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Contents:
  Re: Source for Norprene tubing ("Neil Kushnir")
  Siebel Week ("Rob Moline")
  LOCAL POST: where's the good beer in NYC? ("Bill Coleman")
  Judging comments, HB Greenville, SC, DMS and cooling,Thanks ("Dave Burley")
  American Beer Month Slogan Contest Entry ("Tracy P. Hamilton")
  Re: Commercial beers and competitions (jkleczewski)
  re: not enough time to brew (Paul Kensler)
  RE: Not enough time to brew ("Jason Henning")
  AHA IPA Club-Only Competition ("Gary Glass")
  Re:Triangle testing (Phil Wilcox)
  Munich Dunkel attempt with 100% munich malt (LJ Vitt)
  RE: Finns and floppers (Brian Lundeen)
  RE: pH Buffer solution (mas4786)
  Beer Engines with Corny kegs (Rick)
  Re: Rims (Rob Dewhirst)
  pH Buffers (AJ)
  RE:  Introduction ("Bill Dubas")
  E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition (stihlerunits)
  HBD browser ("Laura Barrowman")
  "Best" Examples ("Peter Garofalo")


*
* 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
*
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* http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/shopping
*
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 01:13:18 -0400
From: "Neil Kushnir" <neilk27 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Source for Norprene tubing

In HBD 3936, Gary Smith asked about an alternate source for Norprene tubing 
following the apparent demise of Moving Brews.

I ordered my Norprene from McMaster-Carr and was extremely happy with their 
service and prices. They carry all sizes of Norprene tubing and sell it by 
the foot (no minimum-I ordered one single foot and they shipped it no 
problem--got it the next day and I live in Canada!). It's a little more 
expensive than Moving Brews but at least it's available. McMaster-Carr also 
sells every single stainless steel fitting you could possible imagine, at 
great prices. No affiliation, YYY. Their customer service is fantastic 
too--I e-mailed to merely ask about returning part of my order and THE NEXT 
DAY they credited my AMEX account for the items I asked about returning.

If you're looking for quantities of ten feet of Norprene, U.S. Plastics also 
carries it a bit cheaper than McMaster-Carr. (I suspect that's where Bill at 
Moving Brews was getting it from.) But, as I said, they have a ten-foot 
minimum and I have no experience dealing with them.

I too was hoping Moving Brews would come back but I've found other sources 
for just about everything they had.
Too bad--I would have preferred to buy from a source that specialized in 
brewing but that's life.

Neil Kushnir
Montreal





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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 00:30:52 -0500
From: "Rob Moline" <jethrogump at mchsi.com>
Subject: Siebel Week

"Siebel Week......"
     By the time that this message has been disseminated to the respective
lists, it will be time to commence submission of your questions for
evaluation and response by the kind folks of the Siebel Institute. Ably
assisted by Lallemand's 'yeast gods,' this event should prove useful and
informative to us all!

     But here are the RULES.....
     1. Questions MUST be sent to the HBD, submitted to post@hbd.org  , and
submitted with "Siebel Week" in the subject line, with or without further
subject heading.
     2. Questions shall be accepted for response effective May 10, 2002, and
shall be rejected after midnight CST, May 17, 2002. Siebel has graciously
allowed that follow-up may be required post the cut-off point, and they will
deal with that on an as needed basis.
     3. Answers to the questions will be returned to the HBD, and may be
similarly mirrored on the AHA TechTalk, and the IBS Forum at the discretion
of the Moderator of the TT and IBSF.
     4. Reprinting of the Questions and Answers may further be published by
Siebel, Lallemand, the Association of Brewers, IBS, AHA, and HBD at their
discretion, in any media.

     I know that there may be some that will object to this stipulation of
future publication rights of questions submitted to the HBD, typically a "No
Further Publication" Zone.
     But there you have it....these are the RULES. If you object, simply
don't avail yourself of the countless tens of thousands of dollars of time,
energy and invested experience of the following pool of talent.....and don't
submit a question.

