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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  CACA/NACA/CCCA ("Alan McKay")
  Spoiled Results - Argh! ("Greg Smith")
  Re: death of a refrigerator (Kelly Grigg)
  Dead refrigerator (David Towson)
  mash tun design/propane thanks ("Laura Barrowman")
  Crescent City Brewery in New Orleans ("Dave Burley")
  re: methanol ("Steve Alexander")
  re: 2 row ("Steve Alexander")
  Open Fermentation and Battonage ("Martamail Perez")
  propane tank xchg/pressure cookers ("Laura Barrowman")


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Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 09:02:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at neap.net>
Subject: CACA/NACA/CCCA

jeff renner writes :
> Wahl and Henius refer to it by these names in 1902.  Ben Jankowski,
> in his Brewing Techniques article "Cream Ale - An American Classic,"
> writes "As to who coined the phrase "cream ale," no evidence points
> to any one individual.  I believe the phrase was used by various
> breweries at the fairs and expositions that occurred in various
> cities in the late nineteenth century."

The problem with citing this as any kind of authoritative reference
should be obvious : the author is already working on the assumption
that Cream Ale is a USAmerican invention.  Just look at the title
of the article.  I seem to recall when this article was printed I
sent an email to BT with details on the Sleeman claim to the term,
and it was all news to them.  It goes without saying that if the
assumption going into the article was that Cream Ale is a US
invention, that they would not have done any research whatsoever
outside of the US.

Around the time of that article this topic was discussed either here
or in r.c.b. - I don't recall which.  I seem to recall there may have
been a somewhat believable reference in the US which disputed the
Sleeman claim, but that was a long time ago and memory fades.
Perhaps someone will dig up that reference again, if indeed my
memory serves correctly and it did exist.  The Sleeman claim at least
is well documented in the family brewing tradition.

A quick deja search finds the thread in r.c.b here :
 http://makeashorterlink.com/?M36B22011

Unfortunately that thread does not contain the quasi-plausible
reference I was talking about above.  So for lack of a better
reference, I'd have to say Sleeman gets the prize.

cheers,
 -Alan

- -- 
http://www.bodensatz.com/
The Beer Site&#153;






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Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 11:46:27 -0400
From: "Greg Smith" <barnbrew at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Spoiled Results - Argh!

Fellow Brewers,

Lately I've been having some bad luck brewing.  I follow procedures that
I've followed (successfully) for years, but seem to end up with a funky
smelling beer.  I have added a few steps in hopes of fixing my problems, but
with no results.  I have noticed that my last two fermentations started
rather slowly (I was out of town for the previous batches).  I'm wondering
if this led to the wort getting funky before the fermentation actually
began.  The beer has that sour, funky smell that I know is the result of a
bad batch.

At first I thought it was the city water, so I even buy spring water from
the grocery store now.  For my latest batch, I used a brand new yeast
(Wyeast pitchable tube), thinking the earlier batches got a yeast that was
too old.  I'm meticulous with sanitation and I even boil some of my
equipment to make sure it's super clean.  I aerate the wort with O2 (through
a sanitary filter) to give the yeast a head start.  Just about the only
thing  I haven't done for a faster starting fermentation is to prepare a
starter the day before brewing (although the yeast starter set is on my
shopping list).

Am I missing something obvious?  This is getting very frustrating.  I'm not
giving up, but it's been very discouraging lately.  I've even been on the
verge of buying commercial beer!  I had to dump a 10-gallon batch that got a
layer of mold on top sometime along the way (I was using a stainless
conical, so I couldn't see inside 'til I went to bottle).  Dumping it
brought a tear to my eye, but I'm sure that drinking it would have done more
than that to me.

Many thanks for any insight you can provide.  Private email is fine, as well
as posting replies here in the digest.


Thanks,
Greg
"BarnBrew Brewing Co."



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Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 11:18:05 -0500
From: Kelly Grigg <kgrigg at diamonddata.com>
Subject: Re: death of a refrigerator

Howdy!! I'm originally from Arkansas too...the use for the old fridge
should be obvious...make a smoker out of it!! The seals are good for
holding smoke in...and the metal racks...good for holding sausages
and ribs and such...

You need to put a hole in the top for smoke to leave...and a firebox
outside the fridge...with a pipe to run smoke into the bottom
of the fridge.

