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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  wort chillers (Harry & Kat)
  Pumpkin ale question ("Mike Meyer")
  RE: help a new brewer (Chris Cooper)
  grain storage (Alan McKay)
  Albany Brewpubs (msnyder)
  Great Bud Brew (LLOM)" <LLOM at chevron.com>
  mashing too cool explains 50% efficiency? (Jay Pfaffman)
  thought about brewing ("Darrell G. Leavitt")
  Munton's Gold Dry Yeast ("AYOTTE, ROGER C")
  Wyeast in the tube (Althelion)
  How is Zymurgy / AHA these days? (Alan McKay)
  Caught between a cold and a damp place (LJ Vitt)
  RE: roast barley harshness and Drew's conundrum ("Brian Lundeen")
  first batch help ("Richard Sieben")
  cloudy beer, burnt taste ("Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies")
  Re: RIMS Procedures, Mashing In & Sparge Temps, Apple notes,HERMs (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Rice Lager In A Plastic Bottle (Jeff Renner)
  Oops too much malt (John Leggett)
  Upcoming events for Canadian Amatuer Brewers Association ("Rob Jones")


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Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 21:27:52 -0500
From: Harry & Kat <grb2980 at cyber-south.com>
Subject: wort chillers

Regarding the question of home made wort chillers, I built a very simple
one.
I used 25 feet of 1/2" ID copper tubing that I wrapped around my corny
keg to create an immersion chiller.  I bent the two ends up so that they
protrude above the brew kettle.  I attached a 5' length of that clear
plastic tubing to the "in" side, and 2' on the "out" side.  I used worm
drive hose clamps to secure them.  The "in" line is then attached to a
48 quart chest cooler at it's drain spigot.  I don't clamp it, but
simply push it on.  It's a snug fit.  I put 20 lbs. of ice in the cooler
and fill it with water.  The cooler is usually 4' above the chiller so
gravity does the rest.  The ice water flows down the line, through the
chiller and into a catch bucket.  I gently stir the wort while this is
happening to break up the thermocline.  I chill 5 gallons of boiling
wort down to 70 deg F in less than 10 minutes.  I buy the ice at a
wholesale club for $1.58 plus tax, so that expense is negligible.  The
copper cost about $13, the clamps $.78, and the tubing $1.25.  I find
this to be a very inexpensive yet valuable tool in my brewing.

Re: The brewers from Down Under.
I really enjoy reading your posts.  I laugh at your antics and carrying
on about genital grabbing frogs, and head hunting cod.  I have to remind
myself however that your Southerners are our Northerners ..eer.. damn
Yankees ;>).  Folks closer to the equator just seem to be more fun.

Anyway I thought I'd share my two cents about the wort chiller.
Harry Grier
Dothan Alabama (Georgia native)




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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 02:23:15 CDT
From: "Mike Meyer" <dabrewinguy at hotmail.com>
Subject: Pumpkin ale question

Does anyone know the effects irish moss has on a beer if you add too much? I 
had a recipe that called for an ounce of irish moss, it seemed like alot at 
the time, but I put it in anyway.  Now looking through other recipes, I'm 
seeing the most any of them call for is 1 1/2 tsp. Is this going to hurt 
anything?
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at 
http://profiles.msn.com.



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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 08:27:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Cooper <ccooper at a2607cc.msr.hp.com>
Subject: RE: help a new brewer

Michael Leavitt writes of his first brew......
WELCOME to the club!!!!
Now that that's out of the way let me address your questions.
The yeast you used on your Scottish ale is indeed a top cropping variety and
the foam and "stuff" floating on top should be there.  With time most of it 
will eventually fall to the bottom.  When you are ready to rack it to a 
secondary fermenter you simply siphon the clear brew from between the trub
in the bottom of the fermenter and any remaining krausen (foam) on the top.  

