HOMEBREW Digest #3310 Thu 27 April 2000

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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.
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Contents:
  The Clayton Cone Report ("Rob Moline")
  Yeast Q's...Final...Gump Out ("Rob Moline")
  Cool Idea ("Phil & Jill Yates")
  Berliner Weisse (Nathan Kanous)
  Patent law / Dr. Cone ("Louis K. Bonham")
  patent infringement (Marc Sedam)
  Re: sanitizing spray bottle (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Pre-boil topping off (Jeff Renner)
  Looking for good pubs. (Rod Prather)
  Big Brew Recipe ("Gary Glass")
  Re: NYC Trip/bad brewpub music (B.R. Rolya)
  double boiling (Prestoniam)
  Syrup questions HBD 3309 ("Grant W. Knechtel")
  Natural Gas Burners (John Varady)
  re: Patent infringement? (Tidmarsh Major)
  Lemon Beer ("Trevor Good")
  Rob or Dr. Cone ("Michael Rose")
  sulfury lager (Aaron Perry)
  UNYHA 22nd Annual Competition and 11th Empire Open ("Mike Kidulich")
  Warsteiner clone (William Plotner)
  Big Brew 2K (mike megown)
  Connections & corrosion (R.)" <rhampo at ford.com>
  more on connections (R.)" <rhampo at ford.com>
  NYC Trip (Ted McIrvine)
  Yes!! (root)
  Big Brew 2000 - Recipe and notes (Crispy275)
  Cardamom Tincture (Ron and Sharon)

* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * 18th Annual Oregon Homebrew Festival - entry deadline May 15th * More info at: http://www.hotv.org/fest2000 Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we canoot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req at hbd.org. JANITORS on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 01:12:18 -0500 From: "Rob Moline" <brewer at isunet.net> Subject: The Clayton Cone Report Rob, Let the HBD readers know that this has been an exciting two weeks for me. I was very pleased at the caliber of the questions. Lets do it again. Home wine and home beer makers are neat people to be around. Clayton Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 01:19:05 -0500 From: "Rob Moline" <brewer at isunet.net> Subject: Yeast Q's...Final...Gump Out G'day, Dr.Cone is on his way to Europe, and I to the Craft Brewer's Conference in Milwaukee...communications may be difficult...for a week or 2...maybe not....(a laptop neglected for 7 months might revolt?....probably...) I ask 2 things.... 1) If your question was not yet answered....send it again...to me at brewer at isunet.net 2) If any of you, individually, valued any contribution from Dr. Cone....please let him know it...by sending thanks to jethro at isunet.net ....with a subject line "Dr. Cone".....and I will forward them on to him....I think we owe this gentleman more than he realizes....and I would like him to understand how much he is appreciated.... Cheers! Rob Jethro Gump "The More I Know About Beer, The More I Realize I Need To Know More About Beer!" Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 21:55:27 +1000 From: "Phil & Jill Yates" <yates at acenet.com.au> Subject: Cool Idea Jim What you have made sounds like a great idea. Any stirring of the wort will greatly assist the cooling procedure. To answer your question My parellel immersion chiller is just that. Two coils pushed together to fit into the kettle, each with it's own intake and outlet. This I hook up to the garden watering system and blast high pressure cold water through both coils in parallel. Works great. But all such systems will greatly benefit from wort stirring as you have achieved. I am sure Doc Pivo would be interested in your invention. This is the sort of contribution the HBD could do with more of. It certainly doesn't need any further discussions on the habits of Burradoorians having to wear raincoats and southwester hats for dinner in the courtyard of the Burradoo Hilton. But More On That Later Phil Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:10:51 -0500 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Berliner Weisse Don, Can't really give you any help on the syrups. I'm going to get a small bottle of raspberry syrup used in coffee to fix that "need". I'm going to go across the hall and talk to our pharmaceutical compounding guru about the best way to formulate a woodruff syrup. I'm going to guess it will involve making a tincture of the woodruff using grain alcohol and mixing that with simple syrup. Don't know, but I'll try to find out. Can you give me any details about your Berliner Weisse recipe / process? From memory, I believe I used 50% malted wheat to an OG of 1.038 with either 1/2 or 1 ounce of crystal hop pellets in the mash. I pasteurized the wort at around 190 deg F for 15 minutes or so and chilled. I then pitched some lactobacillus acidophilus into the wort and held it at 100 deg F in a warm water bath for about 48 hours. I was getting nervous by that point, because there was some active fermentation (lactobacillus) and I could detect some