     This event and effort consolidates in the HBD the primary greatness
that beats beneath the surface of the brewing industry...the generosity that
passes the tricks and traps of the trade to others within it. Countless
brewers before us, and I am sure, after us, have and will benefit from
experiences such as this.
     We are blessed as brewers to have this opportunity.... please enjoy it
in the spirit demonstrated by those that give it to us.....these brilliant
brewers....

     Lyn Kruger worked for South African Breweries as Development
Microbiologist and Microbiology Consultant. She holds her B.S. in
Microbiology and Chemistry from Rhodes University and her M.S. in
Fermentation Microbiology from the University of Witswatersrand. Lyn is
currently President & COO of Siebel Institute and is involved with various
courses, lab services and microbiological media.

     Gary Grande worked for Miller Brewing Company as an electrical
supervisor, Maintenance Manager for the Milwaukee brewery and as Internal
Packaging and Process Consultant for several of Miller Brewing's facilities.
Gary is a member of the Siebel extended faculty and teaches in the areas of
technical problem solving, maintenance, and packaging.

     Kirk Annand worked for Moosehead Breweries, has consulted to the
brewing industry, and was a founding partner of the Maritime Beer Company in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Kirk has a B.A. and a Business Management Diploma
from Dalhousie University and is a graduate of the 1986 Siebel Diploma
Course in Brewing Technology. Kirk is a member of the Siebel extended
faculty and teaches in the area of brewhouse operations, brewery design,
recipe formulation and packaging.

     Forbes Wardrop obtained a Ph.D. in Yeast Physiology in the Lab of
Graeme Walker
at the University of Abertay Dundee (UAD).  Originally a Biotechnology
degree graduate, Forbes has specialized in yeast biology after
collaborations with Quest International and Lallemand Inc.

     Tobias Fischborn apprenticed in a small brewery (200,000 hl) for two
years before
studying in Weihenstephan. He graduated as a Dr. Ing. for brewing and
beverage technology and is working now for Lallemand Inc.

     Other luminaries may pop up, but for now, Gentle Brewers...

     Let the "Siebel Week" begin!

Cheers!
Jethro Gump
"The More I Know About Beer, The More I Realize I Need To Know More About
Beer!"



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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 07:18:24 -0400
From: "Bill Coleman" <malty.dog at verizon.net>
Subject:  LOCAL POST: where's the good beer in NYC?

There's a pretty extensive list of good bars, including usually recent
tap lists,
at http://hbd.orb/mbas/beer.html - The Beer Alert Page.

Bill Coleman 
malty.dog at verizon.net
http://hbd.org/mbas



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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 07:50:28 -0400
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Judging comments, HB Greenville, SC, DMS and cooling,Thanks

Brewsters:

Peter Garofalo and other's rermarks about pithy comments by judges not being
satisfactory to entrants might be helped by a standard score sheet in which
typical comments could simply be checked off by judges which would then be
returned to the entrant for each entry. There could also be a separate
section for comments on this specific beer if deemed necessary.

These standard comments could be expanded by a separate explanation sheet
( or booklet)  of any length deemed necessary. This would help relieve the
time pressure which most judges feel in a competition and also provide a
memory jog to the judge. I envision a sheet based on the typical judging
points and also some hints on how to improve the beer.

For example a " needs malt" comment on the "judging sheet" could go into
details on the "explanation sheet" about recipe compounding, mash schedule,
malt types, etc. This could provide a real learning experience for the
entrant without asking the  judge to be a brewing consultant with so little
time available.
- ---------------------
Being just down the road from Greenville, SC in Anderson, SC , I agree with
Steve we need a really good HB store in the area.. There is a small store in
Pendleton, SC ( Vine and Barrel) not far from me and one in Columbia, SC. A
few in Georgia within an hour or two, one in Hendersonville, NC, (Batteries
Not Included - I think) but not much else.  Anyone?
- ------------------
A friend, fellow and much respected HB author wrote to me offline regarding
my comment that DMS could be retained in the wort by cooling over a long
period with the lid on.  He begged to differ in that in his many years'
experience he had cooled by this method and his BJCP tongue told him he got
no DMS by this method. I have to agree that I have never personally
experienced this in recent history since I haven't used this cooling method
for many years, but I was going by other respected HBD brewers' comments
that this is a fact.  Is it not so?

