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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  re: Warmer in my fridge than in Michigan (John Schnupp)
  Re:  Warmer in my fridge than in Michigan ("Jim Yeagley")
  Re:Recipe for alcoholic Rootbeer anyone? (Randy Ricchi)
  RE: 120 minute IPA ("Steve B")
  trash can bags for brewing (Randy Ricchi)
  Quickie (Randy Ricchi)
  120 minute IPA, beer exchange? ("Todd M. Snyder")
  burners, 120 minute IPA (Ted Hull)
  Re: CACA vs CAP (Jeff Renner)
  Alternative St. Patrick's Day brew (Jeff Renner)
  Popped Malt (Alexandre Enkerli)
  Re: Need a quickie (Alan Semok)
  Re: Gypsum vs Calcium Chloride (to drop pH)? (Denny Conn)
  Re: Gypsum or CaCl (Jeff Renner)
  RE:  120 Minute IPA ("Houseman, David L")
  Re: CACA vs CAP (Robert Sandefer)
  Re: honey in brewing (Robert Sandefer)
  Re: 120 min IPA (Michael Hetzel)
  Re: ten gallon corny kegs ("Robert Humphrey")
  Thomas Hardy Clone - The details... (Bev Blackwood II)


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Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 23:30:33 -0800 (PST)
From: John Schnupp <johnschnupp at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: Warmer in my fridge than in Michigan

Dave suggests: 
>Rich in Lansing has a problem that it is colder outside his fridge than it
>should be inside it and his keg is frozen.  I suggest you put suspend a
>lightbulb ( turned on as a source of heat, of course)  inside the fridge to
>get the temperature up. I'd start with a 40 watt bulb.

This is a good start, however, it is not the end of the story.  In addition,
the ambient outside air temp effects the operation of the fridge too. 
Refrigerators use phase changes of the coolant to provide the cooling.  If it's
too cold for the coolant to change phases from (liquid to gas) nothing will
happen.  In fact, you may damage the compressor.  This is because if the
coolant stays in the liquid phase (because it's too cold) the compressor will
be trying to compress liquid, which is wasn't designed to do.  Best case is it
won't do anything.  Worst case it burn out the compressor motor or destroy the
impeller.

If it's too cold for the fridge to work properly the thing to do would be to
simply unplug it.  Then to keep the temp from getting to cold use a light bulb
(or some other low heat source) and wire it with a controller in heat mode.

I live in VT.  We've been having a pretty cold winter so far this year.  Most
nights, so far, this month have been sub-zero (F).  We've also had a bunch of
days that had high temps in sub-zero.  The coldest I've seen it at my place was
 -21F (overnight low) and the lowest daytime high I has was -14F.  I digress.

I built a "reverse" fridge for fermenting lagers.  I took a wooden crate and
made one of the sides a door.  I wired light bulb socket inside on the
"ceiling" of the crate.  I also wired a small AC fan (muffin type) in parallel
with the socket.  The fan is mounted so that it can circulate the air in the
box.  I also installed a temperature probe; I use K-type thermocouples.  I use
a surplus Watlow 965 series controller that I got from work.  Set the
controller for the desired temp.  When the temp gets too low the light and fan
turn and heat the crate.  Works good.  I didn't insulate my crate so the
light/heater cycles fairly frequently.  When it is really cold it is easy to
change to a higher wattage bulb for more heat.  Insulation would certainly
improve the situation.  The 1.5" thick blue foam stuff would work great.   



=====
John Schnupp, N3CNL
??? Hombrewery
[560.2, 68.6] Rennerian
Georgia, VT
95 XLH 1200, Bumblebee



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 07:54:18 -0500
From: "Jim Yeagley" <jyeag at core.com>
Subject: Re:  Warmer in my fridge than in Michigan


Rich,

I agree with Dave on the light bulb.  I have a 20 watt lamp in my chest
freezer, running on a timer.  Temps are pretty cold here in NE Ohio, too.
This keeps my kegs around 45 deg (F) but to thaw yours out you might need
the 40 watt (or higher) on constantly for a while to do the trick.


Jim Yeagley



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:00:07 -0500
From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi at houghton.k12.mi.us>
Subject: Re:Recipe for alcoholic Rootbeer anyone?

