HOMEBREW Digest #3505 Sat 16 December 2000

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Grain mills ("rkalvig")
  CFC length ("Adam Ralph")
  Legal Drinking Age (Ant Hayes)
  Mice ("Kensler, Paul")
  Yeast Starter Aeration (Tony Barnsley)
  Is Peter Slipping? ("Phil & Jill Yates")
  kids n beer ("Bridges, Scott")
  Teaching ("Pannicke, Glen A.")
  Kids and Brewing (Bob Hall)
  Kids 'n Brewing (Some Guy)
  Re: Do you ever feel bad (Chris Hatton)
  Drinking Age ("Peter J. Calinski")
  re: first batch problems. no carbonation ("Peter J. Calinski")
  first batch problems. no carbonation ("Kevin Jones")
  Flavor/Aroma hop quantity (Doug Hurst)
  Re: Do you ever feel bad/kids n beer (Doug Hurst)
  Cloudy StarSan ("Kevin Jones")
  Old Grain ("Kevin Jones")
  Snow Beer ("Kevin Jones")
  Children and beer ("Glenn Hudspeth")
  Re: starting syphon (Jeff Renner)
  Bubba's New Ride ("Jim Bermingham")
  As Is Bent The Twig ... (mohrstrom)
  Budding Microbiologist (Epic8383)
  Carbonation problem (UPSTOOL)
  beer not carbonated ("Alan Meeker")
  Bill has 'arf and does a runner. (Brad McMahon)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 23:05:50 -0700 From: "rkalvig" <RKALVIG at email.msn.com> Subject: Grain mills Hey check out these grain mills at www.crankandstein.com has anyone heard if they are any good? I bought a phills2 and I am not impressed with the results. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 14:41:13 +0800 From: "Adam Ralph" <bluehillsbrewing at hotmail.com> Subject: CFC length Wondering if anyone can relate their practical experience with the length of counter flow wort chillers. I am going to build my own with 3/8 copper tube inside a larger copper tube. The two opposing prerequisites are that it must be gravity fed (so I don't want it to take all day and will not be getting a pump anytime soon) and it must be able to get the wort temp. down to around 10C for lager pitching. I will be using my current immersion chiller as a pre-chiller. So what say you? Closer to 30 feet, or aim for 50 feet? Cheers, Adam. Blue Hills Brewing Perth Close to -180, -180 Rennerian. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:58:55 +0200 From: Ant Hayes <Ant.Hayes at FifthQuadrant.co.za> Subject: Legal Drinking Age Bob Shotola asked, "I wonder if I am creating a problem, since he won't be able to legally drink beer for another, say, fifteen years? Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? The kid loves the science, and I do let him have a small nip of each batch to see what I am all jazzed about. " Our country's laws allow people under 18 to drink alcohol with their parents No alcohol may be sold to anyone under the age of 18. I grew up drinking watered down wine at dinner, and think it is healthy to learn to treat alcohol with care from a young age. At university I saw the negative impact on people being allowed to drink for the first time, and not knowing how to deal with it. A mate of mine gives his kids (4 & 6 I think) 100ml of beer with supper. They get to choose which one and to pull it from the tap. It is quite a picture seeing the little one holding his glass up to the light, swirling, sniffing and sipping, imitating his dad. Ant Hayes Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 11:38:40 -0500 From: "Kensler, Paul" <Paul.Kensler at Cyberstar.com> Subject: Mice Drew, I use a plastic Gott cooler as my mash tun, and I had it set upside down in my basement last year, drying out after use. It was an unfinished basement, with concrete floor and walls. If you use a cooler mash tun like I do, you know how delicious they smell after a few uses - the mash odor just seeps into them and stays there, no matter how hard you clean it. Smelling my mash tun is like a little sniff of heaven. At some point, a little mouse figured that all that good smell meant that there must be some really good food inside, and he tried to crawl in. Somehow he managed to lift the tun up enough to slip half inside - but only half inside before he got stuck and the weight of the mash tun crushed him. A few days after brewing, my basement started to get that tell-tale smell... I quickly found the culprit, stuck exactly halfway inside, dead, and very smelly. All those putrefied gases were trapped inside the cooler (remember it was upside down) and my delightful-smelling Gott was seemingly ruined, but I refused to give up. I can't remember the exact process and procedure of what I did to get the smell out, but it involved lots of elbow grease, lots of soaking, lots of PBW, and lots of bleach. In fact, I kept scrubbing and soaking even after I couldn't smell any mousy evidence