So. Do we have any evidence that long slow cooling with the lid on ( e.g. in
a deep sink) causes the beer to have a higher DMS content or is this just a
mommily ( hi Jack) ?
- ------------------
Thanks for all the kind wishes both online and offline.  Hope I can deserve
them!


Keep on Brewin'

Dave Burley




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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 07:06:51 -0500
From: "Tracy P. Hamilton" <chem013 at uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu>
Subject: American Beer Month Slogan Contest Entry

Beer - It's What's For Dinner!

Well, OK, maybe that won't raise the image of beer .

Tracy P. Hamilton
Birmingham Brewmasters



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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 08:42:38 -0400
From: jkleczewski at mindspring.com
Subject: Re: Commercial beers and competitions

In HBD #3936 Mark Kempisty says:

>I have gotten such divergent opinions on some of
> my entries, You have to wonder if the samples
> were mixed up.

There is no question in my mind that entries sometimes get mixed up. 

Case in point:

My California Common won our club only and went
on. Scored in the high 30's at our club, comes
back from the final in the high teens saying that
it was infected and had a glob of yeast under
the cap. 

My beer's are filtered and counter pressure
bottle filled.

Sometimes beer judging is a crap shoot.

John Kleczewski
west Chicago, Il.


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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 06:12:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Kensler <paul_kensler at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: not enough time to brew

Steve,
I did this successfully once with a partial-mash
batch.  I generally do all-grain brews too, but I was
participating in an extract experiment and was doing
my batch with a mini mash.  

I had originally planned on doing it all on one day,
but we got a very sudden rainstorm that prevented me
from boiling outside on the deck, and I definitely
wanted to do a full wort boil.  

Anyway, on one brew day I brewed the minimash -
including a quick sparge - and brought it to a brief
boil to sanitize.  The total volume here was probably
about 2 gallons.  After the boil, I chilled it in an
ice water bath in the sink and after it was cool
enough, I stuck it in the fridge overnight.  

The next day I heated up the remaining water, mixed in
the extract, and poured in the 2 gallons of wort from
the previous day to make roughly 6 gallons of pre-boil
wort.  Brought it to a boil, added hops, etc.

The beer turned out great (it was a porter) and I
found myself thinking that a split day,
extract/minimash beer would be a great way to brew
during the week, or even during periods of
questionable weather when I can't expect to have a
full 6-8 hours outside with all my stuff, but might be
able to squeeze in 90 minutes to heat and boil.

It helped a lot that I did a mini-mash supplemented
with extract, because there is nowhere for me to store
6 gallons of pre-boil wort overnight - but 2 gallons
in a soup pot fit right in the fridge.  In fact, the
all-grain wort was brilliant the next morning, as it
had precipitated out all the grain and husk bits, hot
break and cold break.


Hope this helps,
Paul Kensler
Gaithersburg, MD



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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 09:28:29 -0400
From: "Jason Henning" <jason at thehennings.com>
Subject: RE: Not enough time to brew

Hey now-

In HBD 3936, Steve in Greenville asks about splitting his brew session in to
two segments. He wants to mash and sparge the first night and boil and chill
the second night. Steve proposes to cover and refrigerate between segments.

I often split my session but I do it a little different. I mash, sparge and
then bring the wort to a brief boil and flame out. I cover it and leave it.
The boil gets it sanitized and it'll maintain 160F+ for many hours. 160F is
the minimum temperature that the health department asks restaurants to
maintain their gravies, soups, and other hot foods at. After that, I rely on
the fact that the wort spoilers have been drastically reduced and won't be
able to get a foothold before I get to the 2nd segment and get the boil
going. Sometimes I'm feeling lazy the next day so I'll bring the wort to a
boil and flame out and let it go for another day. I stretched a single brew
session out over a week once and had no ill effects.

