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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
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Contents:
references (BrwyFoam)
Efficiency (JGORMAN)
smoked weizen ("Ray Daniels")
smoked weizen (Vachom)
kill 'em (Jeremy Bergsman)
Yellow powder in whole hops ("Tracy P. Hamilton")
HBD Cap experiment (Phil Wilcox)
Re: CAP experiment (Jeff Renner)
Hop pellets and the Bazooka screen ("George, Marshall E.")
Experiment ("Pannicke, Glen A.")
AHA membership number (Frank Tutzauer)
fermenter geometry ("Joseph Marsh")
CAP Experiment - different slant (Phil Wilcox)
CAP Experiment (Eric Schoville)
I hear Boirrds, (Dave Burley)
CAP experiment (Scott Murman)
Fermenter Geometry Experiment (Troy Hager)
first wort hopping and aging of hoppy beers ("George de Piro")
RE: Smoked Weizen ("George de Piro")
experimentation ("Dave Sapsis")
geometrical datapoint (Hubert Hanghofer)
substitute for brown malt (Hubert Hanghofer)
AHA Update ("Paul Gatza")
Tied House Brown Ale - How to Brew (RoyRudy)
Ready Made Yeast Starter (Denis Bekaert)
Ready Made Yeast Starter (Denis Bekaert)
*
* 2001 AHA NHC - 2001: A Beer Odyssey, Los Angeles, CA
* June 20th-23rd See http://www.beerodyssey.com for more
* information.
*
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
*
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Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 06:14:39 EDT
From: BrwyFoam at aol.com
Subject: references
I wrote:
> There have been some exiting experiments done at the ~1/2 barrel
level. If
>had not been so busy I would have quoted these earlier. One is Finn's
>classic paper "Tank Hydraulics"
OOps! I should stop posting until I have the time to proof what I write. I
meant
Finn=Finn Knudsen, MBAA Tech Qr, Vol. 24, 1978
The Brauwelt reference is:
Annemueller, et al, Brauwelt Int'l (English language version), 13:2,
1995
George Fix.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 08:05:00 -0400
From: JGORMAN at steelcase.com
Subject: Efficiency
George de Piro:
Jason ponders the low extract efficiency that he obtained from wheat malt.
The most common cause of low efficiency is too coarse of a crush. Wheat
malt tends to be smaller than barley and needs to be ground with a tighter
mill setting. Can this be the case?
Probably. I had my plate mill as tight as I could get it and still run the
motor. After three passes with smaller gaps I gave up. There were a still
some relatively large bits of wheat and the barley was almost pulverized.
Next time I'll finish with a 4 lb hammer.
Jason Gorman
River Dog Brewery
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 07:41:06 -0500
From: "Ray Daniels" <raydan at ameritech.net>
Subject: smoked weizen
Peter Ensminger asks about making a smoked Weizen because Schlenkerla Weizen
has recently made its way to America in bottles. When you have this
product in Bamberg -- usually after drinking regular rauch beers -- the
smoke is nearly undetectable. But when you have it here, it is apparent and
enjoyable.
The Schlenkerla brewery does use the proportions that we report in the book:
1/3 (barley) rauch malt and 2/3 wheat malt. Of course the smokiness of
their rauch malt may not be exactly the same as that of the Weyermann rauch
malt when it arrives in your hands -- there will always be some uncertainty
about that. Still, you report making porters with 20 to 50 percent rauch
malt, so I wouldn't think that this recipe with 33 percent would be
overwhelming in any case.
Of course you could throw in some pils malt and cut the rauch malt back to
20 percent or so. If the smoke winds up being fairly subtle, then drinking
it would be that much more like being in Bamberg with a smoked-up palate!
Keep on smokin'!
Ray Daniels
Editor-in-Chief
Zymurgy & The New Brewer
Phone: 773-665-1300
E-mail: ray at aob.org
Call Customer Service at 888-822-6273 to subscribe or order individual
magazines.
