---

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


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

          Northern  Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
Visit http://www.northernbrewer.com  to show your appreciation!
               Or call them at 1-800-681-2739

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  RE: Campden/sodium metabisulfite ("steve.alexander")
  UV sterlization, another thought (Michael Hetzel)
  Darrell Water ("Martin Brungard")
  Judges Need for 13th Annual BUZZ Off - CORRECTION ("Christopher Clair")
  AHA NHC Call for Judges (Great Lakes region) (Joe Preiser)
  Looking for PPG for unusual Adjuncts ("Jason Edwards")
  False Bottoms ("Keith Christian")
  malta ("D. Clark")
  Re: Missing HBD Issues (Paul Hethmon)
  Water ("A.J deLange")
  Gluten free beers ("Graham L Sanders")


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*           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: Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:54:46 -0400
From: "steve.alexander" <-s at adelphia.net>
Subject: RE: Campden/sodium metabisulfite

Eric Wescott writes,

>They do work to inhibit/kill yeast and bacteria up front
>(pre-ferment).

Actually yeast, including most wild Saccharomyces yeast and also
some bacteria produce sulfite.   As a rule the species that
produce sulfite also have a mechanism (a transport protein in
S.cerevisiae) for removing sulfite and therefore tolerate it's
effects.  In wine where a vigorous and concentrated fermentation
scrubs the wine, a lot of sulfite can be used (100+ppm of
sulfite) and this may stall the yeast growth at this low pH, but
is unlikely to kill yeast outright.  You cannot afford to add 
so much sulfite to beer - it will ruin the flavor.  The sulfite
is far less toxic at wort pH and virtually ineffective for
infection control above pH 4 at any reasonable dose.


>A boil will drive out most/all of the sulfites as gas,

No - it really doesn't, and I made the beer to prove it. Because
of the higher pH, wort boil does not remove all residual sulfite.
It does reduce the levels somewhat, but it's not close to total
removal.

>Sulfites are also used as a preservative.  Adding some level after all
>brewing is done will kill off your yeast, and inhibit bacteria/yeast
>from starting anew.

Beer pH (as opposed to wort) is much lower, but still not low
enough to use sulfite for effective infection control unless you
are willing to add whopping huge amounts, like ~100+ppm.  Beers
"show" the sulfite flavor more than a red wine, perhaps comparably
to a white.  You really won't enjoy the taste of a finished beer with
much more than 30ppm of sulfite for a hi-grav whopper or perhaps
15-20ppm for a pils/mild.  You will taste sulfite at these levels but
it can have just a crisp sharp aperitif dry edge to the flavor.  Now
you can add far more than this to the mash and most will be lost to
reduction of oxidized phenolics and aldehydes.  I've successfully
added 40-50ppm (4-5 campden tabs per 5gal of finished beer) to
the mash without significant flavor impact. I've unsuccessfully used
~75ppm. I personally think that 20-30ppm (2-3 campden per 5gal
finished beer) in the mash is the best compromise and completely
adequate for anti-oxidant effects.  Also I think that sodium
metabisulfite has a better flavor in the finished beer than
potassium metabite.

Note that if you are using metabisulfite for chlorine/chloramine
control, then you only need one campden per 20gal and the flavor
impact of potassium vs sodium is a non-issue.

Sulfite does IMO have a place in brewing, but it is to prevent
oxidation damage in the mash & boil and to remove chlorine, not
to control infection.

>Flavor.  Yes, sulfites have their own flavor.  After about a year of
>homebrewing, I started to be able to pick it up.  It's harsh to me,
>like a rough wine, but not purely that.

I sense it as a vague hint of sharp sulfur in the nose and also the
dry flavor on the tongue.   One can often get a real whiff of sulfur
(a sharp note like the mineral, not the rotten egg H2S) when opening
a pils, as some lager yeast produce 10-12ppm in the finished beer.

==

As for the 2-day brew ... I think the idea of controlling infection
in sweet wort UV is a pretty interesting idea, but someone should
do a careful side-by-side to see what it does to flavor.  It's not
just hops, but things like niacin which may have a photo-reaction
and do who-knows-what to the fermentation & flavor.

UV is probably does a nice job of knocking down the infection
levels, but the flow-thru units meant for tap water do not kill
all  the bugs, but reduce the levels enough for short term storage.
I see that UV has been used for cider processing w/o flavor damage
that pasteurization causes.

I don't think the extended time brew is a very good idea anyway.

