickly consumed by
>healthy yeast.  Given that the yeast in a recently fermented starter is
>about as vibrant as they get, they should consume the O2 in short order.  I
>pitch my ale worts at a cool 58-60F (~15C), which might also help in
>reducing the oxidation of the starter.

Hmmmmm perhaps we're getting our signals crossed a bit? What I'm worried
about is that the starter is /already/  oxidized at the time of pitching,
not that it will become oxidized during the early phase of the fermentation
when there is some oxygen present in the virgin wort. As you point out,  the
wort oxygen will typically be used up by the yeast  in the first 30 minutes
or so during the lag phase just after pitching. (if the pitch size is
adequate).

Maybe we are preparing our starters differently? I grow my starter to
saturation with continuous air exposure throughout so it is guaranteed to
already be well oxidized by the time it is ready for pitching. At pitch it
is probably as oxidized as it is ever going to get!


>Since many homebrewers have good control over the environment that their
>beer is stored in (cold and dark)...

Yes but this will only help to stave off further oxidation from occurring.
I'm worried about introducing pre-oxidized wort into my beer at the very
beginning.


>Letting the yeast settle out, as Alan suggests (and I used to do at home)
>has several disadvantages:
>1.  It takes a long time, during which yeast viability may decrease.

Settling can be encouraged by chilling the starter. Still, it definitely
does take time...
Also, while viability decreases will depend on a whole host of factors
(yeast strain, wort composition, health of the culture, temp, time, etc..)
they should not be very large for typical starter regimens and certainly
won't be any worse than repitching yeast from a previous fermentation which
is commonly practiced.

>2.  You are throwing away the least flocculent yeast when you decant off
the
>fermented starter.  If you do this at each step up you may end up with a
>yeast culture that floccs too early (I can't remember the reference for
>this; I think it's mentioned in an old HBD or my BT article on yeast).

This is true to some extent and also depends on how long you give the yeast
to settle - how far towards completion you let the process go. If you select
and enrich for only those yeast that flocculate fast then it could lead to
problems later in the actual fermentation. The yeast could flocc prematurely
leaving too few yeast in suspension to complete the fermentation or to
effect good conditioning later. On the other hand, if you let the starter
clear well you will be pouring off yeast that are very poorly flocculent.
Getting rid of these guys could help in ending up with a clearer beer in the

>3.  You are throwing away yeast by decanting off the liquid from the
starter
>(this seems cruel to the yeast and is wasteful).

Again, if you give the yeast plenty of time to settle you will be losing a
minuscule amount of the total yeast.

All in all, it seems to me that the major drawback to the settling technique
is indeed TIME. But, I should point out that you don't have to pour off the
spent starter at each step during starter production. To avoid introducing
the oxidized starter wort into the beer you only have to settle out the
yeast in the final step. Of course, this still take advance planning so that
everything is ready on brew day and I can tell you from experience that
there is nothing more frustrating than being ready to pitch and your starter
yeast is only half-way settled out!

>Alan's suggestion of using a centrifuge to separate the yeast from the beer
>is a good one, if you have a centrifuge!

I give thanks to the powers that be every morning that I work in a lab!

There was some discussion a bit back about schemes for using a household
washing machine's spin cycle as a homemade centrifuge - what was the
consensus on this? Has anyone actually tried it??

Happy Brewing!

 -Alan Meeker
Baltimore, MD

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." -Carl Sagan


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 08:54:33 -0500 
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: More RIMS ideas . . .

Louis idea of using a CFC as the heat exchanger is a good one.  And Heart's
(or other high efficiency chillers) would be very good.  But I wonder why
bother with OIL as the heating medium.  Even my Listerman homemade CFC will
get wort to within a few degrees of the chilling water temp, and in fact
I've done what Louis recommends but used my hot liquor tank as the resevoir
and pumped hot water through the CFC and reached within 5 degrees of the HLT
temp in the wort coming out back to the mash tun.  Water works fine and most
of us already have a HLT and capabilty to heat water.  Five gallons of water
in a HLT has a big thermal mass.   Many already have a CFC.  The only thing
new that is needed is a second pump so one can pump the water and the wort
at the same time.  A good idea made simpler....



Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 09:00:38 -0500 (EST)
From: John Varady <rust1d at usa.net>
Subject: BJCP Styles Palm Tool, New Recipe App

Hello folks,

I had to learn Palm platform programming recently (Satellite Forms), so as a
trail application I took the BJCP style guide and put it up in a database
application for the Palm OS.

The application can be found and downloaded on my web page under the BJCP
heading. The program consists of 11 screens (List, Stats, Aroma, Appearance,
Flavor, Mouth feel, Overall, Ingredients, Examples, History and Comments).
The List screen is a pick list format of the style subcategories (to quickly
traverse the styles), and the Stats screen shows the numerical statistics of
the style. The layout is in a hyper-text kind-of format and allows you to
jump from any screen to another and to change records from any screen.

It is freeware, but if you feel compelled to pay something for it, donate to
either the BJCP or the HBD (not that I don't need more drinking money).

I am also in the process of writing a complete recipe calculator for the
Palm OS. At this point, I have everything but the recipe calculator portion
working - (Calculators: Mash Temp, Kettle Volume Boil-Off, I.B.U., Force
Carbonation, Bottle Priming;  Database Tables: Grains/Fermentables, Hops,
Miscellaneous Ingredients, Yeast Strains, BJCP Styles). As with HBRCP, you
can use any unit you can imagine (and define your own - want to brew in
Hogsheads? Not a problem!), and you can define your own Hop Utilization by
boil length separately for Pellets, Whole, and Plug hops.

Even though the recipe portion is non-existent, the other features are very
useful. For example, I was in the brew store and was planning a recipe.
Using my Palm III, I quickly recalculated my IBU's based on the AAU's of the
hops the store had. I pulled up my yeast database and read the descriptions
of the various Boh-Pils yeasts available from the different manufacturers to
help decide which to buy. You get the picture.

After I get the Palm end finished, I plan on revamping HBRCP so it can
communicate with the Palm device and pass data back and forth. The benefits
of this is obvious for the brewer on the move. One of the greatest features
will be the ability to beam recipes between palm devices. This will make
recipe swapping a breeze at the upcoming MCAB.

Now on to the point of this drivel! I would like to have a few HBD readers
with Palm devices to beta test. If you are palm crazy, then great. If you
are an HBRCP user, then even better. If you would like to help me out with
this task and earn yourself a copy of the finished software, let me know.
I'd like to have 5 beta-testers for now. I should have something ready for
testing by the weekend. One last note: This is a database application and as
such has a lot of data in it. You will need to have about 270K free on your
palm device to install the application which is aptly named - BeerInHand(tm).


Thanks all folks,

John
John Varady                     The HomeBrew Recipe Calculating Program
Boneyard Brewing                Custom Neon Beer Signs For Home Brewers
Glenside, PA                            Get More Information At:
rust1d at usa.net                  http://www.netaxs.com/~vectorsys/varady 


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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 09:34:08 EST
From: "Devon Williams" <dawg_01 at hotmail.com>
Subject: what to do with kegs?

Hi all,

My name is Devon Williams, and I am new to the HBD.

I had a keg shipping question.  My brother will be getting married in August 
in Michigan, and we would like to brew a couple batches of homebrew for the 
festivities.  The problem (at least I think it's a problem) is that we live 
in the Atlanta, GA area, and we will be flying to Michigan for the wedding.

I have heard that it is not legal to check kegs as luggage due to the chance 
of an "explosion".  I know UPS and FedEx have policies against shipping 
alcohol (although, I understand they will ship guns via ground...go figure). 
  Does anyone have any advice on how (short of driving it myself) I can get 
these corny kegs shipped when the time comes?  I have heard some buslines 
will ship packages in the luggage compartment...

Thanks.

Devon Williams
Beer Belly Brothers Brewing
Watkinsville, GA

______________________________________________________


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 09:38:29 -0500 
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: First Wort Hopping and Hot Break removal

Eric,

You don't remove either the hops or the hot break and certainly don't try to
separate them.  You remove the wort from both by draining or siphoning.  



Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 07:31:55 -0800
From: Demonick <demonick at zgi.com>
Subject: RE: Oxidation of beer due to starters

From: "gdepiro" <gdepiro at mindspring.com>
> ... big snip ...
> In further defense of this practice, it has been shown in journals
> and by some HBDers (AJ deLange, I think) that oxygen is very
> quickly consumed by healthy yeast.  Given that the yeast in a
> recently fermented starter is about as vibrant as they get, they
> should consume the O2 in short order.  I pitch my ale worts at a
> cool 58-60F (~15C), which might also help in reducing the
> oxidation of the starter.
> ... big snip ...

I think that the original poster was not to worried about unreacted
O2.  As George points out above free O2 is consumed VERY rapidly, on
the order of minutes.  I think that the worry concerned the addition
of already oxidized wort components.  These would not be reduced (in
the electrochemical sense) by the fermentation, but would just be 
diluted by the additional volume. 

> Letting the yeast settle out, as Alan suggests (and I used to do at
> home) has several disadvantages:
> 1.  It takes a long time, during which yeast viability may decrease.
> 2.  You are throwing away the least flocculent yeast when you
> decant off the fermented starter.  If you do this at each step up
> you may end up with a yeast culture that floccs too early (I can't
> remember the reference for this; I think it's mentioned in an old
> HBD or my BT article on yeast).
> 3.  You are throwing away yeast by decanting off the liquid from
> the starter (this seems cruel to the yeast and is wasteful).

All three of these disadvantages, and I agree that they are
disadvantages, can be addressed by using the refrigerator (GASP!)
to drop the yeast.  It's fast and everything drops.  I don't even
consider it cruel :-)  

George, good luck in your commercial brewing.  If I'm ever in Albany I
will certainly sample your brews. 

Domenick Venezia
Venezia & Company, LLC
Maker of PrimeTab
(206) 782-1152  phone
(206) 782-6766  fax orders
demonick at zgi dot com

FREE SAMPLES!  Enough for three 5 gallon batches.  Fax, phone, or
email, name, shipping address (no P.O.B.) and phone number.
 


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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 11:11:41 -0500
From: Terry Stinger <stinger_terry at Lilly.com>
Subject: Steam Injection into RIMS

I have been reading the RIMS and Steam Injection
discussions with great interest. I have a one tier
three vessel RIMS system. I am have tried nearly
every method of heat exchange possible.
1. Electric element
2. Hot liqour tank coil exchanger
3. Counter-flow exchanger (this worked the best)
4. Steam injection (directly into the tun)
5. And finally direct heat under tun.

My system has three burners and two pumps to allow
me to only have one tier.

The Counter-flow exchanger worked the best. The
down side was the exchange water (from the HLT)
had to be upto temp prior to any boosts.

I have fiddled with injecting steam into my 
return line (from the pump to the mash tun) but
I had trouble with wort being either pumped or
sucked into the pressure cooker. Are you steam
users out there letting the pressure cooker
build upto 15psi? What happens when you blead
off the steam into the wort line? Does the back
pressure from the RIMS line maintain the cookers
pressure or will the cooker eventually loose the
necessary "push" to effectively drive the steam
into the wort line? What does your setup look
like and what procedure do you use?



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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 07:23:19 -0600
From: "Micah Millspaw" <MMillspa at SILGANMFG.COM>
Subject: info correction

Louis writes;

>My idea also borrows a few ideas from Micah Milspaw's RIMS
>system (Micah uses a quasi-HERMS system, with the coil in a
>sealed container of oil, and the electric heating element is
>used to heat the oil and keep it at a constant temp (about
>175F if I recall correctly).)

The heat transfer medium is glycol and is kept at 240F. Tranfer rate is 
quite high and is simply and matter of flow rate and time.

Micah

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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 08:53:01 -0800
From: Mike Rose <Mike_Rose at prodigy.net>
Subject: Budvar malt, St Pats

Lynne (St. Pats) writes,

> Budweiser Budvar Undermodified Malt is now available thru St. Pat's.
> snip............
> 2)  Most significantly, this is the only UNDERMODIFIED malt available for
> at least the past decade.  As such, this malt requires a multiple
> temperature mash.
> snip............
> Kolbach         37.9

Lynne,
Can you give us any ideas on times and temps that Budvar uses?