Don't Miss:
National Homebrewers Conference, Los Angeles - June 21-23
Celebrate American Beer Month in July (See www.americanbeermonth.com)
For more info see: www.beertown.org
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 08:23:36 -0500
From: Vachom <MVachow at newman.k12.la.us>
Subject: smoked weizen
Pete Ensminger inquires about smoked malt quantities for his smoked weizen.
>From your description of the level of smoke in the beer you'd like to
duplicate--a beer I've never had--I was reminded of a beer I brewed a year
ago, an attempt at duplicating Unibroue's Raftman, a beer that also has a
"very mild" smokiness. Although I was off the mark on the yeast and the OG,
I think I came pretty close to the smoke level. I used 1.5 pounds of
Gambrinus peat smoked malt in a ten gallon batch. The rest of the malt bill
was pils malt and a pound of 40L crystal. Next time, I'll likely use 2
pounds of smoked malt (and work harder at getting a Unibroue bottle culture,
and knock .010 off the OG). The Weyermann smoked malt (which I'm assuming
is beech smoked) would be more to style in your weizen. I think your
instincts are right on about 3 pounds of smoked malt in a five gallon batch
being a lot more smoke than you're shooting for.
Mike Vachow
New Orleans
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 09:32:58 -0400
From: Jeremy Bergsman <jeremy at bergsman.org>
Subject: kill 'em
In the better living through chemistry department, here is an article that
describes modifying glass surfaces to make them kill bacteria on contact:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/11/5981
Since they target human rather than beer pathogens (fools) I'm not sure how
useful this would be for lining your fermenter, or what effect it might have
on your yeast, but it's food for thought.
- --
Jeremy Bergsman
jeremy at bergsman.org
http://www.bergsman.org/jeremy
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 08:34:51 -0500
From: "Tracy P. Hamilton" <chem013 at uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu>
Subject: Yellow powder in whole hops
What is it? It looks like pollen to me, but...
If pollen, I thought male plants were generally discouraged because
of unwanted cross hybrids that could result.
Inquiring mind wants to know.
Tracy P. Hamilton
Birmingham Brewmasters
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:15:34 -0400
From: Phil Wilcox <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com>
Subject: HBD Cap experiment
As one who gratiously bow'ed out of the Pale Ale Experiment because it
would have been the first brew on my new system, I have been looking
forward to such an endevor for quite some time. I have also completed
another brew system very similar to mine this Christmas for another club
member and neighbor. So there are two of us with similar systems who
both like CAP's here in Jackson, MI.
We can solve the water variable by all using Culligan Bottled water.
According to my conversation with the water guys, They have a national
standard that they all engineer their water too, regardless of which
plant it comes from. They were also the only company in town able to fax
me the mineral profile. Yes, its $3.50 per 5 gal. But where else are you
going to find this convienent a solution.
Ca 2.0 ppm
Mg 1.3 ppm
Na 3 ppm
SO4 0.0 ppm
Cl 4.4 ppm
HCO3 0.0 ppm
pH 7.0
This is what my work copy of promash says, if needed Ill go back to the
fax which is at home. Somewhere. Using this water got me into the MCAB 2
in both CAP and Bohemian Lager....
Phil Wilcox
Poison Frog Home Brewery
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:18:59 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net>
Subject: Re: CAP experiment
Brewers
I was going to suggest that somebody ought to have an in with a local
brewpub or micro to provide aerated, pitched identical wort for a
real experiment, and George DePiro goes and volunteers. That would
really be a much better design, but I hope it doesn't stop us from
doing it ourselves as well. It sounds like way too much fun.
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: Wed, 23 May 2001 09:38:55 -0500
From: "George, Marshall E." <Marshall.George at bridge.com>
Subject: Hop pellets and the Bazooka screen
As someone who owns both a Bazooka screen and a Bazooka "T" screen for my
keg that I use for a mash tun, I would say to Mr. Layton "Relax, don't
worry..." yada yada yada. Have you ever seen one of these monsters up
close? The one I have in my 20 gallon boiler is a foot long and nearly 1"
in diameter. Its possibly one of the best homebrewing "gadgets" I've ever
come across, and I don't think its gonna clog with pellet hops. If you're
so concerned with 4" of pellet hops in your 10 gallon BW batch then maybe
you should be looking for alternative sources for hops so you don't have to
use that much pellet hops. My first batch with my Bazookas was a 16 gallon
batch of ESB with a 30# grain bill. The grain was mashed in a 15.5 gallon
keg with a Bazooka "T" screen and had absolutely no problems sparging, and
the regular Bazooka didn't even flinch with 8 oz of whole hops in the
boiler.