souring, so I pulled the wort out of the warm water bath and let it cool. Once it was cool, I pitched a culture of WYeast 2565 Kolsch yeast and let it go. This yeast seemed to have performed well in the past with a subtle tart finish so I thought I'd give it a go. The brew finished a little unexceptional. It had a limited sourness which fit in the middle of a fairly tame brew. It had a little wheat flavor and then nothing....with a bit of sourness. I was a little disappointed. The flavors were very distinct and had not begun to blend as I'd expected. I didn't want to leave this brew in the fermenter forever (I think it ultimately had about 8 weeks) so I decided to bottle to see what happened. I did some math and came up with 6 or 8 ounces of corn sugar to give the desired level of carbonation (don't remember exactly, no notes at work). I also added 1 ounce of lactose. This was based on a calculation I did a long time ago trying to estimate the lactic acid contribution if lactobacillus fully converted lactose to lactic acid. Since then, I think the acidity has increased. It's not as acidic as I've been led to believe it should be, but I've only had 1 Berliner Weisse and it had traveled a long way, for a long time before I got it. Mine is very well carbonated. Initially, before I bottled, this beer held a head very well. Now, it's quite fleeting. Huge head with pour that dies almost immediately. Kind of like soda. I've read this is typical for highly acidic beers. The flavor of the wheat and the acidity has come together better. I suspected some carbonation would help this. It's still conditioning in the bottle. I'm going to label it all and toss a couple in the fridge to see how it comes out. It also has a bit of flowery hoppiness from the crystal hops. Not a lot, just a touch of fruity / flowery aroma and flavor. I'm hopeful this turns out nice. It's not bad, right now, I just expected more sourness. Don't know about brett in this style. So, how goes your Berliner Weisse? nathan in madison, wi Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:29:38 -0500 From: "Louis K. Bonham" <lkbonham at hypercon.com> Subject: Patent law / Dr. Cone Hi folks: Dan K muses about the legal implications of homebrewers' use of patented processes. Let's look at this from two aspects: legal and practical. (Important disclaimer: while I am an attorney, the following is not to be construed as my giving legal advice to anyone -- it's just a public discussion of the law is.) (1) Legal 35 USC 271 (a) is very clear: "Except as otherwise provided in this title, whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patented invention during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent." Ergo, from a legal perspective, there's no question: regardless of whether or not you're making profit from your use of the patented process or device, it's illegal to use it without the patent owner's permission, and doing so can lead to all sorts of nasty things happening to you. (2) Practical While I must encourage everyone to respect the law and the intellectual property rights of others, as a practical matter major brewers are not likely to want to pursue a homebrewer's limited noncommercial use of their patented technology. (Recall that the methods for making Zima and the "ice brewing" process are also covered by patent.) Indeed, I suspect that if we asked them nicely, AB would probably indicate that they would not enforce the patent against noncommercial use of this technology. (I'll see if I can find out who handles AB's patent prosecution and make a couple of telephone calls.) But until AB gives such permission, the law's the law, and they would be well within their legal rights to enforce their patent. - ---------------------------------------------------------- Three cheers for Dr. Cone! His recent contributions to the HBD are truly invaluable. For some of you who may not have realized how incredibly lucky we all have been to have Dr. Cone's recent participation (and how much thanks we all owe Rob Moline and Lallemand for making this possible), allow me to relate a little anecdote. While putting together the speakers for MCAB I, I had been trying to get Dr. Chris White of WhiteLabs to fly in and speak at the conference. (Needless to say, Chris White knows more than a bit about yeast and brewing. ;-) ) Our conversation went something like this: LKB: So, can we count you in? CW: Well, I'd really like to but I don't know if I'll be able to make it out. LKB: Well, we'd really like to have you; it's gonna be a really good conference. We've got George Fix, Paul Farnsworth, Dave Miller, Dr. Cone, Ralph Olsen . . . CW: Wait a minute. Did you say Dr. Cone? LKB: Yes. CW: CLAYTON Cone? LKB: Yeah, Dr. Clayton Cone of Lallemand. CW: We're coming -- I wanna hear Dr. Cone speak. Do you realize who he is? That kind of says it all. All the best -- LKB Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 