---

	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

          Northern  Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
        http://www.northernbrewer.com  1-800-681-2739

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  Hot Break Removal (widmayer)
  AHA Elections ("Mark Tumarkin")
  1999 NPR discussion of Brewing (Darrell_Leavitt/SUNY)
  Beer Line Cleaning (Cristina Collier)
  Re: Hyde Park beer... (Jeff Renner)
  Re: flaked oats /rye/wheat (Jeff Renner)
  re:Infrared, visible light, and beer (Jim Adwell)
  Stockwood Ren Faire and Brew-Ha-Ha (Ross Cohn)
  Steinlager ("James Sploonta")
  Fw: Brew Clubs Near Manassas VA ("Lynda Ose")
  interesting lectures (Alan Meeker)
  famous HBDer (Jeff Renner)
  Mangos ("Ross Potter")
  re: Diacetyl ("David Houseman")
  Re:  Hello Again!! ("Snyder, Mark")
  Mango Lambic/oxidisation (craftbrewer)


*
* 10th annual Spirit of Free Beer entry deadline is 5/11/02
* Details at http://www.burp.org/events/sofb/2002/
*
* 2002 Bay Area Brew Off entry deadline is 5/20/2002
* Details: http://www.draughtboard.org/babopage.htm
*
* Show your HBD pride! Wear an HBD Badge! 
* http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/shopping
*
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
*

Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org

If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!!

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word
  "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL
  ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!**
IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to
  the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address
  for the automation - that's your job.

The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright 
  HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK 
  before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content 
  cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit.

More information is available by sending the word "info" to 
req at hbd.org.

JANITOR on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)



----------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 01:25:27 -0400
From: widmayer at chartermi.net
Subject: Hot Break Removal

I hope this isn't too basic a question, but it's been on my mind and 
I'm sure there will be good advice out there.  I use a false bottom in 
my brew kettle and a ball valve spigot that pulls from a drain 
beneath it and tend to use whole hops.  I have not been doing 
anything special to remove trub other than draining through the hop 
bed after cooling the wort using my immersion chiller.  (I don't really 
wait around for it to settle much once it's been cooled either.  Maybe 
I should?)  I see a lot of gunk on and in the hops after I drain into the 
primary, but I still get a good bottom layer of trub in the carboy 
before fermentation starts and lots of big chunks of stuff floating 
around in the primary during fermentation.

My question is, are there additional steps I should take to remove 
more of the solids from the wort during or before the drain into the 
primary fermenter?  Is the appearance of flakes and chunks in the 
fermenting wort a sign that too much "hot break" material is getting 
through?  I'm pretty happy with the results I've been getting, but am 
always willing to try to make it just a little bit better if the extra effort 
is worth it.

Warren Widmayer
Chelsea, Michigan
(slightly off center)


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 07:18:53 -0400
From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: AHA Elections

Hey y'all,

I've been meaning to write this post since last week, but I've been slammed at
my new job. Anyhow, seeing Jeff's BoA post this morning got me started.

A few folks have written that they are unhappy with the recently announced
increase in AHA membership, some saying they won't renew because of the
increase. There have also been posts from the other side stating that AHA
membership is worth the cost and more. Some have said that Zymurgy alone is
worth the price. Even if you don't value the rest of the AHA benefits,
programs, events, etc; I think most people see that  Ray's doing an incredible
job with Zymurgy and that it's worth the price of membership by itself (and
more). But there's a lot more to the AHA than Zymurgy, and many of us (on the
BoA and off) are working to make it even better. The improved Zymurgy is only
part of the picture, as is the new pub discount program. There's more coming
in the pipeline.

We knew there would be some discontent about the price increase, hey some of
us on the Board weren't happy about it or convinced that it was the right way
to go. But it's necessary and it's a done deal. Bottom line, we are continuing
to work to increase value of membership and the quality and responsiveness of
the AHA overall. Which brings me back to Jeff and the BoA elections. His
statement 'vote often, vote early' echoed mine last year. Though facetiously
stated, it's a really important point and one close to my heart. The AHA has
gone through a lot of changes, it's moving in directions we like to see....but
to continue this process in making it the organization we'd like it to be, we
all need to work together. One big part of that is voting... that was one of
the major points in my candidate statement last year.

