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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Fortnight Of Yeast, 2005 (Bob Devine)
  Specific gravity yield of asian 'maltose' syrup (Oisin Boydell)
  Larger Batch Sparge ("Martin Ammon")
  First wheat beer (Matt)
  Fortnight Of Yeast, 2005 (Matt)
  Re: Ballantine Ale Clone) (Denny Conn)
  Turbo Tap; US Patent No. 5,842,617 (Marc Sedam)
  Solera Bourbon Barrel beers (Steve Jones)
  Malt Chart? ("Jodie")
  Blue Ridge Brew Off 2005 ("David Keller")


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*   Fortnight of Yeast 2005 - 10 July through 24 July   *
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Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2005 22:47:10 -0600
From: Bob Devine <bob.devine at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Fortnight Of Yeast, 2005

Some questions about yeast.  If any of these
are answerable, please let me/us know.

1) what is the current status of brewing
    with immobilized yeast?  I've read papers
    over the past decade on this topic that
    showed some promise.  Will this ever make
    it into actual use (wasn't there a German
    brewery that tried it?).  Granted, this is
    unlikely to affect us homebrewers directly
    but it could have a secondary affect if all
    the majors move to that style of brewing.

2) Genetic engineering has been in the news.
    Recently, a very simple virus was constructed.
    Grand claims of moving on to other artificial
    organisms have been proposed.  Are there any
    groups contemplating building a better yeast?

3) Why do brewing yeasts die?  Is it from lack
    of nutrients?  Damaged cells, maybe from
    oxidation effects?  Telomere limit? Or is there
    a sinister "lemming" conspiracy here? ;-)

4) Are the number of yeast strains increasing
    or decreasing?  Have brewers winnowed down
    the number of active strains?  Or are new and
    beneficial mutations still being developed?

Bob Devine
(sorry for not writing any "link of the week" recently)


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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:45:25 +0100
From: Oisin Boydell <oisinboydell at gmail.com>
Subject: Specific gravity yield of asian 'maltose' syrup

I am interested in using 'maltose' syrup that's available from asian
supermarkets in a brew. There is a recipe in the Cats Meow 3 recipe
collection (http://brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/01_28.html) that uses
it, and the brewer suggests not to use more than 20% 'maltose' syrup.

Does anyone know the specific gravity yield of this type of syrup? The
listed ingredients contain rice so I'd assume it would be different
from the specific gravity yield of standard malt extract.

I suppose I could dissolve 1lb in water to a total volume of 1 gallon,
then measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer. Is this an
accurate way to measure SG or is there a better method?

Thanks,
Oisin.



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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 07:31:46 -0500
From: "Martin Ammon" <SURFSUPKS at KC.RR.COM>
Subject: Larger Batch Sparge

Will as Grandpa said If you don't know you better start asking some
questions. So here goes.

I batch spare with a pump and a coil in the hot water tank and have no
problems.  I do two running to get the amount of wort 7.5 for boil.  So much
for the back ground here is my question.
Why not have a larger coil that will hold more wort.  So you could do one
sparge and come out with the amount of wort to boil.
Lets say at the beginning you purge your coil  and mash in at one gallon to
three pounds of grain so at 10 pounds you would have 3.33 gallons (that's a
little dried than I like but for this lets use it) the grain will retain
some and lets say your coil will hold five gallons of water.   The mash will
never see anymore than liquid than it has now because the pump will extract
the same amount it pumps in.

The wort is thinner than the first of two batch's but is the same end
result.

Your thoughts and where is if any the problems.

Martin
aka Kansas Swagman




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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 08:25:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matt <baumssl27 at yahoo.com>
Subject: First wheat beer

Here is another, more basic take on doing your first wheat beer.  I try
to make things as simple as possible for myself--depending on your
style these observations may be useful to you.

GRAIN BILL
Many other illustrious folks suggest the same type of grain bill that
AJ did.  I used a similar one and love it.  You can also get wheat
extract if you don't mash.

MASHING
I used a single infusion mash at 151 for one hour instead of AJ's more
traditional decoction scheme.  Tastes great.  There are many other
possibilities such as decoction, protein rests (which I personally
would avoid), ferulic acid rests, etc, and I have no idea how much
worse my beer is for not doing them.  But I will tell you that I REALLY
like my infusion-mashed hefe, and will not change the mash schedule
anytime soon.  See the archives for a great post by George de Piro on
his award winning recipe and its variations for infusion, decoction,
rests, etc.

