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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Phenolic beers ("Fred L. Johnson")
  re: priming goof (Paul Kensler)
  Re: Priming goof ("Doug Hurst")
  post-production oxidation (Jeff Renner)
  re: priming goof (Road Frog)
  Re: priming goof (Will Fields)
  Porous kegs, house bugs ("Dave Burley")
  Re: conversation between brewshop and customer.....sheesh (David-Bourke)
  Re: Renner's Soft Pretzels (Jeff Renner)
  Re: priming goof (Jeff Renner)
  AHA NHC in Texas (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Spoiled Results - Argh! (David Towson)
  Re: False bottom spacing (David Towson)
  RE: priming goof (I/T) - Eastman" <stjones at eastman.com>
  priming goof (LJ Vitt)
  Re: Kegged Beer (Jay Pfaffman)
  Re: priming goof (Jay Pfaffman)
  Ontario breweries? (Spencer W Thomas)
  Los Angeles County Fair ("Beechum, Drew")
  Another report from the AHA Conference ("Mark Tumarkin")
  Priming Goof & Recovery ("Bob Sutton")
  re: priming goof (Andrew Calder)
  pump recommendations ("Ken Wagner")
  Brass treatment  / welder in Chicago? ("Gary Smith")


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 07:52:16 -0400
From: "Fred L. Johnson" <fljohnson at portbridge.com>
Subject: Phenolic beers

Eric has a problem with phenolic beers and suspects an infection.  If he has
not already done so, I would ask Eric is his is perhaps simply pitching into
wort that is too warm (>75 F)--a common source of high levels of phenols.
If you pitch into wort that is too warm with the idea that you can get it
cooled down in a short time, don't kid yourself, the yeast have plenty of
time to replicate under conditions very conducive to higher alcohol and
phenol production.  This has happened to me on more than one occasion when I
got in a hurry to pitch or simply couldn't get the wort temperature down low
enough on a very hot day.

Fred L. Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 06:18:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Kensler <paul_kensler at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: priming goof

Fatz,
I once had a problem with an entire batch that didn't
carbonate and I did exactly what you propose, and
everything turned out fine.

I should note that I didn't -pour- the beer back into
a bottling bucket, I siphoned it out of each
individual bottle into the bucket.  I stopped the
siphon in each bottle before it started sucking air,
so I could move the siphon cane into the next bottle
and not have to restart the siphon.  I gently poured
the remaining ounce out of each bottle into the
bucket.

If you're careful to introduce as little air as
possible into the finished beer during the process,
you should be fine.


Hope this helps,
Paul Kensler
Gaithersburg, MD



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 08:32:47 -0500
From: "Doug Hurst" <DougH at theshowdept.com>
Subject: Re: Priming goof

fatz (?) writes:

"My friend and I goofed the last time we bottled by not using enough
priming 
sugar"...

I would recomend against pouring you beer from the bottles into a
priming bucket.  This seems like a good way to oxidize your beer and
possibly infect it.  My solution would be A) serve it at 60F and call it
a Real Ale or B) get some of Dominick Venezia's PrimeTabs(TM)
http://www.primetab.com/ and drop one in each bottle.  Alternatively,
you could add maybe 1/8tsp. corn sugar to each bottle.  I think the
Primetabs would be easier.

Hope this helps,

Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL
[215, 264.5] Rennerian

P.S.  I'm NAJASC.


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:05:50 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: post-production oxidation

Brewers

Catching up after a great four days in Texas.  More about that later.

Troy Hager is having typical symptoms of post production oxidation. 
Don't give up, Troy!

Some random thoughts.  About five years ago or so, I taught a five 
week beer appreciation course for a local university's continuing 
education program.  I called it "Beyond Budweiser."  It was well 
attended and I really enjoyed it.  But I didn't feel qualified to 
teach the session on Belgian beers, so my friend Dan McConnell did it.

I didn't recognize the older, distinguished looking man in the front 
row with the slight European accent, but Dan did - Morten Meilgaard 
http://www.kinweb.com/pictures/meilgaard/0004.html, the inventor of 
the famous flavor wheel 
http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.6/flavorwheel.html 
and author of the standard text "Sensory Evaluation Techniques" 
http://www.chipsbooks.com/sensevte.htm.  Dan admitted afterwards to 
being rather nervous talking about beer flavors in front of this 
world expert.

