---

	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
		Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of 
		Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
				URL: http://www.oeonline.com


Contents:
  Re: Outing of Mead and cider! (Steve Lacey)
  Eric R.  Broken fridge (AZ4RAYS)
  Keg tags, humidity problem in keg cooler ("Kevin Imel")
  RE: Fixing bottle geysers ("Neitzke, Arnold")
  Foaming Beer ("Jimmy Hughes")
  marris otter ("Czerpak, Pete")
  Zymurgy Mead issue ("J. Doug Brown")
  aha mission statement ("Pannicke, Glen A.")
  Re: Helles (Jim Liddil)
  moved fridge (fridgeguy)
  RE: Dorm Fridges (Jonathan Peakall)
  Re: RIMS O2 Insulation ("Martin Brungard")
  To suck or not to suck, that is my question. ("Jay Hummer")
  dysfunctional fridge ("Spies, Jay")
  cold beer ("Marty Gulaian")
  Fixing bottle geysers ("Pannicke, Glen A.")
  Re:  Ben Franklin ("Brett A. Spivy")
  system design (fridgeguy)
  shipping methods (DiDi Davidovich)
  Fw: Homebrew Digest Request (May 22, 1900) ("Alex MacGillivray")
  Two more cents (Epic8383)
  Mead in the style guide ("Houseman, David L")
  Zymurgy topics ("Houseman, David L")
  I found Woodruff/Waldmeister syrup!!! ("Donald D. Lake")
  Message From the Chairman of the AHA Board of Advisors: Election ("Gary Glass")
  Bavarian Lager: Beerhall Helles... by Horst Dornbusch (John_Doherty)
  AHA BOA CONGRATS!!! (Scott Abene)
  Beechwood Chip Usage at A-B ("Clint Thessen")


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


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 14:40:49 +1000
From: Steve Lacey <stevel at sf.nsw.gov.au>
Subject: Re: Outing of Mead and cider!

Whoa, Bill Wible has just outed mead and cider for not being beer. This is
real "The Emperor Has no Clothes" kind of stuff. Mead and cider are
definitely more wine than beer, yet they are included within the ambit of
most homebrew comps. Why is this so? Is it because they are just not catered
for by amateur wine making competitions etc? There must be some history to
this that the likes of me (and a number of my brew club mates) and Bill are
not aware of. 

So what do you say brewsters, should we run these imposters out of town or
continue to tolerate their goofy ways amidst our dignified company? I'm not
sayin' we better 'n 'em, jis they shore are funny lookin'!
Bites, anyone?

Steve Lacey


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 01:14:52 EDT
From: AZ4RAYS at aol.com
Subject: Eric R.  Broken fridge

Several thoughts occur to me after your moving the fridge.

As to the noise, or lack thereof, moving around may have repositioned your 
compressor and associated equipment so that you don't hear as much rattling 
as before.

However, the drop in performance leads me to believe that your extension cord 
is either very cheap with much too small a wire guage to carry the load or 
the exact opposite. If you put the fridge on a nice long, outdoor cord you 
are experiencing too much line loss for the appliance to operate properly. 
The voltage drop across the cord is robbing the power your fridge needs to 
work properly and throwing off the control circuitry accuracy as well. This 
could cause burn out in a short time.

Reccomend repairing those electrical outlets before you burn out the fridge. 

Just the idle thoughts of an old Electrician / Electronic Technician who 
hates to see a good beer fridge being abused. Have been eavesdropping on here 
for awhile but felt the need to jump in on this one. 

By the way I went ahead and joined the AHA just for the hell of it the other 
day, felt compelled to mentioned what a nice, professional, person Lynne at 
St. Pats is as she is apparently running for office. She has been a most 
valuable asset to me in my growing into this hobby. My experience and 
correspondence with her has led me to believe she would serve the 
organization very well indeed.

Patrick W. Ray
No particular credentials.
Hobbyist & beer lover.
AZ4RAYS at AOL.COM


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Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 22:22:18 -0700
From: "Kevin Imel" <kimel at moscow.com>
Subject: Keg tags, humidity problem in keg cooler

Greetings!