09:41:27 -0400 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: patent infringement Dan: I was only half facetious. The legal ramifications for patent infringement are the same as for software piracy (copyright infringement) and anything else where you take someone's proprietary ideas and use them. Now, will A-B bring the hammer down on a bunch of homebrewers tossing a cardamom pod in their CAPs? I doubt it. BUT, if you were working at a brewery who was selling beer which utilized cardamom as an anti-skunking agent, it's patent infringement and you could be liable for damages in court. The information lacking at the IBM patent server is whether or not the patent has been abandoned. Since no one at A-B is promoting their skunk-free beer, maybe they don't care about the patent and have stopped paying to keep their rights intact. But if Heineken starts getting better in a year and a half, there may be something to this idea. Ha, ha. I'm not an attorney (but manage intellectual property for a living), so I imagine Lou Bonham is out there cringing at my explanation. The bottom line is that homebrewers shouldn't worry about being pounced on, but I wouldn't go trying to make a profit off anything. A patent is a legal right. Cheers! Marc Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:19:07 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: sanitizing spray bottle Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> wrote: >Jeff mentioned that he likes to keep a spray bottle of >iodophor handy, but that it loses it's color over time. Just to clarify, I wrote that I didn't see any reason to make new iodophor every day, as seemed to have been recommended, *as long as it kept its color.* I keep a spray bottle around for several weeks without a significant loss in color. I suppose I really should get those test strips though. BTW, I use a "chemical resistant sprayer" (Milkhouse Brand) from the same Fleet Farm I got the iodophor from. I suppose it has stainless steel parts. It cost only a few dollars - not much more than the ordinary ones. Jeff -=-=-=-=- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:23:38 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: Pre-boil topping off "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com> wrote: >I top-off any evaporated water (0.5 gallon/hr max.) with either >filtered water or with leftover spargings during the last 20 minutes or so >to keep my final volumes where I want them. Assuming you didn't mean leftover sparge water, be sure to taste those leftover spargings (probably better called lauterings or something like that as sparge is the water you introduce to the top). It can often taste pretty astringent, especially if it has been sitting on the grains during the boil before you run it off. Jeff -=-=-=-=- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 10:12:28 -0400 From: Rod Prather <rodpr at iquest.net> Subject: Looking for good pubs. I will be heading for Fairfield, CA for a business trip in a few weeks. That's just North of Oakland. I was interested in finding a few good brew pubs and quality beer drinking establishments to visit while in town. SF, Napa or other locale is fine. - -- Rod Prather Indianapolis, Indiana Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 09:41:34 -0600 From: "Gary Glass" <gary at aob.org> Subject: Big Brew Recipe To All Big Brew Brewers: There have been several questions posted on both the techtalk and HBD forums about the Big Brew Recipe, so I'll try to answer as many of them with 1 email as I can. Targets for the Nearly Nirvana Pale Ale recipe: OG: 1.052 FG: 1.011 IBU: 46 Final Volume: 5 gallons The recipes posted on our www.beertown.org website are intended to come close to this, but as with any recipe, final results will depend on the system being used. I suggest adjusting the recipe to match your own system. If you are unsure how to make adjustments for your brewing system, I recommend checking out Part I of Ray Daniels' book "Designing Great Beers", which does an excellent job of explaining how to hit target OGs and final volumes. But if you don't want to go to the trouble, relax, don't worry...brew the recipe as is, it'll be great even if it doesn't come out to exactly 5 gallons, or hit the intended OG on the money. I'll be raising my glass to you all on May 6! Happy Brewing, Gary Glass - ------------------------- Gary Glass, Administrator American Homebrewers Association Voice: (303) 447-0816 x 121 Fax: (303) 447-2825 Email: gary at aob.org Web: http://www.beertown.org Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:26:49 -0400 (EDT) From: br at interport.net (B.R. Rolya) Subject: Re: NYC Trip/bad brewpub music phil sides jr writes: >My current favorite place to have a pint in the city (this changes from >time-to-time) is d.b.a. on 1st Avenue (Midtown East) Just to avoid any confusion, it's