---

	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

          Northern  Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
        http://www.northernbrewer.com  1-800-681-2739

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  ANNOUNCING THE 2003 UPPER MISSISSIPPI MASH-OUT! ("Al Boyce")
  Beerjoilais Nouveau ("Dave Burley")
  RE: enzymes an overnight mashing ("Sven Pfitt")
  white film (Randy Ricchi)
  Near Beer ("Reddy, Pat")
  Re: Procon Pump???? (Demonick)
  sour mashing question (Steven S)
  Short Ferment of Commercial Beer ("Doug Hurst")
  Pun at another's expense... ("Doug Moyer")
  Mountain Creek Water in Brewing ("Andrew Moore")
  Stream Water (AJ)
  Water treatment ("Ed Dorn")
  RE: Yet more on PID controls ("Mike Sharp")
  RE: Procon Pumps ("Mike Sharp")
  re: Mountain Creek Water in Brewing ("robertjm at hockeyhockeyhockey.com")
  White stuff... ("Jay Spies")
  Clogged boil kettle ("Jay Spies")
  AHA National Homebrew Competition ("Gary Glass")
  Belgian Reference Books ("Raj B. Apte")
  overnight mashing, enzymes ("greg man")


*
* Show your HBD pride! Wear an HBD Badge! 
* http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/shopping
*
* The HBD Logo Store is now open!
* http://www.cafeshops.com/hbdstore
*
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
*

Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org

If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!!

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word
  "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL
  ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!**
IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to
  the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address
  for the automation - that's your job.

HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at
http://hbd.org.

The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright 
  HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK 
  before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content 
  cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit.

More information is available by sending the word "info" to 
req at hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org.

JANITOR on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)



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


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 00:15:29 -0600
From: "Al Boyce" <aboyce at mn.rr.com>
Subject: ANNOUNCING THE 2003 UPPER MISSISSIPPI MASH-OUT!

THE 2003 UPPER MISSISSIPPI MASH0OUT!
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT!

The Minnesota Home Brewers Association and the St.Paul Homebrewers Club
announce the second annual 2003 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out
Homebrew Competition for all BJCP Categories (including Cider and Mead)
in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota

(A qualifier for the High Plains Homebrewer of the Year award!)

April 11-20, 2003: Entries Accepted (All BJCP categories, including Cider
and Mead)
May 1-3, 2003:      Judging (NEW!  Beds for Judges program)
May 2, 2003:         Twin Cities Pub Crawl (9pm) starting from Radisson
Metrodome
May 3, 2003:         Blessing of the Bock at Town Hall Brewery (6pm)
May 3, 2003:         Awards Ceremony at Summit Brewing (8pm)

Information and Online registration for beers and judges available at:
http://www.mnbrewers.com/mashout

Judging will be held at the Radisson Metrodome:
http://www.radisson.com/minneapolismn_metrodome



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 05:39:19 -0500
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Beerjoilais Nouveau

Brewsters:

Jeff relates a tale of serving young beer and asks for related tales.

In the late 60's I was living and brewing in Wales UK while post-docing. At
that time it was still illegal to brew in the US, although I had had a pass or
two {8^) at it with Blue Ribbon Malt extract and yeast of unknown origin in
graduate school.

Anyway, I was enthusiastically brewing all I could in this brewer's mecca,
(typically 5 gals per week) and invited my new found friends to a party at my
house to share in the bounty.  No one showed up on time ( veddy Un-British),
so I was sitting around having a bitter and some vinegar crisps  and watching
Up Pompeii on the telly, when I heard several car doors slam.  Friends had
been to a pub first and brought along some of their or friends.

Apparently some were experienced but disappointed homebrew drinkers and wanted
a good pint or two first. So what had been a relatively small party, ended up
much larger. They were favorably impressed with my beer and needless to say
they went through all my 10 or 15 gallons of cleared bitter in an instant and
began working on and finished my bottles which were still clearing. When they
began to eye my active fermenter, I had to draw the line!  They finished off
the evening by giving me a Welsh sing, which my neighbors also enjoyed (?)  at
3 AM.