Thanks,   mike rose


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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 11:13:41 -0800
From: Jeremy Bergsman <jeremybb at leland.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: RIMS comments


All this discussion has me a bit puzzled.  I have pretty much the standard
RIMS.  After scorching my test batch I just boosted the flow rate and I
don't have heat transfer problems.  HERMS etc. sound great, but mostly
because they seem easier/cheaper to implement than the standard RIMS.  

The reason I'm puzzled is that most of the discussion doesn't address what I
see as the real problem which is the overall time of the temperature boost. 
Lets say that whatever heater you choose can cause the output to reach a
couple degrees higher than your target temperature (mine almost can) in one
flow-through.  If you had perfectly laminar flow through the bed you could
ramp up the batch with one flow through.  This is already several minutes
for me, which would be fine.  However you don't get laminar flow through the
bed.  After you have pumped 1 volume through your heater you have already
been pulling stuff through that was heated once.  Now you have to turn down
the heat input or else you will be overheating this second volume.  I
estimate that it takes me about 2 volumes to mix/exchange the contents of my
mash tun, which takes me 15-20 minutes.  Since one of my RIMS goals was
reproducibility, I don't like this.

It seems that with RIMS and HERMS the real design issue is how can you pump
the volume of your mash tun in 5 minutes?  (Note: most of this is a non
issue for 5 gallon systems.  I'm talking now about 10+ gallon systems.) 
Dion Hollenbeck reported running his RIMS as 3 gpm, but I don't think this
is easily obtainable.  Any data or advice that people can offer would be
interesting to me.

I'm interested in the steam idea since I could add it on to my existing
system but inject into the middle of the mash tun during boosts to speed
things up a bit.  Since the steam into the mash idea (but not the steam
inline with the recirculation system) lets you in theory heat the entire
mash at the same time it has a theoretically unlimited heating rate.
- -- 
Jeremy Bergsman
jeremybb at stanford.edu


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 08:24:09 -0600
From: "Jack Schmidling" <arf at mc.net>
Subject: Corn Meal, Kit Wine

Can't speak for old fashioned vs new corn meal but one thing has occured to me
that would be fun.  We all know how great sweet corn is during the short Fall
season when it is available but all we ever see as we roam the prairies of
America is/are "miles and miles of bloody" feed corn.

Therefore, one can assume that all the corn meal we find in the supermarket and
elsewhere was actually destined for pigs or worse yet, Bud and heaven forbid...
a cherished homebrew.

I grow sweet corn every year and what we can't eat fresh or stuff into the
freezer, I dry for corn meal.  If you ever tasted corn bread or polenta made
from sweet corn, you would understand why I am reluctant to squander 5 lbs of
this treasure on a batch of beer.

First of all, I have never ended up with more than a pound or two but the
marvelous flavor of this stuff makes me want to try it some time.  It has
occured to me that anyone (including me) could haggle for a bushel or two at a
farm stand, dry it out and try it.  All sweet corn is not equal so you have to
be sure to get good stuff.  I know what I grow and the reason I grow it is
because no one sells the kind I really like. (Burpee's Golden Bantam X)

The only problem is milling it.  I have always stated that the only thing you
can't do in a fixed MM is whole corn but that is what the Corona was designed
for.  Just turn your "I Love my MM" Tshirt inside out when using it.

 ..................

From: "Karp's Homebrew Shop" <alant at homebrewshop.com>

>(It seems the only
way to convince Jack that the newer juice kits make pretty good wine is to
send a bottle of good stuff to him.)

Just to pick I nit, I forgot what I originally said but the major debate was a
response to the claim that $20 wine could be made from a kit.  I have no
argument with "pretty good wine" and the problem is, some inexpensive jug wines
fit that catagory and that makes doing it a labor of love.  I am not against
that either but it was the point.

>The discussion left out an important
new development in the home wine market. You can now get non-concentrated
wine juice to make wine from.....

Well, I did mention in one posting you may have missed, that I am suddenly on
someone's mailing list and have been offered this stuff several times, but I
suspect the $100+ per 5 gallon batch would be a turn-off to most folks.  I would
use it in a minute if I could walk down the road and pick it up but I think I
would be concerned about it's condition by the time it got here and what, if
anything, is put into it to keep it in good condition.

