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


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Contents:
  Response: FOY (2005): dry yeast/liquid yeast ("Rob Moline")
  Egg Drop Soup Yeast Starter (Fred Johnson)
  RE: Running HCCP under Linux...success, anyone? ("Alan Folsom")
  Re: Substitution for Special B malt? (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Ballantine Ale Clone (Jeff Renner)
  What kind of Hops do I have here? ("Michael Eyre")
  YeastLab W51 weizen yeast available (Jeff Renner)
  W51 Weizen yeast ("Spencer W. Thomas")
  Re: HCCP / Linux ("Meyer, Aaron D.")


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Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:47:52 -0500
From: "Rob Moline" <jethrogump at mchsi.com>
Subject: Response: FOY (2005): dry yeast/liquid yeast

		Response: FOY (2005): dry yeast/liquid yeast
For a homebrewer, dry yeast is much more convenient than liquid yeast.
There are numerous strains of dry brewer's yeast that give very nice
results for certain beer styles. However, the variety of dry brewer's
yeast seems very limited. I would like to see dry satchels of yeast for
making German Weizenbier (like Wyeast 3068), Belgian beers (like Wyeast
1214 etc), and a better selection of dry yeasts for lagers. Can we
expect to see a better selection of dry yeasts in the future? What are
the technical problems that prevent development of a greater variety of
dry brewer's yeast?
Sincerely,
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY

Tobias:
This is not so much a technical problem more an economic issue. We would
like to supply you with a whole range of different yeast strains but to
guarantee competitive prices we produce certain quantities which we have
to sell all of or we sell very little of it at perhaps uncompetitive
prices. We have to meet our costs. If there would be a significant
demand for a specific brewing yeast we would be more than happy to
supply it. This is why we introduced our new lager yeast (Diamond Lager
Yeast) last year.

Tobias
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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:01:58 -0400
From: Fred Johnson <FLJohnson at portbridge.com>
Subject: Egg Drop Soup Yeast Starter

John noticed that his yeast starter culture on a stir plate sometimes 
looks like egg drop soup after a while and wonders if this is normal 
flocculation. Indeed, for certain highly flocculating yeasts in stirred 
culture, the yeast will flocculate in large clumps while stirring after 
it has consumed the sugar. The starter will go from being homogeneously 
very cloudy (typical of all starters) to a state of containing large 
clumps of yeast, reminiscent of egg drop soup, while stirring. This 
does not happen with all strains in my experience. I remember this 
being common with either Wyeast 1968 and/or Wyeast 1318 (can't quite 
remember and haven't used these recently).

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:42:36 -0400
From: "Alan Folsom" <alan at folsoms.net>
Subject: RE: Running HCCP under Linux...success, anyone?

Scott Alfter wrote: 

>As part of an effort to move more of my everyday computing away
>from Windows  and toward Linux, I've tried getting the homebrewing-
>related software I use  working under Linux.  ProMash actually works 
>pretty well under Wine (with some table-formatting glitches, but that's 
>all).  HCCP, OTOH, has been a bit more  troublesome. 

I haven't actually tried running HCCP under Wine, but will give it a try
shortly.  I expect problems, though, for a number of reasons:

    1st - HCCP queries the windows printer drivers to get the exact 
    resolution information in use, and then calculates the position of 
    each item printed in printer resolution when generating a page.  
    I'm not sureWine can provide these capabilities to interface with 
    windows printer style commands.

    2nd- While HCCP may look like a single application, it is 
    actually anumber of script files, bundled with an interpreter and 
    the windowsDLL's needed by the program.  That's done through 
    some magic called Starkits, provided by a package from Equi4 
    Software, by an amazing contributer to the free-software world 
    named Jean-Claude Wippler.  While all these facilities are 
    available on Linux (and mac, and about everything else) It adds 
    a layer of complexity when tryingto run under a translater.

