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


Contents:
  Liberty Ale not the first (Ihor W. Slabicky)
  Wyeast (Pete Soper)
  honey=preservative (Chip Hitchcock)
  brewers yeast (Stephen Hathorne)
  Trappist monk ales (Chris Shenton)
  Re: Vagabond Ginger Ale (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
  Stout (L_LEE1)
  grain mill (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  Help with mail-order source? (John Mellby)
  Steam beer, Trappist ale (Max Newman x6689)
  A string of exceptional successes (Doug Roberts  at  Los Alamos National Laboratory)
  Mold in my carboy? (Tim Perala)


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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 09:31:42 EST
From: iws at rayssdb.ssd.ray.com (Ihor W. Slabicky)
Subject: Liberty Ale not the first

In a previous HBDigest, I read:

> Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 10:42:44 PST
> From: hsfmsh!hsfdjs!suurb at sfsun.West.Sun.COM (Dave Suurballe)
> Subject: Sumerian beer

> Anchor likes to make "retrospective" beer styles that nobody else is
> brewing, and I think it's wonderful that they make the investments
> and take the risks that other breweries are afraid to make or cannot
> afford to make. 

I enjoy their efforts, and applaud them.

>                        Anchor's "Liberty Ale" was introduced in 1976; it's
> an IPA, and there weren't any IPAs anywhere in this country.

I beg to differ, but Ballantine's India Pale Ale has been around
for quite a long time, longer than Liberty Ale.  I think Liberty
was prompted in part by the Bicentennial celebrations, and not
by the need for another IPA.  Now as to which tastes better ... :-)
I prefer Ballantine's IPA.

> Anchor's product line is varied and substantial, and each beer represents
> an interesting tradition.

Agreed!

Ihor

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 10:12:48 EST
From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: Wyeast

  I have heard various rumors about Wyeast 1028, saying it is Fuller's
house yeast or Northern White Shield's house yeast. I hadn't heard of
the later brewery and intend to research this further.
  According to information directly from Wyeast strain 1338 is from
Wissenschaftlische, as is 2308. Perhaps Wissenschaftlische gets it
from Weihenstephan? In any event Logsden (Mr. Wyeast) 
says 2308 is the same strain as the one that Gary Bauer originally 
cultured and I thought too that this was a Weihenstephan strain. 
(Apologies for any mangled spellings).
  I hadn't heard that 2042 was from Carlsberg. That is a delicious
rumor if I ever heard one :-) Also, although the broth was increased
from 40 to 50ml, I was told by my supplier that the actual yeast 
volume was increased by 50%. I consider this just a rumor at this 
point and as far as I'm concerned this only gives some margin for 
shipping stress - it still falls way short of what you need for 
proper pitching rates so I'll continue using starters.
  I will ask my supplier to ask Logsden about #2142.

- --Pete Soper

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 12:04:34 EST
From: ileaf!io!peoria!cjh at EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: honey=preservative

>From: "FEINSTEIN" <crf at pine.circa.ufl.edu>

>As honey is, in and of itself, a preservative to some extent,

Huh?

   Honey at full strength is a preservative for much the same reason that a
strong salt solution is a preservative (e.g., osmotic pressure destroys
anything that tries to live in it). Whether you use brine or honey as a
preservative depends largely on what you're trying to preserve (Have a slice
of grandma's honey-crusted brisket! And how about some apricot brine pickles
for desert?).
   Honey is basically a strong solution of certain sugars with assorted
\trace/ elements and impurities, none of which have much effect besides
flavor. (Some of them even get removed---a lot of mead recipes say -"boil
quite a while and skim repeatedly"-.)
   In fact, any strong sugar solution would preserve as well as honey---it's
just that most preservations using honey date from a time/place when refined
sugar wasn't available. Now it's also a matter of taste---many people like
the impurities (buckwheat honey!), or the flavor you get from the differing
assortment of sugars. Tastes vary; there are even people who like straight
fructose, which I think has more ]individuality[ than sweetness. (And some
people feel honey or fructose is more virtuous (or nutritious---hah!) than
refined sugar.)
   I very much doubt that a weak, unhopped solution of honey (e.g., about the
strength of unfermented mead) would be any more resistant to infection than a
similar solution of refined sugar or malt extract (i.e., not at all); a
fully-fermented, unhopped mead would probably be just as touchy as an
unhopped brew of similar strength.

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 13:00:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Stephen Hathorne <sh2v+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: brewers yeast


This may seem like a silly question, but I figured this would be the
place to get the answer.

   where can I get brewer's yeast type really doesn't matter, I am doing
an experiment involving generating co2 my local grocery store doesn't
carry it.

thanks..


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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 11:46:20 est
From: Chris Shenton <chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Trappist monk ales

cohen writes:
> I am interested in brewing an ale in the style of trappiste, and am
> having a great deal of difficulty locating any information about it.

I found a good-sounding recipe in Dave Line's ``Brewing Beers Like Those
You Buy''. Haven't made it, however; says -- naturally -- it should age for
quite some time. 


> the second problem is getting a yeast that is appropriate for this
> type of brew.

He uses cultured Chimay yeast I think. 



> I have found everything I could ever
> want to know about Belgian altbiers and lambic ales

Would you care to post some of it?

