---

	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:
  US-56 rehydration experiences ("Stephen George")
  Hops in a Bottle (Fred L Johnson)
  Sparge pH & stir bars (3rbecks)
  Downtown Chicago Brewpubs? (Paul Hethmon)
  ice beer (eisbier) ("Peter A. Ensminger")


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*           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: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 10:04:02 +0100
From: "Stephen George" <sageorge at gmail.com>
Subject: US-56 rehydration experiences

As two data points, the last two times I have brewed with US-56 using
rehydration first, the fermentation did not take off.  I thought in the
first case it might be due to low ambient temperature - it was in the 50s
(F) in my shed for much of the first week of fermentation  I was running a
parallel fermentation with the other fermenter using Nottingham and it
fermented normally, so I thought the US-56 might be more temperature
sensitive; bringing it inside did not rouse the US-56.

In the second case low ambient temperature was not a possibility as ambient
temperature was >70F.

In both cases, a sprinkling on the top got the fermentation to take off like
a shot and deliver the kind of performance noted earlier. Given that I'm not
inclined to wait around and risk the wort going off, I'll be sprinkling in
future.


Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 06:47:53 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Hops in a Bottle

I read with some interest Bob's idea of storing pellet hops in a wine 
bottle, but I'm pretty skeptical that he's actually getting much of the 
air out. (Do these device's really have much of an effect on wine?) I'm 
sure the low storage temperatures are a help, but I doubt that the 
partial evacuation he's getting with the device is sufficient to have a 
significant effect. Does anyone have any information on how good of a 
vacuum one can create in a wine bottle with one of these devices?

I would think that purging the bottle with an inert gas or CO2 or 
evacuating a collapsable, oxygen barrier bag would probably be more 
effective.

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



Return to table of contents


Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:30:40 -0500
From: <3rbecks at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Sparge pH & stir bars

Just a data point from my experience on the pH of the run off from the 
sparge. I generally measure the pH of the run off at the beginning, the 
middle, and the end of the sparge and cool the sample before measuring.
For most beers, both pale and dark, I've found that the pH of the run off 
will rise anywhere from 0.2 pH to 0.3 pH. I recently did a large, dark beer 
and the pH rose 0.5 over the course of a 75 min. sparge. The duration of my 
sparges for most "normal" sized beers is 50 min. to 55 min.

I believe that a stir bar will stay in place on a convex domed bottom of a 
vessel. I use a 1 gal. cider jug that has a domed bottom for my yeast 
starters and the stir bar stays in place at regular speeds. Of course, if I 
crank it all the way up, the centrifugal force will overcome the magnetic 
force and it will fall off of the center.

Rob Beck
Kansas City



Listening to someone who brews his own beer is like listening to a religious 
fanatic talk about the day he saw the light.
 - Ross Murray, Montreal Gazette, 1991 




Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:08:48 -0400
From: Paul Hethmon <phethmon at hethmon.com>
Subject: Downtown Chicago Brewpubs?

Anyone have recommendations for brewpubs in downtown Chicago? I'll
be there for a few days next week and don't want to get too thirsty.

thanks,

Paul

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


Return to table of contents



Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:18:20 -0400
From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: ice beer (eisbier)

Greetings!

With all this summer heat, I've been thinking about making an eisbier 
(ice beer). Anyone have some practical advice? I've got lots of Corny 
kegs and carboys and a temperature regulator that let me "dial in" the 
temperature from 0-deg-F up to *whatever*.

BTW, I know it is (or may be) illegal to "concentrate" alcohol in this 
manner. I plan to make and consume my eisbier while in my yacht in 
international waters.

Cheers!
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY
Apparent Rennerian: [394, 79.9]



Return to table of contents

---