actually in the East Village, about 40 blocks south of midtown... and >The Heartland Brewery at Union Square is an essential visit if for no >other reason, the historical significance. The building used to be the >headquarters of the National Temperance Movement. It's not Heartland Brewery that's in the National Temperance Movement former headquarters, it's the Tap Room, an Austrian brewpub (with decent german/austrian- style beers). Before the Tap Room, Zip City occupied this place. (Address: 3 W. 18th St.) The mention of Heartland reminds me of a question that's been plaguing me for years: why is it that every single brewpub that I have ever been in plays the most horrible music imaginable?? (Top honors in this category go to Heartland in my book. Most Amusing, however, goes to Dieu du Ciel! in Montreal where we had the honor of witnessing "Spectacle: 30 Years of Heavy Metal" performed with the utmost seriousness and not a trace of irony.) I realize that musique concrete or post-rock/math-rock isn't going to go over well with the general public and one needs to play something innocuous so as not to offend anyone, but the things I'm forced to listen to while trying to enjoy a beer are just horribly insipid! (I guess I'll turn my rant mode off now...) -BR New York City Malted Barley Appreciation Society http://hbd.org/mbas/ Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 13:44:57 EDT From: Prestoniam at aol.com Subject: double boiling I'm new at all grain style. Can you tell me if boiling about half of the wort in a 7.5 gal ss pot, and the other half in 5 gal ss pot until the hot break, and then combining the two into the larger pot for the rest of the boil is okay? And should I ladle it or is just pouring from one into the other okay? Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:43:25 -0700 From: "Grant W. Knechtel" <GWK at hartcrowser.com> Subject: Syrup questions HBD 3309 Don Lake asks in HBD 3309: "My next brewing session will be an attempt at a Berliner Weisse. Does anyone out there know of a source for the Woodruff & Raspberry syrups that traditionally compliment this style? Private email are OK Don Lake" I recently purchased a bottle each at a local German specialty shop, where they also had Berliner Kindl at what I remember as a ridiculous price though I paid it just the same. Look for Waldmeister and Himbeer syrups. You could also easily use the common Italian soda syrups though I've never seen them in Woodruff flavor. Good luck in your quest! Prost! -Grant aka LabRat Neue Des Moines Hausbrauerei Des Moines, WA, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 14:12:44 -0400 (EDT) From: John Varady <rust1d at usa.net> Subject: Natural Gas Burners I am putting together a brewery using 30 gallon drums and have begun to think about how I should go about heating them. I will be using Natural Gas to heat the system and am planning on building a rack out of steel to hold the beast. Gas BBQ replacement burners seem like they would be a good idea. The diameter of the drums is 18" and it would seem easy to put a 16-17" H shaped burner under the drum with the ability to turn on/off each side of the H. SS Replacement burners in this style run about $25 with venturi attachments. I would also like to have knob adjustments and a igniter button for each. Is anyone out there using such an arrangement? Anyone care to suggest something else? Thanks, John - -- John Varady http://www.netaxs.com/~vectorsys/varady Glenside, PA rust1d at usa.net Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 14:35:36 -0500 (Central Daylight Time) From: Tidmarsh Major <ctmajor at samford.edu> Subject: re: Patent infringement? DanK asks whether it matters that he won't be using the subject of a patent for profit. Patent law, unlike copyright law, has no fair use exception, so it doesn't matter how you use the technology covered by the patent. Practically, of course, how's the A-B legal dept. going to know that you're adding cardamom? Not that I'm in any way suggesting the use of said patent even one minute before the patent expires on June 21, 2000 (I wouldn't dream of contributing to anyone's patent infringement), but the patent does seem to be a useful summertime brewing trick to protect against in-the-glass skunking on those soon to arrive long summer afternoons and evenings. I notice from the table at the end of the patent that in addition to cardamom (mmm . . . witbier) that peppermint and rosemary are effective (though above flavor threshhold levels). A few years ago, I brewed a rosemary IPA that turned out very nicely. I think I'll try it again (come June 21 ;-) as a summer brew. I don't have my recipe notes at hand, but I left out the flavor and aroma hops on an IPA and replaced them with 2 oz. of fresh rosemary leaves added to a 5 gal batch just before knockout. Regards, Tidmarsh Major Birmingham, Alabama Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 