Keep on Brewin'

Dave Burley




Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 08:41:09 -0500
From: "Sven Pfitt" <the_gimp98 at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: enzymes an overnight mashing

greg man brings up the subject of enzymes an overnight mashing

>I tried overnight mashing last weekend on a belgian sasion. The whole 
>process cut 2 hours out of my brew day (well, cut it on one day an >added 
>it to another I guess). It seemed to work pretty good, but my >final 
>resting temp the next morning was a little low  at  130F. Too close >to the 
>danger zone for me, so next time I'll try to find a better way >of 
>insulating the cooler.
 ....snip.....
>I have only two questions for the collective chemistry majors out >there 
>about the process. First do coolers lose heat in a linier scale?
 ...snip...
>The second is this I wondered If the temp will fall that much over >night 
>then I will have to start at a higher final resting temp.
 ....snip...
Will resting the mash over night at say 158F destroy all of the beta 
enzymes?

>What I mean is by the time the mash reaches say 148F will there be >What 
>about if the mash stays too long  at  130F? Will I have a headless >beer? Or 
>will it become very thin in body an mouth feel?

The gist of greg's questions involves the enzimes during a reverse 
(negative) temp ramp, and the heat loss of themash tun.

1. The temp drop is non-linear because heat loss is linear, but is driven by 
the temperature differnce between the source(mash tun) and sink (surrounding 
environment).  As the temperature of the mash drops, the difference drops 
and the amount of heat loss per unit time drops. It follows a classical 
time-constant driven function. Just add more insulation if you are concerned 
(see 2).

2. You will already have denurtured the 130F enzimes after hours above 145F, 
so don't worry about them.

Your best bet is a single infusion mash, the negative ramp of 2F/Hr will get 
you finished in the initial one to two hours. I used to start two F higher 
than I would have for a normal mash since I don't add any corrections during 
the mash, but found it to be unnecessary.

I've made a half dozen batches like this and never experienced any mouthfeel 
or head problems.

Steven, -75 XLCH- Ironhead Nano-Brewery  http://thegimp.8k.com
Johnson City, TN [422.7, 169.2] Rennerian

"Fools you are... who say you like to learn from your mistakes.... I prefer 
to learn from the mistakes of others and avoid the cost of my own." Otto von 
Bismarck






Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 09:00:35 -0500
From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi at houghton.k12.mi.us>
Subject: white film

Buck Wilke is wondering about  white film on his beer.

Buck,
I had the same kind of film on a weizen I brewed many years back. I
racked out from under the film and the film still reappeared in the
tertiary container. Since the beer tasted good, I crossed my fingers and
bottled. The flavor never went off, so whatever that film was from, it
was fairly benign flavor-wise. Can't say if yours is the same strain of
infection, but at least there's hope.

Randy Ricchi
Hancock, MI



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 08:51:02 -0600
From: "Reddy, Pat" <Pat.Reddy at mavtech.cc>
Subject: Near Beer

My Dad would like me to brew him up a small batch of N.A.
My next brew is going to be an American Pale to satisfy the mass of people
whose services helped my brewery take shape over the last few months.  I've
read where it's possible to bake the alcohol right out of finished beer in
the over at around 170* but that the majority of flavoring and aroma hops is
lost.  I plan on pulling out 2- 3 gallons from my batch for conversion to
about 2% alcohol via baking.  Does anyone know how well dry hopping
immediately after the bake works?  Thanks.

Pat Reddy
MAVERICK Technologies
(618)281-9100 x134
pat.reddy at mavtech.cc
 



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 07:01:44 -0800
From: Demonick <demonick at zgi.com>
Subject: Re: Procon Pump????

Procon pumps are commonly used in commercial grade espresso machines.  You
may want to post the same question to the newsgroup alt.coffee.

The pump out of a coke machine may not withstand hot wort.  The pump from a
espresso machine can certainly withstand the heat. 

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



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 10:10:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Steven S <steven at 403forbidden.net>
Subject: sour mashing question


I'm about to brew my raspberry wit again. My last couple of batches were
given away to friends and critical comments requested. One common theme
besides the typical "for free beer its great" was "its not quite what I
expected". I dug further and it seems people expected more raspberry
tart/sourness. I tend to agree and in my last batch I used an extract plus
some citric acid but it just didnt taste quite right. Using real fruit
adds a certain complexity that is just missing from extracts. I also didnt
like the sourness of the citric acid.

SO

i want to try doing a sour mash to increase the acidity and wonder what
the results from others have been.

My reading indicates the following:

Using uncrushed 2-row works well once the mash has cooled down
One to two days of "festering" produces a slight acidic note
A week produces a heidious stench but nice sourness

The Questions:

Is current 2-row that the average HBS carries going to contain enough
bacteria to produce the necessary souring?