anymore. There is a happy ending - I have moved to a mouse-free house, my mash tun is working just fine with no funky smells... and it is back to smelling like a little bit o' heaven. If bleach and PBW can get dead mouse out of a plastic cooler, I'm sure they would work on a glass carboy... Glass is much less permeable which should make up for the fact that you can't apply as much elbow grease. A good soak and a stiff brush should get things back to spec. Good luck - Paul Kensler Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:59:19 -0000 From: Tony Barnsley <tony.barnsley at blackpool.gov.uk> Subject: Yeast Starter Aeration Hello Brew Guru's / Beer Geeks / Sadly Obsessed (You decide what group you belong in ;-'> ) After some time an idea finally diffused its way into my brain. In order to improve my pitching rates, I have been building starters up to 20 litres (Got to find a use for those cheap beer kits somehow), but it takes time, and space. After comments here about using continuous aeration of the starter, it finally hit me that I could use a 10 litre carboy and pump sterile filtered air through the starter. That way I can increase the Sterol levels of the yeast and get better reproduction during the growth of the starters. I duly went out and purchased an Air pump (120 L/Hr) and Hepa Filter. Made the first step up from the smack pack last night. 500 ml of wort in a 1 litre conical. Switched the pump on, then discovered that wort bubbles take too long to burst. Luckily pulled the tube out of the wort in time. I remember a post from AJ Delange (?) saying that O2 diffuses quite rapidly across the liquid interface, so I have left the pump on flushing the space above the wort with air. I know that a stir plate would be really handy here to aid out gassing of CO2, but I don't have one. I was going to rely on the current created by the bubble stream to stir the wort and keep a lot of the yeasties in suspension. I guess that when I move up to 5 Litres in the 10 litre flask I shouldn't have too many problems. But It looks as though I'll have to forgo the final feeding(s) of 1 litre of wort to get it up to 7.5 L. Any Idea on whether the aeration as it stands will make a significant difference? Any further suggestions? (Careful Mr Yates!) I can get a 5 Gallon Carboy but think it would be a bit of overkill for yeast starters (But Maybe Not :> ) Incidentally Mr 'King of Contentless posts' Don't you answer your personal mail any more? :> - -- Wassail! The Scurrilous Aleman (ICQ 46254361) Schwarzbad Lager Brauerei, Blackpool, Lancs, UK UK HOMEBREW - A Forum on Home Brewing in the UK Managed by home brewers for home brewers Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 21:48:20 +1100 From: "Phil & Jill Yates" <yates at acenet.com.au> Subject: Is Peter Slipping? Pete Calinski writes: >First Yates, and Sanders, now Pivo. All these lengthy, un->understandable >posts. It must be the water. Pete, I have noticed of late your attention span has been a little suspect. When you fail to understand clear and lucid posts I begin to get concerned. In order for us to help you, we must first ask the question. Just what is it about these clear and lucid brewing posts that seems to be skimming right over your head? Cheers Phil Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 08:05:48 -0500 From: "Bridges, Scott" <ScottBridges at sc.slr.com> Subject: kids n beer Bob writes: >I wonder if I am creating a problem, since he won't be able to legally drink >beer for another, say, fifteen years? > >Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? The kid >loves the science, and I do let him have a small nip of each batch to see >what I am all jazzed about. This reminds me of when my daughter was born and my son then 2-1/2 told the nurses at the hospital that he and dad make beer. I kept waiting for the knock on the door from the child welfare folks... Well, now my son is 10 and he knows more about beer than 99% of the people. As you say, he's in it for the science - and what a really great way to teach hands-on biology and chemistry. It's not just stuff in a book that has no real meaning. I let him help with whatever he's interested in (of course I keep him away from the nasty stuff) and make sure to explain each procedure. He hates the taste of beer as most kids do and he knows that it's an adult beverage only. He also knows that it's wrong even for an adult to drink too much, or drink and drive at all. I don't think there's anything wrong with what you're doing. I think as long as you give him the responsibility lessons along the way, he's better off. Plus, you get to share a hobby with your son that