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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Small Batches (Mini-Mashing) (Martin A. Lodahl)
  Re: Druids in the Wuids (a.e.mossberg)
  Brewpubs: DC<->Catskills ? (Jeff Close)
  hazy kegs (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  hop plant update (Pete Soper)
  Re: Extract for conditioning (John Polstra)
  Kegging and Haze (John Polstra)
  "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" (John Polstra)


Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: Tue, 15 May 90 14:46:43 PDT
From: Martin A. Lodahl <hplabs!pbmoss!mal>
Subject: Small Batches (Mini-Mashing)

In HOMEBREW Digest #417, Ken Weiss asks the musical question:

"This leads to my ... mash question:  Can I mash an all-grain
batch with only 3 gallons of water, and then mix with cold water
for 5 gallons total volume?  Or is it really necessary to boil the full
volume of wort in an all grain mash?"

The snag is in the sparge.  In order to get away with that approach,
you'd need to use (much) more grain than if you were boiling the
whole volume, and just take the first runnings for your high-gravity
boil.  The same kind of problem comes up in making barley wines: 
you're left with the choice of a normal sparge and a LONG boil to get
the desired concentration, a "short" sparge and lots of wasted
grain, or a normal sparge and an addition of extract.  If the
limiting factor is the size of your boiling kettle, Todd Enders
seems to have the answer with his "mini-mashes".  You're still stuck
with the need to cool it after boil, though.  My first few batches
were slightly oxidized, and I suspect it was because I poured the
hot wort through a strainer into cold water.  I took to adding as
much ice as I could into my small boiler, then straining over ice to
chill & dilute, which helped.  Going to an immersion chiller
eliminated oxidation altogether, as far as I can tell.  Pouring cold
wort seems safe (unless you're as clumsy as I am, and splash the
stuff all over the kitchen), but pouring hot wort seems to cause 
problems.

= Martin A. Lodahl    Pac*Bell Minicomputer Operations Support Staff =
= pacbell!pbmoss!mal  -or-  mal at pbmoss.Pacbell.COM      916.972.4821 =
= If it's good for ancient Druids, ... och, tae Hell wi' it!



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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 14:43:43 GMT
From: aem at mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU (a.e.mossberg)
Subject: Re: Druids in the Wuids

In digest <1990May16.071626.4760 at mthvax.cs.miami.edu> dw <wegeng at arisia.xerox.com> writes:
>The song that mentions drinking strange fermented fluids can be found in a
>song book called "Rise Up Singing," published by Sing Out! magazine.
>Rather than bore the entire mailing list with the lyrics, please send me
>e-mail if you would like a copy.


I don't think people would be bored. It's a good song! Here's the copy
I got from the lyrics server at umass.bitnet (to head off requests,
the email address is lyrics at umass.bitnet)


Old Time Religion
- --- ---- --------
(Public Domain)

Chorus:
   Oh give me that old time religion
   Give me that old time religion
   Give me that old time religion
   It's good enough for me

Let us pray with Aphrodite
Let us pray with Aphrodite
She wears that see through nightie
And it's good enough for me

Chorus

We will pray with Zarathustra
We will pray just like we used to
I'm a Zarathustra booster
And it's good enough for me

Chorus

We will pray with those Egyptians
Build pyramids to put our crypts in
Cover subways with inscriptions
And it's good enough for me

Chorus

We will pray with those old Druids
They drink fermented fluids
Waltzing naked through the woo-ods
And it's good enough for me

Chorus

Hari-Krishna he must laugh on
To see me dressed in saffron
With my hair that's only half on
And it's good enough for me

Chorus

I will rise at early morning
When the Lord gives me a warning
That the solar age is dawning
And that's good enough for me

Chorus


aem

- -- 
a.e.mossberg / aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu / aem at umiami.BITNET / Pahayokee Bioregion
Love...seek love...give pleasure and take it in loving as fully as you can.
						- Victor Hugo


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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 10:58:13 EDT
From: Jeff Close <jclose at potomac.ads.com>
Subject: Brewpubs: DC<->Catskills ?


Can anyone offer some suggestions for brewpubs to visit between DC and
the mid-Catskills area, up route 81?  Any help would be greatly appreciated
and will certainly put you in our scrapbook for this trip.
                                   -^-
  "We've gotta get back to the lab before this thing gets out of control.."
 -Commander in Japanese sci-fi film "Akira", after half of Tokyo is destroyed.
				  -=.=-
* Nothing I say or write could possibly represent the opinions of:
Advanced Decision Systems	    |  InterNet:jclose at potomac.ads.com
1500 Wilson Blvd/Arlington, VA 22209|  UUCP:  sun!sundc!potomac!jclose

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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 10:47:33 mdt
From: hplabs!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!ihlpl!korz (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Subject: hazy kegs

I am just about to switch from bottling to kegging, so this is
just a theory, but couln't it take longer for kegs to clear
because they are that much _taller_ than bottles?  This, of
course assumes that you are drawing from the bottom.  My theory
falls apart if drawing from the top of the keg also stays hazy
longer.