14:29:00 -0600 From: "Trevor Good" <t.good at printwest.com> Subject: Lemon Beer Dear Group, My mom and sister are quite fond of the lemon ade style beer that has recently hit the Canadian market. In a moment of weakness (read ' I had a couple ') I promised to brew them some. After a while I figured they forgot, but as luck would have it they keep reminding me that summer is coming and lemonade beer would be great. Problem though, I have no idea how to get that lemonade flavor in beer. The only idea I had was taking frozen concentrated lemonade and adding that. If you have any ideas how much to add or any other ideas it would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance Looking forward to summer in Saskatchewan, Trevor Good Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 13:28:59 -0700 From: "Michael Rose" <maltandhops at msn.com> Subject: Rob or Dr. Cone Rob or Dr. Cone, Has Dr. Cone published any books? Thanks 15x10*6 per answer ;^) mike rose Crestline, CA maltandhops at msn.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 18:11:33 -0400 From: Aaron Perry <vspbcb at earthlink.net> Subject: sulfury lager hello all I have a lager that was really sulfury smelling. As I've read, I'm letting it lager to let the sulfur smell dissipate. It's working slowly, and that leads me to the questions.....would the sulfuryness be driven off more rapidly if the beer wasn't in a keg? If I counter pressure bottle, will it dissipate quicker in that smaller volume of beer? I may also dry hop to mask it a bit if it won't leave soon! any help is, as always, much appreciated. Thanks Aaron Perry Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 18:25:40 -5 From: "Mike Kidulich" <mjkid at rochester.rr.com> Subject: UNYHA 22nd Annual Competition and 11th Empire Open UPSTATE NEW YORK HOMEBREWERS ASSOCIATION 22nd ANNUAL COMPETITION & 11th EMPIRE STATE OPEN Best-of-Show judging and Award Ceremony held on Saturday, May 20, 2000 Entry deadline is May 10, 2000 for shipped entries. See http://www.ggw.org/unyha/comp2k.htm for rules and shipping addresses. There is also a downloadable entry form on this page. All styles accepted for judging, including Cider and Mead. Mead and Cider are not eligible for Best of Show. email: tweymann at hselaw.com (T. Weymann) or hwjones at courts.state.ny.us (Henry Jones) Ship 'em if ya gottem! Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 16:51:12 -0600 From: William Plotner <beerbill at juno.com> Subject: Warsteiner clone Hello fellow brewers. Has anyone come up with a good, partial mash, clone of Warsteiner? Also, does anyone know if The Gourmet Brewer is still in business? Thanks William Plotner Colorado Springs ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:36:40 -0400 From: mike megown <magobrew at erols.com> Subject: Big Brew 2K Can some please post or email me the speifics of Big Brew 2k. I mean what the target OG, IBU, SRM, & FG should be. I have the recipe but I want the data so I can get a recipe designed for my system. Cheers! Mike Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 21:35:53 -0400 From: "Hampo, Richard (R.)" <rhampo at ford.com> Subject: Connections & corrosion Hi all! Big wires are something I deal with all day - I work with 50+ kW electric drives for vehicles. The choice of connection method boils down to 2 general rules. 1) For low current connections, use solder. 2) For high current connections, use mechanical means. Pretty simple, eh? The reasoning behind rule 1 is that oxidation can build up on the contacts if the current is low. Soldering the connection ensures that there is no place that the oxide can break the circuit. Gold plated terminals are generally required for mechanical connections when they are not soldered since gold does not readily form oxides. The reasoning behind rule 2 is that high current will break through any oxide buildup so solder is not necessary. Further, crimp or screw connections allow mechanical movement to occur (due to thermal expansion or movement of the wires) while if the connection was soldered, cracks would form and eventually cause the joint to fail. Best Regards, Richard J. Hampo Ecostar Electric Drive Systems Technical Specialist Rm. 1023, Ecostar Building Tel: (313) 621-6337 15001 Commerce Drive North Fax: (313) 594-0913 Dearborn, MI 48120 USA Email: rhampo at ford.