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


Contents:
  Airborne contaminants (eward)
  Re: Mold?? Drat! (wegeng)
  Re: Mold?? Drat! (wegeng)
  Zymurgy , the magazine (Mark Montgomery)
  sanitation (florianb)
  refrigerators always dripping (florianb)
  A song [If I may quote one] (florianb)
  AHA National Conference (Chuck Cox)
  John Courage & "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" (Dave Sheehy)


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Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: 	Thu, 28 Jun 90 08:49:00 EDT
From: eward at kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Airborne contaminants

I've just started brewing, and have just started following the home-
brew network messages.  Recently, there has been alot of discussion
regarding contamination of wort/brew and the necessity to carefully
sterilize equipment.  Another potential source of contamination, however,
is via airborne "bugs", which cannot be easily controlled by surface
sterilization.  When I make up sterile cultures in the lab., surfaces are
sterilized and then the transfers are done in a laminar flow hood (a
fancy box that creates positive pressure inside the working space).  This
prevents airborne contaminants from landing in the cultures an taking over.
Now, I know it's impractical to set up a hood at home, but there are
things you can do to reduce the chance of getting an airborne "bug."
things you can do to reduce the chance of getting an airborne "bug."
For example, when transferring brew close windows (even if it's hot),
turn off fans, keep openings of fermenters covered (aluminum foil works
well around siphon), and make transfers as quick as possible.

Well, that's my 2 cents (1.68 canadian).  Hope this helps reduce the
contaminants in your brew........happy fermenting - Evan

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Date: 28 Jun 90 07:34:50 PDT (Thursday)
From: wegeng at arisia.xerox.COM
Subject: Re: Mold?? Drat!


>After one day in the secondary, my beer has what looks like small colonies
>of mold on the top.

I once found mold growing on the surface of some fermenting beer.  I dumped
the batch (I guess I wasn't feeling lucky or something).  Anyway, a short
time later I switched from plastic to glass for all of my fermentation, and
the problem has not reoccured.

As I recall, mold spores are present in the air almost everywhere.  The
best way to avoid them is probably to minimize the amount of fresh air that
the fermenting beer is exposed to (perhaps someone more knowledgable about
such things can add to this).

>The beer is sitting at about 5.5%
>alcohol right now, so I'm surprised to be seeing something like this
occur.

That's not very much alcohol, as far as sanitation goes.  It's true that
some unwanted beasties won't survive in beer, but bacteria will certainly
live there (as anyone who as had a gusher will verify).  I have no idea
what it takes to prevent mold spores from growing, however.

/Don

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Date: 28 Jun 90 07:34:50 PDT (Thursday)
From: wegeng at arisia.xerox.COM
Subject: Re: Mold?? Drat!


>After one day in the secondary, my beer has what looks like small colonies
>of mold on the top.

I once found mold growing on the surface of some fermenting beer.  I dumped
the batch (I guess I wasn't feeling lucky or something).  Anyway, a short
time later I switched from plastic to glass for all of my fermentation, and
the problem has not reoccured.

As I recall, mold spores are present in the air almost everywhere.  The
best way to avoid them is probably to minimize the amount of fresh air that
the fermenting beer is exposed to (perhaps someone more knowledgable about
such things can add to this).

>The beer is sitting at about 5.5%
>alcohol right now, so I'm surprised to be seeing something like this
occur.

That's not very much alcohol, as far as sanitation goes.  It's true that
some unwanted beasties won't survive in beer, but bacteria will certainly
live there (as anyone who as had a gusher will verify).  I have no idea
what it takes to prevent mold spores from growing, however.

/Don

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Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 08:45:58 PDT
From: ncpmont at pepsi.AMD.COM (Mark Montgomery)
Subject: Zymurgy , the magazine

Hi all,
	Since I am seeing quotes from the 'Summer 90' issue of Zymurgy in
these pages I have to believe some of you have received your copies! I just
subscribed several months ago and this should have been my first U.S.Mail
delivered issue but, as yet, nothing.  Should I be worrying?  If anyone has
an idea re: this and wants to reply I suggest E-mail to myself in order to
keep scads of replies out of the H.B.D. - I'll summarize to the group.
		Thanks,	Mark Montgomery	(ncpmont at brahms.amd.com)

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Date: 28 Jun 90 10:22:55 PDT (Thu)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: sanitation

Bill Crick says,

>For those of you who think they need to autoclave the entire house, and
>kick the kids and dog out for a week to make beer, I submit the following
>quote from an article about a brewery tour:

then,

>On the other hand, I also brew in the summer when it is 90F outside
>with 110% humidity, and the basement is a humid, damp, warm moldy mess,
>and I still have no contamination problems????