Cleaning the carboy once the brew has been racked off is a simple task,
I rinse the carboy immediately, fill with water and add a generous slug
of un-scented household bleach and let it sit over night.  Next day I
simply empty and rinse a couple of times. A carboy brush also helps to
make sure all surfaces are clean.  Prior to using the carboy I fill it
with water and some bleach while I am brewing, empty, rinse twice, and use.
(a note of caution, be careful with bleach water as it will remove the color
from any clothing that you spill it on, I have a heavy chemist apron that I
wear when dealing with bleach water).

As far as getting break (sediment) into the primary, don't worry about it.
I try to avoid getting the break from the boil into the primary but there is 
always some that will get by you, and additional break will form as the wort
settles in the primary.  One thing that has helped me is that I have a 
funnel with a built in fine mesh screen that I picked up at my local home-
brew store (I believe it is called a wine makers funnel).  The screens can
be easily replaced (and are fairly cheap). I simply drain the cooled wort 
into the carboy through the funnel which filters out the bulk of the break
and aerates the wort in the process.

As far as the stopper in the carboy...None of us have ever done that before!!!
(and if you believe that I have some magic hop rhizomes to sell you)
I shouldn't hurt anything except have fun getting it out! (try a coat hanger
and some soap, but rinse well) 

Good luck, and again welcome to the club!

A brief note to Phil Yates...  Jeff Renner brought your rice lager to last 
weeks meeting of the Ann Arbor Brewers guild where a number of your fellow
HBD'ers sampled it most appropriately around a pool table!  I liked it!
Nice job!


Chris Cooper, Pine Haven Brewing (aka. Debbi's Kitchen) 
Commerce, Michigan    Member, Ann Arbor Brewer's Guild
(Approximately 25 miles from 0.0 Renerian)



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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 08:13:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alan McKay <amckay at ottawa.com>
Subject: grain storage

Drew,

Faced with the same situation, I left all my grain in the shed last
winter without a problem.  It too is unheated, and of course subject to
the same winters that your shed 20km down the road would be.
I would say definitely keep it out of a damp basement.  When brewing in
cold weather, just take your grain in to let it come to room temp
before using, mainly to give you more predictable results when mashing
in (that old 17F rule, and all ...).  Mine are kept in Rubbermaid bins
of various sorts that look like a steamer trunk.

Some of my grains are 3 years old now, and I don't notice any difference
in them.

- --
                 "Brewers make wort.  Yeast Makes Beer."
                       - Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide
http://www.bodensatz.com/
What's a Bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html



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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 07:28:13 -0500
From: msnyder at wm.com
Subject: Albany Brewpubs




Greetings everyone!

Pete Czerpak responded to Bob Halls inquiry about Albany brewpubs.  Although I'm
originally from the area, I now only make it up there a few times a year to
visit family.  And when there, I usually drag my 4 siblings out to try the local
brews, any new brewpubs and bond.

Been to the Albany pump station on several occasions and agree with Pete's
assessment of the place.  Just remember to check if George is around.  Walk up,
say hi and tell him you are part of the HBD.  If your experience is the same as
mine, YOU'LL have to find some way to break away and get back to your friends!
He truly does love to talk about beer and brewing and treats all brewers with
respect.  He's a very genuine fellow and even if his beers weren't stellar, that
would be more than enough reason to patronize his establishment in my opinion!

One brewpub Pete missed that is worth visiting is the Van Dyke in Schenectady,
in the old stockade district.  They got a new head brewer about a year or so ago
(it might be different again for all I know) and the taps are now running full.
The foods pretty good also.  Remember to call before you go though, it's been a
while since I was there (6 months or more) and things do change.

Enjoy!!

Mark Snyder
Atlanta, Georgia

(BTW, I'm a Clarkson alum also, 1975)




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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 07:39:46 -0500
From: "O'mahoney, Larry (LLOM)" <LLOM at chevron.com>
Subject: Great Bud Brew

I had the opportunity to visit the Budweiser brewery near Vacaville, Ca.
last week, and in the hospitality room they served an ale called "Pacific
Ridge" Pale Ale. It was superb! Pleasantly bitter, clean, malty, lots of hop
flavor and aroma (Chinook and/or Cascade?) When I asked, the young lady
leading the tour said she didn't know the exact ingredients. It is currently
marketed only to bars in the northern California area (too bad). If anyone
gets a chance to try this brew, I would recommend it without hesitation.