I've not had a single person mention off flavors or detect anything that I
could trace to my procedure. So if you don't have the time, mash, sparge,
and a 2 minute boil will get you by until the next day.

Cheers,
Jason Henning

$12 away from being even with Jeff Renner




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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 08:15:57 -0600
From: "Gary Glass" <gary at aob.org>
Subject: AHA IPA Club-Only Competition

Hi All,

Due to an unexpectedly large number of entries, judging for the IPA
Club-Only Competition had to be extended to this coming weekend.  I will
post results as soon as we have them.

Cheers!
Gary

Gary Glass, Project Coordinator
Association of Brewers
888-U-CAN-BREW
(303) 447-0816 x 121
gary at aob.org
www.beertown.org



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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 10:18:14 -0400
From: Phil Wilcox <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com>
Subject: Re:Triangle testing

I think I sat across the table from Jeff renner on that panel. I too
could tell the difference on each of the 3? different sets...

I also agree that i have never had a better piece of beer programming
that the Fix v. Farnsworth in the Battle of Beers. Prost!

As a note to the DC? organizers for next years MCAB, how about the
battle of the Michael's -- Michael Jackson vs. Michael Lewis. o.k. that
will never happen...

How about the Panel of Dave! Dave Miller, Dave Burley, and Dave Sapsis

Phil Wilcox
Poison Frog homebrewer
Warden - Prison City Brewers



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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 08:54:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: LJ Vitt <lvitt4 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Munich Dunkel attempt with 100% munich malt


Over a year ago, there was some discussions about making dunkels using
high portions of munich malt.  I decided I had to try making one with
only munich malt.  

I used 10 lbs Weissheimer munich malt.
Followed a tripel decoction with half hour boils on the first 2 decoctions
and 15 min on the third.
Wort boil was 90 min.
Hops 1oz Hallertauer 4.2% Pel first wort hopped
     1oz Hallertauer 4.2% pel 30 min
Yeast WLP830
OG - 1.050
FG - 1.015

There beer is now ready and I decided this is not a dunkel.
The color appearance is close to a vienna lager.  The taste lacks
the sweetness I would expect.

I believe it needs a dark crystal added - maybe in the form of caramunich.




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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 11:06:04 -0500 
From: Brian Lundeen <BLundeen at rrc.mb.ca>
Subject: RE: Finns and floppers

Miikkali (Can we call you Mike?) Leppihalme writes:

> G'day, HBD subscribers. I subscribed yesterday and think it's 
> in order to introduce myself to the list.

Welcome, but if you're going to stick around, you'll have to downgrade your
writing skills. You are making the rest of us whose first and only language
is English look very bad. ;-) 

Dave Burley reveals the secret to longevity with:
> 
> To quote: " There is no question that gazing at breasts makes 
> men healthier" The increased heartrate and blood circulation 
> cuts the risk of a stroke and heart attack in half and men 
> should live four or five years longer. And they thought we 
> were crazy and debauched.

Dave, I believe this study to be flawed. It is not the viewing of "nekkid
breasts", as Joe Bob Briggs would call them, that accounts for the increased
longevity. Rather, I think it has more to do with having the wife leave you
as a result of this daily exercise routine. ;-)

Cheers
Brian Lundeen
Brewing at [314,829] aka Winnipeg, which is nowhere near Finland


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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 11:19:52 -0500
From: mas4786 <mas4786 at NebrWesleyan.edu>
Subject: RE: pH Buffer solution

