---

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


Contents:
  Spruce Ale! Blueberry Melomel! Year Old Beer! (Gary Benson)
  Re:  Estimating caloric content of homebrew (techentin)
  grain/extract (Russ Gelinas)
  Re: Over-carbonated :-( (Martin D. Weinberg)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #471 (August 09, 1990) ("JOHN T. LOHR")
  calories in homebrew (Chip Hitchcock)
  EDME and gushers (Tom Hotchkiss)
  Feeling Your Oats (&etc) (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
  snowflakes keep falling through my beer (cckweiss)
  calories (Ken Johnson)
  Re:Over-Carbonation (EDME a common factor?) (POST)
  brewpubs (POST)
  Calorie Content (POST)
  Calories & jolt beer (CONDOF)
  miscellaneous (Chuck Coronella)
  Atlanta Brewpubs? (Ken Ellinwood)
  Stirring the mash (Ken Ellinwood)
  calories in homebrew, Pt. 2 (Mike Meyer)
  INDEX! (Gary Benson)


Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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

Date: Wed, 8 Aug 90 23:47:47 PDT
From: ames!gatech!mailrus!uunet!tc.fluke.COM!inc at decwrl.dec.com (Gary Benson)
Subject: Spruce Ale! Blueberry Melomel! Year Old Beer!


Spruce Ale!

Wow!  I just had one of my new Spruce Ales, and is that stuff good!

Some of you may remember about a month back I asked about Spruce Extract:
how to use it, what it does to the brew, and so on. My 1/2 ounce bottle
indicated it was sufficient for 8 gallons of beer. Well, a few people
surmised about what to do with it (add it to the boil, add to secondary, and
so on), but no one had direct experience. So here's what I did:

I had a smallish batch (a bit over 4 gallons) of a brown ale ready to
bottle, so I bottled one case straight. To the remainder, I added about 1/3
of the extract - what's that? about a sixth of an ounce? I guess... anyway,
It turned out I got fifteen 12-ounce bottles. 15 x 12 = 180 =~ 1.5 gallons.
So that means I used it about 2.5 times stronger than recommended, but to
my palate it is ideal. This stuff is going to get tucked away for a nice
long aging, as it tasted really good now, but should be dynamite in a few
months. It adds a strong note to the aroma that mixes really nicely with the
Northern Brewer finishing hops I used, and gets along well with the
standard malt + hops flavor of the beer. I seem to taste it more in the
front of my mouth, whatever that means. The flavoring adds a complexity that
makes me sip and savor this beer, even though it is a proven recipe that
usually has me trying to drink it all up quick! Strange effect for me. 

Next batch I am definitely going to experiment with Juniper berries, which
grow in abundance in my neighbor's back yard. Someone else asked about
them, and from pure instinct, I have developed this plan: I am going to take
a solid handful of perfect berries, and use a spoon to crush them in a pan.
I will add about a cup of water and boil it, covered. I plan to cook it for
a half an hour or so, and strain it into a container. When it cools, I'm
going to add a quarter cup of vodka and call it Juniper extract, sufficient
to flavor one 5 gallon batch at bottling time. Does anyone have any opinions
or ideas to contribute?

Blueberry Melomel!

Thanks to Cher and others in the group here who have instructed about mead
making. My first attempt also went into bottles last week, and the first
sampleindicates I have something really special here. I started off making 3
separate batches, thinking I'd do a lot of experiments all at once. One was
to be 1.5 gallons of standard honey-spice mead, one was to be 1.5 gallons
of orange, and one was 3 gallons of blueberry.

Well the "straight" mead fermentation took off like a shot, the blueberry
was working, but slowly, and the orange just sat. After 2 days, I decided
that orange-spice might be interesting, so I mixed my best and worst
performers. Then the blubeberry quit, so I added it in, too. Then it all
quit. After a week of no activity, I pitched two more packets of Montrachet
yeast, and saw absolutely NO bubbling for another week. I had a 3-week
vacation coming up, so I measured SG ( it was 1160), and headed out. WHen I
returned, imagine my surprise to find the SG now was 1015! Still no visible
activity, but it was not too sweet, so I bottled it, and what a pretty red
color those blueberries had buried within! It is already clearing, there's
LOTS of fallout, and the first sample today has given me another reason to
wait until Christmas for treats! My capillary vinometer indicates it is 16%.