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 21:45:53 -0400 From: "Hampo, Richard (R.)" <rhampo at ford.com> Subject: more on connections Just one more point: On large, high current connections, crimping and then soldering is generally not a good idea. If it is soldered then there tends to be concentrations of stress where the solder ends. Mechanically this defeats the strain relief aspects of a good crimp or screw type connection. I can't say that this is never done in practice but I have seen large wires break due to lack of strain relief caused by soldering a crimped connector. Best Regards, Richard J. Hampo Ecostar Electric Drive Systems Technical Specialist Rm. 1023, Ecostar Building Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 22:39:53 -0700 From: Ted McIrvine <McIrvine at ix.netcom.com> Subject: NYC Trip Don't miss the two best breweries in NYC: Park Slope Brewing (Park Slope Brooklyn, 6th Avenue The Tap Room (19th Street??? around the corner from Heartland Brewing, which would be my third choice of brewpubs.) The Tap Room has outstanding food and great lagers, and is run by an Austrian brewing equipmennt manufacturer. Park Slope makes a variety of outstanding ales and one of the finest brewpub pilsners that I've had and is worth the subway trip to Brooklyn. If you go to Brooklyn, the Waterfront Ale House on Atlantic Street is definitely worth a visit and is an excellent place to taste an assortment of local beers, especially those from the Brooklyn Brewery. Almost all the other breweries, including Typhoon, Westside, Commonwealth, and Times Square, make beer that is comparable to decent homebrew. But they aren't worth a visit when there are tap bars with multiple taps such as: Chumley's, Jekyll & Hyde, Slaughter Lamb, Peculiar Pub (West Village) Burp Castle & Brewski's (East 7th Street, 5 blocks around the corner from DBA) and of course DBA itself at First Avenue near 3rd Street. Uptown, the Gingerman has an enormous array of taps. On Lafeyette and 4th, a Belgian restaurant named "Belgo" opened in a converted garage (not great atmosphere, but good mussels and great ales) with a selection of Belgian ales rivaling Burp Castle. Burp Castle has waiters dressed as Trappist Monks, and Brother Patrick is a local legend, especially after consuming a number of Anchor Foghorns, which he clandestinely guzzles from the tap next door at Brewski's. Even Staten Island does well on beer bars. We have three places with extensive selection of fine beers. > "Philip J Wilcox" <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com> asks: > > >My next trip is NYC this Saturday till Tuesday. My wife has a > conference at the Downtown Manhattan Hilton (1335 Avenue of the > Americas). So Where should I go? I have heard that Manhattan is > not a brewpub mecca, but being the largest import/export city in the world, > has to have some beer advantages somewhere. Quality Multi-taps??? - -- Dr. Ted McIrvine McIrvine at Ix.Netcom.Com College of Staten Island/CUNY "Music is the hidden arithmetical exercise of a mind unconscious that is calculating." Gottfried Leibniz, quoted in Lorenz Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:25:03 -0400 (EDT) From: root <root at brew.oeonline.com> Subject: Yes!! Success! Now, let's play with the remaining functions, then test the lock routine itself (on the moderation side, mind you - haven't written the routines for the requestor or "eat" yet. Sendbrew needs no help. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:28:29 EDT From: Crispy275 at aol.com Subject: Big Brew 2000 - Recipe and notes With Big Brew right around the corner and my recipe in print in Zymurgy, I thought I would share the recipe on the HDB format for those who might not get Zymurgy (although it is listed at beertown.org) and share a few thoughts about the recipe and my development of it. In 1995, shortly after I joined a local homebrew club (Fermental Order of Renassance Draughtsmen, or F.O.R.D. for short), I realized that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was one of my favorite brews. A quick search of Cats Meow recipe database gave me several varients of the recipe, but most were similar enough to give me a common starting ground. After 5-6 attempts, I realized I was pretty damn close. Then, I began changing one element of the recipe while leaving everything else constant. It was by doing this that I really began to appreciate the difference between 1/2 a pound of Crystal 40oL vs. a whole pound; adding a pound of wheat or not; using carapils or not. I must admit (flameproof underwear on) I really can't tell the difference between using Briess or Marris Otter or any other quality base malt. But I can tell if it has gotten too old (a rare problem at the Barr House Brewery). One of my favorite varients was my Super Nirvana Pale Ale (SNPA Clone #9, or Super 9), where I used 150% of the normal grain bill and 150% of the normal hop amounts - 1.082, nearly Barley wine, but soooo good. I will bring the remaining few bottles to the National Convention. Anyway, on with the recipe...