Mr. Meilgaard was very gracious when, after Dan described the flavors 
in the sample we all had of the standard Eurolager Stella Artois, 
that it was oxidized.  I'm afraid that the rest of us didn't pick it 
up, but this was a man who could pick out the origin and year of 
barley malt by smelling and tasting it!

Further discussion with him suggested that a great deal of the 
commercial beers we get, especially imports, are stale (not talking 
about skunked here), and we are so used to it that we hardly notice 
until it becomes pronounced.  This is most noticeable in pale, 
delicate lagers since the symptoms are often subtle.

Fast forward to judging American pale lagers at NHC this Friday 
morning.  In most of the beers, I was picking up typical stale 
flavors like harsh, lingering bitterness on the back of the tongue 
and dullness of flavors, but my judging partner, Jimmy Paige, could 
pick up papery notes that I couldn't.  I've smelled wet cardboard in 
beer, but this was much more subtle.

Here's something really remarkably suggestive:

THE ONLY BEER THAT WAS QUITE FRESH TASTING WAS THE SINGLE BOTTLE 
CONDITIONED ONE!!!

All the others had no sediment, suggesting that they were 
counter-pressure filled or perhaps just keg filled.  (I mentioned 
here a few weeks ago that the CP bottled samples of the NHC 2000 
Commemorative CAP were undrinkably oxidized at 15 months, even though 
they'd been refrigerated the whole time).

Now fast forward again a day to a seminar at NHC with Simon Hadman of 
Flavoractiv http://www.flavoractiv.com/ and a demonstration of the 
Enthusiasts Tasting Kit, a trouble shooting kit of beer "doctoring" 
flavor capsules.  A tiny capsule of the "papery" flavor 
(trans-2-nonenal) in 12 oz. of "Natural Lite" was all it took.  The 
results were very subtle, at least for this hay fever stuffy nose, 
but remarkable.  This is just what those beers the day before smelled 
and tasted like.  Of course, those beers had more competing aromas 
and flavors than Natural Lite.

The FlavorActiv handout says that this stale flavor compound, 0820 on 
the flavor wheel http://hbd.org/brewery/library/FlavW.html, is formed 
during beer storage and its development depends on time and 
temperature of storage and oxygen content of the packaged beer. 
Approximate flavor threshold is 50-100 ng/l.  Typical concentration 
in fresh beer is <50 ng/l, in aged beer, >0.2 microgram/l.  It also 
notes that sulfites interact with trans-2-nonenal in beer, resulting 
in a loss of the papery character.

I queried Simon (Heriot-Watt educated master brewer) about hot side 
aeration.  He said that this was controversial, but that post 
production oxidation was not.

Takeaway lessons - avoid O2 pickup in finished beer when the yeast no 
longer can protect it.  Bottle conditioning really is protective. 
Purge kegs (and secondaries) before filling, avoid splashing in 
transfers.  Drink fresh beer.

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


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 07:13:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Road Frog <road_frog_run at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: priming goof

fatz typed "My friend and I goofed the last time we
bottled by not using enough priming sugar ... pour the
beer from the bottles back into a bottling bucket ...
Do you think that this will work?  Are there 
better solutions, or is this just wishful thinking?"

Will it work, sure.  Will you oxidize your beer, more
than likely.  I think I would pop the top, drop in 2
or 3 Prime Tabs and recap.  Might want to try a couple
of bottles at two and a couple at 3 to which you
prefer.  Not affiliated with Prime Tab, but I have
used and recommended them before.

Glyn Crossno
Estill Springs,  TN



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:16:37 -0400
From: Will Fields <will at gfarch.net>
Subject: Re: priming goof 

No need to decant bottles.  I'd worry about oxidation if you did so.

Venezia & Company of Seattle, WA sells "PrimeTab" 500mg sanitary corn sugar 
tablets.  Just pop a couple of those tablets in each bottle and your 
biggest loss is a few more crown caps.

