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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  re: Empty Bottles ("Mark Tumarkin")
  SNPA help requested ("Grant")
  Rosemary beer ("Tidmarsh Major")
  re: Frankenmuth Homebrew Club ("Rogers, Mike")
  35 mm Film Cansiters (jodysdad)
  RE: Sealing the top of the Conical ("Wayne Holder")
  Thanks to Music City Homebrewers (Jeff Renner)
  (no subject) (GibbonsRR)
  Re:  Twist-off bottles (Peter Torgrimson)
  re: Question about temperature changes ("The Artist Formerly Known As Kap'n Salty")
  yeast blending ("Spinelli, Mike")


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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 06:41:31 -0400
From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: re: Empty Bottles

Mary asks if it's possible to cap twist-off bottles. The answer is yes, but I
don't recommend it. There's always a danger that the thinner glass in the
twist-off threads will break. There's probably less danger of this if you use
a bench capper rather than a hand-held. Still, I'd suggest buying a beer that
comes in standard bottles, or ask your friends to save them for you. Or ask at
your neighborhood bar. They'll often be happy to provide bottles, especially
if you accompany your request with some homebrew.

Mark Tumarkin
Hogtown Brewers
Gainesville, FL




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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 09:10:46 +1000
From: "Grant" <gstott at primus.com.au>
Subject: SNPA help requested

G'day all,
I would like to brew a batch of American Pale Ale similar to Sierra Nevada
Pale Ale. Unfortunately I cannot get it over here in Australia & therefore I
am in need of a few pointers.

I am planning to use pilsner malt as a base as I have plenty on hand, &
therefore assume I should use a small amount of Munich & crystal malts.
I am planning to use Perle for bittering & cascade for FWH ,aroma & possibly
dry hop. Wyeast 1056.

Being in a Metric country I brew 23 Litre batches & weigh in grams & Kg.

Questions. 1. What O.G should I aim for?
                    2. How dark (SRM)
                    3. How Bitter (IBU)
Any other pointers?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Grant  Stott
[9906, 260] AR (statute miles) or [15942.2, 260] AR [Km]







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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 07:18:44 -0500
From: "Tidmarsh Major" <tidmarsh at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Rosemary beer

Eric Lande asked about using rosemary & basil in beer. I can't 
comment on the basil, but I have brewed with rosemary. 

A few years ago I brewed a rosemary pale ale, using  bittering and 
flavor hops but using 2 ounces of fresh rosemary leaves (for 5 
galllons) at knockout instead of aroma hops. The rosemary aroma was 
strong initially, but not terribly overpowering (think Sierra Nevada 
with
a rosemary rather than cascada aroma). It was very tasty, and I will
probably get around to brewing another one someday.

Regards,
Tidmarsh Major
Tuscaloosa, Ala.



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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 08:20:52 -0400
From: "Rogers, Mike" <mike.rogers at eds.com>
Subject: re: Frankenmuth Homebrew Club

Yes Fred, the Cass River Homebrew Club is alive as ever with approximately
30 members, 20 active.  We typically meet the first Friday of every month at
the Frankentrost Pub on M-46.  Your name is often mentioned by some of the
long time members and guests.  BIBERE is defunct, but the club is brewing
along very well!  Check out our website if you are interested in stopping by
sometime...  www.hbd.org/cassriverhomebrewers


============================================================================
================
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 19:03:03 -0500
From: "Fred Scheer" <fhopheads at msn.com>
Subject: question

Hello:

Our Homebrew club, the Music City Homebrewers, and
I spent the whole weekend with Jeff Renner here in
Nashville, TN. We where very busy with Judging,
having fun etc., and I forgot to ask Jeff if the
Frankenmuth, MI, homebrew club, BIBERE, still
exists? Anybody knows.....?
Fred M. Scheer


Mike Rogers
Cass River Homebrewers - Mid Michigan
www.hbd.org/cassriverhomebrewers
mailto:mike01_rogers at yahoo.com
[76.4, 2.6] Apparent Rennerian