Tim Cook is pondering how to make an alcoholic rootbeer.

Tim, your idea of brewing an all-malt base for the rootbeer seems sound.
My guess is there would not be enough residual sweetness, but you could
sweeten with splenda at bottling, along with regular sugar for priming.

The all-malt base would give the rootbeer a nice complexity, not to
mention mouthfeel, and you would have a good long-lasting foam stand.

Just don't succumb to habit and start throwing hops in during the boil
:^)



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:10:45 -0500
From: "Steve B" <habenero92 at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: 120 minute IPA

I can tell you that it is a BIG beer brewed in Delaware by Dogfish Head 
Brewer (http://www.dogfish.com).  Here is a snip from their website 
describing the beer:
120 Minute IPA
Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled 
for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high alpha American 
hops, dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for a month on 
whole leaf hops, 120 Minute IPA is by far the biggest IPA ever brewed! At 
21% abv and 120 IBU's, you can see why we call this the Holy Grail for 
Hopheads!
Release date: May 1, 2003, very limited availabilty
21% ABV 120 IBU

I personally find is too syrupie for my taste.  Dogfish also makes a 60 and 
90 minute IPA.  I prefer the 60 of the three.  It seems to have the most hop 
character without the carmel/syrup flavors invading.  The 60 is similar to 
Arrogant Bastard from Stone and then the 90 and 120 step up from there.
S



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:29:05 -0500
From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi at houghton.k12.mi.us>
Subject: trash can bags for brewing

Yesterday's HBD had a couple of suggestions to use trash can bags as a
sanitary liner for fermentors.
I have no doubt they are sanitary, but how do you know which brands
would be food-grade? Considering their intended use, I doubt if the
manufacturers would be touting them as food-grade.



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:36:10 -0500
From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi at houghton.k12.mi.us>
Subject: Quickie

Mike (moose?) O'Donnell needs a quickie. Don't we all.

I think you're on the right track with a hefe-weizen. Weizens are best
when fresh. I find they are at there peak just as soon as they are
carbonated. Turnaround time of 2 weeks or less from brewing to drinking.



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:46:11 -0500
From: "Todd M. Snyder" <tmsnyder at buffalo.edu>
Subject: 120 minute IPA, beer exchange?

Hi Don,

<Just what is this delicious sounding 120 minute IPA. I have never heard of
this. Could someone please fill me in.
>

I've never had the 120 minute, but the 60 minute IPA and 90 minute
(Imperial?) IPA are just awesome.  They are made by Dogfish Head brewery  to
the best of my knowledge. They do a hop addition each _minute_ for the time
described on in each name.

Beers like these are the reason why we on the HBD should set up a beer
exchange program.  For instance, there are a lot of good local brews here in
upstate NY that don't make it out of the state.  I'm sure it's the same
everywhere.  Is it illegal for a private individual to ship beer across
state lines if it's not a sale, but instead a trade?


Cheers, Todd Snyder
Buffalo, NY


Found this on  www.dogfish.com :

60 Minute IPA
A session I.P.A. brewed with Warrior, Amarillo and Mystery Hop X.
Bottle-conditioned 6-packs and draft available.
6% ABV 60 IBU
available year round, bottles & draft

90 Minute IPA
An Imperial I.P.A. brewed to be savored from a snifter.  A big beer with a
great malt backbone that stands up to the extreme hopping rate.
9% ABV 90 IBU
available year round, 12 ounce/4-pack bottles & draft

Thanks to all of you who helped to vote Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
the 2003 Champion in the RealBeer.com Battle of the Beers!
Click here for complete results of this year's competition

120 Minute IPA
Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled
for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high alpha American
hops, dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for a month on
whole leaf hops, 120 Minute IPA is by far the biggest IPA ever brewed! At
21% abv and 120 IBU's, you can see why we call this the Holy Grail for
Hopheads!
Release date: May 1, 2003, very limited availabilty
21% ABV 120 IBU



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 05:55:39 -0800 (PST)
From: Ted Hull <theartfuldudger at yahoo.com>
Subject: burners, 120 minute IPA

I'm slowly preparing to update my brewery and get back
to brewing after a long absence.  Part of that is
building a brew stand. My current quandary is LP or
NG. I recently installed a quick disconnect for a new
gas grill and was thinking that it'd be cool to plug
in the brewery to the same NG line.  Checked w/ a
co-worker who does HVAC, and it appears that the 5/8"
supply line will only carry roughly 70-90 cu ft/hr,
which equates to roughly 70,000 to 90,000 Btu/hr.