First, something to share with everyone.  Forgive me if someone 
else has posted this idea before.  Last weekend while wandering 
the aisles of the local office supply mega-store (no, this isn't my 
weekend hobby...the wife was "on a mission" and I was chauffer for 
some odd reason) I stumbled upon something that has solved my 
long running keg tag problem.  3M #LS853 Self-Laminating 
Luggage Tag Protectors.  These are pretty heavy plastic and come 
with nice plastic loops for attaching to the keg handle.  They work 
great!  I made a nice tag with the brew name and a white back.  I 
can then write on the white back with a Sharpie marker with the 
kegging date and other info I want to keep track of (Sharpies are 
erasable with Vodka, in case you hadn't figured that out yet).  No 
affilliation with 3M other than my mutual funds may have some 3M 
stock but I seriously doubt that my mentioning this product on here 
will significantly influence the stock price.

On a somewhat related topic (kegs), I use a small-ish chest freezer 
in the garage (unattached to the house, unheated) with external 
controller as a keg cooler and have been fighting the inevitable 
moisture build-up followed by the mold/mildew problems for a 
couple years.  Has anyone come up with a reasonable solution to 
this yet?  Here in E. Washington we don't have real high humidity 
so there isn't exactly standing water in the bottom of the cooler.  I 
tried a couple of those "Camp Dry" things with silica gel (I assume) 
and they helped but they weren't a great solution.  I also tried a 
tray of rock salt which actually seemed to work better than the 
Camp Dry things.  Anyone else have a better idea?  That 
mold/mildew stuff is annoying and I have to resort to quarterly 
scrubbings of the cooler and kegs with a bleach solution to get rid 
of most of it.

Cheers!

Kevin
___________________________________
Kevin Imel 
KF7CN - DN16lv
Palouse Washington USA

"The Only Way To Truely Fail Is To Fail To Try!"


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 06:41:30 -0400
From: "Neitzke, Arnold" <Arnold.Neitzke at fanucrobotics.com>
Subject: RE: Fixing bottle geysers


> From: "Jim & Jeanine Steinbrunner" <steinbrunner at tm.net>

> I'm not patient enough to work for a half hour or more, 
> burping my beer
> before I
> can drink it - that should come after drinking! I searched 
> the archives for
> suggestions, but burping the caps was the best I found. Any 
> other ideas?


Put a bottle in the freezer for about 15 minutes and see if it allows you to
get it to a glass before it hits the ceiling :)

__________________
Arnold J. Neitzke 
Brighton, Mi


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 08:32:34 -0400
From: "Jimmy Hughes" <inspector at bmd.clis.com>
Subject: Foaming Beer

I am still having the problem of just a few in a batch foam like crazy when
pouring, not when opening.

I have tried pouring down the side of the glass, pouring really, really slow
and still foams like crazy.

Any suggestions.

Happy trails to you, 'til we meet again..............
Check out the free items, go to,
http://www.ncinspections.com
scroll down, click on the free after rebate link........
Save money, enjoy........




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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 08:39:46 -0400
From: "Czerpak, Pete" <Pete.Czerpak at siigroup.com>
Subject: marris otter

I just bought my first full 55 lb bag of english 2-row from the local shop.
Supposedly it is Maris Otter malt (certainly cost enough).  I think it says
Muntons in big letters on the front of the sack and its does say Otter on
the back of the sack.  Is this true marris otter or not?

On another good note, I finally got my 10 gallon Gott with phalse bottom and
JSP malt mill.  Big allgrain batches should be happening pretty soon.  I am
no longer limited with 13 lbs of grain.  Yahoo!!

Thanks for any help.

Pete Czerpak
albany, NY


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 08:54:25 -0400
From: "J. Doug Brown" <dougbrown at citynet.net>
Subject: Zymurgy Mead issue

Hello,
  I just recently joined the AHA.  If you are unhappy with your Zymurgy
issue on mead please email me directly as I would like to buy that issue
from you.  I will only be buying 1 issuse total though.  I imagine that
my subscription to zymurgy will start with the next issue.  I am willing
to pay US $6 for the issue and mailing fees.  My personal feelings on
what should be covered in Zymurgy: Majority of articles in each issue on
beer related topics with an article or two on other aspects of brewing
such as mead, wine, and cider.

  Sincerely
  Doug Brown, brewing in WV
  dougbrown at citynet.net
  members.citynet.net/kbrown/Doug/Brew/index.htm


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 08:57:07 -0400
From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com>
Subject: aha mission statement

On Tue, 23 May 2000 Jim Liddil spoke of the aha mission statement:

>To promote public awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of 
>BEER through education, research and the collection and dissemination of 
>information; to serve as a forum for the technological and cross cultural 
>aspects of the art of brewing; and encourage responsible use of BEER as an 
>alcohol-containing beverage.