Besides yogurt cultures and sourdough starters what other souring
techniques have people tried?

I've got raw wheat from the local whole foods store, suitable for using as
the bacteria carrier?

I want similar sourness as Berliner Weiss, let it fester a week or just a
few days?




Steven St.Laurent	403forbidden.net	[580.2,181.4] Rennerian


Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 09:14:24 -0600
From: "Doug Hurst" <DougH at theshowdept.com>
Subject: Short Ferment of Commercial Beer


The discussion of short ferments reminded me of a bar I frequented when
I lived in Rochester NY.  The bar owner was approached by some
enterprising MBA students, who convinced him it would be profitable to
'get-in' on this 'brewpub craze'.  They had designed a small 1-2 bbl
extract brewing system which was meant to be sold as a package and
crammed into corners of bars, thus turning them into "brewpubs".  I can
only assume that this was their thesis project.  I believe this bar had
been sold their pilot system.  I remember the system consisting of a
small HLT, boiler, filter and one (1) fermenter. 

The system sat in the bar for a long time, seemingly under construction.
When it was finally up and running I anxiously ordered an "amber".  I
couldn't believe how bad it was.  It was cloudy (despite the filter),
fruity/estery, and there was minimal carbonation.  Moreover, it was very
sweet.  In fact it reminded my then inexperienced beer palate more of
wort than beer.

The next time I went to the bar I found the MBA student entrepreneurs
crouched around Carl Strauss whom they had flown-in to evaluate their
system.  I went up and introduced myself as a beer enthusiast and began
talking to Carl Strauss about the beer and how I perceived it's taste as
"worty".  He mentioned almost casually that he had given the MBA
students some advice about their system, primarily that the beer needed
to ferment and age for more than seventy two (72) hours before being
served.  

I'm not sure if they heeded his advice or not.  I never drank the beer
again and soon moved to San Francisco (maybe this is why).


Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL
[215, 264.5] Apparent Rennerian


Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 11:10:26 -0500
From: "Doug Moyer" <shyzaboy at yahoo.com>
Subject: Pun at another's expense...

Lonzo McLaughlin <lonkelm at yahoo.com> wrote:

"I have a 3 tier converted keg system.  I'm having trouble getting all of
the work out of my kettle after I finish the boil."

Hey, it's like most hobbies: you'll always put more work into it than you
get out!

<grin>

Brew on!

Doug Moyer
Salem, VA

Star City Brewers Guild: http://hbd.org/starcity

"There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness.'"
     ~ Dave Barry

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us
 with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
     ~ Galileo Galilei




Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 12:23:00 -0500
From: "Andrew Moore" <abmjunk at hotmail.com>
Subject: Mountain Creek Water in Brewing

Andrew Nix asks about using mountain stream water:

Andrew,

I have never used mountain stream water. However, every batch I make 
contains water from Wayside Spring, a potable water spring within the city 
limits of Richmond, Virginia. I use it without filtering or boiling. I have 
never had any problems (that I know of, anyway).

I do not know the chemistry of the water, but I usually add gypsum to the 
wort.

There may be some issues of contaminants in a mountain stream, i.e. runoff 
from farms or wild animal wastes. I would think that a spring would be a 
better bet than a stream.

If I were you, I'd try a batch with your stream or spring water and see how 
it turns out.

Andrew Moore
Richmond, Virginia

Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 14:47:02 -0500
From: Andrew Nix <anix at vt.edu>
Subject: Mountain Creek Water in Brewing

Hello all,

I have been tossing around the idea of using the water from my favorite
wild trout stream in the mountains here in SW VA and wanted to see if
anyone has tried this before with their local streams.  I know there is a
large variation in the water from watershed to watershed depending on the
soil and rock formations.   Has anyone tried to make a beer from mountain
stream water, and if so, what adjustments, if any, did you make to the
water chemistry before brewing with it?

I know I could send a sample off for chemical analysis, but I'm not going
to go that far.  I want to make an American pale with it, so I may not
treat it at all and just see how the beer comes out.

