HOMEBREW Digest #3756 Tue 09 October 2001


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Dry Hopping (Lee)
  Haziness ("Rod Milligan")
  ...water loss during boil (Ant Hayes)
  Pretzel Recipe ("Eric R. Theiner")
  Lactobacillus (Andrew Nix)
  Label adhesive. ("john mains")
  Fruit vs. fruit puree (Keith Busby)
  Sparge water volume; hops plugs (Greg Remake)
  Dry Hopping (Lee)
  Re: pseudo-decoction from a Category 5 perspective at umich.edu (Jeff Renner)
  Jockey Box Plumbing Questions ("Schneider, Brett")
  Stick-on Labels ("Houseman, David L")
  Re: Would You Trust This Yeast? (Brian Levetzow)
  Re: bottle labels ("Steve Funk")
  2 row Munich (Scott)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 21:55:00 -0700 From: Lee <leebrews at home.com> Subject: Dry Hopping For Dave in Chattahoochee. A good way to dry hop in a soda keg is to use a commercial-sized stainless tea ball. They are available from restaurant supply houses and are about three inches in diameter, Remove the short chain attached to the ball, sanitize, load it with your hops and drop it into the secondary. It does a good job and there are no loose leaves to plug up the beer line. Works with pellets, too. Lee, Heart of the Valley HBC Corvallis, OR Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 00:04:30 -0700 From: "Rod Milligan" <ramilligan23 at earthlink.net> Subject: Haziness I have only brewed 6 batches in my infantile homebrew career. In those 6 batches, I have made two types of Pale Ale. An American IPA and a Mild Ale. I have done quite a bit of reading on the internet about when to do a protein rest and when not to. Supposedly, if you are using fully modified malts, you do not want to do a protein rest. On partially modified malts (or otherwise), I guess you should do a protein rest. (Is that right??) The malts that I used in both Ales were fully modified, so I did not do a protein rest. They both turned out to be very good brews, however, they were both pretty hazy. I used two clarifiers that I got from morebeer.com on the Mild Ale and it didn't seem to help a whole lot. How in the world can I clear up the haziness? Are there any tips or tricks out there? Thanks in advance.... Rod Milligan Bloomington, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 15:50:25 +0200 From: Ant Hayes <Ant.Hayes at FifthQuadrant.co.za> Subject: ...water loss during boil Troy Hager wrote, "Another thought is that most brewery kettles are enclosed vessels where a large portion of the exhaust is condensed on the inside and runs back into the wort. I wonder if some of what is in this condensation are beneficial flavors/components that hbers are loosing when we evaporate so much." I don't have the book with me now, but SAB's staff manual deals with maintenance procedures for the condensation traps in their boilers. The traps are found in the chimney's of the boilers. One of their regular tests is to spray water in the trap to ensure that it can drain quickly enough to prevent condensate running back into the wort. The manual states that this can result in off flavours. Ant Hayes Gauteng; South Africa Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 08:40:30 -0400 From: "Eric R. Theiner" <logic at skantech.com> Subject: Pretzel Recipe I can't remember who posted the pretzel recipe (the results of which were sold to folks heading to Michigan Stadium), but I had a need to report on my results-- They're great!! This is the third time I've tried to make pretzels. The first involved no boil, the second involved a boil in baking soda, and I can say that boiling these in dilute lye (not to mention the other tips such as pretzel salt, dry milk, silicone impregnated sheets to prevent sticking) has made a serious difference. My thanks to whoever posted that recipe. And to think I was ready to give up on making pretzels! Rick Theiner Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 09:24:08 -0400 From: Andrew Nix <anix at vt.edu> Subject: Lactobacillus Hey ya'll, Inspired by a few articles in Zymurgy a few months back, a friend and I decided to try an Oud Bruin. We're getting close to time to pitch the Lactobacillus, but have some questions. I sent a message to the Wyeast folks, but got an archaic response, which didn't answer my question. Below is basically what I asked: - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ----------------------------------------------------------- My brewing partner and I are currently brewing a Belgian and have decided to use Lactobacillus rather than food grade lactic acid. We have already ordered the yeast through a vendor, but have some questions. The Wyeast website says: 4335 Lactobacillus delbrueckii Lactic acid bacteria isolated from a Belgian Brewery. This culture produces moderated levels of acidity and is commonly found in many types of beers including gueuze, lambics, sour brown ales and Berliner Weisse. Always used in conjunction with S. cerevisiae and often with various wild yeast. (60-95o F) But being a bacteria, what does the Lactobacillus feed on? Dormant yeast cells? We want to know, so if we decide to rack the beer before pitching the Lactobacillus, we don't eliminate it's "food source". If you could please give us a little more info on the Bacteria, we'd appreciate it. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -----------------------------------------------------------Specifically, if anyone has used Lactobacillus, did you pitch it while the primary fermentation was still on the yeast cake, or did you rack the beer to secondary then pitch the Lactobacillus? Thanks... Drewmeister Andrew Nix Department of Mechanical Engineering Virginia Tech anix at vt.edu http://www.vt.edu:10021/A/anix Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 14:36:58 From: "john mains" <jsmains at hotmail.com> Subject: Label adhesive. I have found that my kids glue sticks work great, the labels hold even when slightly wet, but they slide off with a soaking. We use UHU brand, but I'm sure that any nontoxic brand will work well. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 11:50:59 -0500 From: Keith Busby <kbusby at facstaff.wisc.edu> Subject: Fruit vs. fruit puree Any views on using the Oregon fruit puree in lambics as opposed to real fruit? Keith Keith Busby Professor of French University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of French and Italian 618 Van Hise Hall Madison, WI 53706 (608) 262-3941 (608) 265-3892 (fax) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 12:30:09 -0500 From: Greg Remake <gremake at gsbpop.uchicago.edu> Subject: Sparge water volume; hops plugs Hello all, As my new brewing season approaches, I am reviewing my procedures and am wondering about my sparging practices. I typically calculate my sparge water requirements so that I completely drain my mash tun, as opposed to leaving some wort in there. I'm wondering if there are any advantages to increasing the sparge water volume and not draining the tun completely. Am I potentially extracting any harsh flavors or tannins that I could otherwise leave behind? I haven't noticed any problems (final runnings pH <=6.0), but I want to employ the best practices. I'm not interested in batch sparging, but somewhat the opposite. On another note, my local shop came very close to having everything I needed in stock on my last visit. There's always something that they're out of, and this time it was hops plugs. I was told that plugs are no longer produced by anyone, which seems unlikely. The main reason I was after plugs was because I could purchase a smaller quantity than the whole hops, for which I settled. Is my retailer making up excuses, or are plugs really being phased out? Cheers! Greg Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 10:41:52 -0700 From: Lee <leebrews at home.com> Subject: Dry Hopping Dave: I meant to say plugs, not pellets. Sorry. Lee For Dave in Chattahoochee. A good way to dry hop in a soda keg is to use a commercial-sized stainless tea ball. They are available from restaurant supply houses and are about three inches in diameter, Remove the short chain attached to the ball, sanitize, load it with your hops and drop it into the secondary. It does a good job and there are no loose leaves to plug up the beer line. Works with pellets, too. Lee, Heart of the Valley HBC Corvallis, OR Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 14:00:33 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net> Subject: Re: pseudo-decoction from a Category 5 perspective at umich.edu Brian Lundeen <blundeen at rrc.mb.ca> writes: >No good can come of this, Jeff. Not only has it been clearly demonstrated >that decoction adds no flavour benefits whatsoever, but there is compelling >evidence that grains crushed in a non-adjustable Schmidling MaltMill will >actually develop HSA during the decoction, especially if the resulting wort >is boiled uncovered, then fermented in an aluminum cylindroconical fermenter >with dry yeast. Worst of all, it will affect the accuracy of Clinitest >readings. Fortunately, however, there is no danger of botulism from canned starters. Right? >PS What are my coordinates, Jeff? [314, 829] using the Henning system. That is, bearing 314 deg, 829 miles. Jeff [0,0] Rennerian - -- 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: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 14:10:27 -0400 From: "Schneider, Brett" <Brett_Schneider at bose.com> Subject: Jockey Box Plumbing Questions I have just come into ownership of a cold plate set-up I borrowed a few times before actually owning. It was damaged in a garage fire and given to me so I have been working on fixing it up. It was originally a commercial unit made a long long time ago. The 2 circuit cold plate is 12X24 inches and darn heavy. It came back to me in the original cooler, complete with the tubing lengths and diameters and plumbing instructions on plasticboard inserts sheets attached to the lid. It tells me to use 36 inches of 1/4 ID from the tap (keg) to the inlet shank, then 10 inches of 1/4 ID from the inlet shank to the cold plate, then 60 inches 3/16 ID from the cold plate to the faucet (outlet shank is where it actually connects). The beer is to be pushed at 30 to 35 psi. The last time I borrowed it to use for a picnic we had some foaming problems dispensing the commercial beers when the unit was plumbed as above, but the cornie kegs of homebrew worked marvelously well by comparison. My only guess at the time was that the commercial beer was kegged with higher volumes of CO2 than the HB so it foamed up a whole bunch in the lines defined above. I know it is a recurring question about picnic tap dispensing and tubing ID and lengths and all that, with smaller better and some sort of optimum length definitions. But can anyone point me to some inner thoughts about plumbing this rebuilt cold plate setup without re-hashing the picnic tap lore? Thanks - Brett Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 15:05:22 -0400 From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com> Subject: Stick-on Labels For ease of labeling bottles for identification purposes (utilitarian, not for looks), self-stick 3/4" round labels (Avery and others, about $3.95/1000 - -- that's many batches) fit just right on the caps of beer bottles. They stick when the bottles are warm or cold; seldom does one immerse homebrew fully in ice water, but I've found them to continue to stick when wet. Convenience in that when you discard the bottle cap, the label goes with it. No glue, or milk, to deal with. Nothing to get off the bottle later. It ain't pretty but it's real functional. Dave Houseman Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 15:40:50 -0400 From: Brian Levetzow <levetzowbt at home.com> Subject: Re: Would You Trust This Yeast? >(snip) smack-pack of Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager, expiration date >12-01-99, and tossed it in for (obviously) no charge. I smacked the pack >that night and now, weeks later, the pack has swelled. I moved the >contents to a starter jug this morning. Once built-up, would this yeast >be acceptable to use or could you expect some mutation or other problems >two years past the expiration date? In September '01, I used a White Labs WLP565 Belgian Saison I yeast vial that was dated 10/26/99. Since it was pitchable volume, I relaxed, and threw it in (I did give it a good sniff prior to pitching, and it smelled fine). Although it was slow to start, it eventually fermented out very well. Two friends (one Belgian) got a chance to have a few last night (3 weeks in the bottle), and the brew is great. So, smell the starter for 'off' flavors, and maybe step it up again to give the yeast a high population to start with. Mine turned out really well with old yeast, let us know how yours goes. Delta Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 18:20:54 -0400 From: "Steve Funk" <steve at hheco.com> Subject: Re: bottle labels George asks about using labels that don't require a lot of effort to remove. Well George, I use a round sticker about the size of a nickel to place on the caps. You pop the cap and viola, the label is off. These labels come on a sheet with about a hundred of them. I think the brand is Avery. I run them through my printer and use a small font for a short description and a larger font for a single letter or symbol for easy identification in the frig. The stickers aren't affected by cooler water either. Works for me. Cheers, Steve Funk Columbia River Gorge Brewing Stevenson, Washington Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 19:50:33 -0700 From: Scott <sejose at pacbell.net> Subject: 2 row Munich Hi All I would like to find a source for 2-row Munich malt. I live in Northern California so somewhere closer is preferable to somewhere farther. I am interested in bulk whole grain. I tried William's Brewing, but they discontinued their two row Munich and sell only six row. Any help is greatly appreciated! Scott Jose Auburn, CA Return to table of contents
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