LarryO
New Orleans (by job, not choice)

++++++++++++++++++
"Our national problems usually do not cause nearly as much harm as the
solutions." --Thomas Sowell    




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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 08:04:14 -0500
From: Jay Pfaffman <pfaffman at relaxpc.com>
Subject: mashing too cool explains 50% efficiency?

I've been an all-grain brewer for about 6 batches now.  I've gotten
horrible yields on every beer I've made.  For example, yesterdays 21lb
grain bill (19 pale, 1 amber malt, 1 torrified wheat) yielded 6
gallons of 1.062 wort when it should have yielded 10 gallons of 1.059
wort (even at a paltry 75% efficiency).  I've sometimes made sure that
my sparge water was properly acidified, which didn't seem to make much
difference.

Yesterday was the first time I've brewed with anyone who was an
all-grain brewer, so I've been concerned that I'd been doing something
wrong, as reading and doing aren't necessarily the same thing.  My
procedures were pretty much the same as the friend who helped, BUT
his cute little Radio Shack electronic thermometer said that my 155
degree mash was 145 degrees.  This explains my horrible yields, right?
Also, should we have tried to do a decoction mash & raise the temp to
155 even after 1 hour+ of mashing at 145?  

I've re-calibrated my thermometer to his, but how to folks calibrate
your thermometers?  On a related note, his electronic thermometer said
that our vigorously boiling wort was only 208 degrees.  I know that
the wort's temp should be something over 212 (since the sugars should
raise the boiling point), which leads me to believe that my
thermometer might not have been that far off.  And now that I think
about it, on another brew session, I used another computer-based
thermometer which seemed to agree with mine.

The initial runnings from our mash were about 10.70.  We sparged
though a 10 gallon Gott with a phil's bottom for about 30 minutes.
Final runnings were about 1.020.  We stopped then because the gravity
of the wort was already lower than we were aiming for.  Does this
suggest a problem with my sparging?

- -- 
Jay Pfaffman                           pfaffman at relaxpc.com
+1-615-343-1720 (office)               +1-615-460-9299 (home) 
http://relax.ltc.vanderbilt.edu/~pfaffman/


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 10:02:12 -0400
From: "Darrell G. Leavitt" <leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu>
Subject: thought about brewing

When you wake up in the morning and all that you can think 
about is brewing......you KNOW that you are a brewer!

 ..Darrell
<terminally intermediate home-brewer>
- --------------------------
Darrell G. Leavitt, PhD
SUNY/ Empire State College
- --------------------------


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 10:44:00 -0400
From: "AYOTTE, ROGER C" <RCAYOT at solutia.com>
Subject: Munton's Gold Dry Yeast

     To All,
     
     I brewed a beer 10/6, 10g of 1.042OG, 90% Belgian Pils malt with 
     some munich, wheat...  I used about 28IBU from Willamette, Sazz, 
     and Styrian Goldings, also used 40-60-70C 30-45-30min mash 
     schedule.  90min boil, first wort hop all but 1/2oz styrian 
     goldings at knockout.  Force cool with counterflow wort chiller 
     into a bleach sanitized 10g cornelius keg.
     