Andrew Nix
Research Associate
Transonic Turbine Cascade Heat Transfer Group
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Virginia Tech
100B Randolph Hall
(540) 231-6939








Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 17:55:08 +0000
From: AJ <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Stream Water

For Andrew Nix - I used to have a place in W. Va with a spring (and 
stream) and thought of using the water for brewing. The first thing that 
made me think better of it was the prospect of trucking enough of it 
back home to make a batch of beer. The second thing was that the 
chemical composition was not appreciably different from the water from 
my well at home. The third, and most off-putting was that the coliforms 
situation was appalling. Not only were the indicator organisms there in 
multitude but there was plenty of  E. coli as well. Little forrest 
creatures were pooping in my spring house - that was for sure!

As brewing is a time honored way of disinfecting questionable water 
perhaps I shouldn't have been so squeamish but given that I have fine 
well water with approximately the same chemistry, why bother?

I think you must learn something about the water if only by brewing with 
it. You can buy test kits for hardness and alkalinity (the most 
important water parameters) on the internet, in hardware stores and at 
pet stores that sell fish. As you are associated with a university, you 
should be able to arrange to have the simple tests required to quantify 
other minerals as well. Absent knowledge of what's in the water it is 
impossible to recommend treatment or predict the beer styles that it 
will make well. Assuming that it is like most Virginia surface water you 
should find it suitable for many styles of beer without any treatment at 
all. It will probably be too alkaline and contain too much sulfate for 
the German/Bohemian beers that use quantities of noble hops. It will 
probably benefit from some gypsum when making Burton style ales.

A.J.








Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 13:37:15 -0500
From: "Ed Dorn" <edorn at dukes-stein.com>
Subject: Water treatment

I've noted with interest a number of posts regarding water treatment
recently, and I'm getting more and more confused.  Before I get into my
questions, let me set the context.  I've been brewing for almost six
years, all grain for about five years.  When I first attended the
all-grain class at the local hb shop, the owner talked briefly about our
local water, and recommended that, for 5 gallons,  I add two tsp gypsum
to the mash, and two "capfuls" of lactic acid (based on the container
size he sold) to the sparge water.  I dutifully followed his
instructions and for several years brewed terrific beer, mostly American
pale ale, American wheat, and German hefeweizen.  I should add that I
also use a water filter, a Pur model attached to the faucet.  As an
aside, the hb shop is no longer in business, so I can't address my
questions to the owner.
 
I guess I've gotten a little bored and want to move into more
challenging areas, so I've gotten interested in the idea of matching
water to various beers.  In the literature that is readily available, I
find very little information about how to add treatments, specifically
at what point in the brewing process.  The authors do mention certain
types of water adjustments, frequently in parts per million, but little
attention seems to be paid to when or how the adjustment should be made.
Noonan does refer to treating "brewing water" which implies to me that
all water should be treated.
 
I think that most treatment is done to make the mash more efficient, but
I'm not sure if that's the only thing.  I'm also not sure if pH is
important beyond facilitating enzyme activity and preventing leaching of
tannins.  You can probably tell that I'm not a chemist, so long texts
with formulae, symbols, and equations cause my eyes to glaze over.
 
So here are the questions.  The most commonly used (in my limited
experience) water treatments seem to be gypsum, lactic acid, salt, Epsom
salt, and calcium chloride.  At what point in the brewing process should
these be added?  When an amount is given for 5 gallons, should it be
adjusted upward if added early in the process when the total brewing
water used will be much higher (i.e., does the stuff evaporate)?   What
do I really need to know about pH?  I know that detailed knowledge is
not crucial, because I've made fine beer without ever testing pH.  But
ignorance is no longer bliss.
 
I know that books are written on this subject, and I'd love to find one
that addresses these questions in simple how-to form for the home
brewer.  I've read Palmer, Papazian, Daniels, Noonan, Miller, Mosher,
and perhaps the answers are there and I missed them.  If anyone has
another good reference, please let me know.  I have ProMash, and I can't
find answers there either.
 
BTW, I'm in Virginia Beach, VA and blessed with soft water.  The profile
is as follows:  Calcium - 7 ppm, Magnesium - 4 ppm, Sodium - 18 ppm,
Sulfate - 28 ppm, Bicarbonate alkalinity - 20 ppm, Chloride - 17 ppm and
a pH of 7.0.
 
Private replies are welcome, but I suspect that if I'm confused, others
are also.  Then again, maybe I'm just part of the proverbial 10% that
didn't get the word.
 