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 10:39:18 PST
From: pms at Corp.Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
Subject: Re: Vagabond Ginger Ale

Just to provide a contrasting opinion, I have brewed this 2 or 3 times,
with great success. I too used the upper amount of ginger (3-4oz), and
really liked it! Served at 'cellar' temperature, cool but not cold (as
all but lagers should be served!). I highly recommend ginger as an
additive. I think it's better in a darker beer, so use amber or dark
malt extract rather than light, or whatever grains are equivalent.
patrick

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Date:     Wed, 14 Mar 90 14:05 EST
From: <L_LEE1%UNHH.BITNET at MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Subject:  Stout



Hey, does anyone outhere have a good recipe for stout that can be done with
easily obtainable ingredients?

let me know...
Woody

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 13:20:42 mst
From: hplabs!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!ihlpl!korz (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Subject: grain mill

>We have a KitchenAid with grain mill already (for breads, etc.) -
>I assume that I can use it for grain.  

I would be very careful with a grain mill designed for breads, unless
there is a COARSE setting on it.  In case you don't already know, the
ideal end result would be cracking each individual grain into 3 to 5
pieces, not _grinding_ it at all.  I have, however, heard of people,
even breweries, powdering their black patent malt and not even trying
to get it out of the boil.  I asked why, when I heard this, and was told
that the actual amount of powdered black patent malt that is added to
a batch is so small (since the powdered malt has such a good utilization
of color and flavor, I guess) that the tannins released are insignificant.
(By the way, my source for this was a rep from Briess Malting Co.)
Al.


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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 15:51:31 CST
From: jmellby at ngstl1.csc.ti.com (John Mellby)
Subject: Help with mail-order source?

Several weeks ago I believe someone posted a comparison of prices for
various homebrew suppliers.  Due to disk restrictions I purged a bunch
on homebrew digests, and subsequently found that I did not save that
issue.  Could some kind soul send me that data?

Thanks,
John Mellby
jmellby at ngstl1.ti.com
(214)517-5370

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 14:29:31 PST
From: maxn at intermec.com (Max Newman x6689)
Subject: Steam beer, Trappist ale


First of all could someone explain steam beer, is it lager fermented
at a higher temperature. Since the weather is warming I didn't think
I could still brew lager type brews.

Next an answer fo the Trappist Ale question. Dave Miller's book has
a recipe for this type of brew. He suggested culturing from a Chimay
bottle, although I have heard that no one in the seattle area has
gotten a fresh enough bottle to get a successful culture.
I really like Chimay and would like to hear from anyone in the
seattle area that has successfully reproduced this brew

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 21:11:35 MST
From: roberts%studguppy at LANL.GOV (Doug Roberts  at  Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Subject: A string of exceptional successes

My last three batches were all exceedingly good, so I thought I'd
share the recipes with you. They are all-grain batches, using
Papazian's temperature-controlled mash.

1. Tina Marie Porter

8# Klages 2-row
1# Munich Malt
1/2# Crystal, 90L
1/2# Chocolate
1/2# Black Patent
1/2# Roasted Barley
1/2 oz. Northern Brewer's, 1/2 oz. Cascades; 10.75 AAU - Boil
1/2 oz. Cascades - Finish (After the boil, while I'm cooling the wort
with my immersion chiller)
1 tsp. Gypsom
1/2 tsp Irish moss, last 20 minutes
Pitched w/14 g of Whitbread Dry Yeast, rehydrated in 1/2 C 100F water

This was a marvelous bitter-sweet velvet black Porter.

2. Perle Pale

8# Klages
1# Flaked Barley
1/2# Toasted Malted Klages - 10 min  at  350F
1/2 # Cara Pils
1 1/2 oz. Perle hops, 12.4 AAU - boil
1/2 oz Willamette, finish
1 tsp gypsom
1/2 tsp Irish Moss
Pitched w/14 g Muntona dry yeast, rehaydrated

Perle Pale was a beautiful light-golden ale, crisp yet full-bodied.

3. Cat's Paw Brown Ale

7# Klages
1/4# Chocolate
1/4# Black Patent
1/2# Crystal, 90L
1.0 oz. Willamette, 0.8 oz. Perle: 9.84 AAU - boil
1/2 oz. Willamette - finish 
1 tsp gypsum
1/2 tsp Irish moss
Pitched w/ rehydrated Whitbread

This batch was what my fond memories of drinking London Brown Ales in
Canterbury, UK were all about. A classic.

Enjoy.

- --Doug

================================================================
Douglas Roberts                |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |I can resist anything
Box 1663, MS F-609             |  except temptation.
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545   |  ...
(505)667-4569                  |Oscar Wilde
dzzr at lanl.gov                  |
================================================================

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 22:47:48 CDT
From: tperala at ub.d.umn.edu (Tim Perala)
Subject: Mold in my carboy?


[Brewlevel - novice]

I'm fermenting an extract ale and have noticed the 
formation of what looks like gray-white mold spores
on the surface of beer.

The beer has been in the carboy for about 72 hours.  If it
has gone bad, I would just as soon pitch it (as in down the drain)
now than wait for another week.  (I only own one fermenter,
and I'm down to very few homebrews in my cellar!)

The primary fermentation was wilder than usual, blowing 
off about 2 quarts of liquid (Burton Union method)
in about 24 hours.

I usually ferment at close to 65, but our house is warmer 
now, close to 70.

The equipment was cleaned as usual, although it was the 
inaugural plunge for a new homemade wort chiller (simple 
coiled copper tubing which had been cleaned with laquer 
thinner, TSP, bleach and lots of water).

I haven't made that much of my own beer to know if this
is common.  Someone told me that "nothing really bad for
you can grow in your beer", but that mold-like-stuff doesn't 
exactly look appetizing.

Thanks for any advice.
- -- 

Tim Perala			tperala at ub.d.umn.edu
Systems Programmer
Information Services
University of Minnesota, Duluth
(218) 726-6122

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #378, 03/15/90
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