     Here is the variation from normal operating procedure (for me) I 
     did not get the temperature I wanted for pitching, it was about 78F 
     and I was going to pitch 3 packets of Muntons Gold Dry YEast, and 
     since I thought it would be a very vigorous fermentation, I wanted 
     to atemper the rate of fermentation by starting a little cooler.  I 
     placed the fermenter in my refrigerator for a few hours until the 
     adhesive "Fermometer" read 68F.  I then placed the fermenter in my 
     fermenchiller.  I re-hydrated the yeast (3 packets of Munton's 
     Gold) in prebioled water at 104F and allowed it to stand 15 
     minutes, pitched and stirred in vigorously.  I did not aerate 
     further.  In 12 hours there was no real sign of fermentation and I 
     was getting worried, so I rehydrated another packet of yeast at 
     104F for 15minutes, and then pitched it into about 500mL of wort 
     from the fermenter, after a few hours there was vigorous 
     fermentation and I pitched the "starter" into the wort and found 
     vigorous fermentation at 36hours.
     
     After about 3 days of fermentation the SG was reading about 1.011 
     and the rate was slopwing down, I removed the gas line I was using 
     as a fermentation lock and allowed the pressure to build.  After 
     one day there was some good pressure, and I moved the beer to my 
     refrigerator to knock down the yeast.  
     
     Now here is the question:  The beer tastes too tart!  Is this from 
     the nature of the yeast, infection, overpitching or what?  I have 
     never used this yeast before and I am worried that I have an 
     infection.  When drawing off a beer to taste, I blow off about a 
     cup of beer with a lot of yeast (sampling from the liquid out side 
     of the keg) which I discard and take a less cloudy sample to taste. 
      Well it tastes a little tart to me and I was worried that I would 
     continue to get more and more tart due to infection.  On the other 
     hand, could I just have pitched too much yeast (four packets in 9+ 
     gallons?)?  Is the yeast going to settle and clean up?  Did I rush 
     the fermentation too fast?  Should I have left the beer to "ferment 
     out and condition" a few days before crashing the yeast at 40F?
     
     This beer, other than the tartness, has a little too much hop 
     flavor, probably due to first wort hopping all of the hops, perhaps 
     I should only FWH half the hops.  The beer's ,maltiness is a little 
     too subdued to support the hop flavor, which I am sure will fade a 
     little bit.
     
     Any suggestions, comments, or reason to hope the beer will clean 
     up?  I want to brew again asap if this beer isn't going to make it!
     
     Roger Ayotte 
     
       


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:57:04 EDT
From: Althelion at aol.com
Subject: Wyeast in the tube

Greetings:

Today's questions concern the relatively recent development of Wyeast in the 
soft plastic tube. I am assuming that this is Wyeast's answer to White Labs 
ready-to- pitch. Unfortuneately, the tube contains scant description of 
pitching rates or anything very technical at all. What I'd like to know is 
how this yeast has performed and under what circumstances.

I am brewing a Dopplebock this weekend. I am using Wyeast 2206. I bought a 
standard smack pack which I plan to make a starter with. I'm planning to add 
the starter along with the ready-to-pitch 2206 tube to the wort. I figure a 
1094 o.g. lager is gonna need all the yeast I can give it. 

Should I make a larger starter using both the smack pack and the tube? My gut 
feeling is not to but I don't think it would ruin things if I did.

Al Pearlstein
Commerce Township, MI

The weather gets colder and the beers we drink are darker and stronger. It is 
the natural rhythm of things.


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 12:19:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alan McKay <amckay at ottawa.com>
Subject: How is Zymurgy / AHA these days?


Hey folks,

It's been about 2 years now since I've been an AHA member - I 
dropped my membership because of general discontent with the 
organisation, with the main problem being the lack of any sort 
of democracy within the organisation.  At the time it was easy 
to justify not getting Zymurgy because I had a BT subscription, 
and because Zymurgy content had been going downhill.

Now with BT gone I'm kind of thinking it may be nice to get 
Zymurgy again.

How is it these days?
How is the AHA?

I'd be particularly interested in hearing from folks who may
have similarly dropped their membership, but then changed their
minds and picked it back up again.

thanks,
 -Alan



- --
                 "Brewers make wort.  Yeast Makes Beer."
                       - Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide
http://www.bodensatz.com/
What's a Bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html



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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 09:24:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: LJ Vitt <lvitt4 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Caught between a cold and a damp place

In HBD#3453 Drew Avis asks about storing grain malts in the garage.