I think that the HBD was a big factor in my election, and for that I thank you
all. There's a new openness in the AHA, and a desire to make the organization
more member driven. Despite that, the past voting levels in the Board
elections have been pitifully low. However, they are increasing with each
year, and that's really good. Let's all vote this year. I'd even suggest that
some of you who aren't members should join up just to vote :>)

Seriously, we have a great group of candidates this year. I think they all
want to work to improve the AHA for the entire homebrewing brewing community.
It's hard to decide among them, but then you couldn't go wrong with any of
them. There are a good number of candidates who are members of the HBD
community. That's not a surprise or a coincidence. I'm not announcing who I'm
voting for, or telling you who to vote for - but I will say that members of
this community feature pretty heavily on my ballot! So please, go to the
website, look at the candidate statements, and vote.

http://www.beertown.org/AHA/ballot.htm


thanks,

Mark Tumarkin
AHA BoA
Gainesville, FL

by the way, Gville continues to make contributions to beer culture in many
ways  http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2002news/bottlebot.htm




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 08:24:11 -0400
From: Darrell_Leavitt/SUNY%SUNY at esc.edu
Subject: 1999 NPR discussion of Brewing

This NPR article was sent to you by Darrell Leavitt
(leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu)
with the following message:
An interesting discussion of brewing from NPR (1999)
The article title is "NPR : Talk of the Nation for Friday,
 August 27, 1999: The Science of Brewing Beer"
and can be found at http://
search1.npr.org/opt/collections/torched/totn/
data_totn/seg_57732.htm

(sorry I had to break it up to post)

 ..Darrell



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 05:53:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Cristina Collier <redusc at yahoo.com>
Subject: Beer Line Cleaning

I agree a thorough cleaning of beer lines is in order
periodically, but I
thought I would share my normal cleaning routine.

When a keg runs out, I soak it overnight in a PBS
solution or equivalent.
The next day I pressurize the keg and run several
pitchers of the PBS
solution through the beer lines and taps.  I let the
PBS sit in the beer
lines overnight - usually several days, because I am
carbonating a new keg
in the mean time.  When I am ready to tap the new keg,
I fill a pitcher with
iodophor and sanitize a new beer fitting in that
pitcher.  I place the
pitcher on top of my fridge, above the taps.  I cut
the old beer fitting off
the beer line and place the end of the beer line in
the pitcher.  I then
open the tap and a siphon is created because the beer
line was full of PBS
and it is now siphoning the iodphor through the line
and tap.  I run about
half the pitcher and then let it sit in the lines for
~10 minutes.  I then
run the rest of the pitcher out leaving my sanitized
fitting in the empty
pitcher.  I assemble the fitting and attach it to the
beer line and I am
done.  

I do this several times before breaking everything
down for a good cleaning>
I do a thorough cleaning like Paul describes, when the
lines are obviously
dirty (usually following a Belgian or other funky
beer) or when my beer line
hose get so short from all the cutting, that it needs
to be replaced.  

Chris 
Atlanta 




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 09:39:50 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Hyde Park beer...

Sonny Baca <baca2000 at zianet.com> wrote:

>I recently came across an old wooden beer crate. It has: Hyde Park Lager
>Beer on the side. Also: Seldom Equalled-Never Excelled, Hyde Park
>Breweries Association, Inc. St. Louis, Missouri. Does anyone have any
>information on this beer, or where to look? In searching the net I've
>only been able to come up with a Hyde Park microbrewery in NY. Thanks...

I found this in the 1903 _One Hundred Years of Brewing_ :

"Hyde Park Brewery, St. Louis. - This brewery was established in 1862 
by William Moran, the business being purchased from him by Robert 
Jacob & Company, in 1876, Mr. Marquard Forster, a well-known St. 
Louis maltster, being the company, and in 1878 he became the sole 
proprietor.  The firm name was changed to Hyde Park Brewing Company, 
and later the Hyde Park Brewery Company, Mr. Forster being president 
until the brewery was merged into the St. Louis Brewing Association 
in 1889.  It is one of the largest plants secured by that company."

The name on your crate doesn't exactly match any of those mentioned, 
so it's your guess what the date is.

Hope this helps.

Jeff
- -- 
***Please note my new address***

Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 09:47:38 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: flaked oats /rye/wheat

Jim Cuny Himsbrew at aol.com of Green Bay WI asks about flaked oats /rye/wheat

>what is the proper way to use these?
>I am a extract/partial mash brewer,can I
>just add them with the other grains, or do
>I need to do some sort of cereal boil mash
>procedures?

They don't need to be boiled, but they must be mashed to convert the 
starches to fermentable sugars (although millions of gallons of 
homebrewed oatmeal stout have probably been brewed by just dumping 
flaked oats into the extract).

You should do a mini-mash (partial mash).  Instructions are in 
standard books and I suspect John Palmer's online book at 
http://www.howtobrew.com/.

Jeff
- -- 
***Please note my new address***

Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 10:04:38 -0400
From: Jim Adwell <jim at jimala.com>
Subject: re:Infrared, visible light, and beer

Val Oliver writes:

"I have a chest freezer that I'm using as a fermentation box. Using a
temperature controller I can heat or cool it as needed. The problem is the
heat source. I'm currently using a 25 watt red light bulb, which seems to
work well, but is the visible light going to affect the beer?"