Al.


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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 17:27:53 EDT
From: Pete Soper <soper at maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: hop plant update

  Here is an update on my hop plants. These were all planted as
rhizomes around the middle of March except for the Saaz which
was put in a pot at the end of March and then moved to a permanent 
spot at the beginning of April. The Nugget was given to me as a
cutting from a plant in a neighboring town, the Saaz came from Freshhops 
and the rest are from Nichols Nursery. All plants are in very well
drained soil and have been watered generously since they were planted.

Plant       Height         Site

Cascade #1  13 feet        Beside house with southern exposure - full sun
Cascade #2  9 feet         Ditto
Nugget      6 feet         Northwest corner of back yard - 1/2 shade
Willamette  6 feet         Ditto
Tettnanger  4 feet         Ditto
Saaz        1 foot         Ditto but 3/4 shade

  Since the trees in my back yard came into full leaf and shaded 
plants 3-6 their growth rate has slowed down tremendously. In fact I 
haven't seen any noticeable growth at all in the Saaz in the past month.
The Tettnanger's growth is just barely noticeable while the Willamette
and Nugget are growing at perhaps a foot a week.
  Meanwhile my notes show that Cascade #1 has grown 7 feet in the past
13 days and at this rate it will run out of twine within a week and 
start exploring the roof of the house. Except for finding and deporting
tiny caterpillers from the bottom of a few of the leaves I haven't
been bothered by insects yet. I have a Japanese beetle trap just itching
for action however :-) (These plants are growing in central North Carolina). 
 -Pete

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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 08:54:27 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra)
Subject: Re: Extract for conditioning

[Dare I show my face around here after my aluminum-Tums misstatement?
I'll tell ya, my memory just hasn't been the same since I got that
aluminum pot ... :-) ]

Anyway ... in HBD #417, CORONELLRJDS at CHEMICAL.UTAH.EDU (Chuck Coronella)
asked about substituting dry malt extract for corn sugar when priming.
I've been doing that for my last five batches, and it works fine.  BUT,
I recommend against just substituting volume-for-volume.  I tried that
and my beer came out undercarbonated.  A weight-for-weight substitution
seems to work much better.  I.e., weigh 3/4 cup of corn sugar, then use
that weight of malt extract.  (I keg my beer and aim for the weight
equivalent of 1/3 cup, which according to my notes is around 1.75 oz.)

 -  John Polstra               jdp at polstra.uucp
   Polstra & Co., Inc.        practic!polstra!jdp at uunet.uu.net
   Seattle, Washington USA    ...{uunet,sun,pyramid}!practic!polstra!jdp
   (206) 932-6482


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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 09:01:43 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra)
Subject: Kegging and Haze

In HBD #417, florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com (Florian Bell) was asking
whether people have found that the haze is greater in kegged beer than
in bottles.  In general (my experience only) I would say no.  I usually
put the keg into the refrigerator as soon as it's had time to carbonate
- -- as early as a week after priming.  I believe that the quick cooling
helps the haze to fall out fairly fast.  Once it's on the bottom, I can
blow it out of the keg by drawing off a mug or two of beer at relatively
high pressure.

I made one keg batch that I did *not* refrigerate, and it stayed hazy a
lot longer.

I (almost) always use gelatine finings when I keg, and that seems to
help a lot with clarity.  I add them at the same time I prime.

 -  John Polstra               jdp at polstra.uucp
   Polstra & Co., Inc.        practic!polstra!jdp at uunet.uu.net
   Seattle, Washington USA    ...{uunet,sun,pyramid}!practic!polstra!jdp
   (206) 932-6482


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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 09:17:30 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra)
Subject: "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy"

In HBD #418, CRF at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU (Cheryl Feinstein) asked for
opinions about Dave Line's book "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy".

Cher: wanna buy my copy, cheap?  I haven't had much luck with this book.
The problem is that it is an English book, and the recipes call for all
sorts of strange ingredients that just aren't readily available here in
the USA.  (E.g., invert sugar, barley syrup, brewers caramel, demerara
sugar, black treacle ...)  Also, many of the recipes call for "brown
sugar", which is not the same here as it is in England.  I tried making
the recipe for Marston's Pedigree once, substituting ingredients as well
as I could, and the result was highly unsatisfactory.  (I lived in
England the summer of 1977, and that was my favorite beer.  When I was
there again last Fall though, I was ... underwhelmed.  People told me
that it had really gone downhill since the brewery had been acquired by
one of the large breweries.)

This is not to be taken as criticism of Dave Line, who was extremely
knowledgeable about his subject and who was, in my opinion, *the* most
entertaining brewing writer of all time.

 -  John Polstra               jdp at polstra.uucp
   Polstra & Co., Inc.        practic!polstra!jdp at uunet.uu.net
   Seattle, Washington USA    ...{uunet,sun,pyramid}!practic!polstra!jdp
   (206) 932-6482


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #419, 05/17/90
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