I store grains in 5 and 6 gal plastic buckets with tight lids.  I was concerned
about insects and moisture in my basement.  The base malts are just loose in
the buckets.  Specialty malts are in plastic bags inside the buckets.  I stack
the buckets up three high and probably have 12 to 15 total buckets.  A new 55lb
bag will fill one bucket plus 2/3 or another.

If you don't have access to such buckets, consider the plastic storage boxes.
I know one brewer that uses these.  Another idea - a new plastic 30 gal garbage
can. 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Messenger - Talk while you surf!  It's FREE.
http://im.yahoo.com/


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:30:18 -0500
From: "Brian Lundeen" <blundeen at rrc.mb.ca>
Subject: RE: roast barley harshness and Drew's conundrum

> Darrell <Terminally Intermediate Home-brewer> wrote:
>
> I used Tony (lastname?)'s suggestion
> (Tony is the brewer  at  Elm City in Keene, NH) to not put the
> roasted barley in the mash, but rather in the lauter tun, and
> I do think that this cuts down a bit on the harshness that can
> sometimes accompany roasted barley...

Darrell, or should I call you Mr. TIHB (couldn't resist), not to question
your reduced harshness, and I've heard this from other sources, but I am
frankly at a loss to understand WHY this would work. You will experience
higher temperature and pH levels in the lauter tun than you will in the
mash, and both of these AFAIK are determining factors in tannin extraction.
Are you sure it's tannin harshness, or could it be the flavour of the roast
barley you find harsh? I can see where adding it to the lauter tun could
lessen its flavour impact, since the overall steeping time is lessened.
Perhaps just lessening the amount of roast barley in the mash would
accomplish the same thing.

Drew Avis shares his tale of woe:

> Brewsters: I'm faced with a conundrum.  We've just moved into
> a new old
> house (built circa 1870) with very little storage space.  I
> have three sacks
> of grain, and four more on order, and I've just discovered
> that SWMBO feels
> that while sacks of grain may have been an acceptable
> furnishing in the dump
> we used to call home, they are no longer.

What?!!! You bought a classic This Old House and SWMBO can't see the rustic
charm of sacks of grain artfully placed around the living space? Well, if
she must have a contemporary interior, simply put a fake signature on each
bag, preferably in bright red day-glo, and tell people they are genuine
Faux-pivo art pieces that cost... well, that would just be gauche to say.
Let's face it, Drew, women want to believe our lies, they just want it
couched in a manner that induces their suspension of disbelief. I've just
about convinced SWLMHMW(MOTT) that a second hand Pepsi cooler full of kegs
would be a great addition to our living room. ;-)

>  So, the choice of
> home for grain
> (and other brewing equipment actually) is the garage, which
> is unheated and
> easily accessible to sundry small creatures, or the basement,
> which stays
> nice and cool year round but is damp.  Now, the garage seems
> like the best
> candidate if I could use air-tight mouse-proof containers, as
> I'm sure
> dampness is worse for grain than sub-zero temperatures.  Is
> that correct?

I don't know, I "Asked the Maltster" at Schreier once, and he couldn't give
me a definate yes or no as to whether freezing temperatures were OK for
grain. My concern would be for the enzymes in the base malts. As for the
sundry small creatures, garages CAN be made vermin proof, if you have the
will to do it, but sealed metal garbage cans should protect the grains.
Personally, and it's very easy for me to spend your money, Drew, I would be
looking at creating a humidity and temperature controlled section of your
basement. Surely, SWMBO can't begrudge you that, now that she has exerted
control over the upstairs decor.

Finally, Drew and others, please don't use the term "brewster". There is a
woman where I work with that name who, to put it politely, could curdle
milk. It is not an image I want to associate in my mind with the hobby that
I love. Have pity on this poor, wretched soul. I'm a brewer... a brewer...
say it again, brewer...