The good news is that HCCP is written in a language called Tcl/Tk,
which runs equally well natively on any current operating system I'm 
likely to want to use.  I've "run" it on Linux and and Mac OS X already.  
The problem is that HCCP does not have native printing support, and 
the printing system I needed to use was Windows specific.  HCCP is 
weak in printing, and I need to figure out a way to do similar functions
under Linux.  It may come down to generating a postscript file, and
requiring Ghostscript or similart to print it.  I just haven't had a chance
to dig into that yet. Once I figure out a way to do a decent job 
printing under Linux with Tcl, the rest will be a snap.

Meanwhile, if I have any luck with Wine, I'll let people know.

Al
     


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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:39:57 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Substitution for Special B malt?

"BILL KUNKA" <wkunka at vianet.ca> wrote:

> OK I have been unable to find any special B malt and have a recipe  
> for a
> barley wine that calls for a 1/2 pound of it, what can i use in  
> place of it?
> Does Special B malt go by another name?

I'll add to what Spencer wrote (I'm catching up on HBD).

Briess' Extra Special Malt (130L) seems to be in this style. Their  
web site http://www.briess.com/brew/products.shtml#special description:
"Burnt Sugar, Woody, Prunes.  (2-Row) Provides distinctive flavors  
associated with darker, high gravity beers like Doppelbock."  I've  
used it with success to add complexity to dark ales.

Jeff

- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
***Please note new address***



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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 11:37:00 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Ballantine Ale Clone

Last week, pulsarxp at earthlink.ne wrote:


> 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!
>

There have been several answers on this.  I'll add some thoughts.

First, I don't know if you are speaking of the basic Ballantine XXX  
ale (the kind that Mel Gibson used to advertise on Yankee's games and  
which he apparently drank as he broadcast, with evident effect by the  
ninth inning) or Ballantine IPA.  I have more experience drinking and  
cloning the IPA.

If you do a google site search <site:hbd.org ballantine> you will get  
a manageable 61 hits.  Sifting through these will find the history of  
HBDers cloning the IPA.

My interest in pre-prohibition American beers goes beyond Pilsners to  
stock ales and other adjunct beers.  I first got involved in this  
when New Orleans HBDer Larry O'Mahoney asked for help back in 1998.   
He sent me a couple of very fine clones.  They may not have been  
quite on the mark, but they were excellent examples of adjunct (corn  
and corn sugar) American-style IPAs (that is to say, old style IPAs,  
not the citrusy Cascade/Centennial ones of today) or stock ales.

Here are some posts with some good history of Larry's attempts:

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2895.html#2895-4

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2896.html#2896-18

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2949.html#2949-13

Five years ago Bob Bratcher brewed up a batch:

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/3302.html#3302-16

Two Years ago, Al Asemok posted a note about Ballantine IPA.  He also  
posted a note this week that I will get back to in a moment.

See http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/4250.html and my response http:// 
hbd.org/hbd/archive/4251.html#4251-12

More recently, Bob Girolamo of SF asked me for some advice and he has  
been brewing clones and has sent me some excellent examples.  He also  
has sent me several examples.  They exhibit a wonderful oakiness  
that, while I don't think is actually authentic, is quite nice after  
it has aged for a while.

He has also brewed a couple (?) of clones of the legendary Ballantine  
Burton Ale, which they brewed for employees and other VIPs for  
Christmas gifts in the 30's and 40's.  This was a big monster in the  
style of old Burton ales but with an American twist.  Bob bought an  
original bottle on eBay and opened it this past year (I was invited  
but couldn't make the 2000 mile trip).  I see from Al's post that he  
did taste it.  Bob's clone was terrific.

See

http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/4545.html#4545-2

Hope this helps.

Jeff

- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
***Please note new address***




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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:00:42 -0700
From: "Michael Eyre" <meyre at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: What kind of Hops do I have here?

Hey all..