In the two shops where I bought the yeast, I was told that honey has
something that inhibits yeast growth. Cher or anybody: can you verify that?
Give a work-around? Do yeast nutrients help? This fermentation was much
slower than anything I've ever seen, beer or wine. I guess I just like to
see the bubbles as continuing proof that my little employees are staying on
the job!

Year Old Beer!

While on vacation, I got an unexpected treat. On a visit to my mom at
Christmas, 1988, I took along a case of the first batch of the brown ale
which I now make as my main brew. She still had four bottles! And they had
been refrigerated the entire time! It took me less than 30 seconds to pop
one open when I discovered this treasure, and lordy, lordy, was it good! Not
a *bit* of "homebrew" flavor! ;-) It stood up to the ravages of time much
better than I might have expected - it was dry, perfectly balanced, and much
lighter on the palate than it was when I drank the last of the batch at the
young age of 3 months. This experience convinced me that while a "fresh"
flavor has a lot to recommend it, aging beer can improve it considerably. I
had always thought that 1 month in the bottle was the time to begin
drinking, and that 3 months was about optimum, but I am rethinking those
assumptions. In this case at least, the beer went from an 8 to a 10 just by
sitting in a fridge for a year an half! Can anyone cooroborate or dispute
any of this?

(Disclaimer: this all happened in Wisconsin, so it may have had something to
do with the way the ionosphere bends the Earth's magentic field near
Milwaukee, or maybe it was just the proximity to all that cheese that did it
and not the aging at all.)

All of which reminds me: I gave a friend a bottle of my very first batch, a
stout that I rated B- overall at the time. He still has it, and it too has
been refrigerated all this time. Out of scientific curiosity I have offered
him 5 bucks for the bottle, but he insists that he wants to try it
"someday". This bottle may already be vinegar though, having been stored
here in Washington all this while!

Best wishes to all of you. Would there be any interest in informal regional
"brew-meets"? I think it would be fun to meet people, taste their beer, get
their responses to mine, trade a couple of sixers or single bottles, like
that. No competition, no rules, no commercialization. Just sociableness,
maybe a Saturday potluck at someone's house?

Gary Benson    -=[ S M I L E R ]=-   -_-_-_-inc at fluke.tc.com_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Selling software is like prostitution; you've got it, you sell it,
you've still got it!   -D. Lambert (IST)

 .

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 08:12:32 CDT
From: techentin at Mayo.edu
Subject: Re:  Estimating caloric content of homebrew

I've picked these formulas up from the digest over the last 10 months or 
so.  I have apparently neglected keeping units, but I believe that SG1 
is O.G., SG2 is F.G., (both in 1.xxx units, whatever those are called), 
T is in degress F.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on Papazian, p. 47:
     
             (SG1 - SG2) x 105 = % Alcohol by weight

             (% Alcohol by weight) x 1.25 = % Alcohol by volume


   and on Doug Roberts (HBD #236)

             (T x 1.449E-4 - 0.009) + SG(uncorrected) = SG(corrected)  


   and on David Habermand who cites Fred Eckhardt's book "The Essentials 
of Beer Style - A Catalog of Classic Beer Styles for Brewers & Beer 
Enthusiasts"

	      O.G. x 3.375 = calories in 12 oz brew (approx)
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Techentin                              Internet: techentin at Mayo.edu
Mayo Foundation, Rochester MN, 55905 USA             (507) 284-2702
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Date:     Thu, 9 Aug 90 09:52 EST
From: <R_GELINA%UNHH.BITNET at MITVMA.MIT.EDU> (Russ Gelinas)
Subject:  grain/extract

I've got a simple question that probably does not have a simple answer:
How much grain is needed (and at what $) to produce the equivalent of a
3.3 lb can of amber (ie. medium darkness) extract.  I understand it
involves sparging efficiency, etc., but I'm just looking for a
ballpark figure.

RussG.