I knew this Liddil guy was SHARP!  It seems that there is a conflict between
the magazine name and the organization's mission statement.  SO may I
suggest the following corrective actions to AHA/Zymurgy:

1. Modify the AHA mission statement to include ALL forms of fermented
beverages so that it meets the Magazine's name and publish things like the
Big Fuel Alcohol Issue (as sugested by another)

OR

2. Keep the mission statement as is and restrict all articles to either
beer, sake or those strange concoctions brewed in third world countries
where the local women chew the grain and spit it in a bowl (yeeeccch!).

See, this is what you get when you deal with a compliance auditor ;-)


Carpe cerevisiae!

Glen Pannicke
http://www.pannicke.net
"He was a wise man who invented beer" - Plato


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 06:10:39 -0700 (MST)
From: Jim Liddil <jliddil at VMS.ARIZONA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Helles

On Wed, 24 May 2000, Request Address Only - No Articles wrote:

> 
> Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 12:02:28 -0400
> From: Bill.X.Wible at QuestDiagnostics.com
> Subject: Munich Helles Style Series book?
> 
> I saw an ad awhile ago that said a new Style Series book was supposed to
> be coming out for Munich Helles in May. This is near the end of May, and so
> far, I can't find it anywhere.   Has anybody heard or read anything?
> 

I ordered it online and got it yesterday.  I noticed the AOB and their web
site has no mention at all.
 
Jim Liddil



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 09:37:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: fridgeguy at voyager.net
Subject: moved fridge

Greetings folks,

 In HBD #3333, Rick Theiner asked for help with his fridge that worked
until he moved it across the room and plugged it into an extension
cord.

 Please forgive me if this is too obvious, but there IS power on the
cord, right? Plug in something else to be sure if you haven't already.
The fridge shouldn't be a big current user so an extension cord is ok
as long as it's made of large enough wire - no 16 gauge stuff!

 It's a good idea to let a fridge rest for a few hours after a move if
it has been tipped, and an hour or so if it hasn't, before plugging it
in. This gives time for any misplaced oil to drain back into the
compressor housing and for system pressures to equalize.

 If the fridge was running when it was unplugged, moved and then
plugged back in it is likely the compressor wouldn't restart due to
the pressure differential across it. You might hear the compressor try
to start and then CLICK... the thermal cutout trips. 15 seconds or so
later the cutout will reset and the cycle will repeat until the system
pressures equalize and the compressor starts, or the cutout or
compressor fails.

 The 20-30 degree drop in temperature was measured where? If it was
air temp across the evaporator the compressor is running or has
recently shut off. If the compressor is not running but lights, fans,
etc run, the fridge should heat up rather than cool down.
 
 When moving the fridge it is possible that connections to the
temperature controller or other device have been dislodged. Check all
of the accessible wiring and componentry for loose connections.

 Nearly every side-by-side fridge is frost-free so there is likely to
be a defrost timer which will periodically stop the compressor and
energize a heater/s to melt any evaporator ice that has built up
during the run period. If the fridge is in a defrost cycle it may not
start for an hour or so. Most defrost timers have a manual advance
stem that will allow you to use a screwdriver to skip through the
defrost cycle. Try this and see if the compressor starts.

 Lastly, this is a common problem when moving an old fridge. Since a
fridge isn't moved very often, the components can wear very thin and
still function. A move can provide the jolt necessary to cause an edgy
component to fail.

Hope this helps!
- ----------------------------------
Forrest Duddles - Fridgeguy in Kalamazoo
fridgeguy at voyager.net


- --
Is your email secure? http://www.pop3now.com
(c) 1998-2000 secureFront Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 06:32:12 -0700
From: Jonathan Peakall <jpeakall at mcn.org>
Subject: RE: Dorm Fridges

G'day all

We Aussie's have a much better name for these things.

BAR FRIDGES

Now doesn't that sound much more appealing, and describes how we use
them.

Shout

Graham Sanders

Gosh, thanks for straightening us out over here. You have no idea of the
delusions we labor under here! Silly folks over here call 'em dorm
fridges because they are common in college dormitories. Silly, huh?