Thanks for the article excerpt.  Very interesting!  But I think the point
was that the person who submitted the original inquiry *had* a contamination
problem, and wanted suggestions about what to do about it.  I'ts apparent
that one wouldn't want to try and solve a problem which doesn't exist!

I also have a Lab who lays by the door, trying to will my beer to fall off
the counter so she can drink it off the floor.

Florian


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Date: 28 Jun 90 10:41:47 PDT (Thu)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: refrigerators always dripping

Here's a problem I always wrestle with.  Does anyone have a solution?

When I regulate my refrigerators to 40 degrees for lagering, they always
drip, drip, drip condensate from (A) in the case of the ancient GE, the
freezer (where the refrigerant coils route) or (B) in the case of the 
newer Frigidaire, the bottom of the separate freezer compartment.  This
is in spite of the fact that the humidity here is very low.  In the case
of the GE, long stalactites grow from the bottom of the freezer section.
How to prevent this?
Florian

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Date: 28 Jun 90 12:28:22 PDT (Thu)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: A song [If I may quote one]

I found this one yesterday evening...


Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut "

O, Willie brew'd a peck o' maut,
And Rob an' Allan cam to see:
Three blyther hearts that lee-lang night
Ye wad na found in Christendie.

	Chorus
	
	We are na fou, we're nai that fou,
	But just a drappie in our ee;
	The cock may craw, the day may daw,
	And ay we'll taste the barley bree.

Here are we met, three merry boys,
Three merry boys, I trow, are we;
Man monie a night we've merry been,
And monie mae we hope to be!

It is the moon, I ken her horn,
That's blinkin in the lift sae hie;
She shines sae bright to wyle us hame,
But, by my sooth, she'll wait a wee!

Wha first shall rise to gang awa',
A cuckold, coward loun is he!
Wha first beside his chair shall fa',
He is the king amang us three!

	We are na fou, we're nae that fou,
	But just a drappie in our ee;
	The cock may craw, the day may daw,
	And ay we'll taste the barley bree.

- -- Robert Burns

Cheers!
Florian


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Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 13:15:52 EDT
From: harley!chuck at uunet.UU.NET (Chuck Cox)
Subject: AHA National Conference

Well, the dialysis machine is back in the closet for another year,
so I figured it was time to write a quick trip report about this
year's conference.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Beer
Over 100 5-gallon kegs of homebrew were stored in the central keg cooler.
This was in addition to the kegs and bottles stored in various
rooms and suites.  Several local breweries also provided beer.
And let's not forget the mead too.
Homebrew Club Night
About 12 clubs, mostly from California, set up tables where you could
sample homebrew and buy or trade t-shirts, glassware, pins, etc.
The AHA tried to limit each club to only 3 kegs, but we managed to
get enough beer anyway.

California Brewmasters Tasting
A miniature beer festival, without the massive crowds of a public
beer fest.  Featuring some fantastic beer from about 20 local breweries.
Site of the largest coaster fight I have personally been involved with,
the cleaning people were not impressed, but it was one hell of a good time.
My personal favorite, A Phil Moeller special: Rubicon Wheat Wine -
a deceptively light tasting barleywine made with wheat,
four pints of this and you're in an altered state, trust me on this.
Phil & Rubicon are also responsible for the 'Rubicondom's distributed
at the tasting - the perfect keychain accessory for the modern homebrewer
who is as concerned about (inter-)personal hygiene as brewery hygiene.

Local Attractions
Triple Rock Brewing Co, Marin Brewing Co, Anchor Brewing Co,
Pacific Coast Brewing Co, Toronado Pub, Lyons Brewery Depot,
Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, Malibu Gran Prix.

Michael Jackson Luncheon
The food was great.  As usual, not enough beer.
Michael was less talkative than usual.
Sponsored by the Discovery Channel who will be airing Jackson's
Beer Hunter series starting in August.

Technical Sessions
Dunno, slept through most of them (not because they were boring,
but because I was up until at least 4am every night).
I did like the talk by Teri Fahrendorf from Triple Rock about
culturing and incubating nasty bacteria (lactobacillus & pediococcus).

Private Parties
Whew!!!  Thanks to the Rubicon Brewing Co, The Maltose Falcons,
The Sonoma Beerocrats, and all the other clubs and breweries that
provided party suites and mass quantities of beer.
Most nights, you had a choice of several big homebrew parties
throughout the hotel.  As usual, we kept security busy,
we warned them to put our rooms all together, but they ignored us,
and put civilians who wanted to sleep in rooms next to party suites,
very bad hotel management.

