HOMEBREW Digest #3598 Wed 04 April 2001

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  mash/lauter tun worry ("John Zeller")
  Amber Waves of Grain ("Gustave Rappold")
  Re: mash/lauter tun worry (David Lamotte)
  Duvel ("Brad McMahon")
  All grain questions (Hop_Head)
  Re: Growing grain (Jeff Renner)
  Off Topic - Fats Waller (Jeff Renner)
  Cleaning SS Stones (Nathan Kanous)
  Re: Cleaning SS Stones ("A. J.")
  RE: Hofbraeuhaus ("Dennis Lewis")
  benefits of science (ccolby)
  RE:Delayed mashing and boiling (Paul Shick)
  Munich (Andechs) (Aleconner)
  One For The Aussie's ("Axle Maker")
  Solution to Don's lack of fridge space ("Thomas D. Hamann")
  re. Growing grain  (grain and malting) (Clifton Moore)
  The moon in Boon (RBoland)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 22:52:22 -0700 From: "John Zeller" <jwz_sd at hotmail.com> Subject: mash/lauter tun worry Randy, The grain and water are in a more or less static conditon while mashing. The grain is suspended in the mash, hopefully preventing any immediate compaction. When you begin to sparge and drain off wort everything is flowing downward and the grain husks function like a filter. As the smaller particles move down through the grain bed, they get trapped along the way increasing the resistance to flow and also increasing the grain bed density at the lower levels. If you allow the sparge water to drop too much, the grain above the water level is no longer suspended in the wort and the bed will have a tendency to consolidate even more at the lower levels. Compaction always occurs from the bottom up. The addition of some hot water to raise temperatures for the mash out will help prevent a stuck sparge by thinning out the mash some. The other reason to keep the water level above the grain is so that you can see it and know where it is. If it is below the surface of the grain, you don't know how far down it is. Keeping the water level above the grain helps to insure that these upper level grains are being rinsed well and the hot sparge water helps to maintain the mash temp. at the desired 165 to 170 F. This explanation is only my personal understanding of the whole sparging process. The guys doing batch sparges are draining the grain bed completely, usually twice, without any problems. So, it isn't something to get overly worried about. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 3:34:19 -0400 From: "Gustave Rappold" <grappold at earthlink.net> Subject: Amber Waves of Grain Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 11:43:09 -0300 From: "Jamie Smith" <jxsmith at vac-acc.gc.ca> Subject: Growing grain I tried to read the archives but there was nothing there. Does anyone here grow their own grains for brewing? Jamie on PEI Jamie, Try "The Homebrewer's Garden", published by Storey Books and available (I think) from the AHA. It tells how to grow anything you might use in beer-malted grains, hops and herbs. I'm planning on growing some hops and a patch of barley to see how it comes out. If you need more info on the book, just ask. Gus http://home.earthlink.net/~grappold - --- Gustave Rappold - --- grappold at earthlink.net - --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 18:42:59 +1000 From: David Lamotte <lamotted at ozemail.com.au> Subject: Re: mash/lauter tun worry Randy Walker pleads "Someone please tell me why I shouldn't worry." about compaction of the grain bed during mashing. Well, I'll take a shot at that. You whouldn't worry, because beer makes itself.... Oh, you want a little more reassurance. Well, just remember, that the whole reason for mashing is to generate sugars, which dissolve to increase the specific gravity of the mash liquor. This results in the mash 'goods' floating around in a dense sugar solution. One thing that I found gave the best sparge was to give it all a good stir at the end of the mash period, to refloat all the fine, powdery stuff which can otherwise clog your screen. Compaction occurs during sparging when you let the grain run dry and hence the draff no longer floats, but sticks together. Have fun, David Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 22:39:21 +0930 From: "Brad McMahon" <brad at sa.apana.org.au> Subject: Duvel In #3597 John Thompson wrote: >Which of the Wyeasts is closest to the Duvel strain? Wyeast #1388 Belgian Strong Ale is supposedly the Moortgart (Duvel) strain. >Also, if someone has a good recipe, it would be appreciated Duvel's OG is 1070, colour is 10 EBC, bitterness is 30 IBU's, abv = 8% For 5 US Gallons at 75% efficiency: 10.65lb Pale Malt (or 5.7lbs of malt syrup if you don't mash) 1.45lb Dextrose Mash at 67C/152F Start of Boil 1.0 oz Styrian Goldings Half Way through Boil 1.0 oz Saaz Last 15 mins. .45oz Saaz (adjust hopping rate to equal 30 IBU) Yeast: Wyeast 1388 or culture from a bottle of Duvel. Source: Brew Classic European Beers at Home, Wheeler & Protz. Cheers, Brad Aldgate, Sth. Australia Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 09:19:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Hop_Head at webtv.net Subject: All grain questions I usually do partial mashes with M&F extra light spray malt. When converting a recipe that previously used this, is it as simple as using 1.3 pounds of 2 row, or should some other grain be added? If I use 1.5 quarts of mash water per pound of grain, how much sparge water should I use? How much water is absorbed and "left behind" by the grain? Thank you for your help. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 10:09:52 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net> Subject: Re: Growing grain "Jamie Smith" <jxsmith at vac-acc.gc.ca> of P.E.I. asks >I tried to read the archives but there was nothing there. >Does anyone here grow their own grains for brewing? I have grown and malted soft white winter wheat, and I remember some years ago Dan Listermann was going to grow Klages 2-row barley. Never heard what came of it. The main problem is getting small quantities of malting varieties of barley. But brewing beer starting from dirt is a worthy goal. Hops are easiest, malt is more challenging, yeast is a real challenge. Spontaneous fermentation is mighty chancy. Jeff - -- ***Please note new address*** (old one will still work) Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 10:30:52 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net> Subject: Off Topic - Fats Waller Brewers I have occasionally been asked about the quote in my signature line. Since there isn't too much traffic now, I thought I'd share the details. It is a "throw away" line at the very end of a recording "Your Feet's Too Big" by Fat's Waller. It is almost inaudible, but somehow I've always felt these are words to live by. Besides, it's a fun song. Waller was an American genius. A good reference of his life and recordings is at http://www.tcsn.net/adf/fats/waller.html "Your Feet's Too Big" is available via Napster, so you can easily listen for yourself. (I'm not sure what the copyright status is of this 1939 recording, so if you choose to download it, you're on your own if the copyright police come asking you for a royalty fee.) Hope this answers an unasked question. Now back to brewing. Jeff - -- ***Please note new address*** (old one will still work) Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 10:08:52 -0500 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Cleaning SS Stones Howdy, Don't consider me an expert on cleaning SS aeration stones, but I believe that when I got mine, it very clearly stated not to touch the stone with your hands that the oils in your hands will clog the pores. This could explain why AJ was successful with acetone. Hope this helps. nathan in madison, wi Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 15:45:54 +0000 From: "A. J." <ajdel at mindspring.com> Subject: Re: Cleaning SS Stones Nathan makes a good point about oils. I have been pretty careful about not touching the things with my hands. They still load up with what I assume is protein after aerating starters (leave the stone in the starter wort for hours - in fermenter wort for only a few minutes). Wayne wrote saying that he soaks in a phosphoric acid/nitric acid mix overnight. I haven't tried that. If acetone is going to work it only takes a few minutes. A.J. > Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 12:08:31 -0400 From: "Dennis Lewis" <dblewis at lewisdevelopment.com> Subject: RE: Hofbraeuhaus > I'll side with those suggesting to go to the Hofbrauhaus. But > here's a hint...SIT OUTSIDE! The tourons like to go inside > because it's inside and American tourons like their vacations > neatly packaged. Since we seem to be on the topic, here are my simple recommendations for everyone's impending trip to Munich (oh, yes, you will be going sometime...) Start by taking Mike's Bike Tours http://www.mikesbiketours.com/ which will take you to the Hirschau biergarten in the middle of the Englischer Garten. It's a Spaten place--absolutely get ein MaB dunkel and a Steckrl (roasted mackerel). Then after touring around the city for a few hours, you'll end up 1 block from the Hofbrauhaus. You will have had so much fun, that the whole group will go the the HBH because you don't want it to end. And by the way, the HBH will toss you out at midnight on Saturday. We had a couple Kiwis, Brits, an obnoxious Calif student and a Wellesley chick who had just arrived in Munich to work for BMW. Very memorable. Try to get Haynes as your group leader if you have the chance. And we did sit outside. Don't bother watching the Glockenspiel. And definitely don't bother taking a picture of it, especially while it's moving. Like it's going to look different in a photograph. And nobody at home cares to see it. We visited the Ayinger Brewery, Biergarten, and Bed & Breakfast. Aying is a very small town, but probably a decent place to explore the SE side of Bavaria from. The brew is as awesome as you'd expect, and I think we were the only non-Germans in the place. Check out http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/5_breweries/ayinger.html. They had an unfiltered version of their helles--I should have brought one home to culture the yeast from. A great, completely non-tourist biergarten is the Augustiner Keller by the main train station. The food is excellent. Also, you might try the Jazz biergarten at Grosshesselohe. And when you make it to Andechs, go there hungry. There's a fantastic courtyard with huge (and I mean huge) umbrellas for shade. Get a big slab of Schweinsbraten or a Schweinshaxen (and you have to eat the skin!) to go with your liters of dunkel. Otherwise, you'll end up smashed. If anyone would like to know more, I'll be glad to chat via private email. Dennis Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 11:27:07 -0400 From: ccolby at hrw.com Subject: benefits of science Alan in PEI writes: > I am not convinced that science has improved what art in > the past failed to achieve. I completely disagree. Due to science and technology, we homebrewers all have access to clean yeast strains, uniformly malted barley (without a smoky flavor), and the ability to store our hops and yeast in a refrigerator. I think beers in genereal, and homebrewed beers, are much better today than they ever have been. > That being said, what has the opportunities of science > added to brewing? > - fewer brewers, Yes, but there is much better distribution of existing brews. I can go to my local supermarket and get beers from all over the world. I would have no hope of finding a supermarket, much less a supermarket with beer, in a pre-technological society. > style standardization, Perhaps overall, but we have access to more styles. I'm not limited to the one or two styles that are produced locally. > more adjuncts In some beers. Don't drink them if they offend you. >longer shelf life, greater profitability, Good. > lower alcohol. I can buy any of several high-alcohol brews where I shop. Or, if I really need the extra alcohol, I can just drink another beer. (The horror!) I think we forget how much science influences our lives because we don't know any other way of living. I would much rather be living now than other other time in the history of the planet; and the primary reason for my preference is the influence of science on society. We have so much today that we take for granted. We have clean water supplies and other public health measures that have reduced the spread of disease immensely (more than medical advances, actually). We don't all have to boil our water to avoid dysentary (or death). We have medical advances that allow us to live longer, more producive lives. No more worrying that your wife will die giving birth to your child (who would have only a 50% chance of living to age 2). We have grocery stores filled with food from all over the world due to advances in agriculture. Call me crazy, but I prefer having a pizza delivered to my door to poking at an anthill with a stick in order to glean a few insects. (Of course here in Texas we have fire ants; your local ants may taste better. 8-) Sure, there are some problems associated with modern technologies. But would you preferthe modern set of problems (telemarketers, cell-phone users, Zima) or the ancient set of problems (disease, starvation, no access to Sierra Nevada)? Just my $0.02-- I could be wrong, Chris Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 14:16:00 -0400 From: Paul Shick <shick at jcu.edu> Subject: RE:Delayed mashing and boiling Hi all, Don Watts asks about potential problems with mashing in his Gott cooler in the early morning, then sparging and boiling in the evening. Don, this approach was suggested a few years back in the Zymurgy "Great Grains" issue, and a lot of people tried it, including me. I used to mash in a 33 qt canning kettle that fit perfectly in my oven, so it was easy to keep a reasonably constant temperature. I made several beers by getting the mash to the saccharification temperature (often by complicated step mashing regimes) late at night, then raising to mashout temperature, sparging and boiling the next morning. Others have warned of several potential drawbacks to this approach: excess leaching of tannins because of the extended mash time, lactobacillus outbreaks in the mash causing off-flavors, and angering the brewing gods by not being sufficiently committed to the brewing process. As far as the bacterial problem, in my attempts, the mash temp had often dropped to about 140F overnight, but there was never any sign of souring in my particular batches. I never noticed any astringency problems in any of these batches, either, even in rather delicate styles like Vienna lagers. Since this particular Vienna did very well in national competitions, I guess this means that the brewing gods weren't too put off by my attempts to save time. So Don, the technique should be fine. Since then, I've moved my brewing set up to the basement and done most of my sessions from about 6:30-11AM on weekend mornings, so that time isn't as much of a factor. It's much nicer, I think, to schedule some time on the weekend just for brewing, so that you can really enjoy the process and not feel rushed about it. Getting up really early on Saturday morning might be enough of a sacrifice to the brewing gods to assure proper fermentation, too. Paul Shick Cleveland Hts OH Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 15:14:47 EDT From: Aleconner at aol.com Subject: Munich (Andechs) Marc Sedam writes: <<And do visit Kloster Andechs. Magical, magical dunkles. Mmmmmm....dunkles..