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 11:07:37 EDT
From: weinberg at hanksville.phast.umass.edu (Martin D. Weinberg)
Subject: Re: Over-carbonated :-(

In response to Dale Veeneman's comment:  

I have had *exactly* the same problem with EDME and other dry
yeasts.  Last winter, I brewed a strong ale/barleywine using
Sierra Nevada (Wyeast) and it's great . . . no sign of any
contamination.   Since I stopped using dry yeast, the quality
and longevity of my brews has gone up a lot.  I suggest reading 
last year's special issue of Zymurgy on yeast for tips.  By
culturing, the costs can be kept way down.   Check it out!

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 09:30 MDT
From: "JOHN T. LOHR" <JOHNLOHR at cc.usu.edu>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #471 (August 09, 1990)

re: overcarbonization
I have been brewing with a variety of malt extracts.  I have used both sugar
and honey as additives to the malt extract.  Almost every batch has, with 
time, been overcarbonated.  Since I have used a variety of malt extracts, 
fermentable sugars and yeasts, no ingredient has been a common denominator.
I have also tried letting the beer sit in the secondary carboy to ensure 
that all fermentation is complete.  Even these batches, after a period of
being quite flat, eventualy produce overcarbonization.  Once the foam
settles the beer tastes quite nice.  My only real problem seems to be 
too much gas production.  Is there something in my technique thats causing
this?  Of nearby fellow brewers some experience this same problem, whereas
others never experience it.  We're all basically do the same thing.

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 11:07:49 EDT
From: cjh at vallance.eng.ileaf.com (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: calories in homebrew

   You should be able to determine the caloric content of ethanol by looking
at the figures for caloric content of hard liquor (which generally has no
sugar, since it's distilled) and converting for stated proof; e.g., if they
say an ounce (make sure of the measurement---some guides use jiggers (1.3
oz?)) of 86-proof whiskey is X calories, an ounce of pure ethanol
will be 200X/86 calories.
   If you use this and potential-alcohol hydrometer readings, you will probably
show slightly more calories than are in the finished beer, since converting
sugar to ethanol releases some energy (but not nearly as much energy as
metabolizing the ethanol to CO2). Dissolved proteins, flavors, etc. ought to
be an insignificant part of the OG.
   The one place this might be off is fruit beers. Leaving the fruit in the
fermenter \\might// allow a little more sugar to dissolve from the fruit over
several days, but my guess is this wouldn't be significant.

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 10:19:05 MDT
From: Tom Hotchkiss <trh at hpestrh.hp.com>
Subject: EDME and gushers
Full-Name: Tom Hotchkiss


Awhile back (I don't remember exactly when), I reported experiencing
"geyser like behavior" in some of my batches.  The behavior was low
carbonation early (the first month or so), followed by a period of
gradually increasing amounts of foam and head.  After a few months, it
became virtually impossible to pour.  I have memories of taking 10 minutes
to pour a 12oz bottle into a 32oz mug!  Eventually, the geysers became
grenades and I tossed out the remaining bottles.

I assumed that the geysers were caused by a sanitation problem,
so I went out and replaced all my plastic stuff (siphon and primary
fermenter), and did things like wipe down the counters and floors
with chlorine solution before brewing.  After this, my geyser problems
disappeared and I was happy again.

Well, I went back and checked my records and discovered that I used
EDME yeast in all the geyser batches.  Also, it turns out that when
I replaced my plastic and stepped up my attack on undesirable beasts
I also started using Wyeast.  Hmmm...  Was it sanitation, or the EDME
yeast?  I don't have enough data to determine the real cause of my
geysers, but I'm sure suspicious of EDME yeast now.

Finally, if you are experiencing this geyser behavior (gradually
increasing amounts of foam), I recommend you finish the beer soon.
I can personally attest to the fact that given enough time, you will
get explosions.  I don't remember exactly how long it took for
the bottles to start blowing up, but it was probably at least 3 or 4
months.