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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 08:33:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: jodysdad at starchefs.com
Subject: 35 mm Film Cansiters

Ok, what the heck could you possibly use 35mm Plastic Film canisters for 
when brewing?  Well the semi-clear ones,(or semi-opaque if you are negative 
like me)I thought might be useful for pouring slants to store yeast.  I 
know these are bigger and they may not hold up to the heat of sterillizing 
but I am a cheapskate and I thought this might be an idea.  My question for 
those with backgrounds in chemistry or something is this.  I notice when 
you open the darn things they smell like, well, film.  I know that there 
are some pretty nasty chemicals used in the manufacturing of film and 
there's nothing like a little silver nitrate to make life interesting.  Is 
there really that much of a residue inside those canisters or can the just 
simply be washed out well?  If they can, and they hold up to 
sterillization, I don't see why I couldn't pour slants in them.  What do 
you think???

Mike from Columbus, 
Go Bucks!!!



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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 06:02:20 -0700
From: "Wayne Holder" <zymie at charter.net>
Subject: RE: Sealing the top of the Conical

Christian  says:

"oring to seal the top ~$13.00"

I once thought that this would be a good solution as well, but later found
out that it is quite difficult to get the o-ring to lay flat on the rim of
the cone. O-rings that large are most likely rolled up when you get them.
Even if they aren't, with a diameter that large they won't want to stay
round and sit nicely on a 1/2" ledge.

When our new 12.2 conical stand debuts shortly, it'll include a conical seal
that fits around the lip of the cone. A seal for the larger 21.5 gallon cone
could be easily made as well.

Maybe you'll get lucky and won't use up too many treats trying to train your
o-ring. I gave up on mine.

Wayne Holder AKA Zymie
Long Beach CA
http://www.zymico.com




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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 10:40:19 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Thanks to Music City Homebrewers

In HOMEBREW Digest #4073, Tue 22 October 2002, "Fred Scheer" 
<fhopheads at msn.com> wrote from Nashville:

>Our Homebrew club, the Music City Homebrewers, and
>I spent the whole weekend with Jeff Renner here in
>Nashville, TN. We where very busy with Judging,
>having fun etc.

We certainly were very busy.  I want to publicly thank the Music City 
Homebrewers for inviting me down to Nashville and for their very 
gracious and incredibly generous hospitality.  Throughout the four 
day weekend, my money was no good.  Everywhere I turned someone was 
thrusting a beer in my hand.

The judging on Saturday was a pleasure (with the Pilsners having been 
judged earlier in the week, I got the breakfast of champions at 9:30 
am, barleywines and Russian Imperial Stouts).  BOS was after lunch 
while the festivities were going on, and HBDer John (Cyserman) 
Campbell took Best of Show with a wonderful cyser.  Then a pub crawl, 
I think.  At least I kept finding myself in one pub after another 
with one beer after another.  Then I don't remember much.

Sunday bright and early we started a Classic American Pilsner brewing 
demonstration with full cereal mash which went very well, with a 
break for a huge southern brunch.

So thanks again to the club and president Steve Johnson for inviting 
me down, to Fred for suggesting my name, John and Linda Campbell and 
Ken Rebman (Steve, please thank him for me, I don't have his email) 
for putting me up and driving me around, and all the other great 
brewers.  My hat is off to you all for a great festive weekend.

>I forgot to ask Jeff if the
>Frankenmuth, MI, homebrew club, BIBERE, still
>exists? Anybody knows.....?

I haven't heard anything from them in some time, but there is the 
Cass River Homebrewers up near there.  Mike Rogers from that group, a 
regular HBDer, might be able to answer.

Jeff

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, 22 Oct 2002 11:37:11 EDT
From: GibbonsRR at aol.com
Subject: (no subject)

Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:40:59 -0500
From: "Mary Johnson" <mpmarus at hotpop.com>
Subject: Empty Bottles

OK, I'm fairly new to the hobby (addiction).

