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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  off-color beer (Dick Dunn)
  Adjusted SG (tozz)
  starch vs. sugar (Wayne Allen)
  Re: Deep Red Color (Clay Phipps)
  Deep Red Color (Clay Phipps)


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Date: 7 Feb 90 01:53:39 MST (Wed)
From: hplabs!gatech!raven!rcd (Dick Dunn)
Subject: off-color beer

About St Paddy's Day...I once brewed up a batch for a party.  I started off
intending to produce just some green beer, but then I thought "what the
hell; I'll make various colors just to twist people's heads."  The idea was
that I brewed a basic light-amber ale, then added normal food coloring at
bottling.

Two cautions:  First, remember you're adding color to something that's at
least yellow to start.  If you want beer that's really green, not bile-
colored, use a combination of blue and green coloring.  Second, you'll find
that it takes a lot of color because some of the color seems to precipitate
out.  (It appears to attach to the yeast...you'll want to have more than
the usual care not to dump out the sediment, which is *really* disgusting!)

I was able to mark the labels with my usual batch numbering modified so I
could tell (even in a not-entirely-sober state) what color was intended:  I
used the batch number and the expected transmission wavelength in 10's of
nm...instead of batch number 39, I had number 3963, 3958, 3947...  Folks
got some entertainment out of trying to guess what it meant, and it was fun
to open and decant the initial group of bottles.  ("Well, what do you
suppose this one will look like?!?"  It all tasted the same, of course.)
- ---
Dick Dunn	{ncar;ico;stcvax}!raven!rcd		(303)494-0965
			or	rcd at raven.uucp

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Date: Wed, 07 Feb 90 09:07:10 PST
From: tozz at hpindda.hp.com
Subject: Adjusted SG
Full-Name: Bob Tausworthe


Does anyone have the formula for adjusting specific gravity readings
to a normalized temperature? My Hydrometer is calibrated at 65% F, but
I often take readings at 75-90% (I hate waiting). I know there must
be a simple formula to interpolate what the sg at 65 would be given
a sg at, say, 75?

                    Bob Tausworthe 
                    tozz at hpda.hp.com

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Date: Wed, 7 Feb 90 11:22:47 CST
From: wa%cadillac.cad.mcc.com at MCC.COM (Wayne Allen)
Subject: starch vs. sugar


Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com> writes:

>It is almost certain that husk material is getting into the boil too.
>Depending upon the pH there will be a little up to a lot of tannins leached
>out of the husk material by the hot wort, resulting in a tendency toward
>astringent, tea-like flavors, and Irish Moss will not deal with this.

Pete is correct to warn everyone about tannins. The whole point of
straining the grains out just *before* the boil is to avoid leaching
tannins into the wort. 

Much of the variability available to the extract brewer comes from
adjunct grains; not only toasted malt, but chocolate, black patent,
roasted barley, etc. All of these introduce husk material into the
wort in the same way. Success is just a matter of sufficiently
straining the wort just before the boil starts. Putting the grains in
hop bags works ok. Since I have several brewing pots, I pour the
whole wort into another pot through a coarse mesh strainer, then back
again through a very fine mesh. You could obviously carry this to
whatever extreme you need in order to not worry.

It would be a real pity for brewers to be scared away from the
creative use of these adjuncts, since they present such a great
opportunity for experimentation and great taste. If any of you have
worries about this, please (re-)read Papazian's book and relax.

wa

ps. grains actually do make very nice teas, try it sometime...



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Date: Tue, 6 Feb 90 21:13:03 -0800
From: hplabs!garth!apd!phipps (Clay Phipps)
Subject: Re: Deep Red Color

I forgot my ".signature" cum disclaimer:

[The foregoing may or may not represent the position, if any, of my employer, ]
[ who is identified solely to allow the reader to account for personal biases.]
[Besides, the text above was mailed or posted way after normal business hours.]
                                              
Clay Phipps                                
Intergraph APD, 2400#4 Geng Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303              415/852-2327
UseNet (Intergraph internal): ingr!apd!phipps
UseNet (external): {apple,pyramid,sri-unix}!garth!phipps        EcoNet: cphipps


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Date: Tue, 6 Feb 90 21:07:14 -0800
From: hplabs!garth!apd!phipps (Clay Phipps)
Subject: Deep Red Color

My ideas for my "line" of homebrew include a top-of-the-line brew
(a "festbier", perhaps ?) that has a deep red color like that of wet brick
(I suppose that I can accept its unfortunate resemblance to FSU garnet :-).  
The commercial "red" brews that I have found at microbreweries (e.g.:
Winchester Brewing's "red ale") or my local liquor emporia are really just 
a deep amber, not "red" in any sense (except perhaps by comparison with 
"golden" brews).  I know that the color is possible, because "Celebrator" 
bock (the one that comes with the white plastic rampant ram trinket; 
by Ayinger, I think) has a color very close to what I want.  I've consulted 
_How To Brew Beers Like Those You Buy_, but it's not one of those covered.  
Just duplicating "Celebrator"'s color would allow me to "stop worrying".

Starting with 7 pounds of Lodi Light malt extract for a 5-gallon batch,
I've tried adding up to 2 *pounds* of light (?--no Lovibond information)
crystal malt (removed before boiling), but that gives me an amber color.  
Nice, but not what I'm after.  The brew I now have in my 5-gal. primary 
has 1 pound of "dark" crystal (I forgot to ask about degrees Lovibond
where I bought it).  I'm not convinced that this will do the job.

I've heard that Munich malt is the answer, but even light crystal malt 
seems physically much darker than Munich malt.  I thought Papazian wrote
that Munich malt had to be partially mashed before it could be used.

I'm trying for something like a red Liberty Ale, rather than a porter, so 
I really don't want any of the "roasted" character of the really dark grains.  
That criterion probably precludes starting with a dark malt extract, too.
Small amounts (1/8 pound ?) of the dark malts (I'll have to consult my 
records to identify what I used) just seem to get me shades of brown.

Is at-home "toasting" of crystal malt in my kitchen oven the solution ?



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End of HOMEBREW Digest #354, 02/08/90
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