I know I'm about to throw out the impossible, but what the hell.. it
don't cost nuthin'! :-)

 A friend of my fathers had a hops plant in a bucket in his back yard
that was getting out of control. He found out I was starting to grow
them, and gave this one to me. My father said he heard from *the guy who
gave this hops-in-a-bucket* to the fellow that gave it to me, that it
was a Mt. Hood plant, from Washington... which I can grasp. The guy who
actually gave it to me swears that the guy *he* got it from called it a
"Black Tower" hop. Now, I can't find anything on "Black Tower" anywhere,
but in thinking about it, Black Tower kinda sounds like Hallertauer.
Maybe I'm wrong, but is Mt. Hood a variant of Hallertauer? Is that what
they're talking about? Should this thing develop a bit more and maybe
produce a cone or three, will I be able to identify what I've got here?
Ideas? Anyone? Bueller?

Mike



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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:43:35 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: YeastLab W51 weizen yeast available

Brewers

As a friend of Dan McConnell's, I have often been asked about an old  
favorite yeast that his YeastLab carried, W51 weizen yeast.  This had  
an almost cult-like popularity, and I always felt bad that I couldn't  
point people to another source.

Well, Dan transferred his entire yeast collection to WhiteLabs, and  
it is a Platinum offering this month and next.

Here is the entry from http://whitelabs.com/:
> Bavarian Weizen Ale* Available July/August (WLP351)
>
> Former Yeast Lab W51 yeast strain, acquired from Dan McConnell. The  
> description originally used by Yeast lab still fits: " This strain  
> produces a classic German-style wheat beer, with moderately high,  
> spicy phenolic overtones reminiscent of cloves."
Hope this gets lots of use so it stays in the catalog.

Jeff
- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrenner at umich.edu
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
***Please note new address***



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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:11:31 -0400
From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <hbd at spencerwthomas.com>
Subject: W51 Weizen yeast

I have to second Jeff Renner's recommendation of the old YeastLab W51 yeast.

I used this yeast for a Weizen that took first place in what may have 
been the last HWBTA national comp.  A beer judge whose opinion I highly 
respect about German beers said of my beer: "It's the only one that 
tastes authentic," scoring it in the mid-40s.  And I don't value his 
opinion because of what he said about my beer.  He's since gone on to 
design recipes for well-regarded German-style beers professionally.

I highly recommend this yeast for your hefeweizen.

=Spencer in Ann Arbor


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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 17:00:58 -0500
From: "Meyer, Aaron D." <Aaron.Meyer at oneok.com>
Subject: Re: HCCP / Linux

<<<<
(More specifically, this is the error returned by Wine:
	err:comm:GetCommState tcgetattr or ioctl error 'Invalid
argument'
This leads into an unhandled exception, which then spews out a bunch of 
diagnostic information.)

Has anyone else had better luck getting HCCP running under Linux?  I
have a 
competition coming up in a couple of months and can run it under WinXP
if 
necessary, but getting it working under Linux would be better.
>>>>

I've never used HCCP nor have I messed with Wine for more than a
year....
But I will pass on my 2cents, who knows, it could help.... Maybe...

First I would contact the developer and find out what development tools
he is using. I.e. what compiler he is using and what system library's
his program requires.

Next Use a trace tool on a windows box and see what DLLs, VXDs, and
possibly OCX files the program links with while running. Ensure that
your wine configuration has these files available.

If you have a valid license for Windows ensure that your wine is
configured for native library mode and not emulation mode. I don't
recall what the exact terminology is, but in what I call native mode the
wine software points to a working windows installation, emulation mode
is when wine is configured to work without copyrighted Microsoft
libraries. I found that when I messed with wine it preferred a Win95/98
windows folder over NT/2000/XP for some things. Keep in mind that the MS
EULA give you license to run the version you purchased or any previous
version as long as it is on that one machine. So if you can dig up a
Win95/98 CD you can run it under wine as long as your XP installation on
that same system is licensed. If in question, read your EULA.

Next, sometimes you have to downgrade. It is known that some 'fixes' to
wine break other things. Some applications need to use older wine
version to work properly.

If you need serial ports, you can emulate them or setup pass through
virtual serial ports with wine. They can link to text files for
debugging output or can link to a /dev/cua0.

Possibly get a commercial version of wine. I forget the name, but there
is a commercial version of wine whose development has been pushed from
people wanting better MS Office and DirectX gaming compatibility. You
might have to invest in one of these to get the needed stability.

GOOD LUCK!



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