Marshall George
Glen Carbon, IL
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:48:53 -0400
From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com>
Subject: Experiment
Dave Harsh wrote:
>I'd describe hbd'ers as the most anal-retentive advanced hobbyists on
>the planet. What do we want? Possibly just a good argument at times.
Anal retentive? Well maybe... I have been found to retain my head up my
a$$ on occasion ;-)
===
In an off-line discussion with Pat B., my mind was put to rest regarding the
experiment's design. If, as a few have suggested, a double-size batch is
brewed and split between two fermenters of different geometry and handled
identically from then on we could study the differences between the those
two individuals (such as gravity, % attenuation, etc...). After collecting
the data from a number of brewers, statistical analysis of the differences
between each brewer's batches could be evaluated across all brewers. With
enough participants we increase the number of individual trials and smooth
out the noise. I always believe in the advantages increased sample sizes -
especially when it's beer!!!
Now, how to account for the Shout Anomaly and the Renner Effect?!?
Carpe cerevisiae!
Glen A. Pannicke
glen at pannicke.net http://www.pannicke.net
75CE 0DED 59E1 55AB 830F 214D 17D7 192D 8384 00DD
"I have made this letter longer than usual,
because I lack the time to make it short." - Blaise Pascal
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:51:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Frank Tutzauer <comfrank at acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: AHA membership number
This is a lame question, but who can tell me the telephone number to call
to find out my AHA membership number?
Thanks,
--frank
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:26:22 -0500
From: "Joseph Marsh" <josephmarsh62 at hotmail.com>
Subject: fermenter geometry
If you think the debate about fermenter geometry is heated here you need to
read "Still Life with Bottle: Whiskey According to Ralph Steadman".
It seems the Scots are so particular about geometry that when they repair
their stills they take great pains to replace the dents and imperfections in
the replaced parts.
It's a great toung in cheek look at scotch whiskey.
Joe
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 11:47:33 -0400
From: Phil Wilcox <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com>
Subject: CAP Experiment - different slant
he he he (pun inteded) Another way to do this is to have a local
Brewpub or Micro make a batch of CAP and give a barrel of it to
homebrewers for fermentation in different sized vessels. The brewer at
Jackson Brewing Co. said it would be an interesting experiment and after
this batch of Coopertown Pils runs out he would consider doing a
Cooperstown Lite as a CAP using flaked maize. We could overscale the
batch too16 bbl and the Homebrewers would come and help brew it and take
5 gal with them in different fermentors. Too bad his cold room is
serving temp not fermenting temp. So who in Michingan has a 5 or 10 gal
Cylidro Conical? Not me?
We, also need to remember that not all corny's are made the same, Pepsi
are taller and thinner than Coke, which are taller and thinner than some
Spartanburg cornies. I have all three in my collection....
Phil Wilcox
Prison City Brewers
Ann Arbor Brewers Guild
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 11:32:41 -0500
From: Eric Schoville <Eric.Schoville at oracle.com>
Subject: CAP Experiment
I'm in! Let me know he details.
Eric Schoville
Flower Mound, TX
http://www.schoville.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 12:55:27 -0400
From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com>
Subject: I hear Boirrds,
Brewsters:
I awoke this morning to crystal blue sunny skies bordered to the north by
the Applachian mountains, a half dozen hot-air balloons sailed lazily
along, low humidity and the temperature was in the mid 60s, after several
inches of rain in the past few days you could hear all plants sighing in
relief, I jogged to the tune of "Schlammalamma ding dong" on the treadmil
at rehab and on the way home Louie Armstrong sang "What a Wonderful
Woirrrld" on the radio. Wait a Minute! Martha, was that the big one?, is
this ...??