These should be available at your local homebrew shop but if not I found 
the following sites to purchase these mail order:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/sugar.asp
or
http://shop.homebrew.com/shopping/

or contact

Domenick Venezia
Venezia & Company, LLC
Maker of PrimeTab
Seattle, WA
(206) 782-1152 phone
(206) 782-6766 fax
demonick at zgi.com
http://www.primetab.com


Will Fields
So. Hamilton, MA




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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:25:33 -0400
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Porous kegs, house bugs

Brewsters:

Brian Luindeen asks if he should give up his oak casks and go to kegs with
oak chips for his winemaking.  I wouldn't, as that slow oxygen incursion in
oak casks is what oxidizes various tannins and changes the color of your
wine from a bluish to a garnet tint, begins the bouquet development versus
the grape aroma common to young wines and adds that mature tannin and
vanilla flavor extracted from the oak that we appreciate.

Does this mean untreated oak casks are OK for beer?  Nope. As Kevin Crouch
suggested, the porous nature of oak will allow oxygen to spoil beer. The
porous surface  will also provide a haven for spoilage organisms in which to
hide. The low alcohol content means beer is much more susceptible to
spoilage than wine.  Old timey brewers who had no choice but to use wooden
casks coated the inside with pitch to prevent oxygen spoilage and spoilage
organisms from quickly ruining their beer, And remember commercial beer in
casks was typically only held for 3 to 10 days before dispensing over a day
or two period.

I have never tried them but oak casks with a paraffin coating inside are
available.
- ------------------------

Eric Theiner is worried he has a house bug in his cluttered
workshop/brewery.  He suspects the air in his shop is contaminated.

Although some would disagree, usually the air is not the source. I would
look at other potential sources first.

For example your water supply. If you can ( and no kids nor you will get
burned)  crank your heater up to 180F to help eliminate this potential
source and make your rinses more sanitary.  Replace all your hoses.  Soak
all joints - especially threaded joints - in chlorine bleach or other
sanitizer after taking them apart after each use.  In other words, all
contact points where your brew can touch a surface or come in contact with
liquids and such.  These areas are much more likely than the air as being a
source of contamination.

Remember, first the surface has to be clean and then you apply your
sanitizer.

Keep on Brewin'

Dave Burley




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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 15:19:51 +0100
From: David-Bourke <David.Bourke at VikingDirect.com>
Subject: Re: conversation between brewshop and customer.....sheesh

Customer: am I supposed to open the sachet or do I throw it in whole.
Karl; probably best to open the sachet first.

Doh!  You didn't tell him to only add the CONTENTS of the sachet to the
fermentor!  Whats the betting he's snipped the top off the sachet then still
put the whole thing in...

Regards,
Dave Bourke
Nottingham, UK



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:41:56 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Renner's Soft Pretzels

Don Lake <dlake at gdi.net> of Orlando, FL writes:

>The kids and I made our second attempt at Jeff Renner's German Soft 
>Pretzel recipe. <snip> We still, however, can't make them big and 
>pretty like they do at the mall at Auntie Anne's.  Jeff, what do I 
>do?

In my original HBD post, I suggested that you roll them too short. 
After the feedback from all you great readers, I actually measured 
how long I roll the pieces out - it's actually 18 - 20 inches, and 
about the diameter of a pencil or a little fatter.  I drew pictures 
for the Zymurgy article (it's on page 40 of the new July/August 
issue, in mailboxes and brewshops near you), but I guess there wasn't 
room.  They used a stock picture for the illustration, and the "arms" 
(or legs) are bent out a little more horizontally than on my pretzels.

Here are my instructions from the original post:

>Start with the dough in an upside-down "U", then cross the legs twice
>into a double twist.  Next flip the top down over the legs and press
>each part of the loop onto the legs where they cross, making a tack
>weld.

I note that for the article, these somehow got inverted.  No matter, 
you can make them with a "U" or an upside down one.

Do try these - they are a great project for kids at home in the summer.

Jeff
- -- 
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: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:49:28 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: priming goof

fatz at xmission.com (no other name or location) wrote:

>My friend and I goofed the last time we bottled by not using enough priming
>sugar (one of the drawbacks of drinking too much homebrew while brewing). 
>Now we have 5 gallons of mostly flat beer.  Another brewer suggested that
>we pour the beer from the bottles back into a bottling bucket, letting it
>sit to get out what little carbonation is in there, then re-doing it
>correctly (and soberly).  Do you think that this will work?  Are there
>better solutions, or is this just wishful thinking?