The alternative is to buy LP burners a la Brinkmann or
Cajun Cooker.  These nominally output at least 150k
Btu/hr. Am I really going to get that kind of output
to the pot (i.e. is there an efficiency difference in
heating between LP and NG burners?)? Next, if I
manifold LP feed to multiple burners, will I still get
that kind of output? It seems that I'd have more
control over delivery pressure with LP than NG, but
I'm not sure.

To answer Don Scholl's question in #4463, 120 Minute
IPA is a colossal beer from Dogfish Head. I haven't
tried it yet- bought two bottles and donated one for a
Georgians for World-Class Beer silent auction (sold
for $32!). The other's in the beer cellar, well,
pantry actually. Here's what they say about it
(www.dogfish.com):

120 Minute IPA
Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal
45-degree plato, boiled for a full 2 hours while being
continually hopped with high alpha American hops,
dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged
for a month on whole leaf hops, 120 Minute IPA is by
far the biggest IPA ever brewed! At 21% abv and 120
IBU's, you can see why we call this the Holy Grail for
Hopheads!
Release date: May 1, 2003, very limited availabilty  
21% ABV 120 IBU  

Ted Hull
Georgians for World-Class Beer
http://www.worldclassbeer.org




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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 09:28:13 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: CACA vs CAP

Good comments from people on Ed Dorn's comparison brews of a CAP 
(Classic American Pilsner) and CACA (Classic American Cream Ale). 
I've never done an actual head-on-head comparison with the same 
batch, but my separately brewed CACAs or more modern cream ales 
certainly taste ale-like.  However, because I like my cream ales to 
taste like ales, I use an English or Canadian ale yeast.

Wyeast 1056 and its WhiteLabs equivalent WLP001 are too clean for me 
for most ales.  (Interestingly, the old YeastLab American Ale Yeast, 
from the same reputed original source, the great Ballantine Brewery 
of Newark, NJ (for most of its life), had a bit more character and 
was a true top fermenter).

If fermented cool and especially if cold conditioned, 1056/001 will 
approach a lager.  (I've asked Ed to tell us his fermentation and 
aging conditions).  It's used for pseudo-lagers by some 
lager-challenged brewpubs for this reason.

This is actually the historic origin of cream ale as Bill Tobler 
<wctobler at sbcglobal.net> surmised from Lake Jackson, TX:

>My understanding of the Cream Ale history was they were looking for a way to
>make a CAP-like beer but ferment it as an Ale, for faster turn arounds. I'm
>not sticking my neck out as to who "they" are.  Someone up "North."

It was brewed in the latter part of the 19th century by the old-line 
ale mostly British-American owned breweries to (especially in the 
North-East, such as Ballantine) try to compete with the upstart and 
wildly popular German-American owned breweries who were kicking their 
butts with pale lagers.  If they didn't have the capital or space to 
add lagering facilities, they could at least make a beer that looked 
and sort of tasted like the pale lagers.

Bill continued:

>I like my CAP bigger in OG with a little more hop bite.  My cream ale
>is lighter in color and doesn't have as much of the corn flavor.  It's not
>surprising that you couldn't tell the two apart, especially if you cold
>conditioned the CACA/CCCA ... Looking at the BJCP Style Chart,
>the low end of the CAP crosses over with the high end of the Cream Ale

It sounds like you are brewing more of a modern cream ale, which I 
also love.  CACA is not an actual BJCP style as it is too hoppy.  It 
is a term coined by Paul Schick of Cleveland Heights, OH, and which 
he called an "unfortunate acronymn," to describe the historic cream 
ale as opposed to the more toned down modern one.