 -S





 





Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2006 10:21:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Hetzel <hetzelnc at yahoo.com>
Subject: UV sterlization, another thought

It occured to me later that UV sterilization of wort may not even be
feasible if the wort is too dark. Brown bottles are used to block out
light at 500nm or less, and so my reasoning is that dark wort would
block shortwave light from doing its business. The degree of color
would ultimately dictate UV penetration, so you would need fully
turbulent flow, or a really thin stream (and alot of time).. I don't
know how UV sterilization is applied (pass through? batch?) but these
are to me more reasons to not use it. I do think using it for top-off
water would be good, or even for filling kegs between brews (for the
whole purge with CO2 idea). Does anyone know if it would it be more
cost efficient than boiling?

Thanks,
Mike Hetzel
Worcester, MA



Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 10:25:36 -0800
From: "Martin Brungard" <mabrungard at hotmail.com>
Subject: Darrell Water


Darrell's water is pretty hard at 177 ppm as CaCO3.  Adding calcium is not 
the way to go if a lighter style like pilsner is desired.  Darrell is 
correct that he could do something with his water to brew better.

The alkalinity is fairly high at 143 ppm as CaCO3.  Darrell needs to become 
knowlegible in the use of acid in his brewing.  The first thing he'll need 
is to do is control the alkalinity for proper mash pH conditions.  His raw 
water is well suited for dark beers, since a dark grist is capable of 
countering the alkalinity level.  But for a light and pale styles like 
pilsner or cream ale, acid is the easiest thing to do.  Recognize that the 
hardness is still too high for a really delicate pils, but you can get by 
with the present hardness.

For the light styles, it looks like about 8 to 10 drops/gal of 88% lactic or 
80% phosphoric would be about the right starting point to produce an 
appropriate mash pH of around 5.4 when using a pale ale or pils grist.  An 
alternative for hoppier or hardier beers would be to harden the water to 
about 150 to 200 ppm of calcium.  Then the mash pH would likely be about 
right for the light colored grists.

For sparge water preparation, Darrell will need to add about 0.19 tsp/gal of 
88% lactic or 0.17 tsp/gal of 80% phosphoric acid.  This amount will drop 
the sparge water pH to about 5.7.  It is possible to be this precise with 
the acid additions if a graduated medicine dropper is used.  They are found 
at the drug store in the baby section.

I'm confident that good beer can be made with the water that Darrell has.  
The flavor ion content is reasonably low and it is a good starting point for 
many styles.  One caution is that the magnesium content is already moderate 
and there is little need to add any more since it can start to negatively 
affect flavor.

If Darrell is committed to producing a really delicate Pils, then he should 
consider cutting the raw water by adding at least 1 part distilled to each 
part raw water.  Please note that the sparge water will be cut the same way. 
  The acid additions mentioned above should be halved too.

Better beer through water chemistry!

Martin Brungard
Tallahassee, FL




Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 14:29:41 -0400
From: "Christopher Clair" <buzzclub at verizon.net>
Subject: Judges Need for 13th Annual BUZZ Off - CORRECTION

CORRECTION
All judges must be BJCP certified (any ranking) OR have relevant experience.
Sorry for the omission.

Good luck and cheers!

Christopher Clair
buzzclub <at> verizon.net
http://hbd.org/buzz




Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 16:15:09 -0500
From: Joe Preiser <jpreiser at jpreiser.com>
Subject: AHA NHC Call for Judges (Great Lakes region)

It's that time of the year again for the first round of the largest
homebrew competition in North America.  The Great Lakes region, while
still at two states (IL & MI), is once again expected to receive over
400 entries and needs as many judges & stewards as we can get.

This year, we'll be judging at Emmett's Tavern in West Dundee, IL
(www.emmettstavern.com).  The primary judging day will be Saturday,
April 29, with breakfast and lunch provided.  The time and location for
an additional session (if needed) is still being worked out.

Please contact Judge Coordinator, Steve Hamburg (stevie at chibeer.org), or
Site Director, Joe Preiser (glnhc06 at jpreiser.com), if you have any
questions or would like to help out.



Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2006 23:25:25 -0230
From: "Jason Edwards" <jedwards2 at gmail.com>
Subject: Looking for PPG for unusual Adjuncts

  Hi, I am looking for some help in tracking down the PPG for adjuncts.