I doubt that I am a chemistry god, but perhaps a biochemistry major is 
qualification enough to answer your question (far from god I know but it is 
the best I can do!).  I will put this as best I can, for you to make a buffer 
solution of 10.01 with a 0.1 oz. accuracy scale with even a moderate degree of 
accuracy you would have to be incredibly lucky or god-like. I not real sure 
what scale you have but if it reads to 0.1 of an oz. that means that error in 
the measurement will occur in the that last 0.1 of an oz..  Meaning that if 
you measure out 1.1 oz. you can be absolutely sure that you have 1 oz. but the 
the tenth of an oz. is in question.  So the precision of weighing out the 
components for the buffer solution is not good enough to obtain the 10.01. Not 
to mention it will be hard to obtain the materials needed to make the buffered 
solution. There are a host of other things you have to take into acount as 
well but I think the scale alone stops you dead inyour tracks.  I have a pH 
pen and I usually swipe the buffer solution from the chem. dept or you can buy 
buffer solutions at most local homebrew supply stores.  It will save you the 
headache and give you better results.  Also I'm sure you read this but you 
have to store your pH pen (electrode at the tip) in a special solution or you 
will ruin the electrode that measures the pH. I hope that helps.

Marc



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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 10:16:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rick <ale_brewer at yahoo.com>
Subject: Beer Engines with Corny kegs

My wonderful wife recently suprised me with a Angram
beer engine for my birthday, clearly winning the prize
for best gift of the century! (Ok, so it doesn't
compare to Jeff Stampes' B3 Brewing Sculpture, but I
am training her right!) The homemade beer engine I
created from the BYO article worked great, but nothing
beats the visual effect of a real British beer engine.

I've done plenty of reading and searching for
information on real ale and cask conditioning, but I
have some questions related to dispense from a Corny
keg. 

 -What level (vols) of C02 do you prime to when using a
swan neck & sparkler.
 -How much should I cut from the diptube?
 -Which fining agents work best and when do you add
them?
 -Any other dispensing tips?

Rick Seibt
Mentor, OH





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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 12:25:56 -0500
From: Rob Dewhirst <rob at hairydogbrewery.com>
Subject: Re: Rims


>
>
>1. Position of mag pump: as long as the pump is below
>the kegs, does it matter what position it's in? I'm
>concerned about the impeller spinning & causing
>cavitation/bubbling in the liquid.

The pump position should make no difference, but for ease of cleaning, I 
would mount the motor horizontally with the inlet and outlet 
vertical.  This lets liquid drain after use and cleaning and makes it easy 
to remove the impeller housing.

On my march high temp pump, the sealed impeller mechanism can be rotated 
360 degrees in 90 degree increments.  This may be useful to know.  I didn't 
realized it until I cleaned in the first time.

When choosing placement of components, take a look at possible splash and 
spill areas.  I picked some bad spots for a few electrical items :).  I 
would put the pump out of splash distance, but not actually BELOW the mash 
tun, because you may want to add a supplemental flame heat some day.


>2. I have a custom rims chamber from Movingbrews.
>My central tube is 24" long to accommodate an extra
>long Ultra low watt density element. Should the fluid be
>flowing from the distal end of the element to the
>threaded end or is the fluid (& temp. probe) at the other
>
>Do you have a reason you feel one way is better than
>another?

Fluid flows in the end opposite the threads for the heating element, and 
out the other end, where the temp probe is located.

I have pictures that show this at:

<http://hairydogbrewery.com/equip/mashing.shtml>



>3. I am planning on placing my element horizontal as
>that would give me more room to play with. I can
>arrange the rims chamber to be vertical but horizontal
>would be easier. I'm wondering how much loss of sweet
>liquor I'll loose in the rims & I'm wondering about
>bubbles being trapped in the chamber if it's horizontal.

You don't want to mount the large chambers horizontally, because low flow 
conditions may cause air space in the top of the chamber, causing bad 
scorching.   You want to guarantee the element is completely submersed the 
entire time. I learned this the hard way. (smaller chambers may not have 
this problem).  They also are harder to drain on their side.

You don't want the threads of the heater element at the bottom, because it 
is a pain to hold it in place while installing the element, and liquid that 
may accidentally drip down the heating chamber will flow to the lowest 
point -- the electical hookup for the element.  This should be 
waterproofed, but you don't want to direct liquid there.