>>>>>>>>>>>     ;-)  ;-)  ;-)  ;-)  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
(Indicates this is a jest, not to be taken to heart)

Where I'm from, a bar fridge is larger (usually taller) than a dorm
fridge. Dorm fridges are too small to really be useful in a bar. And I
thought everything in Australia was even bigger than in the US. I would
have thought a full size US fridge was a dorm (oops, sorry, bar) fridge
"down under".

Jonathan (In an obnoxious mood) Peakall



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 09:49:10 EDT
From: "Martin Brungard" <mabrungard at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: RIMS O2 Insulation

Dana Edgell has an innovative idea for reducing atmospheric contact during 
mashing by using floating balls in the tun. I like that idea and it would 
work well in my RIMS since my liquid return is below the liquid surface to 
reduce air contact. The balls should significantly reduce the exposed liquid 
surface area and conform to the odd shapes and pipes in my tun.

Dan Listermann's info on a source of floating plastic balls was very 
helpful. By my calculations, the balls can reduce the exposed liquid surface 
area by as much as 91% as long as they float with half of their diameter in 
the liquid. That means that they need an effective specific gravity of about 
0.5 to 0.55 to float half-submerged. That's based on liquid SG's between 1.0 
and 1.1

I checked with a couple of hollow plastic ball manufacturers and found that 
the effective specific gravity is about 0.25 for the balls they produce. 
That means the balls would float too high on the liquid surface, leaving too 
much of the liquid surface exposed to the atmosphere. I spoke with the 
technical personnel at both places I called and they said that they have no 
way to increase the weight of their product.

There are also solid plastic balls available, but they have a specific 
gravity of about 0.9. They would be mostly submerged and again too much 
liquid surface would be exposed.

The only answer I could come up with is to inject some water into each 
hollow ball to bring the weight up so that the effective specific gravity is 
about 0.5. That would be about 200 balls to adjust for a 5-gallon tun. The 
syringe hole would probably need to be sealed too. Maybe a hot iron would do 
the trick.

I am unsure of Dan's calculations on the area for the balls that he quoted 
in his post. The areas he quoted were drastically larger than I calculated. 
For instance, I find that the projected surface area of 1000 3/4-inch balls 
is about 3.1 square feet. Most 5 to 10 gallon tuns are going to have a 
surface area of about 0.6 to 0.9 square feet. That means that you could get 
a friend or two and split a box of 1000 3/4-inch balls. Is anybody on HBD 
interested in doing that?

Another solution to reduce the liquid surface area is to use a floating 
plastic cover in the tun, but that would require that the cover be removed 
each time you stirred and the cover would have to be custom formed to 
accomodate the piping in my tun. I like the ball idea better! You could 
probably dough-in, stir, and add liquids without ever having to remove the 
balls.

Any other ideas to reduce liquid surface area?

Martin Brungard
Tallahassee, FL

"Meandering to a different drummer"


________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 07:01:09 -0700
From: "Jay Hummer" <jayhumm at zdnetonebox.com>
Subject: To suck or not to suck, that is my question.

Is it okay to suck the end of a tube to start a siphon?  After all the
sterilizing I do with everything that touches the beer, it seems to me
that sucking on a tube that is then placed in beer is anything but sterile.
 Yet in a book I just purchased (by Dave Miller), there's even a diagram
about the proper position of your hand for pinching the tube after you
suck on it to start the siphon.  (Should I be gargling with sanitizer
first?)

I just bought a carboy cap with two holes in it, so I can rack by blowing
in one of the holes.  I figured that would solve the problem.  But no!
 I then see a catalog that sells these caps, and it refers to the practice
of blowing in the carboy as "dubious."

Do most people suck?  Or do they blow?

- -- 
Jay Hummer



___________________________________________________________________
To get your own FREE ZDNet Onebox - FREE voicemail, email, and fax,
all in one place - sign up today at http://www.zdnetonebox.com



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 10:27:51 -0400
From: "Spies, Jay" <Spies at dhcd.state.md.us>
Subject: dysfunctional fridge

All -

Eric Theiner asks in HBD #3333 about a non-working fridge and ideas for
remedial action...

Well, some months ago the SO got me to invest in a new fridge, despite the
fact that the present one worked just swimmingly.  ("but the old one doesn't
have an ice dispenser through the door...blah blah...")