Thanks, Ed Dorn


Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 10:40:33 -0800
From: "Mike Sharp" <rdcpro at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Yet more on PID controls

Michael O'Donnell talks more about PID Controls

Previously I said:
>Set the time constant to a value somewhere around 2 seconds, and you 
>should be ok with the relays.  You'll need to set up some sort of 
>control voltage for the SSR--but that will depend on the SSR.  

Then Michael O'Donnell said:
"Before you go about doing anything like this, I'd highly recommend taking 
Pat Reddy's suggestion from last week and just buying an SSR controller on 
Ebay.  You can probably get one for around $50, then turn around and sell 
your relay one for the same amount.  Much better to start with the right 
part than to try and kluge it together, especially if there is no cost 
savings."

Your SSR controller will *still* need an SSR to power the heater.  An Omron
SSR output is rated for something like 1 amp, typically non-inductive, and
is intended for control output, not driving the load.  The Omron SSR voltage
output controllers are something on the order of 40 mA, enough to drive a
few SSRs, but not enough to drive a load.   

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using relay output, especially if it's
only driving the control of a load rated SSR.  Applications that require
solid state outputs are when the cycle time is much less than 2 seconds.  A
mechanical relay will do fine in a heating application in this situation,
where the duty cycle is 2 seconds or greater.  What causes relays to fail
are inductive loads.  

If the relay is operating a solenoid, or some other inductive load, without
any protection (ie diode clamp for DC control, or MOV and capacitor for AC),
it will fail sooner--But so will the SSR.   However, for a non-inductive
load (like we're talking about here), you're probably talking on the order
of 800,000 mean cycles between failure.  So a 60 minute mash, assuming the
whole time the RIMS is cycling at 2 seconds, will result in about 1800
cycles.  If you mash each and every week, in about 9 years you might need to
plug in a new relay.  But most likely it won't fail for years after that.

I would say that if you're buying a controller for a cycle-controlled heater
application, and you have a choice between SSR outputs and relay outputs, go
for the SSR output.  That way you can choose a cycle time of around 0.2
seconds.  If you already *have* a controller with relay outputs--use it with
a cycle time of 2.0 seconds or more.  It's not like it's going to be in
continuous operation for years.


Mike went on to say:
"I bought 2 of them last week and got great deals.IIn a bit of shameless 
self-promotion, one of  them is about to go back up for sale because I 
forgot I wanted to use a thermocouple and got a controller that needs an 
RTD probe... if you have a use for an 0mron E5CX-RP, let me know."

Better double check your output...I think that's an analog voltage output
controller...I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I don't think you can
drive a power SSR with it.  In my Omron SSR manual, it specifically excludes
the E5CX from driving SSR loads...Its a very uncommon controller, and I'm
assuming that means analog output.


Regards,
Mike Sharp




Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 10:53:00 -0800
From: "Mike Sharp" <rdcpro at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Procon Pumps

Guillermo asks about Procon Pumps
"So, I could take a "REDHEAD PROCON PUMP" from a Coke dispenser machine. I
want to know if someone have experience whit this pump. Im thinking use it
for my Herms System."


A procon is a rotary vane positive displacement pump. Some have overpressure
bypasses built in (if it does, there will be a small cap on the side of the
pump), but some do not.  This pump can easily produce 250psi (17 bar), so it
needs some sort of over pressure protection.  It's also not suited for
liquids with large particles, so I'm afraid it wouldn't be suitable for a
HERMS.  Sorry!  One thing they're very handy for is if you have a remote
beer tap faucet, and you need to run glycol chilling lines a long way to
keep the beer lines and faucet cold.  The pump can produce enough pressure
to force the glycol a long ways through a pretty small line.

I've used them for water purification systems (RO needs pretty high pressure
to get good recovery), and they'll run fine even continously for a long long
time.  (Just talked to a buddy Sunday night about a ultra pure water system
we built about 7 years ago, that finally had it's first failure--the procon
pump wore out.  I figure there's probably at least 10,000 hours on it).

Regards,
Mike Sharp


Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 12:07:55 -0800
From: "robertjm at hockeyhockeyhockey.com" <robertjm at hockeyhockeyhockey.com>
Subject: re: Mountain Creek Water in Brewing

Hi Andrew!!

In 1982 a backpacking buddy and I went 
up to Hetch Hetchy Res, which is better 
known out west as the "other" Yosemite 
Valley. It was drowned by the City of San 
Francisco in the early 20th Century and 
serves as their primary water supply.