Slide Show
Bruce Prochal provided a more honest and candid pictoral history of the
conference than the 'official' photos provide.

Prizes
Two homebrewers, including net-brewer Darryl Richman, won trips to overseas
breweries as a result of winning their categories in the national competition.
Darryl took first in Bock and will be visiting the Aass Brewery in one
of those really cold countries (Norway I believe). Way to go Darryl!

Homebrewer Gran Prix
Results posted in previous message.
Suffice it to say, I am america's fastest homebrewer.

Brew-in at Anchor
Dunno, slept through it (I brewed there a few months ago anyway).
Heard that it was quite successful.

LOWLIGHTS:

Gala Awards Banquet
Had to suffer through a totally disorganized and occasionally incorrect
recitation of the various winners by Dave Welker.
Things just got worse when Dan Bradford took the mike.
Perhaps the AHA should send them to a public speaking course,
or pick a member with some rudimentary speaking and organizational skills
to make the presentations.

Price
We all expected a larger attendence this year, but appearantly
the cost is limiting the number of homebrewers who will attend.
I suggest that you consider skipping the technical sessions next year
(buy the transcipts instead), and pay only for the social activities.
This should cut costs in half.

Competition
Due to a rather bizarre format for the first round, second round
entries varied widely in quality.  The AHA needs to wake up and
realize that regional qualifying is the only reasonable way
to provide an equitable first round.  As usual, judge assignment
was a free-for-all (I managed to grab a seat at the traditional
mead table).  I heard that the first place steam beer was actually
eliminated from the first round of the nationals, but received a bye
to the second round by winning best of show in a regional.
One could argue that maybe there was something wrong with the bottle
that went to the national first round, but I think bad judging is more
likely.  Most competitors consider the national first round a total
crap-shoot.

Dart Tournaments
The tournaments were fun, I just hate losing in the first round, twice.

Sausage Contest
Nobody brought sausage, bummer.

NEXT YEAR:

It looks like Boston University will be the site of the 1991
AHA national conference.  The Boston Wort Processors are already
making plans for a seriously good time.
Maybe we can make the Homebrewer Gran Prix an official event.

 - Chuck Cox - Hopped/Up Racing Team - america's fastest homebrewer -

Disclaimer: I don't need no stinkin' disclaimer.
            If you don't like what I say, that's your problem.
 

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Date: Thu, 28 Jun 90 17:21:33 PDT
From: Dave Sheehy <dbs at hprnd>
Subject: John Courage & "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy"
Full-Name: Dave Sheehy


 John Simpson jrs27%CAS.BITNET at CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu writes:

>    Is it possible to brew a beer as sweet as OP with a low level of
>    carbonation using extracts, specialty grains and natural carbonation?
>    Should I attempt this or go for a dry stout?

Yes I believe it is possible and is certainly worth the attempt.

>    Also, is it roasted barley that gives John Courage it's distinctive
>    flavor?  Has anyone duplicated it?  (I know, get "Brewing beers like
>    those you buy."  I can't find it and would rather hear about personal
>    experiences.)

I've brewed John Courage from the recipe given in "Brewing Beers Like Those
You Buy" but I really screwed the sparge up and the result was VERY astringent.
If it weren't for that I think it would have been very tasty. I'm not sure 
how much it tasted like John Courage (the astringency was overpowering) but 
I think the recipe is worth a second try. The recipe calls for torrified barley
(I substitued flaked barley if memory serves) which is probably the source of
the distinctive flavor. There is no roasted barley in Line's recipe.

I didn't participate in the "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" discussion but
now that it's over I'll throw in my $0.02 worth :-). I think it's an ok book, 
not great but ok. As someone else said, the recipes are a great starting place 
if you're trying to duplicate certain beer or style. If my sparging technique 
had been better (I was basically improvising at the time) I truly believe the 
result would have been very good. The recipes are a mix of all-grain and
extract. The only vehemently objectionable ingredient in the book (given that
all types of sugars are used in British brewing) is sacchirine. Line states 
that sacchirine is used to add residual sweetness. I believe that one can
eliminate the sacchirine and use a non-attenuative yeast such as Wyeast British
Ale in order to get the desired result.

>    Does anyone have a recipe for an OP-like beer?  What yeast would you
>    recommend?  Did it store well?

The book has an OP recipe which I think is extract based. I've used Wyeast 
British Ale (1038?) to brew sweetish Amber Ales. They stored very well at
room temperature (70-80's) for well over 6 months.

Dave Sheehy
hprnd.hp.com


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #450, 06/29/90
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