>> I'll second this. If you have a day to kill while in (or around) Munich, take the 45 minute trip out to Klosterbrauerei Andechs, southwest of the city. We were there on a dreary, overcast March afternoon, and yet the Braustuberl was very lively. This place oozes gemutlichkeit. And because it was the start of the starkbierzeit, everyone was hoisting litre mugs of the awesome Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel -and it was barely noon! Fortunately for those who can't make it out to the monastery, this beer is also available in bottles. Prost! Marty Nachel Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 18:50:25 -0400 From: "Axle Maker" <axlemaker at mindspring.com> Subject: One For The Aussie's Got this today in my e-mail... AUSTRALIA NEAR DEAL TO CUT BEER TAXES Australian Democrats and the federal government are near a deal to reduce the beer excise, which could cut up to $200 million from the budget surplus. The government reluctantly agreed to cut beer excise after Labor and the Democrats insisted it stick to a pre-GST promise that the price of ordinary beer would rise by only 1.9% -- but that went up 9% in hotels and pubs. Democrat leader Meg Lees said the party had commissioned independent estimates of the impact of the higher beer prices, especially on country pubs. "It's money that should never have been collected, it should never have been rolled into the budget in the first place," she said. Faced with the higher taxes, many Australians turned to homebrewing. Sales of kits rose 55% at Woolworth, Australia's largest grocer, after the taxes went into effect. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 11:37:31 +0930 From: "Thomas D. Hamann" <tdhamann at senet.com.au> Subject: Solution to Don's lack of fridge space >Hi Don, have got the answer to that lack of fridge space, send by airmail >the kegs of California lager, scotch ale and old ale to Box 53 Hahndorf >South Australia. That ought to give you plenty of space for that next >batch of Imperial Colonia Stout. You could drink more of it but I must >think of your health Don. Onya Don, eagerly waiting at the post office!!! :-) >Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 15:50:59 -0500 >From: Don Price <dprice1 at tampabay.rr.com> >Subject: suggestions/questions for Wyeast 2565 Kolsch ale yeast > >My Kolsch ale is fermenting along nicely. Any suggestions for pitching a >new brew onto the cake? I already have several brews kegged or aging >(California lager, honey lager, scotch ale, amber ale, old ale, brown >ale, and a very brown ale). Any suggestions (extract & specialty grain) >for a missing style that is well suited for the Kolsch yeast? I "need" >something bigger like a strong ale, IPA, imperial stout, or Belgian....a >10-12% barleywine may be too big but I'll think about it. Any recipes or >links to find specific ones greatly appreciated. > >Aging (ale lagering?) questions: I am almost out of fridge room. After >fermenting for 12-14 days at 60 F, is there a problem with aging the >Kolsch in a corny at room temp (70-75 F) for a couple of weeks before I >put it on tap? My other options include 1) bottle lame amber ale and >make room in fridge for aging/drinking at ~40 F; or, 2) make room in the >fermentation chiller and age it at ~60 F for a week or two while the >other Kolsch yeast based brew ferments....then I'm out of room again. > >Thanks in advance for the advice. Brew on! > >Don > >Suitcase City Brewery Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 18:40:09 -0800 From: Clifton Moore <cmoore at gi.alaska.edu> Subject: re. Growing grain (grain and malting) For the past three years I have had farmers grow small lots of Harrington malting barley for me in interior Alaska. One problem is, that for a farmer, anything under a few acres is too small to bother with, and these small plots can produce thousands of pounds of grain. Quick germination, enough water at the proper times, enough warmth to get the growth to maturity, and a dry harvest are all important to good malting barley. Then there is the harvest, storage, and malting. The combine needs to be set so that the seeds are stripped but not broken. The seeds need to be dry enough so as not to rot in storage. Malting? Well that is an entirely different set of problems. I have made some good malt in ten pound batches using my brewing gear as a malting kit. The cooler served well as a steeping vessel. My garage floor, which so often has been the recipient of overflow, was equal to the task of supporting a pile of wet grain. And my converted keg made a half assed kiln. The false bottom was plumbed from the top with a fan driven duct. The entire thing was placed under a tent heated by a gas stove. Temps were monitored, and draft adjusted by opening a flap. Some harvesting tips from the Canadians: http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/agdex/100/1402002.html Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 23:44:55 EDT From: RBoland at aol.com Subject: The moon in Boon My friend Marc Gaspard recently provided a very nice overview of lambic and gueuze beers, but he repeated a common misunderstanding concerning one of the most famous of the gueuze blenders, Frank Boon. His name is frequently pronounced as BONE. However, the owner of Beermania, Brussels' best beer store and Armand Debelder, the owner/blender of Drie Fonteinen gueuze and a good friend of Frank, pronounce his last name like moon, or Daniel Boone, for you early American history buffs. For once, pronunciation in Flemish-speaking Belgium is easy; call it the way you see it. When you go to Brussels, make sure you visit the Drie Fonteinen cafe in Beersel, a small town few miles south of the city. The food is outstanding and the beer is better. Armand will enjoy telling you about it. He serves a fantastic dry gueuze as well as a sweetened draft kriek that tastes like liquid cherry pie. What a desert! Bob Boland St. Louis Return to table of contents
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