you both enjoy. What could be better? Scott Brewing and parenting in Columbia, SC Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 08:52:51 -0500 From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com> Subject: Teaching Bob Shotola writes of teaching brewing to his son: >My son is quickly learning all the steps in brewing beer, temperatures and >pH, and so on. He has his own flask, thermometer, pH strips, microscope, >etc., and fancies himself a scientist. > >Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? I hope not, Bob. I plan on doing the same with my son once he's old enough. I already had him stir the kettle at 4 months old ;-) I think it's great that he enjoys participating in a hobby that is also a good teaching tool. Best of all it's something he enjoys doing with his dad. I'm sure that's the biggest reward for both of you. As for the occasional nip, my dad used to give me one here and there during dinner or after working in the yard. That might be part of why I was very responsible with alcohol when growing up. It wasn't until I took up this damnable hobby that my beer consumption increased from a few a week to one or two a day (which some doctors say is healthy). But there's this little extra bit of "me" now in the middle that I wish would go away... ;-) Carpe cerevisiae! Glen Pannicke http://www.pannicke.net "Designs and schemes which work well on paper rarely do so in actual practice." Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:14:03 +0000 From: Bob Hall <nap_aca_bh at nwoca.org> Subject: Kids and Brewing Bill Shotola writes: "My son is quickly learning all the steps in brewing beer, temperatures and pH, and so on. He has his own flask, thermometer, pH strips, microscope, etc., and fancies himself a scientist. ... Am I taking him down the wrong road?" Wrong road? .... absolutely not, Bill. Educators from the constructivist viewpoint would call this "authentic learning," or applying precepts and principals to real-world problems. He's creating his own knowledge base through experience, and what he learns in your basement will transfer to his other science/math problems down the road. As the 4-H Club program calls it, he's "Learning by Doing," which time and again has proven to be the most valid instructional method. As far as his age, I wouldn't worry. It's best to demystify beer and alcoholic beverages early. I've seen too many sheltered kids go to the trough with excess once the leash came off. A German exchange student from a wine co-op once told me (while lingering over a glass of Reisling) that "When you know how much work it takes, you take time to appreciate the effort." Good luck to your budding chemist or microbiologist. He'll certainly have interesting science fair projects. Bob Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:28:21 -0500 (EST) From: Some Guy <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: Kids 'n Brewing Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... Bob Shotola writes of teaching brewing to his son: > My son is quickly learning all the steps in brewing beer, temperatures > and pH, and so on. He has his own flask, thermometer, pH strips, > microscope, etc., and fancies himself a scientist. > > Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? I started my brewing career as a seventh-grade science fair project. Nuff said? - -- - See ya! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at hbd.org Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock "The monster's back, isn't it?" - Kim Babcock after I emerged from my yeast lab Saturday Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:55:00 -0500 From: Chris Hatton <Chatton at aca-insurance.com> Subject: Re: Do you ever feel bad ...I wonder if I am creating a problem, since he won't be able to legally drink beer for another, say, fifteen years? Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? The kid loves the science, and I do let him have a small nip of each batch to see what I am all jazzed about. Bob Shotola Yamhill Oregon Dear Bob: The pangs of guilt you are feeling are merely the effects of societal brainwashing initiated by the same folks who brought you prohibition and are trying to push the .000whatever alcohol limit. Don't let the ultra-right conservatives get you down. Their misplaced anti-alcohol legislation and propoganda is really just misplaced childhhood bed-wetting trauma. Besides, don't worry about it; our president-elect is a convicted drunk driver and nobody seems to care too much. My point is that teaching a respect and appreciation for the fine qualities of crafted beer at a young age might make your son think