Nope. It was real and just me, home in Upstate South Carolina after a
marvelous 4 days in Orlando, Florida attending the Central Florida
Homebrewers annual Sunshine Challenge. What a great time and honor for me.
Jeff Renner, Marc Sedam and I were honored by CFH as Homebrew Heroes at
the bash. And what a bash. Organized by a lot of hard work and experience
( 12 years) it went off without a hitch ( except the gourmet coffee
breakfast - but who wouldda guessed 4 coffee pots on the same circuit would
have blown a breaker when three worked last year) {8^). The band made up
of members was terrific ( some great guitar) during the poolside dinner,
but I could go on and on about the pub crawl, room crawl and all the great
people and companies/brewers who all contributed to the operational
success and just plain friendly fun and excellent beers, meads and ciders.
One of the most exciting times was the award program during which every
club got to display its individuality and the Texicans
( North Texas Homebrewers) almost took the cup away from the CFH in a
long standing battle. The Texans rode on stick horses flown in from Texas
when they got a ribbon, real Bagpipes were played for others and CDs with a
2001 theme rounded out the noisy award ceremony MC'd by a Montanan, and
former CFHer, who flew in for the event. What a wonderful time for all,
and for me at last being (0,0) Rennerian, meeting Marc Sedam and Paul Gatza
was a great time as well. Thanks to Tom Moench for being an excellent and
tireless Homebrew Hero Wrangler and to all the other members of the CFH for
their support and for the opportunity to attend.
Keep on Brewin'
Dave Burley
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:08:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott Murman <smurman at best.com>
Subject: CAP experiment
thanks to Steve A. for pinging me about the fermenter geometry
discussion. i've been too busy with our new home to even properly
lurk these days. glad to see that the HBD is as vibrant and dynamic
as ever.
as George De Piro pointed out, fermenter flow isn't simple at all,
even compared to "normal" fluid flows. yeast can probably be
reasonably treated as a passive scalar "riding" on the currents,
however it is also one that produces the heat and CO2 which drives the
whole show. flocculation must be modeled, CO2 evolution, the "fluid"
itself changes with time, etc. etc. i don't know if any of the "big
boys" has ever tried to numerically simulate this, but one of my far
back-burner projects is to take one of my flow codes and try it.
Hearing from G. Fix that there is some flow viz. for this stuff would
make for an interesting comparison. maybe this CAP experiment will
motivate me to finally burn some midnight oil and get it going.
exciting to see/hear what comes of the latest HBD group effort,
though the chances of myself brewing a CAP are pretty slim. now if
someone were to suggest a Dopplebock experiment ...
-SM-
Redwood City, CA
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 10:55:34 -0700
From: Troy Hager <thager at hcsd.k12.ca.us>
Subject: Fermenter Geometry Experiment
Fellow HBDers,
After a long hiatus (remodel and new baby) I am back to brewing and reading
the hbd! I am glad it is still going as strong as ever. I am exited to see
the beginnings of a new hbd experiment (I participated in the hbdpae) and
would like to participate in this one as well.
After reading very excellent posts by John Palmer, Jan-Willem van Groenigen,
etc. who bring up many very valid points why it will be extremely hard to
isolate the effect of fermenter geometry with so many different brewers
brewing on so many different systems, I feel there will be too many
variables involved to pin down any real conclusions.
A better idea, in the vein of what Dr. Pivo has been preaching for years
(and Jan-Willem spoke to in his post), was presented by Mike Szwaya:
"...brewers split their own batch into a corny and another fermenter with a
significantly different geometry."
That way everyone does their own little experiment and could post
differences in gravity, flavor, clarity, etc, using their own instruments
and sensory evaluations. We could also submit a bottle (or two) of each to a
central testing and measuring committee, as we did in the hbdpae, and come
up with some hard data on the differences between the two beers.
We could have three different grouping comparisons: conical vs. cornie,
conical vs. carboy, and cornie vs. carboy. We could try to get equal numbers
of brewers in each category.