And...good slow smoked food goes GREAT with beer!! You can use this
for 'cold' smoking...to do cheeses and stuff.

Do some web searching...I'm sure I've seen plans for this out there
before...

Good Luck!!

Kelly

ps. What part of AR are you in? I'm currently living in New Orleans.

> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 11:48:29 -0500
> From: "Chuck Dougherty" <jdougherty at wlj.com>
> Subject: death of a refrigerator
<snip>
> 
> Also, it occurs to me that while the compressor on the refrigerator may
> be dead, I still have a perfectly good metal box.  Does anybody have any
> creative ideas for how to use a dead refrigerator for something beer
> related?  At worst it seems I now have a two-compartment, mouse-proof
> storage bin.
> 
> Chuck Dougherty
> Little Rock, Arkansas
>


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

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak.

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Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:50:27 -0400
From: David Towson <spamsink at comcast.net>
Subject: Dead refrigerator

In HBD 3964, Chuck Dougherty writes about a dead refrigerator.

If this machine is of the frost-free type, I suggest you check the timer 
that controls the automatic defrosting.  These timers have contacts that 
switch quite a bit of current.  They carry the compressor current during 
the "normal" part of the cycle, and the defrost heater current during the 
"defrost" cycle.  Over time, the contacts get very "chewed up" (burned and 
pitted).  This can cause either of two failure modes: (1) the contacts weld 
together, making the thing stick in one mode forever, or (2) they get so 
pitted that they no longer make contact at all.  If the contacts weld in 
the "defrost" position, then the box actually gets warm instead of cold 
because the heater keeps running until it either burns out or trips an 
over-temperature thermostat.  In the latter case, the 
over-temperature  thermostat eventually welds due to excessive cycling, and 
then the heater keeps running until it burns out anyway.

The sum and substance of this story is that your compressor may not be bad; 
it just may not be getting any electricity.  If you find the timer to be 
the cause, I strongly recommend that you replace it, rather than try to 
file/resurface the contacts, as you'll never be able to really repair the 
timer, and replacing defrost heaters can be very costly and difficult 
depending on the design of the box.  I am speaking from bitter experience here.

Dave in Bel Air, Maryland



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Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 18:31:25 -0400
From: "Laura Barrowman" <llbarrowman at hotmail.com>
Subject: mash tun design/propane thanks

Thanks to all who helped me figure out how to tell if my propane was
leaking. I recall putting my bicycle inner tubes under water to look for
leaks, when I was ~10. Too many dead brain cells to remember back that far.

I have been building a new mash tun with much design help from HBD'er Bob
Scheck. Smashing fella! He's off an vacation so I would like to ask the
collective how high up I should put the false bottom. I have it on 2" legs
which seems a little excessive, as I only have 8" of usable height. How low
can I go?

Should my false bottom be really level? Or just sort of? The bottom of my
mash tun slopes to a drain in the center.

BTW, my mash tun is a SS rectangular insulated box, ~18x20x12" deep. There
are a row of holes ~8" from the bottom. The box was used with a chill plate
for serving sodas many years ago.

Thanks all,

Laura in NC


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Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 08:25:57 -0400
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Crescent City Brewery in New Orleans

Brewsters:

I haven't been to the Big Easy for a few years, but have fond memories of
the brews from the Crescent City Brewery/Brewpub. They were my pick from
many brewpubs I visited in a swing along the East coast and through the
South/Southeastern US with a British buddy.

My recollection is that they were the only ones ( or least one of the few)
who did not use the hopelessly tasteless ( and the ruin of many a brewpub,
IMHO) 1056 yeast. Hope they are still there diagonally across the street
from the Cafe du Monde.  I particularly liked the German style lagers from a
Weihanstefan trained brewer, but all the beers I tasted were excellent.

Keep on Brewin'

Dave Burley.




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Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 11:03:33 -0400
From: "Steve Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: re: methanol

JohanNico from Holland asks ...

>Steve Alexander, <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> wrote in HBD 3960 about
>the tiny amounts of methanol in beer "Some carbohydrates, pectins in
>particular, have attached methyl groups".
>Steve, what about the amylopectins ? (80 % of the starch in malt).

The word pectin comes from a Greek root meaning 'coagulate'.  Pectins
coagulate fruit juices when making jellies and pies, and amylopectins from
grain flour are used to thicken  sauces as in a  roux.  Both polysaccharides
perform this thickening by trapping water molecules with ionic bonds among
their branched forms.  Otherwise the chemistry is quite dissimilar.