twice before he quaffs down a 12-pack of Keystone light in a field somewhere with his buddies(flash-forward about 13 years). Children imbibe wine in France from an early age, and in many other countries, to no ill-effect. In fact, in my college experience, the people who had the most problems with alcohol and binge drinking qwere those who came from a home where intolerance was the rule. Alcohol was a new and wonderful toy to them, and they did not have the guidance or personal example as to how to drink responsibly. Unfortunately, those same people will be the intolerant ones in my generation who warn about the dangers of alcohol for everyone by drawing from their own personal experiences. Such is the sad circle of intolerance and prejudice which gets passed from generation to generation in American culture. Wow, I'm too young to be this bitter! No, the best example for your son is showing him to be responsible on his own (without legislation), and bonding with him by doing father-son activities(what could be better than homebrewing!). e.g. self-respect is the greatest deterrent to irresponsible behavior. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:49:50 -0500 From: "Peter J. Calinski" <PCalinski at iname.com> Subject: Drinking Age Bob Shotola asked: "I wonder if I am creating a problem, since he won't be able to legally drink beer for another, say, fifteen years?" Well, I don't agree with the strict drinking age routine. In fact I believe trying to establish a minimum drinking age just exacerbates the drinking problem. If youths are allowed to drink alcohol in a supervised fashion, they form proper drinking habits. Instead, in our society, they are forbidden alcohol until age 21. However, they get their first exposure to alcohol in unsupervised situations and drink themselves to death. I think you are avoiding a problem not creating one. My children have always been allowed to drink in our presence. My older two have been through the college scene. According to them, they "skated" over the binge drinking business because drink was already common to them. I have two more children entering college. I believe they to will be much more adjusted to drinking and be able to handle alcohol situations that the will face. BTW all of my children have helped me brew at one time or another. They have also tasted the results. My $0.02. Pete Calinski East Amherst NY Near Buffalo NY Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:52:16 -0500 From: "Peter J. Calinski" <PCalinski at iname.com> Subject: re: first batch problems. no carbonation Chris, Given the cloudiness followed by clearing and sediment, I find it hard to believe the yeast didn't do it's job. You might want to check the gasket in the bottle cap. I used to boil them to sanitize. I found that this caused many gaskets to curl and not form a good seal. Now I just sanitize with bleach solution and rinse with water. If this is your problem there is a simple solution. When you open a bottle that didn't carbonate, if the gasket didn't form a good seal, just put a teaspoon of corn sugar in the bottle and put a new cap on it. Store it at room temperature for a week and it should be OK. BTW, my younger daughter was great at hearing the gas leak out of a curled gasket when she helped me bottle. (See my other post about drinking age.) Pete Calinski East Amherst NY Near Buffalo NY Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:47:46 -0600 From: "Kevin Jones" <mrkjones at mindspring.com> Subject: first batch problems. no carbonation Mr. C, One vote for wait it out. We all went through the "I can't wait to try one" period in our brewing. While your problem does seem a little odd, and you may have a real problem, the best next step to solve it and the easiest is just wait. "Relax. Have a Homebre........No wait" By the way. You will never completely get over this tendency to rush things. Even though I have reached the point where I can actually forget I even have 5 gal of Vienna Lager because its been laggering soooo long, I still get in a hurry when trying something new. Recently I tried making some champagne beer. Lots of champagne yeast, over priming and 7 oz. champagne bottles. I just had to try one. You guessed it! Drink Better Beer Kevin Jones Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:46:24 -0600 From: Doug Hurst <DougH at theshowdept.com> Subject: Flavor/Aroma hop quantity I was brewing a brown ale the other day and it occured to me that I have never thought much about the specific *quantity* of hops to add for flavor and aroma. My late hop additions have always been based on other's recipes and my own intuition. I went