Hope this helps,

Tom Hotchkiss

HP Fort Collins

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 09:18:13 PDT
From: pms at Corp.Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling (Sun HQ Consulting Services))
Subject: Feeling Your Oats (&etc)

I thought I'd chip in with my bit about the infection problem mentioned
by Dale Veeneman (and others too I think). I've had exactly these
symptoms - beer's greate for a month or two, then gradually becomes
over-carbonated. I've had some real gushers too, beer all over the
walls! I've made the following changes in my procedure, with good
results (although the jury's still out, it's only been 3 months
or so):
	- use Whitbread yeast only. The homebrew shop (Oakbarrel
	  in Berkeley) get it in buld and put it into little plastic
	  vials;

	- single stage fermentation in a 7 gal carboy. I used to use
	  a two stage procedure (2-3 days in a plastic bin then
	  2-3 weeks in a 5gal carboy);

	- bottle after a week no matter what;

	- no S.G. readings during fermentation! Just at the
	  the beginning and before bottling;

	- soak all equipment (bottles, tubing, carboys etc) for at
	  least 30min in a weak bleach solution

Bottling after a week no matter what took the most faith for me, but so
far I haven't been disappointed (3 or 4 batches). I wouldn't want to
leave the beer on the trub for longer than that anyway. It really has
fermented out too, I'm finally getting ending gravities close to what
I'd like (about "25%" of starting, e.g. 1.060 -> 1.015). I think the
most dangerous times are before pitching (and during the lag) and when
racking. I pour the hot wort through a strainer onto ice, sparge & make
up to volume. From about 2.5 gal of wort this gets the temp down to 75
 - 80. Then rack (with a single hose, no racking tube) into the 7gal
carboy and pitch. I've also tried just swirling the dry yeat in a cup
of wort and dumping it in (i.e.  no starter). The lag is 12-18 hours,
which is longer than I'd like, but since it's in an airlocked glass
carboy I think it's OK.

Now on to the oatmeal. I've just bottled an Oatmeal Stout (using the
above procedure of course!). I just added 1lb of steel cut oats to the
cold water with the rest of the grains, and fished it out with a
strainer when it boiled, before adding the malt extract.  Steel cut
oats are just oats that have been cut up (3-4 pieces per kernel) with a
sharp steel blade.  After botting I had 1/2 a bottle of (flat) beer
left over and it seemed a shame to dump it, so...  yum! A definite oaty
flavour. FYI the recipe was a variation on one kindly posted here by I
forget who (sorry!):

	8lb British Amber Malt Extract (syrup)
	0.5lb Black Patent	)
	0.5lb Chocolate		) cracked with a rolling pin, added to cold
	0.5lb Roasted Barley	) water, removed at boil
	1lb Steel Cut Oats
	2oz Eroica (boiled full 60min)
	1oz Fuggles (boiled 1min, 10min steep)
	Whitbread dry yeast
	0.5cup corn sugar to prime (I don't like gassy beer!)

It's come out nice and black and has a full, almost creamy look. I
suspect that the barley will give it a brown head. Unfortunatley I have
to wait another week to drink it! 

One final thing, a word of warning. Don't use cork lined bottle caps!
They dry out and lose their seal. I thought I'd tossed all of mine, but
a couple sneaked onto bottles in my last brew (a delicious raspberry
ale) and ruined them.

patrick

..

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 08:42:05 -0700
From: cckweiss at castor.ucdavis.edu
Subject: snowflakes keep falling through my beer


Thanks to Florian and Pete Soper for insights into the drifting material
in my beer. You both pointed to incompletely converted or improperly
sparged grains, and that sounds like a very likely bet.

The batch in question was an extract brew, with 1 1/2 lbs. of crystal
thrown into cold water, and strained out when the water started to boil.
Sounds a lot like a low-temperature mash to me. I use whole leaf hops,
but since I'm just running the boiled wort through a strainer, and not
recycling any of the runnings back through once a filter be is established,
there's a good chance that some little guys are sneaking through.

I speculate that I never saw this before because I just changed my bottling
technique. I used to dump the priming syrup right into my secondary, stir
gently, and siphon right into bottles. This tactic (IMHO) minimized infection
risk, but picked up a fair amount of sediment from the bottom of the secondary
and spread it through the beer. In the general gunk, these little things
went unnoticed. This latest batch, I followed Pete's advice and racked from
the secondary into another vessel, stirred in the priming syrup, and on
into the bottle. A much cleaner method in terms of not picking up sediment
from the secondary, but, more risk due to another transfer step in the 
brewing process.