Pectin is a linear chain-like polymer with a primarily galacturonic base
(like galactose but with a carboxyl group off the ring) connected with 1-4
links and many very short side branches which usually include other minor
sugar bases(arabinose, xylose...).  The main chain also includes about 10%
rhamnose.  Anyway some of the carboxyl groups of the main chain are
esterified with methyl groups and .... free methanol results from it's
fermentation.

Amylopectin is much simpler - glucose bases are connected with 1-4  links
and about 4% of these also branch with a 1-6 link.  4% is a very high figure
so amylopectin is highly branched.  The terminal non-reducing ends often
have attached phosphates.  No methyl groups in amylopectin.

Tiny amounts of pectin-like carbohydrates appear in barley cell walls.   The
methanol that appears in grain based beverages may also have it's origins in
methyl groups from barley stem material.

 -S





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Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 11:29:44 -0400
From: "Steve Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: re: 2 row

Darrell Leavitt notes....

>  I just spoke to Bryan Bechard, NorthCountry Malt Supply yesterday, and he
>pointed out that the diastatic power
>of some 2 row is not as high as some others...and that, for instance, using
>Maris Otter (Fawcetts) might not be as
>good for brews that are higher in adjuncts (corn/rice) ...that one should
>either use 2 row that has more enzymes, or
>use 6 row...
>
> I don't ordinarily consult the malt spec  sheets much before planning a
>brew...but think that I should...

I think you are missing a major point.    Pale-ale malts are referred to as
"high kilned" malts because they undergo a kilning at 60-95C and sometimes a
kilnoff at around 110C, whereas lager malts and US made base malts are
kilned at only 55-70C.  The result is that PA malts have a darker color, a
toasty flavor and far less diastatic power, particularly less beta-amylase.
It's common for PA malts to have only 50-60% as much diastatic power as a
lager or US base malts and this makes PA malt a poor choice when converting
a lot of starch adjunct.

 -S




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Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 05:10:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Martamail Perez" <martamail at excite.com>
Subject: Open Fermentation and Battonage


Hi! It's my first time brewing mead and i've been suggested to use an
unusual proceed (at least, I haven't read it anywere on net) and I would
like to know what do you think about it, in general terms it's like that:
for fermentation i've been suggested to use an oak barrel filled at 9/10
parts (so, leaving a 1/10 part empty) and put the cap on it (or an air
lock). When S.G falls 30 points you've to extract an small amount of
fermenting must to a jug and then incorporate it again to the barrel. When
S.G falls another 30 points, add the activeur. After that, i've been
suggested to make a "battonage" every week for 30 seconds: beating the
must with a kind of stick to move the sediment and evite autolysys...  
After the fermentation, add new sulfites (3 or 4 grs./1 hectolitre.). More
Battonages every 2 weeks during 3 months and, after that 3 egg white for
each 255 lts. and a last battonage 5 days before new moon. Add vinoflow.
When in new moon, change to a smaller barrel full at all. Aging. As you
can see, racking are replaced by battonage (they say that it's effective
against autolysys and off-tastes!!) and must just remains on the same
barrel till the end of fermentation. If anyone has tried or think it can
be used, please reply. Thank you very much




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Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 14:59:50 -0400
From: "Laura Barrowman" <llbarrowman at hotmail.com>
Subject: propane tank xchg/pressure cookers

I wish I could recall who told me to exchange my old propane tanks at
Wal-Mart. It was only $12.96 for a full tank with the new overfill device. I
couldn't believe they took my four old rusty, out-dated tanks, but they did.
Thank you for the recommendation!

I have a question about pressure cookers/canners. I have a 16 qt. canner
that I have been using for ~5 years. It has always had a bumped out bottom.
Lately I have been having problems with it running out of water before I'm
done processing, no matter how much I put in. Could my cajun cooker be
putting a bit too much heat on the poor devil? I thought it might be my
gasket but as I was snooping around online, I found info saying that if your
cooker doesn't have a flat bottom it has been damaged and isn't safe to use.
My mother gave it to me & I'm guessing she got it used. I am thinking of
just replacing the whole unit. Anyone have a great source for a new one?

Thanks all,

Laura in NC


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