Cheers,
Brian



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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:39:19 -0500
From: "Richard Sieben" <sier1 at email.msn.com>
Subject: first batch help

Michael Leavitt asked about his first Scottish ale....yes that yeast is a
top fermentor, but don't worry about taking anything off, just leave it
alone.  breweries don't bother with top cropping yeast much anymore and they
repitch the yeast.  I don't know if you plan on repitching that yeast, but
if you want to, you can save the slurry from the bottom of the primary and
put it in a sterile mason jar.  Then put it in a fridge that is as close to
freezing as possible, without freezing it.  I have successfully repitched
yeast this way 6 times before I started to notice a change in the fermentive
habits of the yeast, which is your cue to get rid of it.  In my case, it was
an Irish ale yeast (don't remember the number from Wyeast) but I always used
it within a week and kept it refrigerated.  Other good rules for repitching,
big brewers will repitch as many as 20 times, but must repitch within 4
hours of harvest or they dump it.  Another method was to keep the slurry on
beer for up to a week, but then they would only repitch a maximum of 4
times.

about the rubber stopper incident, HAHAHAHAHAHA that has happened to me
several times!  It never has had a bad effect other than me running out of
swear words to use when it happens!

hope this helps,

Rich Sieben
Island lake, IL




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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 10:52:35 -0600
From: "Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies" <orders at paddockwood.com>
Subject: cloudy beer, burnt taste

Hi Alan,

A low level bacterial (perhaps lactobacillus)  infection in your system or
kegs can result in a cloudy beer and a smokey/sour taste that increases over
time.

The infection can originate from grain dust. Isolate your grain storage and
handling from your brewing area.

You may wish to clean all your systems, and thoroughly clean your kegs,
including scrubbing out the dip tubes and poppet assemblies.

cheers,

Stephen Ross
______________________________________________
Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, Saskatoon, SK
orders at paddockwood.com   www.paddockwood.com



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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 09:56:42 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: RIMS Procedures, Mashing In & Sparge Temps, Apple notes,HERMs

I wrote:
>I'm not sure why you're getting grains into your pump lines but I
>suspect you're running the pump at too fast a rate.  This will keep
>you from compacting the grain bed.  Throttle it back with a valve.

Obviously, the second and third lines are reversed.  This is the 
danger of cutting and pasting. It should have read:

I'm not sure why you're getting grains into your pump lines but I 
suspect you're running the pump at too fast a rate.  Throttle it back 
with a valve. This will keep you from compacting the grain bed.

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


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 17:48:14 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Rice Lager In A Plastic Bottle

Phil Yates took a moment from ministering to the Doc to write:

>But about the beer in a plastic bottle.
>Jeff Renner has received it.
>At the time of writing he had not yet tried it.
>Perhaps he would like to make a comment.

I did indeed receive it on Wednesday and took it to the Ann Arbor 
Brewers Guild meeting on Friday for a general tasting.  It hadn't 
quite settled out to crystal clear, but I wanted to share it with as 
many other brewers as possible.  At the cost of shipping from Oz, it 
seemed only fair to spread the largess.

Midway through the meeting, I gathered the AABGers who are also 
HBDers (about half the total) and who would appreciate the history 
behind rice lager around host Bob Scholl's billiards table (180, 10 
mi. Rennerian), along with several billiards ladies.

HBD janitor Pat Babcock snapped a photo which Jason Henning has 
posted at http://thehennings.com/beer/pool/ricelager.jpg. 
Unfortunately, the cropping resulted in low resolution (fill the 
frame, Pat!), but you can clearly see one of the lovely billiards 
ladies leaning "precariously" (to use Phil's term) over the table. 
You will note that where Phil only talks, AABG delivers!

Take a look, you'll see some familiar names and faces (including HBD 
posters Mike O'Brien, Dave Russell, Chris Cooper, Jeff Renner, 
Spencer Thomas, Jason Henning, Chris (Crispy) Frey, Joe Clayton, 
Arnold Neitzke, Forrest (The Fridge Guy) Duddles, and Mark Ohrstrom.