On the bright side, I've tasted two bottles of this stuff so far. It's still
uncarbonated, but tastes real good.

I can see that if I keep producing at my current level (5-10 gallons a month)
I'm going to get *real* tired of bottling soon. Can one of you netters e-mail
me a complete list of what I need to get into using Cornelius kegs? I'm
particularly interested in hearing whether you have a dedicated beer
refrigerator, or can the whole 5 gallon setup fit in your household fridge?
Actually, maybe some other people would like to see the list too, so maybe
you should post it to the HBD.

Ken Weiss
cckweiss at castor.ucdavis.edu

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 12:18:07 PDT
From: kjohnson%gold.Berkeley.EDU at jade.berkeley.edu (Ken Johnson)
Subject: calories

Alcohol has 7 calories per gram.  Fat 9, protein 4, carbs 4.

A 12 oz (355ml) beer with 4% ethanol by volume --> (355ml)(.04)=14.2ml alcohol
The density of ethanol is .789 g/ml  -->  (14.2ml)(.789g/ml) = 11.2 g alcohol
At 7 calories per gram, you get 78.4 calories from the alcohol.

Ken

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 12:38 PDT
From: POST at VAXT.llnl.gov
Subject: Re:Over-Carbonation (EDME a common factor?)

Dale Veeneman (dev1 at gte.com) writes:
> I attempted many corrections; the only thing in common was Edme Ale yeast

There is strong evidence that Edme may have some problems with wild yeast
contamination from time to time (what dry yeast doesn't?).  Symptoms are:

1) Fermentation appears complete, then restarts.

2) Loooong fermentations after restarting.

3) Over-carbonation due to increased attenuation of the wild yeast.

I have a batch of ale in the secondary perking in the beer fridge (gotta
have a beer fridge!) that stopped after 2 weeks, then restarted after a 
few days.  The gravity keeps dropping, well below where it should have.  This 
batchwas pitched on 6/17, and has been at 65 degrees the whole time (gotta have
a beer fridge!).

If your beers are over-carbonating, it's probably due to the higher degree of
attenuation over time, which is why you don't see it right away.

$4.79 for Wyeast sounds expensive.  Look around.....
	
   - John Post
   _ It's only MY opinion - they don't listen to me anyways.....
   _ post@ vaxt.llnl.gov
   _ America Online: BrewPost

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 12:43 PDT
From: POST at VAXT.llnl.gov
Subject: brewpubs

Ray Mrohs writes:
> We will be driving from San Francisco to Denver... Any recommended brewpubs?

Start in SF at SF Brewing company on Columbus.  Despite it's previous flaming
here awhile ago, Nevada City Brewing Company is a great place.  It's a real
microbrewy as opposed to the pub, but the "brewrats" are friendly.
	
     - John Post
     It's only MY opinion - they don't listen to me anyways.....
     post@ vaxt.llnl.gov
     America Online: BrewPost

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 12:53 PDT
From: POST at VAXT.llnl.gov
Subject: Calorie Content

Mike Meyer asked about caloric content of alcohol.  Here's an indirect
answer:

(from fred eckhardt's book <damn good bok, fred!>)
There are 7.1 calories per gram of alcohol.  The SG of alcohol is .746.

If you know the FG, there must be a way to figure this out.  (i don't have
the book in front of me, but I think he talks about it in the lite beer section
for comparisons).  Add some calories for the residual dextrins and other "stuff""
in the beer.

     - John Post (don't know why I'm so verbose today...)
     It's still only MY opinion
     post@ vaxt.llnl.gov
     America Online: BrewPost

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Date:     Thu, 9 Aug 90 13:20 PST
From: <CONDOF%CLARGRAD.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject:  Calories & jolt beer

In HBD 471, Mike Meyer laments:

> As I've gotten tired of hearing comments about my girth being a
> direct result of my beermaking and/or consumption, I'm interested in
> calculating the calorie content of my homebrew. Also, I want to stem
> the tide of "oh, gee, beer is fattening" comments I get from people.