(as it appears in Zymurgy). Big Brew 2000, Nearly Nirvana Pale Ale All Grain Recipe for 5 gallons: 6.5 gallons water (2.5 mash, 4 sparge) 1 T gypsum (unless using hard water) 9lb. U.S. two row malt 1/2 lb U.S. crystal malt 60 L 1/2 lb U.S. dextrin malt 1 oz Perle hops (bittering or first wort hop) 1/2 oz Cascade hops (flavor) 1/2 t Irish moss 1/2 oz Cascade hops (aroma) 1 oz Cascade hops (dry hop) Wyeast 1056 liquid ale yeast All-grain instructions: Mash grains in water at 152o F for 60 minutes. Raise temperature to 168o F by draining mash tun, heating liquid to 180o F. Recirculate. Sparge with 168o F water with gypsum. Bring to wort boil. Add bittering hops. Boil 80 minutes. Add Irish moss and flavor hops. Boil 9 minutes. Add aroma hops. One minute later, turn off kettle. Chill. Transfer to fermenter. Pitch yeast and aerate. Do a two-stage fermentation. Add dry hops to secondary fermenter before racking. Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar or keg and force-carbonate when complete. Share with friends when ready. OK, pretty good. This will get you pretty darn close to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Now, some thoughts. First, use however much water you need with your particular system to sparge off about 6 gallons. You will boil down to about 5. Second, I have not brewed this particular recipe in at least the last 5-6 batchs of SNPA clone. Why? Because, as Tim Allen would say, MORE POWER! Actually, more hops and malt! Specifically, I like more hop flavor, so I recommend if you think Sierra Nevada is a really good brew, but could use a touch more of that delightful Cascade hop flavor, add a full ounce of Cascades at about 20 minutes to the end of the boil, another one with about 10 minutes remaining and then follow the rest of the recipe. I also like to add a pound of wheat to 1) boost my gravity and 2) ensure good head. And isn't that what this hobby is all about? Uh, good head retention is what I was talking about. Finally, I like to use HUGE yeast starters. I mean, forget stepping up a smack pack. I like to go to Motor City Brewing Company or Kings Brewery and hand them a one-gallon ziplock and fill it up. Did you know brand new ziplocks (never opened) are sanitary from the factory? I always keep a box in the car for those handy visits. I will be having a Big Brew Party (Site 52) at the Barr House Brewery (me humble abode) with approximately 20 brewers on May 6th, followed by a pig roast and a band with significantly more friends and neighbors coming, so if you are anywhere near Ann Arbor, Mi. and you would like to learn about, share information on or just enjoy a homebrew, call me at 734-944-6618 and I will give directions. - Crispy Fry Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 22:32:07 -0500 From: Ron and Sharon <biohazrd at graceba.net> Subject: Cardamom Tincture Before I begin reporting on some net research, I'd like to thank Rob Moline for providing the collective with Dr. Cone's honorable expertise. I'll be printing and binding his responses for future reference and trying some of the things he has mentioned. Now, on to my one man quest for unskunkable beer. I really thought there would be more responses to my first posting than there were, so I have answered my own questions (from the public domain, marc) regarding the Busch patent #4,389,421 regarding cardamom to prevent skunking in beer. I have obtained the cardamom and a little basic research on the net has provided some very interesting information. To refresh everyone's memory, the Busch patent states that cardamom, in very limited quantities, will provide the same protection from skunking as an amber bottle. I don't know about the rest of ya'll, but we throw spring and fall parties with potato guns and beer and skunking is a serious problem. In the past we have brewed Belgian wit to prevent the skunking problem (bittered with Curaco orange peel and very little hop) but I wanted to go to a German Pills this fall. The active ingredient in Cardamom that prevents the skunking effect is stated to be 1,8-cineole. This compound is assisted by 1,4-cineole which has no effect by itself but has a synergistic action with the 1,8-cineole compound allowing lower amounts of 1,8-cineole to be added. Why lower the 1,8-cineole, which is effective by itself? Maybe the compound's lay name will help....eucalyptol. No, I don't want eucalyptus beer either. 1,8-cineole is available commercially for about $20.00 per 100 grams (a lifetime supply) The compound 1,4-cineole (no common name) also has a flavor and aroma but its not as potent and is listed as "Cooling Pine Minty Camphor Terpene Green". This compound is also commercially available but costs a whopping $152.00 per GRAM. That's right, cocaine is cheaper on the street corner. So making a mixture, as suggested in the patent with a ratio of 3:5 1,8-cineole to 1,4-cineole, and using at a rate of 0.89 to 1.58 ppb would be expensive, unless several people shared the cost. So, if making a solution of the purified compounds is out of the question, for now, how about the suggestion of 60 ppb of cardamom? I have obtained a container of cardamom, from a local grocery store for 89 cents (Tones Bros, inc) which weighs 12 grams. Can we simply throw in the ground cardamom? If