I wouldn't pour it back.  You are asking for oxidation, and fast. 
And it's too much work.  The answer is  Primetabs 
http://www.primetab.com/, by HBDer Domenick Venezia.  These are 
little 1/2 gram tablets of corn sugar.  You could use two per bottle 
since you already have a little carbonation.  If it is fizzy at all, 
you may want to chill them first to cut down of foaming when you drop 
the tablets in.  Then recap and have a beer when you are all finished.

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


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:03:50 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: AHA NHC in Texas

Brewers

Wow.  What a weekend!  Near non-stop fun.  I managed to get by on 
about five hours of sleep a night.

Hats, er, Stetsons, off to the organizers.  They did as good a job as 
we all did up here in Michigan two years ago.  The hotel snafu was 
absolutely transparent - you'd never know there had been a near 
disaster.  The seminars were great (wish I could have made more - but 
those beers had to be judged), the homebrews and food from all the 
clubs were fantastic (from as far away as Illinois), the commercial 
beers were great too, but most of all, it was the comradery of all 
those super homebrewers.  Impossible to name all the names, and 
especially I wouldn't want to name that one brewer with the dental 
mirror who was trying to sneak up behind Ray in his toga - just to 
save fifty cents!

And as a new member of the board, I want to tell you that you AHA 
members have a class bunch of people shaping the future of the AHA. 
It was a pleasure to be a part of this smoothly working group.  There 
are some great ideas being worked on to make your dues come back to 
you more than ever.

So, as Steve Jones wrote, mark your calendars now for Chicago for 
June 18-21, 2003.

And join the AHA!

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


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:26:01 -0400
From: David Towson <SpamSink at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Spoiled Results - Argh!

Hoo boy, got behind again, so easy to do with this prolific group.  Had to 
read at least six recent digests to catch up.

      Greg Smith's post and the following exchanges have really had me 
scratching my head wondering what has been overlooked.  Greg has certainly 
taken great pains to be careful.  The only thing that I haven't seen 
mentioned is how the bleach or iodophor is being rinsed from the carboys 
and conical.  Could there be "bugs" in the rinse water?  How is the water 
being conveyed from the faucet to the item being rinsed?  How is the rinse 
water being made to contact the whole interior of the conical?  If the 
conical has a rotating racking arm, is the cavity where the arm attaches 
being adequately flushed.  A test using boiled rinse water might provide 
some insight.  Also, a wipedown of the inside of the conical with an 
alcohol-soaked swab after rinsing might help; that's what I do.

Dave in Bel Air, MD



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:36:54 -0400
From: David Towson <dtowson at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: False bottom spacing

In a recent post concerning false bottom spacing above the tun floor, 
Martin Brungard used the phrase "the annular area at the critical inlet 
section" in describing how to calculate the minimum spacing to avoid 
obstructing the flow.  I found this quite interesting, but I'm at a loss to 
picture the annulus to which he referred.  Where is it, Martin?

Dave in Bel Air, MD



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 13:02:00 -0400
From: "Jones, Steve (I/T) - Eastman" <stjones at eastman.com>
Subject: RE: priming goof


fatz at xmission.com (what's your name & where are you?) asked about a method
to correct a mistake in priming due to imbibing a little too much.

Find yourself some PrimeTabs, which are small sterile corn sugar pills,
about 250 in a pack. You should be able to find them at your local supplier.
Just open each bottle, drop 3 or 4 tabs in, and recap. Wait a few weeks and
you should have good carbonation.

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

If I've not done so, I'd like to thank everyone who helped to elect me to
the American Homebrew Association Board of Advisors. I also would like
everyone to know that you can email me at any time with concerns that you
believe should be addressed, or suggestions on how to make the AHA a better
organization. Let me know if you are an AHA member, and if you're not, tell
me what it would take to make you join. We truly are trying to make the AHA
a member driven organization, and I would like to hear your views on how we
can accomplish that.  Email me at stevejones at aob.org, or
stjones1 at chartertn.net.