>I can't keep a keg of Cream Ale around.  My friend's are like bloodhounds
>when I brew that beer.  All of a sudden, the card game is in the brewery.
>(Don't tell them, but that's why I brew it!!)

I agree, it's a great one for easy drinking.

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: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 10:00:05 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Alternative St. Patrick's Day brew

Brewers

It's about time to think about brewing a beer for a St. Paddy's Day 
party.  How about something different from the usual stout or green 
beer, something with an American touch?

As I just commented in my CAP/CACA post, a cream ale is a great, easy 
drinking beer, popular with brewers and megaswillers alike.  A 
variant is what I call an Irish-American Red Ale.  It's become an 
annual HBD tradition for me to suggest it every winter in time for 
St. Patrick's Day.  I've received good feedback from many happy 
brewers from as far away as Australia.

This is my take on an Irish-American ale that I figure is similar to 
what might have been served in Irish neighborhood taverns in the 
Northeast 100 years ago, although I have no proof.  Maybe like 
McSorley's?  It's sort of a red ale with corn, flaked barley, medium 
crystal and a touch of chocolate.

It's a little stronger than a British session beer, a little less 
than typical US beers (due to higher FG), and certainly less strong 
than the authentic ales of a century ago, but they didn't have to 
drive home then.  This is popular with Killian's drinkers as well as 
real ale fans as it has enough interest to hold them.  Resist the 
temptation to up the bitterness as it is inappropriate in this
style.

Below is a slightly updated version of a previously posted recipe. 
Feel free to substitute ingredients or modify procedure, of course - 
it's your beer.  Don't worry about Cluster if you can't get it, it's 
just the traditional American bittering hop.  Other British-style 
flavor/aroma hops (Fuggles, Willamette, etc.) are fine, too.  I would 
avoid the Cascade types as inauthentic, and not to my taste for this 
style, besides.

You may need to adjust grain and hops amounts for your system.

Let me know how it turns out if you do brew it.

Jeff

   -=-=-=-=-=-

McGinty's Irish-American Red Ale

5.25 gallons  at  1.044/ FG 1.015

5.5 lbs 6-row (US 2-row will work, too)
1.75 lbs flaked maize
0.75 lbs flaked barley
0.5 lbs crystal 30-45L
2 oz. chocolate

Mash 154F/68C 60 minutes for a somewhat higher FG than usual.

Bittering hops - Cluster (I used 3/4 oz for 19 IBU)
Finishing hops - Goldings (Domestic would be fine) (I used 1/2 oz for 
15 min. for 4 IBU and another 1/2 oz at knockout) (FWH might be nice 
here)

Target 23 IBU

Irish moss (of course) last 15 minutes will help clarity, but it's 
not usually a problem for me.

Irish Ale yeast or any ale yeast (I prefer more flavorful yeasts than 1056).

- -- 
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: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 11:04:52 -0400
From: Alexandre Enkerli <aenkerli at indiana.edu>
Subject: Popped Malt

Greg, in Chicago, concurred:

> the color of the toasted malt is not very dark before it starts 
> tasting like chocolate malt, and there are some funky aromas created 
> in the toasting process.

And then warned me:
> My point is to go easy on the toasted malt additions.

Point taken. OTOH, colour's not really an issue for me and the funky 
aromas I talked about don't seem to affect the grain itself. I put the 
grain I've popped in mason jars and just tasted it again. Very nutty. 
Almost like toasted almonds or something similar. As this grain should 
be added to a pretty big beer and I like complexity, I'll probably try 
it anyway and let it mature in bottles for a long while. But thanks for 
the warning!

AleX in Moncton, NB
[1568.9km, 68] Apparent Rennerian



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 11:29:52 -0500
From: Alan Semok <asemok at mac.com>
Subject: Re: Need a quickie

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 21:03:23 -0800, "Michael Joseph O'Donnell" 
<mooseo at stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>What are some of the things that influence how quickly a beer is ready to
>drink?  It seems like most of my batches continue to improve for at least a
>month.  ....Any thoughts, either for ways to speed the process (I 
>was thinking of using  dry yeast so I could get a lot in since I 
>don't have time to make a  starter) or for a great recipe that 
>conditions quickly? 
>thanks!
>Mike
>Monterey, CA
- --------
I don't know what the conventional wisdom on this is (besides which, 
my tastebuds are always the final arbiter anyway)...but I've found 
generally the "bigger" the beer, the more it benefits from aging 
(anywhere from 6 weeks to a couple years).

