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

Contents:
  UV sterilization (ephram)
  Sake recipe (Homebrew Digest for January 10, 1989) (berry)
  Of Rootbeer and other non-alcoholic things (rogerl)
  storing homebrew/yeast sediment/cidery myths (rdg)

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Date: Tue, 10 Jan 89 22:59:49 PST
From: ephram at violet.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: UV sterilization

Is it possible to sterilize water via exposure to UV light?  Actualy I
know it is possible, the question really is how do I sterelize [water, bottles,
anything else] with UV?  Will UV penetrate sugar? will UV penetrate sugar water?
The possibilities are endless

Ephram Cohen
ephram at violet.berkeley.edu

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 09:52:35 est
From: jhersh at yy.cicg.rpi.edu (Jay Hersh)

hello,
a couple of comments. For Andy - Pint Bottles. My personal belief is the only
way to drink beer is Pints. The British drink real pints (Imperial I believe
are ~20oz.) In Germany they use the .5L for the wimps and Liters for the
real drinkers. Only America has this strange 12oz aberration. In any case
Pint bottles are real strong and take abuse readily. Most of them are that
great dark brown color which protects beer from light. You can get them with
those waxy cardboard cases. They go 8 to a gallon so a 5 gallon batch yields
typically 36-40. Being 1/3 larger than 12oz you fill less of them. All in 
all I believe they're a great compromise.

Pressure barrels- the one I have is designed for only 10Psi. Therefore it is
really intended only for British Ales. Any beer that needs moderate to aggressive
carbonation won't carbonate properly in these. Still though since mine holds
2.5 gallons it does reduce the bottling chore and with the CO2 charger system
works like a reasonable mini-keg.

The sake recipe Cher posted really is more like a rice-beer or wine. Real
sake derives it's fermentable sugar from the rice. That recipe seems to
derive alcohol from added sugars while the rice sort of soaks for flavor.
Authentic Sake is made by standing the rice in water while bacteria (not
just any bacteria) perform the conversion of starch to sugar for the
yeast. The yeast strains are different as are the process. Of course
all this great knowledge helps no one since it still doesn't give you a 
source for what you need to make the authentic stuff. My only suggestion
here is that there is a Sake & Plum wine plant in Berkeley Cal. called
Numano. You may be able to contact them for more info. Obviously it may
not be in their best interest to get people making at home what they are
trying to sell, but then again many micro breweries give out yeast so.....

- jay h
( I have given individual names to all my yeast. I keep them in a carbouy
 and feed them every so often. They really are great pets!)

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 11:04:43 PST
From: berry%intrepid.s1.gov at mordor.s1.gov
Subject: Sake recipe (Homebrew Digest for January 10, 1989)

The Sake recipe is not very "authentic" though it may produce a nice
brew.  True Sake is mde from Rice only.  The rice is first cooked, and
then inoculated with a fungus called 'koji' that effects the
transformation of starch to sugar.  This is analogous to the malting
of barley.  Then the rice is mashed to extract the fermentables and
fermented normally.  I would not recommend attempting this at home due
to the difficulty of keeping large quantities of rice for a few days
and avoiding unwanted infections.

Incidentally, the spent rice is often used to make various kinds of
pickles; it may be purchased for that purpose in Japanese groceries
around here.

In Berkeley there is a Sake brewery that runs very interesting tours.

  --berry

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 17:17:50 EST
From: rogerl at Think.COM
Subject: Of Rootbeer and other non-alcoholic things

R.allen Jervis writes:
>Not that I make it or anything, but what of rootbeer?
>...
>I hesitate to mention these things since I have found that of the
>dozen or so homebrewer's I've met, the majority tend to look down
>on anything "non-alcoholic."

Well no need to be paranoid, stand up and be counted.  There is at
least two of us interested.  And expect there are more.  I've been
looking for a 'real' rootbeer recipe, but to no avail.  I've found
kits to make all kinds of soft drinks, but no 'old fashion' recipes.
Obviously, I'm looking in the wrong places.  Might some be found on the
net somewhere.  Any other suggestions of places to look for these.

I too, am interested in low and non-alcoholic drinks.  A good IPA or
strong mead is fine, but there are times when one doesn't want to
consume alcohol, but DOES want to enjoy the flavor of a malt (and/or
honey) and hopped beverage.  Designated drivers shouldn't have to be
left out of enjoying a good homebrew, ya' know.  Ergo my interest.
I've been experimenting with adjusting a couple of my existing recipes
to reduce the alcohol content without loosing flavor.  If you're
interested, I can report back when I have enough data.  Otherwise,
anyone got any suggestions.

Fermentingly,
Roger Locniskar  

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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 17:04:33 MST
From: rdg at hpfcmi
Subject: storing homebrew/yeast sediment/cidery myths
Full-Name: 	Rob Gardner	

> Recently I have been reading about using champagne bottles.  This would
> seem to be a good compromise except pouring anything less than the whole
> bottle would stir up the yeast at the bottom. 

Here is something I've long wondered about: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is
a bottle conditioned beer, yet seems to have a vanishingly small
amount of yeast resting firmly on the bottom of the bottle. It looks
like just a "dusting" and is not easily stirred up. How do they do
that?!?

I have started using a fairly simple method to reduce the sediment in
the bottle, even with single-stage fermented beers. Just before
bottling, I place the entire fermenter in a cold place. I have
successfully used the fridge, the wintery outdoors, and a tub of
ice-water. The fermenter should stay in this cold place for 12-24
hours. During this time, a ton of yeast will settle out of the beer to
the bottom of the fermenter (and will therefore not be available to
settle on the bottom of your beer bottles. ;-) After bottling, you
should store the beer at whatever temperature you would have
ordinarily for conditioning.

This method will work regardless of yeast type. Don't worry about ale
yeasts that only work at higher temperatures- not only will they still
work after bottling, but they will settle out even better during the
cold period! I have managed to reduce my bottle sediment almost to
the point that Sierra Nevada has.

> Currently I bottle most of my beer in 12 oz bottles because it has the
> fewest drawbacks.  I am curious as to whether anyone has found a 
> substantially better solution.

No matter what I use to bottle my beer, I always use at least a few
ordinary 12oz bottles in case I decide to enter the beer in a
competition.

> SUGAR:  I have always known that sucrose produces a cidery flavor, which is
> undesireable in beer.  

Survey time!!!

OK, I've seen this statement so many times now, and I still have never
heard of it actually happening. Has this ever happened to anybody?  I
have used table sugar with no problems. (OK, I admit it! There!  Have
some compassion! Forgive me!) If you have experienced this "cidery"
flavor in a beer with sucrose, did you add the sugar to the fermenter
or did you boil it with the wort?  The reason for asking is that I am
beginning to suspect that the "cidery" flavor is produced by a
micro-organism in the sugar, which is killed by boiling. Many "old"
books/recipes instruct you to dump sugar directly into the fermenter,
a technique that modern science tells us is risky. So, if you have an
experience with this phenomenon, please speak now or forever hold your
peace.

Rob

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