What ever it is... count me in! The last experiment was very fun!!!
-Troy
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 15:52:10 -0400
From: "George de Piro" <george at evansale.com>
Subject: first wort hopping and aging of hoppy beers
Hi all,
I don't read the HBD as religiously as I once did, so I hope this isn't old
news. The Feb. issue of Brauwelt International has a paper by Kaltner et
al. that discusses the effects of the time of hop addition on the hop aroma
and flavor of pilsner beer. The hop additions tested include first wort
hopping. The paper discusses more than this, but this is the part that I
thought the HBD readers might find interesting.
110 mg alpha acid/L of an unknown hop (they don't define the abbreviation
"HHE") in Type 45 pellet form were added in one addition to wort at the
following times:
First Wort (FW)
Beginning of boil (BB)
Middle of boil (MB)
Whirlpool (WP)
They measured the aroma of the hops quantitatively (by assaying the beer's
content of the hop oil linalool) and qualitatively (using taste panels).
Quantitative results follow:
FW: 8 ug/L of linalool
BB: 9 ug/L
MB: 8 ug/L
EB: 67 ug/L
WP: 122 ug/L
The qualitative tests show similar results, with the notable (to me, anyway)
exception that the EB addition yielded a higher perception of hop aroma than
the WP addition. The only explanation the authors offer is that linalool is
not the only thing that causes the taster to perceive hops in a beer, and
that more work is being done to identify other components of hop aroma.
What is striking is the lack of aroma in the FW beer, both measured
qualitatively and quantitatively. It would appear, at least according to
this paper, that FW hopping will do little to increase hop aroma in beer.
The authors force aged these beers (conditions not specified) and assayed
them using taste panels. They found that the beers that were rated as most
acceptable were the ones with the greatest hop aroma: the EB and WP hopped
beers. Quantitative tests for staling compounds could not confirm this
result (all of the beers should have tasted stale). They hypothesize that
the relatively strong hop aroma in the EB and WP -hopped beers masked the
staleness that was overt in the other beers.
I'll add that there are many examples of this masking phenomena encountered
in brewing all the time. Perhaps the most well-known example is that of
India Pale Ale. While the common story is that the high hop and alcohol
levels worked to preserve the beer, it is much more likely that they masked
the stale flavors that inevitably developed during a long, rolling voyage
through tropical heat.
Well, I hope this was interesting to somebody. Have fun!
George de Piro
C.H. Evans Brewing Company
at the Albany Pump Station
(518)447-9000
www.EvansAle.com
Malted Barley Appreciation Society
Homebrew Club
http://hbd.org/mbas
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 16:06:36 -0400
From: "George de Piro" <george at evansale.com>
Subject: RE: Smoked Weizen
Hi all,
Peter asks about smoked Weizen. I had the Schlenkerla product at the source
recently, and was very impressed by it. While it is not as smoky as their
other beers, it is still pretty smoky. I also tasted clove-like
characteristics. Peter said he missed this. This is probably due to the
age and abuse suffered by the imported product. Weizen really needs to be
fresh.
Peter wonders how much smoked malt to use. I make a smoked porter at the
brewery using about 4% Weyermann smoked malt. The smoked malt is
surprisingly pronounced at first taste, but quickly diminishes with
subsequent sips.
The freshness of the smoked malt is important. If it is too old you will
need to use more.
I am about to prime 1.5 bbls of my Hefeweizen with 5 gallons of Rauchmalz
wort. In this way I can make a few kegs of smoked Weizen while producing 10
bbls of product that I know will sell easily. Homebrewers could easily do
the same thing, just at smaller volumes. In this way you could experiment
to find the precise dosing you want.
Have fun!
George de Piro
C.H. Evans Brewing Company
at the Albany Pump Station
(518)447-9000
www.EvansAle.com
Malted Barley Appreciation Society
Homebrew Club
http://hbd.org/mbas
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 13:05:17 -0700
From: "Dave Sapsis" <dsapsis at earthlink.net>
Subject: experimentation
Well, I was gonna comment on how wonderful it was to meet some of you in the
flesh at MCAB (hi Stephen, you took me for a loop!), or maybe about my
exploits into flavor space with black lagers, but all this experimental
design stuff has my tail waggin.