YEAST
You need to decide what KIND of wheat beer you want.  For a first beer
it seems smart do either an American style (Widmer is widely available)
or a German style (if you're not familiar with them maybe you can try a
Franziskaner/Spaten, Weihenstephaner, Hacker-Pschorr, or Schneider,
usually labeled Weizen, Hefeweizen, or Weissbier).  If you like Widmer
you can use an alt yeast, as I believe that's what they use.  Otherwise
for an American wheat you can just use a clean ale yeast like WY1056 or
maybe Nottingham.  This would be a very clean, "generic" beer as Greg
suggested.

If you want to do the German thing, you have at least two choices.  One
is the Weihenstephan strain AJ suggested.  I have heard many places
that it is a bit tricky to achieve the clove/banana balance with this
yeast unless you have decent control of your fermentation temperature. 
Generally Hotter = more bananas and Colder = less bananas.  I cannot
maintain 58 degrees with my current equipment.  So to avoid this
potential pitfall/complexity, for my first wheat I used Wyeast 3333,
which I found to be quite forgiving of my poorly controlled ferment
temp ranging between 68-72 degrees.  With that yeast you probably won't
get much clove, but you'll get fruity esters and the wheat taste will
really come through.  Not as traditional, but very very good.
 
BOTTLING
Just to clarify, you CAN bottle wheat beers with corn sugar just like
any other brew if you want to.  But the traditional way was to save
speise and prime with that.  If you use corn sugar, you might want more
than 3/4 cup, since wheats traditionally have higher carbonation.  I
used 3/4 C plus two tablespoons, and wish I had used even another
tablespoon or two.

Matt






		


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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 08:41:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matt <baumssl27 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Fortnight Of Yeast, 2005

Question: Can you please comment on the strategy of trying to
aerate/oxygenate the yeast while they are in a STARTER rather than
aerating the wort itself.  (Please let me abuse the language and
science a bit and just say that yeast need "a big swallow of oxygen"
before they ferment beer.)  I understand that this is exactly your
strategy in the production of dry yeast--i.e. dry yeast can be pitched
into unaerated wort because they have already taken their big swallow
of oxygen.  How feasible is it for a homebrewer to grow up a starter in
similar fashion?  Is continuous aeration of the starter required?  A
stir plate?  If I have no stir plate, and no gas transfer equipment of
any kind, is there a practical procedure I can follow to grow yeast
whose oxygen requirements are already met?  Letting air into the
starter jug and shaking it, repeating this over several days, etc?  Any
temperature dependency?  Any minerals or nutrients I can add to the
starter to increase the yeast's efficiency at storing up oxygen-related
compounds?  Thank you for sharing your expertise.

Matt




		


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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:02:40 -0800
From: Denny Conn <denny at projectoneaudio.com>
Subject: Re: Ballantine Ale Clone)

Lee, I recently had the pleasure of trying a Ballantine Burton ale from 
1934.  It had been oak aged for 14 years and bottled in 1948.  I'm in the 
process of putting together a webpage with tasting notes and Ballantine 
info.  The bottle we tasted was graciously supplied by Bob Girolamo and 
after we tasted it, he broke out a bottle of his "clone" version of it.  It 
was stunningly close.  Although the recipe will be posted on the website 
eventually, I'd rather not post it here until after I talk to Bob.  If you 
or anyone else would like see it, please send me a private email.

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

At 11:18 PM 7/17/05 -0400, you wrote:

>Subject: Ballantine Ale Clone
>
>Does anyone have a clone receipe/formula for Ballantine Ale?
>I would really like to hear from anyone who could help me out.
>I can't find one searching the web.  Very frustrating!
>Thanks,
>Lee




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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:09:00 -0400
From: Marc Sedam <alechemist at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Turbo Tap; US Patent No. 5,842,617 

Don't let the fact that it's patented scare anyone.  First, 
the patent is already relatively old (8 of its 20 years of 
life are over already), and second, the patent is in my 
(non-lawyer but frequent practicioner) opinion overly broad. 
  For example, parts of the patent actually cover the draft 
system itself!

Anyhoo, the gist of the patent is that the diameter of the 
opening of the "device" should be twice that of what the 
existing beer spout is.  Second, the "button" on the bottom 
allows the flow of beer to exit in a laminar fashion and not 
just banging against the bottom of the glass (which knocks 
CO2 out of solution).  Seems like the liquid flow goes 
across the bottom, up the sides, and back down the middle; 
the sum total of which keeps the CO2 in solution a little 
longer.  Also seems he's playing on the concept that once 
the nozzle is submerged in liquid, you reduce splashing (and 
again keeping CO2 in solution).

I think it's kinda brilliant, actually.  For $99/year, it's 
a no-brainer.  You would probably make the money back in 
spilled beer over the course of three kegs.