I always explain that *my* girth is from being so studious. Besides,
I've had it since before I discovered the joys of homebrewing last
year! ;-)

In direct response, I recently looked through all the old HBD archives
from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu, and came across the precise formula
Mike's looking for:

For a 12-ounce beer, calories = 13.5 * (OG-1)/0.0039

For example, say you have a brew of OG = 1.039. Twelve ounces of that
would have 13.5*(1.039-1)/0.0039 = 13.5*0.039/0.0039 = 135 calories.

While I have your attention, let me pose a query. Some friends and I
were tossing around, almost as a joke, the idea of "jolt" beer --
that is, beer that gets some of its bitterness and kick not from
hops but from caffeine. Has anyone tried this? Is it too gross an
idea (or result) to be attempted at all (or ever again)?

*..........
 Fred Condo. System Administrator, Pro-Humanist (818/339-4704).
 INET: fredc at pro-humanist.cts.com     BitNet: condof at clargrad
 matter: PO Box 2843, Covina, CA 91722

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 14:32 MST
From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS at CHE.UTAH.EDU>
Subject: miscellaneous

Howdy!  I've got a coupl'a random comments/questions.

First, for the person drinving from San Francisco to Denver:
If you're driving I-80, you'll be going very close to two decent brewpubs
in the Salt Lake City area:  Squatter's, downtown Salt Lake, and 
Wasatch BrewPub in Park City.  Both are pretty good, although Squatters'
beer is probably a bit nicer (and more expensive.)

Second, for those concerned about scratches in plastic fermenting pails:
When a batch of beer has finished fermenting, I fill my bucket with a medium-
strength bleach solution, and let the bucket sit.  If any infection manged 
to lodge itself in a scratch, I think that this should kill it.  I empty (and
rinse) the bucket during the boil of the next batch (after at least a week.)

Finally, the recent discussion regarding the addition of specialty grains 
has started me thinking about toasted malted barley.  CP says to prepare 
t.m.b. by "toasting" the malted barley in a 350 deg. F oven for 10 minutes.  
Does this effectively convert the starch?  Several recipes in TCJoHB call 
for t.m.b., but there is no discussion of mashing.  Apparently, 
there must be starch in the grain, right?  How does this affect wort?

Also, regarding toasted malted barley, there is no discussion of what 
effect this grain should have on the final beer.  Does it add sweetness? 
flavor? color? fermentables?  

			Thanks,
			Chuck

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 14:15:19 PDT
From: aimla!diamond!ken at suntzu.West.Sun.COM (Ken Ellinwood)
Subject: Atlanta Brewpubs?

Hi! I have a friend who is moving to Atlanta soon and would like 
information (names, addresses, reviews, etc) about brewpubs in and
around Atlanta.  Please send replies directly to 
darlene%hpldya at hplabs.hp.com - thanks in advance.

 - Ken Ellinwood -

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 14:53:05 PDT
From: aimla!diamond!ken at suntzu.West.Sun.COM (Ken Ellinwood)
Subject: Stirring the mash

My roommate has been all-grain brewing for well over ten batches now
and has had a consistent problem with high ending specific gravities.  
He follows Miller's methods for step-infusion mashing.  A typical mash of
8 lbs of Klages in 11 quarts of water starts at 150F, ends at 143F after 2
hours in an insulated box.  A sample of the mash is cooled to room temp 
for the purpose of  measuring the Ph of the mash, which is determined to 
be about 5.3.  The resulting initial gravity is around 1040 and ferments
down to 1020.  (He may also be doing a protien rest, but I forgot to ask).

To solve the problem he has tried mashing in 16 quarts of water for 2 and 
a half hours (an increase in both the volume of the mash and mashing time), 
but the results are not in yet since the batch that he tried this on is 
still fermenting.  On thing he does not do is stir the mash, and we are 
both wondering how much effect this will have on the final gravity of the beer. One friend of ours reports that he stirs the mash about once every five 
minutes.  Any comments or suggestions?