Steve Jones
Johnson City, TN
[421.8 mi, 168.5 deg] Apparent Rennerian
http://hbd.org/franklin




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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:35:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: LJ Vitt <lvitt4 at yahoo.com>
Subject: priming goof

In HBD#3972, someone only identified as fatz asked what to do with 
bottled uncarbonated beer:

>Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 11:17:32 -0600
>From: fatz at xmission.com
>Subject: priming goof
 
>My friend and I goofed the last time we bottled by not using enough 
priming 
>sugar (one of the drawbacks of drinking too much homebrew while 
brewing).  
>Now we have 5 gallons of mostly flat beer.  Another brewer suggested 
that 
>we pour the beer from the bottles back into a bottling bucket, letting 
it 
>sit to get out what little carbonation is in there, then re-doing it 
>correctly (and soberly).  Do you think that this will work?  Are there 
>better solutions, or is this just wishful thinking?

NO, DO NOT pour it back into a priming bucket.  That is a good way to
oxidize the beer!  OK, precautions could be taken like fill the 
bottling bucket with CO2.  But I think the following alternative 
would be easier.  

I and a partner forgot to add the priming surgar once.  We had all of 
the
bottles filled and capped, but the boiled surgar was still in the pyrex
measuring cup I used to microwave it.  

It was 1 cup of water with the surgar added, and micro waved 5 min 
to sanitize.  My solution was to use a measuring spoon to add a 
consistant amount to each bottle.  I divided my surgar water volume 
by the number of bottles to decide how much to add to each bottle.  
It didn't come out exactly even, so I rounded to something close 
like 1 tsp.  (1 fl oz = 2 Tbl = 6 tsp, US measurements).

We removed all of the caps.  Added the 1 tsp surgar water and recapped.
A few bottles were so full, we poured a tiny bit out of the bottle to
make room.

A little trouble, but I think better than risking the oxidation 
problem.



=====
Leo Vitt
Rochester MN



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:44:13 -0700
From: Jay Pfaffman <pfaffman at relaxpc.com>
Subject: Re: Kegged Beer

On Mon, 24 Jun 2002 07:56:47 -0700, "Steve Wood" <swood at lrmltd.com> said:

> How long should kegged beer last if it is continually refridgerated? I'm
> planning on stepping up from bottling to kegging, and setting up a multi keg
> fridge. Granted, we don't drink like in the college days, but enjoy having
> fresh beer on hand.
> Thanks
> Steve Wood

I'm reminded of the age-old question "How many licks does it take to
get to the center of a tootsie pop?"  

"One, Two, Three" (the final lick he chomps the tootsie pop up).

I'm not sure why I find that relevant, but a properly refrigerated keg
should last a couple months at least, which, to me, is much longer
than they take to empty. :-)

- -- 
Jay Pfaffman                           pfaffman at relaxpc.com
+1-415-821-7507 (H)                    +1-415-810-2238 (M)
http://relax.ltc.vanderbilt.edu/~pfaffman/


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:51:30 -0700
From: Jay Pfaffman <pfaffman at relaxpc.com>
Subject: Re: priming goof

On Mon, 24 Jun 2002 11:17:32 -0600, fatz at xmission.com said:

> My friend and I goofed the last time we bottled by not using enough priming 
> sugar (one of the drawbacks of drinking too much homebrew while brewing).  
> Now we have 5 gallons of mostly flat beer.  Another brewer suggested that 
> we pour the beer from the bottles back into a bottling bucket, letting it 
> sit to get out what little carbonation is in there, then re-doing it 
> correctly (and soberly).  Do you think that this will work?  Are there 
> better solutions, or is this just wishful thinking?

I have a friend who (successfully) dumped and re-bottled some mead
once & I think mead is more sensitive to oxygen than beer.  Another
possibility is to use Prime Tabs.  The only problem is that the CO2
that is in the beer will foam when the tabs hit, so you'll need to be
ready to cap them fast.  I think I'd give the Prime Tabs a shot
first. 

(Prime Tabs are tablets of corn sugar.  A brilliant idea.  I swear I
thought of it before I saw them, but lacked the wherewithall to make
it happen.  Most brew supply places should carry them.)

- -- 
Jay Pfaffman                           pfaffman at relaxpc.com
+1-415-821-7507 (H)                    +1-415-810-2238 (M)
http://relax.ltc.vanderbilt.edu/~pfaffman/


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 17:03:19 -0400
From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Ontario breweries?