I agree with almost everything Jan Willem says regarding experimental design
( I too learned my lessons in the context of agricultural research), except
for the notion that maybe as hobbyist we should be satisfied with ad hoc
observational studies ala Pivo. The fact that he has done hundreds of split
ferments and detected differences hardly renders the issue of fermentor
geometry moot. Sure, it has an effect. You dont think Fritz ferments in
shallow pans cause they look cool? It's (at least partially) because they
*are* cool(er). However, is taller better? worse? Style dependant? At its
origins, this thread emanated from some belief that tall was indeed bad.
OK. Why? Under what circumstances? I think HB community would be well
served by embracing the basic principles of scientific philosophy -- namely
development of strong inference with the use of controlled, manipulative
experiments that are designed with high power to detect effects directly
related to the hypothesis being tested.
The H:W "experiment" proposed by Pat isn't really an experiment at all, it
is an observational study, and as such carries much lower power to detect
effects. Nowhere did I see even a clear determination of quantitative
response variables -- please dont tell me we are just going to ask the
participants to determine "difference" based on taste! Jason made excellent
remarks regarding not only the selection of oblique metrics, but also the
difficulty in standardizing the measurement of clear ones.
If each person is to brew a beer and split it into two different fermentor
shapes, each of these is a sample, not a replicate. Collectively the
variance gives an estimate of sample error, but only one mean for the
replication. The whole thing would have to be performed many times to
actually test directly for aspect ratio effects... If one does consider
each sample a rep (pseudoreplication ala Hurlburt, 1984) one had better try
to make sure that the effect being testing is as similar as possible. The
real standard by which a replication is determined is the unit by with the
treatment is applied. Just as an example -- only include participants that
have the exact same fermentor shapes, and have the wort prep done
according to strict guidelines. I dont think anyone that has a rudimentary
understanding of physics believes that flow patterns are not different in
different shaped vessels -- what remains to be seen however, is to what
effect any differences in ferment character can be explained due to H:W
alone, not indirectly due to its influence on O2 uptake, temperature, or
other first order factors. If one remembers, much of this dialog initiated
after George Fix posted a comparison of a paired test where the corny keg
ferment was drastically under attenuated and had other apparent flavor
flaws. So what made this happen? I doubt it was directly the H:W aspect of
the fermentor, as many, many commercial breweries use 2:1 - 3:1
cylindroconicals, but hey, thats what we want to know, right?
The study needs to have clearly defined, measurable response variables and a
protocol designed to control all key factors (as evidenced by past research)
affecting ferment *other than* H:W. One place to start would be gravity,
where all participants used the same measuring devices (such as narrow range
hydrometers). As this is particularly a hypothesis as it relates to
homebrewing, the issue of scale seems germane, so I would think that in
addition to standardizing fermentor shapes, we should also standardize
volumes. If we could settle on some smaller volume vessels ( e.g. 1 gal)
then the average participant could actually do their own sampling, and we
could further look at participant effects as a separate issue. I would
further suggest that geometry's affect on temp could be measured and treated
as a covariable. That way, I could participate, using the two measurement
devices I consider the most important in for homebrewers to use.
My main point here is that I believe the homebrewing community often lends
too high a reliance on ad hoc observations as causal explanations. There is
simply too much else going on that could be at least partially responsible
for the observed effects. I also think that with some forethought, we could
actually design a moderately rigorous experiment that could pass statistical
muster. In the process, the community might gain some direct inference on
fermentor shape, but more importantly would gain an appreciation for how
science is supposed to work.