So element threads up is the only way to mount the large 24" chamber, 
IMHO.  Since the liquid flows from the bottom of the mash bed to the top, 
this gives you only one direction for fluid flow through the chamber.


>Any thoughts on this or any bubble problems you can
>see ( HSA concerns ).

I try to limit the splashing and bubble forming, but there's only so much 
limiting you can do by the very nature of using a pump.  The bubbles I do I 
see are usually at the return to the mash bed.

>Do you RIMS users dis-assemble the rims chamber
>after use or do you clean whatcha got with chemicals &
>leave the rims chamber intact?

I remove the heating element from the chamber, and spray the chamber and 
element off with very hot water.   I store it disassembled so I can make 
sure it's clean before each use.

I've never found mash liquor needs anything more for cleaning if you clean 
it each time.  I also like to visually inspect the element after each 
session. Is it clean?  Rust (shouldn't be!)? Scorching?

Occasionally, I get a small amount of carmelization on the element that 
needs cleaning, so I may use a scrubby pad.

Unsolicited tip: the element doesn't need to be wrenched into the chamber 
very tightly.  Hand-tightened with teflon tape will do.  There's not a lot 
of pressure in the recirculation system.


>I need to get a false bottom for a sabco keg. The outlet
>will be on the bottom, not the side. I've got one from
>Sabco but it's pricey. Any inexpensive source for a
>decent clone?

Wouldn't any plastic false bottom, such as the phil's, work as well?

I've never seen a clone of the folding sabco false bottom.  I once priced 
SS hinged, SS bolts, and SS screen and it was more expensive to make one 
than to buy theirs.  Morebeer.com sells non-folding SS false bottoms for 
kegs for about half the price of the sabco.

(The MOST IMPORTANT thing to do with the sabco false bottom is support it 
in the center.  These things collapse and the hinges bend if you don't. A 
small piece of 2" copper pipe with holes works well. It's asinine Sabco 
doesn't even sells a center support as an option.)


>Any inexpensive source for 1/2" ID Norprene tubing?

McMaster-carr, Mcmaster.com sells norprene tubing.  USplastic.com sells 
norprene and tygon as well.

I would just use food grade braided vinyl for non-boiling applications though.



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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 18:24:31 +0000
From: AJ <ajdel at mindspring.com>
Subject: pH Buffers

The traditional 4.01 buffer is sodium (I think) pthalate and the 7
buffer a mixture of phosphate salts. Recipies for formulation can be
found in several handbooks such as the CRC hand book. It is much, much
easier to buy buffers. They come in many forms from little pouches you
open, dunk the probe in, get the reading and then toss to quarts or
gallons of premixesd solutions to little capsules you pop open and mix
with 100 mL DI water. Personally, I find these latter the best as the
pouches, while handier, are relatively expensive.

A.J.



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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 20:15:00 +0000
From: "Bill Dubas" <bill_dubas at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE:  Introduction

Huomenta Miikkali!

Welcome to the HBD!

I've never been to Lohja, but I understand that it is rather close to 
Helsinki.  My employer (Nokia) requires me to travel to Oulu and Raahe 
occasionally, so I sometimes get a stop-over at the Helsinki airport.

I've spent some time studying Finnish beers, and have even attempted to brew 
a few.  The first style that I tried to brew was sahti.  Wow!  This is an 
interesting and unique style.  I was able to obtain some of the Finnish 
bakers' yeast during one of my business trips, and the resulting beer that I 
brewed was rather good, if I do say so.  The only problem I encountered was 
that the shelf-life of this beer was rather short and the flavors changed 
dramatically in a very short time.   My version was not filtered through 
juniper branches, but I did throw a few ounces of juniper berries into the 
mash tun.  Lohja is rather close to the sahti district in Finland, so I 
imagine that you have plenty of opportunity to enjoy this style.