In the last digest, Mark Tumarkin mentioned saving beer bottles for reuse.
All the bottles I get have twist-off caps...are y'all successful at 
re-capping
those?

Thanks

Mary 
www.mj-pg.com
Retriever Brewers

Mary,

Welcome to the addiction.
When I starred home brewing I used twist off caps and had very few issues.  
However I switched to returnable bar bottles, (Brown longnecks) and never 
looked back.  They cap well, are heavier glass and are all the same height 
which makes using a bench capper easier.  Plus the fiberboard cases are great 
for storing/stacking.  A local restaurant we frequent is happy to sell me 
empty cases for $1.50/case.  I found Saturday morning before they get busy 
the best time to stop in.

A couple years ago someone here was good enough to offer an excel sheet that 
printed the labels on Avery 1" round labels, 05410.  They fit on the bottle 
caps so I can see what I am reaching for and I only have to remove the labels 
once.  Time I returned the favor, so if anyone would like a copy let me know.

Rick in Scituate, MA
RGibbons at aol.com



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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 12:21:07 -0500
From: Peter Torgrimson <petertorgrimson at prodigy.net>
Subject: Re:  Twist-off bottles

Mary Johnson asks about using twist-off cap bottles.

I have only a limited experience with these bottles.  If I am doing a
doctored beer demonstration, I sometimes get the base beer in twist-off
cap bottles.  I dose them with the "doctored" ingredient and recap them.
I use a bench capper and use as little pressure as I think I can use to
get a seal.  It only has to hold for the rest of the day as I always
prepare the doctored beer samples on the day we are going to use them.

Although my experience is extremely limited, I have not broken any
bottles, and all of them have sealed.  I remain very concerned about
capping pressure on these bottles, though, and I don't use them for my
homebrew.

With all of the traditional bottles available, it seems to be an
unnecessary risk to use these bottles.  If you have an insufficient
number of bottles, as I did when I started brewing, I recommend you
connect with a homebrew club.  The experienced brewers probably have
more bottles than they can use and will happily give you several cases.
[A side benefit of connecting with a homebrew club is that you will meet
a good group of people and will learn gobs (is this a technical term?)
about how to brew better beer.]  Another idea is to attend a homebrew
competition, and pick up the bottles discarded there.  Most competitions
discard literally hundreds and thousands of bottles.

Peter Torgrimson
Austin, TX






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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 13:53:15 -0500
From: "The Artist Formerly Known As Kap'n Salty" <mikey at swampgas.com>
Subject: re: Question about temperature changes


> I use the same refrigerator for fermenting, lagering, 
> conditioning and aging. 
> As I keep brewing, these phases 
> overlap for several batches.

I brew lager beers the same way, since I like to reuse the yeast cake
a few times (2-4). I've never noticed any ill effects on aging batches
from letting temps rise briefly into the primary fermentation range
(for me this is about 43-47F) or into the diacetyl rest range. Note
that I use a lot of yeast when I ferment a lager -- most of the
extract is consumed typically within 4 days, even at very low temps.

For a diacetyl rest, I usually remove the fermentor from the freezer,
let it rest overnight -- the temp rises to about 65 F -- and then put
it back in the freezer set at around 58F or so, lowering the temp
4-8F/day depending on my mood. None of this seems to affect the other
beers aging in kegs.

Hope that helps -- m


====
Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html



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Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 15:32:57 -0400
From: "Spinelli, Mike" <paa3983 at dscp.dla.mil>
Subject: yeast blending

HBDers,


I'm doing a 20 gallon all grain IPA batch with a 1.060 OG this weekend.
I've got about 8 oz. of solid yeast slurry from Victory Brewing I plan on
using.  I'm concerned I might not have enough yeast, so I was thinking of
throwing in 5 packets of dry Nottingham (re-hydrated) for insurance.

Questions:  Do I need the extra dry yeast?  If so, what effect will the
blending of the 2 yeast have on the batch?

Thanks

Mike Spinelli
Cherry Hill NJ


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