This comes because I mashed an pale ale today. I mashed 9 lbs of plain
2-row from canada malting, with 1 lb of row that I toasted in the
oven, plus 2 lbs of barley flour (I did a cereal mash with 1 lb of the
aforementioned 2row), plus 1/2 lb of crystal 80.(total grain bill was
10 lbs 2-row, 2 lbs barley flour and 1/2 lb crystal 80)

I mashed overnight and mashed out this morning, the run off took 2.5
hrs and lasted from from 7am to 930 am and i collected exactly 30
litres of wort, which I mixed and then took a pre-boil gravity reading
(I haven't boiled it yet) with wort that I cooled to 70f which is the
calibration setting for my hydrometre.

I measured all my grain twice, I actually measured my collected wort in
1 litre measuring cups, I checked my hydrometre against plain water
and it tells me that I have a preboil gravity of 1.060. this is
seemingly impossible because (according to Promash) i have achieved
greater then 100% efficiency, which is not bloody likely.

So I have come to the conclusion, after checking my scales that the
"factor X" is the flour I used, it must have contributed some crazy
numbers to the mash.

I would therefore like to find a listing of PPGs for adjuncts like
barley flour, etc, which do not normally appear in Promash's or other
like databases. The reason i want to know is because this is the
second time this has happened, which means i am flying blind when I
plan my recipes in terms of expected OG and IBUs. I use a ton of
adjuncts in my brews and the more certainty i can get, the better.

Thanks

Jason



Return to table of contents


Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2006 20:26:34 -0700
From: "Keith Christian" <kchristian at surfside.net>
Subject: False Bottoms

Hello,

I am interested in purchasing materials from a company like McMaster to
make a false bottom in my converted keg.  If you have done this I would
be interested in your experiences.

I would like to know what is the appropriate hole size and spacing for a
false bottom.  If you purchased the materials and have item numbers,
that would be great.


Something else that I am interested in doing is making a silicone gasket
for sealing the lid to my keg fermentor.  I think it is possible to use
a tube of silicone to make a ring  on wax paper and somehow shape it to
make a large o ring so it will make a good seal.  Any tips on doing
this?

Thanks,

Keith



Return to table of contents


Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 08:26:57 -0400
From: "D. Clark" <clark at capital.net>
Subject: malta

Hi list,

Does anyone here have any experience with making malta?  My pastor is from 
Puerto Rico, and he is very curious about the brewing process, as so many 
of us are.  I thought it would be nice to make up a mild ale for him and 
then I ran across a recipe for malta in Charlie Papazian's book "The 
Homebrewers Companion".  It is basically unfermented wort that is 
carbonated.  When he heard about the malta he flipped.  It's a real 
favorite of his and even more of a favorite for his wife, especially the 
India malta.

I haven't been able to find much online about it.  Some reviews of India 
malta suggest that it is very dark and thick with a flavor like 
molasses.  The recipe in Charlie's book is an Americanized version that 
would be much lighter and more hoppy than what India malta sounds 
like.  From what I have read, a rich porter or stout wort would probably 
come close to this version of malta.  Maybe a brown ale for regular malta.

Any thoughts?  I would certainly welcome any and all ideas from the 
collective.

Dave Clark
Eagle Bridge, New York



Return to table of contents


Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 09:36:21 -0400
From: Paul Hethmon <phethmon at hethmon.com>
Subject: Re: Missing HBD Issues

Scott and Spencer asked a few days ago about some missing issues from their
HBD archives. Well, in finally cleaning out my office closet today, I found
a cdrom of interest:

   The Beer Homebrewing Guide August 1994

A friend had given it to me years ago and I'd not even opened the shrink
wrap until today. Well, I found the HBD archives on it from 1989 thru 1994
in Windows help file format. The only bad part is that the issues are
not preserved as issues, they're in there as individual articles. I also
can't seem to find #154 or #718. I actually found a reference for people
looking for 718 back in 1991. Anyway, I put it up on one of my webservers:

   http://frisbee.hethmon.net/homebrew/

Cheers,

Paul

- -- 
Paul Hethmon
phethmon at hethmon.com
Farragut, Tennessee
[443.2, 182.3] Apparent Rennerian



Return to table of contents


Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 15:43:22 +0000
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Water

The water in question contains 41 mg/L Ca and 18 mg/L Mg with alkaliity 
of 143 ppm as CaCO3. This gives a residual alkalinity of about 2 mEq/L 
which means that the dough in pH will be appreciably higher than in a 
distilled water mash. To lower the pH a lower residual alkalinity is 
required. One may lower alkalinity or neutralize it with acid. Lowering 
it by diluting the water with low mineral content water such as RO or 
distilled water is probably the easiest thing to do and will result in a 
more authentic beer as Pils is traditionally brewed with very soft 
water. Diluting 1 part of this water with 3 parts distilled water will 
lower the RA to 0.5 mEq/L (25 ppm as CaCO3). This should be low enough 
to give you a liveable mash pH even if no other steps are taken.