A couple miles back there are two water 
falls, Tueeulala Falls and Wapama Falls. 
The first one is a small ribbon in good 
years, but dries up by the end of
summer. Wapama Falls is another story, 
being pretty big. There are two wooden 
bridges that cross the pan of the water fall. 
When I was there the bridges were 
shaking from all the water going through, 
and one of the bridges was even partially 
engulfed with water, which made crossing 
pretty precarious.

Here are some photos someone took of 
the falls and posted on the Internet:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/182
8023/1828030pbctYJJfUj
http://community.webshots.com/photo/182
8023/1828079lGYXUlCBLH
http://community.webshots.com/photo/182
8023/1828144joKzzUYbzE
http://community.webshots.com/photo/182
8023/1828096WthbVtZrHX
Anyways, enough of the travelog!!

I brought several bota bags, as well as 
other water containers back to  Wapama 
Falls, and filled them. When I got back to 
the vehicle, I had a 5 gallon carboy waiting 
and transferred the water. Only after 
getting back did I realize that my pack 
weighed nearly 100 lbs with all that water 
and my gear. Boy, did I feel light as a 
feather once I took that pack off! (anyone 
that's ever been backpacking knows that 
wonderful feeling once you take your pack 
off <grin!>).

Once I got home my father and I figured 
out a dark ale recipe. Alas, but that 
recipe is lost and the beer is long time 
gone, but I still remember it fondly. He 
wanted to call it Backpacker Ale, but I 
called it Wapama Falls Ale after the  
place where it began life. Being that the 
water was from Hetch Hetchy it is very 
doubtful that we added any type of water 
treatment. 

Thanks for stiring up some fond memories. 
I may just have to make another trip up 
there again this Spring.

Later,
Robert
- -------------------------------

> Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 14:47:02 -0500
> From: Andrew Nix <anix at vt.edu>
> Subject: Mountain Creek Water in
> Brewing
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I have been tossing around the idea of 
> using the water from my
> favorite wild trout stream in the
> mountains here in SW VA and wanted
> to see if anyone has tried this before 
> with their local streams.  I
> know there is a large variation in the 
> water from watershed to
> watershed depending on the soil and 
> rock formations.   Has anyone
> tried to make a beer from mountain 
> stream water, and if so, what
> adjustments, if any, did you make to the > water chemistry before
> brewing with it?...


Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 16:32:45 -0500
From: "Jay Spies" <jayspies at citywidehomeloans.com>
Subject: White stuff...

All -

Buck Wilke relates his problems with a white film on his newly-fermented
beer and asks what to do with it....

Buck, my advice is, as little as possible.   If the beer tastes fine, close
your eyes and keg that puppy.  repeatedly mucking about with it (straining
it through a cheesecloth, packing it full with campden tablets, and
generally putting your sticky little fingers in it) will do more harm than
good.  When you do this kind of thing, you're opening the beer up to sources
of possible infection, which will take your fine-tasting beer and turn it
into a sour, infected mess if the right nasties find their way in.

I've found several weird things have happened to batches of mine over the
years, some of which look truly funky.  Take the recent post about the
beer-stalactites, for instance.  Protiens and other coagulates in beer
(often referred to in scientific circles as "thingys") sometimes clump or
layer in weird formations.  This could be due to density or temperature
stratifications, hop oils or residues, trub, or just the particular music
that the beer was exposed to upon fermentation (country music played during
fermentation tends to make my yeast very angry)...

If it tastes fine, just keg it and drink it.  If it has things floating in
it, put it in a ceramic stein.

Just kidding on the last thing, but don't drive yourself batty over floaties
in a beer that otherwise tastes fine.

my .00002

Jay Spies
Charm City Altobrewery
Baltimore, MD



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 16:37:25 -0500
From: "Jay Spies" <jayspies at citywidehomeloans.com>
Subject: Clogged boil kettle

All -

Lonzo is having trouble with clogging of his kettle scrubbie with pellet
hops during draining....

I got two words for you, my man.......

whole hops

Jay Spies
Charm City Altobrewery
Baltimore, MD



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 15:53:21 -0700
From: "Gary Glass" <gary at aob.org>
Subject: AHA National Homebrew Competition

It's Good To Be Royalty!  Will you be crowned Homebrewer of the Year this
year?  Not if you don't enter the AHA's 25th Annual National Homebrew
Competition this April.  Show us what you've got against more than 3000 of
the best homebrews from around the globe!