Anyhoo, my price for shelling out the dough was that I be able to use the
old fridge for lagering purposes...  So some buddies of mine hauled my
fridge downstairs to the beer dungeon basement brewery and set 'er up.
Worked fine for a spell and then...nada.  Checked all the connections -
fine.  Checked for external damage - none.  Then, in the Mother Of All
Forehead Slaps, checked the breaker box...tripped!  Perhaps that's the
source of the problem?

Maybe if that's not the problem then the solenoid(?) that diverts coolant to
the fridge side is defective...I think I remember FridgeGuy saying something
along those lines once.  I'm sure Forrest will chime in shortly with his
usual stellar insights, so I'll just shut up now...

HTsomewhatH 
:)

Jay Spies
Wishful Thinking Basement Brewery
Baltimore, MD


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 10:28:25 -0400
From: "Marty Gulaian" <mag6 at po.cwru.edu>
Subject: cold beer

Forrest Duddles wrote:
>I actually prefer to see Bud and the rest of the megabrew stuff
>stay in the cooler. I'll buy good stuff instead and let it warm to
the
>proper serving temperature, thank you. BIG Smileys!!!

I probably shouldn't admit it here, but I like beer over ice. A Genny
Cream Ale over ice is great beach beer. And I'll order a Guinness or a
Spaten Optimator with a glass of ice on a hot night. Yum yum.

Why is beer any different from Coke or lemonade? Why don't we drink,
say, iced tea at cellar temperature?

Marty Gulaian
Cleveland, OH




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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 10:30:57 -0400
From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com>
Subject: Fixing bottle geysers

In HBD #3333 Jim Steinbrunner wrote:

>Now, after 2+ weeks in the bottle, I lose a third of the beer to foam
before I can
>pour, or I have to repeatedly "burp" the cap to let off some pressure. 

I currently have a similar problem with a barleywine I made.  Even after
racking to a secondary, adding a second charge of yeast and rousing weekly
for two months, I still couldn't get the gravity down below 1.024 (I think
that's what it was).  Figuring 1.024 was fine for a heavy brew with a
starting gravity around 1.100, I bottled two cases.  One case went to the
fridge and has been fine ever since.  The other went to the cellar for about
a year.  Sometime over the last month, one of the cellar bottles exploded
and all of them have bowed caps.  I opened one it gushed like crazy - all
potential bombs.  I guess there were still enough residual sugars present to
allow a long bottle ferment at the higher temp.

Rather than lose half the beer when I open it and handle each potential bomb
with kid gloves (and safety goggles), I put one of the the bottles in the
fridge & dropped the temp to around 35F for a few days.  I then opened the
bottle to vent the CO2 in the headspace, swabbed the neck with 70% ethanol
and loosely placed a sanitized cap on top for about 15-20 minutes to let
some more CO2 slowly escape from the beer and displace the O2 in the open
headspace.  Then I recapped and refrigerated at normal temp for two days.
This single bottle experiment seemed to help reduce the pressure and allow
the brew to reach normal carbonation levels.  I'm hoping it will work on the
rest of the case because this brew just gets better as it ages!  

Anyone else ever try this?

Carpe cerevisiae!

Glen Pannicke
http://www.pannicke.net
"He was a wise man who invented beer" - Plato





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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 10:33:46 -0500
From: "Brett A. Spivy" <baspivy at softdisk.com>
Subject: Re:  Ben Franklin

Jim wrote (in part):

<snip>

and FWIW and extensive search of various quotation databases has yet to
turn up the often cited ben franklin quita about god and beer.  This
involved using known quotation sites and various sites about ben
franklin

Jim Liddil
North Haven, CT
<snip>

While I have not tried to find the quote on the web, I know that this
quotation is listed in the 12th edition of Bartlett's and attributed to
Mr. Franklin.

IMS, it can be found in the first volume of columns in Mr. Franklin's
second newspaper under the heading:  Poor Richard.  This was the early
forerunner of what eventually became his most popular writings and then
later the almanac most everyone has heard about.

This quotation comes out of Mr. Franklin's general discussion of "Moral
Perfection", a concept that he took up at the age of 21, maintained was
fully within the reach of man, and proclaimed he had attained at the age
of 34.  This "life plan" was grounded deeply in the concept that "in all
things moderation" was not only possible but preferable.