I've been in the same "gotta brew something quick" boat as Mike a 
couple times, and found that by keeping the starting gravity down 
around 1.038 or less, and keeping the hopping rate on the low side, 
I've been able to produce VERY drinkable beers in two weeks or even 
less.  From my own experience, I've found that BROWN ALE is a 
particularly good candidate for this kind of "quickie" brewing. 
Careful handling of the darker malts is important in order to keep 
things mellow and to avoid potential harsh flavors(don't add them to 
the mash  until the sparge)...just a little bit of crystal for subtle 
sweetness, and a pinch or two of black for color (and to help the 
beer clear).  Resist the urge to use too much hop, and don't boil the 
hops longer than an hour.

cheers, all...
AL


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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 09:13:50 -0800
From: Denny Conn <denny at projectoneaudio.com>
Subject: Re: Gypsum vs Calcium Chloride (to drop pH)?

Darn it, I meant _raise_ the pH.  I knew that, I swear!  :)

         --------------->Denny

At 12:45 AM 1/28/04 -0500, I wrote:
> >but need to add CaCO3 to drop the pH when brewing darker beers.




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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:44:20 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Gypsum or CaCl

Thomas Rohner <t.rohner at bluewin.ch>  wrote:

>look at your water composition for phosphate and chloride.
>If your water is already high in phosphate, take calciumchloride.
>If your water is high in chloride, take gypsum.
>Chloride and phosphorus are only the "carriers" for what you
>really want to add, calcium. In my case, the water is already high in
>phosphate. That's why i use CaCl.

Thomas

Good advice except that gypsum is calcium *sulfate* CaSO4, not 
calcium phosphate.

Cheers

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: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:46:56 -0500
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: RE:  120 Minute IPA

Don and anyone else who's interested, check out Dogfishhead's web site at
http://www.dogfish.com/.  From their web site:
120 Minute IPA
Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled
for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high alpha American
hops, dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for a month on
whole leaf hops, 120 Minute IPA is by far the biggest IPA ever brewed! At
21% abv and 120 IBU's, you can see why we call this the Holy Grail for
Hopheads!
Release date: May 1, 2003, very limited availabilty 
21% ABV 120 IBU 

Dave Houseman







Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:58:49 -0500
From: Robert Sandefer <melamor at vzavenue.net>
Subject: Re: CACA vs CAP

I've been enjoying the recent revival of good topics on the HBD and 
specifically enjoyed the CACA vs CAP discussion.

Ed Dorn seeks to explain his CACA vs CAP results by wondering, "...all 
over again if brewing lagers makes as much difference as us brewers seem 
to think it does."

Sorry but my science degree is asserting itself...

While your experiement was decent and interesting, I would be very wary 
about making grand conclusions for lagers vs ales. That's overstating the 
basis of your results a bit I think.

A more conservative conclusion might be that there's little difference 
between CACA and CAP, though Steve Arnold's test shows that may not be 
accurate. The most defensible conclusion (for your results) is (probably) 
that there is no detectable difference between a Wyeast-1056-brewed CACA 
and a White-Labs-833-brewed CAP. Further experimentation is required. :)

To Ed Dorn's general question on the way consumer's can differentiate ales 
 from lagers, I'll throw out my thoughts: It is by taste. Esters are 
important certainly but I've also detected a flavor in many lagers but not 
in ales. For lack of a better term, my wife and I call it "that lager 
flavor". I have had occassion to wonder if that flavor may be due to a 
sulfur-containing compound (just my guess).

Such a compound could come from lager yeast (hydrogen sulfide?) or from 
malt (In a Brewing Technique's article on Belgian Malts, Fix mentions SMM 
levels and the "malty/sulfury flavor" in lagers).

Comments?

Robert Sandefer
Watching the pretty snow in Arlington, VA


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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:06:04 -0500
From: Robert Sandefer <melamor at vzavenue.net>
Subject: Re: honey in brewing

Just a few words: I think the extended pasturization of honey recommended 
by honey.com/www.nhb.org is just a little nuts.