so, when? The patent suggest the addition at the end of the process prior to packaging to reduce the risk of loss in the "processing stages". I take that to mean boiling out or blowing out with CO2 from fermentation. I think there is more to the process than this, however. Lets explore the chemical nature of the cineole compounds in question. Both 1,8-cineole and 1,4-cineole have very high boiling points, around 176 C or 348 F. So they will not boil out during the wort boil. What chemical reactions may occur, now thats a different story. We don't really know. In addition to a high boiling point the compounds are INSOLUBLE in water. The compounds are, however, soluble in 95% ethanol, ether and DMSO. Ether is too flammable and I don't want to drink DMSO, so how about Ethanol? ummm ethanol. That'll work. My original suggestion of making a tincture out of the cardamom is very viable with this new information. This is probably why addition of cardamom at the final stage of the beer making process is recommended, beer is a dilute alcohol solution and will probably hold more cineole in solution than the earlier stages prior to alcohol formation. But, beer probably contains inadequate amounts of alcohol to take the compounds into solution directly from the ground cardamom. if, however, the cineoles were first dissolved into alcohol then added to the finished beer, they will probably stay in solution, at least in quantities needed for skunk prevention. As to freshness of the cardamom, I'm not going to worry. These are not volatile oils we're talking about but epoxies. A compound with a boiling point of 348 F is not likely to vaporize and disappear from the table top much less from a sealed container. I don't know what effects oxygen will have on them but I think they may be stable in that regard at room temps. Now armed with this information, lets do the math to make a usable tincture that we can add to our secondary a day or so prior to botteling/kegging. I would like to make a convenient supply of the tincture that I'll use for 6 month's or so, a reasonable expiration dating. The patent suggests 60 ppb of cardamom so, what's that in an amount that you can measure and put in 5 gallons? Lets use the whole 12 grams of cardamom I purchased pre measured in a nice little container..... Cardamom 12 grams 95% Ethanol 100 milliliters Mix some of the ethanol and the 12 gms of cardamom (full container, no weighing) in a mortar and pestle and grind into a paste. Add a little ethanol at a time and keep grinding until all of the ethanol is incorporated. Place the mixture into a small glass bottle with a metal lid and let sit a day or so. You can then strain off the alcohol tincture from the sediment of crude cardamom. You now have the active ingredients from 12 grams of cardamom in the alcohol with an extraction rate of at least 80%. Eighty percent of 12 grams makes the essence of 9.6 grams of cardamom in 100ml (not counting the loss of alcohol in the leftover paste and filter paper). How much do we add to our 5 gallons of beer? Parts Per Billion (ppb) is the same as micrograms per liter so with a desired level of cardamom at 60 ppb we also have 60 micrograms per liter. A 5 gallon batch of beer is about 21 liters so we need 1,260 micrograms for 5 gallons of beer. Our tincture contains the essence about 9,600,000 micrograms of cardamom (remember the estimated 20% loss during the extraction) in 100ml or 96,000 micrograms per milliliter. That's a whopping 0.013ml. We need to make an aliquot from the tincture. Here's how. Take 0.25ml of tincture (measured with a U-100 insulin syringe, they're available without prescription. See if you can buy just a few) and dilute to a total volume of 10ml with ethanol We now have a solution that we can measure with our insulin syring, 0.52ml (or 52 units on the syringe). This will provide the necessary 1,260 micrograms of cardamom essence. I've tried to keep this a simple as possible and avoid the need for any kind of specialized equipment beyond a mortar and pestle and an insulin syringe. If you have an accurate scale you can make a much more dilute solution and avoid the need to do the final aliquot. I also plan to use grain ethanol at 76% or so for the solvent. I think this should work as well but the total extraction will be somewhat lower than it would be with 95% technical grade ethanol. I'll be making this tincture and testing it on a batch of very hoppy pale ale that I'm drinking this week if the sun ever shines. When the tests are complete I'll submit a short response on the effects. I'd like to hear any comments or questions from the collective. And for Marc, I won't be selling any doctored beer, I don't sell beer. Many thanks to S.R. Palamand, the inventor of the patent. Ron Montefusco biohazrd at graceba.net www.graceba.net/~biohazrd Return to table of contents
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