---

	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at 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:
  Bottling ("William Frazier")
  Re: New Orleans Beer Places (Bob Barrett) ("Byron Towles")
  Re: ProMash Updates (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Round two - Enzymes and step mashing (Jeff Renner)
  RE: Homebrew Digest Request (April 01, 2005) ("Al Boyce")
  Promash update & Purging CPBF bottles ("May, Jeff")
  Promash Updates (kmstfb2)
  Re: Sparging with Reverse Osmosis water (Denny Conn)
  ProMash Updates ("Janie Curry")
  Stalking Alan Eames, Beer Stats (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!   *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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.

JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
                  and Spencer Thomas



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


Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 21:46:18 -0600
From: "William Frazier" <billfrazier at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Bottling

I've been reading John Peed's counter pressure dilemma with interest.  Sorry 
John...I don't have a clue.  I bottle condition all my beer and fill the 
bottles by gravity using a piece of plastic racking tube attached to the 
flexible tubing coming from the container where I mix priming sugar with 
beer.  Once the bottle is filled to the lip I remove the plastic tube and 
this leaves some head space which is filled with air.  I don't notice any 
oxidation from this exposure but wonder if anyone has found it beneficial to 
purge the headspace with CO2 before capping.  I do this with wine but have 
never bothered with my beer.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA 




Return to table of contents


Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:29:50 -0600
From: "Byron Towles" <beer.man at cox.net>
Subject: Re: New Orleans Beer Places (Bob Barrett)

Bob,
In my personal opinion, the best beer bar in the city is DBA in Fauborg 
Marigny.
The Marigny (sp?) is the neighborhood right next to the quarter, which is 
where
most people tend to center their doings and goings when they visit. 
Depending
on where you are actually going to be centered, you might want to try the 
Bulldog
or even Cooter Browns, which are both reasonably close to the streetcar 
line,
Cooter's being much closer than the Bulldog.

The main reason I prefer DBA is they have no BudMillerCoors products. They 
have
some stuff that I haven't even seen available at retail outlets here in the 
city. Plus they
have a good whiskey selection as well.

I'd be reasonably wary of anywhere that also serves a lot of food with their 
beer selection,
especially in the quarter, as you know their emphasis is going to be on the 
mass market
consumers (read most tourists) palate.

Again, my preference is DBA in the marigny, which is 10 minutes or so 
walking
time from the main Bourbon Street bars.

I hope you have a good time, and Laissez les bon temps roulez
(Let the good times roll!)

Byron 




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 08:56:46 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: ProMash Updates

Todd in Fort Collins "Janie Curry" <houndandcalico at hotmail.com> writes:

>Anyone have problems getting update files from ProMash?
>
>I purchased version 1.8A about 16 months ago and registered it via their
>website.  ... Have there been updates?

According to http://www.promash.com/Software/Changes/changes.html, 
the most recent is Version 1.8.a - Released 03/08/03

Jeff
- -- 
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: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 09:16:57 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Round two - Enzymes and step mashing

  "Michael Wright" <wrightmi at gmail.com> writes:

>If I want a dry pale ale, then I would like a highly fermentable
>wort-easier said than done. To make steps toward a highly fermentable
>beer, I am hearing that a one approach might be a fairly simple two step
>mash (I've just taken a stab at duration):
>
>  1) Mash-in at ~60C(140F) for 45 minutes
><snip>
>  2) Increase the mash temp to ~70C(158F) and rest for ~30 minutes
><snip>
>Am I on track?

I have done this - it is part of what George Fix recommended with his 
40/60/70 step mash.  But I think that the 60C/140F is an arbitrary 
temperature that may have more to do with the fact that it is an even 
ten degrees C than any magical properties.

I have had good luck for Classic American Pilsners with a rest at 
~145-146F (63C), then 158F (70C).  Maybe 30-45 minutes each - 
whatever I manage.

When MCAB-2 attendees got a rare VIP tour of Anheuser-Busch pilot 
brewery in St. Louis five years ago, Steve Michalak, the head of the 
brewery, graciously answered any and all questions.  (He said that 
there were no secrets to making Budweiser - anyone with a few billion 
dollars could do it).  It was there that I picked up this mash 
schedule, although I don't remember the details precisely.

Of course, for an adjunct beer like Bud or CAP, the main mash is 
rested at the first step, then the boiling hot cereal mash is added 
for the boost to the second step.  But I've had good luck just 
boosting an all malt with the propane burner and recirculation.  Fix 
used boiling water infusion.

BTW, I also did a cereal mash style pseudo-decoction for an all malt 
Dunkel that worked out very well.  I will report on that soon.

Jeff
- -- 
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: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 08:36:53 -0600
From: "Al Boyce" <aboyce at mn.rr.com>
Subject: RE: Homebrew Digest Request (April 01, 2005)

 
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:44:57 -0500, Bob Barrett <bob.barrett at 
gmail.com>
wrote: 

>>Going to New Orleans the last weekend in April for one afternoon/evening.
>>What are two beer places where I have to go?  