In those first 22 columns detailing "Moral Perfection", what it meant,
its basic tenants, and how to achieve it over a lifetime, Mr. Franklin
makes the case that to deny oneself of drink was neither virtuous nor
healthy.  He makes the case for King David, the brewer and Noah the
winemaker, cites the obvious first miracle of Jesus (water to wine) and
recounts of Ismael's being sustained by angels with grain and drink as
proof that drink, in moderation, is the natural desire and healthful
path of man.  Mr. Franklin opined that man, in his decidedly ignorant
and survival oriented state could simply NOT have come to drink on his
own and further that it was God who designed the Honey, Grain, and Grape
so that its natural end state is alcohol.  Ergo, God taught Man to
ferment, and "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants of to be happy."

This great man, helped found a country, created wealth for himself and
others, developed technology, and loved women, drink, and food (in that
order), all the while attributing his success to God and preaching to
our forefathers the importance of faith and good beer.

Brett A. Spivy
Stolen Cactus Brewery
Student of Moral Perfection (stuck at the third tenant  at  32)



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 11:37:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: fridgeguy at voyager.net
Subject: system design 

Greetings folks,

 I posted this in reply to an inquiry I received as to why I recommend
a medium teperature refrigeration system for use in a cold box. I
think it may be helpful to others as well so I'll post it to the list.

>  Refrigeration engineers have carefully designed the various
> refrigerating devices we use. Each is tailored to the task it must
> perform. We as homebrewers try to adapt existing devices to serve
our
> needs. Choosing the best device for the task improves the likelyhood
of
> success of our adaptation.
> 
>  Briefly, there are three major types of refrigeration systems:
> 
>  High temp - air conditioners and dehumidifiers fall into this
> category. They are designed for an evaporator temperature of
> approximately 35 degF. so the won't freeze. These systems are
intended
> to be used with space temperatures near normal room temperature (70
> degF).
> 
>  Medium temp - domestic refrigerator/freezers, cold rooms,
> refrigerated display cases, etc are examples. These systems are
> designed for evaporator temperatures near 0 degF and will usually
need
> periodic defrosting. These systems are normally used with space
> temperatures of 20-50 degF.
> 
>  Low temp - domestic freezers, ice cream display cases, blast
> freezers, etc. are examples of this type of system. Evaporator
> temperatures are usually around -20 degF or colder and space temps
> will be  0 to -20 degF. Proper defrosting can be problematic with
> these systems. 
> 
>  When designing a cold room it is important to understand that cold
> air holds less moisture than warm air at a given *relative*
humidity. 
> Air at 50% relative humidity at 70 degF will contain more water than
> air at 50% relative humidity at 40 degF.
> 
>  As the air temperature is lowered the relative humidity rises until
> dewpoint is reached and the water begins to condense. If we wish to
> achieve 50% relative humidity at 40 degF, some of that water must be
> removed from the air. To do that we must lower the air temperature
> below dewpoint.
> 
>  Refrigeration systems remove moisture from the air by lowering the
> air temperature below its dewpoint as it passes over the evaporator.
> The moisture condenses on the evaporator surface. A lower evaporator
> temperature will drop the air temperature further below its
dewpoint,
> therefore more moisture will be removed from the air.
> 
>  The reason I recommend a medium temperature refrigeration unit for
a
> lagering cold box is that a properly sized system with a 0 degF
> evaporator temperature will remove enough moisture from the air to
> maintain reasonable humidity levels at a 35-40 degF space temp.
> 
> Hope this helps!
> --------------------------------
> Forrest Duddles - Fridgeguy in Kalamazoo
> fridgeguy at voyager.net



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 09:24:03 -0700
From: DiDi Davidovich <didi at mmlive.com>
Subject: shipping methods

Help!  I am no longer within easy freeway access to my father's homebrew and
we are suffering.  Has anyone discovered a reasonably economic way to
interstate ship a case or three, in 12 oz bottles?   Years ago he UPS'd
half-cases cross-country in recycled beer-of-the-month shippers, but that
became very expensive beer.  This is for consumption by adult members of the
immediate family so presumably this is not illegal or unethical.
 



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 08:42:58 -0800
From: "Alex MacGillivray" <sockeye at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Fw: Homebrew Digest Request (May 22, 1900)

Hello Brewing compatriots,


I thought I made a huge mistake. In fact I may still have made one in
the eyes of a judge, but be that as it may. I set out at the beginning
of last month to make an oatmeal stout. I foolishly followed a
suggestion in Zymurgy (which I won't re-new my subscription to.