So how was the beer?  It was a hit.  Very pale, nearly clear (still 
recovering from the trip), nice light hops nose (suggesting noble 
hops but light), medium to light body, very clean with very light 
malt, modest bitterness (about at the target of 20 IBU) on palate and 
in finish.  Very well balanced, a really drinkable lager with enough 
character to blow Bud away.  One of the billiards ladies said she 
liked it better than Foster's, but that's damning it with faint 
praise.  I'd say it was a coup of understatedness.  Very subtle but 
with character.

My hat's off to you, Phil.  Thanks, I look forward to trying it 
someday on its home turf.

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


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 21:13:46 -0400
From: John Leggett <leggettjr at home.com>
Subject: Oops too much malt

I did it.  I made an everything but the kitchen sink brew and am
worried. I gathered 5lbs Amber malt, 1 lb dark hopped malt , 1 lb corn
sugar , 1 lb 120 Lovibond Crystal Malt, 3 ozs hops. Wyeast 1056 American
Ale yeast, etc.

I made a brew that blew all of the vodka out of my air lock and blew the
lid off of my brew pail.  What now?  Am I exposed?  Will I get an
infection ?  The lid was off for a good 12 hours.  I am worried, but
excited about all of the good things that can happen with a great off
the cuff beer like this one.
Let me know what you think.


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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:52:35 -0400
From: "Rob Jones" <robjones at pathcom.com>
Subject: Upcoming events for Canadian Amatuer Brewers Association

Annual General Meeting and Brewery Bus Tour
Saturday November 18th, 2000 in Guelph at the Iron Duke Room at Wellington
Brewery.

Following the meeting we will have a tour of the brewery and lunch catered
by the Woolwich
Arms before heading to Kitchener/Waterloo for tours of Brick Brewery and
Gold Crown
Brewery.

As usual the bus will pick up members in Toronto or if you're from the area
you can meet us at Wellington Brewery. See the registration form on our web
site http://realbeer.com/caba for a complete itinerary of the day's events.
To reserve your place on the bus, return the form or call (416) 812-6732.


2000 All About Ales Granite Brewery Brown Ale Challenge
Ever imagined walking into a pub and tasting an ale that you designed and
brewed? Well this is your chance. The gold medal in the Brown Ale category
at this years AAA being held in Toronto will have his or her recipe brewed
to be served at the Granite. Note: Some conditions apply.

The official launch of this beer will take place next May 5th at the 2001
Great Canadian Homebrew Conference
which we are holding at the Granite Brewery in Toronto.See entry forms for
the All About Ales Competition at http://realbeer.com/caba. Deadline
Saturday
November 4th.


Brewnosers Christmas Competition
The Brewnosers are holding a Christmas Competition. The Brewnosers are
planning a hristmas competition this year. Categories are reported to
include Stout and Porter: Dry Stout, Robust and Brown Porters; UK Strong
Ale: Imp Stout, Old Ale, Barleywine; Belgian Strong: Dubbel, Tripel, Strong;
Pale Ale: UK and American Pale Ales and IPA; Strong Lagers: Bock,
Doppelbock, Weizenbock & Christmas Beer. Watch their webpage for more
further details.
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/Brewnoser/no-frames.html


2001 Great Canadian Homebrew Conference
Mark the weekend of May 5th, 2001 for our next GCHC. Exciting plans are
under way with a theme of Brewing Through The Ages. The weekend will begin
with an historic recipes night on Friday May 4th, at which you will have the
chance to sample beer brewed the way it would have tasted over a century
ago. The actual conference on Saturday May 5th will take place at the
Granite Brewery in Toronto with confirmed speakers including homebrewer
extrodinaire and beer writer Jeff Renner; Charles MacLean of F&M Breweries
beer historian Ian Bowering, and CABA's in-resident beer history buff Darrly
Newbury. The event will culminate in a brewers dinner in which each course
of a three course meal will be cooked and served with beer.




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