The other style that I tried to brew was "kotikalja", which I understand 
translates to simply "home-brewed beer".  A Finnish friend of mine took me 
to the grocery store in Oulu and we bought a small bag of dried malt.  Once 
I returned home, I brewed the beer as described on the package label, but I 
was not satisfied with the results.  I even entered the beer into a local 
homebrew club competition for experimental and specialty beers, but it did 
poorly.  This style seems to be a low-gravity, low-alcohol drink that can 
prepared within a few hours to be served at dinner.  My friend told me that 
he and his friends used to brew this type of beer when they were teenagers, 
but they would add more sugar.

I'm starting to work on a new project that may require me to travel to 
Duesseldorf, so perhaps I'll get a chance to sample Zum Uerige also.  I hope 
that you enjoy the HBD and are able to extract useful information from all 
of the holynpolya.  ;-)

Terve,
Bill





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Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 14:13:55 -0800 (AKDT)
From: stihlerunits at mosquitonet.com
Subject: E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition

Announcing the E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition!

This is an AHA sanctioned competition.


The grand prize for Best of Show is $500!!!


Six Classes will judged: Dark Ale, Light Ale, Dark Lager, 
Light Lager, Specialty/Mixed style, and Mead.

Great prizes and custom medals will be awarded to the 1st,
2nd and 3rd place winners in each of the six judged Classes.

We also have the International Award for entries from other
countries, the Globe Trotter award for the most distant entry
and of course, the coveted Battered Bottle Cap award for the 
most humorous beer name (or the name which causes tea to
spew out the registrar's nose).

Entries will be accepted: June 24 - July 10, 2002

Entry fees: Submit three 12-16 oz brown or green crown capped
bottles and a check or money order for $5.00 in U.S. funds.

Judging: The first round of judging will take place on July 13th.
The date and time of the final, Best of Show round of judging
is to be arranged once we know how many entries and judges we have.

Location: Fox, Alaska (~10 miles north of Fairbanks)

More information as well as Entry and Bottle ID forms may be found
at the following URL: 
http://www.mosquitonet.com/~stihlerunits/ScottsDen/Beer/Events/Events.html
            
Should you have any questions or are interesting in judging contact
Scott Stihler at (907) 474-2138 or stihlerunits at mosquitonet.com.

Please forward this message to anybody you know that might be interested
in either entering this competition or helping out with the judging.

Cheers,

Scott Stihler
Fairbanks, Alaska


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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 19:51:11 -0400
From: "Laura Barrowman" <llbarrowman at hotmail.com>
Subject: HBD browser

After three years away from the digest (I was budding) I am finally able to
read the digest find time to catch up with you all. I recall having a
really cool sharware browser that made reading the digest easier. Does this
browser still exist? Could someone point me to a decent digest browser?

TIA -Laura in Charlotte

P.S. Nice to see the great improvements to HBD. Ta!



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Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 21:21:48 -0400
From: "Peter Garofalo" <pgarofa1 at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: "Best" Examples

Dennis Collins writes:
>I would pose an interesting question to the forum regarding competitions.
>What relatively available commercial beers are the best examples of any
>particular style and what do you think they would score in a competition?
<snip>
>  I know there are examples listed in the BJCP guidelines
>but I would like to hear homebrewers opinions on which ones best represent
>the beer styles as outlined in the BJCP guide.  I don't necessarily want to
>see all 25 or so categories covered, just a few of the more common ones,
and
>don't forget to give it a projected competition score.

This is an interesting and not at all simple question, Dennis. The very idea
that there is a "best" example of any style assumes a greater degree of
agreement than I have ever seen, especially in such a subjective arena. What
is my "best" says nothing about what is yours, nor should it. It's sort of
like me asking someone else what I should like.

For just this reason, there are several examples listed for each style. The
styles guidelines committee worked hard to get this breadth of examples, and
I believe it is very important. The point is, try all the examples of a
given style. Discover the breadth of the style, and learn something about
it. Decide what the "ideal" encompasses--it's not one single beer, nor
should it be.

Remember opinions are like...never mind, but everyone has one, and not all
should be revealed!

Cheers,

Pete Garofalo
Syracuse, NY



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