to my trusty brewing library for the answer. The measurement and per-style quantity guidelines of hop bittering is well documented though disputed by the likes of Tinseth, Rager, Garetz, et. al., but there was precious little info about aroma additions. Apparently hop aromatics are created by 22 different essential oils which are quantified into Aroma Units and measured via gas chromatography. Nowhere did I see any info on how many AUs are appropriate for each style. Obviously I don't have gas chromatography at my disposal so, outside of using hop aroma extracts, how do I determine the quantity of hops to add to create a certain level of aroma? Are there any basic guidelines that dictate how much aroma/hop quantity is appropriate for each style? Am I stuck with using trial and error? It also occured to me that this uncertainty/non-repeatablility may be one reason why the macros don't have much hop aroma and why some micro IPA aromas change from batch to batch. Doug Hurst Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:51:31 -0600 From: Doug Hurst <DougH at theshowdept.com> Subject: Re: Do you ever feel bad/kids n beer > Bob, > > I don't think you are leading your son down the wrong path. You are > emphasizing the science of the process which is very good in my opinion. > He will grow up with an understanding of how and why it works. And he > will have a good start in scientific methodology. My guess is that this > will lead to more responsible drinking later on, as it will not be some > mysterious forbidden fruit. Who knows, maybe he'll be the next Jean De > Clerck. Not only that, but he seems to have a decent respect for life. > As Dr. Suess said, "a Who's a Who no matter how small". > > I've always said: Just Say Know. > > Doug Hurst Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:03:16 -0600 From: "Kevin Jones" <mrkjones at mindspring.com> Subject: Cloudy StarSan With all due respect to my brewing colleagues, my star san is always cloudy. Not to say this is correct or not a problem. I have been using star san for several years and, sanitation gods be kind to me, I've never had a problem. I use straight tap water which may ex;plain the cloudiness. I do check the pH with a digital meter before use. If it starts to drop below 3, I freshen it with concentrate. I also keep it covered when not in use. Along this subject, the only problem I had with it was the expense and the problem of all sanitizers.....a container that allows emersion of all equipment. I came up with the idea of a 4 inch PVC container to hold the sanitizer, star san or other. This was previously posted on this digest. Search 4 inch PVC or PVC sanitizer for construction info. Drink Better Beer! Kevin Jones Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:21:51 -0600 From: "Kevin Jones" <mrkjones at mindspring.com> Subject: Old Grain >Due to building a home build aircraft my brewing has been on standby. I am >nearing completion of the aircraft and now am looking to start brewing again. >I had some grain in plastic 5 gallon buckets and some in bags. The grain is 1 >year old at this point, is it still ok? Has anyone had experiance with old >grain? It has been in the garage, so it has not been in the dry heat of the >house. Any comments would help. >Dustin Norlund >Owasso, OK >RV6 - Taxi Testing, Sand Ridge Airpark, Collinsville OK >KD5JXZ - 2M, 440, APRS The grain is fine. More importantly, how is the RV6 doing? Drink Better Beer! Kevin Jones Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:25:04 -0600 From: "Kevin Jones" <mrkjones at mindspring.com> Subject: Snow Beer >Yes, I spread a good twenty or thirty pounds of Munich malt on the ground >around my garage and under my wheels this morning and it worked like a >champ! And weep not my friends: the bag in question was more than two >years old and had been sitting in the garage since my move to the new house >last winter. Had it not been pressed into service in this manner, it would >probably have been tossed eventually anyway. I say scrap it up, snow and all, and mash! Snow Beer! Drink Better Beer! Kevin Jones Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:47:19 -0600 From: "Glenn Hudspeth" <ghudspeth at sunflower.com> Subject: Children and beer Bob Shotola asked about his son and beer education: Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? The kid loves the science, and I do let him have a small nip of each batch to see what I am all jazzed about. Having no kids myself (yet), I feel extremely qualified to comment on Bob's question ;) It would seem as if, rather than the wrong road, you might be traveling down the road which, IMO, more people