> Since Jack is such a giving guy himself, I
plan on sending him a bottle of the Merlot I just bottled.....

That's a very clever way to reduce the shipping costs.  Great idea and thank
you.

>Either way, it's a brilliant plan on
Jack's part to get winemakers from all over to send him a bottle of good
wine. I applaud him and wish I had thought of that challenge first!

The good news is that I expanded my wine cellar to accommodate the in-rush of
expected home made wines. They will be treated with the respect they deserve and
will be tasted after resting for 30 days.  A complete and unbiased report will
be published right here.

js

PHOTO OF THE WEEK  http://user.mc.net/arf/weekly.htm
HOME: Beer, Cheese, Astronomy, Videos  http://user.mc.net/arf


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 16:41:16 -0500
From: Eric R Lande <landeservices at juno.com>
Subject: FWH Bitterness Calulations

In HBD #3179 Jim Layton says that  he calculates the
	"bitterness of first-wort hops the same as I would for hop additions
during the boil. For example, 	1.0 ounce of first-wort hops followed by a
90 minute boil equals 1.0 ounce of hops added at start 	of a 90 minute
boil."

This makes perfect sense to me!  Now I'm not a chemist or a biologist or
someone who has even heard of FWHing before this discussion, but I am a
homebrewer of some 4 years and I know that if you put hops into boiling
wort for an hour or more you will get bitterness.  Unless someone can say
without a doubt that the alpha acid will somehow magically disappear
because it was steeped in cooler wort before the boil, when I try this
FWHing I will calculate the bitterness as if I put the hops in at the
start of the boil.

Jim's suggestion for getting an empirical answer to the question is to
get 
	"a group of home brewers together and do an experiment. Something along
the lines of the 	Palexperiment should provide enough data points to lend
some statistical support to the results."

Sounds like he is putting out the "Bat Signal" for John Varady's
expertise.    In my mind though, the experiment would be to try to
disprove the sound theory stated above.  Good work Jim.

Eric Lande
Doylestown, PA


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 17:11:57 -0500
From: "Philip J Wilcox" <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com>
Subject: Coils in a Can

For those HERMS folks and what not. don't forget about Finned tubing. Straight
copper tubing is about 40% effecient in heat transfer. Finned tubing is 80%. If
you scrounge hard enough you can find the stuff. The only company that I know of
for the stuff is EnerTrans 4445 W. Main, Canfield OH, 44406. Its very cool
stuff. Ask me for pictures if you are curious. I use mine (3/16 tube, 1/4 fin)
as an immersion chiller, but I have a new one in the works that uses 3/8 tube
with a 3/8 fin. Very exciting fun stuff!!!!

Phil Wilcox



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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 14:52:55 -0800
From: Mike Rose <Mike_Rose at prodigy.net>
Subject: Steam injection 212F or 250F?



Regarding the recent thread on steam injection mashes or
steam injected RIMS, ( NOT steam jacketed mash tuns )
is the steam at 212F or 250F?
If its 250F, how does one maintain the pressure needed?
The RIMS chamber and obviously the mush tun are both vented.

                Thanks,   mike rose



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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 15:42:28 -0700
From: Paul Gatza <paulg at aob.org>
Subject: New Zymurgy Editor

Hi everybody. AHA has a new Zymurgy editor and associate editor. The
homebrewing community has matured in knowledge and experience greatly in
the last few years and one of the goals of this transition is to address
the needs of more technical brewers. If anyone has any input on what
they would like to see in Zymurgy in content or format, please e-mail
me. Thanks. Here is an HBD-compliant version of the press release:

RAY DANIELS ASSUMES HELM OF THE NEW BREWER AND ZYMURGY
Amahl Turczyn Named Associate Editor

Boulder, CO, December 1, 1999. Ray Daniels has accepted the position of
editor-in-chief of The New Brewer and Zymurgy magazines. Daniels will be
responsible for selecting content for and overseeing production of both
publications. Amahl Turczyn will join Daniels as the associate editor of
both publications. Daniels and Turczyn will take up their
responsibilities starting with the March-April issue of The New Brewer
and the May-June issue of Zymurgy.