One of my temperature controlled fermentation boxes, which are heated with
ordinary 100 watt light bulbs, has the light bulb situated such that it
shines directly on the carboy at a distance of about 6 inches.  The beer is
unaffected, even if I forget to put cardamom in the wort (do a search in
the HBD archives for "cardamom" to see what I'm talking about).  In fact,
at one point in my homebrewing career in Hawaii (I am now in rural New York
state) I regularly boiled wort in full sunshine.  I can put a glass of my
beer in full summer sun for hours and it doesn't get the slightest bit
skunky.  For a possible answer to why my practices do not result in skunky
beer, search for patent #5,811,144 on the USPTO website (
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html).

BTW, I have been able to produce beer that becomes skunky when exposed to
sunlight, by keeping the wort, fermenting beer, and bottles in a dark
place, and taking care not to expose the beer to sunlight at any time.
Since I don't particularly enjoy skunky beer, I don't isolate my beer and
wort from light, and add a tiny amount of cardamom to the boil.

Cheers, Jim

Jim's Brewery Pages:
http://brewery.jimala.com


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 07:53:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ross Cohn <artnculture at yahoo.com>
Subject: Stockwood Ren Faire and Brew-Ha-Ha

Hi all,
I wanted to let everyone know about an amateur brewing
contest and Ren Faire being held on the East Coast. 
It's in Upstate NY, and for those of you who may live
in the Tri-State Area it's about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away
from NYC.  I went last year and it was a blast, not
the largest Ren Faire out there but it was a lot of
fun and a good day trip for me and my cohorts.  The
Brewing Contest is set up well this year and it's an
opportunity to meet other brewers:

http://www.stockwoodfaire.com/



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 12:44:53 -0400
From: "James Sploonta" <biere_god at hotmail.com>
Subject: Steinlager

"...a tatalizing sweet-hoppy character emerges from the pale-gold body, 
leaving a more defined dry aspect that stays until the end." - R. Klein

Aren't sweet and dry mutually exclusive terms even in the whimsical language 
used to describe wines?



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 13:11:40 -0400
From: "Lynda Ose" <lyndaose at starpower.net>
Subject: Fw: Brew Clubs Near Manassas VA


Don,

The closest club to you is The Wort Hogs...meeting the second Wednesday
monthly at The Hard Times Cafe in Herndon...you can't find a better bunch of
folks  www.WortHogs.com

Another fine club is Burp.  They meet on various Saturdays at member
homes...you can't find a bettter bunch of folks.  Get an early start on your
Northern Virginia tour by entering Burp's BJCP competition...enter 4/27 -
5/10...it is an MCAB qualifier.    www.burp.org

Wendell Ose
Wort Hogs Membership Guy and friend of all homebrewers



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 13:41:03 -0400
From: Alan Meeker <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu>
Subject: interesting lectures

Those of you in the D.C. area might find this intriguing...

http://www.usbg.gov/education/events/Secret-Life-of-Beer.cfm

 -Alan Meeker



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 14:00:42 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: famous HBDer

Brewers

Time Out With:
Alan Meeker, Cancer Researcher, Beer Man
By Greg Rienzi
The Gazette: The Newspaper of the Johns Hopkins University

Alan Meeker spends his days, and some of his nights, searching for 
clues for cancer's cure. Outside the laboratory, however, the 
first-year postdoctoral fellow says he is content with trying to brew 
the perfect beer.

Alan's too modest to tell us about this.  Check out 
http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2002/11mar02/11timout.html for the whole 
story.

Jeff
- -- 
***Please note my new address***

Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 11:34:15 -0700
From: "Ross Potter" <BurningBrite at charter.net>
Subject: Mangos

So far I have brewed neither a wit nor a fruit beer, but the mention of
mangos was coincidental with a recent purchase at Costco (NAYY).  They sell
a 2 lb (nothing there is small) bag of dried mango slices for about six
dollars.  They taste slightly sweetened, and probably have the standard
citric and ascorbate preservatives added, but the mango flavor is incredibly
intense.  I would guess the 2 lbs dried would be equivalent to 4 - 6 lbs
fresh; sort of like adding essence of mango.  Just wondering if this might
be a viable alternative, perhaps with some prep like blanching 30 seconds in
boiling water, or rinsing in vodka, prior to adding to the secondary.  Other
thoughts?

