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


Contents:
  Sources (durk)
  re:	more hops stuff (florianb)
  Back to the Ninkasi, briefly (please) (CRF)
  hops (for the last time this month!) (Pete Soper)
  hops (Pete Soper)
  starting book (Pete Soper)


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Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: 28 Mar 90 09:23:30 EST (Wed)
From: dialogic!durk at uunet.UU.NET
Subject: Sources


I am single sourced on liquid brewer's yeast for English Bitter, IPA,
Brown Ale etc.  I woam also paying top dollar for the privoiilege.  CouldI would
appreciate harearing from any and all for alternate sources.

Also, can anyone provide me info on a magazine I heard of a few years back
called the "The Zymologist", I think.  Is it still around?  How can I order it?

Thasnnks for  in advance.

Cheers,
	Durk

Dave Durkin     |OA     | "You can tune a piano  | Dialogic Corp              Mail: Box 2942, RTt. 2
                   |  but you can't tnuna fish but you can't         |        Saylorsburg, PA 18353
                   |   tuna fish" -- Groucho | E-Mail: durk at dialogic.com

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Date: 28 Mar 90 14:04:02 PST (Wed)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: re:	more hops stuff

In #386, Dick Dunn says,

>For everyone's peace of mind, it would be nice if, when you're talking
>about how well your hops are doing, you'd tell us where the hell you are!
>Sometimes bubba at znork.tipple.com doesn't really provide the information you
>think it would.  I had a brief interchange with someone a few weeks back;

...Sorry.  I live near Bend, Oregon, the sun and fun capitol of the US,
at least until Tektronix decides to move us back to Beaverton...
In addition, he comments on hard frosts limiting the arrival date of the
hops shoots.  In this area, the growing season is extremely short--we can
have snow in July!  And the frosts come early in the fall--even as quickly
as the first of September!  I think it's hard freezes that are the worry.

Then Jim Broglio says,

>It's probably to late now to plant them but...

It's not too late to plant them in Seattle.  You can order them right now
from Freshops or Nichols, and they will have plenty of time to grow this
year...That is, assuming you see the sun this year in Seattle!

Florian.

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Date: Wed, 28 Mar 90 18:06 EST
From: CRF at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU
Subject: Back to the Ninkasi, briefly (please)

Hi, All!


I realize that I'm backtracking by bringing this up, but I wanted to think 
about it for a bit before commenting.

During the discussion about/sparked by the "Ninkasi", various remarks were 
made about the probable quality of brewmasters "back then" and about the 
Ninkasi that had been brewed.  It was these remarks which got me thinking.

That the sample Ninkasi that was brewed was as weak, thin, and sweet as it was 
should not necessarily have been a surprise.  Apart from considerations 
stemming from the ingredients and techniques used, it must also be realized 
that these were the staple beverages of the day.  They were drunk then as we 
would drink water, soda, and milk today (all taken together!).  A weak, thin 
brew would be preferable under these circumstances, as no-one could afford to 
be constantly drunk-- which would have been the case had brews of today's 
typical strengths been drunk in this manner.  Not to mention that people *of 
all ages*, babies included, drank the stuff.

This being the case, it is entirely possible that the brewmasters of ancient 
days were as skilled as today's.  Nor should the quality and characteristics 
of the Ninkasi be considered as indicating the contrary.  It is quite 
conceivable that ancient brewmasters were able to turn out a variety of brews 
of consistant quality and constant availablility, which I think is the whole 
point.

Anyway:  I hope nobody minds that I brought this up again briefly, because I 
really wanted to get this said.

Thanks!


                         Yours in Carbonation,

                                      Cher 


"The first cup of coffee recapitulates phylogeny."  --  Anon.
=============================================================================

	Cheryl Feinstein              INTERNET:  CRF at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU
	Univ. of Fla.                 BITNET:  CRF at UFPINE
	Gainesville, FL

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Date: Wed, 28 Mar 90 16:29:21 EST
From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: hops (for the last time this month!)

Some guy rumored to live in Oregon recently said:

>Last time, I mentioned Papazain's comments about hops and dreaming.  For a 
>long time, I've suspected that there are ingredients in hops that account
>for part of the feeling of "well being" that comes from drinking home brew.

  Let me tell you about the first batch of beer I made where I added hops. 
It was perhaps my 3rd brew and after adding the hops I watched the
boil for a long time because I didn't know that once a boil stabilizes it
stays stable until something more is added (more or less :-).  Anyway, there 
I was, standing over this pot that was boiling like mad with volatile hop 
compounds flying around. About an hour after pitching the yeast I 
noticed I was feeling sleepy. Very sleepy. In fact I felt half-paralyzed.
There was no "well being" involved - just a very heavy sleepiness. I spent the 
evening sprawled out. My wife got a slight case of the same effect (second 
hand steam?) and I resolved to spend less time near the boil in the future. 

- --Pete (had my last name a long time - no jokes please) Soper

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Date: Wed, 28 Mar 90 15:28:26 EST
From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: hops

Chris Shenton <chris at asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> asked for some details, various
folks set me straight on Freshops and Dick wants some geography, so here it
is.

  I live in central North Carolina, around 15 miles South of Raleigh. I am
on the line between one climate zone and another (7 and 8, I think). I 
believe there was no civilization here before the use of air conditioning.
  My hop bed soil is a mixture of clay, peat moss, "soil conditioner", sand,
composted cow manure and a dash of 10-10-10 fertilizer with an emphasis on
good drainage. The beds were
tilled down a foot or so and then everything was mixed together. The beds
themselves are built up about 10 inches above the level of the surrounding 
ground. They are lightly mulched with an extra layer of peat moss to hold the
soil in place and much more mulch will be added later to hold moisture and 
keep the bed cool. Both beds have direct Southern exposure, although one is 
going to get a bit of shade during part of the day.
  The rhizomes were planted 3/12 (March, not February Mike). By coincidence 
we had a week of warm weather that broke all existing records. It was 90 
degrees one day at the beginning of that first week and pretty hot until the
weekend. I think that is what did it. The following week it was "only"
in the 70s but very warm overnight. Since then and with a total of 6 buds 
now about 1/2 inch high everything has slowed way down as the daytime highs 
are back to around 60 with overnight lows in the low 30s.
  When the hops are a foot tall I'll pick the best looking 2 or 3 vines from
each plant and "train" them up lengths of heavy twine strung vetically from
attachment points either on a wire strung between two trees (one bed) or 
the side of the house (the other bed).  
  As for Freshops - as I said it was probably weird bad luck on my part.
The final kick in the head came last week when, after saying he wasn't going
to buy rhizomes this year and thus prompting me to get into this mail order
adventure, my local homebrew supplier suddenly had a stock of THIRTEEN kinds
of rhizomes. Guess where he got them? Extra long, heavy sigh. I bought a 
Saaz rhizome with 4 buds that are each 2 inches long and this rhizome is now 
in a plant pot while I create another bed for it. So I too can attest to 
Freshops' quality.

Pete Soper                                             +1 919 481 3730
internet: soper at encore.com     uucp: {bu-cs,decvax,gould}!encore!soper 
Encore Computer Corp, 901 Kildaire Farm Rd, bldg D, Cary, NC 27511 USA

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Date: Wed, 28 Mar 90 16:10:01 EST
From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: starting book


>Can anyone point me towards a straight forward book on the subject? 

  I think "Brewing Quality Beers" by Byron Burch is a good place to
start. It is inexpensive, short and to the point.

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #387, 03/29/90
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