When I make mead, I boil the must for 5-15 min and I still have plenty of 
character. Though, I would point out that most of the time fermented honey 
doesn't have much of a "honey" character. It took 3 years of bottle aging 
for my first mead to develop that flavor. This is not to say honey doesn't 
contribute to a beer, just that such aroma and taste contributions may not 
be considered "honey." A honey porter I made had vinous, floral, smokey 
attributes, though. I added the honey halfway through the boil.

One could also boil the honey in its own pot with some water for 5 min, 
cool it, and add it to the primary with the wort before pitching the yeast.

Robert Sandefer
Arlington, VA


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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:57:55 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Hetzel <hetzelnc at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: 120 min IPA

Don Scholl asks:
Just what is this delicious sounding 120 minute IPA. I have never heard
of
this. Could someone please fill me in.

It's a Dogfish Head Brewery (dogfish.com) product, available in finer
stores on the East Coast (they're based in Delaware). I rather enjoy
all Dogfish Head products.. favorite is probably their Indian Brown
Ale. They're very creative and make interesting and alcoholic beers.
>From their website:

120 Minute IPA
Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato,
boiled for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high
alpha American hops, dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and
aged for a month on whole leaf hops, 120 Minute IPA is by far the
biggest IPA ever brewed! At 21% abv and 120 IBU's, you can see why we
call this the Holy Grail for Hopheads!
Release date: May 1, 2003, very limited availabilty  
21% ABV 120 IBU 

Its tasty.. hoppy, sweet and alcoholic. One 12 oz bottle of this is
equivalent to 4 shots of vodka. Had one with lunch.. good thing I
wasn't working that day.
Cheers!
Mike
Waltham, MA



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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 21:02:43 -0600
From: "Robert Humphrey" <RobertHumphrey at ev1.net>
Subject: Re: ten gallon corny kegs

The last plant I worked in had protable emergency eye wash stations made out
of ten gallon corny kegs.  I believe the kegs were made in Spartenburg
Georgia.  We used them where ever it was inconvenient to pipe potable water,
or where we didn't want to chance having a continuous water supply but
needed the showers for safety sake, such as battery rooms.  You might try
some local industries, especially where heavy duty ups's are used, such as
power generating plants.
Robert in Huffman Texas




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Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 21:25:21 -0600
From: Bev Blackwood II <bdb2 at bdb2.com>
Subject: Thomas Hardy Clone - The details...

The Return of the Native

Grain:

24# Maris Otter
03# Carastan or Caravienne
01# Belgian Aromatic
01# Golden Treacle (Invert Sugar Syrup)

Hops:

2 oz. First Gold (U.K.)		First Wort
1 oz. Kent Goldings (U.K.)	60
1 oz. Kent Goldings (U.K.)	10
1 oz. Kent Goldings (U.K.)	0
1 oz. Kent Goldings (U.K.)	Secondary

Water:

Burton Salts in sparge water, filtered city water (Just for chlorine & 
aroma)

Yeast:

White Labs English Ale or Dry English Ale  (2 vials or starter + O2)

Single Infusion mash  at  154 degrees, Appx. 1:30, Minimal sparge Appx. 
30-45 min. to appx 5 to 5.5 gallons runoff.

OG - 1.114
FG - 1.026

After a 60 minute boil, I usually end up with about 4.5 gallons of the 
final product.

It's tough to carbonate, I've used a priming solution of dry Nottingham 
& sugar syrup before with favorable results and champagne yeast in a 
pinch, but it's almost always a low-carbonation product.  It is very 
rough at first, but after about 3-4 years of aging (I have one bottle 
left from 1999, which is awaiting a tasting alongside some 1993-99 
Thomas Hardy) it mellows to a rich, malty brew... it's just REALLY 
tough to keep your hands off of them!  This beer has won at MCAB and if 
all the people here brew it, I am sure it will again!

In case you're wondering, this also makes an excellent small beer...  
Just keep sparging!

 -BDB2

Bev D. Blackwood II
Co-Competition Coordinator
The Foam Rangers
http://www.foamrangers.com



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