 ...ross

"Never argue with a fool.  He'll drag you down to his level, and beat you
with experience."  --Mark Twain



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 15:49:20 -0400
From: "David Houseman" <housemanfam at earthlink.net>
Subject: re: Diacetyl

There was a question about wanting more diacetyl in a beer.  Normally
selection of yeast strain would be the place to start.  And racking off the
yeast early or crash cooling prior to the yeast consuming all the diacetyl
that had been created.  A new thought on this is brewing under pressure.  A
recent issue of New Brewer had  an article on Brewing Under Pressure which
reported that this technique increased the perception of diacetyl and
bitterness.  This may explain why my lagering in cornies under pressure has
resulted in lagers with higher bitterness and diacetyl than similar beers
lagered in glass carboys.

Dave Houseman



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 15:40:58 -0500
From: "Snyder, Mark" <msnyder at wm.com>
Subject: Re:  Hello Again!!

In response to Todd Kirby's request for suggestions on microbreweries in the
area, I have only one thing to say - Five Seasons Brewery!  Located in the
Prado on Roswell Road south of 285 and behind Frankie's, this brewpub is the
resurrection of the Phoenix Brewing Company.  Same brewer and fantastic
food, too.  They have some of the best brewed beers in Atlanta by head
brewer Glen Sprouse (presently serving a Dunkelweisen, ESB, Helles, Red Ale
and the Glenkevin Wee Heavy Scotch Ale).  Other places of note are US Border
Cantina in Alpharetta with good brews by head brewer Chris Terenzi.  I've
had very good cask conditioned beers at the Rock Bottom Brewery, too.

As for homebrew shops, not too many around any more.  I buy my supplies at
Marietta Homebrew at the intersection of Powers Ferry and Roswell Road.
Another little one in Alpharetta at the intersection of Old Alabama and
Nesbit Ferry by the name of Beer Necessities.  The last one is Winecraft of
Atlanta on Roswell Road north of 285 on the left.  I also think there's one
down in Fayetteville, but that's a long haul for me!!  All the others have
closed - not much available in a large city like Atlanta, bummer.

Mark Snyder
Atlanta, GA


Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 12:34:03 +1000
From: craftbrewer <craftbrewer at telstra.com>
Subject: Mango Lambic/oxidisation

G'Day all

Well well
I have returned for once not at the rantings of dear 
ol Phil. I hear the poor bugger has finally discovered 
that he isnt god, (unlike me), and to achieve the guru 
status, he actually has to ask questions from the 
likes of me, but more importantly listen. I think I 
might even have to reconsider his life long ban to 
the "Brewing School of Excellence in North Queensland". 
Last time he was there, we had all sorts of trouble 
with him. "no - you dont need to spit in the wort, 
there is already plenty of enzymes in there".

But I am here with this request
> From: "Moyer, Douglas (IndSys, SalemVA)" 
<Douglas.Moyer at indsys.ge.com>
> Subject: Mango wit - suggestions?
 I would like to take half of the batch (one of 
the carboys) and make a mango wit..... Graham, 
any suggestions? <<<<<<<<<<

Mango flavour can be a hard flavour to capture. 
it is not so much delicate, as it tends to 
oxidise very easily. For example to make a decent 
litre of mango wine you need 5 kg of mango pulp 
which requires 10 kg of mangos. Having said that, 
the trick to making a great mango lambic is adding 
the flavour as late as possible. If you keg beer I 
add it about six to nine months after it has been 
kegged. If you bottle I would add it at secondary 
1 week before you bottle.

The trick to getting the mango flavour is puree it. 
Use a juicer and just add the juice, not the pulp. 
I juice 10 kg of fruit to get 5 litres of puree to 
add to about 15 litres of lambic to get that intense 
flavour.

FINNALLY, someone has stated the bleeden obvious 
(gee I wondered how long it would take).
>>>>>Oxidation (the opposite of reduction) is "the 
process of ncreasing the positive valence or of 
decreasing the negative valence of an element or 
ion" (Strangely, oxidation does not require any 
oxygen to be present at all, as reaction with other 
elements/ions can increase positive valence just as 
well as oxygen.<<<<

The reason many of you cant get your head arround 
this HSA stuff is "you dont need O2 to get oxidised 
beer" People can be utterly #nnal with keeping O2 
out of their beer at bottling, and still get oxidised 
beer. The reson we say oxidation is oxygen was the 
first element that the redox reaction was readily 
shown, hence the name. 

Shout
Graham Sanders

oh - Yes we have lost another tourist up here. This 
one an American. We tell them all the time - dont 
swim in the frest water, big water lizards live 
there, - Dont walk there - poisonous snakes etc. 
Well this guy was told, hey, the water is full of 
stingers (jellyfish). Well he swam in, and floated 
back. Come to think of it, Phill likes a swim!!!!!!!!!!


 



Return to table of contents

---