There is more concentrated and relevant knowledge here). Normally I make 15
gallon batches at a time, so I just step up the directions to a 5 gallon
batch. I'm not going for clone beers. In fact I formulate my own
recipes. From time to time all brewers make mistakes be it as small as
forgetting the irish moss to letting one's dog drink from the bottling
bucket My last one was a classic miscalculation. I added 3 times too
much oatmeal to the mash tun. The run off was slow to stuck from the
mash that had become so pliable it was nearly elastic.

Then came the transfer the fementer. It was so turbid that it looked
like dark swamp water. But still smelled good nonetheless. I let it
ferment to completion. Which I'll add was a violent, but controlled
fermentation. Even when racking to a secondary is was full of
particulate. Oh well.... I added a dose of isinglass and fortunately it
cleared.

It has, so far, a finial gravity of 1.020. Which is fine for a barley
wine. But in this instance, it is also enjoyable. The alcohol is 5.3% by
volume.

I do have a question though if someone can answer. If I were to prime on

a bottle to bottle basis, like with the corn sugar tablets, how much
plain old powered corn sugar should I use based like on a 12 or 22 oz
bottle. I realize that carbonation might be a bit harder to control, but
they're just for my friends anyway.

Thanks
Remember, Alex starts with ale





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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 13:51:03 EDT
From: Epic8383 at aol.com
Subject: Two more cents

    After writing in my opinion on the honey variety article, it did occur to 
me that I am similarly obsessed with the variety of brewing ingredients. 
Someday I may try an exotic honey for a mead, but right now that's not a high 
priority. As far as Zymurgy and the AHA goes, I'll probably never cancel my 
membership as long as things don't get completely out of control. There are 
many things I'd like to be more involved in, but my family obligations and 
financial situation keep me rather busy. I do, however, try to endorse our 
craft to as many people as possible. Being a rather good 40 yr. old 
goaltender, I get the call to fill in for guys who can't make their game, and 
I always try to bring my 3 gal. corny, filled with something palatable yet 
tasty. I always suggest my local homebrew retailer as the place to go and 
offer to teach them with their first brew. At my own men's league annual 
party, I donate to the raffle a case of four different beers, this is usually 
a highly sought prize!
    I guess we all have to keep in mind that there are business concerns when 
running an organization/magazine, that just like a pro brewer has to brew 
what sells, so does the AHA have to appeal to a broad range of brewers.
      Gus Rappold
       Inwood, NY
P.S. Jim Liddil-The 50 BMG is a work of art!-but I think you just opened a 
whole new can of worms!...Should be interesting-Gus  


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 14:03:26 -0400
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: Mead in the style guide

Bill Wible writes:
"Personally, I think there has to be some seperation.   I question why
either mead or cider (and any of their variants) are listed in the style
guidelines as categories of beer.  They are not beer.  They are much
closer to wine.  I think the AHA and BJCP should remove these from
their style guidelines, since they are not beer."

There is a history since the early days of homebrew competitions that meads
and ciders have been included.  Not all competitions may include them, but
then not all competitions include all beer styles either.  The BJCP, having
resulted from this history, has continued the support of mead and cider by
including them in the style guide.  Should the homebrewing community,
specifically competition directors and entrants, decide that they don't want
mead or cider in competition, or to have them judged at homebrew
competitions, then they will dissappear from the style guide.  Just as Malt
Liquor was removed for lack of interest.  The style guide is intended to be
a living document that changes to represent the needs and wishes of it's
users.  CAP was added relatively recently due to the interest by the
homebrewing community.  Today, meads and ciders still have healthy
representation at many {if not most} homebrew competitions.  Many brewers
also make mead or cider and want a forum for having them judged.  Wine
competitions [to my knowledge] do not judge these beverages.  Was the AHA,
or even BJCP, ever ONLY about beer?  If you don't like them, don't make them
or opt out of judging them.  

David Houseman


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 14:12:01 -0400
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: Zymurgy topics

Personally, I'm interested in beer, mead and cider.  Wine too, but I've only
made lousy wine.  Then again my cider's haven't been spectacular either.
Maybe if I read more about these later subjects, I'd be as good at them as I
am the first.  Mabye if the cheesemaker's digest takes off with greater
participation, that would another area of "fermentation" that would be
relevant.  But then is cheese mold a yeast?  Probably not.  But there is an
affinity between the homebrewers, the home vinters, the mead and cider
makers and now the home cheese makers.  Now if I could only retire to have
the time to do all these as Jack does.