So, for anyone trying to replicate a home version of 
this...seems like you start with some tubing that's 2x 
larger than the aperture of your existing tap, connect 
through an O-ring (perhaps one that both slides over the top 
part of your tubing and fits snugly on the existing tap, and 
find a way to move the force of fluid flow sideways instead 
of down on the bottom of the glass.


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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:16:21 -0400
From: Steve Jones <stjones1 at chartertn.net>
Subject: Solera Bourbon Barrel beers

Hi all,

Some of you may remember that last year about this time 
our club (State of Franklin Homebrewers) began a project
where 11 of us brewed a barleywine and we added them to a
53 gallon bourbon barrel. Some of you may have tasted it
on Saturday afternoon in the Hospitality suite at the NHC 
in Baltimore. 

Anyway, the concept is that whenever we pull any of it out 
we top it off with fresh barleywine (solera style). As it 
went, the ullage grew to about 7 or 8 gallons this year, 
then last Saturday I received two more batches to be added 
and topped it up. I got up on Sunday morning and 
discovered about 2 gallons had leaked onto the garage 
loor. I racked 5 gallons into a keg to get the level back 
below the leak.

Apparently what had happened is that the staves in the 
barrel that were on top, and not in contact with liquid 
before adding the fresh) had dried out enough to no longer 
be watertight. Our club members have perused this delimma 
and have not come up with a solution. In retrospect, I 
would have added rollers to the barrel stand I built so 
that the barrel could be rotated periodically to keep all 
he staves in liquid contact. The only solution we could 
ome up with was to empty the barrel, fill with water until 
it no longer leaks, then drain and put the barleywine back 
in it. Alternatively, get a new barrel and rack into that. 

Neither of those ideas really appeal to us as we don't 
want to rack if we don't have to. Does anyone have any 
ideas on how to make the barrel watertight without taking 
the barleywine out (or losing any more to the leak)?

Steve Jones, Johnson City, TN
State of Franklin Homebrewers (http://hbd.org/franklin)
[421.8 mi, 168.5 deg] AR

Steve Jones, Johnson City, TN
State of Franklin Homebrewers (http://hbd.org/franklin)
[421.8 mi, 168.5 deg] AR


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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 21:44:29 -0400
From: "Jodie" <jodiedavis at adelphia.net>
Subject: Malt Chart?

Is there such a thing as a really thorough chart/listing of grain malts
including degrees L? It often gets confusing reading recipes, especially
when malts go by two different names. The clone brew books have a good
one even with descriptions of the malts, but it's not as comprehensive
as I'd like. 

Thanks!

Jodie Davis
Canton, GA
www.jodieandcompany.com
www.ccarhomebrewclub.com
www.rubberduckie.net
www.quiltersnewsnetwork.com






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Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 22:23:07 -0400
From: "David Keller" <batdave at blueridge.net>
Subject: Blue Ridge Brew Off 2005

Mountain Ale and Lager Tasters (MALT) of Asheville, NC is proud to announce 
the 7th annual Blue Ridge Brew Off Homebrew Competition.  BRBO 2005 will be 
held in the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, NC on September 24-25, 
2005 at Skyland Distributing Company near Biltmore Square Mall.



Entries are due by September 10, 2005.  Out of town judges may deliver their 
own beers the morning of the contest. Registration will be open on our web 
site at http://www.malt-nc.com/OnLine.htm/ Two bottles are required for beer 
and two bottles for mead.  We will have a BOS for mead if possible.  Beer 
will be judged on Saturday and mead (and beer if necessary) on Sunday. 
Ribbons will be given for all flight winners and BOS.  Prizes will be given 
for BOS.



A PORTION OF OUR PROFITS WILL BE DONATED TO "POP THE CAP".. NORTH CAROLINA'S 
CAMPAIGN TO REFORM THE 6% ABV LIMIT ON BEER SOLD IN THE STATE AND/OR 
CHARITY! Additional contributions are welcome!



The BRBO is the largest homebrewed beer competition in the Carolinas with 
over 450 entries in 2004.  Fees are $6 for the first entry and $5 for each 
additional entry. The BRBO is a qualifying event for the Carolina and 
MidSouth Brewer, Master Brewer and Meadmaker of the year.



We will need Judges and Sponsors.  Contact Jay Adams, 
goosepoint at teleplex.net or Bernie Kessel,  elkbernie8@yahoo.com who are our 
Judge Coordinators if you are interested in judging or sponsoring the event.



Go to http://www.malt-nc.com/OnLine.htm/ for entry forms, bottle labels and 
other information.



Contact: David Keller (Organizer) 828-625-9894 batdave at blueridge.net  for 
information.




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