Acid can be extracted from the malt by increasing the hardness of the 
mash water. If all the residual alkalinity were to be neutralized by 
addition of calcium 3.5*2 = 7 mEq/L would be required and if this were 
supplied by calcium chloride that would put the chloride at about 122 
mg/L which is indeed pretty high. But there is no need to neutralize all 
the residual alkalinity. Half of it, for example, could be disposed of 
with half the amount of calcium chloride calculated above and while that 
would still leave you with 60 mg/L chloride that probably isn't too much 
as the water is low in sodium.

I'd start with the diluted tap water with no treatment. It may be 
adequate. I've made good beers with dough in pH's of 5.7 -5.8  and the 
yields weren't that bad either (60 lbs of extract from 100 lbs of malt). 
Colored malts, even the faintly colored ones used with pilsners 
(carapils, light crystal) can lower the pH appreciably without darkening 
the beer even if used to the extent of 10% of the grist. If you want the 
pH lower still then you might want to consider the addition of some 
calcium chloride. While it's not Reinheitsgebot it will give the beer a 
rounder mouthfeel which many find desireable. Other methods of mash pH 
reduction involve the addition of mineral or organic acids. The latter 
can be supplied within the provisions of the 
Reinheitsgebot/Biersteuergesetz by allowing naturally occuring lactic 
acid bacteria to acidify a small portion of the mash.


Return to table of contents


Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 11:22:50 +1000
From: "Graham L Sanders" <craftbrewer at bigpond.com>
Subject: Gluten free beers

G'Day All

Yes its been a long time between posts.

I live in the remote North of North Queensland for a reason, that being so 
the rest of the brewing world cant find me, thus bother me. And I thought 
with this lack of contact I would have time to enjoy life and drink beer. 
And this I have achieved.

But I also thought that long ago I would have reached the apex of brewing 
knowledge, and thus would be able to sit back and just brew away, doing it 
in my sleep (thats what SWMBO says when I do my man-ly duties). And here I 
thought she would just be happy with me being with her.

But I digress. This hobby continues to constantly throw up new challenges, 
and as always new surprises. Least of which is young Steve. This man is 
normally a fountain of knowledge, but more than once this fountain has sent 
forth rank, off water, or for some reason stops all together. Its most 
disturbing when the fountain just dribbles.

Now his comment >>>>>>Again, it may be possible to make a beer with only 
corn, rice, millet, sorghum, possibly oats and so on, but I don't think we'd 
recognize the result as an adequate replacement for conventional barley 
based beer.<<<<< Dear oh dear mate, - how wrong you are. Australia is fast 
becoming the capitol of gluten free brewing in the world. We now make a 
range a commercial all malt gluten free beers, and have malting plants that 
make sorghum malt.

Add to that the shortly to be annouced a millet malting plant, that will 
make a pilsner, munich, chocolate and caramunich/crystal type malts. And I 
have been lucky to be involved in the design, production and samplings of 
these beers. I can tell you, there are gluten free beers out there that 
would even fool you. O'Briens Lager and Aztec Gold are two examples of award 
winning all malt gluten free beers that anyone would drink, the equal to any 
barley beer.

Millet to me has a huge potential to give barley a run for it money. In fact 
I made a half and half barley millet that is utterly a delight. You can here 
this on my latest radio program where I taste this beer. PLUS there are 
quite a number of programs on gluten free brewing in the back issues. So 
check them out. Gluten free brewing is far more advanced than you realise, 
so much so, that German brewmasters and teachers are coming to Australia to 
learn.

http://radio.craftbrewer.org

Now I am off to try another "budgeree lager". Not an "adequate replacement 
for conventional barley based beer" indeed!!!!!!

Shout
Graham L Sanders

oh
With a Cat 5 cyclone slamming into North Queensland a couple of weeks ago, 
and the continuous "wet" since, the backyard has tadpole and little green 
frogs everywhere, and smells like a swamp. What the real worry was I saw a 
fish swim by, and when that happens the salties are not far behind. And 
reports are coming in they are "missing" from their usual haunts.

Such is the life in the tropics.






Return to table of contents

---