Dave Houseman


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 11:43:55 -0400
From: "Donald D. Lake" <dake at gdi.net>
Subject: I found Woodruff/Waldmeister syrup!!!

After many weeks since my first post about this, it looks as if the
brewers of Berliner Weisse will have a regular supply of
woodruff/waldmeister syrup.  One homebrew supply in northern California
has it in stock.  He went to a great effort to get it.  The syrup comes
only in one size of  700 ml and is priced at $18.  My exhaustive
research indicates that this is the only supplier in the U.S. who has it
in stock and is willing to ship mailorder.

J J Jackson
Original Home Brew Outlet
Sacramento CA
916-348-6322

I finally got to taste a berliner weisse sweetened with woodruff syrup
this past weekend at the Sunshine Challenge courtesy of Jeff Gladdish
and George Perrin.  All I can say is that it's totally worth all the
effort and every penny.

So, all of you Berliner Weisse lovers and especially those who asked for
it, call JJ to order a bottle and thank him for his trouble (I contacted
at least a twenty suppliers and suggested how to get it and all but two
declined to help).

Don Lake
dlake at amuni.com



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 14:03:53 -0600
From: "Gary Glass" <gary at aob.org>
Subject: Message From the Chairman of the AHA Board of Advisors: Election

A Message from Charlie Olchowski, Chairman of the AHA Board of Advisors:

	As Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the American Homebrewers
Association, I am pleased to announce the results of our recent election for
membership to our Board.  The individuals are: Pat Babcock, Louis Bonham,
Randy Mosher and Lynne O'Connor.  This is an amazing assembly of talents
from varied segments of the homebrewing community.  The Board will look
forward to working individually and collectively with these new members to
actively assist the AHA with meeting the needs of its membership.

 -Charlie Olchowski



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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 09:07:58 -0400
From: John_Doherty at cabot-corp.com
Subject: Bavarian Lager: Beerhall Helles... by Horst Dornbusch

In Homebrew Digest #3333 (May 24, 2000) Bill X. Wible wrote:
>
>Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 12:02:28 -0400
>From: Bill.X.Wible at QuestDiagnostics.com
>Subject: Munich Helles Style Series book?
>
>I saw an ad awhile ago that said a new Style Series book was supposed to
>be coming out for Munich Helles in May. This is near the end of May, and so
>far, I can't find it anywhere.   Has anybody heard or read anything?

Bill (and everyone else),
     Funny you should mention the Helles book - I was looking for it yesterday
and found it on barnes & noble (bn.com) and a bunch of other on-line book stores
for around $12.  Here's a tip - go to  www.isbn.nu  - this is an excellent site
for searching for books - and it does an automatic price comparison of any book
from about 10 big name on-line book stores.  This site also tips you off to many
e-coupon offers that can save you even more money (bn.com in particular has lots
of coupon offers).
     I plan to order the book today myself... says its in stock, ready to ship
in 24 hours from bn.com.  I'm gonna order another book ($21) as well, then use a
$10 off $30 purchase e-coupon to get both books for about $28 including shipping
 - If I were to walk into a book store and buy the second book alone it would
cost me $26.  Bargain!

Cheers,

John Doherty




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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 17:17:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott Abene <skotrat at yahoo.com>
Subject: AHA BOA CONGRATS!!!

Congrats Pat, Louis and Randy!

I look forward to good things from you guys!

C'ya!

 -Scott

=====
ThE-HoMe-BrEw-RaT
Scott Abene <skotrat at mediaone.net>
http://www.skotrat.com (the Homebrew "Beer Slut" page)

"The More I know about beer politics, The more I wish I made 120k"

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites.
http://invites.yahoo.com/


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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 21:47:10 -0500
From: "Clint Thessen" <hausbrauer at freewwweb.com>
Subject: Beechwood Chip Usage at A-B

Hi Folks,

    I'm surprised no one has stated the real reason that A-B uses beechwood
chips, especially people that went to MCAB II.  Per Steve Michalak, a master
brewer from A-B who was at MCAB II, the beechwood chips are used as a
settling surface for their highly flocculant yeast, irregardless of what the
marketing folks.  This allows the yeast to come into contact with more aging
beer than if it settled on the bottom of the tank.

Prost!
Clint Thessen
O'Fallon, MO
(~ 535 mi SSW of Jeff Renner)




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