David Sapsis, sacramento
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 00:29:20 +0200
From: Hubert Hanghofer <hhanghof at netbeer.co.at>
Subject: geometrical datapoint
Hi all,
greetings and a datapoint regarding fermenter-geometry from across the big
pond. Last Friday afternoon I brewed a pale ale. My new charge of malts
(vienna from Stadlau and pilsener from Bilgram/Memmingen) gave much better
yield than expected and so - after diluting to 13P OG - I ended up with
"supercritical" headspace in my fermenter, which is a 60 liter "mostfass" -
see photo at:
http://www.netbeer.co.at/beer/bb2000/bb11.jpg
As I've posted earlier this year I dope my yeast with ServoMyces to
supplement essential minerals. A negative side effect of this is a very high
krausen head!
...In short: On sunday the yeast wanted to come out of the fermenter to thank
me! But I thought "wait a moment - last time the blowoff cost me more than a
sixpack (3 liters) worth of beer". So I removed the bitter krausen that just
started to come out and splitted the ferment into a corny keg. I filled the
keg via the out line/dip tube, carefully avoiding additional areation. Then
I closed both fermenters with airlocks and let 'em rip side by side.
Strange things happened then and there - sitting in front of the fermenters
and counting bubbles ...I even missed the soccer finale on TV!
Today I didn't want to fall asleep in front of the fermenters (...this kind
of behaviour costs way too much beer bullets) and so I tried to do something
useful and took temperature and hydrometer readings.
Details:
Original wort: 51 liters, 13.1 P
Healthy, aerobically grown Wyeast#1056 starter pitched May 18, 20:30, 16 deg C
Ferment split May 19, 23:30, 17 deg C
Today May 23, 20:30 - fermentation still active but slowing down
mostfass 5.7 Plato, 17 deg C
corny 5.8 Plato, 16 deg C
both samples showed equal turbidity - yeast is not flocculated yet.
we'll see how things change in the "tired phase" of fermentation, when the
fermentation currents slow down.
Allzeit gut Sud!
Hubert Hanghofer,
watching fermenters in Salzburg, Austria
...oh,
if you would ask me: I gladly would accept George de Piro's offer to run the
experiment. But I understand that this wouldn't be as much fun - you would
have to watch TV instead of fermenters.
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 00:42:31 +0200
From: Hubert Hanghofer <hhanghof at netbeer.co.at>
Subject: substitute for brown malt
Hi all,
I hope this question isn't too silly to stay unanswered, but I'd like to find
substitute for brown malt to brew some porter.
-What about dark munich malt and some Weyermann stuff - like caramunich
and/or Carafa? Any experience?
Sehr zum Wohle!
Hubert Hanghofer
www.netbeer.co.at
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 16:46:12 -0600
From: "Paul Gatza" <Paulg at aob.org>
Subject: AHA Update
Greetings all. It was a pleasure to meet several of you at the Sunshine
challenge last weekend. I was honored to share a speaker panel with Dave
Burley, Jeff renner and Marc Sedam, and taste some excellent brews. Here is
a quick update on some AHA issues and a Big Brew request.
The trend with the 2001 Big Brew seems to be bigger sites, greater volume
per site, but fewer sites. We are looking to call the numbers a wrap on June
1st, so we can send out the final press information while the beer is still
in the fermenter and fresh in the press. If you have yet to register or
remit your Big Brew results, please do so by May 31st at
http://www.beertown.org/AHA/BIGBREW/index.htm. Thanks.
On the AHA National Homebrew Competition side of things, Gary Glass and Kate
Porter are furiously stuffing scoresheets and certficates into envelopes.
The first ones to go out are the advancers to allow for second round bottle
preparation. Second round bottles (3-flight, category, best of show) are to
be shipped to: NHC 2001, Culver City Home Brewing Supply, 4358-1/2
Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City CA 90230 to arrive between June 11 and 15.
Advancers are listed by region and category at
http://beertown.org/AHA/NHC/2001/firstround.htm. I look forward to judging
your beers in Los Angeles during the conference.
Our host hotel for the the AHA National Homebrewers Conference, the Sheraton
Four Points LAX, has extended the deadline for the special room rate for
sleeping rooms through June 1 for the June 21 to 23 conference. We currently
have over 300 room nights filled, and the hotel would rather fill up the
rest of the rooms with homebrewers too, so the deal goes on. Reservations
can be made at 1.800.LAX.HOTEL. You must mention the AHA Conference to get
the block rate.