Just in case you are wondering, the yeast used is almost always a Wyeast
strain.  The particular strain depends upon the type of beer that he is
brewing, of course.

 - Ken Ellinwood -


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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 15:20:06 PDT
From: meyer at tcville.hac.com (Mike Meyer)
Subject: calories in homebrew, Pt. 2

Chip Hitchcock pointed out in E-mail that one can interpolate the content
of pure ethanol from figures for hard liquor.  I tried this earlier, but 
the book I got my figures from was not clear on the size of a jigger, and
the numbers didn't look right.

This time, I went to the 1989 CRC Handbook and found a table called "Nutritive
Value of the Edible Part of Foods".  It lists the food value in calories of
hard liquor (gin,vodka, whiskey):
	80-proof, 1.5 fl. oz. : 95 cal.
	86-proof, 1.5 fl. oz. : 105 cal.
	90-proof, 1.5 fl. oz. : 110 cal.
While this relationship doesn't look quite linear, probably due to rounding
error or the specific gravity difference between alcohol and water, they result
in figures of 158.33, 162.79, and 162.96 for an oz. of pure alcohol.  I assume
that an estimate of 160 calories per fluid ounce of Ethanol is adequate for
our purposes.

Now, time to go back to my brewing logs, and see if the calculations produce
sensible numbers.  The one recipe I've tried this with is a low-gravity
light beer I made called Red Lite, which has about 2.5% alcohol and started
with a potential alcohol reading of 3.5%, which figures out to be about
67 calories per 12-oz. bottle.  Now it's time to analyze my heavier ales
and stouts...


Mike Meyer
meyer at tcville.HAC.COM

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 15:26:54 pdt
From: Bruce Mueller <mueller at hp-sdd.sdd.hp.com>

In response to Mike Meyer's (HBD #471) request for the caloric
content of ethanol (per ounce), I submit the following:

Foodstuff     kcal/g     kcal/oz.
- ---------     ------     --------
Ethanol       7.10       201.
Sucrose       4.04       115.
Glucose       3.72       105.
Fructose      3.73       106.
Brown Sugar   3.89       110.
White Sugar  see Sucrose
Corn Syrup    3.4         96.
Honey         3.35        95.
Molasses      2.84        81.
Corn Sugar    4.00       113.

Disclaimer: These values were taken from the Chemical
Rubber Company "Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 55th
Edition" which is generally accurate. However, misprints
do occur. Knowing what little I do about nutrition, the
rule of thumb is a gram of carbohydrate is worth 4 Calories
(nutritionists jargon for the "real" kcal). Sugars (e.g. 
sucrose, glucose) are carbohydrates, so these look good.

Now for the acid test. Let's take a beer that contains nothing
but 4% (by weight for convenience--it's usually stated by volume
by distillers) ethanol. We'll use a 12 oz. bottle. The calculation
goes like this:

4% ethanol x 1/(100% ethanol) x 12 oz. x 201. kcal/oz. = 96.5 kcal
 -or- a 12 oz. "Miller Lite" contains 96 Calories (and no body!)
How do you like that?

Yours truly,

Bruce Mueller

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Date: Thu, 9 Aug 90 16:56:15 PDT
From: ames!gatech!mailrus!uunet!tc.fluke.COM!inc at decwrl.dec.com (Gary Benson)
Subject: INDEX!


I keep reading about all the work that the readership has been doing towards
indexing Papazian's book, and would like to suggest that someone who has
been doing that ought to contact Mr. Papazian and offer the index for the
next printing.

Why not? He'd probably be flattered to learn that people value his work
enough to want to add to the effort, and to learn of this digest, the
readership of which nearly unanimously considers him THE high guru of
homebrew.

Since the formatting has already been done, it would even be relatively
inexpensive to hire a commercial illustrator to create camera ready copy
that could be provided direct to the publisher. I'll pledge a dollar toward
the cause! Who knows, we might even get a mention in the credits. I'm no
glory hound or anything, but it might be interesting to read about how to
subscribe to the Usenet Homebrew Digest Mailing List in the recognized Bible
of home brewing!


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #472, 08/10/90
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