Daniels is an experienced writer and brewer at both the professional
brewing and the homebrewing level. In addition to being named Beer
Writer of the Year in 1998 by the North American Guild of Beer Writers,
he has also published six books on beer and brewing; written over 55
articles for professional brewing, homebrewing, and beer appreciation
magazines; and published multiple articles on beer-related web sites.
The North American Guild of Beer Writers has awarded Daniels seven Quill
and Tankard awards for his work.

Mr. Daniels brewing experience is impressive as well. He has developed
recipes for three breweries and worked as a brewer for the Chicago
Brewing Co. in 1995.  He has also brewed nearly 200 batches of beer at
home and has been rewarded with more than 70 awards from regional and
national homebrewing competitions. Daniels earned the Midwest Homebrewer
of the Year title in both 1991 and 1994.  This honor is given to the
brewer who wins awards at several competitions in a range of beer
styles.  Daniels has also served as a judge at the Great American Beer
Festival, the World Beer Championships, and the American Homebrewers
Association (AHA) National Homebrew Competition. 

As a top graduate of the Siebel Institute Diploma Course in Brewing and
the holder of a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Texas A
and M University, Daniels is well equipped to delve into the technical
and production aspects of professional brewing and homebrewing. 
Further, his MBA from the Graduate Business School at Harvard University
gives him keen insight into the business side of the craft-brewing
industry. 

Daniels brings a focused vision to both magazines. "The New Brewer has
to deliver information that can be used profitably by the people who own
and operate craft breweries," he says. "The industry is evolving as
quickly as it grows and we have to keep up with both the growth and the
evolution so that our readers can make both better beer and better
business decisions."

"On the other hand, Zymurgy fills a unique niche amongst beer
publications because its audience is made up of people who are both
brewers and consumers of beer," Daniels continues. "I believe Zymurgy
should address the broad range of brewing and beer appreciation
interests pursued by homebrewers. That means everything from brewing
chemistry to brewing history as well as beer tasting and beer touring.
In short, I want Zymurgy to be the one magazine for beer enthusiasts who
love to brew."

"Both of these publications have helped to shape the beer world in North
America for many years," Daniels adds. "Clearly one of the biggest
reasons that I am taking this job at this time is because I believe in
the team of people that is working in Boulder right now."

Turczyn is also an experienced beer writer and brewer. He has
contributed articles to Zymurgy for over two years and has worked as the
head brewer at the Wolf Tongue Brewery in Nederland, CO since June of
1998. He worked as the project coordinator of the AHA from May of 1997
to June of 1998, when he served as the technical editor of Zymurgy and
organized the AHA National Homebrew Competition and the AHA Sanctioned
Competition Program. Turczyn also compiled the book A Year of Beer: 260
Seasonal Homebrew Recipes.

Founded in 1978, the Association of Brewers is a not-for-profit
educational organization dedicated to the promotion of quality beers and
brewing throughout the world.  The Association is comprised of four
divisions:  the Institute for Brewing Studies, the American Homebrewers
Association, Brewers Publications, and Brewing Matters.  The Association
is based in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
- -- 
Paul Gatza
Director
American Homebrewers Association	(303) 447-0816 x 122
736 Pearl Street			(303) 447-2825 -- FAX
PO Box 1679				paulg at aob.org -- E-MAIL
Boulder, CO 80306-1679			info at aob.org -- AOB INFO


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 18:32:51 EST
From: JDPils at aol.com
Subject: Grain Mills

In a message dated 12/1/99 3:30:40 PM Pacific Standard Time, JDPils writes:

<< Dear Fellow Homebrewers,
 
 I am thinking of buying a grain mill and would like some feedback from the 
brewing collective.  I am considering the JSP Malt Mill, the Rollmaster(made 
in Co by EMGI) from morebeer.com, the Automatic Mill from St Pats, and do not 
know much about the Valley Mill or where to buy one.  Any user experience or 
advice would be helpful.
 
 I am also concerned that most of these mills use plain Cold rolled steel and 
the potential for corrosion.
 