Cooter Browns, just off St. Charles, where the streetcar line turns 
into the Garden District.  Not a brewpub, but they have 45 beers on 
tap, and hundreds more in bottles.  You can get a boudin sandwich next 
door, and they have fresh oysters at happy hour.

http://www.cooterbrowns.com/

 - Al






Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 09:38:09 -0500 
From: "May, Jeff" <Jeff.May at uscellular.com>
Subject: Promash update & Purging CPBF bottles

I just checked and Promash version 1.8a is still the most
current version available.

Has anyone ever tried purging bottles the same way you purge
kegs?  Fill the bottle with water and force out with CO2.
That would certainly remove more O2 than shooting in a blast
of CO2.  Even extended streams of CO2 would cause turbulence
and mixing of the air resulting in dilution of O2, but not
purging.  You would need to modify the CPBF rig to allow the
water to escape via the dip tube, but I'm sure someone could
figure out how to do it.

Also, related to mimicking the mega brew bottling operations,
the one thing that the big boys do that home brewers don't
is pasteurize. I'm not sure of how this would affect
oxidation or the formation of diacetyl, but that is how they
make their product shelf-stable.  Just food for thought.

Jeff May
Wilmington, NC
[649.7, 148.6 AR]




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 11:09:05 -0500 (EST)
From: kmstfb2 at exis.net
Subject: Promash Updates

Todd in Fort Collins described a problem that I had several years ago when
I purchased Promash 1.3 from a shop in North Carolina. When I realized
that I was not receiving updates, promash requested the number on the
disc, the name of store and date of purchase. They emailed me a user key
and code and I have not had problems since. Checked my records and the
last update email I received was 1/18/02 for the current version. I have
always found promash very responsive to my questions. My current version
is 1.8A which seems to be the current version. They also seem to monitor
the message board on their site. Hope this helps Tom


Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 08:53:58 -0800
From: Denny Conn <denny at projectoneaudio.com>
Subject: Re: Sparging with Reverse Osmosis water

Dan there's no harm in what you're doing, but I don't think there's any 
advantage, either.  Especially since you're batch sparging, sparge pH 
shouldn't be an issue for you.

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

At 11:33 PM 3/30/05 -0500, you wrote:

>Can anyone think of a downside to sparging with pure RO water?
>
>I've always figured that it would be fine since you probably wouldn't
>have to worry about the pH getting too high due to it not being
>buffered at all. But then I got to thinking about how RO water is very
>aggressive in pipes and whatnot. So I am wondering if it wouldn't be
>leaching some stuff out of my mash that I wouldn't want in my beer?
>
>I usually batch sparge and have batch-sparged with pure RO water in
>the past without any obvious defects in my beer, but I'm always
>looking for ways to improve my brew.
>
>thoughts?
>dan




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 20:18:44 +0000
From: "Janie Curry" <houndandcalico at hotmail.com>
Subject: ProMash Updates

I may have mispoke in my earlier post.  Jeff Renner notes that the most 
recent version is 1.8A.  Guess I meant udate files for the malt, hops, 
yeast, and water databases.

Todd in Fort Collins




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 21:28:51 -0500
From: Alexandre Enkerli <aenkerli at indiana.edu>
Subject: Stalking Alan Eames, Beer Stats

Erm, well...
Maybe I'm not using the right keywords but the only references I find  
to a publication by "beer historian" and cultural anthropologist Alan  
D. Eames are his /Secret Life of Beer/ (which is apparently available  
in two versions) and the out-of-print /Beer Drinker's Companion/. I did  
order the Secret Life book from Amazon Marketplace but I was looking  
for some of his peer-reviewed academic writing, if there's any.

In fact, I'd like to get in touch with him, if possible.
Does anyone know him?

For some reason, mentions of him on the Web seem to stop around 1997.  
Did he pass away?
He was apparently married to Anne Latchis and cooperated with her in  
the creation of Xingu beer. (He was also involved in the Flag Porter  
beer.) Apparently, she was involved with the Latchis brewpub in  
Brattleboro, VT. The brewpub seems to have transformed into a Hotel &  
Theater and their restaurant is being renovated.


BTW, looking for some info, I found a few interesting sites with beer  
statistics, especially in Europe. Most of those who *need* to know  
probably know these already but for those who don't:

Europe
	http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/index.htm
	http://www.brewersofeurope.org/uk/publications.asp
	http://www.koff.fi/en/company/in_numbers/ 
brewery_industry_statistics.html
US
	http://www.breweryage.com/industry/
	http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/statistics.html
Canada
	http://www.brewers.ca/EN/frames/enter_statistics.htm

I'm quite impressed with Ron Pattinson's site (on XS4All). That's a lot  
of data!

Chees!

AleX in South Bend, IN http://dispar.blogspot.com/
[129.7mi, 251.5] Apparent Rennerian



Return to table of contents

---