should take with their children. Rather than adopting the attitude that drinking is harmful and forcing the child to wait until his 21st birthday to try a sip a beer, I think you are instilling in him an appreciation for and wonder of the uniqueness of the fermented beverage. By giving him occasional small sips, you are probably teaching him, even if unintentionally, a responsible way for dealing with alcohol. Hopefully, with a little luck, he won't turn out to be the Bidmillcoor guzzling college student I turned into when I hit 21. It's a wonder sometimes that I'm still alive today. IMO, if more people would expose their children to the responsible use of alcoholic beverages at an earlier age, as well as the fascination and reward of their production, our society could go a long way towards curbing abuse by people who were denied it until 21. Anecdotally, when I lived in Germany, most people seemed to have a more reasonable relationship to alcoholic beverages, and you just don't see young people going out and drinking themselves literally to death on the night of their 21st birthday. Additionally, although alcohol was almost always present, social occasions among younger people, who are allowed to legally buy and drink beer at 16, didn't seem to revolve around the covert pursuit and consumption of beer. But maybe I was just imagining it... Glenn Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:32:36 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: starting syphon I wrote: >I did it for years with practicing safe sucking I meant to write *without* practicing safe sucking. Jeff - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 12:22:56 -0600 From: "Jim Bermingham" <bermingham at antennaproducts.com> Subject: Bubba's New Ride Now that America finally has a new President Elect, I thought that you might like to see what a real Texan rides in. The problem is, as I understand it, the only brew served onboard is Lone Star and Pearl Beer. Now if we could only persuade Phil and his blow up co-pilot Jill to take the job to fly the thing we might have a Peach Wheat or two onboard. If you want to see Bubba's New Ride go to the following link: http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/bermingham/af1.html Regards, and Merry Christmas Jim Bermingham Millsap, TX Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:32:39 -0500 From: mohrstrom at humphreypc.com Subject: As Is Bent The Twig ... Bob ponders the potential effects of growing up in the home of a brewer: >>>My son is quickly learning all the steps in brewing beer...He loves the wort chiller, the sprinkling sparge arm, the co2 bottle, the propane burner (and who among us does not?)... Anybody else been through this? Am I taking him down the wrong road? The kid loves the science, and I do let him have a small nip of each batch to see what I am all jazzed about.<<< I lived in fear of a teacher's note requesting a conference while my son's biology class was discussing fermentation. It seems that my precocious offspring knew ALL of the answers, gleaned from readings from my library. I used a little avoidance therapy early on by letting him have a taste of freshly poured Bell's Two Hearted (Can you say bitter? I knew that you could ...). Today, he is a great young man (if I do say so ...), he knows good beer, and prefers the "black stuff". You are probably wise to limit the number of those with knowledge of your sharing, lest the local Prosecutor bring child abuse charges. I am beginning to side with the Ozzies, thinking that criminals do make more interesting forebears. Mark in Kalamazoo Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:58:29 EST From: Epic8383 at aol.com Subject: Budding Microbiologist Bob S wonders if his son is heading down the right path. 1) He's learning microbiology on his own. Parents are the best teachers of their kids. We only send them to school because we're too busy to do it ourselves. Unfortunatly, schools can't pique a child's interest the way a parent can (it DOESN'T take a village). 2) He's learning respect for alcoholic beverages. We enact drinking age laws to protect us from the people who didn't learn this lesson. Unfortunatly, kids now look forward to their 21st birthday as a licence to party, and learn the hard way about hangovers and the consequences of drunk driving. 