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


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Contents:
  US-56 ("Greg Brewer")
  Re: Chicago Brew Pubs ("Kevin Gray")
  RE: Hops in a Bottle ("Ronald La Borde")
  re: Gruit Ale Supplies (Steve Piatz)
  Kegging and Dayton, OH area welders ("Kevin Gray")
  RE: ice beer (eisbier) ("William C. Tobler")


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Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 08:57:32 -0500
From: "Greg Brewer" <gbrewer1 at gmail.com>
Subject: US-56

Stephen George provides two interesting data points regarding his
experience rehydrating US-56.  Two of his batches using rehydated
US-56 did not take off until he added additional dry yeast.
Generally, people have reported similar results rehydrating vs.
sprinkling.  I contacted Fermentis through their web site and asked
about the need to rehydrate.  Their reply suggested that rehydrating
may be advantageous but must be done carefully, using the proper
temperature range of 75F-86F and a water to yeast weight ratio of 10:1
(see http://193.238.150.33/FO/EN/pdf/SafaleUS-56.pdf for complete
instructions).  Notably, that temperature range is lower than
typically suggested with other dry yeasts, and I wonder if that may
have been a factor with Stephen's batches.

With this in mind, I "split the baby" on a recent batch of imperial
stout.  I rehydrated one satchet before pitching, then added another
without rehydrating, figuring two packs were justified for the higher
OG.  The batch finished quickly, going from 1.092 to 1.020 in about a
week, and the resulting beer tastes fabulous.  But given Stephen's and
others' reports, I think I will keep it simple and skip rehydrating in
the future with this yeast.

Cheers,

Greg


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Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:17:11 -0400
From: "Kevin Gray" <kevin.gray at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Chicago Brew Pubs

Check out the Goose Island Brewery. Also, I have found Beer Advocate's
BeerFly feature helpful when travelling (I always make it a point to
hit a local brewpub or brewery). If you aren't familiar with BA, the
link to BeerFly is below:

http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/

If you aren't already a member, you'll have to create an account. It's
free and there's a lot of good info on the site.

Kevin


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Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:34:36 -0500
From: "Ronald La Borde" <pivoron at cox.net>
Subject: RE: Hops in a Bottle

>From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
>
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.

I am not so sure, Fred. I have used the wine vacuum system that Bob refers 
to and I must say the vacuum seems quite good. I had no way of measuring it, 
but I can tell you it really does preserve the wine. There's a real taste 
difference in red wine after a week with this vacuum verses just corking the 
partially used bottle of wine. When I remove the rubber stopper, there is a 
very strong vacuum pull and a haughty and lenghty sucking sound. My guess is 
that it works quite well.

Now, sometime back on HBD, (can't remember who) someone mentioned a system 
that would work with glass jars, mason jars, etc. you can take a look at it 
at:

http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

No, no, I do not get any money from these people, I can just tell you it 
works quite well. I save used peanut butter jars, and place the hops inside, 
then evacuate using the system. I like it because it works quite well, and a 
peanut butter jar, or any jar with a screw lid works and it is very easy to 
get the hope in as the jar is much wider than a wine bottle.

Finally, ha ha, I have no empty wine bottles -- they're full of mead!

Ron
Ronald La Borde - Metairie Louisiana
New Orleans is the suburb of Metairie Louisiana
New Orleans is the New Atlantis
littera scripta manet => the written word remains 



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Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:47:36 -0500
From: Steve Piatz <piatz at cray.com>
Subject: re: Gruit Ale Supplies

> From: "I &#8800; coldheart" <rebelcat1 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Gruit Ale Supplies
> 
> Hi, I'm posting again to ask if anyone has suggestions
> on finding Bog Myrtle (Myrica gale) and Wild or Marsh
> Rosemary (Ledum palustre) for gruit ale. And internet
> search has been fruitless, and I'd really like to try
> and include these classic potherbs. 
> 

Not sure how you "searched" the internet but a trivial Google search for
Myrica gale gives over 100,000 matches.  The common name is sweet gale,
available in many homebrew supply stores.  I have used it a number of
times but beware 2 grams adds a lot of flavor in a 10 gallon batch.

Also take a look at
http://wildweeds.com/cart/cart.cfm?prodtype=Herbs

- -- 
Steve Piatz                             piatz at cray.com


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Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 10:27:42 -0400
From: "Kevin Gray" <kevin.gray at gmail.com>
Subject: Kegging and Dayton, OH area welders

Two topics for the group:

1) Am looking to upgrade to a kegging system. Have seen several at
various online stores for around $200, which includes the keg, the CO2
tank, the regulator, and the various hoses and fittings. Is this a
good deal? Is there a particular place where others have bought from
that they would recommend? Also, I see that the CO2 tanks ship empty.
About how much will it cost to get a 5 lb tank filled?

2) Is there anyone from the Dayton, OH area who can recommend a welder
to help with some keg conversions? I have 3 kegs that need to top
either cut off or cleaned up (from where I tried to do it myself with
a Sawz-All and a Dremel tool) and need a stainless steel nipple welded
into the side. Anyone have any idea how much I should expect to spend
on that?


Thanks,
Kevin


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Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 10:35:43 -0500
From: "William C. Tobler" <wtobler at houston.rr.com>
Subject: RE: ice beer (eisbier)

Peter Ensminger said:

"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*."

What timing!  My bock has been ready to de-ice for a week now.  I can  
certainly tell you what "not" to do for now.  My original plan was to  
remove the water using ice and rock salt.  You put the carboy full of  
beer in a slightly larger container, surround it with ice and salt,  
spin the carboy for 20 or 30 minutes (while drinking a homebrew of  
course) and rack it off of the frozen water that gets stuck on the  
inside of the carboy.  Well, it did not work.  The coldest the ice  
solution got was 6 degrees F, but most of the time it was around 18  
degrees F.  Ok, plan 2.  Clear a chest freezer of all beer stuff and  
set the controller down to "0" degrees F.  Put in carboy till next  
morning and rack off slushy beer.  Wrong...the beer was a solid  
block.  So I put it at room temperature and planed to wait till it  
got slushy, then rack it off, and, well, I got busy, forget about it  
an it all went back to liquid.  Ok, plan 3.  Raise the temperature to  
17 degrees and try again.  Well, the next morning, another solid  
block of ice.  So I raised it to 24 degrees, waited two days and  
still a block of ice.  This morning I raised it to 27 degrees.  It's  
got to turn to slush sometime I figure...

Will it rack off with a racking cane?  Not sure.  I'll let you know.   
I really don't want to pour it through a sive.  That would hurt the  
beer big time.


Bill Tobler
Lake Jackson, TX
(1129.2, 219.9) Apparent Rennerian
Brewing Great Beer in South Texas



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