Are you in a homebrew club?  Club members earn points towards the Homebrew
Club of the Year with every ribbon and medal they take in the National
Homebrew Competition.  Just think how great it will feel when you and your
fellow club members are standing at the podium to accept the Homebrew Club
of the Year trophy this year.  The competition has been fierce the last few
years.  Now is your chance to show the rest of the homebrewing world just
what your club is made of!

April 9-18 is the entry deadline for the First Round of the National
Homebrew Competition, so get ready to send in those entries!  AHA members
receive a $4 discount off the fees for each entry.

Last year we had 3,074 entries, once again making the NHC by far the world's
largest and most prestigious homebrew competition!  We expect even more
entries this year.  Due to the growing number of entries, we've added a new
"East" region based in Cleveland, OH, bringing the total number of regional
competitions to nine.

Judging will be held April 25-27, May 2-4.

See http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/index.html for details, entry forms,
site map, etc.

We Need Judges and Stewards!  If you are interested in judging, contact the
judge coordinators listed at
http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/judging.html.  This competition is AHA
Sanctioned and BJCP registered, so all judges and stewards earn BJCP points
for participating.

For entries advancing to the Second Round of the competition, judging and
awards ceremony will take place at the AHA National Homebrewers Conference
in Chicago, June 19-21, 2003.  For details on the conference, see
http://www.beertown.org/events/hbc/index.html.  The NHC's Ninkasi Award
winner (for the winningest brewer in the Second Round of the competition)
will be taking home a stainless steel conical fermenter, compliments of
Beer, Beer, & More Beer.

Also don't forget to vote in the AHA Board of Advisors election!  Ballots
will be accepted from AHA members through Tuesday, April 1.  We have an
excellent line up of candidates this year.  By voting you can earn an
additional entry into the AHA's Lallemand Scholarship drawing, see below for
more on the contest.  Go to
http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/election.html to vote online, or send in
the ballot found on page 13 of the March/April 2003 Zymurgy.

Once again, Lallemand, makers of Danstar yeast, is offering one lucky AHA
member a full-paid scholarship to attend the Siebel Institute of
Technology's Concise Course in Brewing Technology.  See
http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/scholarship.html for contest details.

Cheers & Good Luck in the Competition!

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

- ---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 16:22:26 -0800 (PST)
From: "Raj B. Apte" <raj_apte at yahoo.com>
Subject: Belgian Reference Books

I for one have been happy to see brewing book
recommendations in this thread. We have seen good
books with a German and English slant. Is there a good
reference from the Belgian perspective? I, for one, am
looking for a book that treats Lactobacillus and
Brettanomyces as ingredients, not impurities.

thanks,
raj



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 22:42:32 -0500
From: "greg man" <dropthebeer at hotmail.com>
Subject: overnight mashing, enzymes



  Thanks for all the great responses guys. I did'nt realize there were that 
many people out there using this method. A lot of the answers I got were 
very helpful. One in particular that mentioned not only covering the cooler 
with something but also putting it in a closed space like a closet instead 
of the middle of the room like I did.
  The question about the loss of heat seemed to center on the temp outside 
the cooler as well as possible insulation problems, things like these.

  However I wondered if the loss in heat is more due to the amount of head 
space left in the cooler? For example if you mash in a 5 gallon tun an the 
water plus grain only takes up 3.7 gallons of space?
  Also I would think that the water to grist ratio would also affect the 
temp loss? Like most people I mash with about 1.2-1.25 quarts per lb. Does 
this also influence the possible loss of heat? What If I perform a thin mash 
for decoction?

  More on enzymes as well,
I just recently came across some info on the sac. rest that suggested 
conversion would take place faster an more efficiently if it's preformed at 
a higher water to grain ratio, any comments as to if this is true?
  It was in Horst Dornbush's book on helles in the style series, in the 
appendix.
  He mentions water to grain ratios of like 4 to 1? How would that convert 
to lbs an qts though? He mentions a thick protein rest is more efficient and 
a thin sac. rest will convert faster, for beta or alpha. He even provides 
what looks like a test with different times for different thickness ratios 
of water to grain.

  I buy more books too add to my collection but still can only get my 
questions answered on the HBD, and always for free...........

thanks HBD'ers, gregman




Return to table of contents

---