I'm gonna be driving across the bottom part of Ontario, roughly
Niagara Falls to Sarnia, probably on July 7 (Yeah, it's a Sunday.)
Does anyone have recommendations for breweries/brewpubs are likely to
be open and should not be missed within 30 miles or so of that route
(Guelph is probably doable, e.g.)? (What if I was to be doing it on
Monday or Saturday?  Does that improve my odds?)

Thanks!

=Spencer Thomas in Ann Arbor, MI        (spencer at umich.edu)



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 16:56:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Beechum, Drew" <Drew.Beechum at disney.com>
Subject: Los Angeles County Fair


Brewers!

You have 3 more days (June 28th) to get your forms and fees into the
15th LA County Fair Homebrew Competition! 

Forms are available at http://www.maltosefalcons.com/. Fees are $6 per
entry.

Your 3 bottles of beer aren't due until July 19th.

Send your entries and be part of one of the largest fairs in the
nation!

- -- Drew Beechum
Maltose Falcons, VP


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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 21:18:48 -0400
From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Another report from the AHA Conference

This won't be anywhere near as entertaining as Jim Bermingham's NHC report,
but I wanted to say a few things. First, Dave Dixon and the rest of the Texas
folks put on a hell of a party. Lots of great homebrew and lots of great
homebrewers to share it with. The whole thing started out pretty rocky with
the last minute hotel changes (kudos to Dave, Paul, et al for pulling that one
off smoothly), but the Marriott was very nice and they put up with us without
too many complaints. Hell, even when they interrupted our singlemalt tasting
it was done politely, and I'm sure at the instigation of the folks in the
surrounding rooms. There were probably 20+ of us in Bev Blackwood's room late
in the evening and we weren't being particularly quiet.

The beer was incredible; great beer to judge at the second round of the
National Homebrew Competition, great beer from all the clubs at Club Night and
in the Hospitality Suite, great beer from the Texas brewpubs & micros, great
beer from Rogue at the Awards Banquet..... but not surprisingly the best beer
was that I got to share with some of the HBD folks. And I don't say that
lightly, we truly have some incredible brewers here on the HBD, and it was
great to be able to spend some time and share some beers with them, putting
new faces together with names and renewing friendships with those I'd met
before.

It's pretty amazing to see the effect that our online family here has had on
the AHA. Just look at the Board of Advisors, with the addition of the new
members (Jeff Renner, Steve Jones, and Phil Sides); the majority of the BOA
reads and posts here with varying degrees of regularity. (I'm one of the avid
daily readers, less regular posters)  The AHA is continuing to move in ever
more positive directions, and I certainly attribute a lot of this to the
influence of the HBD community. I know I attribute my election to the Board
last year in large part to folks from the HBD (thank you all again for that)
and I saw the same power of the HBD in this year's election. There are
positive changes that show up in many ways, not the least of which is a more
positive spirit of cooperation with the BJCP. Bill Slack, Chairman of the
BJCP, was on hand to join in the festivities and to announce the new National,
Master, and Grand Master judges at the Awards Banquet. Anyway, there's still
certainly room for improvement and I hope more of you decide to join or rejoin
the AHA and help make it the organization many of us would like it to be.
Besides, I hope you join if for no other reason than maybe I'll see more of
you at next year's conference in Chicago. It was incredible to watch the
amount of energy as Randy Mosher, Ray Daniels, the folks from the Chicago Beer
Society, Urban Knaves of Grain, BOSS, and the other Chicagoland clubs kicked
ideas around for next year. They are definitely trying to make this the best
event ever. They've already brewed 50 gals of Imperial Stout, and are planning
to age it in a bourbon barrel. And that's just the start - the beer, the food,
the competition, the presentations, the other events shouldn't be missed.

There's starting to be a lot more value to an AHA membership. Under Ray
Daniels, Zymurgy is becoming a truly excellent magazine for brewers of all
levels. We've rolled out a Pub Discount program for AHA members, a Coupon
program is in the works that will offset part of the cost of membership. There
are significant changes being planned for Beertown the AOB and AHA website. It
may take some time (and a lot of work) but the idea is to make it into THE
Beer Portal, possibly with a new name (homebrew.org is one possibility). There
will be a new mead making event similar to Big Brew that will provide another
way for the homebrew community to brew together in many different sites across
the country. Anyway, bottom line is you get a bunch of committed homebrewers
together, with lots of great homebrew, and good things are bound to happen.