July is American Beer Month. I encourage all of you to drink American home
and craft brews only for the month and take the American Beer Month pledge.
It is available on the www.americanbeermonth.com site, as well as a free
membership card, beer reviews and video clips with our hero Captain Brew.
American Beer Month is led by the American Beer Month Steering Committee,
with some marketing and facilitation support by the Institute for Brewing
Studies and events planned by state brewing guilds, homebrew clubs and
American beer lovers, including a kickoff rally in Philadelphia on June 29th
and closing rally at the Oregon Brewers Festival on July 28th. The site
content changes regularly and is meant to be edgy and good-humored, so visit
periodically for fun updates.
Paul Gatza
Director-American Homebrewers Association
Director-Institute for Brewing Studies
Association of Brewers
736 Pearl St. (303) 447-0816 ext. 122
Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 447-2825 fax
mailto:paulg at aob.org
Join the AHA and IBS at www.beertown.org
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 19:10:40 -0700
From: RoyRudy <royrudy at nvbell.net>
Subject: Tied House Brown Ale - How to Brew
Incredible Beer!! Good and Malty!! Reminds me of Munich Dunkel. Can anyone
provide a grist bill for a homebrewed batch? TIA
royrudy at remove.spam.nvbell.net
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 20:27:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Denis Bekaert <Denis-B at rocketmail.com>
Subject: Ready Made Yeast Starter
In reference to the yeast starter thread of the last
few days, I would like to suggest a method I have used
to great advantage. Wish I could say I thought of it,
but in fact it appeared in BYO about two years ago.
Rather than fool around with DME, I just open a bottle
of Malta and use that. I rinse out my starter vessel
with Star-San and pour the Malta into it, allow the
carbonation to escape for a few minutes and add my
yeast.
Malta is essentially wort without the yeast and can be
found in many grocery stores in the Hispanic foods
section, since it is a very popular drink in Latin
America. It's pasteurized and ready to use.
The only drawback I have seen is that Malta is dark
wort, so if you are trying to brew a very Pale Ale, it
will influence the color slightly. The entire bottle
is only 12 ounces, so the effect is very small.
The other precaution is to not use too small a vessel
since it may foam up when you add the yeast for
hydration. I lost a bit of dry yeast the first time I
used it, so don't make that mistake.
On another subject, could we please have just a bit of
civility guys? Some of the flaming gets to be a wee
bit boring. This is supposed to be fun, not an excuse
to stroke out...IMHO.
Denis Bekaert,
Brewin' in Beechgrove, Tennessee where Moonshine is
our history, but homebrewed beer is our passion...
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 20:28:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Denis Bekaert <Denis-B at rocketmail.com>
Subject: Ready Made Yeast Starter
In reference to the yeast starter thread of the last
few days, I would like to suggest a method I have used
to great advantage. Wish I could say I thought of it,
but in fact it appeared in BYO about two years ago.
Rather than fool around with DME, I just open a bottle
of Malta and use that. I rinse out my starter vessel
with Star-San and pour the Malta into it, allow the
carbonation to escape for a few minutes and add my
yeast.
Malta is essentially wort without the yeast and can be
found in many grocery stores in the Hispanic foods
section, since it is a very popular drink in Latin
America. It's pasteurized and ready to use.
The only drawback I have seen is that Malta is dark
wort, so if you are trying to brew a very Pale Ale, it
will influence the color slightly. The entire bottle
is only 12 ounces, so the effect is very small.
The other precaution is to not use too small a vessel
since it may foam up when you add the yeast for
hydration. I lost a bit of dry yeast the first time I
used it, so don't make that mistake.
On another subject, could we please have just a bit of
civility guys? Some of the flaming gets to be a wee
bit boring. This is supposed to be fun, not an excuse
to stroke out...IMHO.
Denis Bekaert,
Brewin' in Beechgrove, Tennessee where Moonshine is
our history, but homebrewed beer is our passion...
Return to table of contents
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