HOMEBREW Digest #4564 Sun 25 July 2004


[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]


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


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

                  Beer, Beer, and More Beer
      Visit http://morebeer.com to show your appreciation!

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


Contents:
  sanitation of additives, Cooler cooler ("Dave Burley")
  Re: moisture content of fresh hops (Mark.Hibberd)
  Re: Dry hopping & adding berries in style (Jeff Renner)
  Dry hopping (widmayer)
  RE: Dry hopping ("Dave and Joan King")
  link of the week - "The Brewers' Handbook" (Bob Devine)
  Artificial Enzymes? (Alexandre Enkerli)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The HBD Logo Store is now open! * * http://www.hbd.org/store.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * July is MICHIGAN Beer Month!!! Drink Michigan Beer! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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. LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there. 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@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. JANITOR on duty: Pat Babcock and Spencer Thomas (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 10:49:12 -0400 From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net> Subject: sanitation of additives, Cooler cooler Brewsters: Gary asks about sanitation of additives and berries to flavor beer after fermentation. There is a basic disagreement that you even need to sanitize hops since "they didn't do this in the good old days in Britain and hops are antibacterial". But in the good old days in Britain, dry hopping was done most often by the publican and the beer was served quickly and usuallly the keg was empty in very few days. Even if the brewery dry hopped it was only a matter of a day or two more, usually. Thus some conlcude incorrectly that with the antibacterial properties of hops and this history you don't need to sanitize the hops. I disagree, as we tend to keep the beer longer and lactic bacteria need no oxygen to do their thing. I always "dry" hop by throwing the hops in a small nylon bag with marbles for weight into boiling water and adding the water and hops to the keg immediately to avoid dissipating the hop oils by boiling too long. I guess you could use this same method with berries. I suggest you freeze them first to release the juice. - ------------------- Jim Bermingham has finished his walk-in cooler and wonders why he can't get it cooler than 55F using a room air conditioner. Forest can answer this better, but if you trick one of these into running longer to attempt to get cooler you will burn it up. You will have to build a separate evaporator to get down there. I use a freezer with a Williams controller to get down into the 40s. Much easier and it works fine. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:47:35 +1000 From: <Mark.Hibberd at csiro.au> Subject: Re: moisture content of fresh hops > Does anyone know the percent moisture removed when drying hops? I've found that two-thirds to three-quarters of the weight of freshly picked hops is moisture compared to normal commercial hops. I've successfully used fresh Pride of Ringwood (nominal 10% AA) by assuming them to be 3% when freshly picked. That is, use 3 to 4 times the weight of dry hops. The variations due to region, growing conditions, etc mean there's no point getting to precise about these calculations. Mark Hibberd Melbourne, Australia Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 22:18:19 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net> Subject: Re: Dry hopping & adding berries in style "Gary Smith" <mandolinist at ameritech.net> writes: >When it comes to adding the dry hops I'm unsure what sterile precautions >needs to be taken. I don't want to contaminate the batch. Also, the >particles of hops will plug the valve above the dip tube in the corny. >Seems like I need to put the hops in a bag but if I do that, how do I avoid >infection? I use a small nylon bag with a draw string. I boil it to sanitize it, which also always boils out some color from the last use. I also use long, narrow bags sewn up from cheesecloth. These are disposable. I don't worry about the hops contaminating the beer. They never have in many dozens of beers over a number of years, and commercial brewers don't worry either. Jeff Reading HBD off the 'net at http://hbd.org/hbd/CurrentHBD.html - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 22:57:09 -0400 From: widmayer at chartermi.net Subject: Dry hopping I have heard that no sterile precautions are needed for dry-hopping - the hops just don't seem to ever cause infections. So I don't do anything special and it seems to turn out OK. I now dry hop in a cornelius keg used as secondary and I put a tube screen on the out tube (fastens with a hose clamp) before I sterilize and rack from the primary to this keg, then toss in the hops and rack onto them. I always use whole hops - this probably wouldn't work as well with pellets. When they've had enough time, I transfer from that keg to another final serving keg using a jumper hose connected to two out connectors, using CO2 to push the beer from the secondary keg to the final serving keg (which is open to let the air or CO2 escape as it is filled with the finished dry-hopped beer). The hops stay behind in the secondary. Works pretty good. Some might saw off some of the dip tube to which the screen is attached but I am able to get by without doing this. I got the tube screen from one of the online beer suppliers - I'm sure our sponsor has something that would work. Cheers- Warren Widmayer Chelsea, MI Darn close to 0,0 AR Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 16:35:44 -0400 From: "Dave and Joan King" <dking3 at stny.rr.com> Subject: RE: Dry hopping Gary Smith asked about Dry Hop sanitizing. I've been dry hopping in kegs for years, and haven't had any problem. I boil the hop bag for 10 minutes in about 1 cup of water, and then put the hops in the bag, and bring it back up to a boil, then turn the heat off and let it sit. I'm not trying to boil off the essential oils, just get thing up to a reasonable temperature. When it's cooled back down a good ways (time to sanitize the racking gear and keg), I pour a couple ounces of vodka on the hop bag, and put the lid back on the pan. Between these 2 actions, I'm hoping to kill whatever would like to grow, and it seems to have worked. Knock on wood. As far as the clogging goes, I learned the hard way to sanitize and add a float to the hop bag before it goes in the keg. A sealed empty small bottle, like the White Labs yeast container, works fine. If you don't do this, the bag will settle, and can get into the pickup tube. BTW, I leave the hops for 2 to 4 weeks, and then open the keg and fish the bag out. Longer than this and they seem to impart an earthy (decomposed?) flavor, which I don't like. These work for me, I hope this helps you, Gary. Dave King (BIER) Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 11:18:35 -0600 From: Bob Devine <bob.devine at worldnet.att.net> Subject: link of the week - "The Brewers' Handbook" Want to learn more about brewing? Here is a complete book on-line. You can purchase a paper version or just read excerpts in a browser. http://www.beer-brewing.com/index.htm Bob Devine Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 00:26:15 -0400 From: Alexandre Enkerli <aenkerli at indiana.edu> Subject: Artificial Enzymes? Through a discussion on the definition of beer (limited to malted barley?), some Members of Barleyment (Canadian brewclub) have been discussing the use of artificial enzymes in brewing. Here are two links about beer produced without malted grain: http://www.novozymes.com/cgi-bin/bvisapi.dll/biotimes/ one_article.jsp?id=23891&lang=en http://www.whitebeertravels.co.uk/gm.html Despite the "ethical" concerns, artificial enzymes might open up interesting possibilities for exotic adjuncts, gluten-free, and/or low-carb beer. Did anyone here experiment with artificial enzymes? If so, what worked and what didn't work so well? Did you do it as a supplement to a normal mash schedule or as a replacement for amylase reactions and such? How did the beer taste? Thx! AleX in Montreal [555.1km, 62.8] ApparentRennerianCoordinates Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 07/25/04, by HBD2HTML v1.2 by KFL
webmaster@hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96