 Thanks in advance,
 


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Date: Thu, 02 Dec 1999 10:34:56 +1100
From: Regan Pallandi <regan at esb.net.au>
Subject: carbonater..

From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi at ccisd.k12.mi.us>
Subject: "The Carbonator"

I've been waiting for the maker of "the Carbonator" to come out with
a pin-lock version, but it probably won't happen. Then I realized that the
gas line doesn't have to be hooked up long, just long enough to force 30#
or so into the soda bottle. I could hold the gas line quick disconnect in
place with my hand, then disconnect. Does anyone know if the ball-lock
fittings are the same diameter as pin-lock? Would my idea work?  TIA.

the easiest way to make use of a carbonater if you have pin-lock fittings,
is to get a T-piece, some line clips and a ball-lock disconnect, and have
it running off your present gas line. That way, you can gas up PET bottles
(the ball-lock and pin-lock are not the same diameter) and you can use the
carbonater as a valve to purge carboys, kegs etc. For about $20 you can
have the use of both types of fittings.

cheers, Regan


Eastern Suburbs Brewmaker
149 Clovelly Rd. Randwick, 2031
N.S.W. Australia
ph/fax (02) 9399 8241
mailto:regan at esb.net.au


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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 19:08:40 -0500
From: "Dan Kiplinger" <knurdami at iname.com>
Subject: Lubricant


I have some syringes that I use to meter out various things and they all
worked like champs when they were new.  Now the rubber plungers are sticky
and sluggish to move.  I noticed that they were lubricated with something
when they were brand new (and sterile).
Does anyone know what that lubricant might be?  If it is so unreactive that
it can be used against any known medicine that would be used in these
syringes, I NEED some!

Dan -- who caught the left hand glove of Jerome Bettis at the shameful loss
to
the Cincinnati "Bungles" this Sunday in Pittsburgh




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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 17:01:20 -0800
From: The Holders <zymie at sprynet.com>
Subject: re: More RIMS ideas

Louis Bonham talks about a RHEMS using a counterflow heat exchanger.

You might be interested in taking a look at the "perfesser" built by
Bill Freeman, AKA ELder Rat.



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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 22:34:56 -0600
From: "Sean Richens" <srichens at sprint.ca>
Subject: Re. German Pilsner

Greg:

I think the special 'German malt biscuit flavour' is  what most of us at
hbd are trying to get.  I have to assume that it's in the decoction.  I've
had a couple of lagers taste like a Warsteiner or St.Pauli for about a week
before they went dryer, so it has to be in the residual sugars.

If you get it, share the secret with us.  I'm going to try first wort
hopping this season, can't hurt.  But I think, like the Scotch ale brewers,
that it's best for home brewers to fake it by boiling the heck out of a
small portion - in the case of German beer, mash instead of wort as you
would do for Scotch.

Humorous anecdote - when I was about 14 I was visiting family in Newcastle.
 Out for lunch, I heard my uncle order "A Scotch".  Being North American I
thought, "for lunch? as an aperitif???"  I was equally relieved and
disappointed when he was brought a pint of beer.  Of course, they call
whisky, "whisky".

Sean


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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 21:49:07 -0800
From: "Bryan L. Gros" <gros at bigfoot.com>
Subject: 2000 National Bay Area Brew Off Announcement

You are invited to participate in the fourteenth annual National
Bay Area Brew-Off (BABO).  This  year's homebrew competition
is presented by The Draught Board and will be held at Black
Diamond Brewing Company in Walnut Creek, CA. Here's the details:

Entries must be received at Black Diamond Brewing Co. (2330 North
Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA  94596) between the January 10 and
January 22, 2000. Judging is February 5, 2000. Entry consists of 2
bottles and $6 fee. A limited set of the BJCP styles are grouped into
eight categories for judging.
Contact: Bryan Gros at gros at bigfoot.com or 510-336-3377.
Web site: http://www.valhallabrewing.com/dboard/babo2000.htm

Judges and stewards are also needed, and you can register on the
web page, or contact me.


Bryan Gros    gros at bigfoot.com
Oakland, CA

Draught Board Homebrew Club
http://www.dnai.com/~thor/dboard/


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