3) He's continuing a family tradition of brewing started by you. This is how it was done back in the 'olde' country. Think of the great beers he's destined to brew as he builds on your knowledge. How cool will it be to see your grandson winning the MCAB 45 using some of grandad's recipes and equipment? Just my $.02 Gus Rappold Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 16:38:00 EST From: UPSTOOL at aol.com Subject: Carbonation problem Let me start by thanking everybody for much help in the past, most of it indirect.It's amazing what will stick to the wall if you just take the time to throw it. I've learned more about brewing just by reading the digest even when I thought the subject didn't apply or was over my head. Now to my problem. I brewed a Christmas ale and it has been in the bottle for about 2 months. the problem is that it is dead flat. what is really strange is that there is no sediment at all, almost as if I filtered it[I didn't]. The brew was nothing unusual. O.G. 1.090 F.G. 1.014 Wyeast 1056 1 week primary/2weeks secondary bottled W/ 3/4 cup corn sugar Any thoughts on why, would be appreciated although my main concern now is what can I do to save it. Thanks in advance Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 17:28:52 -0500 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: beer not carbonated Chris writes that his beer is flat one week after bottling. Chris, I have had this happen to me on more than one occasion. In each case, inverting the bottles and swirling gently to resuspend the yeast on the bottom of the bottle solved the problem. Try this and store them for another week or so. Leave a couple of bottles untouched as controls. I bet the swirled ones carbonate while the others do not or only weakly carbonate... -Alan Meeker Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 12:38:07 +1030 From: Brad McMahon <brad at sa.apana.org.au> Subject: Bill has 'arf and does a runner. I saw this article at the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1070000/1070982.stm and I knew you guys would have a good laugh. I had to change the pound symbol to GBP because the pound is non-ASCII. ******** Bill Clinton nipped into a pub for a swift half during his UK visit on Thursday - but left without paying. Tired of trawling the antique shops along west London's trendy Portobello Road with wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, the US President and his usual entourage of aides, advisers, ecret service men and press popped into the Portobello Gold. The most powerful man in the world spent 45 minutes happily propping up the bar but did not appear hungry. He had just come from tea and a chat with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Offered lunch, he said: "A little bit, not much. "I have to stay awake to give a speech today. "I stayed up late last night, watching Vice President Gore and Governor Bush give their speeches on television." President Clinton shared a GBP6.95 serving of gambo prawns, a GBP5.25 portion smoked trout and pecan nut pate and a GBP5.95 club sandwich with about 10 black-suited secret service men. He also downed a GBP1.30 half-pint of organic Pitfields lager, made in Britain from New Zealand ingredients, and a Diet Coke, while his secret service men drank Coke. After serving the leader of the free world, landlord Mike Bell asked: "Who picks up the tab for this?" But the total bill has yet to be tallied because a power cut struck the area just before the visit and the electronic till was not working. "They bloody well did not pay," said Mr Bell. "I do not know whatthe total bill is because the computer went down and the electricity was off. "But I have got an address of someone in America I can send the bill to. "We could not offer him a hot meal. "We gave him anything we could cook without electricity. It was total chaos. he 59-year-old said he found out about the surprise visit 20 minutes early when "men in black" arrived to see if the pub was safe. While the American president was in the bar, oyster delivery man Jonathan Dunhill was "swarmed" upon by secret service men. They wanted to inspect his delivery of shellfish from Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland to see if it contained a bomb, Mr Bell said. President Clinton then chatted about Northern Ireland and the long-running US presidential election battle to the other lunchtime drinkers. He appeared "unusually relaxed", said Mr Bell. "He gave me the impression that this sort of thing was not the kind of thing that he would have done a few years ago. "He told me, 'I'm in the last stretch of my presidency so I can relax a little'. "There were a lot of Americans here when he arrived and they were saying, 'How are you?' to Mr Clinton and how strange it was that he was on their doorstep even though they were not at home." ********* All the best, Brad McMahon Return to table of contents
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