I want to end this with a little story about Jim Bermingham. He's just as
entertaining in person as you'd expect from his HBD posts. Anyhow, a crowd of
HBD'rs got together to go to a TexMex place for lunch Saturday afternoon. The
restaurant was one of Jim's local favorites and was really good. Several of us
rode along with Jim and his wife in their extended cab pickup. On the floor of
the cab was a large steel donkey. It was cut out of 3/8 inch steel (maybe
thicker) and was destined for the top of the Bermingham mailbox. Seems like
this was the third or fourth one Jim has  had to have made. He's got an
ongoing war with the local teenage vandals. They seem to love sawing off and
stealing his donkeys. He's welded together a mailbox that is able to withstand
the high-spirited hoodlums, but they keep sawing off the donkey. The mailbox
is well over a 1/4 mile from the ranch house, but Jim won't give up - thus the
donkey on the truck floor. Anyhow, Jim, it was great getting to meet you (and
all the other HBD folk).  I hope this donkey is finally substantial enough to
last longer.

Mark Tumarkin
Gainesville, FL




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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 21:43:23 -0400
From: "Bob Sutton" <Bob at homebrew.com>
Subject: Priming Goof & Recovery

fatz at xmission.com has 5 gallons of underprimed bottles sitting around and
asks for help...

I wouldn't pour the bottles back into the bottling bucket. You'll likely end
up with oxidized beer that will be less drinkable than your present
situation.

I suggest you buy some PrimeTabs. Drop 2-3 tabs in each bottle and recap.
After an hour gently rock the bottles to disperse the dissolved "tabs". Then
wait for the magic.

If you can't locate a local supplier try to reach Domenick Venezia, Venezia
and Co., LLC, Maker of PrimeTab, (206) 782-1152 (phone), (206) 782-6766
(fax), demonick at zgi.com (email).

Domenick will send you free samples - enough for your 5-gallon batch.

I tried them and have not gone back to the priming bucket.

In the foothills of Sawth Carolina,

Bob
Fruit Fly Brewhaus
Yesterdays' Technology Today



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 18:46:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Andrew Calder <arcalder2000 at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: priming goof

Howdy All,
fatz at xmission.com wrote: "My friend and I goofed the
last time we bottled by not using enough priming 
sugar..."

I would suggest you use Primetabs (tm), they are
tablets of corn sugar designed to be dropped in the
bottle before filling and capping.  Or in your case,
after un-capping and re-capping :-)  see the HBD
archives for more discussion about them or
www.primetab.com.

In my opinion, dumping the beer out of the bottle and
back into a bottling bucket then rebottling it would
result in oxidation of your brew that may result in
off flavors (e.g. cardboard).  I'll get off my soapbox
now.

Hope this helps,
Andrew Calder
New Lenox, IL



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 22:42:54 -0400
From: "Ken Wagner" <kjwagner at insight.rr.com>
Subject: pump recommendations


I had my heart set on a high temp pump from Moving Brews (6144MM).  But,
it looks like that isn't going to happen.  So, I'm looking for
alternatives.  Does anybody have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Ken Wagner
Columbus, OH
kjwagner at insight.rr.com



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Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 22:47:17 -0500
From: "Gary Smith" <mandolinist at interlync.com>
Subject: Brass treatment  / welder in Chicago?

Hi,

I need to use some brass adaptors to mount 
thermometers on kegs using existing 3/8" S.S. nipples. 
The thermometers use 1/2" NPT threads. Therfore I 
need a male 3/8" to female 1/2" adaptor.

I can't find this in S.S. so I will have to use brass.

Could someone please pass along the treatment to give 
brass so the lead won't leach out. Vinegar & boiling?

Alchemy never was my forte`.

********** also *************

I need to get some couplings welded to my kegs. I'm in 
Indiana, quite near Chicago. Caqn someone suggest a 
welder in this area who is experienced with MIG work 
on kegs?

Thanks,

Gary



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